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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Church Reform - The Only Means to that End, Stated in a Letter to Sir - Robert Peel, Bart. First Lord of The Treasury - -Author: Richard Carlile - -Release Date: July 11, 2012 [EBook #40211] -Last Updated: January 25, 2013 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHURCH REFORM *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger - - - - - -</pre> - <div style="height: 8em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h1> - CHURCH REFORM: - </h1> - <h3> - THE ONLY MEANS TO THAT END,<br /> STATED IN A LETTER TO Sir ROBERT PEEL, - Bart.<br /> FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY, &c. - </h3> - <h2> - By Richard Carlile. - </h2> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <h3> - TO WHICH IS PREFACED A CORRESPONDENCE<br /> WITH THE BISHOP OF LONDON ON - THE SAME SUBJECT. - </h3> - <p> - <br /> <br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <br /> <br /> - </p> - <blockquote> - <p class="toc"> - <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> LETTER TO SIR ROBERT PEEL </a> - </p> - </blockquote> - <p> - <br /> <br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <h2> - PREFACE. - </h2> - <h3> - CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE BISHOP OF LONDON,<br /> IN 1833, ON THE SUBJECT OF - A REFORM IN THE CHURCH. - </h3> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - "To the Right Reverend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of London. - </p> - <p> - "62, Fleet Street, November 18,1833. - </p> - <p> - "My Lord, - </p> - <p> - "I have long and deliberately thought, that the state of the Country, the - state of the Church, and the state of the Public Mind in relation to the - Church, calls upon me to offer myself for an interview with your Lordship, - as my Diocesan, that your Lordship may hear from me what I have to advance - against the present state and condition of the Church, and what I have to - propose as an immediately necessary and proper Reform. - </p> - <p> - "I offer to wait on your Lordship, with your Lordship's consent; and - promise, that my conversation shall be altogether courteous and - reasonable. - </p> - <p> - "I am one of your Lordship's scattered sheep, wishing for the fold of a - good shepherd,—(which is Christ Jesus),— - </p> - <p> - "RICHARD CARLILE." - </p> - <p> - "P. S.—I may add, my Lord Bishop, that I am altogether a Christian; - save the mark at which superstition has been planted upon Christianity." - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - "Fulham, November 20,1833. - </p> - <p> - "Sir, - </p> - <p> - "I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, in which you propose an - interview with me, for the purpose of making known to me your opinions - respecting the present state of the Church. - </p> - <p> - "I beg to say, that I shall be ready to receive, and to give all due - consideration to any communication which you may think proper to make me - in writing; as being, on many accounts, a more convenient method than that - of personal conference. - </p> - <p> - "I remain, Sir, - </p> - <p> - "Your obedient Servant, - </p> - <p> - "C. J. LONDON." - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - "To the Right Reverend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of London. - </p> - <p> - "62, Fleet Street, November 24,1833. - </p> - <p> - "My Lord Bishop, - </p> - <p> - "In answer to my proposal to meet your Lordship in conversation, on the - state of the Country, the state of the Church, and the state of the Public - Mind with relation to the Church, your Lordship has encouraged me to write - what I have to say, and has promised to receive it and to give it due - consideration. I write as early as my circumstances have afforded me the - necessary leisure and composure of mind. - </p> - <p> - "The first point to which I beg leave to call your Lordship's attention is—that - there is a very numerous degree of dissent from the Established Church - among the people of this country. - </p> - <p> - "The second point is, that this spirit of dissent has led to a very - extended opposition to the support of the Church in its fiscal claims. - </p> - <p> - "The third point is, that there is a preparation of a public mind going - forward for the putting of the present Established Church on the same - footing as the present Establishments of the Dissenters—the footing - of voluntary rather than legal support; and that the preparation of this - state of mind is accelerated by the embarrassed state of the country. - </p> - <p> - "The evidence of these three points in prospect is, that the present state - of the Church will be entirely overthrown in the course of two or three - Sessions of Parliament. - </p> - <p> - "On the principle of dissent from the Established Church, I have to - observe, that it is desirable there should be no dissent; but then the - Church should be invulnerable. There can be no popular dissent from any - Institution that can be defended as good and best; and though I am - instructed to allow that the general body of dissenters from the Church - have dissented on very frivolous, even on indefensible grounds, (inasmuch - as the Dissenters have not corrected in themselves the errors of the - Church), there still remains the proof that where the Church has been - assailed or dissented from, it has not been in a condition to defend and - justify itself. - </p> - <p> - "This incapability of the Church to defend and justify itself, where - assailed, must have arisen from a defective state of its doctrine and - discipline. - </p> - <p> - "This doctrine and discipline is founded upon the literal reading of the - Sacred Scriptures, or the books of the Old and New Testament. - </p> - <p> - "I impugn the literal as an erroneous reading: it claims to be local and - temporal history, and is not. Not one of its apparent historical subjects - can be verified. Every one of them can be falsified, upon the principle - that other things were being done at the time, and that other people dwelt - in the places; and that nothing of contemporary character, purporting to - be history, has corroborated the historical claims of the Old and New - Testament. - </p> - <p> - "It is said of the writings of the Old and New Testament, that they are - allegorical, and that they contain the moral of human salvation from evil. - Under this view, they may be true, and may be important as a matter of - instruction. I so believe them to be true, and to be important as a matter - of instruction; but as your Lordship may put me on the task of mentioning - some particular facts and grounds on which I impugn the literal reading of - the Sacred Scriptures, and may properly suggest that it is necessary this - ground should be first cleared before we try them on the other ground, I - submit, as two well-weighed and conclusive propositions:— - </p> - <p> - "1st. That the person of Jesus Christ, or the name, is not in mention by - any author of the first century, if the passage in Josephus be excepted as - an interpolation; and that this defect in the evidence is fatal to the - historical claim. - </p> - <p> - "2nd. That the people called Jews, or Israelites, neither formed colony - nor nation in that part of the earth which is now called Judea, or Holy - Land, before the time of Alexander of Macedon; consequently all that is - said of their dwelling in and going out of Egypt, their sojourn in the - Wilderness, their warfare with the Canaanites and Philistines, their - occupation of that country, their subsequent conquest, captivity, and - restoration, is entirely fiction or allegory. - </p> - <p> - "I read it as political and moral instruction veiled in allegory \ and as - it is to be desired, that, in the removal of a system, all its defects be - made apparent, so it becomes a desideratum, that we account for the origin - of the sects named Jews and Christians. - </p> - <p> - "This may be done in two ways—-one, that they were public - philosophical sects; the other, that they were degrees of order in the - ancient mysteries. - </p> - <p> - "The moral of the allegory belonging to each is throughout the same, and - is an encouragement to the resistance and overthrow of the tyranny of man, - when it appears in the open authority of a King, or in the covert - authority of a Priest; and the preparing of a people to do this, and the - doing it, is precisely what is meant by human salvation,—which is a - sure and certain salvation from earthly evils. - </p> - <p> - "The absence of a proof of personal identity in the characters sketched in - the Old and New Testament, is the presence of proof (if utility of any - kind there be in the form of the allegory), that the persons mentioned are - like what all the gods and goddesses of ancient religion were—personifications - of principles, either physical or moral, or both. - </p> - <p> - "In so receiving the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, I find them - pregnant with the most important political and moral instruction. In - receiving them according to the literal or historical reading, I find - difficulties insuperable, and such as justify all that Thomas Paine or any - other straightforward critic has advanced on the subject, while the moral - and the allegory were concealed from their view. - </p> - <p> - "The point at which this personification of principles begins, is the - point at which superstition begins; for though knowledge may justify the - poetic licence taken with language, ignorance mistakes and evil design - misrepresents, until the personification is extensively dwelt on as a - reality. - </p> - <p> - "Here I trace the fundamental errors of the present doctrine and - discipline of the Established Church; the errors upon which dissent has - progressed, upon which an outcry of infidelity has been raised, but upon - which the Church could not defend itself and maintain its position. - </p> - <p> - "My remedy for the present difficulties, and my proposition \ for a Reform - in the Church is, that no difficulties, mysteries, or superstition be - allowed to remain attached to its doctrines and discipline; that the - allegory of the Sacred Scriptures be avowed, the personifications taught - upon their principles as known principles of nature, and not as - personified incomprehensibilities; that the Church, in short, be made a - school for the people, than which, if it originally meant any good thing, - could mean no other thing, where from time to time all acquired or - acquirable knowledge should be taught. On this ground, the utility of the - Institution is evident, the benefit to the people certain, the idea of - dissent inadmissible. - </p> - <p> - "In this first letter, I have thought it necessary only to give your - Lordship the leading points of objection to the present doctrine and - discipline of the Church. With details in proof, I can proceed to a - voluminous length; and I now offer myself to submit to the catechism of - your Lordship, or to that of any person whom your Lordship shall appoint - to see me, with the distinct promise, that I will not evade the giving of - a direct answer to any distinct and intelligible question that can be put - to me upon any part of this important subject. - </p> - <p> - "It may not be improper that I now declare to your Lordship, that, after - having worn out the spirit of persecution by a large amount of personal - and pecuniary suffering, I have never been acting upon any other motive - than a love of truth, and honesty, and public good; that it is under such - a motive, and no other mixed motive, that I have now presented myself to - your Lordship, viewing your Lordship as a public functionary that has - inherited and not created the error of which I complain; and hoping that I - shall be met with the disposition of a fair investigation, when so much - good is at this moment the promised consequence, - </p> - <p> - "I am, My Lord, - </p> - <p> - "Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, - </p> - <p> - "RICHARD CARLILE." <br /> <br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <h2> - LETTER TO SIR ROBERT PEEL - </h2> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Sir, - </p> - <p> - I write as a politician to a politician, with oblivion of the past, - without any profession of respect for the present, waiting and watching - your future. - </p> - <p> - I am stimulated to address you, and the country through your name, on - reading your Address to the Electors of Tamworth, after taking the offices - of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. - </p> - <p> - The portion of your Address which I select as my subject, is that relating - to the Church—the first of all political subjects. Not to understand - how to deal with this, is to be utterly deficient in every other political - branch. Not to reform this, is to reform nothing. State ever did, and ever - will, depend upon the Church. - </p> - <p> - As far as your individual promise is sufficient, it is, that Church Rates - shall be abolished. This is so far good. It has been a disgrace to all - parties concerned, and an injury to every housekeeper, that a Church Rate - has existed. Such a rate has existed only because of the dishonest - application of that Church Property which was the legitimate supply for - all Church Buildings and repairs. And should the rate be continued under - any other form of taxation, and not supplied from existing Church - Property, an injury and an injustice will still be inflicted upon the - people. - </p> - <p> - You seem willing to abate the religious ceremony of marriage, so far as to - allow each couple to let it be to its liking. Pray go a step farther, and - let the law cease to trammel that civil contract with religious ceremony, - while each couple will be at liberty of its own accord to go through - whatever religious ceremony it may think proper. And while on this - subject, I pray you to give, or seek for the poor, justice in facile - divorce. The mystery of marriage is too sacred for constraint. It should - never be other than a spirit of pure and mutual liberty and consent, - subject to some legal recognition for the care of offspring. Much of the - morals of society must depend on the freedom of marriage and facility of - divorce. We have not hitherto been right on this subject. That can be no - good tie which opposes the will of an individual in so sacred and delicate - an affair as that of marriage. The beginning, middle, and end of marriage - should be the love of affection and friendship. Marriage should cease when - affection between the parties has ceased. It may be truly added, that - marriage has morally ceased, when affection has ceased. Then the legal tie - becomes an abomination, a source of vice and wrong; and, in nine cases out - of ten, the religious ceremony is treated as a burlesque, save the idea, - that it is a fashionable distinction to have observed it as the chief - criterion of legal marriage. - </p> - <p> - I entirely agree with you, that Church Property should not be alienated - from strictly ecclesiastical purposes. I have changed my view, and see - more than formerly on this head. - </p> - <p> - For the same reason, I entirely disagree with you on any commutation of - tithes. Let the original application be restored, and no one will find - fault but he who loses by that just principle, that first and best of - Church Property and most important of popular rights. - </p> - <p> - The point, in your address, on which my letter is to be based, is the - following paragraph:— - </p> - <p> - "With regard to alterations in the laws which govern our ecclesiastical - establishment, I have had no recent opportunity of giving that grave - consideration to a subject of the deepest interest, which could alone - justify me in making any public declaration of opinion. It is a subject - which must undergo the fullest deliberation, and into that deliberation - the Government will enter with the sincerest desire to remove every abuse - that can impair the efficiency of the Establishment, extend the sphere of - its usefulness, and to strengthen and confirm its just claims upon the - respect and affections of the people." - </p> - <p> - This is just what I wanted you to say. It is honest, if you will but act - up to it. This is the sort of Church Reform that I propose. Here we have - from you, as the Chief Minister, a promise that your Administration will - enter into the fullest deliberation, with the sincerest desire to remove - every abuse that can impair the efficiency of the Church Establishment, - extend the sphere of its usefulness, and strengthen and confirm its just - claims upon the respect and affections of the people. Had I been called to - your situation, I could not have promised more; but I should have acted up - to that promise, and I hope you will so act. In the performance of that - promise, everlasting fame will be yours. So act—and greater than the - name of Lycurgus or Solon—greater than that of Cicero, Constantine, - or Napoleon—greater than the name of any past man will be that of - Robert Peel. If the Duke of Wellington join you in this sentiment, and - goes manly and honestly forward to its accomplishment, his, too, will be - an imperishable name. This would wreathe him an evergreen chaplet, that - would survive the memory of all his physical victories! This is the great - moral victory to be obtained before any society can settle down into - peace, welfare, and happiness:—<i>the best use that can be made of - the Church</i>. It is a subject of the deepest interest; it requires grave - consideration; I pray that it may have that consideration. I pray that I - may be heard by a Commission, in grave consideration of that subject of - the deepest interest, before any legislative change be entered upon. I put - myself forward in this letter. Many will be the schemes proposed to your - consideration: let mine be one, and then select and improve the best. - </p> - <p> - The first consideration is—What is now the Church? What are its - defects? What the cause of that dissent, which has made a revision - necessary? - </p> - <p> - The second consideration will be—What ought the Church to be, so as - to leave no ground and reason of dissent? To some minds, the fickleness - and fallibility of human nature will appear as