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THE DISSENTING WORLD.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY,

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iW. BREWIN GRANT, B.A

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FROM THE LIBRARY OF
REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D

BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO
THE LIBRARY OF

PRINCETON T ZOLOGICAL SEMINARY

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in 2012 with funding from

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CEMETERY-ROAD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

BUILT IN CONNECTION WITH THE REV, BREW1N GRANT'S
EFFORTS TO FOUND A MISSION CHURCH.

THE /<$> '

v ( JAN 22 1933 "'•

DISSENTING WORLD: ^

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

//
BY THE REV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A,

Congregational Minister of Twenty-five Years' Standing.

" Some of the Pharisees said unto Him: — ■ Are we blind also V
(John ix. 40.)

" Tile igitur numquam direxit braehia contra

" Torrentem : nee civii erat, qui libera posset

'• Verba animi proferre, et vitam impendere vero."— Jdvenalis Sat iv.

" Sapienter vitam instituit namq ; hoe tempore

" Obsequium amicos, Veritas odium, parit." — Tkbentii Andbia.

THIRD EDITION, WITH PORTRAIT.

NEW YOEK:
THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY,

119 & 121, Nassau Street.
1869.

THE DISSENTING WORLD : AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

ADDRESS TO THE READER.

"When I began this life I did not know how it would end.

A critical lady posed me at Christmas with the question — How I should put
an end to my life ? The assumption being that I ought not to conclude with a
semicolon, like the one described by T. Carlyle, who died with an unfinished
sentence onhis lips — " Aber " " But," —

Indeed, as even a novel requires a catastrophe to render it absorbing, something
of this kind seemed required to put a period to my Autobiography.

This was provided by the officials of the Congregational Union, by an act
which Dr. Parker described to the Assembly of that Union, in Sheffield,
186G, as " amounting to ministerial deposition ; in fact, a species of
excommunication, and fraught with the gravest consequences to indi-
vidual ministers."

That act was "the removal of a name" from the list of accredited Con-
gregational Ministers, which, so far as can be done by the Union, deprives the
minister of status and usefulness, and his children of bread. If at the time when
the axe falls he is out of a pastorate, as I am, it is next to impossible to get into
one again. His reputation is gnawn at, and his persecutors are bound to malign
him in honour to themselves, as their only safe and consistent course : and all
that is said, like all that is done, is, " What the ancients of the house of Israel
do in the dark." (Ez. viii. 12.)

As the Kev. Dr. Falding, of Rotherham College, observed of a similar case — in
which he was accused by the editor of the Year Book of being the executioner,
— though this term is properly applied to one who acts by legal authority — •' The
other side of this case had never been made public." The reason for avoiding
publicity is founded on a text of Scripture : — John iii. 20.

I was not aware that this act had been perpetrated, at the very time I was
asked what end I should put to my life ?

I learned my ministerial execution by obtaining, through the post, a copy o
the " Congregational Year Book for 1869."

It was a secret execution by the Congregational Inquisition — it executed
Congregationalism.

If any should wonder that I place my death before my life, the answer is —
that this is the style of the noble army of martyrs.

Undoubtedly it is in every sense reversing the ordinary course of events, and
contrary to the usual literary construction of a book, which should leave the

IV. ADDRESS TO THE READER.

interest to accumulate to the end, to see " how it will turn out." But then it
may awaken a new sort of interest, namely, the curiosity to learn why it should
turn out so ?

The reader is therefore requested to examine the course of my life, in order
to account for the manner of my death. Providentially my passport has been
viseed, — examined and signed as correct, — at every frontier through which I
have passed in the tour of this world.

Living witnesses and documentary evidence can be adduced for every fact
alleged in this history. If any shall say that it is egotistical they must consider
that this is an Autobiography, and that wherein I am praised it is generally by
others, and therefore is not properly to be charged with this sin ; though in "self-
defence one may defend one's self.

The highest praise is that afforded by my enemies in the " removal of my
name from the list of accredited Congregational ministers ; " since it not only
acknowledged that I could not be answered, but that I was important enough to
be persecuted, and that it was necessary to silence me by the only possible
process, that described by De Foe, whose life is very much like mine, for he
lived in the same collision of interests, and was treated as all wits are by dull
people ; his defences of Dissent and Protestantism against the astute-
ness of Jesuits and the simplicity of Dissenters, were sometimes resented by
those who, being blind, were also unwilling to be defended and guided by a man
who could see.

" He saw the men who could not answer Algernon Sydney's Book erect a
scaffold to take off his head." •

It was truly said of James the Second — " His unwearied sole endeavour
was to establish the Roman Catholic religion in England. When the church
that had declared resistance unchristian" did resist, " The dissenters became
his hope. If he could array dissent against the church there was an entrance
yet for Rome." This is Rome's only door still — in the name of liberty and
equality — which she waits to destroy. " De Foe understood both game and
gambler. "We could name no man of the time who understood them so clearly
as this young trader of Cornhill. He saw the false position of all parties, the
blundering clash of interests, the wily complications of policy."* " He exposed
the conduct of the King, as in plain words a fraudulent project to create a feud
between Dissenters and the Establishment, and so to destroy both in the end."

" This advice and warning were urged in two masterly publications. The Dis-
senters condemned them and took every occasion to disclaim their author.
De Foe had looked for no less." He said, " He that will serve men must
not promise himself that he shall not anger them. I have been exercised in
this usage even from a youth. I had their reproaches when I blamed their
credulity and confidence in the flatteries and caresses of Popery, and when I
protested against addresses of thanks for an illegal liberty of conscience
founded on a dispensing power." " He was thus early initiated in the transcendant
art of thinking and standing alone. Whosoever can do this manfully will find
himself least disposed to be alone when any great good thing is in progress.
De Foe would have worked with the meanest men opposed to him in the busi-
ness of the nation's deliverance." *

* Edinburgh Review, October 1845.

Broomhall Park, Sheffield, October,

CONTENTS

PAGE.

Chapter i. — Birth and Training, up to getting ready for

College, 1821-1837 9

Chapter ii. — Preparing for and going to College, 1838-43 .. 15

Chapter iii. — Studying for, and at Glasgow University, first

session, 1843-4 26

Chapter iv. — Summer vacation and Second Session at

Glasgow University, 1844-5 ... ... ... ... 39

Chapter v. — The opening Campaign of Life — Seeking a

" Settlement," 1845-7 55

Chapter vi. — Removal to Birmingham, and acquaintance with

Dr. Newman and his Three Shams, 1848-52 61

Chapter vii. — "A great door and effectual is opened to me"
for a three years' " Mission to the Working Classes ;"
recommended by the Rev. John Angell James, sup-
ported by Samuel Morley, Esq., but contrary to the
express desire of Mr. G. J. Holyoake, 1650-54 65

Chapter viii. — Method of conducting my three years' Mission,

with specimens of Infidel Questions and Christian Answers 75

VI.

Chapter ix. — Discussion with Mr. George Jacob Holyoake,

in Cowper-street, London, 1852 ... ... ... ... 81

Chapter x. — The 'Rivulet' Controversy: "What's it all

about?" 1855-6 ' 96

Chapter xi. — What is negative Theology, and what does it
lead to ?. or, the. Transition period from " Baptism in the
Rivulet" to New College "Christian Faith," 1856 ... 109

Chapter xii. — The Glasgow Debate and its Lectures, 1854 ... 119

Chapter xiii. — Candidating .for a re-settlement at the close of

my public Mission — Letters of Commendation, 1856 ... 130

Chapter xiv.— The midnight Telegram — Our first Disappoint-
ment— Our first great Sorrow — and Settlement in Sheffield,
1856-7 ... 147

Chapter xv. — "The Rescue of Faith"— "New College"

Theology— The Godwin Controversy, 1862 153

Chapter xvi. — The Commotion in the Patriot Office, and a
Council of War to put down criticism ; or, the Revenge
for the " Rescue of Faith " 171

Chapter xvii. — The Patriot Office barricaded and forced ; or,

calumny deferring to Law ... ... ... ... 178

Chapter xviii. — What I said when I got into the Patriot

Office — Vindicatory Letter 185

Vll.

Chapter xix. — The Atheist and the Patriot — The new
Evangelical Alliance ; or, how the Editor tried to get out
of it 189

Chapter xx. — What is the Congregational Union ; its pro-
fessed Constitution and Objects ... ... ... ... 191

Chapter xxi.— The Absolutism of Union Officials, and the

power of Arbitrary Ministerial Decapitation ... ... 197

Chapter xxii. — The Congregational Union Meetings in Shef-
field, 18GG 205

Chapter xxiii. — The Committee assumes absolute Dictatorship

over the Union and the Denomination ... ... ... 213

Chapter xxiv. — Dr. Smith's Recantation of his answer to me
about the Year Book ; and the Committee's two now
Shuffles 225

Chapter xxy. — The Cherrytree Orphanage ... ... ... 232

Chapter xxvi. —Building the Congregational Church, Cemetery
road, and Resignation of my charge for a Temporary
Public Ministry, for Special Sunday Services, and Week-
night Lectures, against Ritualism, Rationalism, and
Romanism ... ... ... ... ... ... 235

Chapter xxvii. — The Rev. General Picton, B.A., and his

Leicester Brigade ... ... ... ... ... ... 246

Till.

Chapter xxviii. — What Mr. Gladstone said of me, and -what I

said in reply to him ... ... ... ... ... 250

Chapter xxix. — The Unpardonable Sin ... ... ... 256

Chapter xxx. — Wherein Dissenters have been misled; wherein
they are in danger of being used for what they dislike :
and how they are losing the moral power to oppose it ... 267

Chapter xxxi. — Kev. Dr. Falding, District Secretary ... 273

VENVOl 282

Appendix — The Trial of the Congregational Unionists before

the Spiritual Trades-Union Outrage Commission 286a... 287

Concluding Chapter. — Summary of Kesults : showing the
Kapid Progress of Independents in the Abandonment of

THEIR PRINCIPLES ECCLESIASTICAL, POLITICAL AND THEO-
LOGICAL : solving all difficulties by holding all opinions
in solution, that in this suspensory state they may lead

the Liberal Thought of the Age 364

THE DISSENTING WOULD

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

Chapter I.

BIRTH AND TRAINING, UP TO GETTING BEADY

FOR COLLEGE, 1821-1837.

Taking the south side of Leicester as the starting point and
travelling on by Aylestone and Blaby, continuing the journey some
six miles in all, we arrive at the village of Countesthorpe, at least it
was a village then, when I was born in it, on the 3rd of April, 1821.

As it now lies pictured in my memory you would enter by the
" Horse road" at "Little End," where the village roughs "did
congregate." Passing down the main street, which was rather
zigzag in the first part, you would find, at that time, on the right,
a place called, not originally out of respect, the " Ranter's Chapel,"
and on the other, nearly opposite, a public house ; the first bend to
the right a little further on, would bring you to the " Meeting;" at
the top of that lane or road was an open square, by the side of which
was a school and the " Church."

This square is marked in my recollection by a "Plough Monday"
scene. On that day the labourers on the adjacent farms visited
the chief inhabitants for " Plough Monday" contributions ; they
were dressed in " mummer" fashion, the plough was drawn by
some of the company, driven by a plough-boy, to the thong of whose
whip was attached a blown bladder, containing peas, which fre-
quently rattled on the backs of the yokels.

I was astonished to see " the causeway'' at the front of one of
the houses rise like waves under the ploughshare ; the inhabitant
of that house was a small manufacturer, and had no sympathy with
the agricultural interest; the dislocation of his pebbles was the
magnificent revenge of the plough boys, for disloyalty to their
leader, who seemed to me to be not inferior to the Caliph of Bagdad,
either in power or splendour.

We must however not stop at the comer of this square, but turn
to the left if we are to reach the cottage in which I was born. The
church-yard on our right hand as we pass down the street, is
marked by another circumstance still more peculiar. — On winter
nights, when the snow lay lightly on the earth, greyhounds were

B

10

distinctly seen in the dark leaping over the gravestones, and gam-
boling round the church ; but if you looked in the morning, even
though there had not been a new fall of snow to cover up the marks,
not a trace of a footstep could be seen ; from which sign, or absence
of one, it was rationally inferred that the greyhounds were ghosts.

As we pass along, still to the left, we come after some distance
to the turn of the main road to the right, emerging out of the
village ; the short straight lane affording this outlet is formed on
one side by the ba,cks of cottages, which have gardens in front in a
sort of enclosure, and the other side is formed by farmer Hall's
house and barn walls.

This lane is marked in my memory by two occurrences ; the first
is, that some persons having praised my facility in reading, one of
the young ladies at tins farm house seeing me pass with a Testa-
ment in my hand, put me to read some chapter, and charmed with
my juvenile fluency in that exercise, — for one who could read was
a " scholard" in those days, — called her father to witness the feat
of an " infant phenomenon.'' The old gentleman was " not to be
caught with chaff," and suspecting that I was reciting instead of
reading, turned over to a new place, and when I gabbled through the
selected portion with equal readiness — reading faster than he could
talk — it nearly took his breath away, and he dismissed me with a
eulogium and an apple. When I told my father of the old gentle-
man's scepticism and the test to which I was put, he laughed
immoderately, after saying "so he thought you could not read in
another place, my boy !"

The second circumstance that distinguishes this lane in my recol-
lection, is, that of being set with other children with knobsticks
to strike at any rats which a ferret might drive out of a hole in the
barn wall, when instead of a rat the ferret's nose protruded and was
rudely greeted. The poor creature was astonished, and we were
rebuked for this sin of ignorant zeal.

Passing out of this lane we come into the country, the debouchure
being a wide " horse-road," that passed round by some orchards on
one side and fields on the other. This was the Peatling road,
leading to that village. If instead of turning down that road to the
left, we go straight on, we come to a lane at a right angle with it,
and at the head of this lane are two or three cottages standing by
themselves, in the middle one of which I was born. Not far from
this was a horse-pond, with brick-built sides, for the benefit of such
as drove or rode into the village by the high road just mentioned.
I remember that pond by having fallen into it when playing on the
sides; I was fished out once by the " Thirdboro," a sort of con-

11

stable, and carried home dripping but not quite drowned. As I was
going through the process of being stripped, my socks were adhe-
sive, and I slided from the stool to the ground, which made a
serious impression on my memory.

Opposite to our house were the fields alongside the Peatling road,
separated from us by the head of the lane, a dyke, and a hedge,
and entered by a broad flat stone or slate across the dyke, on the
other side of which was the stile and a foot road. It was the
general opinion in those days, that certain bogies or kelpies lodged
or lurked in the evening under bridges and such like stones ; and
therefore, though I could very bravely cross this flatstone in the day-
time, it required some courage and a quick pace even to pass it at
dusk when going home alone. This however was a part of my
outside and not of my cottage education.

The rustic lane is rendered familiar by the circumstance of the
whole village coming out for several evenings by our cottage, to
hear the nightingale, which gave a concert in that direction.

It was at last determined by some of the baser sort to kill or
catch this songster, which had charmed so many, — a thing which
sometimes happens in principle in the larger world, from ingrati-
tude and enwy. A process called " yaeking" was resorted to, a
nocturnal exercise in which a number went on each side of a hedge,
some carrying a lantern to confuse the birds, and all armed with
stones to throw at any that appeared. It was said that one
person lamed the nightingale, and by the more respectable and
moral of the villagers he was considered to have committed a great sin,
for by a superstition which takes the place of virtue, the nightingale
was regarded as sacred, whatever was allowed as to other birds.

The alleged perpetrator of this outrage was therefore looked upon
as having reached the climax of wickedness ; but when everybody
had given him up, he got converted by the " Ranters," whose reli-
gion, though not so quiet and respectable and theologically intelli-
gent as ours, was more efficient for rougher work. Many rumours
ran through the village as to the difficulty of getting this sinner on
his knees, to accomplish which, physical force and moral suasion
were said to have been energetically and successfully applied. I
believe that what were then called " Ranters," from their liveliness
and loudness, are now called Primitive Methodists, and I hope they
will never become so respectable and quiet as to forget their original
fervour and zeal.

My father and mother were attendants at the " Meeting," and
were "members of the church" worshipping in it. " We lads" all of
b 2

12

course attended and were in the Sunday School. There were other
villages not far off, to which the respective parties attending the
''Meeting" — which was a " Union" place, comprehending Indepen-
dents and Baptists, — went to worship on special occasions, the
Baptists I believe to Arnsby, and the Independents to Wigston. I
can distinctly remember crossing the fields trotting after my father
as we trudged over to that village for some Sunday service.

My father was a great admirer of the Rev. Robert Hall, the
deservedly famous Baptist minister, and often talked to us of that
strange eloquence which charmed so many, saying how he was
" lost and wrapt and absorbed in his subject."

I just remember the minister who baptized me, though not the
occasion of that service ; he was a mild, intelligent, kindly looking
gentleman, named Hunter, I believe, and probably was the Wigston
minister, occasionally visiting his Countesthorpe flock, which at the
" Meeting" had not the advantage of a "settled minister," but was
" supplied" by lay preachers generally.

My father however was the priest of his household, a man of deep
earnest religious spirit, and as well acquainted with the Bible as any
one I have ever met with. I have no doubt I can say for my four
brothers, who live in Leicester, that if ever in some unhappy mood
we were disposed to say with the Psalmist, " all men are liars,"
and to doubt the reality of personal religion, the remembrance of
this sterling example would silence our sceptism.

I believe my father's early religious awakening was produced in
connection with the sermons of some Calvinistic clergyman. I
remember him speaking highly of I think two names, Vaughan and
Robinson, of this class, who were greatly instrumental in guiding
him in his early youth to the Saviour, in whom he believed, with
a faith and cheerfulness which no sorrows nor troubles ever be-
clouded ; for though no man enjoyed life more, or more overflowed
with constant thankfulness for " temporal mercies," and a serene
joy as to his future inheritance, on which he constantly drew, so
that if he had been in a prison or a workhouse he would have felt
that his palace was next door, and that he was only waiting his
Father's time to enter ; — still he had his sorrows and bereave-
ments and struggles, as all men have. His greatest anxiety was to
" see his children walking in the truth ; " and if he had had in one
hand the gift of a splendid fortune and in the other the gift of God
which is eternal life, to bestow only one or the other of them on us,
we should have had the latter. I have two distinct early pictures of
him, in this respect : one, as we walked alongside him in the fie]<?s on

13

odnday afternoon, asking us, I think out of a catechism called
" Milk for Babes," — " Can you tell me, child, who made you ? "
To which the answer, as I remember, was, " The Great God, Who
made heaven and earth :" the other picture is that of his frequently
standing at our bed's foot, earnestly speaking to us, and praying for
us. There was many a wet pillow of which he was ignorant, as the
dusk of some summer evening deepened, and we could just discern
his form, by the remaining light that streamed into our cottage
chamber.

The changes of trade, from alteration in machinery in manufac-
turing wool into yarn, — three gradations of which I remember, the
first called, " bobbining," the second the " spinning jenny," and
the third the great steam " factory," — drove my father into the
wilderness of this world to follow the tide of emigration from vil-
lages to the towns. For some time he went as a pioneer to Leicester,
leaving us lads with our mother, whom we all loved and never
vexed ; and whose family name was made my Christian name,
derived I think from Danish extraction. My father came home on
the Saturday evening, and Sunday was a good day to us. The first
thing for which we felt before quite awake was " a plumb bun'" by
our pillows.

We removed to Leicester when I was about ten years of age ;
there we joined the Gallowtree-gate congregation, and my father
was a " member of the church" there for over thirty years, till
driven away by what he felt to be a departure from that gospel in
which he had believed, and by which he was saved. My mother
and one of my brothers, Timothy, went to heaven before him,
while I was at college, some nine years after our removal to
Leicester.

As to education, we had but ordinary school advantages, though
we were all given to reading. I was two years in St. Margaret's
school, Leicester, much of the time serving as "monitor ;" and a few
of us were favoured by Mr. Hackett, the very efficient and gen-
tlemanly " master," with extra private teaching, in grammar and
some other subjects. This school had then a livery, — Scotch cap,
Oxford mixture or pepper-and-salt coat, and leather shorts, which
were embellished with ochre.

I left that school to keep the books of a small stocking manufac-
turer, who took out work from hosiers and employed men in
" frames" of his own, for which he received weekly rent.

I remember how bitter a thing it was for me to leave home, for I
resided with the one whose books I kept after a fashion.
b3

14

I longed for every opportunity of going home, and sometimes,
while hot tears ran down my face, I wrote " M" for mother, on the
finger nails of my left hand. I was then about fourteen.

My next situation permitted me to live at home, and also, being
a place rather of trust and watching than work, gave me large
opportunities of reading. In the place where I was there were,
several books which I read with avidity — some volumes of Chambers'
Journal, a copy of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, a
Shakespeare, Lavater's Physiognomy, with plates, and Boxiana!
To these I added Watts's Improvement of the Mind, Cowper's
Poems, then my especial favourite, and Young's Night Thoughts.

We had had several ministers at Gallowtree-gate Chapel since our
settlement in Leicester : a Mr. Mitchell, thin, cold and gentle-
manly, who I think died a Unitarian ; a Mr. Taylor, who I believe
is now a Unitarian minister, a fine, sensitive, thoughtful young man,
whose farewell sermon I heard when he was leaving through a change
of sentiments, — which is neither the fashion, nor necessary now ;
though honour might require it.

Mr. Taylor's last text was : — "Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee."
(Is. xxvi. 3.)

It was a splendid text. I remember nothing of the sermon, but I
was critic enough then to imagine that his defect was that he did
not trust in God, as to the appointed medium of mercy.

His discourse was listened to with .great respect, was delivered
with modesty and trembling : no one could fail to sympathise deeply
with the speaker, and to admire his honesty, while regretting his
change of sentiments.

Our next minister was Mr. Ferguson, now the Rev. Robert
Ferguson, LL.D., of London, who was greatly beloved in our
circle, and whose " removal" was much lamented. Then came the
Rev. George Legge, M.A., afterwards LL.D., a minister of con-
siderable culture and attainments, somewhat metaphysical in ten-
dency, possessed of a gorgeous imagination, though having an
inefficient delivery.

I had more immediate personal relations with him, and received
from him great kindness and benefit. It was by his advice and
arrangement that I was induced and enabled to enter upon an
immediate training for the ministry, which by preliminary private
instruction, the curriculum of Highbury College, London, and two
sessions at Glasgow University, occupied over seven years.

15

Chaptee II,

PREPARING FOR AND GOING TO COLLEGE, 1838-43.

During my discursive reading at the age of about seventeen, I
became much interested in the Unitarian controversy, which may be
accounted for in part by the circumstances already named. I sat
up many nights till very late, writing down my arguments on the
subject and upon the general doctrines of Christianity. My father
frequently remonstrated with me for being so late. His favourite
phrase on retiring and leaving me up was "you will be like a dead
thing in the morning." At last he discovered my manuscript, and
without my knowledge took it to the Rev. Dr. Legge. The Doctor
professed to discover some sign of promise in the papers thus sur-
reptitiously obtained, and sent for me and enquired into my religious
views, and whether I had any desire to become a minister. Though
I had long secretly dreamed of this, there seemed to me to be many
obstacles in the way of securing a sufficient education, which he
kindly said were not insuperable, as there were ways of obtaining
it without great expense. He started me in the Latin grammar,
and for several months regulated my studies. I remember that on
one occasion when going to him to go through a lesson, I called in
at a public meeting, the speeches at which drove the grammar out
of my head, so that I told him that I could tell him what they said
at the meeting, but I was afraid I could not remember the lesson.
I was greatly struck at his readiness in running through part of the
conjugation of a Latin verb, and I thought such an amaziug attain-
ment was altogether beyond me. A few months afterwards it was
arranged that I should study preliminarily under the Rev. J. G.
Hewlett, then of Lutterworth, afterwards of Coventry, and finally
of London. During my stay with Mr. Hewlett, as during the
whole of my seven years' pupilage, Dr. Legge took a kindly and
affectionate interest in my welfare and progress. We frequently
corresponded, and he was always interested to know of my affairs
and how I did. Among his numerous letters I find the following : —

Leicestek, February 5th, 1839.
My dear Beewtn,

I ought to have written to you before now. I am afraid
you have been tempted to think tbat I do not take a sufficient interest in your
welfare. Tbe notes and letters which you have sent me from time to time
claimed of me a written expression of my satisfaction and regard. I am not
however a man of much ceremony or etiquette, and had rather speak by deeds
than words. I felt assured from the intercourse I had with you, that you were
possessed of those qualities of mind which if cultivated would render an abundant
, return ; and I feel no less assured that you possess those qualities of heart which

1.6

will render it an occasion of thanksgiving and pride to have been instrumental
in aiding that cultivation. Whether then I vrrite to you as often as I should, or
not, you -will I trust repose that confidence in me which I repose in you, and
which to the extent of my ability, I shall be desirous to evince. You have, my
dear Brewin, opened up to you a fine and noble career of ambition — the ambition
of being a benefactor of your species, and a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

To the successful prosecution of this career two things are necessary, a spirit
of diligent and strenuous endeavour, and a spirit of devoutness and dependence
on God. — "Write me at jour earliest convenience, and believe me, my dear Brewin,
very heartily vours,

GEOKGE LEGGE.