an insurmountable obstacle - to the construction of such a Church. I see farther and will propose in - order. - </p> - <p> - I flatter myself that I am writing this letter with very proper feelings - toward all institutions and all persons. I suspend, <i>pro tem</i>., all - quarrels that I have with all men, to assist you in this common good, in - which you deserve and will have, in the ratio of their goodness, the - assistance of all good men. If I can sink the past in oblivion for common - good, who should say he cannot? To the altar and shrine of that Reformed - Church, which you contemplate, I have sacrificed property much—all I - had, and years of liberty many. I am still worshipping, still so - sacrificing, both property and personal liberty, and will so continue to - the end. I say it not boastfully; but in comparative claim to attention, - and in encouragement and example of union to assist you in the performance - of your present promise. - </p> - <p> - Let me be permitted to say, too, that the Church is a subject which I have - studied in its origin, its history, its first principle, all its dissent - or variation from that first principle, down to its present standing. I - have so studied it, that I cannot now find author or preacher who can - present me any thing new as to its general merits, past or present. This - is the chief ground on which I solicit your and the public attention to my - view of this subject of Church Reform. I presume to know what the Church - is, and what it ought to be. - </p> - <p> - It may be taken as a point to be yielded by all parties, that the desire - with regard to the Law Established Church is, the removal of all ground of - dissent, so as not to leave it a mere sectarian Church, which any mere - abatement of existing dissenting objections will do. No Dissenter can - complain, if the ground of his dissent be removed from the Church. And if - there be no ground of future dissent left, there can be no future - complaint, no new dissension arising. Without the absence of the - possibility of dissent, there can be no just holding and application of a - public and common property for the business of the Church. With that - absence, the property is justly held and applied. Any law that recognizes - and tolerates the Dissenter, recognizes and tolerates the justness of his - dissent, and calls for the primary justice of removing the ground of - dissent. No man can reasonably say, <i>let us not be of one Church</i>; - but every man can reasonably say, <i>let the Church be purified of its - errors</i>; and while any man can show an error, it is his duty to call - for the purification, and the duty of authorities to attend to his call - and to purify. A permanent Church then must be an improving, - self-purifying Church, and continue a true picture of the best state of - the human mind, meeting every well-founded and majority-decided call upon - its utility. - </p> - <p> - Any idea of keeping up a Law Established Church with public property, - surrounded by Dissenting Churches, without a public property, can enter - the head of no man who understands the subject. There can be no peace or - final settlement under such an arrangement. The effect to be accomplished - is, not to break up the Church Property; but to break up the Dissenters - from the Church. This will startle the present state of mind and feeling. - I propose no abridgement of equal liberty. Is not this the grand <i>desideratum?</i> - Can it be accomplished?—I think it can, and so proceed to unfold the - two-fold consideration. - </p> - <p> - First.—What is now the Church? What are its defects? What the cause - of that dissent which has made a revision necessary? - </p> - <p> - This, in reality, is but one question, with a three-fold expression. - </p> - <p> - The Church is now the Theatre of the Drama of the Books of Common Prayer, - the Thirty-nine Articles, and the Old and New Testament; to which is - generally added a sermonic epilogue or exhortation, commonly called a - Sermon. - </p> - <p> - Be not offended at my use of the word <i>Theatre</i> here: no other would - substitute. Its root is the Greek [———], God, and - signified originally, the house, place or stage, where the Drama of Theism - or attributes of Deity were exhibited. The word is now much distorted from - its root, in being made to describe the place of modern dramatic - performances. - </p> - <p> - Nor must the word <i>Drama</i> be objected to; because the ceremony of the - Church was originally so constructed, so meant, and so practised, as I - will prove in the course of this letter. - </p> - <p> - Even the word <i>Tragedy</i> has its root in the Greek word [———], - a goat, and signifies, in the dramatic exhibition of Theism, the death of - the year, under the form of a personification, in the twelfth or zodiacal - month of the goat. So that the death sorrowed for and lamented, was, - dramatically, the apparent death of the sun, the death of the year, in the - sign or month of the goat; and on St. Thomas's day, as we read in the - Prophet Ezekiel, chap. viii. v. 14—"<i>and behold there sat women - weeping for Tammuz;</i>" and v. 16—"<i>about five and twenty men, - with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the - east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east</i>," which is no other - than a representation of the performance of the tragedy, in which the - performers had lost the moral of the Lord's Temple: precisely the present - state and condition of the Church. All ancient mythology is in harmony - with this conclusion; and the Christian tragedy is only a continued - version, uniting the general drama of human morals with the annual tragedy - of solar physics, and forming a two-fold or two-keyed allegory or mystery, - physical and moral, as it was known even in the Celtic or Druid Church. - Christianity was never new, or young, in this country, by existing - records. - </p> - <p> - There are not many persons in this secret, perhaps, not even you, the - first Minister of the country; so it will be deemed too abstruse and - mystical on which to find a warrant for legislation or change of law: but - I strenuously maintain, that such was the origin of the Christian Church, - and such is now its generally lost meaning. The proof of the solar part of - the allegory is not so much to my present purpose as the proof of the - general drama of human morals being the basis of the present mystery of - the Christian Church. - </p> - <p> - To stay a growing difficulty, we must go to the root:—it will grow - again, if we do not go to the root. It will be so with the present Church, - and all attempts to reform it. - </p> - <p> - In plainer language, then, I will describe the existing Church, as having, - in its ceremonies and business, the mystery of the Christian Religion, - without its revelation; that all the defects and all the grounds of - dissent from it are the absence of the revelation, or want of knowing the - meaning of the mystery. Whatever are called its doctrines, are all - mysterious; its discipline is equally mysterious, and by its present - ministers, unaccountable. Dissenters have dissented without being able to - assign a reason for their dissent, and have set up for themselves - something equally mysterious and unaccountable; and so the whole principle - and practice of Religion in the country is in confusion and conflict; and - no measure can reconcile the dissentients, short of developing the first - principles of the Church and the Christian Religion, the one language, the - one course of reason, the one ground of human welfare, the one system of - morals, which is now buried in a Babel of confused tongues, doctrines, - idol-houses, and superstitious ceremonies. - </p> - <p> - The ground, then, on which I proceed, is, that TO REFORM THE CHURCH, THE - DISSENTERS MUST BE ANNIHILATED. - </p> - <p> - Not annihilated by slaughter or physical force; but by superior knowledge, - and consequent superior teaching, by openness, by honesty, by throwing off - the mask of hypocrisy, and leaving the Church of Christ to be no longer a - theatre of dramatic ceremony in mystery, with parts and actors as ignorant - as automata of their subject, and who not knowing, can value it not, - beyond the salaries they receive for its performance in unrevealed - mystery. - </p> - <p> - Can that be a Reform of the Church, with "just claims upon the respect and - affections of the people," which shall leave a ground and excuse for - dissent by any one of the people? I say, NO. Can it be a Church of Christ? - I say, NO. Do we know what a Church of Christ is in reality? For myself, I - say, YES. A Church, too, founded upon an understanding of the <i>Sacred</i> - Scriptures, of the Old and New Testament, upon the revelation of the - mystery of those Scriptures, and upon all the first principles essential - and conducive to general human and social welfare; that shall no more - admit of dissent than the multiplication table, or the accurately placed - sun-dial, than the elements of Euclid, and all the never-failing tests of - the science of chemistry. The Apostle that told us to "<i>prove all - things, and hold fast that which is good</i>," gave us a definition of the - exhortation of the Evangelist or the Baptist—"<i>Repent, for the - kingdom of Heaven is at hand</i>." A repenting and a proving people are - necessary to make a Church of Christ. Repentance and enquiry are the - pillars and foundations of that Church; without repentance and enquiry - there can be no Church of Christ; and I ask, confidently ask, with the - assurance that a true answer must be in the negative,—has anything - calling itself a Christian Church in Europe, established by law, or - dissenting from such an establishment, anything to do with the two - principles of repentance and proving, the one meaning reflection by - animadversion, the other a trial by outward tests of that reflection? - There is not a congregation of people in Europe, calling itself a Church, - that is founded upon an understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, the - understanding which shows that the "letter killeth, but the spirit giveth - life." - </p> - <p> - I impugn, as being in error,—I denounce, as that error is the cause - of all dissent, of dissent uninstructed,—all the churches or - congregations called churches in the British dominions; and I call for a - reform that shall eradicate that dissent, and make all become one in - efficiency, usefulness, and respect and affections of the people. - </p> - <p> - The present state of the Church is, that it is a theatre of mystery, - giving no solid satisfaction to the people, and for which, among the - receivers of salaries and benefits only, can there be a particle of real - respect and affection. Its defects are, that none understand, neither - priests nor people understand what any part of its dramatic ceremonies - mean. And this is the cause of that dissent which has made a revision - necessary. - </p> - <p> - What, then, ought the Church to be, so as to have no ground and reason of - dissent? - </p> - <p> - In two words, I answer, A SCHOOL. - </p> - <p> - What kind of a school? - </p> - <p> - A school for knowledge only; for revelation without mystery; and for - practical use and benefit to every member, without parade or pomp, even - without ceremony, beyond what order and good may require. - </p> - <p> - And would such be a Church of Christ? - </p> - <p> - Such alone can be a Church of Christ. Christ the Logos, Jesus the Saviour - of Man, is, in principle, nothing more in its dramatic or mystified and - present church presentation, than a personification of the principle of - reason, or of the knowledge of which the human being is a recipient, and - without which can have no salvation, has no relation to the idea of a - salvation, or any evil from which to be saved. Such is a true revelation - of the mystery of Christ. - </p> - <p> - And a Church of Christ has no other true meaning, than a convenient and - sessional gathering of the people in districts, for purposes of mutual - enquiry and mutual instruction; for catechism and intelligible and useful - exhortation; for revelation of knowledge, or mind, or reason; for mental - improvement; and not for mystery, nor dramatic ceremony, nor superstition, - nor idolatry. It is in this sense only, that the Church of Christ is - superior to all other Churches—the word Church meaning a gathering - or association of the people for mental improvement. - </p> - <p> - This generation has no proof, nor has history a warrant, that any other - generation of man has had a proof of the material existence of the being - called Jesus Christ. The seeming narrative of such a purport is the - current mythology of the ancients, or people of two thousand years ago, - taken up by us in its literal sense, and so mistaken; so mistaken, as to - warrant a belief in the literality and fact of the material, temporal, and - local existence of every one of the Gods of the Pantheon, or of human - imagination, and then we shall have rivalry enough for the best. But then, - I should make a choice of Christ, as the only one that makes due provision - for the right cultivation of the human mind; the only one that has laid - the foundations of the kingdom of Heaven, in the peace and good-will of - mankind, dwelling upon a land flowing with milk and honey, and overflowing - with knowledge. - </p> - <p> - I challenge the Bishops and the whole priesthood, to produce me any - knowledge that is intelligible to themselves or to any other person, as an - interpretation of the narratives in the Old and New Testament, about - Jehovah or Christ, other than that which I am now unfolding. Mine has a - warrant in the spirit of the language of the books, in the roots of words, - and in all the principles of things that relate to man's welfare; and more - particularly in that to man most important of all, MORAL SCIENCE. - </p> - <p> - I am not insensible to the circumstance, that a man might have a knowledge - of a thing, of a train of circumstances, of causes and effects, in his own - mind, with a difficulty to find language in which to communicate it, that - shall be equally and immediately clear to all other states of mind. A - resemblance, nearness, or similarity of mind, almost an equality of - knowledge, is requisite to a clear understanding. It is thus, that men, in - different languages, understand each other, when other men, bystanders, do - not understand them. And it so happens, in all first developments of - science, the new discovery wants a new language in which to be presented - to others, and it often happens, that first words made or chosen are not - the best and clearest. - </p> - <p> - Know you not, Sir, that knowledge is power? You must have read that - celebrated axiom of Bacon's; but have you considered it, have you - reflected, have you repented and proved that axiom? I may add, by way of - explanation, that knowledge is the only moral power. What seeks your - Church to be? Or what should it seek to be, other than a moral power? On - what rock, then, must the Church of Christ be built, so that the gates of - hell, or of evil design, or of dissent, may not prevail against it? On - what, but KNOWLEDGE? Is it now so built? Is not, rather, the present - ministry of the Church more afraid of knowledge than of the people's - ignorant dissent; more of "Carlile and his crew," than of all the - dissenters; more of free discussion, than of any kind of superstition? The - dissent of knowledge and the dissent of ignorance, though disunited, are - becoming too powerful for your knowledgeless Church; and you, at last, - have consented to speak of its necessary reform! To which will you yield, - or whom will you join? Those who dissent by knowledge, or those by - ignorance? If you take the former, your work will be perfected at once; if - the latter, your work will never be done, and you will become weaker and - weaker; for I know not one body of worshipping associated dissenters, - whose ground of association and dissent is better than that of the - Established Church. Find me the minister of one of them, who will stand up - in discussion before a public audience with me, so as to have his language - reported. I have not yet found him in England or Scotland. The pretences - of the kind that have been made, have been so deficient in respectability - of character and of good manners, that I do not think them worth a - recognition. - </p> - <p> - I am not insensible to the circumstance, that you have a difficult task to - perform, and I am not sure that you are equal to it: I hope you are; that - is, I would have you so, or any other who may be the King's adviser, and - the real head of the Church. Nothing is wanted for this reform but honesty - and moral courage. Where the will and the power exist, the task is an easy - one. <i>I desire to save the Church and its property, and to annihilate - the Dissenters</i>. I would have the present dignities of the Church - dignify themselves in a triumph over the Dissenters. A collusion with the - Dissenters will be a hugging of pestilence and death to the bosom of the - Church. There can be no co-existence: there was proof enough of that in - the seventeenth century, and still in Scotland. A revolution in the - affairs and manners of the Church must take place, even by your own - confession, in language admitting of the inference; and I desire that good - may be educed from that revolution. I would make the Church triumph in the - correction of every mental error in the country, and noble would be that - triumph! - </p> - <p> - You may ask, how is this to be done? I will tell you. Let the Church - become the oracle of truth, the fountain of knowledge, the mistress and - dispenser of all science. Let its ministers declare this great truth:—<i>that, - hitherto, the mystery of Christ has alone been taught in the Church, - without the revelation of that mystery; that the Church has been the - depository of that sacred mystery, until the fulness of time, in which it - is promised, that all people shall be prepared to partake of the - revelation; that the mystery has been kept up in outward form and without - any spiritual grace; that the spiritual grace and all the pro-mises are to - be fulfilled in the understanding of the revelation; that the spirit or - revelation has been buried in a resting on the letter of the Sacred - Scriptures; that Christ is only now risen or beginning to rise, after - thousands of years, we may say three thousand years, rather than three - days of crucifixion, death and burial</i>. In me, he has risen indeed, as, - in me, he has been last crucified; and I crave the pleasure of seeing his - principles rise in the Church; for that craving is the nature of Christ. - Let the Church declare <i>that the time is now come to reveal the mystery - of Christ</i>. Exhibition has not been revelation. - </p> - <p> - What, then, is the revelation of the mystery of Christ? - </p> - <p> - It is, that Christ is God and not man, that it is God in man; that it is - knowledge, reason, or all its essences in moral principle; and that it is - not an idol to be worshipped as a statue, but a principle to be taught and - inherited by the human race. The mystery sets forth Christ as a statue or - image to be worshipped after the fashion of the Pagan world. The - revelation teaches, that it is the principle of knowledge, to be gained by - labour, by asking, seeking and knocking, or prayer; by repentance, that - is, reflection; by enquiry, that is, proving all things, and holding fast - that which is good; by mutual instruction, by free discussion, by whatever - constitutes a school for useful knowledge, and that constitution is a - Church of Christ: all the rest is mistake or imposture, whether it be - established by law, or ignorantly dissented from; whether it have a King - for its head, or be carried on in a garret or a cellar. - </p> - <p> - I must go to the root of my subject, and leave no excuse for evasion. The - root of religion is the relation of God to man, and man to God. - </p> - <p> - What does man know of God? - </p> - <p> - Books can teach him nothing, unless those books be written pictures of - existing things and things that have existed. Things that have existed - have no source of trial or test, but in the similarity of things that do - exist. - </p> - <p> - Man's knowledge of existence is of a twofold nature: the things that do - exist, and the power by which he has that knowledge. The first is - distinguished as material existence; the second, as spiritual existence. - Material and spiritual existence are the only two positive existences of - which man can speak or write, to which no inspiration can add; for - inspiration is only knowledge; and the recognition of material and - spiritual existence is the limitation of knowledge. The details of - knowledge can be nothing more than definitions and descriptions of - existing things,—the plantings of art upon nature. - </p> - <p> - All knowledge is matter of art. Nature is the thing known—art the - knowledge of the thing. This art can not only know nature, but can invent - descriptions of unreal things; can describe things by types, and - principles by figurative allegories; can imitate nature by appearances, - such as pictures, statues, &c.; and can, by mysterious constructions - of language, make the appearance of a thing to represent a principle or - describe qualities in the absence of the thing: this is spiritual power. - Nothing of the kind is seen beyond human life; certainly not beyond animal - life. We may, therefore, reasonably speak of spiritual power or spiritual - existence as confined to the human race—speech and language being a - primary necessity to its existence: the art of other animals extending not - beyond their wants. - </p> - <p> - Man, then, is the creator of spirit; and, beyond man, spirit is not known. - Man is not known to be the creature, but the creator of art; not the - creature, but the creator of spirit, soul, mind, reason, knowledge, or - whatever other term relates to the mental phenomena. - </p> - <p> - I maintain, because it is a truth of the deepest importance to the human - race, and without the knowledge of which nothing can work well in human - society, that man is the creator of all spiritual existence; and in the - sense in which God is a spirit, man is the creator of that God, and has - been the creator of every description of existence that has been made of - such a God. - </p> - <p> - We may also correctly speak of this two-fold existence as physical and - moral. The physical, its forms and compositions excepted, is eternal and - immutable—the moral is evanescent, mortal, and mutable in its - personal existence, but immutable and immortal as to principle. The root - of God, therefore, as of man, is in physical power, which is correctly - described as almighty, immutable and omnipresent: it is only omniscient, - as being the fountain of knowledge—the all that can be known. - Science is art; therefore, there can be no science in an infinite or - eternal sense, as we can speak of the physical power of Deity; but - science, as art, is limited to human power,—the all that is known, - and not the all that exists to be known. - </p> - <p> - This is evidence, that man has created not only all the descriptions that - have been made of spiritual existence, but that existence itself: and so - it is true, that man has been the inventor of a spiritual God; that - religion and all its appurtenances have been the offspring of the art of - man; and that man alone is capable of correcting any of its errors,—which - is to be done in the same way by which I propose to put down the - Dissenters—the acquisition and communication of knowledge by the - Church. - </p> - <p> - I pass by the Pagan mythology, which, in its understood personifications - and allegories, is as beautiful a picture of physical and moral nature, as - the Christian Religion itself; and I rest on the Christian, as, when - understood, the only religion for human improvement that has been - presented to the notice of the human race. - </p> - <p> - As man is the inventor of the Spiritual Deity, which is peculiarly the - Deity of the Christian Religion, so I infer, by evidence to come, that the - Deity of the Christian Religion is no other, nothing more, than a - personification of the mental phenomena of the human race, which was the - work of the philosophers and scientific men of the Pagan world: and noble - was their task—important for man was their production. Not the thing - called the Christian Religion now in existence, which is no other than a - religion mistaken, a corruption and Pagan superstition, the dregs and - drivellings of the gross ignorance and superstition of the dark ages; - something two thousand times worse than the Paganism of the Millenium - before the so-called Christian era. But a personification after - deifications of the mental phenomena, is a sounding, preaching, writing, - carving or painting God, as the perfection of knowledge; Christ, as the - perfection of reason; and the Holy Spirit of communication, as the - perfection of all attainable moral power by the human race: making those - perfections to be things sought, the things worshipped, the best religion, - as it undoubtedly is, for the whole human race. It was the best plan of - scholastic improvement, when acted upon, that human wisdom could have - devised, and to this I would have you bring our Church. - </p> - <p> - There is a two-fold way of reading the Bible, which I have before - described, as it is described in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, - chap. iii. v. 6, a reading or a ministration according to the letter, and - another according to the spirit. The Apostle or author of that Epistle - declares himself to have been a minister of the New Testament according to - the spirit, and complains, that the Jews, in his time, did not know how to - read the Old Testament. I declare that the Church now existing ministers - to nothing but the letter of the Bible, which is a ministration not to - life, but to death; and such is the evidence of the whole era of such a - ministration; such has been the cause of the dark ages, on which no - dissenting sect has yet thrown a ray of light; and the reform that is now - required throughout the Church, that established by law and all others, is - the understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, that shall cause them to be - taught according to the spirit, the spirit of knowledge, reason and - constant human improvement. I now see, that none of the people called Jews - or Christians know how to read either Old or New Testament according to - the spirit. - </p> - <p> - To read the Bible according to the letter, is to make it a piece of human - history; to make a creation of the world, and an attempt to account for - everything past, present and future. I proclaim this conduct to be the - folly of ignorance, opposed by all real history of the human race, and by - all the developments of science, in relation to the earth's existence, its - qualities, and its relation to the general planetary system. - </p> - <p> - I challenge the proof of any one apparent historical fact, in either Old - or New Testament. I challenge the production of the existing mention of - any one of the supposed facts about the personal or material Jesus Christ, - within one hundred years of the time at which it is said to have happened, - putting the disputed passages of Josephus and Tacitus out of the question. - </p> - <p> - I challenge the proof of the existence of the Jews, in any country, as a - distinct nation, before the time of Alexander the Great. - </p> - <p> - No other contemporaneous history recognizes such an assumed history as - that which I challenge. - </p> - <p> - And farther, I am prepared to prove that Christianity existed among - Romans, Greeks, Persians, Hindoos, and Celtic Druids, or the northern - nations, before the Christian era. - </p> - <p> - The present ministration of the Church entirely depends on the necessity - of a clear historical proof of the literal contents of the Old and New - Testaments. - </p> - <p> - But a spiritual reading of that volume solves every difficulty, and - teaches us how to extract the truth, the system of religion that is a - necessary and sure salvation for the human race, when reduced to practice, - and to see it as a part of the wisdom of all ancient men of all times and - countries. - </p> - <p> - It is ten years and upwards since I sent a petition to you, Sir, to be - laid before the King, asking for a commission to examine my oppugnancy to - the religion and administration of the existing Church. Will you now grant - that commission? If you will not, you, while you remain in power, will - blunder on in and through growing troubles and difficulties, until you, or - some other person, be compelled to come to my school for information. It - may be a galling pain, a conscience-smitten task to you to do so; but you - have no alternative with honesty and wisdom. It is not a little of this - cry for Church Reform, that has sprung out of my labours and sufferings. - And here am I, though still in prison through that Church's iniquity, in - the proud and triumphant position, clearly seeing that you can reform - nothing in the Church that will satisfy the people without coming to my - ground. - </p> - <p> - Your pledge is so to reform the Church as to make it meet the respect and - affection of the people. I rejoiced when I read that sentiment; for I saw - and felt, that I alone had proposed a reform equal to that end; and mine, - as well as others, by the glorious power of the printing press, must come - into consideration. I assure you that the correspondence with the Bishop - of London, which I shall append to this letter, has been sold to the - extent of many thousands, and is in great demand. This is but an - enlargement of my second letter to the Bishop. So that my lamp has been - constantly trimmed for your advent as a Reformer of the Church. It is not - what you and others call "the rabble," "the destructives," "the mob," that - I seek. I seek you and the Bishops, all the learned men in the country, as - in application of mind to mind, learning to learning, and wisdom to - wisdom. - </p> - <p> - I will now proceed to explain the distinction between the mystery and the - revelation of Christ, between the letter and the spirit of the books of - the Old and New Testament, between false and true religion, between - superstition and idolatry on one side, and reason with growing knowledge - in the Church on the other. I begin with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. - </p> - <p> - The Church of the dark ages has taught the doctrine professedly founded - upon the letter of the Sacred Scriptures: of God, as consisting of three - persons in one person, coexistent, co-equal, and co-eternal, which, in - expression, has been abridged, under the name of Trinity, and described as - the Holy Trinity; and, in definition or distinction, as Father, Son and - Holy Ghost. This doctrine has always been dissented from while dissent has - been tolerated. It is no more a physical absurdity than the doctrine of - the resurrection of the dead, or the changing of water to wine, or the - feeding of five thousand with five small loaves and two fishes, or any - other narrated miracle: still it has been dissented from, and when - dissented from, no defence could be made of it. In every other case of - dissent, the Church could make no defence and no other apology than - ancientness of the doctrine in the Church. Truly this has been a - verification of the blind leading the blind, until both fell into the - ditch together. - </p> - <p> - With a doctrine of personality in Deity, including the ideas of physical - and moral power, this of the Trinity has been declared a mystery - incomprehensible to the human mind; and I declare that a mystery - incomprehensible to the human mind, pressed upon human attention, as of - importance, is an absurdity, and must be an imposture; for who has - comprehended it so to state? This is the matter-of-fact view of the - subject. - </p> - <p> - But the subject being a declared mystery in the theological sense, there - is a spiritual interpretation to be put upon the language of the letter; - and that I take to be thus:— - </p> - <p> - That the Trinity is not to be considered as of persons, but of principles; - and then we shall find it a philosophical doctrine, true to nature, and - proved by science; true to physical and to moral science. - </p> - <p> - All the ideas that physical science can bring us of creation is the root - of three in one. Whatever admits of analysis sets forth the truth and - doctrine of the Trinity. Water, the great parent of production on this - planet, is known to be composed of two gases—hydrogen and oxygen. - They become water through contact and decomposition by electric action. - Thus, in the order of a Trinity in Unity, we may describe it as of - hydrogen, oxygen, electric contact=water. I do not mention this as any - thing new; but it is new in application to a definition of the doctrine of - the Trinity. Water had not been made but by the electric contact of - hydrogen with oxygen, by the power of a Trinity in Unity. Chemistry - teaches us, that this power of a Trinity in Unity is an all-creating - power; and so far it is man's comprehension of the creating power or - Deity, and not a thing or principle incomprehensible: it is a doctrine - older than the Christian era; was a doctrine among the Pagan Philosophers, - and is true as to principles or powers; but not true in our modern sense - of persons, as identical and separate beings. - </p> - <p> - A great mistake, too, has been made in the understanding of the word <i>person</i>, - in relation to theology: it never was meant to express beings in the image - of you and me; but the dramatic manner of presenting a description of the - principles of nature in the theatre, <i>per sonantem</i>, by sound or - song, by fiction, by disguise, by allegory, by mask or mystery, by - representative action: the revelation of which would be to understand the - principles of nature so personated on the stage, as I have defined the - Trinity. And it is in this, and no other sense, that I read the names of - Deity in the Old or New Testament, as brought apparently on the stage of - human affairs, in person, by the authors; that <i>personating</i> meaning - nothing more than a present picture or representation of an absent or - infinite power, by sounds or voice, and sometimes by masks, as was the - earliest known practice in dramatic exhibition, which explains everything - about gods and oracles, and makes the Hymns of Orpheus as sacred as the - Psalms of David; as they are as certainly beautiful in poetic composition, - and equally useful to human welfare. - </p> - <p> - You, Sir, if you enter the House of Commons next month, may be said to - personate the Electors of Tamworth; a power in the abstract greater than - you, because many and supposed qualified to reject your personation and to - elect another. Therefore, the personation is not the power personated. As - the King's chief Minister, you will also personate the King's Government - in the House of Commons; but you are not in reality that governing power; - because, it is something distinct from you, and greater than can be - concentrated in your person. You, as plain Robert Peel, and I, as Richard - Carlile, are not persons; and though it is a custom so to use the word and - so to describe us, yet it is a mistake and misuse of the word, unless the - body may be said to personate the mind, soul, &c. I hope you see that - much of the error of our Church has turned upon this point; because a - person was never the reality of the power, and consequently the persons of - the Trinity are not to be considered the reality of the Trinity: and hence - the Unitarian Dissenter has no reasonable ground of dissent. The doctrine - of the Trinity, as a description of Deity, is a valid theological and - philosophical doctrine, admitting of no rational dissent. - </p> - <p> - I wish the Bishops to learn this before the Dissenters, so that the Church - may be taught how to call back her errant and ignorant children, that her - property may be held together for useful purposes, and not be wasted at - the shrine of dissenting ignorance or bankrupt government. - </p> - <p> - And now, Sir, can you yet see your way with me, "to remove every abuse - that can impair the efficiency of the establishment; extend the sphere of - its usefulness, and strengthen and confirm its just claims upon the - respect and affections of