My studies under Mr. Hewlett were " with a view" to entering
Highbury College, London, for which another student, the Rev.
Thomas Lee, of Epsom, commenced preparation with me, partly
under the auspices of the college, though we were not yet recognised
as alumni.

These " preparatory studies" were to be followed by an examina-
tion before the College Committee, a process at that time carried on
in the residence of Thomas Wilson, Esq., treasurer of the institu-
tion, in Highbury Place, Islington.

De.Legge, writing to me jnst before this formidable " trial,"which
he scarcely expected so soon, consoled me by saying " of course you
must prepare for your trial as well as you can. I know nothing to
advise as to your ' exercise' [trial sermon,] except that it should be
as short and simple as may be, and as much adapted as you can
manage it to a common congregation, containing the simple elements
of the gospel, with a pointed application in the third person, I should
say, rather than the first." He was afraid I should be too pointed
and personal and try to convert the committee. " You mast hold
yourself ready to answer a variety of questions, — general, theological,
experimental, practical, — which one or other of the Committee may
propose, oftentimes foolish enough and bothering enough ; you will
endeavour to answer them with meekness and fear. Self-possession
and modesty will bear you nobly through." He forgot that these
two qualities do not always go together. This letter of advice is
dated—" Leicester, May 24th, 1839."

It was now necessary to get up our little sermons, which we
recited to each other, only — I stuck in the middle. For besides
that I felt the recitation to be a farce, I never was good at remem-
bering recitations, and could not gravely address the chairs and desk,
especially as my trial text was a question which they could neither
answer nor feel interested in : — " Who art thou, 0 great mountain ?
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." Whether I considered
the committee to be the mountain, or they took me for Zerubbabel,

17

I do not at present remember, but they seemed to regard my
sermon as somewhat "original," as no doubt it was. The most
trying part of the exercise was introduced in some such terms as
these, " Will you spend a few minutes with us, Sir ? " — which meant
that I should kneel down to the committee and pray to the Almighty
with probably an eye to the former. Having recovered from this trial,
I was subjected to a cross-examination on the paper. "Motives and
experiences," which had been sent in by me to the committee. It
seemed I had told them that " he who desired the office of a bishop
desired a good work," as a defence of my ambition, wherefore I
was asked by Dr. Henderson, — what were the apostolic qualities of
a bishop ? As some of these were negative, I said, " he must not
be given to much wine and no striker." I was pressed for other
negatives in this suggestive manner : — "He must be — not a what? "
I confessed my ignorance, and was told somewhat sharply " not a
novice" wherefore, I replied, I believed that St. Paul said some-
where— " Let no man despise thy youth." This gave them a
" pause," after which I was seriously reminded that " I looked very
young," upon which I said that I thought that would be cured in
time. I was then dismissed while the committee held a private con-
sultation ; and on being recalled was informed that I was admitted
to the institution for the usual six months, at the end of which, all
being satisfactory, my position as student would be confirmed. I
wrote briefly to inform Dr. Legge of my acceptance as a student,
to which he replied, enquiring for particulars, being a dear lover of
any carefully descriptive accounts of character: — " Leicester, June
5, 1839. My dear Brewin, accept my felicitations on the result of
your visit feo London ; you have indeed thus far occasion to rejoice,
and I rejoice with you. I should exceedingly like to see an account
of the particulars of your examination, if you have been able to
put it on paper; I hope you will favour me therewith." Mr.
Wilson, the treasurer, took great interest in the institution, and in
the students, and was very liberal in his support of the college ; but
he required no small amount of deference towards him on the part of
the students, whom he occasionally invited to his table by way of
trotting them up, and drawing them out, expending upon them no
little advice, and considering that the most docile were the most
deserving and able. He would occasionally go to some neigh-
bouring chapel to hear the students preach in the afternoon, when
the audiences were for the most part composed of "domestics,"
addressed by some of the students as " My dear brethren." On
one occasion I was myself unfortunate enough to be heard by

18

him, and was sent for and "called over the coals." My sermon
was not long enough — I ought to have " gone on and finished my
work" — my "voice was not loud enough" — and I " drank water in
the pulpit, which was a most disgraceful thing." I apologized,
saying that I had a very severe cold and cough. " Cold, Sir! " said
he, "a good pulpit sweat is what you want," — and he further
kindly observed, " You have a weak voice, Sir," and lest I should
get out of that, he added, " Eobert Hall had a weak voice," but,
said he, " Kobert Hall had talent, Sir ; you have no talent, Sir: I
don't tell you to leave the ministry, but I can give you no hope, Sir,"
and so he gave me his blessing. Not highly appreciating this kind of
thing I carefully avoided obtruding myself again into the great man's
presence ; but he expected that at certain times, — as in leaving the
college at the end of the session, and returning to it at the com-
mencement, each student would call and do him suit and service.
He wrote to my pastor, Dr. Legge, of Leicester, complaining that
I had been very neglectful in this respect, and I was advised to call
upon and appease Diotrophes ; — with reluctance and under
authority I did so. I found that he had long been filled as with
new wine, with the burden of reproof, to which he had had no
opportunity of giving vent till now, and he broke out thus : — " I
saw some friends of yours," said he, " at the Isle of Wight."
" Indeed, Sir," I replied very humbly. " Yes, Sir," said he, with
emphasis, "and I understand you have formed an attachment, Sir."
"I believe so," said I. " Do you think that is prudent ? '" said he.
"I don't know," said I. " Well, I do know," said he, "that it is
not.'" " I don't know these people, Sir : they may be very respec-
table, but a minister's wife ought to have money, Sir. I have known
ministers very ill off,* Sir, who have been glad to get cast-off
clothes, Sir ; and you have got engaged, Sir, and have not finished
learning your profession. I think it very imprudent, Sir." Well,
Sir," said I, " What would you advise ?" " Sir," said he, " if it is
done, and cannot be undone, you must submit to be told of it."
I explained that I did not wish it to be undone, and that I did not
care about being told of it, because I did not see that it was wrong.

On the whole he seemed to think that I was driving a lean
bargain.

No one who has not been "in love " can understand the supreme
contempt with which I regarded these mundane and mercenary
considerations ; and I wrote in no measured terms to my pastor,

* God kelp them ! for man won't.

19

Dr. Legge, respecting what I considered the vulgarity and insolence
to which I had been exposed by following his advice. Above
twenty years' experience of that "bargain" has not brought me
any nearer to the treasurer's opinion.

The college building is a quadrangle of three sides. The two
wings contained the small rooms, called " studies," and over them
were corresponding bed-rooms : and the middle — the bulk of the
building — comprised the library, dining-room, and class-rooms, and
the " resident tutor's " dwelling. The building is now used as a
Church of England training school, tke college itself being trans-
ferred to St. John's Wood, in combination with the Coward and
Hackney Colleges, under the title of " New College." When I
"entered" there were three professors: — Dr. Henderson, pro-
fessor of Hebrew and theology; the Rev. J. H. Godwin, "resident
tutor," teacher of philosophy, mathematics, logic, rhetoric, and the
criticism of the Greek Testament. Mr. Godwin commenced as
professor — succeeding Dr. Halley — the same year that I entered
as student. Dr. War. Smith, celebrated for his classical and
biblical dictionaries, was the professor of Greek and Latin. This
last professor had great difficulty in indoctrinating me into the
system of "crude forms" in Greek and Latin grammar, I being
sceptical as to whether the languages were formed precisely on the
principles which he laid down. After having several times intimated
to him that I " did not quite see it," he, exercising great patience,
thinking perhaps that because I doubted I should become a firm
believer at last, on one occasion said to me, " Well, will this do —
can you see it now ? " I said, I see it now ; and I admired it ever
after. There were few more systematic scholars or more thorough
teachers, and I always appreciated his lectures. Mr. Godwin was
a man of sharp clear intellect, not strikingly profound, yet well
calculated to quicken the minds of students, though somewhat
tending to confuse them. He was always willing to explain and
to discuss, of which disposition I often took advantage. Dr.
Henderson was a gentleman of vast learning in oriental languages,
but crude, not having the least philosophical tendency. On theo-
logical questions he seldom gave his own opinions, but would
repeat the opinions of many others. One form of class work under
the late Dr. Henderson was filling up what was called a "syllabus,"
in which certain heads of doctrines or questions relating to theology
were written down, and a number of books on the subjects referred
to, which were to be condensed under these heads. These books
were forwarded in time to the different students in the class. Some

20

of these would be on the " Deistical Controversy ;" and it did occa-
sionally happen that we counted round to see who would go in, and
what topic would fall to each, so that he might prepare in the part
thus occurring to him, not perhaps having always written on any
of the other topics. This arrangement was occasionally disturbed,
some one failing to appear in the class. I have myself had to read
a short essay from a blank paper in consequence of such accident.
Sometimes, after one had read his part, the good doctor would ask
another what he had on the subject, and might be informed that
his views were very much the same as those of the previous reader,
and so would get excused from reading on the ground of avoiding
repetition. Once, when called in for Hebrew, I was deep in
Junius' s Letters, then a favourite book with me. Being in the middle
of one of the letters, I took my small copy of Junius, determining
to finish it. As I was reading this, placed inside my Hebrew Bible,
and was just struck with one remark of the writer, the doctor asked
me a question in Hebrew construction. Not knowing what he was
speaking of, but only that he was addressing me, I had to reply

" I don't know, doctor ;" upon which he informed me that Mr.

could answer that question although he had only been a short time
learning Hebrew, i waited until my turn came round to read, and
had got through my verse pretty smoothly, coming perhaps very near
to the English translation, when he began questioning me upon the
grammatical construction of the passage. I told him if he was in any
difficulty upon the subject I had not the least doubt that the gentle-
man he had referred to could assist him, although he had been
learning Hebrew so short a time. This naturally led to an explosion,
upon which I said it was very improper to make " invidious dis-
tinctions" between gentlemen. When the class was being dismissed
the good doctor called me back and told me he was " very sorry" —
meaning, I suppose, that he was sorry that I had answered him as
I had — but, before he could go further, I accepted it as an apology,
saying, " Well, doctor, if you are sorry that is sufficient." This,
I acknowledge, was rather too bad, but I simply repeat it as a
college anecdote.

The rule of living at the college was that each student found his
own tea, coffee, sugar, and coals ; the main substantiate of the table
being provided by the funds of the institution. There were about
thirty students, and we were summoned to prayers twice a day —
in the morning before breakfast, and in the evening before supper.
In the morning the students in turn conducted the service, and in
the evening the resident tutor generally. These exercises on the

21

part of the students did not always escape criticism, and sometimes
invited it. One gentleman prayed by mistake for the souls of the
departed; and another hoped that "we might anchor in the firm
and the true." I was not quite sure where these were, and I don't
know where he is now.

Towards the end of my " course" we had a kind of College insur-
rection, though generally we had been quiet and amicable. Break-
fast was generally the occasion for some little speechifying, the
senior student present being chairman. Any one wishing to speak,
instead of seeking to catch the speaker's eye, endeavoured to catch
his ear, by striking loudly on the table with his tea or coffee
canister. One morning we were startled by a very striking knock

from the canister of Mr. , who, clearing his throat, with great

eagerness said " Gentlemen, I have a communication to make, but
I don't know whether I may make it, and wish for your opinion. I
have been ordered by the resident tutor not to make this communi-
cation ; but I made no promise, and as you are concerned, I want
you to tell me whether you think I am bound to silence." We of
course unanimously gave him leave to speak. He then proceeded
to inform us that the resident tutor had asked him a certain ques-
tion which he had threatened to ask each one of the students
separately, but he considered it was a question which no one should
be asked without some special reason pointed him out. It appeared
some policeman coming up to the college the previous evening
saw some person before him who disappeared at the College, and
who might have been a burglar. The " servitor" was called up,
and the College searched to see if any one had got in. No one was
founds and the students had all retired to bed. The inference, as
drawn by the resident tutor, was, that some student had entered the

College clandestinely after hours. Mr. 's window (a single pane)

being left open, he was sent for and asked what time he came in
last night* He said " Ten o'clock." " Then you were in before
the doors were closed ?" " Yes, Sir." "Because some one got in
last night, and 1 am determined to know who it was, and to ask
each student in turn if it ivere he" The debate then arose as to
whether this method of investigation was suitable to our position as
students, the universal opinion being that it was degrading to us,
and that no one should be asked respecting any presumed act,
except so far as any evidence might seem to point him out. We
then confessed round to see whether any one had entered after hours,
and found out that no one had ; hence the question simply was as
to the method of investigation. We then, as a body, sent word to

the professor that we declined to answer any such question as we
understood he had determined to ask. He immediately sent for
the senior (that is, the fourth year's) class, to which I belonged ;
and after debating the subject, he said " perhaps you question my
authority ?" The reply was — " that is exactly it ;" we objected both
to the authority and propriety of such a method of questioning.
The class was dismissed, and on the arrival of the other professors
we were all summoned into the library, where we still unanimously
maintained our position, as declining what was considered auricular
confession. The committee was afterwards called, and announced
to us that unless we submitted to the authority of the resident tutor
for such a style of inquiry they would close the college and expel
us all. It was distinctly put that the question was not whether any
one of them was out late, but whether that method of investigation
was to be submitted to. The committee commenced the inquiry
on the spot, putting the question first to the junior student of the
college, who rose and said with considerable stammering, " Gentle-
men, I decline most respectfully to answer that question," where-
upon some one said, " hear, hear."J The committee had already
declared that they would give us four days before they closed the
college, but as we were retiring one Mr. T. D., of 0. D.,* who
entered college as a great Chartist, broke our phalanx, and an-
nounced to the committee that he was prepared to submit by
confessing his innocence. They then said they would wait to hear
the submission of all. Being informed thereupon they would have to
wait for some time before all would submit to what all condemned,
for that the speaker could vouch at least for one, and they had
better give us the four days, we were dismissed to our reflections.
At the close of the four days of grace, within an hour from the
assembling of the committee, there were perhaps six who had not
succumbed. Some had asked the more sturdy of the holders-out
what he would do ? and he told them it was a matter of conscience
with him ; and that they had better consider how far they could
risk it. Two offered to " stand by" him, but were told that they
had better not stand by any one if they did not stand by a principle.
One " submitted under protest," and within the hour all had given
way excepting one. He was sent for to the committee-room, and
then told that they supposed he was aware that all his brethren had
acknowledged authority and submitted to the inquiry. " Yes."
" Well, what had he to say?" " What he had said all along, that

* The Key. Thomas Dayies, of Over Darwen.

23

he questioned their authority." " Had he consulted any friends ?"
"All that he intended to consult." "Had he consulted any ministers ?"
This was asked fearing he might have some one outside to support
him. — The answer was, "No." " Had he written to Dr. Legge, his
pastor? "Yes, but he may have been out of town and not had
opportunity to answer the letter." " Should you like to wait for
his answer ? " " No, for it was not advice but conviction that was
needed, and unless a letter could show him that he was wrong it would
be of no use" — " Should you like a few more days to consider? "
" No, hehad consideredit all along and sawno reason to change." This
closed the interview. The students were again summoned into the
library, to meet the committee ; the late Rev. John Blackburn then
of Pentonville chapel, and editor, I think, of the " Congregational
Magazine," was chairman. He announced first that the committee
congratulated the college on the students' submission to authority.
Secondly, a vote of censure on the student who had warned us of
the intended private questioning. Thirdly, a vote of expulsion on
the one who had followed his convictions. • The chairman followed
the announcement of expulsion as nearly as possible in these
extraordinary terms, addressing the culprit : — " You have incurred
the disapprobation of good men, for having used the abilities that
God has given you, to overthrow order, and thus to thwart God,
Who is the Source of all authority."

This sentence I never forgot, for I heard it, and was concerned
in the case, — which, bad as it was, was nothing in comparison with
the almost blasphemous doctrine of " Divine right " by which the
servility of the future teachers of our churches was enforced. Too
many of them have learned it too well ; and not one of them dare
openly to rebel against it, at this time of my writing.

But, we are forgetting our poor criminal, whose penalty for
honesty was enforced by this outrageous assumption of divine
authority to override common sense. His prompt reply was, "If
he followed to the best of his ability the light that God had given
him he would have His approval, if he had the disapprobation of
good men." He then put this question to the chairman : — " You
have an organ of public opinion under your control ; are you so far
convinced of the propriety of your course as to allow me" — The
chairman said he should " object to such a question being put,"
and then the students were dismissed, and the expelled one was
called back. The chairman then said to him, " You were about to
put a question to me." He replied, " Yes, I can speak plainly to
you now — you are the editor of such a magazine — are you so con-

24

vinced of the propriety of what you have done as to permit me,
through it, to state my case, and I will give you the letter soon
enough for you to make any remarks upon it you please." He
replied, "I shall obstruct you publishing by all means." The
answer was, " I only asked the question, to let you know that
although I cannot sustain myself before you I shall contest the
matter before the world." One of the committee, Dr. Mathieson,
(now in heaven) enquired of the expelled :— " Whether he would
not find it difficult to make the world believe that he was right,
when all his brethren had given way ? " The doctor was asked in
return : — " Which of them submitted until you threatened them ?
They yielded to power, not to principle — and do you think any the
worse of me because I would not ? " Another committee man,
Mr. Kitchener, a fellow deacon, with the possible prospective
father-in-law of the expelled, said : — " I feel an interest in Mr. — ,
from circumstances too delicate to mention, and I ask him the ques-
tion, would he not injure the college by publishing ? " The resident
tutor then said, "He hoped the committee would not deprecate Mr.
— — 's publishing" — and the one who had first spoken to urge
him not, said : — " Oh ! it is of no consequence." The chair-
man then said: — "We are willing to receive any communication
from you now" The reply was : — " I have none to make but what
I had already made, — that I question the propriety of such a
line of investigation," and then the chairman bowed to the victim
as a signal to retire. After seeing some of the students he left the
college and went to the parties most concerned, explaining to them
the whole of the case, and leaving it to them how far they would
share in these unexpected difficulties, in which he had no right
to involve them without their consent : they had faith in the future,
and were not to be changed by these events. He then wrote home
to Leicester to say he was coming home soon, had left college,
could not submit to what he considered degrading ; and that
they might expect him home shortly. He received an answer that
was sufficiently satisfactory, and stayed for a little time with his
friends. He wrote a letter for the Nonconformist, which Mr. Miall
wisely advised him to shorten, and reserve further explanations for
subsequent replies ; generously agreeing to insert this shorter state-
ment of the case. In two days two students came down to where
he was staying — Mr. Homan's, Lordship's Road, Stoke Newington — -
and informed him that the resident tutor had enquired for him, and
that they believed it was " a recall." He said, " It is too late
now, as he had left a letter at the Nonconformist office," which

25

would appear in the morning, nd the breach would be irreparable.
They replied, — " Could he no. get the letter back and wait till he
heard the action of the commit ^e ?" — He said, his friends were
going to the Isle of Wight to-morrow, and he would not lose
the evening. They kindly offered to go into the city for
him, and to return, if they could not secure the manuscript's
withdrawal for a time. They did not return ; and the next morning
he went up to the college and found his letter with them, with a
note at the foot of it written by the editor of the Nonconformist,
to say that as this was a public question he felt it right to insert
the letter, and that his columns would be open to an answer
signed by a committee-man. His letter being withdrawn, he went
to the professor, saying that he understood he had enquired for
him, and wished to know the reason. He said the committee had
rescinded its resolution. When asked " On what grounds ? "
he said that Mr. Wilson, the treasurer, having died, they did not
wish to have any unpleasant circumstances in connection with his
death, but he added — "the committee still insist upon the right to
carry out their method of investigation." " What, with me ?" he
said. " No," said he. "Then," he replied, " Of course I have
nothing to do with it," and he re-entered college with the only un-
bent neck. I should here say — resuming the " first person," that
when the resident tutor enquired for me the night before, calling
out my name, the student who had been the medium of commu-
nication said, "He is gone, sir." "Gone! "said the professor.
" Yes, sir, he was turned out, sir." " But I thought he would not
have gone so soon." " Yes, sir, he went directly ; he was expelled,
sir," said this rich droll, wickedly laying stress on the words —
"turned out! — expelled!! sir." This emphasis was a kind
protest and reproach ; but the speaker immediately added, " I think
I can find him." Being requested to do so, he came. Some time
after this, Dr. Legge when travelling, met with one of the members
of the committee, who bitterly complained that Mr. Miall was
about to open his columns to my defence ; which was considered a
grievous crime. Dr. Legge replied, " I think Miall was right and
Grant too. By the way do you know that Mr. Grant is a neophyte
and protege of mine ? " After this, the committee-man somewhat
changed his tune. I learned from this conversation, which Dr.
Legge reported to me, that it was not justice, nor respect to the
occasion of the lamented treasurer's death, that caused the revoca-
tion of the committee's edict, but fear of the world's opinion,
which would have been unanimous. I do not record these circum-

stances as of any great pnblic consequence, as the whole may.
seem trivial, except that it was part of my education, in which I
graduated with honours in independence.

I had but a few weeks to stay in college as the session was closing,
and it completed my fourth year there, which was the term of study
in that institution. Going back after an expulsion of some two days
had, however — I mean it should have had — the effect of reinstating
me in full and frank recognition as an accredited student, eligible to
" accept a call." I learned afterwards by bitter experience that in
anticipating so frank and honest a conclusion of a fair fight, I
" wronged the honourable men" who stand at the door of promotion
and have in their hands the patronage of the Independent Churches ;
whose whisper, or shrug, or faint praise, can put back the hour-
hand of a student's success ; and, if he has not some vigour as well
as independence, break his spirit and terminate his ministerial
career. I remember too well the groans of some suffering fellow-
creatures whom, soon after this, I consoled, when I as much needed
their consolation, except that, perhaps, I started with a larger stock
of confidence and ardent spirits, and had been trained at home to
lookup. This, however, is anticipating. At the close of my college
course I went home, down to Leicester, and in a room in my eldest
brother John's house, ground up for a competitive examination,
which, if successful, would cany me to Glasgow University.

Chapter III.

STUDYING FOR AND AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY,

FIRST SESSION, 1843-4.

Being desirous of obtaining still further educational advantages,
after having finished my " course" at Highbury College, and having
learned that Dr. Williams had bequeathed property to establish
exhibitions or scholarships, sometimes called "bursaries," which
enabled candidates successful in a competitive examination to
pursue their studies in Glasgow University, I applied to the
solicitor and secretary of the Trust for information as to those
eligible for candidature, the subjects for examination, and the
probability of any early vacancies. In reply, I received the
following circular : —

" Dr. Williams' Scholarships in the University of Glasgow,"
" Dr. Williams' Trustees give notice that there will be vacant
scholarships in the University of Glasgow for the i.ext session.

27

Candidates are required to present themselves in the Library, Red
Cross-street, Cripplegate, London,'" at 10 o'clock on Wednesday,
the 29th day of September next, for the purpose of being examined
in the following course of study, with a view to ascertain their com-
parative merits, and to assign the vacant scholarships to those who
may evince the greatest proficiency : — Livy, 1st Book ; Cicero de
Senectute, Virgil's Georgics, Horace's Odes, first Book ; Latin Com-
position, Luke's Gospel, Xenophon's Anabasis, 1st Book; Homer's
Iliad, first four books ; Arithmetic, Algebra, including Simple
Equations ; Euclid, first three books.

It will be necessary that each candidate should previously send
to the secretary a certificate proving that he is at least sixteen
years of age, that he should produce sufficient testimonials to his
moral character, and that he should satisfy the trustees of his wish
to be educated for the ministry amongst the Protestant Dissenters
of South Britain. According to the terms of the founder's will the
preference will be given to sons of poor Presbyterian ministers
equally qualified.

All communications and enquiries concerning the scholarships tc
be addressed, post paid, to

Mr. SAMUEL COTTON,

Solicitor and Secretary to the Trust,

76, Basinghall-street, London.

In 1843 (Sept.) two vacancies."
l took this with me down to Leicester, and went carefully, though
not very hopefully, through most of the subjects, especially Homer,
in whom I delighted ; so that I wrote more than " a clavis" of the
first four books, namely every word in its variety of " dialects," and
a very close literal translation, which I felt was a useful exercise
for accuracy and patient attention. I find in a letter to a former
fellow-student the following statement, dated August, 1843 : —
" You will see how absorbed I have been, for I have been diving
into other matters, as well as the Glasgow affair ; by the way I am
trembling on this question ; I have little hope, but despair will come
soon enough." I was not so much afraid of the " subjects" as of
the competitors, whom rumour had described, and whom I regarded
as " better up" than myself, not only in the particular books, but
in general scholarship, and especially arithmetic and algebra, on
the principles of which I could philosophize with De Morgan, but in
the practice I was at sea.

* Keraoved to 8, Queen's-square, Bloomsbury, W.C., the old premises being
taken by the Metropolitan KailTray.

Notwithstanding my own forebodings, I wrote to another college
friend, to remove his indisposition "to look at the bright side of

things ;" and saying, " do not let annoy you; if they do not

come, it is only to teach you that they may be spared. This is my
religion : — You fail in such a point, — what then ? must you mope
and die ? No ! It is a small lesson to this effect, that God does not
want you there ; and that your greatest happiness does not lie in
what you fancied.

I will say no more, or some time you will take up against me the
proverb ' physician, heal thyself.' I am working moderately well
for Glasgow, expect to get through the drudgery and to have it for
my pains, but I feel that even this is worth having, and that the
prize is chiefly in the struggle.

I am comfortably placed here, have a nice room to myself for
study in my brother John's house, so that I am leading an easy and
pleasant life, for one is never so easy and happy as when among
those who would be glad to see you so."

When the time for examination drew near, I went up to London
the preceding day and spent the night before the trial in the study
of the same gentleman as forewarned the brethren against the in-
tended encroachment of the Professors's new inquisitional process.
I had the Georgics yet to go through. By twelve o'clock that night
I had read the first two Georgics, none of which I had seen before.
Getting sleepy, I lay down on the study floor with a hassock for a
pillow, and fell into a dream in which (as if I had been reading the
iEneid instead of the Georgics) I was in some large hall, and
saw old Polyphemus, considerably magnified, coming to devour
me. I rushed towards the door to escape, but was seized ; and
striking at the monster, I hit a leg of the table under which I was
sleeping and sprung up to finish the fight. The dream for a time
still mastered me, so that when risen from my carpet couch I locked
the door, stirred the fire, and looked round carefully, poker in hand.
I then determined to find some tea, and venturing, still armed, into
the corridor, I explored several of the studies, and after finding a
mug, a kettle, and some tea, carrying poker in my hand, I descended
to the lower regions or cellar department, where were bath room,
coal cellars, and pump. I filled the kettle and returned, still in a
kind of stupor, and having locked the door made some tea. With
this inspiration I returned to the Georgics, and read carefully through
the third and fourth books. After this I took a walk through the
college grounds, and repeated some propositions of Euclid, thinking
over the diagrams. At last I started for the scene of the examina-

29

tion. On my way my heart failed me, and I began to think that
there were others who I knew had given out that they were pre-
paring for the examination, and who certainly were better scholars
than myself. I turned into a bookshop and looked over the shelves
in a state of hesitation, and again I started for the library, but on
the road I thought, If I go, and fail, friends will say " we thought
you could have done it ;" but if I don't go they will say " we knew
you could." However, I pushed on, and on arriving at the library
was shown into a small room, in which several hats were hung up
that I supposed belonged to competitors. I hung my own alongside,
trusting that if the hat was not so good the head might be, for I
was still as if half- dreaming. Bye and bye I heard the footsteps of
some one coming down stairs : it was the attendant, who invited me
up to meet the examiners. One of these was the Rev. James Yates,
celebrated for his share in " the Unitarian Controversy" with Dr.
Wardlow, of Glasgow. Another I think was the Rev. Mr. Redpath,
also a distinguished scholar. There was a third whose name I do
not remember. I was told, immediately on entering, that I was the
only one to be examined. I replied that I was glad, but was told
" it makes no difference, you have to go through the subjects." I
said I expected no less, but I was glad there was no competition.
I was examined in the last two Georgics, which I had read since mid-
night. I did not forget a word, and answered readily as to the
special topics of each book.

In Greek I passed well and in Latin too, except that in a word
or two I was deficient — in "quantity." What I most dreaded was,
Latin composition ; and when one of the examiners brought me a
page of English to translate into Latin, I told him I thought I
could not do it. He said, "You know it is one of the things
required." " Yes," I replied, " I know my fate." He returned
to the other end of the room and I began translating — first turning
a few of the most difficult phrases, and then filling in between and
copying off. I rose when I had done and he came towards me to
receive the paper, and went to examine it with his two colleagues.
He returned soon, saying "It showed a very respectable acquaint-
ance with the language," for which I secretly blessed Providence.
Afterwards came algebra, in which I made rather " a mull," then a
" corollary," founded on one of the books of Euclid, — not one of the
original propositions ; — in reference to which I was asked to prove
that some figure was bisected by a certain line : — as if by intuition
I saw the proof, which I repeated hastily to the examiner, who
at first scarcely saw it. He looked again and said, " Yes, that is

30

right." It was evidently a short cut, and a method of proof which
he had not observed ; fortunately he asked me no further questions.
I had then to retire into a large library while the examiners consulted ;
in the meantime I looked at a fac-simile of Magna Charta, not a
word of which I could read, nor did I care to read. In a little
time I heard footsteps approaching, but I was still absorbed with
the fac-simile, until touched on the shoulder by the attendant, who
informed me that my presence was required by the examiners. I
returned to them, and was informed that they had agreed to recom-
mend me to the scholarship in the Glasgow University. " But,"
said I, "Will the recommendation be sufficient? Can I rely on
the scholarship?" "Yes, certainly," they replied, "they must
give it if we recommend it." I was then invited to take lunch with
them, during which they asked me what books I had read in philosophy ;
I mentioned Locke, Brown, Reid, and Stewart, when one of them,
Mr. Yates, I suppose, strongly recommended me to read "Hartley's
Observations on Man." I replied that I thought I knew the theory
of vibrations and vibratiuncles, but did not believe in it. He ob-
served that it was useful for some important practical principles.
They observed upon my health : — Was I strong enough for study ?
I said I had scarcely ever been ill. They told me I did not look so
very well ; and I told them I had the Georgics to read last night,
and related to them what I had gone through. They treated me with
great courtesy, and 1 left them highly satisfied, though I had with
me no paper, order, or certificate, on which I could formally claim
the scholarship.

The assurance given to me by the examiners that their recom-
mendation was as good as the presentation to the scholarship, was
confirmed by the following : —

" Basinghali-street, 5th October, 1843.

Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure to inform you that the recommen-
dation of the Glasgow College Committee in favour of your appoint-
ment to a vacant scholarship in Glasgow College, on Dr. Williams'
foundation, was adopted at the late quarterly meeting of the
trustees, and that you were appointed accordingly.

A communication containing directions with reference to your
duties while in the enjoyment of the scholarship will be forwarded
to you in a few days.

t I am, yours faithfully,

Mr. Brewm Grant, SAML. COTTON.

Highbury College, Highbury."

31

The reason this was addressed to me at Highbury College was
because I went up for examination as a former student of that
institution, from which the examiners would require certificates of
character, and because I stayed there just before the examination,
and frequently called there afterwards while staying at Lordship-road,
Stoke Xewington, till my departure for Glasgow. Besides the con-
firmatory letter, as to the award of the scholarship, the following
was sent to indicate my duties, as enforced by " the trust :" —

"Basinghall Street, London,

5th October, 1843.
To Mr. B. Grant,

Sir, — Having been appointed to be a student in the University of
Glasgow, on the foundation of the late Rev. Daniel Williams, D.D.,
you are requested to observe the following directions : —

You are required to enter as a public student in the Logic or
first Philosophy class, and as such to wear the gown, and to obey
the laws of the University, and follow the prescribed course with a
view to your being admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, at the
conclusion of your Philosophical studies.

Together with the Logic, you are recommended to attend the
senior public Greek.

Your Mathematical studies should be so conducted as to prepare
you to apply yourself in due time with the greatest advantage to
Natural Philosophy, under the Professor of that science.

You are requested to present yourself to the Principal and to the
Professors whose classes you intend to enter, some time before
Tuesday, November 7th, as the lectures commence early on the
morning of that day. You may shew them this letter to prove your
nomination as one of Dr. Williams' scholars.

Soon after the commencement of the session, you will be publicly
examined in Greek, and with a view to your future credit and suc-
cess as a student, as well as to justify your nomination by the
Trustees, it is their advice that you should employ the short interval
in considering how you may best acquit yourself in that exami-
nation.

You will however, be entitled to receive those exhibitions only in
case you discharge regularly and diligently your duties as a public
student, and you are not to absent yourself at any time from the
lectures or examinations, unless leave of absence be given you by
the Principal, or by the Professors whom you attend.

If after graduation you wish to continue your studies in the
University of Glasgow, you may renew your application to the

32

Trustees, whose decision will very much depend on your conduct
and progress as an under graduate.

"You are required at the end of every session to transmit to the
Trustees, certificates from the Professors whom you attend, of your
good conduct and progress as a student, and at the close of every
session except the first, a declaration that you adhere to your in-
tention of becoming a Protestant Dissenting Minister, in South
Britain. Any further communications respecting your course of
study, and* vour progress in it will always be acceptable to the
Trustees.

I beg to assure you of the heartfelt and sincere gratification,
with which the Trustees thus address you ; they hope that you will
earnestly strive to do credit to their nomination of you ; — that you
will bear habitually upon your mind a sense of the importance and
dignity of the sacred office to which you are preparing to devote
yourself, and that according to the words of our excellent founder,
you will as the result of the divine blessing upon your present
exertions, " prove useful and faithful."
I am, Sir,

Yours, with great regard,

(Signed by order of the Board,)

SAML. COTTON, Secretary.

* had now a month to spend before starting for Glasgow, and,
judging from probability, did not advance far in Greek, but was for
the most part otherwise occupied, if not mentally dissipated ; till
one foggy morning, a London November fog, hid my separation
from one who had engaged my attention — a real Fidus Achates
enacting discreetly the character of Miss Graham's " Squire," in
Martin Chuzzlewit. Certainly he had the best of me that day, for
he rolled back on terra firma in a cab, while I rolled down the
Thames in a steamer. My arrival in Glasgow, and matriculation
examination in Greek, mentioned in the letter from the solicitor of
Dr. Williams' Trust, are perhaps sufficiently described in a letter
to Dr. Legge, whose unabated kindness and sympathy made him
always desirous to be " posted up" as to my proceedings. To his
enquiries, I answered as follows : —

"Glasgow, December 6, 1843.

My dear Sir, — If it were as easy to write to our friends as
it' is to think about them, I should not have left yours so long
unanswered ; yet when I try to justify my neglect I am staggered
by Emerson's enquiries, ' Why need I go gadding into the scenes

33

and philosophy of Greek and Italian history, before I have washed
my own face or justified myself to my own benefactor? How dare
I read Washington's Campaigns when I have not answered my own
correspondents? ' Do not think from this that I am growing learned,
and have put Greek and Hebrew roots in the place of affection. I
am not up to the chin in Greek. Italian has not yet been introduced
to me ; and as to the isolated transatlantic hero, I am seldom
troubled about him, except to wonder how America came to be visited
by such a phenomenon. But as our business lies on this side the
Atlantic, we will return ; and, first for the north of England. If I had
Pinkerton's Geography I would endeavour to point you to my
" whereabouts," but having no books of reference, I must endeavour
to give an extemporaneous description of my position and prospects.
In order to do this, I must, as dear ' Dagesh' * used to say, ' lay
all my powers under contribution.' It will, however, be more sys-
tematic if, like Bkown, we regard ourselves as * existing in time
and place.' — I believe he says, ' space,' but this would spoil the
allusion. Go back then with me in imagination to London ; see me
on the fatal Tuesday evening, before the dreaded crisis ; picture me
poring over the Ge orgies, and eventually surrendering myself to
half-an-hour's repose on a college hearth-rug ; see me rise like a
ghost and seize the poker to beat down a phantom which my short
slumber evoked ; then see me composing my nerves with tea,
wearing out the night with a poker in one hand and a lexicon in
the other. What a preparation ! However, for once, fortune ex-
ceeded herself, for she generally " favours the brave," and I obtained
a passport for Glasgow. Yet I had a month to spend in cultivating
the affections, and in preparing to become miserable by contrast.
I left Calypso in the south — I suppose we may call the University
Penelope. Neptune was kinder to me than to Ulysses, for he did
not shatter my raft, though the large pot he keeps boiling sent up
its waves like so many huge monsters, bounding and frisking by each
other. You must pardon the above classical allusions ; I have no
other excuse than that we have just finished the fifth book of the
Odyssey : if you are in any difficulty you may perhaps have some
school notes by you ; or, in the absence of these, Lempriere's Dic-
tionary will help you out. I came by steamer to Newcastle, and
thence by coach to Edinburgh, getting there by one o'clock on
Sunday morning. I violated the sabbath still farther by continuing
my journey, after a short night at Edinburgh, and reached Glasgow
at ten o'clock on Sunday morning. This was not like a theological
student, but I felt disinclined to stay anywhere till I reached here.

* '' Dagesh '' is a Hebrew " point," which we used to point out Dr. Henderson.

I stayed at an inn till Tuesday, when I found my way to my present
habitation. I am close to the college, and though not in an aristo-
cratic neighbourhood, I dwell near to the stars — have set up for a
transcendentalist — and look down upon mankind ; in other words,
I live up several stories high ; or, as the Scotch would say, 'Brewin
Grant, top flat.' There are books, walls, chairs, and a fire staring
me in the face ; with these I hold daily converse. I have joined
but two classes, the Logic and the Senior Greek ; these pretty
nearly employ me, especially as we have two hours' attendance upon
each. I like the classes, and think I am making some little pro-
gress. Buchanan lectures in logic : the first part is devoted to an
analysis of the intellectual powers — we have not reached "Logic
Proper" yet, or I would send you a syllogism. He has a very large
class and is obliged, of course, to provide some " stuffing for geese;"
but altogether his lectures are very useful, and I am fond of his
class. Last week we began the " Black Stone examination." I dare
say you understand all about this. I was an early victim, but
escaped with fewer wounds than I anticipated. Only think of sitting
in a black chair, rather bright, as a sort of bitter, mocking contrast
to those who generally sit in it : the seat cold stone and very hard,
to pourtray the trial connected with it. The Royal Arms behind,
in raised figures ; a fifteen minutes sand glass fixed in the back
over the top, as if to protest against this pitiful waste of time.
This glass is a moveable fixture, and is to measure your victimi-
zation. Logic students have to "profess" some Greek book.
Several were turned back with the gracious assurance that they
might stand another examination at the " last day ;" what a pros-
pect ! The chair I believe is black from being " where Satan's seat
was." There is a black-gowned porter sitting behind the chair,
wearing his majesty's livery; he turns the glass on each new trial,
and, like Charon, expects an obolus for the dreary passage. I
reached the Elysian fields without bribing Rhadamanthus, though,
I believe, Miss Justice had her eyes bandaged.

But I must conclude. I had an additional link binding me to
Mr. Walker, through your letter of introduction, for Dr. Morrison
had preceded you in that kind office. Mr. W. is very kind to me.
Mrs. W. is quite maternal. I have an unlimited recourse to
" kippered" fish, which forms one line of Mr. W.'s commerce, and
I sometimes " live up to my privilege." Will you pardon this stupid
letter, for I have been so dull and serious that it is quite a relief
to inflict a joke on anyone who will be kind enough to bear it.
Write soon to Yours affectionately,

BREWIN GRANT."

35

Besides the kindness and hospitality of Mr. Walker and family,
which continued during my whole stay in Glasgow, I may perhaps
be permitted to mention the Rev. Alexander Thomson, M.A., now
of Manchester, whose ministry I attended and in whose house I was
always cordially welcomed.

My first Christmas day in Glasgow I find thus described in a
letter to a friend, dated Glasgow, December 25,1843: — "About
five minutes ago the sun looked in at my window, — bright as in his
summer radiance. I could not help calling some of the inhabitants
to see if they knew what this was, which was shining in my room ;
they soon remembered that it was the sun, though they are not very
conversant with this luminary. I remarked yesterday morning to
one of them that it had been a wet night ; he replied in true Scot-
tish— ' Yes, it's a softish* country this.' In truth he is right. But
do not think I am complaining again, for I have before me the im-
mediate prospect of joining a party of English students, at the house
of one who is at once a votary of study and of the domestic affec-
tions. Setting his lady aside we shall form a bachelor's party, and
have no other music than the jingle of knives and forks ; which I
cannot deny has an agreeable effect, in case of hunger, and differs
from music generally, for it does not sound the sweetest in the dis-
tance. What an Epicurean fancy ! "

In reply to a letter, in which I had given Dr. Legge some of my
" impressions" of Scottish life and learning in Glasgow, he after
commenting on these, turned, as was his wont, to my own practical
affairs, enquiring what prospects or plans I had for the summer and
autumn ; since the University Session is but six months, — from
November 7 to the beginning of May. Thus, being solicitous for my
future, he enquired so early as March 12: — " When does your
session terminate ? You must be casting your glance forward to the
vacation, and I hope you will obtain congenial and profitable oc-
cupation somewhere. [That is, in the way of supplying pulpits.]
Of course you will consult your old friends at Highbury. I should
hope Mr. Godwin will give you a lift.f I need not say that any
shadow of influence that I have will always be at your command. I

• Once when I was walking out in a brown study, I was awakened from my
reverie by the kindly greeting of a slight acquaintance : — " Eather soft, sir."
For a moment I felt that I was no softer than he was ; but before making that
affirmation I recovered myself, and remembered that he meant that it was a wet
day.

+ Generally speaking, a student is practically " in the hands" of his profes-
sors, especially as to his first settlement, and often under their thumb for life.
If a word from the college may not advance him, it can retard him.

36

am glad you visit occasionally my friends (Mr. and Mrs. Walker
and family) at Portland Street, and find pleasure in their society ;
have the kindness to present my regards to them."

The " Scholarship" covered three Sessions, and success in study
would have secured two or three more, as a "Divinity Scholarship,"
but as my divinity course had been secured, I had no intention of
continuing so long, but to study at Glasgow for two Sessions. In
the intermediate summer and autumn therefore, I should not be
looking for a " settlement," but only for occasional engagements.
Both in these, and in the former, my relation to College should have
been of some advantage, especially as I went down to Glasgow with
plenty of promises of this sort. The only aid, however, which I
received was the publication of the College Report without my
name, which is the refined method of revenge adopted by Indepen-
dent rulers, in the absence of more direct legislative powers of
persecution. When I became " settled" and so far did not need
recognition, I was put on their list of students, and my Glasgow
career was added to my description.

Some time during my stay at Glasgow, I wrote to Joshua Wilson,
Esq., who had succeeded his father, to ask why my name was
omitted from the Report, since, when I should come to seek a pas-
torate, people might say : — What college did you study at ? and if
I replied " Highbury," and if they had the Report, they would say
— But you are not on the list of those who have passed through the
college. This might be fatal, as it was intended to be, so that what they
dared not do openly at the time, — but were forced to retract for fear
of publicity — they might do slyly afterwards ; and then, how could
a poor untried student weigh against the weight, gravity, and piety
of " grave and reverend seniors ! "

The reply to my question was considered by me to be one of
those equivocations which men of the world leave to — "professors."
As you are not a settled minister, and are not now in the college, I
do not see how you can be registered in either of these characters.
Of course not ; but I could have been kept before the churches, as
having obtained a scholarship, and being a student at Glasgow
University. I was registered in this latter capacity afterwards, in
the year book, till the entire list was dropped in order not to honour
me. For two or three years, since an exhibition of " the union,"
in Sheffield, the register of scholars under Dr. Williams's trust
has been suppressed ; but the list of those who obtained "divinity"
scholarships is still retained : for my name was not in it.

37

As already observed, I attended the senior Greek and the Logic
class during my first session ; and as it was required by the terms
of Dr. Williams's trust, that those enjoying the benefit of his
bequest should render an account of their course at the end of each
session, I had to send in my certificates from the professors.

It was customary for the chief prizes to be voted by the students :
in the Greek class I had little chance of one ; for though I claimed
to be respectable, I could not pretend to be pre-eminent amongst
some who seemed to have learned Greek before Gaelic.

If my memory does not fail me, our best Grecian, who often
astonished me by reciting more Greek than I could English, was
the subsequently famous " A. K. H.," Mr., now the Rev. A. K. H.
Boyd, whom I admired without envying.

I must say I felt flattered, when at the close of our second
session I received a note from him, — which with many other papers,
I found a few days ago, through hunting a mouse into an old music
manuscript box, — and which I may be tempted to insert at the
proper date.

Besides the class prizes awarded by the open vote of the
students, — who on being named, mention aloud those whom in turn
they consider deserving of the first, second and third prize — ther
are certificates, and in some cases prizes, awarded by the professors.
In the logic class there was the " Breadalbane prize," of five sove-
reigns in a box that just holds them, and on the lid of which the
name and date of the honour are inscribed : this is awarded by the
students. The other highest prize of the class is awarded by the
professor, for a " voluntary essay" on some prescribed subject. I
had these two to report to Dr. Williams's trustees, with something
like an " honourable mention" by the Greek professor.

On my return to London, in May, 1844, I sent this information,
with Class Certificates, to the Rev. James Yates, M.A., one of the
examiners at the Red Cross-street Library, to lay before the
committee.

" CERTIFICATE.

Enkolment. — I hereby certify that Mr. Brewin Grant was
enrolled a student in the Senior Greek Class of the University of
Glasgow, Session 1843-4.

Attendance. — That he attended from Nov. 7 to May 1.

Examination. — That he ivas examined not fewer than eighteen
times in the course of the session, and was a very excellent and able
student.

Exeecises. — That he performed with diligence and success the
prose exercises (Greek Prose Composition.)

Behaviour in Class. — That his behaviour in class was decorous.

General Conduct. — And that his general conduct, in so far as
known to me, was unexceptionable.

E. L. LUSHINGTON."

Glasgow College, May 1, 1844.

Logic Class. — "Mr. Brewin Grant has conducted himself en-
tirely to my satisfaction as a public student in the Logic class
throughout the session, and has so distinguished himself by his
exertions and abilities as to have had the ' Breadalbane Prize' for the
best student in his (the senior) division of the class adjudged to him
by the votes of his fallow students.

ROBERT BUCHANAN, L.R. Professor."
" Glasgow College, May 1, 1844."

In a later and fuller testimonial the professor describes the "Prize"
as " adjudged" to Mr. Brewin Grant, " as the best logician of his
year."

The professor's own prize, in addition, was a copy of the " Memoir
of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. By James Prior." This
is stamped with the University " arms," and inside is written by
the professor : —

•Logic Class, Session 1843 — 4.

To Mr. Brewin Grant, for the best Essay on the question — ' Is
Attention or is Memory in any case voluntary ?'

ROBERT BUCHANAN, L.R. Professor."
" Glasgow College, May 1, 1844."