the people?" If you cannot, I beg you to follow - me farther. - </p> - <p> - It is not only in physics that the doctrine of the Trinity is - theologically and scientifically correct, but in morals also; and this is - the foundation of the Christian Religion. - </p> - <p> - As God, the Father, personates all science, under the attribute of - omniscience; that is, personates all existence, both omnipotence and - omnipresence, and is, in that reality, the fountain of knowledge—the - all and every part that can be known; so God the Son, Christ or Logos, - personates the human mind, as the existence or manifestation of knowledge - and reason, as Jesus or the principle of salvation from evil, in - possessing that knowledge, and as the true God, in us and with us, in and - with whom we live, and move, and have our being. - </p> - <p> - So God the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter to come, to - complete the happiness of the human race, personates that spirit of free - communication of knowledge which should be found in the Church, the - theatre, not of any superstition or dramatic ceremony, but of the freedom - of the human mind, and all its emanations of free enquiry, free - discussion, mutual instruction, which are the necessary elements of - brotherly love and peace, in the proving of all things and holding fast - that which is good. And thus I prove the truth of the doctrine of the - Trinity. - </p> - <p> - This, Sir, is a true picture or effigies of the moral Trinity of the - Christian Church, which you will find to be a key to every mysterious - sentence of the Bible; and I ask you seriously, as between man and man, is - any thing of this kind known or practised in the present Church? Are not - the ministers of that Church afraid of every new discovery in science? - Have they not, as far as they could, persecuted every man who has - attempted to publish any criticism, enquiry, or objection to their - mysterious subjects? History says—Yes. And I say that they have - known nothing of the subject for themselves, and that they have dreaded - all knowledge of, all enquiry into, the subject. Will their pride let them - learn of me? Well may I say:—"Come unto me, all that labour and are - heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of - me: for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your - souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." That is the language - of the personated Logos, or Principle of Reason, addressed to the present - state of British mind, as it was formerly addressed to the general state - of the human mind. - </p> - <p> - The doctrine of the transubstantiation of bread and wine, as the elements - of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, into the real body and blood of - Christ, has been another stumbling-block in the Church. On this head, our - law-established Church has dissented from its former self, which when I - mentioned on my last jury trial, the Judge, Sir Allan Park, called it a - vilifying of the Church. I knew better; but saw that the Judge was not a - man to be reasoned with, and so I did not press the subject: but through - this letter and your name, Sir, I desire to teach him how it has been - done. Transubstantiation is no stumbling-block to my mind. - </p> - <p> - The twenty-eighth article of the Church says on this subject:—"Transubstantiation - (or the change of the substance of bread and wine) in the Supper of the - Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words - of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given - occasion to many superstitions. The body of Christ is given, taken, and - eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner; and the - mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is - Faith." - </p> - <p> - It is very clear to me that the Bishops of that time, the sixteenth - century, did not know how to read Holy Writ. I could defend the entire - doctrine of transubstantiation, in its fullest application, from the - language of the Gospel according to Saint John. This subject affords me - another proof, that the doctrine of transubstantiation is much older than - any of the books of the New Testament: for, where understood, there is - nothing in theology more dear than this doctrine, or that comes nearer to - a physical and moral truth. - </p> - <p> - First, let us understand that the root of the word <i>Sacrament</i> is a - secret in the mind; and <i>Transubstantiation</i> is a change of substance - from one to another thing. Now the secret in the mind is, where - understood, and where not understood there is no Sacrament, that, like the - Trinity, all the appearances of God are in the principle of - transubstantiation or change from one to another thing. All is motion.—Nature - knows no rest. All is change, all is transubstantiation. It is like the - Trinity,—one of the attributes of Deity, one not to be doubted,—because - everywhere visible. The present Church of England calls it a damnable - doctrine; but it is so called through ignorance. Like that of the Trinity, - it is a doctrine much older than the Christian era; and so also was that - of the Lord's Supper, as a practised ceremony. - </p> - <p> - When the name of Christ was set up to personate all the attributes of - Deity, the various names of the Pagan gods were decried. It had become a - matter of wisdom thus to set up the name of Christ as a personation of all - the gods and goddesses: it was a concentration of philosophy, to unite - mankind in one form of religion and for one great purpose, that of - progressive and perpetual improvement. The plan was good; but the - principle has never been rightly developed. Teaching by mystery is a bad - system. The mass of the people are not so to be taught. We must begin and - teach by revelation. The Christian Religion, when revealed, will be - eternal, and realise all its real promises of peace on earth, good-will - among men, and a land flowing with milk and honey. - </p> - <p> - Before the name of Christ was used, Bacchus was called a Saviour, as were - many other if not all the gods, as Jehovah is declared the only Saviour in - the Old Testament. And this Bacchus had the name of Jesus, or Saviour, - inscribed on his altar pieces, in the very letters now inscribed in our - Churches, the three Greek letters Iota, Eta, Sigma, I.H.S., not Jesus - Hominum Salvator, in initials, though so in meaning; but Yes, which is the - same as Jesus, and signifies Saviour. Isis is of the same root, one of - whose names was Ceres. Ceres personated corn or bread, and Bacchus - personated wine. It was a Pagan custom, in religious ceremonies, to break - and eat bread in honour of Ceres, and to pour and drink wine in honour of - Bacchus, as the bread and wine or body and blood of salvation, of both - physical and moral salvation. - </p> - <p> - Christ being made all, both physical and moral Saviour, was intended to - swallow up all the various Pagan honours and ceremonies, every one of - which, in part or whole, is still retained in our law-established Church; - and so Christ personated both the elements, bread and wine, as his body - and blood, as before they had been called body of Ceres and blood of - Bacchus. - </p> - <p> - Be it remembered, that the Pagans had no other ideas of these matters, - than those of dramatic effect. The origin of the drama was in and with the - religion of the human race. And we must come back or come up to this for a - right understanding and use of the Christian Religion. - </p> - <p> - As food, bread and wine are the best elemental representatives of the body - and blood of the human being, and will sustain human life in health and - vigour. As bread and wine, they are elements of the physical nature of - God; and when taken into the human body, they transubstantiate in that - body, and, in making blood, become the blood which is necessary to sustain - the moral god or reason in the godly man: so, through the - transubstantiation, they do not cease to be the body and blood of Christ. - This is what is meant in the matter, and this solves the language of Saint - Augustine, cited in the twenty-ninth article, that though the wicked eat - the consecrated bread and drink the wine, they do not eat the real body - and blood of Christ, because in leading bad lives they do not improve - themselves, and so eat and drink but for new condemnation. - </p> - <p> - The revelation of the mysterious word sin, in the Sacred Scriptures, is - generally applicable to the ignorance of the human race; and so of - original sin, which is not to be otherwise reasonably understood. Man is - born without knowledge, but may, by due care, be made a member of the - Church of Christ; that is, may be made a scholar, as the foundation of a - wise and good man. - </p> - <p> - I shrink not from a full and reasonable explanation of every part of the - mysterious doctrine of the Christian Church, in this way; and I am - prepared to maintain, before all men, that this is the true revelation of - the mystery, the true spirit of the letter, both of the Old and New - Testament: "the truth as it is in Jesus"—in nature: the truth, by - God. - </p> - <p> - This beautiful and deeply-woven allegory embraces, in its mystery, almost - every known process of nature; and must, in my opinion, have been the - labour of the united science of many generations of the wisest men—-of - truly inspired men. This very doctrine of transubstantiation in the - Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is descriptive, and is in fact and - principle, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in. man. The - bread and wine are swallowed, are buried in the human stomach, there - decomposed or transubstantiated, formed into chyle, rise again into blood, - and form the spirit of the man: which is, in reality, a death of the body - and resurrection of the spirit: and the brain being the chief of the - sentient principle, there becomes an ascension into that kingdom of - heaven, which it is in a reasonable man, and than; which there can be, by - law of nature, no other. The same or similar explanation applies to the - first and second birth; the birth of the physical body in its original - sin, the second the birth of the spiritual mind or inward man, which is - the Lord Christ Jesus. It is a divine riddle, and such is the solution. - </p> - <p> - The riddle is of larger comprehension than the mere relations of God to - man. It is an astronomical almanack, a written and dramatized picture of - the celestial globe; and is, in truth, a most perfect allegory of all - known nature, both in physics and morals, in matter and spirit. There are - no such men in the Church now as the writers of the Sacred Scriptures; - none even with sufficient knowledge to understand them. We have fallen; - yes, we have fallen into the dark ages; and the revelation, when known, is - to be the millennium. We have fallen by that Scarlet Whore, the Babylon of - Mystery; and have to rise again, by getting a knowledge of Christ, which - is not now in the Church, nor yet among any of the Dissenters so called. - Nothing can be imagined more anti-Christian in spirit and character, than - that which has been called the Christian Church of the last fifteen - hundred years. - </p> - <p> - Christ, in his physical character, personates the sun and solar year, - while his twelve disciples personate the twelve months, or the signs of - the zodiac; and; in this sense, we have a death, descent, resurrection and - ascension, once a year. It is in that sense he performs the miracle of - turning the water of the pot of Aquarius (January or Winter) into the wine - of Autumn; the story, of course, is told, in the gospel, after the form of - a personated narrative of a dramatic incident. So the product of the - corn-seed of five small loaves and two fishes, becomes sufficient, in the - season, to feed five thousand. The knowledge and ingenuity of the state of - mind, that could so construct the allegory, as an harmonious picture of - the works of nature, is absolutely wonderful, and has my admiration, even - my ejaculatory adoration; and I am not a little proud of my own ingenuity, - in having penetrated thus far into so deep and mysterious a subject. It - has brought me perfect peace of mind, as to the general system of nature, - and left me burning with the desire to acquire more knowledge. - </p> - <p> - In the Church now existing, is there aught but mystery that can be called - its religion? And in mystery unexplained, unrevealed, can there be aught - but impudent knavery in the ministration, with general hypocrisy or - credulous folly in the reception? I have penetrated the subject so deeply - as not to shrink from saying, that the present ministration of the Church - is an impudent and mischievous imposture, sanctioned by the custom of - antiquity, that neither instructs nor moralizes the people; for, - notwithstanding all the pretences to religion, greater immorality than is - here found cannot be supposed to exist among a people holding or held - together as a community, in daily danger of disruption, and utterly - without a code of moral guidance or guides: and this not so much among the - poor as among the rich. Even this city is in danger, from its ill-assorted - and ill-conditioned population, of all the disasters that befell Babylon, - Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople or Paris. And almost every village in the - Island groans under want, and courts even the desolation of contested - revolution for a change. And that very feeling and profession, which is - now miscalled the religion of peace, will, from its state of ignorant - dissension, only serve to whet the appetite for contention and slaughter, - and make another war in the name of God. - </p> - <p> - I call upon you to repent, by which I mean reflection. I ask you to be - honest, and that, too, because the season of profitable dishonesty is - exhausted, and you have wealth enough: save it. It is never too late to - reform and do justly; but the later the reform is deferred, the more - necessity that the justice be rigid and prompt. I feel that if I had your - authority, I could save the Church and its property, not for a farther - career of its iniquity and error, but as a noble institution for the good - of the people, a sufficient school for all, and a hospital for the infirm; - to which, I add, that this, or nothing good, must have been the purpose of - its first institution. I believe, from what I now see of the foundation of - the Christian Religion, that this was the first purpose of its - institution. Banish the superstition of the Church, plant the tree of - knowledge there, and you will quickly overthrow the morally pestilent - Dissenters. I mean, of course, by moral means, by the exhibition of more - knowledge and wisdom and utility than they. This would be salvation and - reform to every good institution in the country; for when knowledge - becomes the nation's religion and moral pole-star, everything good is - safe, everything evil will vanish before a discussion of its merits. This - or blood-thirsty contention is your choice. You may delay for a while; but - you cannot otherwise reform. You, by delay, will merely bid the people - wait until they are strong enough to combat your authority. Delay will be - a challenge to them of physical combat. - </p> - <p> - What can confer more dignity on the "Dignitaries of the Church" than for - the Legislature to say to them:—"Feed the people with knowledge and - no longer fill them with superstition?" If I understand human nature - rightly, it has more pleasure in honesty than in dishonesty. - </p> - <p> - Would the experimental lectures of a Faraday, desecrate the building? Or a - beautifully reflected picture of the heavens and its explanation lessen - true devotion? Would moral; science profane the pulpit or injure the - congregation? Would the real catechism; and instruction, of children in - matters of physical and moral science be of less importance than the - parrotlike catechism of the language of the present mystery? There would - then be some ground for a bishop's or overseer's examination and - confirmation; but what does confirmation now mean? All that I can remember - of it is a learn-ing to repeat from memory a prayer and a creed, perhaps a - few commandments, which are studied to-day, to be gone through tomorrow, - and neglected ever after. Give the people something which they can feel - and know to be useful, which they can reduce to practice, and they will - emulate each other in flocking to Church at the appointed times. You will - then have need of still more churches to receive the increasing - population. It will be an emulative pleasure to children, a new delight to - parents, a mutual gratification to be at school together in church. - </p> - <p> - I can say from observation, comparison and experience, that among the most - moral of the working people in the metropolis, will be found those who - have attended scientific lectures on the Sunday, and who have thereby been - taught, to contemn superstition. You find them not in the house of - intoxication; but passing soberly in the evening from their homes to the - school; and gratifiedly after the lecture from the school to their homes. - The greatest error that toryism and superstition have fallen into has been - to suppose that knowledge will make a people disorderly. Bacon's aphorism - is true, that superstition is the <i>primum mobile</i> of sedition, the - great agitator; and ignorance the great disorderer of States. Is it not so - in Ireland? Is it not your greatest trouble in this island? The wisest act - of the life of the late Lord Castlereagh was to propose to send <i>Paine's - Age of Reason</i> among the Roman Catholics of Ireland. If it had been so - thoroughly done, when he proposed it, they would have been all quiet - enough by this time. Real knowledge is the water-cup of sobriety for a - people: with that they will seek to rid themselves of nothing but error - and evil that cannot be morally defended. - </p> - <p> - Make the change that I propose in the business and ceremony of the Church, - and you instantly make a Christian Religion, eminently Catholic, that will - not only annihilate the Dissenters, but convert Jew, Mahometan and Pagan. - It will be irresistible to all mankind. They cannot argue against