The above information, with the original certificates, which were
returned, was sent to the Rev. James Yates, M.A., one of the exa-
miners for the Scholarship, in order to show the committee of the
Trust that I had not dishonoured their appointment, and this
secured its continuance. Mr. Yates answered as follows : —

" St. Mary's Lodge, York,

May 17th, 1844.
Dear Sir, — Your letter with the certificates of Professors Lush-
ington and Buchanan has been forwarded to this place, where I am
residing for a year, with a view to the re-establishment of my health.
The certificates are very honourable to you, and will be most grati-
fying to the committee. I shall send them by post to Mr. Cotton,
the secretary, at Williams's library, in Red Cross-street. Mr.

39

Cotton's office is removed from Basinghall-street, which is my
reason for directing to him at the library, as I do not know his
address. But by calling at the library, where I had the pleasure of
seeing and examining you, you will learn his address, and he or his
clerks will give you any information. I expect the committee will
meet in three or four weeks from this time to examine the certifi-
cates of the Glasgow students, and to prepare for the examination
of the candidates for the Divinity scholarships. Your certificates
should therefore be in Mr. Cotton's hands at that time, and after
that he will return them to you, or keep them, as you prefer. With
best wishes on your behalf, I am, dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

JAMES YATES. "
" P.S. — I suppose next session you will attend Professor James
Thomson : you will also find Professor Ramsay's very useful and in-
teresting. But of course your chief business will be the Ethic
class, Professor Fleming's."

Chaptee IV.

SUMMER VACATION, AND SECOND SESSION AT

GLASGOW UNIVERSITY, 1844-5.

My first pleasure during the vacation was to visit my friends in
London, on which occasion, also, I called on the college authorities
at Highbury. When I mentioned to one of them that he had pro-
mised to get me opportunities of " supplying " between the sessions,
and that I had written him a letter reminding him of his promise,
and acquainting him with the course of my studies, he reached
down my note and informed me that I commenced one sentence
without a capital letter. When he saw the involuntary curl of my
lip at the pedantry of the observation to a ministerial student who
was anxious about his immediate prospects, he replied, " Perhaps,
Mr. Grant, you consider these but small things," and when I cor-
dially concurred under the circumstances, he assured me that trifles
oftenimpeded one's progress. And I was sure that trifling with honour
and sacred duty was often a greater impediment, put by some in
the way of others. When I reminded him of my business, and his
promise, he magnanimously brought up the old affair which hap-
pened before his promise was made ; and thus gave me an exempli-
fication of frank Christian forgiveness for having declined to submit
to an indignity.

40

I reminded him that the committee of its own accord cancelled
its resolution, and recalled me to college : he said, " Yes, bnt your
conduct must make an impression.'" By which he meant, that not
daring to injure me in the first rash way into which they plunged,
they would quietly " remember" me for the future.

Another professor on whom I called the same day, referred also
to the former rebellion ; and when I said, " but you know that was
settled, and I was re-called ; " answered, " Yes ! to be sure, — we
put your name on the book ! " The emphasis with which this was
said eloquently affirmed that the transaction described was what a
Jew would call " one leetle trick," to adjourn their revenge to "a
convenient season." I ought to say that neither of these professors
was Dr. Wm. Smith.

I had happily at the time, besides a hopeful disposition, more
agreeable occupation to divert me from " over much sorrow;" and
upon the whole enjoyed my six months in England, four of which I
find summarily described in a letter to a Scotch student who lodged
with me in the same "top flat," during my first session at Glasgow.

This letter was written during a five or six weeks' preaching
sojourn at Wednesbury, called " Wedgebury," in the "Black
Country." My services were rendered in a chapel that had made
several promises of going down a coalpit, and I <might perhaps
have been tempted to " settle" there, only providentially a friend of
mine — and an old fellow- student at Highbury, then living near, and
now "without pastoral charge" in London, — offended the suscepti-
bilities of the people, by telling them I was much too good for the
place ; and that as for some of them my " sermons were pearls cast
before swine." This was his way of throwing " oil on the waters,"
and would naturally have " set the Thames on fire."

During such encouraging circumstances, I wrote to my Glasgow
fellow-lodger thus : —

" Wednesbury, Staffordshire, August, 1844.

My dear Mc, — I am heartily ashamed of leaving your letter so
long unanswered, but for the last three months I have been busy, —
engaged in preaching most of the time, and am but just now in pos-
session of a little leisure.

The region I am now in, and where I have been preaching some
time, is a dreary one ; the only mountains being heaps of cinders
and dross from the mines and ironworks. I have often determined
to send you a line, and wondered how you were getting along, for
you must not measure my interest in your welfare by the frequency
of my correspondence.

41

I hope yon have done some considerable study in the way of
reviewing logic, reading some moral philosophy, with a little Latin
and mathematics. No doubt you have had many hindrances and
temptations, but you have still two good months left, in which to
re-summon your resolution and ' buckle to' again.

My time has been very much taken up by writing, travelling,
preaching, &c, so that my poor studies of the University sort have
been sadly neglected."

My next accounts written at the time, describe me as having
arrived at Glasgow, and fallen headlong into the electioneering
commotion, in which the students of the University were arranged
on the respective sides of Mr. Rutherford and the Earl of Eglinton,
for Lord Rector. It was reckoned a question of Radical and Tory,
and may be understood, if it is worth understanding, by extracts
from two letters written by me at the time, which help me to com-
plete my tale. One of them is partly eaten by the mouse that
helped me to find them all ; he would perhaps eventually have been
exhibited as the " learned mouse," if he had not, like most learned
people, been caught in a trap. Writing to a friend in London to
describe my journey to and arrival at Glasgow, I said : —

" Glasgow, December 13th, 1844. — Last "Wednesday evening,
yon (in London) were to hear ' Israel in Egypt,' just at the very
time I was entering Glasgow. There was a remarkable coincidence
in this, for in very truth this is my Egypt, only (as all analogies
must fail), I find no land of Goshen here.

"It was raining when I came here, and has not done yet. There
is a very brisk trade amongst the carpenters just now, which can
only be accounted for by the general expectation of a new ark,
which is to contain the whole of the inhabitants. But if my locality
here is not quite a ' summum bonum,' the ' unsocial ocean' on
which I rode down was no less disagreeable.

"We travelled in the teeth of the winds and struggled with old
(Eolus. You may imagine how pleasantly we were situated when I
tell you that a respectable old gentleman, who kept me company
during the night in the steamer's cabin, several times invoked a
sacred name, most devotionally, as we were being gently rocked.
Ee thought I was fast asleep, and when he was disturbed from his
duties by seeing me aroused, he enquired after my welfare, adding
that he had "been conseedering whether to take a ' leettle toady.'
Now I had distinctly heard him at his devotions, not two minutes
before ; — a wag would perhaps suggest that the good man had mis-
taken the name of the steward, or that having tried one means he
c

42

thought of trying another. But I could not laugh, for I had to go
upon deck and lay hold on the ropes, or I should have mingled
with the elements, and have become an unlucky ghost, wandering
restlessly over the face of the waters.

"The scene altogether was rather puzzling; — anon the vessel
seemed to nod familiarly to the north pole, and then as politely to
salute the south; while all above us appeared as if Neptune was
quite 'jolly,' and was just shaking about his large blue paper-cap.

"By the way I must tell you all the rest another time. "We have a
meeting very soon about electing a Lord Rector ; we have had
some amusing scenes, which you shall hear of anon."

The following is part of the promised communication : —

" Glasgow, December, 1844.

" I think you left me, having just arrived at Glasgow, and become
absorbed at once — like a true poet, riding on his fiery Pegasus
directly in medeas res. My best plan will be to begin at the middle
again. The first night that 'Israel' was in 'Egypt' there was
a meeting of the students about the electioneering affair, and the
radicals were much surprised at my wonderful indifference in not
making a flaming speech for liberty and Rutherford, just at the very
time when I could have submerged the University and the city itself
in the sea that carried me hither. Yet, after all, Rome has a
wonderful influence on the Romans, and so I could not quite escape
the prevailing epidemic ; accordingly, next evening, I attended a
meeting of the ' liberal committee,' and was appointed to the
honourable office of speaker at a meeting to be held on the coming
day : both sides were to be present, and three chosen men of Israel
were to engage in a pitched battle with three of the uncircumcised
tories. I, being unfortunately considered to possess ready wit — in
other words, a disinclination to blush — was appointed to bring up the
rear, as it was very shrewdly suspected that in a mixed assembly the
last speakers would require both tactics and brass. The day arrived,
and amidst much uproar the six selected mounted the rostrum, each
one to sing or say something in favour of the rector he proposed,
and to abuse the opposing candidate in as forcible a style as he
could possibly manage. It was a good opportunity for a young
Demosthenes to practise on this noisy batch of literaries instead of
talking to the ' wild and wasteful ocean.' At last a general com-
motion arose ; the meeting separated before my oration was let off ;
and there was I, filled to the very brim with my speech, like a
bottle of champagne without a cork-screw. This was very sad : but
our party rallied and so did the other, when both sides had separate

43

meetings. My speech was in request, for my compeers had emptied
themselves. Thanking them for the opportunity of quieting my
mind by relieving it, I proceeded to tell them what I was going
to say to the other party. Many were for the space of half an hour
grievously afflicted with pains in the side as I endeavoured to
analyse the tory bills and speeches ; but after sufficiently feeding
the appetite of risibility, I proceeded to expatiate more grandilo-
quently on the nobleness of our liberal principles. Since that
memorable occasion I have thought that this speech, so near being
still-born and so miraculously saved, should still further be defended
by being put into a letter, as into an ark of bulrushes and safely
deposited in the Nile, where Sir James Graham, or some kind
lady, might possibly become enamoured of it, especially it the babe
should, by weeping, powerfully excite compassion. You are re-
quested to read it with the comment of your mind, and to consider
throughout how many things have escaped my memory which,
springing up on occasion, are not hinted at in my original MSS.
Moreover, you must bear in mind the powerful emphasis of my
voice and manner, adding the force of elocution to the brilliancy of
wit. — Why have not I as good a right to praise my speech as Mrs.

to be proud of her baby? — You may yourself supply the

introduction, only taking care that it be appropriate, not written
before-hand but pat to the occasion. After which, you may proceed
thus : — Gentlemen, — This is an honour thrust upon me. I intended
to have answered the speeches of the tories, and by this means to
have eked out my own ; but as they set nothing up I have nothing
to knock down. Had that meeting continued, therefore, my position
being speechless would have been more pitiful than that of nry tory
colleague, who seemed to be quite overflowing. You will bear with
us then if, passing over their speeches, we seek to extract some
amusement from what they have written. Here is a series of their
hand-bills, good subjects for dissection. In discussing these we
shall assume the position of lecturer on grammar, taste, logic, and
ethics."

I had also written to the Rev. De. Legge, giving him an account
of my engagements, in acknowledging which he wrote : —

''Leicester, December 24th, 1844. — It is time that I shorld
answer your kind notification of your arrival in Glasgow ; I am giad
you are there again. Your residence within the precincts of a
University, your collisions with the keen and vivacious Scottish
youths, your studies to sustain mastery and become rich in distinc-
tions at the hands of your compeers and professors, will deprive
o2

44

your character of none of its native raciness, the vis vivida of your
mother-wit and reason already praised, and you will come out all
the better accomplished and accoutred for the larger arena of the
church and the world : — no doubt with a B.A. attached to your
name. I cannot question that you will have free course and be
glorified as aforetime and much more abundantly.' Asking for the
continuance of particulars as to my studies, associations, and aims,
he continued: — " You need not be told that I feel an interest in
your concerns, and you have it in your power to render your de-
tails interesting indeed."

During the second session the Bkitish Anti-State Church Asso-
ciation advertised for the best essay on " The Church of Christ, —
what is it ?" and soon afterwards for a second essay, for both of which
I competed. The result as to the first is given in the following offi-
cial correspondence, to which the mouse aforesaid directed me, by
leading to a box in which letters had been packed for some ten
years.

I wish to draw special attention to the marked passages, wherein
I was told that I must not be so liberal as to hint that there can be
any doubt or difference of opinion as to the mode and subjects of
baptism, a theory which appears to me to be slightly ritualistic.
British Anti-state Church Association,

Aldine Chambers, Paternoster Eow,

London, January 18th, 1845.
My dear Sir, — Although I am not yet authorised to make a formal communi-
cation to you in the name of the Executive Committee, I beg to congratulate you
upon being the successful competitor for the prize tract — The Church of Christ —
what is it ?

I send you herewith slips of the Tract in type, which we intend for publica-
tion on the first of February. You -will observe two paragraphs marked ; the
first of them in slip No. 3 contains an assertion which our Baptist friends
icould not admit to be true, and which must, therefore, in order to your recep-
tion of the prize, be either wholly omitted or so far modified as not to imply
that the rite of baptism, as to its mode and subjects is left in uncertainty.
The second paragraph which I have marked may, perhaps, considering the
main object of the Association, be regarded as episodical.

Will you be so kind as to return, by the next post if possible, the enclosed
proofs, with your corrections, as we are already straitened in t Jie, and it is of
the utmost importance that we keep faith with the public ?
You will probably hear from me formally next week.
I am, my dear Sir,

Yours sincerely,

EDWARD MIALL.
Mr. Brewin Grant.

The other paragraph objected to was a concluding prayer, of which
I was proud as Miltonic, and if the gentleman who borrowed a

45

volume of my pamphlets had returned it I should quote that prayer
here, — episodically. I begged that the prayer might remain, and it
did, in the said tract. It was with some reluctance that I submitted
to modify the paragraph on baptism, which permitted people to get
to heaven without immersion, and even on the Quaker principle of
only a spiritual baptism, which I always regarded as the only essen-
tial,— the rest being signs and modes, — respecting which every
man being fully persuaded in his own mind, will be accepted of
Him to Whom alone we stand or fall. I was already in advance of
my liberal friends, being a great admirer of the only perfect liberal
I know, the Apostle Paul. However I submitted so far, and having
fulfilled the condition of receiving the prize I had won, was congra-
tulated and rewarded as follows : —

The " copy of the award" referred to in this letter was cut out
of the Xonconformist, and reads thus : —

BRITISH ANTI-STATE CHURCH ASSOCIATION.

PKEMIUM TRACT.

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST— WHAT IS IT ?"— The Execu-
tive Committee have much pleasure in announcing to their friends the
following Report, on the subject of the First Prize Tract, communicated to them
by those gentlemen whom they requested to take upon them the responsibility of
deciding upon the relative merits of the several MSS. sent in previously to the
First of December last : —

" We, the undersigned, having been appointed by the Executive Committee to
award the prize for the Tract, ' The Church of Christ — What is it V — agree in
the following Report : —

" That thirty four manuscripts having been put into our hands for adjudica-
tion, we concur in recommending that signed o ysypxtpx, ykypxtya,, as best
adapted to the object contemplated by the Committee ; and that in making this
selection we cannot refrain from expressing our gratification at the high°order
of talent displayed by several of the competitors, and particularly by the one
bearing the signature ' U. C. C. Hope,' which, although so different in style from
tbat to which the prize has been adjudicated, approaches so near to "it in its
merits as to have rendered preference a matter of some difficulty.

"F. A. COX.

"J. P. MURSELL.

"EDWARD HIALL.

The Premium Tract will be published, price Twopence, on the 1st Feb., 1845.
The MSS. of the unsuccessful competitors may be had on application at the
Society's Office, Aldine Chambers, Paternoster-row.

F. A. COX.
E. MIALL.
J. M. HARE. ,

I may here state, that I still have the conviction thai; the ritualistic
water element, which nearly destroyed my chance as to the first
o 3

Secretaries.

46

prize, robbed me of the second, as when I sent for the MSS. of that,
the envelope containing my motto was cut open, and subsequent
explanations of that curious circumstance did not remove my sus-
picions, while many circumstances confirmed them. •

One chief part of nry work this session was to prepare for the
B.A. examination ; a not very flattering account of which I find in
a letter to Dr. Legge, where after enumerating some causes of delay
in writing to him, I added — (Glasgow, April 23, 1845.) " That
wondrous undertaking, the B.A., has had a share in the robbery,
and may after all give me no compensation. I was nearly stranded
at the very outset. The Latin I had read over very hastily, the
third book of Livy had occupied a few days, amongst other duties ;
and this was three weeks before the examination commenced. I had
but just time to revise all except that, and could read the rest well,
but was " called" only on that. I could have absconded, my faculties
were all wool-gathering; and I stumbled fearfully on the dark
mountains. Some few dunces present chuckled over my dilemma,
like Philistines at the shearing of Samson. One English gentle-
man proclaimed in the courts — ' Grant has stuck in the Latin,'
but though this was made known in an ' Io triumphe' style, it was
leceived very uncongenially by some worthier Scots. Caledonia
tor ever !

"I offered to come up again, and explained privately to Professor
Ramsay; but he said this was inadmissible, yet that I could retrieve
it at the written composition. Alas ! I told him I had no hope
of that. However in Greek, logic, and morals, I was equal to any
in each, and better than any altogether. So I had still some hope.
The Latin composition is on Thursday of this week, but I am so
tired of work as to be unwilling to apply very much to it.

" Now here is a pretty condition for a hero, whatever afterwards
may be said in his praise, as thus : — he reads Greek well ; is good
at logic and philosophy ; writes in a tidy style, &c, — the eternal
and deafening response will be, c ay, but he stuck in the Latin.'
But we must leave epitaphs until our decease, and consider first the
duties of life. ' Ay, there's the rub,' — ' there's the respect that
makes calamity of so long life.' However, we must sow without
regard to the clouds, trusting to the eternal seasons. I should have
said vernal, but let it pass ; what has been said or done is thence-
forth irrevocable. It is altogether uncertain what kind of a recep-
tion England will give me. I shall perhaps be returned upon your
hands, like a bad penny ; but if you can pass me between two good
half-crowns I am sure you will ; Sir. has promised to recommend

47

me, should a suitable opening occur ; but I have very little faith in
that quarter. What will you say to rue, being silent so long, and
writing now when I need your help ? Yet such is the case ; and
the only apology to be offered for all, is that I am, dear Sir, affec-
tionately yours."

" "Wouid the company like a little fresh air ?"* was the novel but
appropriate question put suddenly once to a crowded meeting,
listening to a discussion, which was becoming as close and warm as
:he atmosphere. The opening of the windows restored the equili-
brium of both. Since recreation is the best handmaid of education,
and as in after life people become " stived-up" in their affairs till
;hey are feverish and incapable, and recover mastery over busi-
ness only by leaving it for a while, so let us now take a trip down
r he Clyde, where I went about this time for ventilation.

I am enabled to take the reader with me by the aid of a love
letter, which was returned to me when I was married, and which
runs thus : —

" I promised to send you a sketch of my visit to the Highlands, but scarcely
think it -will interest you very much though I enjoyed it, and feel much stronger
for the trip ; but you know how different it is to read about a scene and to visit
it. We (Mac. and I) started on Thursday morning, a day set apart here for
fasting and preparation for the half-yearly sacrament. The shops were all closed
as if on a sabbath, and it seemed almost a desecration to be going on a journey
of pleasure ; but fasts are made for those who have pampered themselves tco
much. A student who has given his best vigour to the dim taper needs other
methods of treatment ; and, at any rate, nature seemed to approve, for the day
was an auspicious one, and plainly invited to a country ramble. Nor were we
quite alone in our pursuit of pleasure, for the Broomielaw, where we started from,
was thronged, the river crowded with boats, the quay with people ; some almost
trampling upon each other to reach the boats, others eagerly watching the de-
parture of so many pleasure seekers. Careful mothers handed their little ones
to the police, to be almost thrown into the starting vessels, whilst they themselves
summoning unusual agility, leaped upon the boat. All was hurry and confusion,
but one poor creature, rarely adorned for the occasion, shrunk back from the
'earful task, and whilst officious hands would have helped her off the quay to
take her chance of alighting on board, she was in a strait, was cautious and
mdetermined, till, with disappointment and dismay written on her face, she saw
>ur jovial steamer panting along, and waving adieu with columns of smoke.
Che commencing of the Clyde from here is rather narrow, and the low stone
nounds, raised as an apology for banks, were washed by the swell caused by our
iteamer. In a narrow river a pleasure boat seems of some consequence, and
nakes considerable stir (like a country squire among clowns), but in a main sea
lie finest vessel may be lost amidst the billows whilst the eddies of its own path
ire unperceived. The best description of our fellow travellers is that they were
a motley group, the most distinguished being an old blind fiddler and his vision-

*The Rev. Howard Hinton, II. A., in the Grant & Holyoake Cowper-street
Discussion.

48

gifted companion, the rest were composed of one of a sort from all the circum-
stances, shapes, and conditions of human life. Their effects and general baggage
were thrown into one general heap, an indiscriminate assemblage of deal boxes
and hair trunks, reticules and market baskets, band-boxes and brown paper par-
cels ; some of the good housewives had evidently studied domestic economy under
Mrs. John Gilpin, and were taking bread and cheese with them to make up a
wedding dinner. The river gradually widened, and we ascended the paddle-boxes
to gain a more extensive prospect. The scenery at first was not very striking,
yet soft, green, and lovely, as the first footsteps of spring. The interest and
beauty deepened as the surrounding plain lifted itself into gentle slopes, here
and there variegated with clusters of trees, sometimes a gently rising hill appears
clothed with wood, and through this sylvan veil a princely mansion looks forth;
at others, a mountain cultivated to the very summit promises, like a true Ceres,
to meet the coming autumn, having his brow crowned with yellow corn. Through
all this, the noble river marches in his daily ebb and flow, meekly bearing all the
burdens man may lay upon him; nay, on that day he seemed peculiarly joyous,
greeted us all with a mild beaming countenance, gathering up his face into an
eddyirjg smile, and reflected the brightness of the sun as he bore us gaily along.
In most of the towns and villages alongside, you might see an unpretending "free
church," its roof not quite covered in. In Bowling, about twelve miles down, on
the right bank, the new church reared its front at one end of the village, and thb
eld one at the other. A little beyond, and above this village, as an introduction
to Highland scenery, a lofty mountain stretched upward its huge mass, sleeping
in the sunlight. Some distance further, on the same side, stands a sturdy,
rugged, rock-mountain, frowning on ail around as if placed there to keep in check
its neighbour. Dumbarton castle. This latter place is a huge heap of rock, exca-
vated into a fortress ; an enemy would think it a dumb solitary place until he
heard the cannon roar from their concealment. There are a few lines of wall
along some parts of its base, and some houses standing within them bearing all
appearance of serenity and peace. A kind of bannister leads up to its peaking
summit, by which some were ascending as we passed; it guides to a little tower
crowning the castle and giving the only appearance of a military fort. Beside
this castle, flows the river Leven, which, leaving its fertile vales, joins the Clyde
in his march towards the ocean. Between this castle and its rugged neighbour,
mentioned before, is a neat little pyramidal monument " to Henry Bell," the
first steam navigator in Europe; and who introduced steamers on the Clyde, some
years before our own gloiious Thames heard their panting. Around this monu-
ment is a trim little garden, enclosed by a stone wall, itself apparently a time-
hallowed ruin, and the bright green ivy mantling its stones seems to cover its
decay with the youthful garland of spring. This unique and charming assemblage
appears placed between these two growling monsters, as an emblem of the arts of
peace, and, by separating such ferocious combatants, gives us the promise that
wars shall cease when man grows better and wiser. A few miles further down,
on the opposite side, is ' Port Glasgow.' It has a strong well laid out harbour,
and was once a very flourishing mercantile station, its chief business consisting
in ship building ; but since the Clyde has been deepened and made navigable
for sailing vessels as far as Glasgow, this port has considerably declined. It is
a substantial, well-built place, and its harbour is still visited by many ships.
The next place of consequence is Greenock, an enterprising, bustling town, in
which the celebrated "Watt was born. On the quay is the custom house, a very
noble building, and looks as if made to command the submission of reluctant
vessels. From Greenock the Clyde opens into a wide space, the left leading out

49

into the sea, the right leading to Loch Long and Holy Loch, lying beside each
other like two twins, with an immense mountain range to keep the peace between
them. On before us, opposite the Clyde, lay Dunoon, a pleasantly situated vil-
lage on the coast, having hills stretching away behind. It is a nest for Glasgow-
summer swallows, and certainly is a pleasant place to flit to, being studded all
along the beach with elegant modern cottages and mansions. We touched at this
place and then, turning to the right, sailed up Holy Loch, at the end of which
is another pretty village, called Kilmun, and having still more splendid hills
behind it. Our destination was not far from this, a lovely vale, surrounded by
what seemed to us to be nature's wildest sublimities. We were not satisfied with the
-wonders which the day revealed to us, but must wander forth to meet the " glimpses
of the moon." The mountains seemed to throw a thicker shadow around us in
the vale below, whilst their summits were lost in gloom and silence, adding a
solitary and solemn grandeur to the scene. We heard also the murmuring of
mountain torrents and the harsh screeching of the owl, making ' night hideous ; '
but as we returned, the moon arose from behind a mountain, up whose steep sides
she seemed to have been climbing laboriously, and with her broad disk shone full
upon us, casting a transient brightness on the smooth streams winding through
the valley. The next morning had far advanced before we were admiring the
beauties of Scottish mountain scenery ; our first visit was to Loch Ech. a few
miles from where we were staying ; it is a still, beautiful lake, opening at each
end into a valley, and defended on each side by lofty mountains stretched into
repose by these still waters. From this we returned home to fortify ourselves
for another journey — this was to the Massen waterfalls. The road to it was
picturesque, we might almost say sublime. The mountain separating the falls
from Loch Ech is called Ben Hohr, a noble height, and planted to its front with
fir trees, many of them seeming almost inaccessible ; you can scarcely look at
them without thinking of the danger which must have been incurred in planting.
The whole gives to the mountain a rich and beautiful appearance, these firs con-
trasting with the rugged and barren rocks which they scarce conceal, and from
which they seem to draw their sustenance. At the foot of this mountain is a
very pretty mansion and plantation, adding the finish of home to this splendid
combination of nature and art. But we must hasten to the falls. They are in a
ravine, and at some distance seem lost in the grandeur of the scenery; but as you
approach, the deep murmur of the waters awakens something like awe, and when
you stand on the masses of stone which nature seems to have hurled together in
the sport of her boundless power, and see the streams almost carving their im-
petuous passage through these vain obstructions', and look up from this tierce
contest to the mountains, lifting their heads aloft, undisturbed by this murmuring,
listening to no sound but the rushing tempest or the pealing thunder, the im-
pression is magnificent and overpowering. I must conclude. If this letter is too
tedious you must pardon it since it comes from your own most affectionate ."

But, as Mr. Godwin once said to me, as he met me returning
from Stoke Newington to college, we " must attend to severer
studies :*' let us go back to the university, and finish the business of
the session.

At the risk of mixing dates, I may mention here what occurred
at an earlier period of this session, but the result of which I was
now beginning to look forward to with anxious curiosity.

At the end of my first Glasgow campaign I was so eager to get
the boat for Liverpool, that after receiving the class prizes I did

50

not attend the meeting in the Common Hall, where other honours
were awarded, and announcements made of subjects to be competed
for the next session, and at which the students could work during
the vacation. I was entirely ignorant of this important business
forming a part of the concluding ceremony, and only found it out
afterwards, when there was little chance of competing, since many
had had the opportunity of working eight months at the subjects,
and there were now but about the same number of days left, before
the papers were to be given in.

At the same time there was the Installation of the Lord Rector
to be attended, and a breakfast the next morning with him at Pro-
fessor Thomson's, who invited some ten of the more active spirits
whose exertions and eloquence had contributed to secure the
election. I had the honour to be amongst the " upper ten."

Writing to Dr. Legge about these events, I gave an account of
my discovery of the announced University prizes, and my attempt
to secure two of them.

It was by obtaining a copy of the Glasgow "University Calendar"
that I made the discovery ; and having fixed upon two subjects as
most suitable, I determined to try chiefly for one of them — the best
essay on " Poetic Diction, its Use and Abuse by the Orators," to
which the University silver medal was to be awarded. This
required some amount of reading for facts and illustrations, and
would need to be written in a somewhat ambitious style : at any rate
" composition" was of more consequence in this than in the other,
which I reserved for the shorter space of time, should any be left.
The second essay was to be on — " the Difference between the
Aristotelian and Baconian Methods of Logic."

I secured the services of my Highland host to call me at a fixed
time, and went to bed two hours before the time fixed for being
called.

The next morning I was called upon by a fellow student with whom
I was going through the Greek and Latin for B.A., who, perceiving
me to be specially engaged and disposed to decline our customary
walk, enquired what I was at, when I showed him the " Calendar"
with the list of prizes. He said that there was one of them which he
thought he could manage, and fixed on my reserved theme, — the
difference between Deductive and Inductive Logic. I thought it
would be a pity to awaken any delicacy in his mind, by saying that
I had intended trying for that also, after finishing the other ; and
as I was " going in" for two, he would, so far as my share in the com-
petition was concerned, have a very fair chance. So having lent

51

him Stuart Mill's "System of Logic," in two volumes, which I had
lately bought, I next borrowed a copy for my own use in writing
on the second subject.

I remember the last time my tormenter came to call me up, I
listened to his footsteps across the outer room towards my dormi-
tory with no feelings of Christian charity ; I rejoiced when he half
stumbled over a chair ; I hoped he would never find my door : but
when he did, I sprang out in desperation, and, said he, — "May be
I've waked you too soon, shall I give you a licht ? " I hesitated a
moment, he lighted the gas, and left me to break the ice, to get
thoroughly awake by a very cold water process. After this, with
the exception of half an hour's walk, and a subsequent half hour's
effort to shake off a kind of stupor or coma, I wrote and made
notes and copied, from two o'clock in the morning till after eleven
at night ; when my second essay was despatched for competition ;
the first having been sent in a few hours earlier. So ended that
work ; — as hard a week as I should wish to endure.

We had in the University a kind of debating society, I forget its
name. I read in it an essay on the Crusades, which was borrowed
by the student referred to in the preceding chapter.

It was with great satisfaction that I found among many other
lost papers, the following note : — " My dear Grant, I return your
oration on the Crusades, which I have read with very great plea-
sure. I owe you a great many apologies for not having returned it
sooner : but I have been looking for you a long tine, with that
purpose, without having been able to discover you about the
college.

I have great pleasure in congratulating you on your honours in
the Moral (Philosophy class) ; and on Thursday I expect to have
the pleasure of doing so upon your having gained several of the
University essay prizes.

I am sorry that the last session in which our old University will
number you among her sons has now come to an end : and I
regret much that any abominable politics should have kept me from
sooner having the pleasure and honour of your acquaintance. One
thing I can honestly say : — I have been in several schools and
colleges in Scotland and England, but I never met with any person
for whose talent and genius I had the same respect and admiration,
that I have for yours." "lam morally certain that at some future
ime your name will be one which men ' will not willingly let die,' —
and 1 hope that you will not in those days be surprised if you find
your Glasgow friend claiming the honour of your acquaintance.

I wish yon all manner of happiness, whatever your future cours;
in life may be ; and short as the time of our acquaintance has been,
I assure you I shall not soon forget the appearances which I have
seen and heard you make. With every good wish; I am, my dear
Grant, yours very sincerely, A. K. H. B."

This from a political opponent, and a conservative, is an example
to my liberal friends. There are still more handsome expressions
in the letter, which I have suppressed in order not to awaken the
envy of some ; and " I do remember my faults this day," and ex-
ceedingly regret, that the immediate changes and new roads of life,
on leaving the University for a different part of the kingdom, pre-
vented me keeping sight of so worthy a friend ; and that I had not
an opportunity of acknowledging so generous a recognition ; but
trust that if this should, as I believe it will, come under his notice,
he will not feel that his kindly prognostics should make him
ashamed.

I had enjoyed the " Recreations of a Country Parson" and some
other productions of the same pen, as I take it, before identifying
in my own mind the author with my University friend.

The " honours in the Moral" referred to, were the first prize ad-
judged by the students, and one by the professor, "Reid's Essays on
the Powers of the Human Mind," in three volumes, stamped with
the University arms, and inscribed by the professor: — "Brewin
Grant, A.B. In classe Ethica Discupulus. Ingenio ac Labore
Insignis. Praemium Hocce Merito Consecutus est. Apud Coll.
Glasg. Primo Die Maii, 1845. Geo. Fleming, Eth. Prof."

This already anticipates that I passed in the B.A, examination,
as the professor appends that title in his certificate.

At the time of receiving this acknowledgment I was still uncer-
tain whether I had succeeded in either of the University prizes for
which I had written, and which were, as usual, to be distributed in
the Public Hall, where we waited to hear the result. I had the
satisfaction of hearing announced " the University Silver Medal for
the best Essay on ' Poetic Diction, its Use and Abuse by the
Orators' — Mr. Brewin Grant, of Leicester." I went forward to
receive this, and waited to learn respecting the other, when I had
again the satisfaction of hearing the prize awarded to me for the
best Essiy on " The Difference between the Aristotelian and the
Baconian Systems of Logic." This was a small money prize of I
think two and a half guineas. The professor of Moral Philosophy
gave me the following certificate in addition to his inscription in the
prize volume before mentioned : —

53

" Glasgow College, May 1, 1845.
Mr. Brewin Grant was a student of Moral Philosophy during the
Session 1844-5. He was regular in his attendance and exemplary
in his conduct, and in the examinations and exercises of the class
uniformly acquired himself so as to merit the highest approbation
and esteem of his fellow students and myself. It will give me great
pleasure to hear of his happiness and success in life.

" WILLIAM FLEMING, Professor of Moral Philosophy."

Afterwards, in 1847, when I was desirous of giving occasional
lectures in connection with Philosophical, Literary, and Edu-
cational Institutions, Professor Fleming added to the above : — " He
(Mr. Grant) applied himself with so much ability and success to the
business of the class that by the votes of his fellow-students, and
with my cordial approbation, he obtained the first prize awarded for
general eminence throughout the session. It is also consistent with
my knowledge, that at the close of that session he received two
University Prizes for essays on topics connected with Mental Philo-
sophy, which were thought by the judges to be of very superior
merit. His abilities are naturally good, and they have been care-
fully and successfully cultivated. He is quick, acute, lively, and
ingenious, and possesses many of the qualities which should fit him
to be popular and interesting as a public teacher or lecturer."

The Logic Professor was also kind enough to furnish me with a
supplementary testimonial on the same occasion : —

" The Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., entered the University of
Glasgow as a scholar on Dr. Williams's Foundation, in 1843-4.

During that session he attended the Logic Class, in which he so
eminently distinguished himself by his readiness, acuteness, and
ingenuity, in the written compositions, extemporary criticisms, and
public examinations of the class, that by the votes of his, fellow-
students the Breadalbane Prize was awarded to him as the best
logician of his year.

While attending the University Mr. Grant carried several public
prizes for essays on subjects connected with the departments of
Lo^ic, Rhetoric, and Metaphysics, all of them composed with much
ability and characterised by a power of vigorous and original
thinking. I may add that during the whole period of his connection
with the University of Glasgow, Mr. Grant conducted himself as a
zealous and exemplary student, and that on taking his degree in
Arts, he passed his examination in Logic with marked approbation.

ROBERT BUCHANAN, M.A.,

Oct. 16th, 1847. [Prof, of Logic and Rhetoric in the University of Glasgow.

54

It was gratifying to me to receive at the end of my University
course a kindly recognition from my old college, Highbury, London,
in which were still one half of those who were fellow -students with
me ; and these, with the others who had entered since I left, sent
me the congratulations of the united brethren, by the senior stu-
dent, who thus wrote : —

" Highbury College, May 4, 1845.

My dear Brother, — It is with very sincere pleasure that I forward
to you, in accordance with a motion passed the other morning at
the breakfast table, the hearty congratulations of the brethren here,
for the honourable attainment of the degree of Bachelor of Arts
in the Glasgow University, and likewise for the successful competi-
tion for the prize for the best essay on the subject of a Christian
church (the Anti- State Church Prize Tract.)

I hope you will be long spared to enjoy the honours you have
already reached and to attain others of yet higher importance and
distinction.

I remain, my dear Grant, very truly yours,

J. FLEMING, Senior Student."

It only remains to complete this part of my history by the
approbation I most prized, namely of my father, and my pastor : —

" Leicester, June 1845.

My dear Grant, — I received your last note a few days ago. I
had been apprised before of the result of your Glasgow career by
your dear father with his sparkling eyes and swelling heart. It is
late to tender you my congratulations thereupon, but you may
believe that no one rejoiced more sincerely in your success than I
did. I trust it is the earnest and foreshadowing of more brilliant
successes jet to come, in the cause of truth and meekness and
righteousness. I wish I had it in my power to introduce you to a
sphere where you could find yourself in congenial element and have
scope for the exercise of your powers.

"Do write to me at your earliest convenience, and believe me,
my dear Grant, yours affectionately,

V GEORGE LEGGE."

55

Chapter Y.

THE OPENING CAMPAIGN OF LIFE. SEEKING A
" SETTLEMENT." 1815—7.

Hitherto I had been highly favoured by providential opportuni-
ties of education and health to achieve moderate success ; and now,
though in one sense the whole world was before rne, and was " a
wide, wide world," I seemed to have a very narrow entrance into it,
or rather into the church ; and what was a greater exercise of faith,
the entrance was so narrow that I could not at first discern it.
Neither did I, but was led to it by a way I knew not.

I was driven into three ports : the first was Gainsboro', where the
minister might possibly leave, but where he eventually for some
time remained, so that this " opening" was not an " opening" at
all ; but continued to be closed by the former occupant of the
pulpit, an old Highbury fellow-student, the Rev. David Loxtox,
who had kindly endeavoured, in case of his removal, to prepare the
way for me to be his successor.

In a letter to one who would share in and complete my " settle-
ment" wherever that should be, I stated the efforts made at this time,
July 17, 1815, by the friends at Gainsboro' to induce Mr. Loxtox
to continue amongst them, though they regarded their church more
as a training ground for a minister of his abilities, than as a per-
manency for life ; since Gainsboro' was a rather decaying than a
flourishing town, and the chapel shared in the general fortunes.

Mr. Loxtox, in a very friendly letter of September 12, 1815,
writing from Gainsboro,' respecting my previous visit there, and I
think before his own movements were quite decided, was good
enough to say: — "Most of the intelligent people here were very
much pleased with you ; but you are too good for the ignorant

mass. Don't think about , but look for a better place. If

I can in any way serve you, you have only to tell me how." Mr.
Loxton afterwards removed to Liverpool, and thence to Sheffield,
where he has laboured with fair success fori believe about sixteen
years. He is now our senior minister, having been in the town
longer than any other of the brethren at present ministering there.

My next port was Woodside, Birkenhead, but that opening was
also closed, inasmuch as during my preaching there the good
people were waiting for an answer from one whom they had invited
rather ambitiously, — the Rev. J. G. Miall, of Bradford, whose
position I find described thus, in a letter dated, August, 1815 : —
" He has a flourishing church, and would find it difficult to leave.' '

56

However, knowing as I did that the people were looking in
another direction, I could not in these circumstances be deemed
a " candidate" but only a temporary " supply." This opening,
therefore, was not one. I ought to state here that I do not for a
moment imagine that the Eev. J. G. Miall was " candidating ;" it
would be extremely improbable that he could have for a moment
entertained the idea of leaving Bradford, — where his character and
abilities were so highly and deservedly appreciated, and where he
still abides in honour and usefulness, — to undertake a cause so
shattered and unpromising as Woodside was at that time.

My third port was Prescot, near Liverpool, where I expected
nothing, and got what I wanted — a " settlement" and training
ground; for I was too immature for a large " sphere," and as Dr.
Legge told me, I should be most advantageously placed among
disadvantages, to bear the yoke in my youth, which is as good as it
is sometimes galling. I rested and was thankful.

I found many very kind friends there, though "the cause" was small,
and had become " smaller by degrees and beautifully less" for some
time past. It was nursed by the " County Union," but this cir-
cumstance, which in itself is generally irksome to an Independent
minister, was considerably relieved to me by the respectful and
considerate treatment which I invariably received from the minis-
ters who presided over the contributing churches, and with lay
delegates managed the affairs of the Union.

Dr. Raffles was a prince among them ; he was urbanity itself ;
and always treated an obscure brother with marked respect. It
is true he could give a dignified rebuke, but always good-naturedly,
as when once I apologized for not calling upon him when I visited
Liverpool, excusing myself on the ground that the place was in such
a whirl that I got confused, and turned back to Prescot as soon as
possible, he wrote to say that as he had no hope of Liverpool ever
becoming any quieter, he was afraid he must abandon the hope of
enjoying a visit from me.

To the end of his life he evinced a kindly interest in me. I have
a letter in which he writes of me to another, as " my old friend ;"
and a little before his decease he wrote a kind apology for not
bem0 able to repeat the obligation I was several times under to
him, of taking some public service in my church. No man ever
more cheerfully aided the brethren.

The Rev. John Kelly, equally eminent, though less popular,
was always equally kind ; and my occasional relations with him
always inspired me with that respect in which he still lives in the
general estimation.

57

These two, with other ministers round and some from a distance,
took part in my " Ordination," — a dedicatory service publicly set-
ting apart and recognizing one as devoted to the work of the
ministry. This was in January, 1846.

The Rev. J. L. Poore, formerly of Salford, and afterwards
actively employed in connection with the Colonial Mission, facili-
tating the settlement of English ministers over Colonial churches,
and whose decease lately was a cause of wide-spread sorrow, was
present on the occasion and took part in it. He was somewhat
personally interested in me, as being uncle by marriage to the one
whom I was hoping would soon share my labours and fortunes.

From a letter to that one, dated January 23, which with many
other letters constituted the only "worldly goods," except myself,
with which I " endowed" her, I quot9 the following brief reference
to my ordination : — "Everything went off well, and what was very
cheering to me. Your aunt was there ; Mr. Poore brought her. He
read and prayed after the first hymn ; several ministers gave out
hymns. I was rather nervous, but got through. Your aunt
borrowed the papers that I read, (giving an account of religious
experience, doctrines, and church polity.) One question I had
to answer extemporaneously, so it is not down (on the papers) ;
the whole was written in haste the day before. Dr. Raffles
presided at the dinner ; was very kind and cordial ; we had about
fifty to dine. My father was there, and is increasingly pleased
with the place and people, — says we have more reality than show.
At first he was frightened by our fewness till he knew the worth of
some of them. Last Sunday was the best attended yet, though still
of course very thin. Mr. Poore did very well (at the ordination
meetings) and praised me largely at the dinner. Dr. Legge of
course did the same, and Dr. Raffles assured me and the people
how cordially I should be received into ministerial confidence, and
by the Association of the County, (which ' gave a grant' to the place.)"

On April the second (to avoid the first) of the same year, another
ceremony was performed by the Rev. John Jefferson, in his chapel,
Stoke Xewington. London, when the eldest daughter of Francis
Homan, Esq., one of Mr. Jefferson's deacons, became Mrs. Brewin
Grant. That occasion was unhappily overshadowed, as all joy is,
by a painful circumstance, the sudden illness, a few months prece-
ding, from a paralytic stroke, of our father, who had been my true
and kind friend for some seven years ; but who had now become —

" In power of others, never in his own,''
as Samson says of his incapacitating blindness. We knew, however,

58

that though bereaved of speech, so as not able to originate a pro-
position, and unable to communicate with man except in mono-
syllables, as "yes" or "no," as much signified by looks and
signs as expressed by the tongue, he could still hold heavenly
converse, and retained all his faculties of understanding what was
spoken or read to him. Though henceforth dead as to " business,"
in which he had been " diligent," as he had been " fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord" in both, he still took an interest in passing events ;
and for ten years with general cheerfulnes, though suffering occa-
sional depression, enjoyed life with gratitude and resigned it with
the certainty of a better.

In our little flock at Prescot we had three representative men,
who may be reckoned upon in most congregations : " Father Doke,"
now in heaven, whose large lustrous eyes gleamed as he " led" with
heart and soul and voice in Ebenezer vestry prayer meetings, such
lines as —

Stand up, my soul, shake off thy fears,
And gird the gospel armour on —

represented the simple, hearty, humble worshipper, to whom the
plain gospel was "nectar," drunk in with eager delight and thank-
fulness.

The second representative man was Mr. Somerville, then
"forester" to Lord Derby, managing the trees in the noble
" Knowsley Park;" and afterwards, perhaps still, sustaining the
same office under Lord Harewood, near Leeds : he was brother to
" One who Whistled at the Plough," and who found brains for the
Anti-Corn-law league orators. Mr. Somerville was of the Scottish
covenanter class, a rigid theologian, and as conscientious as he was
intelligent in his religion. The third was my personal friend, who
will perhaps forgive me naming him here, Mr. Henry Walker
Lucas, then of the Liverpool, now of the London, Stock Exchange.
He lived out at Prescot, where his sister kept a select boarding
school for young ladies, and in whose house we spent many happy
and profitable hours. I took him to be a representative of the more
cultivated and intellectual class of our hearers, whileat the same time
sympathizing with what is suited to the more simple and theological.
I felt that as a matter of mere criticism a style of preaching that
should meet the simplicity and fervour of the first, the soundness
and spirituality of the second, without violating the taste of the
third, would be the perfection of sermonizing ; though too great a
regard for the last might produce tameness and inefficiency.

Prescot upon the whole was a dull and stagnant town, from
wbiih w7ere many migrations, and sometimes those who wTere most

59

benefited and useful were removed by " tbe logic of events :" still
we enjoyed our sojourn there, and believe it was not wholly lost on
ourselves and others.

Exactly two years after my ordination in Prescot, I received a
letter from Mr. Thos. Short. Jun., Birmingham, — one of the
deacons of Highbury chapel, Graham-street, in that town, whose
father was then a deacon of the Rev. John Angell James, and is
I believe still in the same office in that church. This letter stated
that I had been named to him by one of my old Highbury fellow-
students as a likely minister for the above-named chapel.

I had also been described to him as " moveable,'' which unhap-
pily is a large category, though it is dangerous to be known (at
home) to belong to it.

I was invited to preach " in the capacity of probationer," and
was asked whether in case they gave me an " invitation," I would
accept it. Several Sundays were mentioned on which I could if
convenient " supply the pulpit." Not knowing the place or the
people, and not prepared to accept a " call" which might not be
given, I agreed to " supply," that we might have an opportunity of
knowing each other. I was very heartily received, and found " the
young people," and especially " the young men," exceedingly
anxious to manifest that ray services had made "a good impression."

But whether from habit or affection, it was always my lot to form
an attachment to the place and people with whom I had been asso-
ciated, and any change seemed like a funeral : so much so, that I
as naturally call a final discourse a " funeral" as a " farewell ser-
mon." I could scarcely endure the idea of "facing" my "old
people " with a tale of our probable separation ; and my friend Mr.
Lucas, having heard through his mother and sister from Mrs.
Grant that I was urged to stay a fortnight longer in Birmingham,
wrote me a letter which only increased my embarrassment "betwixt
the two," feeling much as the apostle did in reference to that final
" removal" by a " call" that must be answered.

Not to dwell on these scenes, I give here the ultimate decision,
as sent to my first flock, after many an anxious consideration as to
my duty under the circumstances.

"Prescot, March 30, 1848.

To the Church of Christ assembling for "Worship in Ebenezer Chapel,

Prescot.

My dear Friends, — You will be somewhat prepared for the painful task

which now devolves upon me to intimate my resignation of the pastoral office

among you. The many severe losses we have sustained by the removal of one

and another stated worshipper from our midst, and the little advance made in

60

securing others as permanent attendants, have heen long painfully felt by me, as
no doubt by yourselves : had this not been the case no inducement would have
led me to discontinue my services with you. Nor have I come to the present
conclusion without great reluctance, and being driver by considerations which
amount to necessity. I shall ever consider my stay here, though brief, as an
important period of my life, and shall look back at those who have been the
steady attendants on my ministry with feelings of peculiar affection. I am sorry
that my efforts have been productive of so few prominent results ; and yet would
fain cherish the hope that they will leave some permanent traces at least in the
minds of a few.

If you stand firmly together in unity of affection and purpose, (as I doubt
not you will), and obtain the services of one possessing more of the peculiar
energy required for the place, you may yet be blessed with a success which I
ardently desire, but have failed to secure.