science; - but each argues against the superstition of the other. Science is the - essence of Judaism, but the men called Jews understand it not. It is the - foundation of their name, the ground on which they have been considered a - chosen people, it is the only sign of God in man, the only proof of true - religion. Science and morals are the whole duty and all needful to man; - beyond which he can gain nothing but superstition, error and evil. Science - and morals, then, are the only proper business of the Church. Let us have - our National Education in the Church. Let the Church be the fountain of - knowledge, and all be there baptized, as a true sign of mental birth and - membership of Christ. - </p> - <p> - Gather together all the property that was ever ecclesiastical; get it back - from whoever may hold it; take it out of the hands of the priesthood or - the ministers of the Church, tithes and all; and give it into the hands of - its true owners, the people, each parish with its separate share, and let - the majority of the parishioners make the best use of it they can for - ecclesiastical, that is scholastical purposes; and with it, also, provide - for their infirm and accidentally poor. This one act of public justice and - public good would go far toward settling the affairs of this distracted - and unsettled nation, and do injury to no one. Let the State Parliament be - also the Church Convocation, which may be well done when there are no - superstitious disputes, all will go on smoothly with due and sufficient - authority and order, and Britain look forward to happy days. It would be - the regeneration of the whole earth in a few years. This is what is meant - by the promise of the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth as the - waters fill the ocean. - </p> - <p> - Somebody must publicly break through the trammels of superstition, I have - done it as far as a private man can do it; but wo public man in England - has yet dared to approach the subject. Be you the first. No other - circumstance could bring you a more imperishable name and fame. Of wealth - you have enough. I ask nothing more than that you fulfil the promise of - your administration made to the Electors of Tamworth. If you say, that you - did not mean what I express, I shall answer you, that you could have no - other meaning. Were I in Parliament, I would carry the subject in spite of - prejudice; so strong is my faith in the power of knowledge. I would move, - in such a clear and simple way, that a man should not hold up his face to - his fellow man after voting against me. - </p> - <p> - Give us a commission, with power to enquire into this subject. I will be - content to wait all the time that justice to all concerned may require. If - religion be any thing more than I make it—mental cultivation from - infancy to death, it must be the private business of every man's life and - nothing national; like national sobriety, it must be made up of the - sobriety of each individual, and cannot rest on social forms and - ceremonies. Ceremonial sobriety would be but the mockery of a good - principle. I care not how much repenting and proving we have, how much - trial, let us but have free, full, and fair enquiry and discussion, in - Parliament and out of Parliament. Giving a man knowledge cannot be a - disqualification for true religion. Feeding him with science can have no - tendency to injure his morals. Occupying his time well can be no source of - bad habits. Spurring him on to a moral emulation in the acquisition of - equal or more knowledge than his neighbour, will not create ill will - toward that neighbour. - </p> - <p> - The best occupation of time is a question at the very root of individual - happiness and national prosperity: I find it everywhere sadly neglected; - here in prison, out in church, at the theatre, in public and private - business, in families, in pursuit of pleasure, in the army—everywhere. - It can be scarcely said, that there is anything solid in our actions; - frivolity prevails everywhere, and is mixed up with our most serious - professions. I cannot look back to Pagan times without seeing that they - were a superior people to ourselves, and that we have fallen, through the - management of our religion and politics, from, rather than risen, above - them: we exceed them in nothing but hard and lengthy labour for small - wages, insufficient for the necessaries of life. We have not learnt from - Seneca, "that he lives longest who has made the best use of his time." - </p> - <p> - Be it your study to seek to give us some sound moral reforms, and sink - party politics in the moral of public good; withdraw all licences from - houses of intoxication and late hours; let there be no public resort, in - Parliament or elsewhere, after ten at night; if it would be no abridgement - of general liberty, confine shop business to limited hours, that the - conductors and assistants may have due time for mental improvement. Some - of the young men and women in London shops, bitterly lament the want of - more time for rational recreation, for health and improvement. They are - among the veriest of slaves in confinement. Let knowledge be once - legislatively encouraged, remove all taxes from it, and then a hundred - minor arrangements, by legislation, may be made conducive to public good, - and a bar be set against injurious, offensive, and slavish competition. It - is the Tory fear—and, in justice, I will add, Whig fear too—of - knowledge that has produced all the present wrongs and evils of the - country; for if cunning men have legislated, it has not been done for the - public good; because there has not been sufficient public responsibility. - </p> - <p> - This is all Church as well as State business that I am proposing. The - clear distinction as to Church and State is—that the Church means - the people, congregated for mental improvement; and the State means the - exercise of that mental improvement in their public business: so true it - is, that Church must precede and give character to the State. - </p> - <p> - Tithes are a recognition of the original proprietorship of the whole - people in the land; a rent paid under that consideration, appropriate-able - to the sustenance of the poor, and the mental improvement of all. - </p> - <p> - Church Property is the property of the whole people who constitute the - Church; and not, as now, of the ministers, who profess to be, and ought to - be, the servants of the Church. At present, the servants are set above, - defy, and tyrannize over the masters. All public officers in Church and - State, from the King to the Beadle, should be subject to the periodical - election of an intelligent people: without this, there can be no just and - dignified authority—no proper public officers,—all will be - tyranny, corruption, and inefficiency! - </p> - <p> - In thus stating my subject, I am not insensible to the state of mind and - conflicting interests with which you have to deal: but you are in a - dilemma, from which nothing but wisdom and honesty can relieve you; every - false or inefficient step will weaken you; any attempt to patch the holes - made by Time in the mystery of the Church, will be like the tinker's work - of mending one and making two: it is rusty and rotten, and must be knocked - to pieces and burnt up, to produce the brilliant revelation from its - ashes! There can be no mixture of the mystery with the revelation. The - latter is a spirit that will explode the former; and, if you be a good - Christian, let me tell you that the advent of the revelation will be the - fulfilment of the promise of the gospel. We have had nothing but the - mystery, nothing but the dark ages of ignorance and superstition: the - mystery is not Christianity; the revelation alone, which we have not had, - is Christianity. The mystery and the revelation are as unlike each other, - as the grossest superstition is unlike reason. - </p> - <p> - What a delightful state of society do I see before me, when the watchword - of all shall be—GET KNOWLEDGE! The Bible abounds with this - exhortation; tells us all our disorders are lack of knowledge; and yet we - have been through centuries, almost through millenia, studiously and - tyrannically keeping each other blind and ignorant. This has been the - reign of the devil, Anti-Christianity, and not Christianity. When the - portico of each Church-build-ing shall bear the inscription of—KNOW - THYSELF, AND ENTER HERE TO GET KNOWLEDGE, the communicant will see a - friend in his minister, and the minister will strive to raise up wisdom in - his communicant. - </p> - <p> - Now what do we see? Studied ignorance, and suppression of knowledge with - both: each ashamed to look in the face of the other. And wherever a man - advances beyond the existing state of mind, and publishes his sentiments, - he is persecuted as an outcast, and unrelentingly subjected to - prison-discipline, since the law has ceased to make the "offence" capital. - </p> - <p> - The unrevealed mystery of religion has been the curse and moral devil of - the human race. A statesman cannot be wise and honest without setting his - face against it, and seeking to rid of it the minds of his countrymen. - With it, a state can have no permanent peace, nor can statesmanship be an - honour. If you are not master of this subject, I am; if you will not press - it upon the attention of the country, I will; and I have not a doubt, but - that, by its superior moral power, it will enable me to succeed you in - office. I invite you to take the task in your hands, and I will be content - to be anything, to remain in prison, if this great reform be but put in - motion while I live. - </p> - <p> - It is simply to begin to teach the people something useful in the Church, - to give them useful knowledge, as easy in practicability as it is for a - ripe scholar to become a schoolmaster to uninstructed youth. We have - teachers all prepared for the purpose in the Clergy themselves. You have - now to deal with a suspected and not a respected clergy. Though the great - mass of the people do not understand where the fault theologically lies, - yet they have instinctive discernment enough to see, that the relation of - their condition to that of the Clergy is not founded in honesty and social - utility. As sure as I, who see through the whole subject, the people feel - that they are not fairly dealt with by the Clergy; and thus feeling, with - such a Clergy, there can be no social peace. The feeling will increase as - they get knowledge on the subject, and I have thrown that knowledge into - the market, in defiance of all the power you have possessed or can - possess; and that knowledge you cannot withdraw from the market of human - intellect: the whole people will get at it in time. - </p> - <p> - Your boast is now that of being chief or leader of the CONSERVATIVES. This - is not what the nation wants. It needs purgation of error, abuse and - wrong, and a restoration of all the first principles of its Institutions. - It is a fair question to put to you and your party, if you know the first - principles of the Institutions of this country? You certainly have seen - none of them in practice; for your scholarship and administration have - been full of error and wickedness. As I told Sir Allan Park, that the - Church had dissented from itself, so I now tell you, that every - Institution in this country that is a thousand years old in name, has - dissented from itself, and has, in fact, been changed diabolically—which - means directly opposite, or from good to evil; and there never was a - country whose cup of iniquity was more filled. - </p> - <p> - Conservation means preservation, and there is nothing in the present - Institutions of this country but public wrongs and private abuses to be - preserved. The name of a Destructive is far more honourable, in the - present state of the country; the only name indeed that can be honourable, - if it be interpreted, an intended destruction of error and abuses, of - which the country is brim-full, and the fermentation pouring over. - </p> - <p> - I dislike all these names. They are all dishonestly used. They form no - real distinction between man and man. The word Radical has always been to - me an offensive word; the more particularly so as I have seen some very - bad and ignorant men making a great noise under it and about it. We want - knowledge and honesty to make it practicable, and no names by which to be - distinguished: such names spring from ignorance and dishonesty. - </p> - <p> - The origin of our ancient Institutions has its foundation laid in the - moral of law springing from the law of morals; and the restoration would - be easy, if existing authority would resign itself to the change, or if it - could be overpowered and made so to do. One or the other of these changes - is necessary, before anything can be done, and the first the wisest and to - be preferred. I believe there was a time when they existed without a - mixture of any kind of deception practised upon the people, and that is - just what I desire to see restored; and which, I am sure, from the growth - of knowledge and criticism, is the one thing needful to keep the country - in a state of inward peace. - </p> - <p> - Knowledge is the only spiritual interest of the people: it should be - fostered, promoted and increased in the Church, so as to be equalized as - far as possible among the mass or greater number. The ignorance of the - people has been an excuse for many an act of hypocrisy, deception and - tyranny: its continuance is now the fault of the Church, and of those who - have its direction. Cunning cannot invent an assumption that any - qualification can better serve the spiritual and temporal interests of the - people than knowledge. Their degree of knowledge is the all that is - spiritual or of good within them. It is an affair, too, where honest - brokerage is scarcely probable; because no check can be kept upon it. - What, therefore, is not to be defended as knowledge is not of God but of - the devil. In that sense, I arraign the whole Church as now constituted, - and challenge it to stand a trial. I fear it is now too corrupt even to be - militant. - </p> - <p> - Let us suppose you about to attempt a reconciliation with the present - Dissenters, as to the doctrines and ceremonies of the Church. To please - the advocates of adult baptism, you must exchange the infant for adult - baptism, and then you will displease those who are not pleased with adult - baptism. To please the Unitarians, you must give up the doctrine of the - Trinity; and then you will displease all the Trinitarians. What is to be - done to satisfy the Wesleyans or Methodists? They will have irregular - prayers and preachings, which are contrary to the discipline of the - Church. What is to be done with the Swedenborgians, the Muggletonians, and - Southcotians? How can you furnish spirit and noise enough for the Unknown - Tongues of the Irvingites? And what but the spirit of silence will - conciliate the Quakers? All of them will require the abolition of your - bishopricks and other offices, while none of them will object, and all - will claim if a chance offer, to divide the Church Property among them. - The spirit of dissent, in matters of religion, prevailing in this country, - is nothing more than an infectious mental disease: with it, there is no - reason mixed. The moment it becomes a profit to lead such a congregation, - men of comparative talent as to capability will take it up and lead; and - thus the thing has gone on to confusion and mental distraction, because - the Church was not in a condition to defend itself and set a better - example. You cannot please one sect of the Dissenters, without increasing - the displeasure of the other: and thus your task is hopeless, on any other - ground than that which I propose, to beat them in the superior - communication of knowledge. - </p> - <p> - On the other hand, let us suppose the Church of England to begin to reveal - the mystery of Jesus Christ, which I define, and maintain, to consist of a - cultivation of the human mind, with all possible knowledge and reason; all - other Churches must instantly bow to its superiority. The effect among men - throughout the earth would be wonderful and intellectually electric. It is - the only system that can be imagined to be a Catholic Christianity, and - the very thing that is meant by the word Catholic, something alike suited - to the welfare of every man, and which presents the principle of a moral - equality, which is the only foundation for true liberty, and the only - guarantee for an improvement of public morals; one that would make the - Church an attraction to the wisest as well as to the most ignorant of men; - those as teachers, these as learners. - </p> - <p> - We may carry the idea farther; and as in the present state of mind, - millions in Europe and America are attached to an idea of the superiority - of the Church authorities at Rome, through ignorance and custom I grant, - but not less attached,—I would, to humour that conceit and turn it - to good, consent to make the Pope of Rome the centre of communication from - all parts of the earth for discovered knowledge, as it would be desirable - to have such a central recipient and fountain to give it forth again in - the best possible manner. This would accelerate the reconciliation of the - dissenting race, without an idea of dishonourable submission on the part - of an individual. Indeed, the perfection of my proposition is, that no man - can feel injury or degradation in the change. It is an overthrow of - nothing, but simply the development and better understanding of the - mystery that has existed since the world of human intellect began: the - revelation of that mystery; and, consequently, the completion or carrying - out of the true Christian scheme. - </p> - <p> - It is not to be expected, that, in a pamphlet letter, I can do more than - briefly notice a few leading points of this important subject; but I am - quite prepared to extend it through volumes, and shall go on so to do. I - am quite prepared to meet or be one of any commission on the subject. I - would willingly put my life upon the hazard of verifying my present views - of original Christianity. It would have been done in former ages, had the - printing press existed. Its doing now is consequent on the