Desiring for you all spiritual and temporal blessings,

I remain, with fullest affection,

Yours very truly,

BREWIN GRANT.'*
On the evening of the same day a meeting of the church was
held, of which the following account was transmitted to me, and is
highly prized.

The conclusion especially indicates a kindly Christian spirit, well
worthy of imitation in similiar cases.

At a Meeting of the Members of the Church assembling at Ebenezer Chapel,
Pkescot, held on Thursday, the 30i/i day of March, 1848,
H. Walker Lucas, in the chair,

It was moved, seconded, and unanimously resolved : —

" That this meeting has heard with the deepest regret the intimation of the
retirement of their esteemed pastor, Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., as communicated
in ills letter read this evening. That they sympathize with him in the necessity
that has compelled this resignation, and feel assured that nothing but a sense of
duty and obligation has dictated so painful a determination on his part. That
in accepting his relinquishment of the pastoral charge over them they desire to
express their appreciation of his labours amongst them, and the individual advan-
tage which they have derived from the instructions that they have been privi-
leged to enjoy. At the same time they would pray the Great Head of the
Church to grant that in the sphere to which he is about to be removed greater
apparent results may accompany his ministry than have been permitted to attend
it here. H. WALKER LUCAS, Chairman."

It was further resolved : —

" That a special prayer meeting for the future prosperity and usefulness of
Mr. Grant be held on Sunday eveniag next, at the close of the service."

We had in Prescot a Mechanics' Institute, with which was con-
nected a day school for hoys. I was on the committee, and took an
active interest in the up-hill work of education in the town. In
reply to my letter of resignation, (I think of the office of president),
the following resolution was forwarded to me, by the very promising,
but not highly encouraged, master of the school : —

61

•■ Prescot Mechanics' Institute, April 6th, 1848.
Dear Sir, — I am desired by the committee to convey to you the following
resolution, passed unanimously at their meeting of the 5th instant : — ' That this
meeting has learned with regret the resignation of the Eev. Brewin Grant ; that
they return him their grateful acknowledgment for his varied assistance in advan-
cing the interests of the institution, and that they sincerely hope his efforts in
the cause of education may meet with more marked encouragement and success
in the large and promising sphere to which he is about to remove.'

By order of the committee,

THOMAS MARTIN,

Assistant Secretary."
" Eev. Brkwih Grant, B.A."

P.S. — " As I am only officially (as master) connected with the committee,

allow me to say that with the whole of the resolution I warmly sympathize, and

shall ever remember with gratitude the kind and respectful treatment I have at

all times received from you as my superior in office. T.M."

" The resolution ordered that your note of resignation be entered

on the minutes."

Chapter VI.

REMOVAL TO BIRMINGHAM, AND ACQUAINTANCE WITH

DR. NEWMAN AND HIS THREE SHAMS, 1848-52.

Having been invited to the pastorate of the church worshipping
in Highbury Chapel, Graham-street, Birmingham, I sent the fol-
lowing acceptance : —

" Prescot, Lancashire, March 28, 1848.

To tee Church of Christ assembling for Worship in Highbury Chapel,
Graham-street, Birmingham.

Christian Friends, — I shall not detain you by a long formal letter in reply to
the invitation received by me to become your pastor. There are many deeply
rooted associations connecting me with my present sphere of labour which would
prevent me hastily abandoning it for another, but I am emboldened to hope that
my removal to Birmingham would, under the blessing of the great Head of the
Church, be more conducive to my usefulness and to His glory. This is my great
reason for accepting — as I do herewith — the call you have sent me. I trust it is
not without some wiser arrangement than our own that the peculiar combination
of circumstances occurred which brought me amongst you and led you to seek
my further services. Tour prayers and exertions, and consistency and character,
must give efficiency to my labours, or they will be in vain. The pulpit must be
seconded by the pews — supported by the cordial sympathies and earnest efforts
and supplications of the church members especially. Could I not rely upon this
I would not consent to pre-ide over any people. Do not forget then your own
part in the contract, and then, I trust, God will seal it with His blessing. The
cause is weak, but if it be a seed with the element of life, though no larger than
a grain of mustard seed, it will grow into a tree.

62

My great work will be in the pulpit, to bring forth from the treasury of God's
Word things new and old, and I trust that whatever doubts or difficulties any
may feel on religious subjects will be freely communicated to me, either through
the medium of such classes as may be formed, and which I hope most of you will
avail yourselves of, or by private communication.

With reliance on your active co-operation and entreaties, I entrust myself
amongst you, praying the Great Teacher to enlighten and sanctify me throngh
His Truth for our mutual edification, for the enlargement of His cause in High-
bury Chapel, and the general extension of pure and undefiled religion in your
town and neighbourhood.

Believe me yours, in the bonds of the gospel,

BEEWIN GRANT."

At the end of about two years' labour amongst the people here,
during which we enjoyed undisturbed harmony, — though when I
" took to" the place " the cause" was much shattered and in ill moral
repute from previous circumstances, which greatly retarded our pro-
gress,— I received a token of esteem and regard, which I still wear
near to my heart, — in my watch-pocket. Before referring further
to this circumstance, I may make a remark here, which will be
defensive of many a worthy minister who works against wind and
tide, and whose want of palpable success in his church and congre-
gation militates unfairly against his promotion to some less barren
ground, and in some instances diminishes the estimation in which
he is held by his more fortunate brethren and the denomination
generally.

It is too commonly imagined that the town in which a minister
" settles" is the " sphere" of his labour ; and that his efficiency is
to be measured by this extent of opportunity ; whereas, it may be,
and too often happens, that the chapel or " cause" with which he
is connected is the boundary of his sphere ; and instead of standing
on his own merits, he is regarded as the representative of that
place ; and if it is reputable, he may be powerful, but if it has an
ill odour, and a miserable history, as too often is the case, he will
be clothed in popular estimation with the character of his place. In
ordinary circumstances, any church would be successful if its
members were honest, earnest, and active : but when they do not
help a minister, but on the contrary weigh him down with the dead
weight of their traditional reputation, acquired perhaps before he
" took the oversight" of them, his want of success is from their
want of religion.

I speak this for others : it in no way applies to my old friends in
Birmingham ; nor were they responsible for any odium which rested
on the place when I went to it. This resulted, from what I feel
pleasure in saying very seldom occurs amongst us, a stigma on

63

the pulpit : — though whether even that was deserved, or was greatly
the result of exaggerated gossip against the previous occupant, I do
not decide.

No doubt we have some ministers, whom some would irreve-
rently call " muffs," though perhaps it would take a very able man
to preach better, under the circumstances in which these ministers
are placed ; and the brightest intellect and warmest heart would
become dull and saddened, by the absence of that hope and practi-
cal sympathy which are the main-springs of even spiritualized
genius. I write this for my brethren as I have always defended
their honour, interests, and liberty. It is for the churches also,
that they should consider more intelligently the conditions of suc-
cess, and that in looking for "a man that will draw," they should
take care that he is not surrounded by those who will repel : for
people outside do not so much trouble themselves to examine our
principles in the abstract, as to point to specimens in the concrete.

But this is " episodical," as Mr. Miall said, — my prayer was at
the end of an Anti- State Church Tract, — "considering the main
object of the Association."

I will therefore keep my friends no longer waiting, but permit
them to read their address on presenting me with a valuable gold
watch and chain, at our Christmas tea meeting, being the close of
my second year among them.

That address, which is as follows, like many other elements of this
history, was found among my providentially recovered papers : —

" Birmingham, December 24th, 1849.
Dear Pastor, — We, the members of the Church and Congregation, avail
ourselves of the present opportunity of returning our sincere thanks for the*
valuable instruction you have been instrumental in imparting to us : the classes
you have formed, the works you have written, the lectures you have delivered,
(independently of your numerous ministerial, duties.) have all tended to our
mental advancement. Participating in these, and observing the disinterested-
ness with which you have ever sought to elevate our minds and defend truth,
has often led us to wish for an opportunity of evincing the high esteem with
which we regard your instruction. We therefore embrace the present one, by
requesting you to accept the accompanying Testimonial as a mark of the same."

Some of the lectures referred to in the above address were of a
literary and philosophical character ; but the greater part were in
relation to Infidelity and Romanism, against both of which I have
been " a man of war from" my " youth," and I hope to die in
harness.

Amongst the various subjects publicly treated of, I may mention
a careful analysis of the Rev. H. W. Wilberforce's " Thirteen

64

ReasonsTT for Joining' the Church of ; Rome which u reasons" he
declared satisfied, the conscience of one Rev. Mr, Swallowell, a long
time ago : and therefore I called my answer : — " The Swallowell
Family, &c," showing what their capacious receptivity could take
down.

During my Birmingham pastorate 3>r. Newman gave his famous
Lectures to the Brothers of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, on
" Catholicism in England," to which I replied weekly, under the
title of " Orations to the Oratorians, a Supplement to the Rev. Dr.
Newman's Lectures on Catholicism in England." The substance
of these I printed in " The Bible and the People," a sixpenny
monthly periodical, which I began to edit in January, 1851, and
carried on for several years, till the end of my " three years
Mission to the Working Classes."

The lectures just referred to, — " Orations to the Oratorians," I
republished, in a separate form. The effect of these four orations
may be understood from the fact that Dr. Newman was obliged to
horten his publicly announced twelve Lectures into nine. People
who had paid for tickets on the whole course were allowed to
receive their money back for the unfulfilled part of the contract.

Having thus silenced this great gun, I finislied his course by
giving the three lectures which he ought to have given, and pub-
lished them under the following title : — " The Three Shams : —
the Sham Peter, called the Pope : — the Sham Church, called the
Infallible : and the Sham Bible, called Douay and Tradition."

These were delivered in the Birmingham Town Hall, to vast over-
flowing audiences. We Dissenters had a little before seemed to
favour papists, by not accepting " The Ecclesiastical Titles Act; "
as we ignorantly thought it was a question of words and names of
their law, and not an insidious advance of power.

This our compliance was considered a favourable opportunity for
introducing Romanism in rose colour by the effeminate and plau-
sible pervert, who imagined that we were in an impressible state of
mind ; so I gave him my impression of the whole affair, in replies
that silenced him, and in the " Three Shams," which shut him up
safely in his Oratory.

The short preface to these lectures will sufficiently explain their
nature, and the occasion of my delivering them.

The following lectures were occasioned by the recent movements of the Papal
party in Birmingham, who endeavoured to take advantage of what they expected
would be a reaction of public feeling; and, accordingly brought forward their
pervert, Dr. Newman, to parade before the town, under the guise of lecture to the

65

" Brothers of the Oratory," the rights and the wrongs of Romanism, in a series of
lectures on " Catholicism in England." The Eomanists seem to reckon noon the
silence or neutrality of those dissenters -who had opposed legislative measures
against the impudent aggression ; whilst in their attack on Protestantism they
ignored the liberal services of their presumed allies, and, indeed, appeared for-
getful of their existence, as these champions of the Pope advanced against
"Elizabethan Protestantism," expecting by dead history and obsolete formalities
to storm the stronghold of the national church.

The author of the following lectures felt bound, therefore, to spoil the calcu-
lation of these wise men from the Vatican, by coming forth from his corner to
open the masked battery against which the Church militant had so conveniently
closed her eyes. He first refuted and effectually exposed the pitiful device of
Dr. Newman in the vain attempt to repaint the Roman Jezebel by blackening
Elizabethanism. This he did in a course of " Four Orations to the Oratorians,
— a Supplement to Dr. Newman's Lectures." And since during the delivery of
these, Dr. Newman took down his flag, and lessened his course from twelve to
nine lectures, the author of the following, determined to expose the very foun-
dations of the Papal fraud, by three lectures on the Sham Peter, &c, being ac-
cording to announcement, the "three lectures Dr. Newman should have de-
livered, to finish his twelve."

The vast, intelligent, and enthusiastic audiences with which he was favoured,
induced him to publish the lectures in a permanent form, as a short, simple, and
unanswerable exposure of the Romish cheat.

These Lectures, with others on Romanism, Ritualism and
Rationalism, can at any time be re -delivered, by arrangement with
the Author.

Chapter Vii.

« A GREAT DOOR AND EFFECTUAL IS OPENED TO ME,"
for a " Three' Years' Mission" to the Working Classes; recom-
mended by the Rev. John Angell James, supported by Samuel
Mop.ley, Esq., but contrary to the express desire and advice
of Mr. G. J. Holyoaee.— 1850-54.

The nature of my efforts and the recognition I received at this
time, as contributing to the public good by the defence of religion
against superstition and scepticism, may be seen from the following
selection from " the contents" of "The Bible and the People" for
1851, and from the "Opinions of the Press."

These are given for two reasons, first to fulfil the purposes of an
Autobiography, by letting the reader see in what line my thoughts
and actions were engaged ; and secondly to show what I am still
prepared to advocate by tongue and pen.

66

CONTENTS OF "THE BIBLE AND THE PEOPLE," for 1851.

I. 1. Christianity a Seasonable Beligion. 2. The Keys of the kingdom ;
what they are and who stole them. 3. Free Thoughts for Free Thinkers.
4. The Provinces of Science, Philosophy, and Religion.

II. 1. The Inscription on the Cross ; its three Languages and their Lessons.
2. Peter's Keys and the Pope's Picklocks. 3. The House of Merchandise. 4.
The Atheist's Box; or the Arguments from design. 5. Mind and Matter ; their
Evidences and Distinctions.

III. 1. Reason not Rationalism ; or true Methods of Interpreting the Scrip-
tures. 2. Ecclesiastical Polity. 3. Infidels' candour and knowledge of the
Scriptures.

IV. 1. The Bible our true Magna Charta. 2. Rome's Logic, scheme the
first. 3. The Ecclesiastical Marriage Bill. 4. Infidel Tactics. 5. The Nature
of Faith and Science.

V. 1. The Permanent Test of Relicious Truth in the Written Word of God.
2. Kor:ih, Dathan, and Abiram. 3. Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin. 4. Passages
from the Life of an Enquirer, o. The Nature of Faith.

VI. 1. The Gathering of the Nations. 2. Church Extension. 3. Passages
from the Life of on Inquirer. 4. Mind and Matter ; their Evidences and Dis-
tinctions.

VII. 1. The Basis of Human Brotherhood in the Bible Doctrine of " One
God and Father of all." 2. The Reformation Reformed. 3. The Theory of
Intolerance involved in Words and Names applied to Religious Parties and
Doctrines. 4. Passages from the Life of an Inquirer. 5. Autobiography of an
Atheist.

VIII. 1. The true Apostles' Creed ; or the New Testament Canon of
Life and Doctrine, in the Person of Jesus Christ. 2. The Rev. George
Shallowell and his Family Connexions ; (or, Reasons for submitting to the
Church of Rome.) 3. The Theory of Intolerance, &c, &c, concluded. 4.
Autobiography of an Atheist continued.

IX. 1. The True Apostles' Creed; or the New Testament Canon of Life and
Doctrine, in the Person of Jesus Christ. 2. Roman Oratory, and Protestant
Logic. 3. Autobiography of an Atheist. 4. Passages from the Life of an In-
quirer. 5. The Evidence of Testimony and its Special Application to the Truth
of Christianity. 6. Mind and Matter ; their Evidences and Distinctions.

X. 1. The True Apostles' Creed ; or the New Testament Canon of Life and
Doctrine in the Person of Jesus Christ. 2. St. Philip Neri, Founder of the
Oratorians; " his Maxims and Sayings." 3. The Rev. Robert Nares, A.M., on the
character of Christ. 4. Mind and Matter ; their Evidences and Distinctions. 5.
The Vision. 6. Labour and Capital, or Men and Masters ; their Rights and
Duties.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

"The Bible and the People." — A very good idea, very well and very ably
executed. It promises to do excellent service against more than one class of
adversaries. The divisions of the work are 'Christ's Religion,' the 'Priest's
Religion,' the ' Statesman's Religion,' the ' Infidel's Religion,' and ' the Philosophy
of Human Nature.' Under these five heads, the two numbers now before us supply
a batch of excellent specimen articles. We wish the publication all possible
success." — British Banner.

"The department of labour here undertaken is, we believe, unoccupied, and is
one in which great service may be done : this first number contains much food for

67

thought, and acute clever "writing. We shall he glad to find the Editor's boldness
and energy appropriately rewarded. There is much suggestive matter throughout
the [II.] number." — Tlie Nonconformist,

" The first number is varied in its contents, sound in its principles, and healthy
in its tone. It is a great step taken towards attaining the object aimed at.

" ' Free Thoughts for Free Thinkers,' for the great body of the working classes,
these 'thoughts,' clearly expressed in plain terms, addressed to their reason and
experience, are peculiarly valuable. — Birmingham Journal.

" We cordially recommend it. The popular forms of infidelity are here met in

a bolder and better way than we have seen in any periodical. There is no mistake

about the heartiness and ability with which the Editor advocates his views.

" The paper on ' The Keys,' &c, is inimitable, both as a polemical piece and

an exposition." — Hastings and St. Leonard's Netcs.

" In these times, when all principles are being sifted, and the minds of many
are unsettled, especially in regard to the fundamentals of Christianity, such a
popular publication as this is much needed, and on these grounds ' The Bible
and the People' is calculated to make its way.

'• Sceptics' Eeligion' contains excellent arguments, and will be read with
interest by the class for whom it is intended. The ' Infidel Press' is manfully
grappled with. The work is calculated to lead the reader to think deeply on the
most important subjects," &c. — Birmingham Mercury.

" The Bible and the People." — " This new monthly magazine aims to be
popular without being feeble ; adapted to the unlearned readers, without coming
down to the level of those who wish to be saved the trouble of thinking. It has
begun well. We know not when we have met, in a periodical of the same class,
with so much solid matter so clearly and vigorously expressed. We should rejoice
to know that our young men, and intelligent mechanics especially, were exten-
sively availing themselves of the helps here afforded to the right understanding
of the great religious questions of the age. It icill now be their own fault if
they do not become well grounded in the principles and evidences of Chris-
tianity, and prepared to deal alike with the pretensions of priestcraft,
and the objections and schemes of infidelity. On all these topics valuable
instruction is conveyed in these pages. The last, especially, we would
mention as treated in a candid and intelligent spirit, rendering the work very
suitable to be placed in the hands of the doubting or unbelieving, and Chris-
tians may do good service to the cause they advocate, and to the souls of men,
by promoting its circulation amongst them. — The Bristol Examiner and
Bath Record.

" It is almost original in its plan, and it is bold and effective in its execution.
Its permanent contents range under five heads : — I. Christ's Eeligion. II.
Priests' Eeligion. III. Statesmen's Eeligion. IV. Sceptics' Eeligion. V. The
Philosophy of Human Nature.

" The first head in both numbers is ' Christ's Eeligion,1 which is admirably
discussed, so far as the subject has as yet been carried. The second in both is
' Priests' Eeligion,' of which, as of the other, we can only at present express our
strong approbation. ' The keys of the kingdom' are found, though to great num-
bers who claim to be of the kingdom, they are still at the bottom of the well ;
and found they are here dexterously applied, and many who have boasted that
they are in the exclusive possession of them, are actually shut out.

" The fourth head, the ' Sceptics' Eeligion,' containing in the two num-
bers, 'Free Thoughts to the Free Thinkers,' and the 'Atheist's Box, or the
Argument from Design,' is exceedingly seasonable, and will greatly aid the stu-

68

dent in unravelling the sophistries of the sceptic. The l Philosophy of Human
Nature,' in both numbers, opens up a fine field to the metaphysical mind, into
which the Editor has entered with clear perceptions, fully prepared to instruct
those who follow him, by means of plain language and powerful reasoning.
" We cannot leave the subject without saying to students and young ministers
— see how you are surrounded ! Here is a quiver, from which you may draw at
pleasure well winged and sharp arrows, by which you may wound systems, and
reduce their supporters to hold parley with you, while you propound to them the
glad news of a Saviour's love. We have here a Scriptural Theology, healthy
and vigorous philosophy, and an unsophisticated logic, united with searching
inquiry, and a masculine love of the good and the great, which render the
magazine of great value in our estimation. And solely, for their own sake and
the truth's sake, we advise our readers to give early orders. — The Christian
News.

These public appearances led some to consider that it might be
useful to engage my services for more public work than the
pastorate of a single church.

It was moreover considered that some such general advocacy of
religion as I was supposed able to conduct was peculiarly required
by the signs of the times. Samuel Morley, Esq., ever foremost
in works of benevolence, was prepared to aid in its support, and
the Kev. John Angell James, of Birmingham, wrote to the British
Banner, urging that I should be induced and enabled to enter upon
a work for which he was pleased to say I was peculiarly fitted.

It was eventually arranged that I should be so engaged in a
"Three Years' Mission to the Working Classes ;" and I was left
entirely without control by any committee or individual : I do not
even know who contributed towards my salary, but only that Mr.
Moeley regularly sent it, and I understood that he was one of six
who secured it for three years, and gave me the country for my
diocese. I believe that George Moore, Esq., of Bow Church-yard,
London, was one of the contributors, as I believe it was at his
request, through Mr. Morley, that I visited Cumberland and
lectured and preached extensively there, as a part of the country in
which Mr. Moore felt a special interest.

I often lectured six nights a week, and preached three times on
& Sunday, in all sorts of chapels, and for all sorts of occasions,
Sunday schools, anniversaries, &c.

The regulation was, that parties who invited me paid the
expenses, and received my services gratis.

During this tour I received much kindness and consideration
from clergy and ministers, and the laity of all denominations.

Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, who then had the run of the
country, was extremely jealous of this Mission ; and seeing the

69

recommendatory letter of the Rev. John Angell James, wrote to
warn the Christian public against supposing that there was any
necessity for it, or that the agent proposed was suitable ; and while
publicly engaged in demanding : — " Why the Clergy avoid discus-
sion ? " he professed to be just about caving in, offering to work in
" parallel" lines with the clergy whom he perpetually insulted, and
with his usual adroitness he nattered Mr. James, and abused the
agency proposed, as not likely to exhibit the meekness and respect
which the infidel would assume on occasions towards those whom
he had most frequently outraged.

" To the Editor of the British Banfief:
Sir, — The letter of your venerable and distinguished correspondent, the Eev.
John Angell James, has been read by me with great interest. I may smile at its
strange statistics of free-thinking resources ; but I am not insensible to the be-
nevolent feeling which breathes throughout the letter — a feeling which I can
appreciate, though I deem it misdirected." " Let me tell Mr. James, that I am
so far from looking back with ' contempt' on past relations with him, that
I am disposed to pay great deference to the notice he has done me the honour to
bestow upon me ; and I will therefore say to him, what I would not say to mem-
bers of that " Mission' ; he proposes : — Why is it that we are still addressed as
* infidels,' though we are not so (!) in the sense in which either the public, or Mr.
James himself understands that offensive term ? Why does he speak of our
views as ' Atheism,' while we choose another name, more truly (!) expressing
our convictions? ' The young minister' has a position to win, and he proposes(?)
to make himself felt by obnoxious epithets — thinking that to make himself
felt is to make himself a power. He mistakes harshness for faithfulness,
imagining that when he has denounced he has conquered, and that when he has
irritated, he has persuaded. But the eminence of the Rev. Mr. James, renders
these arts as unnecessary to his distinction as they must be incompatible with the
dictates of his wiser experience, which must teach him that the people will
naturally ask, ' How can we expect truth when we do not find courtesy?'
The tone the Christian Spectator has of late manifested towards free-thinkers
would command the patient attention of a thousand auditors, who would not give
half an hour to a biting sarcasm, and a nibbling logic. If the proposed mission
proceeds on the assumption (!) that we paint the Clergy as the enemies of the
working class, it would do us injustice. (!) "We do not doubt the good intention
of Christian ministers, though we dispute the wisdom of their means. If the
* Mission' assumes that we ' subvert the faith of the people,' it will fail (!) We
do not subvert faith ; we systematise opinion, and direct practical issues which
might run parallel with Christianity, if you would let them. But history will
one day tell with astonishment (! !) that in the hour when scepticism laid down
Its antagonism, Christianity took it up.

I have the honour to be,

Your obedient servant,
Nov. 14, 1852. GEO. JACOB HOLYOAKE."