gradual power - of criticism which the Press has brought with it into existence. It is the - truth, and must prevail. It is the God in man. It is the Church of Christ, - against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail. They have certainly - prevailed against every other existing Church, and the whole of the past - is a wreck. - </p> - <p> - When speaking of the original Christian Religion, or of the revelation of - the mystery, I wish to be understood, as not meaning that the revelation - was ever before preached or openly taught to the human race on any part of - the earth. We have no evidence of it beyond the reasoning and moral - precepts of the philosophical world, which were not put forth as a scheme - or system of religion. But when it is confessedly the fact, that something - called a Christian scheme has been talked about for eighteen hundred - years; and when we can trace the fac simile of that something, even in its - whole nomenclature, principle and practice, through Greeks and Romans, - Persians and Hindoos, up to the Celtic Druids and earliest known universal - worship of Budha, the first personation of Jesus Christ now on record;—I - mean, that the mystery has been the only general public part of it, and - that the knowledge of the revelation was confined to the learned class and - ancient mysteries of all countries, was the esoteric doctrine of the - initiated into those mysteries; and the breaking up of those mysteries, - from the time of Alexander to the Augustan era, was the cause of the first - publication in writing of the books or traditions handed down through the - agency of those secret and sacred Associations, bearing the mystery only - on its surface and by the letter; and that after the mystery was so - published, the very ministers of it lost the revelation, which is what the - Freemasons profess to be in search of, the lost word, the word that I have - found and now declare, that the salvation by Jesus Christ is only to be - found in the increasing cultivation of the human mind with all attainable - knowledge; that the true worship of God has no other meaning, the root of - the word worship being to cultivate, and the field to be cultivated the - human mind; that repentance is reflection for improvement; the second - birth is the birth of mind, as distinguished from physical birth or birth - of body, the one describing the man Adam, the other the God Christ; and - that the kingdom of Heaven is to be established upon a general knowledge - and practice of this revelation, is to be upon this earth, in successive - generations of the human race, and not reasonably to be sought under any - other speculation, calculation or hope. These are not only possibilities - but probabilities, and immediate practicabilities, if the existing Devil - will be pleased to retire: if not, we must resist him, and, as we are - promised, on that condition, he will flee. - </p> - <p> - Such is the foundation of a Catholic Church, from which there can be no - dissent; for what is understood cannot be dissented from: the existing - dissent is ignorance dissenting from ignorance. In the common use of the - word, I am not a Dissenter; but a trier, prover, teacher, revealer of that - which is the true meaning of the mystery that has been through ignorance - the cause of the dissent. The personation of Deity in the written mystery - has been nothing more than a drama prepared for stage effect, which, to - the initiated only, would be matter of instruction or refreshment of - memory. The ancient mystery meant a play, a drama, in our modern sense; - but was first called a mystery, then a morality; was first private, and - afterwards made common to the public, and is now for the first time - revealed to the general understanding, through the instrumentality of the - printing press. - </p> - <p> - In my lecturings and discussions, both in town and country, I find this - revelation has a great charm among all classes who have good temper and - good manners to hear patiently. It is pure reason, pure knowledge, pure - translation of language; it clashes with no other man's knowledge, and I - have not found the man who can raise an argument against it. Of its final - and complete success in regenerating the world, I have not a doubt; it is - only a question of time. It is now a question, if you and the Parliament - will look at it. I know you well enough to know, that you will not like - its propounder; but who else has been ripe and bold enough to do it? Who - else deserves the honour of being its propounder; but I, its honest martyr - and zealous student, through a ten years' imprisonment? I call you to - witness my fidelity in this matter. I was your prisoner through four - years; you sanctioned the two years I had suffered before you came to the - Home Department: you sanctioned my imprisonment by Lord Melbourne, through - thirty-two months: and, by virtue of your office, you are sanctioning my - present imprisonment. I do not say this in anger. I am retaliating upon - you, as I would have you retaliate upon the Dissenters, by superior - knowledge. If you do not now or early take me by the hand, I shall drive - you out of the field of politics, and all who may succeed of your - disposition. - </p> - <p> - It is not to be denied, that there are moral exhortations put forth in - every Church; the mystery would not pass on the people without them. But - it is a truth, that, in all of them, morals are treated as a secondary - consideration; and in some of the madder dissenting Churches, are counted - as of no weight in the question of religion. The truth, as it is in Jesus, - is, that morals are every thing as to practice, and knowledge with - succeeding reason, the principles of speculation, the WORD to be sought, - or the prize to be gained, the crown of glory, the spiritual and immortal - life, which is emphatically the language of Saint John's Gospel; and this - is the totality of the root and principle of the Christian Religion, the - promotion of which is the only proper business of the ministration in the - Church. No mystery: down with mystery. It is the folly of the human race, - and worse than ignorance, or knowing, or confessing to know, nothing. - There is no Christ in the mystery. "How can we reason, but from what we - know?" The knowledge must be first. Nothing precedes knowledge but the - thing to be known. Nothing is required after; but a dealing with the thing - known by principle of reason. Unknown worlds, unknown spirits, unknown - matter, is nothing to us, until the knowledge is obtained. Our knowledge - is our all, in moral power, and we can have nothing of a religious nature - but our knowledge. Superstitious fears, we know to be the property or - sensation of ignorance and misconception. We are morally responsible for - nothing but an improper use of our knowledge. It is wickedness to teach - ignorance any other doctrine. - </p> - <p> - My Christian proposition for the Reform of the Church harmonizes with all - science, and clashes with nothing but positive error and wicked policy; - and I venture to tell you, that you can find no other scheme to produce - the same effect, and to give satisfaction to the present and to all future - generations of men, to make the Church "meet the respect and affections of - the people." - </p> - <p> - Each paltry sect now considers its tenets as a Catholic Faith; but the - truth is, as Dr. Oeddes well observed, "that what is Christian is - Catholic, and what is Catholic must be Christian;" but then, this follows, - that neither Christianity nor Catholicity will bear a union with the word - dissent, unless the dissenter be an intelligent corrector at the same - time: they are adverse to every admissible idea of undiscussed dissent. - All standing dissent is of the devil; while Christianity and Catholicity - are of God and Heaven. The multiplication table, the elements of Euclid, - the doctrines of the Trinity and Transubstantiation, the proved analysis - and composition of all known substances, are Catholic doctrines, from - which nothing but ignorance can dissent. The whole of the present Church - Ritual is a mass of words that conceal a truth; but that truth is not - known in the Church, cannot therefore be used or worshipped, and the words - can only be deemed the lumber of the memory: treating man as man treats a - parrot, teaching him constantly to exclaim "pretty Poll," without giving - him understanding whom or what "Poll" personates. - </p> - <p> - If I were to sit in Church through a morning or evening service, I should - have a perfect understanding of all the words used, and, consequently, - should be worshipping according to the limit of THE WORD there presented; - because I have in me the spirit of revelation. - </p> - <p> - But this is not the case with those who now attend the Church, their - attendance is upon form, ceremony, mystery, hypocrisy, which is the real - meaning of the whole present business of the Church: hypocrisy, or - dramatical acting, set forth in a mystery, without a mixture or - accompanying revelation; and like the flimsy gildings of a theatre, or the - spangles of an actress' dress, gilded over with a little moral - exhortation, that you may observe or not, as you please, so as you are a - cheerful payer of all dues, rates, and oblations. The first revision - wanted in the Church is a translation of the revelation from the dead - language of its mystery, into language comprehensible by all. Consequent - upon such a revision would be, that the parishioners would take the - management of their own Church Property into their own hands, and recover - and hold THEIR MOST SACRED RENT OF TITHE, on recovery of the knowledge - that they are the first and inalienable proprietors of the land. - </p> - <p> - My subject is so far novel as to justify a little repetition. That twice - two is four need not be repeated; but where the human being is enveloped - in a cloud of verbose mystery, that cloud can only be dispelled by - continued flashes of moral lightning. So I will return to methodical - statement. - </p> - <p> - The mystery of the existing Church, in all its grades of dissent, having - set forth and caused the belief of a temporal and local existence of the - personated principles of Deity, as distinct and separate from ourselves, - in imitation of the Pagan Mythology, and not as simulated beings; it is - requisite, as matter of proof, sooth and truth, that a case of clear human - history of the circumstances be first made out, the doing of which my - knowledge, after trial, challenges; and if that could be done, the more - difficult task would remain, to prove, that such beings, the authors of - such circumstances, as could be historically proved, were super-human. If - the first cannot be done, the clumsy mystery falls to the ground, as the - Dagon of the day, before historical criticism: and if the first be done, - and the second cannot bear the light of scientific and philosophical - criticism, the mystery is still but a mummery, which belief can no longer - prop, nor physical power farther propagate; it is thrown into the crucible - of moral criticism, and men will not longer consent to believe that the - same causes will demonstrate differing effects, nor that varying causes - may be made to demonstrate the same effect. - </p> - <p> - I have read in public prints of your creditable attendance at the Royal - Institution of Albemarle Street, on the demonstrative Lectures of Mr. - Faraday in the Science of Chemistry. When there, were you asked to believe - anything? - </p> - <p> - Was not everything demonstrated, so that the words were verified by the - acts of the Lecturer? If Mr. Faraday had played you <i>hocus pocus</i> or - legerdemain tricks, as a pretence of chemistry, would you have been - satisfied? If he had told you of strange and incomprehensible things, - which he could not demonstrate, would you have believed?—I think - not: I give you credit for a better state of mind. Take a lesson from the - inference, and grasp this truth, that the Royal Institution in Albemarle - Street is the best Church in the country, and is, in reality, the nearest - existing approach to the Catholic Church of Christ. It would be rational, - it would be wisdom, if all were spending their Church time at such - lectures, who are old enough to receive such instruction. - </p> - <p> - I hope it will not offend you, nor be an untruth, to say, that you learnt - something on every occasion of attending Mr. Faraday; that you, a - Secretary of State, there found you had something to learn; and that a - field was there opened to knowledge, which would, had it pleased you, - before all other occupation, have wisely and usefully engaged the whole - time of your remaining life. On the other hand, in the spirit of truth and - charity, but of free enquiry, allow me to ask, if you could ever say the - same, after an attendance at Church, on leaving, that you had learned - something that was, without pretence, matter of real learning, an - acquisition in knowledge possessed, that was not previously known in your - school-hours and as a matter of school-business, or that might not have - been learned from a book at home? - </p> - <p> - I extend the question, in asking, whether anything that may be taught a - boy at seven years of age, is improved on, by an attendance on the present - state of the Church to seventy or four score years of age? If not, and I - say—No, to what good purpose does this expensive establishment - exist? Or, may it not be put to a better purpose? and if it may, why not? - To talk about Church Reform, without doing something that shall tend to a - full amount of practical and permanent good, is to insult the Nation; - because the existing state of the Church is really a burthen and a - grievance, and of no general utility. - </p> - <p> - No Church was ever reformed by and with the consent of its Priesthood. I - am of opinion that the Bishops and Clergy ought not to be consulted in - this affair:—they are not the Church; but the ministers or servants - of the people, which form, or ought to form, the Church. A Royal or - Parliamentary Commission, with unlimited powers of enquiry, is the first - power necessary with which to commence this subject of Reform in the - Church. - </p> - <p> - If we did not know human nature, history affords the warrant, that the - Bishops and Clergy generally will follow the profits of the Church: those - in the reign of the Tudors changed back and forward five times from - Catholic to Protestant. But under this proposition of mine, what dignity - is evident in the change! Instead of making the Bishops overseers and the - Clergy generally actors of a drama, I purpose to put the whole structure - of the human mind under their superintendance and guidance: not to be - dealt with as now, but really to be educated in all attainable knowledge. - My purpose is as practicable as that any other person can teach any kind - of knowledge. Give the human being a better occupation of time, let the - human mind expand where it may, and you guarantee perpetual peace and - improvement, with dignity to every class of men, with injury to none. - </p> - <p> - The change which I propose will be tantamount to a national change from - diseased and crippled infancy to healthy adolescence. General man has not - yet had fair play. No Nation, the history of which is known, has made a - real effort to promote the happiness of all its members. Class has preyed - upon class; idleness has been claimed as a privilege on one side, and - slavery, through force, been made an inevitable duty on the other. For the - furtherance of such a state of society, superstition has been encouraged, - that a pompous class might be decorated to preach submission among the - labourers to the Spirit of Tyranny and Imposture that was riding riotously - over them. There can be no liberty and solid happiness among a - superstitious people; and all attempts, at what is called political - reform, that leave the people mentally rotting in superstition, will be - abortive. I take credit for one fact—that there has been no change - made in the political spirit of this country through any other medium than - warfare with superstition; for the baneful and blighting spirit of that - superstition admitted not of the thought of any other change. - </p> - <p> - There is a glimpse of light latent to show that all the monastic - institutions, the temples, the abbeys, priories, convents, nunneries, the - mysteries, the churches, synagogues, and oratories, were originally - instituted as schools of useful knowledge; and for what other good purpose - could they have been instituted? The better part of the human mind is now - making an effort to restore the purity of that state of things. Nothing - short of this can tend to harmonize the human race in their several - nations, with this improvement upon the past, that all, and not a class - only, be educated. It was this education of a class only that has created - all the mischief of superstitious society. The class educated has imposed - untruths upon the uneducated class, until education itself to that class - became swallowed up in imposture; and now both preacher and hearer may be - truly said to be alike ignorant of all the great truths that are important - to man, and necessary to social welfare. In the way in which the Bible is - now read, after being printed, no preachers or teachers are necessary: to - have been taught to read is sufficient. Give every man his Bible from - Church Property, after teaching him to read, and the present Church - business is completed: but much otherwise is my view of the subject. There - is not a man living that has now a thorough understanding of the contents - and meaning of the Bible. Many are working for the restoration of its lost - science; and it is a subject worthy of a Church. - </p> - <p> - It may startle a First Lord of the Treasury into new thought, to be told, - that neither of the Books of the Bible is a piece of human history, not a - history of beings like you, me, or any one else. I have given up all idea - of the kind as untenable and indefensible. It may startle the Chancellor - of the Exchequer, who is supposed to have the counting or reckoning of - millions of money yearly, and contemplating that Giant of Despair—the - Debt, to be told, that the Bible is fundamentally a mathematical book; and - that he who does not so understand it, understands it not at all, or but - in a very small degree, as to its moral bearing. The Duke of Sussex can - give you an opinion on this head, as to the Bible being a book of - algebraical science; though, perhaps, he would not like to say it applied - to astronomical motion, and was a record of time so calculated through - myriads of ages. A Bishop should understand this. It is a book of much - more importance than has been made of it in the last thousand years in - England. If the Bishops were required to have studied this book before - they took office, we should find them generally as lean and as sallow as a - lawyer who has to wade through the statutes at large, and law reports as - large, for his sort of knowledge; a knowledge that I do not like, and will - have none of, but what is forced upon me. No kind of knowledge is - requisite to make a modern Bishop. The very origin of the title of a - Bishop is that of an astronomical seer, a looker-out or overseer of the - subordinate offices of science. There is a plenty of work, so as to allow - of no idleness in any office of the Church, if justice be done to the - people; and I will not grudge a thousand pounds a-year as a salary to a - competent Bishop, or even more than that, if the Property of the Church - will afford it. Ignorant fools they must have been, to have allowed so - important, so honourable and dignified an office to become corrupt, and to - fall into disrepute among the people. - </p> - <p> - This algebraical reading of the Bible subdues all idea of contradiction to - any science, geology for instance, chemistry or any other science, as well - as of the apparent language of the book in letter to letter. For instance, - the letter-objecting Infidels have laid great stress on Moses being set - forth as having seen God; when the author of the Gospel according to Saint - John says "No man hath seen God at any time." This is ignorantly set down - as a clear contradiction. The explanation is, that <i>Moses was not a man</i>; - and then there is no appearance of contradiction. One is mythologically, - and the other morally, true. - </p> - <p> - The Hebrew and Greek alphabets, being numerical as well as literal signs, - which was probably the case with all other ancient languages, and these - accumulating large numbers, by additional points, it is impossible that we - can have a clear understanding of the meaning of their mythological sacred - books, without a full algebraical knowledge of the language; and this - explains how the letter killeth or stupifieth, while the spirit or - knowledge of the entire meaning alone giveth life or understanding. The - deepest investigators of the Hebrew Bible of this day maintain that it - should be algebraically understood as a book of astronomical science—as - a record of time by astronomical motion, which, physically speaking, can - alone be the WORD OF THE WORKS OF GOD. - </p> - <p> - The only true religion must be founded in man's reasonable comprehension; - all other pretences to it are presumptions and nonsense to be condemned. - We may as properly speak of religious horses and cows, as of men who are - ignorant of the subject, substance and meaning, of what is religion. Saint - Anthony's preaching to fishes is not without its simile in the practical - part of that which has been mistakenly called the Christian Religion. That - which is in practice, under the name of the Christian Religion, among many - grades of Dissenters, is a disgrace to the government of the country, and - to the name of civilized society: it grows worse and worse. Madness is - beginning to be added to mystery; or is now produced by the mystery - without the key of revelation. Through revelation there can be healthy - excitement and enthusiasm; but none through mystery. - </p> - <p> - Our King is not now the head of a Church, nor the King of a People: he can - only be truly described as the head or King of Dissenters, which is an - office much more troublesome and dangerous than honourable. To his - Ministers, the present state of religious mind must be a prolific source - of trouble; and has, I believe, made them persecutors, where the - inclination of their own hearts was not coincident with the act. The - Dissenters are now much less tolerant than the law-established Church; and - if they are not undermined by my proposition, it will not take them many - years to undermine that Church, or to demand a share of its property. To - be able to see this, it is only necessary that we be acquainted with the - workings of human nature, where not under the controul of knowledge. - </p> - <p> - I am not content that the Established Church shall stand merely as one - among Dissenting Churches; no Minister of State should be so content: the - King is thereby dishonoured, and the State in disorder. I would have it a - Church morally dominant and militant against all error, as it always - should be, and as it was in the beginning. The meaning of the word - militant has been entirely lost, in the growth of mystery and decay of - revelation in the Church. There is a great talk now about revelation, or - of something revealed in the Church; but there is no reality in the - revelation. There is a mystery pregnant with revelation; but not in itself - the revelation. It is a fountain of knowledge, but the genius of man must - draw it out. It is good for nothing, but has caused a world of mischief, - where read and understood as merely by the letter, as we read an ordinary - book of history. The Church now wants the revelation or spirit. Not one of - those existing has a particle of spirit. - </p> - <p> - My proposition for a Reform will annihilate infidelity as well as dissent. - There is no infidelity toward knowledge. It has been ignorance all - through, on both sides, that has raised the cry of infidelity: each has - been unequal to teaching. The Infidel has rejected that literal reading - which the professing believer could not defend; because he did not - understand its relation, as mystery to revelation. Both, in fact, have - been alike Infidels. If I have been the chief of Infidels, I will atone - for it in becoming the chief defender of revelation, and the faith, as it - is in Christ Jesus, and not as it is in any Dissenting Church. Already the - ignorant Infidels murmur at what they mistakenly call my apostacy, while - no member of any existing Church holds out a hand to my welcome. - </p> - <p> - As the Church goes now, it is not required that its Ministers be learned - men: they have nothing to do for which talent is requisite—it is a - mere school-boy's task; and even among the Dissenters, where the prayer - and preaching is extemporaneous, it is not learning, but memory and habit, - that are required. In the Church, as I would have it reformed, not only - learning but talent to teach would be necessary; and the Ministers would - rise to Bishoprics, not through family or political interest, but through - preparation and capability to fill the office; for it would be required of - them to be first-rate scholars and practical men in display of science, - that sort of science, too, of which they are now so much afraid—the - unlimited knowledge of things, rather than of languages. - </p> - <p> - In what class of ages do we place the dark ages of man's history? To whose - account are they placed? To the Pagan, Jew, Mahometan, Infidel, or whose? - I blush for the Church when I consider it—to the account of that <i>misnomer</i>, - the <i>Christian Church!</i> So your pretended light to lighten the - Gentiles, made them all darker, did it? Yes, it did and does, as your - Church has mistaken it! And none of you are yet out of the fog created by - the mystery. Not one of you has gained light of mind sufficient to dispel - a particle of that fog of the dark ages. You are all, as Churchmen, as - dark as any of those who lived in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, or any - other century; talk about your Reformation, Printing Press, Bible - Societies, Dissenters, or what you please! The admission which has been - made, not by the adversary, but by the Church itself, that the dark ages - are within its reign, is decisive of the question as between me and any - who may oppose me. Let it not be said, that the fault was in the Roman - Catholic Church, and that it has been removed. I deny the assumption; the - fault is not removed, nor has any Church made the least improvement on - that called Roman Catholic. The fault lies in the remaining unrevealed - mystery of the Church and the Sacred Scriptures. As far as Church is in - question, this Nation is as dark as ever it was, and such is the case - throughout Europe. There is much thick darkness to be yet dispelled; - before our gentility is enlightened. We are precisely in the same error as - the Hindoos, to whom we send Missionaries; and though we talk about - civilization, we have it not. Our general state of society would shock the - moral feelings of an American Indian. There are, in reality, but two - distinct states of society: the superstitious and the civilized, the dark - and the light. Can any man reasonably say, that we have yet passed the - superstitious state? Are we not rather in the very depth of it; the light - of a few individuals, now and then visible, acting upon the whole like - flashes of lightning on a dark night, are seen and spent quickly, lost or - buried in the general darkness, though effects may be left? The liberty - which I have won in prison, to make the printing press bear upon this - darkness, is the first unextinguished light that has been set up and kept - burning. I now desire to light the seven candles of the English Church - from my lighted torch. I would not be presumptuous if I saw any other man - putting himself forward to propose this necessary business. It is not in - me conceit: it is a passionate desire to do good and to leave the world - better than I found it. So many years of imprisonment (this being the - tenth) must shorten the period of my life, so I grow the more anxious to - do the more while I remain a bubble on the sea of matter borne. Not that I - despair of eternal life, but I learn from the Gospel that I must provide - it for myself. - </p> - <p> - In the present state of the Church, there is no sufficient and - satisfactory motive given for keeping holy the sabbath-day; there is no - reason given for holding a sabbath. I state it as a necessary civil - institution for the improvement of the human mind, since labour to live is - the condition of life. While the honest labourer is following his social - avocation through six days, I would have his children going through a - course of education by the Ministers in the Church, their especial office—"suffer - little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the - kingdom of Heaven"—and on the seventh, or sabbath day, I would have - such discourses, such teaching in the Church, as should be suitable to the - united presence of both old and young. This would be a satisfactory motive - to keep that day holy; and such, as far as I can see, was the evident - purpose of the Sabbath and of the Christian Church. No other use of the - Church can be more hallowed; no purpose more sacred; no employment more - dignified to the minister as well as to the people. When Peter, in the - Gospel, is called upon to feed the lambs of Christ, what was meant?—to - feed them with grass? No! to feed the infants of the Church with true and - useful knowledge; not to do which is treason to society and breach of - trust in the Ministers of the Church. Oh! here is a fine field open, in - which the lambs may gambol and grow up in spiritual stature, without - living to be led like sheep to the slaughter! Knowledge is the proper - business of the Church, and the people's only spiritual interest; and this - is the foundation of a Catholic Church and of a Christian Religion, that - is to bring peace on earth and good-will among men, which have not yet - been seen, notwithstanding the supposed promise of the mistaken mystery - for the last seventeen hundred years, so many centuries of a sinking state - of things, of a fall of man from the light into dark ages! Let there be - light in the Church and the people shall be enlightened. The true Church - is now eclipsed by the mystery, and is a dark body. The knowledge of the - revelation will be the extinction of the mystery, the light of the Church, - and the salvation of the people from war, pestilence and famine. - </p> - <p> - That revelation, according to the gospel itself, I take to be, that, as - knowledge is the only distinction between man and any other animal, the - more can be accumulated for him in the Church, the more good will be done, - and the more he will be saved from evil. Existing things can alone be the - subject of man's knowledge, and it is of more importance to him to know - their properties than their time or history. Now, nothing of the - properties of existing things is taught in the Church; but through the - medium of the mystery remaining unrevealed, unexplained, or untranslated - in our language, every thing is falsified to man's credulous view and - consideration, by the ministers of the Church; nature appears to him - distorted, and he lives without certainty, and dies deceived as to the - future. Knowledge is as infinite as existing things, and man's power of - acquisition illimitable. It is, then, a proper labour and business, and - moral duty, of each generation of men, to leave behind them, for their - successors, the largest possible amount of knowledge. This is true wealth, - and will increase the value of all other wealth: without knowledge, other - wealth is mere animal gratification. The spirit of knowledge gives life - and new properties to everything, as far as man's use of it be in - question. The Church is the proper fountain of this knowledge; should be - the public library, the parish laboratory for investigations, the school - for infants and adults, and everything that is auxiliary to the - acquisition and extension of knowledge. From all I can trace, I verily - believe that such was the original purpose and construction of the - Christian Church; and that back to this it may be easiest and best - reformed. - </p> - <p> - I am confirmed in the opinion, that putting knowledge under the form of an - allegorical mystery, for the purpose of confining it to a class, has been - the cause of the mistake and its declension, and of the scholar's fall - from a former higher estate of knowledge. Decidedly do I conclude, that - our stock of knowledge is much below the quantity possessed some two or - three thousand years ago, when the holders of the sacred books held the - revelation with the mystery. I am sure it may be recovered, if fairly and - earnestly sought. I see an impulse gathering over both Europe and America - for the recovery of that knowledge. The Church was instituted to become - the repository of knowledge; and all would have gone on well, but for the - ancient system of deceiving what were and are called the vulgar—of - having a double doctrine, the exoteric and esoteric, telling the people - one thing and understanding quite another among themselves. Such were - deceivers and not teachers of the people; and though the revelation has - really been lost, lost I may say, as a just punishment for the wickedness - of so deceiving the people, the successive Clergy has been ignorantly - deceivers and not teachers of the people. They have inherited the exoteric - or mysterious doctrine, and have not inherited the esoteric doctrine or - the revelation of the mystery. This they have to learn, before they can - reform their Church, or, before any one can reform it for them. - </p> - <p> - I am confident enough to say, that you have no other ground on which to - reform the Church, than that which I am proposing. Whatever other step you - take will only be an aggravation of the evil of which you have now to - complain; or of which others complain. If the Bishops have one item of - wisdom among them, they will take me by the hand, and put their houses in - order this way: if not, you and they may dissipate the existing Church - Property, which you say you will not do; and after, we shall begin to form - such a-new, and recover what we can of that property. I shall not despair - of taking an active part in this thorough Reform of the Church while life - remains: the People can do it for themselves, if Clergy, Ministers and - King will not consent. It is what I began to do in my house in the year - 1828, in critical and philosophical lectures and free discussion on the - Sunday: an example which I am happy to see followed in many parts of this - metropolis, and which will go on, if it be not cordially met, until it - swallows up the Church and all the Churches. - </p> - <p> - The true meaning of Church, is STATE OF MIND. Church is the state of mind. - It is not made up of building and clergy; but of the people, the proper - depositaries of mind. Property belonging to the Church is property - belonging to the People, sacred to the preservation, strengthening, and - increase of mind or knowledge. It has been monopolized dishonestly by the - Clergy; and, in that sense, they have been robbers as well as deceivers of - the people. This is the matter to be reformed, and nothing short of this - will be reform. In Tithes, the people stand as the original proprietors of - the land, the true inheritors of its tithes and first-fruits. Other rent - is a minor consideration of value in labour or capital bestowed on the - land. We must come back to this by some means or other. - </p> - <p> - The office of King, as head of the Church, is a clerical office—the - crown both of the Church and the State; and, for the sustentation of its - true splendour and dignity, the man or woman filling the office should be - the first scholar and most wise and virtuous being of the Nation. Whether - this is a principle to be conveyed by hereditary descent, I do not stop to - enquire; but the true hereditary principle of church office is talent and - moral character; upon which, I doubt if any improvement can be made for - purposes of state. Originally, in this island, Church and State were but - one. The branching into two has been the result of wars and evil passions, - to