In exhibition of this gentleman's peculiar courtesy, the following
reply to his " laying down antagonism" was sent to the same
paper : —

70

" To the Editor of the ' British Banner.'
Sir, — Mr. Holyoake declared in your last that he was " far from looking back
with contempt" of Mr. James' Sunday school, and expressed great admiration
and respect for Mr. James in order to exhibit bitterness to one who had a position
to win. Mr. Holyoake has a position to lose ; he enquires : — How can there be
truth when there is no courtesy ? Now it is certain we may not look for truth
where there are lies and hypocrisy. These are plain words. I flatter no man :
that may be left to the Christian Spectator. Please to print the following pre-
face, by Mr. Holyoake, to an insolent tirade on Mr. James' Anxious Enquirer,
which Mr. Holyoake inserted in the Reasoner, No. 70, p. 527, vol. hi. The
following is a copy, and your readers may judge how far a mission is requisite to
open the eyes of the working classes to the practice of these truth-seekers : —
1 Five years of my youth were wasted in the Sunday school of Carr's-lane Chapel.
Every Sunday once, and generally twice, during that long period, it was my mis-
fortune to sit under the Rev. Angell James, a believing recipient of such pernicious
trash as that in the Anxious Enquirer, to which Mr. Chilton usefully draws
attention. If ever I and the Rev. John Angell James meet at the bar of Cod,
and justice is there afforded for those who have been wronged in life, I shall de-
mand at the hands of the Rev. John Angell James the restitution of the buoyant
years of my youth which he so clouded with melancholy and anxious early
thoughts. Next to the evil to which I thus suffered was the misery inflicted on
many near and dear to me. Distinct before me at this moment are the agonising
expressions of those who believed or feared they had committed the redoubtable
sin against the Holy Ghost. Without fear of contradiction I venture the opinion
that if the Holy Ghost has a particle of humanity in Him there is no sin against
Him like writing Anxious Enquirers. Devoutly thankful am I to stand where I
do, looking down on the dangers, the traps, the gins and pitfalls of evangelical
piety which I have escaped. Rightly did Shelley exclaim, ' I would rather be
damned with Plato and Lord Bacon than go to heaven with Malthus and Paley;'
(that is, Mr. Holyoake would rather be damned than go to heaven with John
Angell James.) If in Birmingham I should think it my duty to distribute a
copy of Mr. Chilton's article (on the Anxious Enquirer) to every member of
Mr. James' congregation, and to the teachers in the Sunday School. I hope
some friend will do it to the Sunday school teachers, as a matter of conscience,
to save them, not only from the wrath to come, but from the wrath that is come
wherever Anxious Inquiries have gone. I shall send Mr. James a copy.' — Ed. —
i.e., George Jacob Holyoake. The above is word for word ; and I ask whether
Mr. Holyoake can pretend to truthfulness after this and his letter of last week.

' THE YOUNG MINISTER.' " *

The Secular advocate got out of this fierce attack on a minister
whom " for the nonce" he professed to respect, by saying that for
this coarseness he is called " rude," and that when he shows good
feeling instead of bad, this "form of good feeling is made an
offence." But it was not the "good feeling" that was condemned,
but the hypocritical pretence of it by one who had shown the
opposite.

It would take up too large a space to enter upon all the details
of my Mission ; but the following description of one portion of it,

* Both these letters were quoted in the Cowper-street Debate, pp. IS— 20.

71

accidently picked up, as I was beginning to write this chapter, may
be appropriate here. I do not know the writer of it, and anxjr
wonder at his acquaintance with some details of my life.

It appeared in the Rochdale Sentinel, in which there had been
ten previous descriptions of clergymen and ministers, under the
title of " Clerical Portraits." It was reprinted in "the Bible and
the People," in November 1854, and serves as corroborative testi-
money as to my engagements about this time.

" The subject of to-day's sketch, though not a Lancashire man,
is probably well known by name to the majority of our readers. He
has been engaged during the present week in delivering three lec-
tures at the Corn Exchange, Manchester, on the new phase of
infidelity called secularism, in reply to the arguments of its chief
advocates, Messrs. G. J. Holyoake, Joseph Barker, and Charles
Southwell. The lectures were well attended. The audience on all
three occasions consisted almost wholly of working men. We have
rarely seen a speaker followed with deeper interest. His remarks
told with very powerful effect. For full two hours his addresses,
racy, witty, sarcastic, and convincing, were listened to with unflag-
ging attention, relieved at intervals by hearty applause. Believing,
as we do, that the spread of atheistic views is fraught with the
utmost peril to the interests of the commonwealth, which are neces-
sarily bound up with those of religion, we cannot but rejoice that
they have found an antagonist who is endowed with the very talents
which are requsite to unmask their sophistry, and hold them up to
the scorn of the people.

Ministers of religion are often reluctant to meet the advocates of
infidelity upon the platform, and the feeling is not without some
measure of justification. Christianity has stood its ground for
eighteen centuries, and is too old a veteran to be bound in honour
to take notice of every vapouring puppy who may aspire to win a
little prestige by essaying a passage-at-arms. If it is, as it claims to
be, eternal truth, it can well afford to let its assailants exhaust,
without interruption, their small stock of enmity and ingenuity.
The chief motive to an opposite course is supplied by the apprehen-
sion that error may do much damage before it confutes itself. This
is true, but perhaps still greater damage would flow from an eager
haste to confute it. When we know that our doors and windows
are well bolted and barred, we can lie down to rest in peace. To
sit on the watch all night would betray a suspicion that our defences
are weak. But though we are not among those who censure
ministers of religion for their reluctance to engage in platform cis-

72

cussions with the advocates of infidelity, we admit the nuisance
which such a course will occasion, if persevered in too long. Mr.
Holyoake has imputed the silence of the clergy to their fears, forget-
ting that confidence or contempt would produce the same result,
and has gone everywhere proclaiming himself a champion they dared
not encounter. It was high time to put a stop to this nuisance, and
Mr. Grant has done it most effectually. He has sought every op-
portunity of meeting Mr. Holyoake, or any other antagonist, and
when an opportunity for open discussion has been denied, he has
tracked the steps of the recusant, addressed the same audiences,
argued the question on the same grounds, and generally with the
happiest results.

Mr. Grant is quite at home in controversy. Its dust and heat
have no terrors for him. The hotter the furnace waxes, the more
comfortable he appears. He can lecture well under the most pacific
circumstances, but an assailant is necessayto put him quite at ease.
Nature made him an intellectual combatant, and he has improved
upon her gifts, by very careful training. He carries all sorts of
weapons, both offensive and defensive ; a keen Damascus blade for
those who are worthy of it, and a stout heavy mallet for wooden
heads. His fire arms are revolvers, each charged with half-a-dozen
balls ; the first discharge may end with a flash, or the ball may
miss the mark, but no matter, three or four more follow in as many
seconds, so that a thousand to one if he does not floor his man. In
addition to these weapons for disposing of materials more or less
solid, he carries about with him a pleasant phosphoric apparatus
for burning men of straw. Mr. Grant has some disadvantages on
the platform. He is not of a stature to undervalue the well-known
mode of measurement approved by Dr. Watts. His voice, too, is
neither musical nor of a wide compass. Sometimes very close atten-
tion is required to catch his words ; though this is due in some degree
to the rapidity of his enunciation. Still he is capable of making him-
self heard by very large audiences, and the want of easy inflection in
his voice is not felt as a great loss, where strength, not beauty, is
the accomplishment chiefly requisite. His mode of thinking is
very clear, and his style of speaking very sententious. His words
are well chosen, always weighty, and to the point. His argu-
ments are short, often compressed into a sentence, and so put that it
is next to impossible to miss their full scope. In all cases of diffi-
culty he has an unfailing resource in an abundant stock of mother
wit. This enables him to keep an audience in constant good humour.
How can they feel angry with him when he makes them laugh ?

73

He lias sufficient dogmatism, but not too much for his vocation ;
and, moreover, it results from the strength of his argumentative
powers. He is confident, not because he cannot give a reason, but
because he can give twenty ; not because his strength lies in mere
bluster and emphasis, but because he is conscious of being able to
prove everything he says. He is not very courtly to an assailant,
but he is fair and honest ; his roughest words are on his tongue ;
the atmosphere becomes more genial the nearer you get to his heart.

It was not quite of his own accord that Mr. Grant entered upon
his present career. It was felt that a stop should be put to the
vapouring of Mr. Holyoake ; and from Mr. Grant's previous charac-
ter it was thought difficult to find a man better suited for the task.
For several years he has been the conductor of a monthly serial
entitled The Bible and the People, most of the articles in which are
from his own pen. The line of argument adopted in that journal
suggested a comparison with the Reasoner, and brought him into
collision with Mr. Holyoake. These circumstances led to his being
requested to make this department of labour more fully his own —
a request with which he complied. His reputation for controversy
was, however, fully established before he took that step, and descends
from his college days. He was quite a " crack man" at Glasgow ;
he carried off the head prizes in the logic and moral philosophy
classes, together with, if we mistake not, a University medal, besides
winning one of the prizes which were offered, about the same time,
by the Anti-state Church Association, for essays on the Anti-state
Church question. He was also a leading orator of the ' Liberal
party ' in the University, in great request at Lord Rector elections,
and meetings for agitating the question of University tests. His
reputation lingered behind him, among two or three generations of
students, as a generally clever fellow, and especially a redoubted
polemic. On leaving college his first charge was at Prescot, near
Liverpool, where he remained several years, till he removed to Bir-
mingham. His success at Bh-mingham has been considerable. The
titles he has given to some of his printed lectures are richly
humourous: 'The Swallowell Family,' — how descriptive of the
present generation of the "Wilberforces ; * Orations to the Oratorians,'
— here Brewin Grant takes his stand side by side with the Very Pcev*
Dr. Newman, and each waxes lovelier by contrast.

Mr. Grant's lectures at the Corn Exchange, Manchester, treated
largely on matters relating to the personal character and sentiments
of the leaders of the Secularist movement. On Monday night, his
object was to show that Christianity is the only true Secularism,

74

selecting for his text the words of Christ, ' How much is a man
better than a sheep ! ' and showing that the high value which
Christianity sets upon the individual man lies at the foundation of
all the humanising ideas of the present age. His argument was,
that Secularism, by denying man's higher nature, is fatal to man's
dignity. The subject of Tuesday's night leeture was, ' The last
trial by jury for Atheism.' It was a searching analysis of Mr.
Holyoake's conduct, in reference to the prosecution which he under-
went for blasphemy. Mr. Grant undertook to prove the following
propositions. — ' That the language for which Mr, Holyoake was prose-
cuted was foolish, illogical, and blasphemous ; that it was foolish,
nevertheless, by bringing him to trial for it, to give him the prestige
of a martyr : that, after all, it was not Christianity that sent him to
gaol ; and that his conduct in gaol, as well as the conduct of his
disciples towards him, constituted a miserable illustration of infidel
principles.' Under this last head a very powerful contrast was
drawn between Holyoake and John Bunyan. The former pro-
nounced a few months' durance hardly tolerable, and anticipated
the possibility of losing his reason, by an arrangement for commit-
ting suicide. Poor John Bunyan sustained an imprisonment of
eleven years without despair, and almost without repining. His
happiness was a problem which his honest gaoler could not under-
stand ; the latter did not know that the genius and piety of his cap-
tive made him the freest man in all England. While Bunyan's
fingers were busily employed in making tags for the support of his
family, his fancy was bounding along the narrow path beyond the
Wicket Gate ; feasting itself in the house Beautiful ; descending
the valley of Humiliation ; vanquishing Apollyon ; walking with
the shepherds on the Delectable Mountains, or crossing the Black
Kiver, and ascending with the shining ones to the Celestial City.
Mr. Grant concluded a parallel, beautifully and powerfully drawn,
by exclaiming — ' You may imprison an Infidel, but you cannot
imprison a Christian !' The Wednesday lecture, which we had not
an opportunity of hearing, related to the American ' Confessions
and Correspondence' of Mr. J. Barker."

At the commencement of my mission I gave the lecture to the
working classes, in connection with the Congregational Union
meetings at Bradford, for which occasion I composed the basis of
my subsequently celebrated lecture on " How much is a man better
than a sheep : or, Christianity the true Secularism ; as the best
security for man's rights and duties in this life." Aiterwards I gave, by
appointment, an address to the Congregational Union on the relation
of tli3 working classes to religion, with some account of my misson.

75

Chaptek VIII.

METHOD OF CONDUCTING MY THREE YEARS'

MISSION,

With Specimens of Infidel Questions and Christian Answers.

If a shorthand reporter had gone round with me and taken a
verbatim report of each sermon and lecture, and of the questions
and answers at the close of my week evening meetings, it would
have formed a volume that would have paid his expenses and mine.

I took notes of some, and published them in " The Bible and the
People," of which I have, unhappily, not a complete set left ; but a
few specimens from notes and memory may be interesting and useful.

My two most favourite ''travelling sermons" were on ''The Barrel
of Meal, and Cruise of Oil" and on "A Place of Repentance, or
Esau's Birthright." In the first I especially dwelt on those tem-
poral straits of distress and poverty, to which all are occasionally
reduced ; and on those providential deliverances by which, somehow in
general, we get through. I divided the subject into three parts.

I. — God's Providence for man's temporal wants and the necessities
of all inferior creatures, in that " barrel of meal and cruise of oil," —
the teeming and fertile earth, from which, out of the remnants of the
last year's growth, on which the world could not live a month, God
works this annual miracle of making a little into much.

II. — Man's Providence, by which we, out of our poverty, like
that poor widow, help a neighbour who is poorer, and get no loss
by it. While the help being given to a prophet, suggested that the
poorest have the honour of aiding in religion, which in turn takes
their children — like the prophet with the widow's child — into an
upper room and breathes new life, a divine life, into them, in some
Sunday school, and takes them back to their parents, saying — "See,
thy son liveth," both for earth and for heaven.

III. — God's Providence for Man's Spiritual Wants, in that
" cruise of oil and barrel of meal" — the Bible, which we cannot empty,
where the few loaves feed thousands and there is still bread enough
and to spare for thousands more : — as a little fountain by the road-
side fills some hollow or trough, at the bottom of which, through
the clear water, we may perceive a little sand just moved, as the
stream quietly issues from some inexhaustible source ; so this crystal
fountain is placed by the dusty road of life, and one and another
drinks and goes on refreshed, leaving it full, flowing, pure, and free,
till the latest travellers on earth's pilgrimage shall have passed by
and found it springing up into everlasting life.
d2

76

The other sermon, " on Esau not finding a place of repentance. "
dealt more directly with Bible difficulties and religious fears ; those
darker views of passages, darkened by words without knowledge,
and by traditional misapprehensions, as thus: — " Many shall seek to
enter in and shall not be able :" on which some say that this is their
case, whereas they put a full stop in the wrong place, — for they
shall not be able, — "token once the Master of the House hath risen up
and shut to the door." But now he has risen up and opened the door
and no man can shut it. Strive to enter in now, at the gate of
salvation, while you may, for many will try in vain afterwards in
the next world, when the opportunity is closed. These were some
of the points in my second favourite "travelling sermon." I remem-
ber giving it in Surrey Chapel, to working people, one Sunday
afternoon. At the close of the service the Rev. Newman Hall,
minister of that chapel, thanked me greatly for my well-adapted
address, but this was before " the Rivulet controversy."

About the same time, at the request of the London " Christian
Instruction Society," I gave a series of lectures in the back slums
of London. I think one place was called Little Hell, from its
great ignorance and wickedness.

I remember that at one of these I gave the lecture on " How
much is a man better than a sheep :" when one very smart fellow
got up and told me that God " Had made the sheep better than
man, for that the former had their clothes grow on their backs !"
I answered that some men, like some books, were bound in sheep-
skin ; but that it was very ungrateful to reproach the Creator for
not making our coats grow on our backs, when He had given us
the capacity of making our own clothes after shearing the sheep,
which we could also eat into the bargain.

The audience agreed with me that man had the best of it, even
secularly considered ; as to chances of a grand immortality, of course
there was no comparison.

One very clever London fellow posed me this way : — " You said
that a monkey could learn tricks till he could beat the man that led
him; then does not this show that a monkey is equal to a man ?" I
could not deny the possibility of such a case, but said I, ycu should
remember that I told you the man taught the monkey and not the
monkey the man ; aid in this point of being original the nan bore
the palm.

All these things were taken very good-humouredly, and rather
heightened than diminished the moral and religious imrression,
while they took conceit out of small infidel leaders and gave good

77

Christian people confidence, no more to fear a jibe which they could
not answer ; for as Mr. Robert Stark, secretary to the Glasgow
Young Men's Association said :— " Thousands of working men in
Scotland answered their old tormentors, by saying, ' Aye ! but you
could na answer Brewin Grant ! ' "

These London audiences were composed of very poor people
mariy of whom came to shake hands with me and thank me, some
with tears and devout blessings, as they left the rooms.

Part of this time I was accompanied by the Rev. Robt. Ashton,
editor of the Congregational Year Book, at whose house also I stayed
a few nights. He was then secretary of the London " Christian
Instruction Society." Other lecturers were also engaged to fill up
the course, which while the society continued was repeated annually.

Professor Godwin was on the list of lecturers at this time, and
he came to one of my appearances to form an opinion before-hand
of the kind of audience he would have to address. He came to me
at the close, expressed his interest in my lecture, said he had come
to see how it was done, and concluded by saying that he " had
watched my career with interest and satisfaction."

At the close of one of my lectures in the provinces, a man got up
and asked " If I am as honest as you are, why should you go to
heaven and me to hell ?" To which I replied that he began modestly
with " if," and certainly I doubted whether he was honest, for if he
was, he was the only one of his sect that I had found to be so ;
and his question proved that he was not. I asked if any of the
people present had attended a Sunday school, and I was met with
replies of "yes." Then were you, I asked — "taught in any
Sunday school, as a part of Christianity, that you went to heaven
for being honest ? Was that the ground of going to heaven?" "Xo,"
they replied. " Then what was the ground ?" I asked. " Through
Jesus Christ, " they said. Then you go to heaven as sinners
forgiven ? " Yes " was the answer. "Not as honest men deserving it,
for your honesty ?" said I. " Xo." Yet this man knowing this asks —
" Why, if he were as honest as I am, he should not go to heaven as
well as I ; whereas we all know that it is not for being good, but on
condition of our confessing and acknowledging that we are bad, that
we are forgiven, and that we have a title for heaven through faith
in Christ." And that title, I added, is open for him, and if he goes
to heaven he will not go for being an honest man, but he will be
an honest man if he through faith in Christ gets in the road for
heaven. This incident gave me an occasion for explaining to the
audience the nature of the atonement.
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78

At another meeting, an adroit and sensible question was put of
this sort — "If I am an honest enquirer after the truth, and am not
able to find it, and still disbelieve in Christianity, shall I be lost
for being an honest enquirer because I am unable to learn the truth ?"
I complimented the questioner upon his question, but I put it
honestly to him whether he was an honest enquirer, or whether in
fact, while I had been giving my lecture, he was not thinking of his
objection instead of thinking of my arguments — whether he did not
say to himself every now and then " I shall puzzle you when you
have done ?" The man smiled as if in acknowledgment that this
was the fact, and I said, in that case you were not an honest enquirer
after the truth, but you were holding this up before your eyes to hide
the truth which I was stating ; you know your little finger will hide
a mountain if you only hold it close enough to your eyes. Further
I added, as a frank solution of his question, that I did not believe
such a case ever really would happen ; that there might possibly be
honest infidels— I did not say there were not — but whoever icas an
honest enquirer after the truth would be permitted to see the truth,
as sure as he was an honest enquirer ; and if my questioner was
an honest enquirer himself, he would yet become an earnest believer
in Christ, for " he that seeketh, findeth."

Balaam's ass is a favourite topic with some of the objectors to
the Bible. On one occasion, in the theatre at Sheffield, a gentle-
man from among the "gods" put out his head and enquired what
I thought about the Bible saying that Balaam's ass spoke ? Several
other persons also made objections, which I took in the reverse
order, beginning with the last. My questioner in the gallery evi-
dently felt his dignity hurt, and he called out eagerly that I had not
answered him. I replied, "I reserve you for the last — a good one
for the last, you know." When his turn came, I said to him, "Now
what is your question ?" He answered, "Does Mr. Grant believe ,
that Balaam's ass spoke?" I replied pointedly to him, "Why
shouldn't I ? It might have been a miracle in those times ; but it is
a very common thing now-a-days."

Another gentleman observed to me in the street, " Mr. Grant,
I am told you say I am as stupid as Balaam's ass." I said, " No,
I did not say that." " Well," said he, "I thought you would not
say such a thing of me." " No," I replied, " I would not mention
you and Balaam's ass in the same day. Do you know why ? "
" No," said he, feeling rather relieved, but scarcely flattered.
" Well," said I, " the miracle was not that Balaam's ass spoke, but
that ass spoke sense, which makes all the difference in the world." ,

79

Speaking of Balaam's ass reminds me by contrast of Mr. Robert
Cooper, then a very great card among the Free-thinking brethren. He
wrote " The Infidel's Text Book," which served as the basis for a
very good lecture. This learned Theban found St. Paul out in a
contradiction, for the apostle said in one place that he was a Phari-
see, and in another that he was a Roman : " such," exclaimed this
logician, " is the consistency of Paul ! " On which it was observed,
"I heard Grant once say that he was an Independent, and at
another time that he was an Englishman ! " Such is the stupidity
of the Infidel's Text Book scribe. When I was lecturing on this
book in Newcastle-on-Tyne I unconsciously gave some expressions
of contempt — as " ach ! " — when reading this gentleman's quotation
of an insult on the Redeemer, and on the working classes — as " only
the son of a carpenter : " and to my " ach, " a person in the audi-
ence responded in mockery; whereupon I enquired, " Don't you
know that it is only a hollow place that makes an echo?" The
ship carpenters saw it and broke out.

The next best there, was that a person having rather vehemently
abused me, the audience cried out to stop him. I begged them to
"let him go on, as I always liked people to see what was inside
these men." On this he apologized in this fashion : he was only
retaliating, as I had " called him a fool the night before." This
was denied by the audience ; and I observed that I generally spoke
English, but " did not remember calling the gentleman by that
name : besides," I added, " it was so perfectly unnecessary." At

the same place a curious scene occurred. One Mr. J. C , the

secretary of the Secular Society, whom on a previous evening I had
complimented as an apparently honest enquirer, came forward to
reply to my lecture on Cooper's Infidel Text Book, in which I had
pointed out the author's blunder in talking of Professor Somebody's
"admirable iwcdilections ," and made merry with his learned

pedantry. Mr. J. C came forward with great gravity to the

front of the platform, and described my whole lecture as founded on
the criticism of a word which, said he, was a printer's mistake, for
that he had a later edition in which " predilections" did not occur;
and he read the passage as amended : however, he did not put in
"prelections" for " predilections," but simply omitted that part of
the sentence. I quietly asked him to favour me -with a sight of his
later edition, and begged him to go on with his speech while I
glanced at the amended page. He did so, concluding with remind-
ing the audience that my lecture was only a joke on a misprint
which had been corrected. As he passed by me to leave the plat-

80

form, 1 (still seated by the table) directed his attention to the
passage he had read, saying quietly, — " Do you see this ?" He
stooped towards me and seemed rather blind, saying, — " What ?M
I said, — " Do you see it?" The audience perceiving this panto-
mime, began to call out for some explanation. I told him in a very
low voice to go back and tell the people that the word I had quoted
was in his book as well as in mine. He was in a fix, but obliged to
obey ; and advancing said : — " Ladies and gentlemen, it-it-is here."
The effect may be imagined. I simply told the people that from
this incident they must learn to believe me " to the very syllable,"
•whatever their " predilections" might be : though I acknowledged
to one mistake in believing and saying the night before that the
gentleman who had just retired was an honest enquirer.