distinguish between the instructive and the destructive offices, - hierarchy founded upon knowledge would be equal to all that society wants - as government. State, as well as Church, signifies the People. As the - latter relates to their minds, knowledge, or spiritual affairs, so the - former expresses their politics and civil arrangements, their local and - temporal affairs: they may be well united in one common interest, and - under one common authority, in the reign of a people devoted to the - acquisition of knowledge. - </p> - <p> - It is matter of curious observation to see how the use of names among - political parties is abused, and how they get reversed in applicable - meaning. The class that has lately taken the title of Conservatives, is - the class that, by the showing of this letter, has been destructive of - everything valuable in our Institutions, so that we have the name only - left, without any virtuous principle that formerly existed in those - Institutions. We have the evidence of this in all the present difficulties - of the country, both in Church and State. The ancestors of this class have - not known how, or not cared to preserve those ancient Institutions in - their original purity; and the class now wanted is the class of - Restoratives, of men whose knowledge, wisdom, honesty and virtue, will - enable them to purge out the accumulated errors of centuries, and restore - the Institutions of the country to their pristine purity. I grant that - this class is not found among the men who are commonly called or claim to - be called Radical Reformers: there is as much ignorance in that class as - in any other. But they certainly are not likely to be more destructive - than they who call themselves Conservatives; for these have left nothing - to be destroyed. The true and real aim of the men now called Radicals is - to begin something a-new. Their profession of respect for existing - Institutions is hollow, hypocritical and deceitful. I have had - acquaintance enough with them to know that; and more than for the - reminiscence of which I can now find respect. Still they will supersede - both Tory and Whig, if these do not something upon the principle of a true - restoration of Institutions to original and best principles. I would have - the Radicals treated as the Dissenters: leave them no ground of complaint, - and so annihilate them. A wise King or a wise Minister would see that the - time is now come at which that step should be taken, and that further - delays will be dangerous to every man in office. Necessary Institutions, - if destroyed for a time, will rise again. I fear no kind of change as to - the prospect of future advantage. - </p> - <p> - Is not the idea horrible, and of the worst description, that a Church and - King, or Church and State, should exist and hold together on no better - tenure than a military power; than that of an army constantly under arms - to keep the people from carrying their complaints to an extent - disagreeable or alarming to the men in office? Yet such is all that you - can boast of in the present state of the Institutions of the country. - These Institutions did not originate under the protection of an army; nor - did they, at their origination, require an army to protect and keep them - in existence. An army is a disgraceful appendage, and destructive of every - good principle in the Church:—it is not an honourable appendage to - the office of King. To the people, it is a burthen and an immoral pest; - less requisite in this island than in a continental nation. Give the - people knowledge in their Churches, and they will soon dispense with an - army. - </p> - <p> - Evils accumulate because there is error at the bottom. There is now no - People's Church: it is, as now existing, a Church of the Clergy, - engrossing and wasting a large property of the people's due to a most - valuable social purpose. The Dissenters have only made the matter worse, - in new exactions for no new benefits. Not one tittle of good, not a - particle of utility, now proceeds from the Clergy toward the people. They - are obstacles to the people's welfare, and their use of means of provision - for a new and better Church. - </p> - <p> - God is the subject of man's adoration. But what is God? Man is but an - idiot if he professes adoration beyond his understanding. Indeed, worship - is but a synonymy of reason and its cultivation; and as we say:—<i>how - can we reason but from what we know?</i> so we may as truly say:—<i>how - can we worship what we do not know?</i> There is no worship without - knowledge; all other pretence to it is idolatry and superstition. I have - not space to enter upon this topic largely here; but a voluminous treatise - on the word GOD will be the subject of my next Essay. For the purpose of - this illustration of what the Church is, and what it ought to be, I can - say correctly, that God, as the aggregate of existence, is known to be a - physical and moral power. We have distinct ideas of this two-fold power. - The American Indians, who speak of God as a Great Spirit, make the best - general definition of the word that can be made, and appear to me to have - the clearest, purest and wisest idea of Deity, as far as the regulation of - their actions by that word is in question,—the pursuit of knowledge, - by the use of letters and figures excepted. It corresponds with the - emphatic declaration of the Gospel according to Saint John, chap. iv., v. - 24:—"God is a Spirit, and they that worship must worship in spirit - and in truth"—which means what I have before stated, that they must - know what they worship before they can worship. There is evidence of - physical as well as moral spirit. Both are seen in man, and constitute - what may be termed the Spirit of Man. The one in man is worshipped or - cultivated by attention to health; the other by attention to mental - improvement or increased acquisition of knowledge. Speaking of God, as the - aggregate and source of physical and moral spirit, of which man is a part - or unit, we experience that we cannot alter our physical construction, or - physical spirit, other than by attention to rules of health in the law of - nature; but we can, by study and labour, greatly alter the state of mind - or moral spirit. It is here we draw from God as from a fountain; and this - asking, seeking, drawing from God, constitutes the whole principle of - right prayer and worship, and the structure of the true Christian Church; - other than which, I declare, is worship of the Devil and not of God. And I - do not shrink from saying, that, as revelation is light and knowledge of - God, and mystery is darkness and presence of the Devil, there has not - through the last fifteen hundred years, the dark ages, throughout Europe, - been carried on any other kind of worship than Devil-worship, and evil has - been the fruit thereof. It was under this knowledge that I was moved to - exhibit the effigy of the Devil arm in arm with the Bishop, in the front - of my house and in several prints, for which I am now suffering - imprisonment, like all other martyrs to truth, punished for acting upon my - knowledge. My purpose was good, to open the eyes of my neighbours and - passers by. It might have inconvenienced some of them; but such is the - effect of every newly-published truth in eradication of error: your Reform - of the Church, be it what it may, will inconvenience the Bishops and some - of the Clergy. There would be no Devil, if there were not pleasure in Hell - as well as in Heaven; as pardon can be had by asking for it. If all evil - were naturally punished, we should not want penal laws. - </p> - <p> - As true worship is a getting of a knowledge of God, so it follows, that - the Ministry of the Church should consist of a teaching that knowledge, - which is not now the case; for nothing as knowledge is in the Church - taught. - </p> - <p> - There can be nothing more clear in mathematical demonstration, than that, - as God is a Spirit, of which man may partake, the participation must - increase with that only which can increase in man—the amount of his - knowledge. The whole declaration of the Christian Creed, read by the - spirit, is, that God is the Spirit of Knowledge, the thing known, the - principle of omniscience; and that man approaches and lives with God, as - his mind expands in the accumulation of knowledge. A Bishop may write or - preach spiritually or metaphysically by the year, and he can make no more - of the word God, of his Church, or of himself, than I have made. The - subject now wants a radical reform in the human mind. - </p> - <p> - I have mentioned, in a former page, that the Jews can trace no nationality - to the time of the Emperor Alexander of Macedon. The highest antiquity - that can be given to them as a colony, is the time of Ptolomy Lagus, who - began to encourage science and literature in Alexandria; and, from that - time, nothing but a colony could they have ever been. It is not in a - nationality that the original character of a Jew is to be estimated, but - in a philosophic character dispersed among the nations; a people devoted - to science; and so a chosen or select, because a learned people. There is - no resemblance in character between an ancient and a modern Jew:—the - name is an Asiatic name of God; and can only apply to a race of men in the - sense of having perfected human nature, which it is very probable the - ancient Jews had done, as far as it was then possible to do it, according - to the system of initiation, through a series of discipline, into all the - schools and mysteries of that time and country. The first public reference - to a stated existence of the Books of the Old Testament is the reign of - Ptolomy Philadelphus. Egypt appears to have been the only country in which - it can be said that a series of Kings gave encouragement to science, which - appears, as far as history is witness, to have brought in the Augustan - era. It became, as far as wars and tumults would permit, fashionable so to - do, until superstition overwhelmed it and usurped all its names, leading - on to the dark ages of what has been since mis-called the Christian era. - Cultivation of science is the restorative power, and the only public or - private act that confers true dignity on man. This is the only remedy for - the disorder of the Church; and I have introduced this historical view of - the Jewish name, to show how flimsy is that web of superstition which has - been woven in the existing Church on the foundation of a supposed national - history and origin of the Jews. Truth nowhere finds opposition in fact, - date, or principle: error is opposed by endless proofs of the kind. - </p> - <p> - It remains now only that I give an outline of the historical defects of - the present received view of the mystery of the Christian Religion, and - then draw to a conclusion. - </p> - <p> - No record extant, or referred to, that, having been written in the first - century, has mentioned the human existence of an individual of the name of - Jesus Christ. - </p> - <p> - A passage now in Josephus is a declared interpolation, inasmuch as it was - first known to the world in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, - written in the fourth century, after Photius and Origen, of the third - century, had written, that Josephus had not made mention of Jesus Christ. - </p> - <p> - In the writings of Philo Judĉus, an Alexandrian Jew of the first century, - much is said about the Logos, in carrying out the philosophy of Plato; but - not a word about Jesus Christ. - </p> - <p> - Pliny the younger, in his letter to the Emperor Trajan, written from - Bythinia between the years 106 and 112, is the first to mention the name - of Christ. This mention is as of a God and not as of a man: no reference - is made to Judea or to Jews; and the worshippers of this God he describes - under the name of Christians, and as having long existed as a sect in that - province. He writes as if he had heard nothing of the sect at Rome, and - describes their worship as an excessive superstition. - </p> - <p> - The passage in Tacitus is rejected, as not noticed by Eusebius or any one - before the fifteenth century; that it was found in a copy by Johannes de - Spire at Venice. - </p> - <p> - This brings us to Justin Martyr, who can only be considered a Christian of - the Platonic order, making no reference to Gospels or Epistles. - </p> - <p> - Thence we come to St. Irenĉus, Bishop of Lyons, who has very much the - appearance of a Druidical Bishop rather than as a newly-appointed - Christian Bishop. Irenĉus mentions the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke - and John, and gives the reason why there should be four; as because there - are four seasons in the year. He has many other allegorical extravagancies - in his writings, and is not deemed the most respectable of the Fathers of - the present Church. - </p> - <p> - In the third century, and toward the latter part of that century, near - three hundred years after the supposed birth of the man Jesus Christ, we - have a recognition of all the Books in the New Testament, which received - the stamp of the authority of a Council of Bishops, as a selection from - many similar and dissimilar books under similar titles, in the fourth - century; but whether the revelation of the mystery was then understood by - the Bishops does not appear. - </p> - <p> - The Epistles of the New Testament have no dates nor reference to any - persons who were known to have lived at any particular time. They are not - supported by, nor do they support, the Gospels. The idea of allegorism - prevailed in the third century. - </p> - <p> - The Christian era was not reduced to chronology until the sixth century; - and that chronology was very little used or referred to until the tenth, - that the era of the Hegira of Mahomet had come much into use. The real - struggle of the present Christian Church was not with the Pagan but with - the Mahometan Religion, and they are near a balance of numerical power to - this day. A battle in France, in the reign of Charles Martel, checked the - progress of the Mahometans, and saved the entire overthrow of the - mysterious Christian Church on the continent of Europe. There was a much - greater similarity between the Pagan and the Christian, than between the - Christian and the Mahometan Religion. - </p> - <p> - I have no objection to the religion of the Jew or the Christian, that is - founded on the spiritual reading of the Bible. Mahometanism is superior to - both, while founded on the reading of the letter. The restoration of the - Jews to original character and the millennium of the Christians is only to - be brought about by the spiritual reading, which will lead to a devotion - to science. The future Temple of the New Jerusalem must be a Temple - devoted to the promulgation of truth and all sciences, and such must be - the Church of Rome, and such our English Church, under any real state of - reformation. - </p> - <p> - The practical part of my proposition for a Reform in the Church, is, that - all indefensible superstition or mystery be banished or explained, that it - be made the best possible general school for the people, to which the - knowledge of the time is equal; that the people being the Church, and the - Ministers not being the Church, the property of the Church in each parish - shall be managed by the parishioners as their property, and the best - provision be made with that property, including tithes, that can be made - for all the physical and moral necessities of the people. The property - must be put under some authority, cannot be allowed to remain as it is, - cannot be well put under extra parochial authority; but may be well and - honestly left to parochial management, as the property of the parish. - </p> - <p> - As our Institutions were all so first arranged for this purpose, so it - will be found, that every thing emanating will fall back easily into its - natural, moral, and original use. I cannot see the least difficulty, - beyond the dishonesty and reluctance to yield of existing spirit. Such as - are so weak in mind as to desire the present Church ceremony, may have it - as long as they like, so as they do not exclude more useful business. I - repeat, that, if the Bishops and Clergy be wise, they will take this - advice: if they do not, they will very soon be where their predecessors - were in the seventeenth century, not to be restored again. - </p> - <p> - I flatter myself, that, in this letter, I have produced a pamphlet that - will not be dead-born. As far as possible, or as clearness of purpose - would permit, I have endeavoured to avoid the use of offensive language. - Whatever the world may think of me, I know nothing more of myself, than - that of having a passion to be useful, to my country and fellow-men - generally, in and previous to the critical coming time of change. It is - not now to be mistaken as near. It is near, and very near. The present - system may be dragged on through several years; but no one can insure it a - twelve months' existence. I know that all bad passions are allied to - ignorance, and I desire to see all those passions softened down by - knowledge. I am sure that the new man, the spiritual man, the good and - moral man, must be created by knowledge and independent individuality of - action; and as I prefer (the Government having the choice) a moral to any - other revolution, brought about by words rather than by harder and harsher - weapons, I feel, that I have but performed a social, a civil, and a - religious duty, in presenting this letter to your notice. That it may be - read, marked, learned and inwardly digested, is the prayer of - </p> - <p> - Your humble Servant, - </p> - <p> - And prisoner in the business of Church Reform, - </p> - <p> - RICHARD CARLILE. - </p> - <p> - Giltspur Street Compter, - </p> - <p> - January 29,1835. - </p> - <p> - TENTH YEAR OF IMPRISONMENT. - </p> - <div style="height: 6em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Church Reform, by Richard Carlile - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHURCH REFORM *** - -***** This file should be named 40211-h.htm or 40211-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/2/1/40211/ - -Produced by David Widger - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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