The conceited author of this " Infidel Text Book" was lecturing
in Blackburn one night on my arrival there ; and contrary to my
custom — not to give interest to infidel meetings by my presence, to
relieve the dull monotony of their lecture by importing foreign wit,
or the interest of an important visitor — I went in to see the affair,
and should have come out without speaking, but the chairman
having been told of my presence graciously invited me to reply.
Mr. Cooper said it was scarcely fair to mention me personally if I
did not intend presenting myself before the audience. I accepted
both the invitation and the apology ; and having spoiled his lecture
invited him to try and answer mine the following evening, on his
" Text Book" in Park school-room, when I engaged to prove that a
greater numbskull never wrote, and that no author ever told more —
of both sorts — black and white ones, — in the same space except
Mr. J. B. Mr. Cooper did not accept the offer, and I told his
audience that he " was wise," but that I knew they would all come ;
that they could not help it ; that they would also be obliged to
believe me and never would believe him any more. The large Park
school was crowded, and I put this proposition to the vote, — " That
nobody could hereafter pretend to believe ' the Infidel's Text Book,'
and that its author was no more blessed with courage than with
truth."

I could not get one to hold up his hand against the proposition ;
so it was carried unanimously, in an audience composed almost
exclusively of working men.

81

Chapter IX.

DISCUSSION WITH MR. GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE,

IX COWPER-STREET, LONDON, 1852.

Towards the close of the socialistic agitation headed by Mr.
RoBEEr Owen, some of his disciples or agents started in other lines
of infidel advocacy ; the chief of them was Mr. G. J. Holyoake,
who pressed the war with great vigour and adroitness. Like that
saint who " shone in the dark," this gentleman managed, among the
lot with which he associated, to be distinguished for comparative
gentleness and a tearful solicitude to find out the truth. He sus-
tained this character very well at times, and was quite a card on
show days : extremely polite where he could not be advantageously
insolent, and "tame" when it was unadvisable to be " rancorous."
Among the more fastidious friends of free theology who combined
the respectability of religion with the luxury of a " little latitude,"
Mr. Holyoake was " the pet of the whole brigade." He could
sneer at a parson and jeer at the Saviour, and mock the saints ;
but then, like Uriah Heep, he was " a numble individual " who
would gladly believe, if the Almighty would not persecute him into
it by pains and penalties which infringed on his liberty as an "eclec-
tic" philosopher. He was a great hand at being persecuted, but
he considered that to be criticised was a greater injury than to be
imprisoned ; and he made a market out of both. As for his impri-
sonment— for such sayings, as" I flee the Bible as a viper," "Revolt
at the touch of a Christian," and " Don't believe there is such a
thing as a God" — he willingly brought it on; since when it was
explained in court that he simply meant that parsons were too
expensive, he was told that if he did not mean to insult the Creator,
but only to reproach the clergy, he might escape.

On this point I demonstrated in numerous meetings, in a lecture
on his book, "The Last Trial by Jury for Atheism," that "he
willingly put his neck into a noose, and refused to take it out when
the judge told him how." This was a famous proposition of mine,
which I maintained against all comers in hundreds of meetings,
which spoiled the market of " carrying that scar about" to gain sym-
pathetic coppers. Besides his imprisonment for a time, which was
a mistake on the part of those who prosecuted, his great misfortune
was to be criticised : he liked to jibe at a good, dull soul, and was
quite merry over a serious Christian ; but if ever he fell in with one
who was as sceptical of the sceptics as they professed to be about
Christianity, and who knew more of them than they did of it, he

82

took a serious turn, and was shocked at this irreverent treatment of
an anxious enquirer. The disaster of his life and the termination
of his secular career was the permission to his admirers to invite me
to discuss with him. He had already published his admiration of
me as a model parson, liberal, fair, and rational in the pulpit ; more
than just, even generous to infidels, in the press ; and in an evil
hour : — expecting me to be as gentle as I was simple, if not softer than
I looked, ready to abandon Christianity as a compliment to liberality,
or at any rate to aid in erecting a half-way house ; — taking it for
granted that geniality was next door to infidelity, and that a man
who could laugh, would not stand up stiffly for am^thing solid and
solemn, the party was induced to challenge me to discussion. It is
but fair to say that Mr. Holyoake altered his opinion of me during
the discussion, and not only repudiated all his former names and sen-
timents, but retracted his recommendation of my spirit and writings,
which he intimated were nearly as bad as his own. He could quote,
he said, many illustrative passages, but would not stoop to
it. So I reminded him of his former laudations in these words : —
" However any may dislike these assertions, every one must admit
that I have given plenty of proofs — that I can prove what I say to
the minutest particular. Mr. Holyoake never quotes a passage I
refer to, to prove me wrong ; he has not done so all through the
discussion. The statement that he had praised The Bible and the
People more than any one, he did not meet by reading his notice :
that would have doubly confounded him. In his Cabinet of Reason,
"Why do the clergy avoid discussion ?" a title to make one merry,
he says, — 'I am bound to say the Rev. Brewin Grant, of Birmingham,
is an instance (of exceptionable liberality.) I have heard him read
one of our books from the pulpit. The Bible and the People, edited
by him, gives the freest insertion to opposing views, and has in
some instances uttered generous words of the writers.' (Vol. ii.,
pp. 26, 27). In his Reasoner, vol. xii., No. 24, Mr. Holyoake says
of my review of his Trial for Atheism, — 'The same monthly (The
Bible and the People) contains careful reviews of this work, by a
writer who is more than impartial — he is generous. Another number
contains entire ' The last days of Mrs. Emma Martin,' with critical
remarks by the editor, we suppose, as in the former case. The
remarks commence by the admission that ' death and sorrow are
sacred,' which the critic does not violate in spirit. Some reply
seems due from us, which we hope to be able to write.' This has
not happened yet, though the article he thus praises is printed as a
twopenny 'Finger Post,' by Ward and Co. 'We have placed The

83

Bible and the People,' he says, 'among our weekly list of literature
for the people. It appears as a monthly, edited, we believe, by the
Rev. Brewin Grant, B. A. , of Birmingham. Judging from the contents
of the first sixteen numbers, it is the best of the controversial pub-
lications devoted to the maintenance of evangelical principles. Our
readers will find it well worthy of their perusal. Its tone is superior
to anything we have encountered in the same Christian school. The
numbers, as far as we have examined them, are critical, as well as
instructive.' "

The secular invitation to me to discuss was given June 16th, 1852.
The debate occurred on six successive Thursday evenings, com-
mencing January 20th, and ending February 24th, 1853."

" The Publisher's Preface" to the Cowper-street discussion says :
— " on« of Mr. Holyoake's friends wrote (June 16, 1852,) to Mr.
Grant, saying ' The friends with whom I act would like to bring
Mr. H. in contact with some one of acknowledged ability, so that
we might have a foot to foot encounter. It occurs to us that you
are a fit and proper person to engage in such a discussion, and if
you would do so in this town (Leicester), we would do all in our
power to expedite the arrangements.'

" To this Mr. Grant replied a fortnight afterwards : — ' I should
prefer discussing the value as well as the truth of Mr. Holyoake's
whole mission, in some such theme as the following: — ""What
would be gained by mankind in general, and the working-classes in
particular, as to this life, by the removal of Christianity and the
substitution of Atheism in its place '? in other words, wherein con-
sists the superiority of the Atheist's Gospel over the Gospel of
Jesus Christ." '

" This letter being forwarded to Mr. Holyoake, he replied to the
writer of it, July 16 : — ' The first proposition you name as the
subject of our debate, strikes me upon the first reading as a useful
one with the change of one word (Secularism for Atheism). The
proposition would then stand as follows : — " ^Yhat would be gained

• Mr. Reed, an admirable reporter, took down this debate, and it was revised
by the ci-putants and published by their mutual consent. Some ten thousand
copies were sold. I was so well satisfied with Mr. Reed's accuracy that I secured
his engagement for two subsequent debates, one of six nights, in Glasgow City
Hall, with Mr. Holyoake ; and the other often nights, in Halifax, on the Bible,
with Mr. Joseph Barker. I hope some time, when sufficiently encouraged, to
select, condense, and re-arrange, from these and other reports, the permanent,
useful matter contained in them for the perusal of enquiring and thoughtful peo-
ple ; and am convinced that few works would be more advantageous to the public.
I once thought of doing this under the title of " A Hand-book to the Bible."

84

by mankind in general and the working classes in particular, as to
this life, by the removal of Christianity and substituting Secularism
in its place." By Secularism is meant giving the precedence to the
duties of this life over those which pertain to another world. The
leading points with respect to Secularism that I undertake to ex-
plain are : —

1. "That attention to temporal things should take precedence
of considerations relating to a future existence."

2. " That science is the providence of life, and that spiritual
dependence in human affairs may lead to material destruction."

3. That there exist (independently of scriptural religion) gua-
rantees of morality in human nature, in intelligence and utility." '

" Mr. Holyoake nominated as his committee Messrs. James
Watson, Richard Moore, Austin J. Holyoake, and the Rev. Ebenezer
Syme, (Unitarian.)

"Mr. Grant's committee were the Revds. J. Campbell, D.D.,
Robert Ashton, and Messrs. Samuel Morley, Samuel Priestley, and
J. S. Crisp (of Ward and Co.)

" The Rev. Ebenezer Syme acted as chairman for Mr. Holyoake,
and Mr. Samuel Morley for Mr. Grant ; the Rev. Howard Hinton
being nominated as umpire.

" The proof sheets of this report have been read by both dispu-
tants and the report is published with their joint consent.

" 27, Paternoster-row, April, 1853."

The preliminary correspondence forced Mr. Holyoake to lower
his flag in his first speech, and the criticisms on his vague " bene-
fits" of Secularism, forced him to repudiate the subject of debate as
early as the second evening. The rest of his time was taken up
mainly with appeals for pity, and attempts to fasten a charge of
great wickedness on his opponent, for the sin of free criticism.
He evidently repented before he began, and for all the impudent
boasts and challenges with which he and his party had pestered and
insulted the clergy and the ministers all over the country, he
assumed the most modest, humble, and servile tone, to gain a pitiful
sympathy as his shield in an encounter that he had invoked and
dreaded.

He abandoned and repudiated all his old words and methods in
his first speech, saying, "The secularist applied himself to the
re-inspection of the general field of controversy, and the result was,
the adoption of the following rules : — ' First, to disuse the term
atheist;' second, to disuse the term infidel;' third, to recognize
—(for the first time) not (!) as a matter of policy (!) merely, but as

85

a matter of fad — the sincerity of the clergy, and the good intentions
of Christians generally." This was whitewashing for the occasion.
Only think of those Jesuitical words : — " to recognize not as a matter
of policy merely but as a matter of fact!"

This was from the most atrociously abusive writer that ever
maligned the Christian world, and who got a testimonial from the
Christian Spectator, a dissenting organ of congenial "liberality" in
abuse.

Besides this " re-inspection" of old titles and accusations, to
start with a new character, the entire former method of action was
ignored and the " doctrine of reserve" was openly advocated. " We
believe in relative truth and discretionary silence." " We say ' dis-
cretionary silence,' because publicity without discretion involves pre-
mature utterances ; instead of always serving, it sometimes endangers
truth." That is, it does not do to let out too much ! "To keep the
truth back when it can be serviceable, is indeed a serious fault ; yet
to suffer it to be dragged forward to be destroyed is to betray the
truth." Now why it should be " destroyed" by being " dragged
forward" is very curious, and my work in that and subsequent dis-
cussions was to " drag forward" what he tried to veil in a " discre-
tionary silence." " He who without conditions {i.e. suppressions),
exposes truth to unwilling ears and prejudiced minds who seek its
destruction, may be guilty of the murder of truth ." So he took to a
" mask" which I pulled off, and he screamed fearfully. For he
began by Baying : — " We claim the right of discretionary silence, —
of profiting by our experience, and choosing when we will speak, to
whom we will speak, and, — out of all the truth we think we have
mastered, — how much we will speak." This included " how much"
it might be " discretionary" to suppress. But I had tracked them all
through, like a detective and "murdered" their " truth" by " drag-
ging it forward" into daylight.

This he anticipated, saying: — "No sooner did we betake our-
selves to the more practical part of our advocacy than ' a Mission'
was bespoken against us." This was his horror, and he wisely but
ineffectually all through endeavoured to convince the patrons of
" the Mission" that General Grant was the worst man they could
employ. My opening speech indicated the spirit in which I con-
sidered such questions should be treated ; the knowledge of the
adversary's course, which his " discretionary silence" was not per-
mitted to conceal, and the anticipation of that natural revenge that
would be excited, as against " epithets," by any just criticism of
these pretenders to truthful free enquiry. I still agree with every

86

word of the following, and consider it useful and applicable to all
times : —

"It is impossible for me to convey an adequate idea of the heavy
weight of responsibility under which I commence, and with which I
have anticipated this discussion, knowing as I do, that whatever
others may say against our responsibility for belief, we cannot escape
the consequences of our actions, and of those dispositions and opinions
in which actions originate ; believing, as I do, that if there be any
human duty, this is the first and foremost, to seek the truth honestly,
to inquire with fairness, and search with scrupulous conscientiousness.
Whatever may be the carelessness with which we write or speak on
other occasions, when we presume to guide or oppose others on
important questions, there is a grave responsibility resting on speaker
and hearer. When I consider the many readers who may ponder
the words uttered, if there be any justice or injustice, if a man may
benefit or injure another, if there be any social duty, there is no
more sacred obligation than to refrain from misleading, and to do all
in our power towards helping men in those things in which we may
do them the most harm or the most good. My anxiety is not on
this occasion lest Christianity should be overthrown, that is settled
in my own mind as an impossibility ; I am anxious only that my
fellow-men should not be misled into the rejection of that which I
believe is for their benefit, the truth of which is not at all interfered
with by their acceptance or rejection of it, but the acceptableness of
which may be interfered with by the imperfections of its professors,
and by the unskilfulness of its defenders. The proper and best
defence of Christianity is, that it be understood — as the best refuta-
tion of infidelity is an exposition of it, which, if truly done, amounts
to an exposure. My main object, therefore, will not be so much to
defend Christianity as to show you how often it has been misre-
presented, and especially to show that Secularism is not worth
having, whether Christianity be continued or not, and that therefore
no " benefits" can come from its introduction. It is enough to show
this ; and if in doing so I advance opinions for which secularists are
not prepared, they have to consider two things ; first, that I have
carefully read and marked every page that has issued from the
JReasoner office, and therefore may be presumed to know as well as
any one, the proceedings and writings of that section of infidels. Nor
is any original lecturer on Socialism better acquainted with the
opinions of Robert Owen, from which Secularism sprung, than I am,
and have been for the space of twelve }Tears. Some opinions may
therefore be advanced which, to those who look only at modified

87

sentiments and statements, may seem extreme and unjust, but may
still be very well maintained by unquestionable facts. Secondly,
any who are surprised at some assertions, are requested also to
consider the possibility of my being able, after a consideration as
extensive as they who believe in Secularism have given to the subject,
to give a conscientious and intelligent opinion as to my conclusion
on the matter. If I employ any epithets, let them not be taken as
a reason for not examining whether the epithets are not just con-
clusions from previous arguments. Nor let it be set down as bigotry
or personality, if I do not take the cheap professions of any men as
to their justice or liberality, but proceed at once to disprove their
pretensions. We make a grave mistake when, respecting matters
of opinion, we speak of toleration or charity. We owe all men the
justice (not the charity or toleration) of conceding all the liberty we
demand for ourselves, according to the golden rule of Christianity, —
which need not be ' removed' to secure freedom, — ' Whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' If this be
immoral or illiberal, it is my adopted rule of morality, and standard
of rational freedom. But as to opinions themselves, if false we are
to oppose them ; they have no claim to charity, and justice consists
in removing them by all reasonable means ; whilst in relation to
individuals we are to pursue a course of impartial justice. It is not
illiberal to prove that some teachers are deceivers. It is bigotry to
charge men with faults without proof: it is justice towards the
leaders of opinion, it is justice and kindness combined towards their
followers, to unmask whatever is deceptive ; for they cannot be
truly the friends of any man, least of all the friends of truth, who
are not the friends of honesty."

"These remarks being general and applicable to both sides, will
we hope, be satisfactory to those whose opinions we shall call in
question. We hope to say nothing about either the advocates of
infidelity or any other system that we shall not be able to make
good ; and all that is asked of those who differ from us is, — to
consider, not whether they like what we say, but whether it is true."

The close, logical, unsparing criticism with which I exposed the
secular proposals of " preferring the duties of this life to those of
another," — when first, the duties are identical, and we are not in
another life yet, and secondly when another life is denied, under the
cloak of preferring this, and "service to humanity" recommended, to
cover a denial of Divinity and to withdraw from the service of God ;
and a care for the body recommended, as a veil to hide the neglect
of the soul ; and the immoral and absurd position of preferring this

88

life to another, if there be another ; and the hypocrisy of the talk of
this preference, by those who believe only. in one: — all this cruel
ratiocination and persecuting criticism quite disturbed the placid
conceit of the infidel party which had altered its name to conceal
its principles.

Pressed by these arguments, Mr. Holyoake screamed at epithets
and retracted the proposition which he so cheerfully accepted !

Thus, in his second speech on the second evening, Mr. Holyoake,
after saying, as was his custom whenever he felt that even his own
party would feel the logical force of his opponent's statements, — -
" If this is the kind of opposition to which our views are to be sub-
jected, I see no objection to it," he added, — "First, however, I ought
perhaps on this night to make an announcement. In our last night's
debate we were several times told that I proposed to remove Chris-
tianity and substitute Secularism in its place. These were the
words of the general proposition which was read from the chair ;
but that proposition was of Mr. Grant's own writing, and the extra-
vagant element in it was of his own invention. Why I accepted the
proposition Mr. Grant drew up was this, — that he told me it meant
in other words, ' Wherein consists the superiority of our gospel
over the gospel of Jesus Christ ?' This is a reasonable enquiry ;
but the words ' removal of Christianity and the substitution of
Secularism' are words which he has put into my mouth, and for the
extravagance of which I did not foresee that he intended to make
me responsible." (p. 60-1 Cowper-street Discussion.)

This adroit retirement from the proposition which he had come
to maintain, and the insinuation that it was not what he willingly
adopted after mending it to suit his taste, called up Mr. Morley,
who was my chairman, and who at the close of Mr. Holyoake's
speech is thus reported : —

" I am anxious for one minute to set myself right with Mr. Holy-
oake. I was a party, as one of the chairmen, last week, to the
reading of the following sentence — it was read by Mr. Syme, Mr.
Holyoake's chairman: — 'What advantages would accrue to mankind
generally, and the working classes in particular, by the removal of
Christianity and the substitution of Secularism in its place.' Now,
on my honour, I would be no party, if I knew it, to any proceeding
in connection with this discussion that was not perfectly fair and
perfectly straightforward. I understood Mr. Holyoake to say that
this sentence is Mr. Grant's, and not his. Now I was present at a
meeting at which Mr. Syme (Mr. Holyoake's chairman), and Mr.
Holyoake's brother, were present, and I distinctly understood that

89

the phrase as it was read was adopted by Mr. Holyoake. I wish to
have that made perfectly straight and clear ; otherwise I have been
a party to misrepresentation. I beg to insist on an answer to this.
Mr. Holyoake's brother will do me the justice to say whether I am
right or wrong in what I have said."

11 Mr. Holyoake : — It is my place to answer the question. I
accepted the proposition. I said so in the words I used. I said,
* Why I accepted the proposition Mr. Grant drew up was because he
told me it meant in other words, wherein consists the superiority of
our gospel, or views, over the gospel of Jesus Christ.' I thought it
was in that sense that he would use them, and that he would not
make me responsible for the extravagant element in them — that of
wishing to remove the whole of Christianity."

" Mr. Moeley: — I am bound to say I recognise these words as
having been used by Mr. Holyoake — I say it frankly. But the
impression surely teas that the proposition was Mr. Grant's, and that
there had not been a clear understanding."

M Mr. Gkant : — Mr. Chairman, I quite understand the nature of
Mr. Holyoake's indirect disavowal and direct avowal of the statement
that he has come this evening to discuss. It would have been very
much better if he had plainly made any opposition to it when we
discussed it in letters beforehand. However, I need say nothing
upon that subject, but simply tell you that as Mr. Holyoake agreed
that the correspondence should be the preface to this discussion, you
will quite understand the whole of that question. I think in
nearly every speech Mr. Holyoake has commenced by saying — If
this is the sort of opposition we are to have, we need not fear much.
Invariably he has commenced with some disparaging observations
of that kind. He does not now propose to ' remove Christianity,'
and if he did, he could not remove it. The proposition which
he calls my extravagance, he was extravagant enough to adopt,
and not wise enough to complain of it till now that he cannot
maintain it."

Mr. Holyoake, who had been petted, and toadied, and spoiled,
and been begged to believe, and had jeered at the good souls who
prayed for him, was much excited and fretted by a more inde-
pendent sort of treatment, in which the scepticism which he so
boastfully entertained respecting the claims of Jesus was entertained
as to his own. This was a sin against free enquiry. Hence, on the
last evening, he complained that, " Throughout this discussion our
adversary has addressed us in the tone which marked our previous
correspondence." (219.) This should have been a warning to him

90

to withdraw from an encounter with " nibbling logic and a biting
sarcasm."

The whole tone of his party was checked ; and from the ridiculous
triumph with which they grinned at good men who wasted solemnity
on them, felt quite astonishment and anger at my free handling of
their high priest, who himself took to the solemn line. He also
dealt considerably in appeals to the pity of spectators, and wanted
very much to induce my friends to excommunicate me for my daring
criticisms. Every argument against his professed principles was
treated as a personal accusation. " I have a right to ask " he says,
(page 183) " that everywhere in this country we shall no longer be
represented as preaching doctrines injurious to mankind." But
while he considered it persecution to represent his doctrines as
injurious, one of his propositions for that debate was " The Atone-
ment unsatisfactory as a scheme, and immoral as an example."
This, however, he was driven out of; and said he did not mean
" immoral " in the English sense of the word. But what is here
insisted on as a lesson is, that Free thinkers of all sorts loudly claim
freedom to denounce other people's sentiments, and resent criticism
of their own, as an infringement of their rights. He told the people
that my way of treating him was worse than imprisonment, and I
believed him ; for to put him in prison would properly awaken sym-
pathy, while to answer and expose his assertions would put him in
the pillory of criticism, which he pretended to ask for and did not like.
A favourite phrase of his, to relieve his feelings, was to call argu-
ments that troubled him "The art of making Christianity disagree-
sble," (page 250) as if he rather liked it, till he could not answer its
advocates.

After applying this phrase emphatically to me, he went on in this
furious fashion: — "And while you stand with one hand on the
Bible, and the other thus at our throats, and cry ' Believe!
or we denounce you as infamous in life and deserving perdition in
death,' you deepen the conviction on my mind that the ' glad
tidings of the gospel ' merely mean good-will to those who believe as
you believe, and ill-will to all who do not. It was my duty the
other night to show that Christianity justified persecution.* Now
what is the difference between the spirit in which we are addressed
and that of the persecutor ?" (page 25G) This was slightly "personal ;"
but directly after, he says of his " persecutor " — " I have nowhere
called in question his sincerity, or the purity of his motives ;" as if
he were not doing it then, in a meek kind of way.

* He failed to show it, and this makes him so gentle.

91

• In my next speech I observed, " if Mr.Holyoake does not 'question
my motives' he cannot blame my conduct ;" and " if what I have
said is not true, Mr. Holyoake should disprove it." (page 258.)
These are points which those men never think of.

But to return to our ruffled debater, he declared passionately : —
"Why, during my six months' imprisonment in Gloucester gaol, for
answering a question of a local preacher in Cheltenham, neither by
the crown lawyer, nor by Mr. Justice Erskine, nor by the chaplain,
the Rev. Robert Cooper, was language used to me half so bad as
that which has been applied to me* during this discussion ; and I
now see that less injustice is done to me by a legal persecution by
the Church of England, than in a discussion with an Independent
Dissenting minister. Mr. Grant will see in this only another 'grand
compliment to his argument;' but the public will see in it something
very different. In discussions with other ministers, when I have
pointed out the spirit of acerbity which Christianity seemed to me
to justify, they denied my conclusions, and I have said, — 'Wait till
we meet some accredited Evangelical minister, and then you shall
see ;' and when Mr. Grant's attention was drawn last night to his
own conduct, you heard the reply, which ought not, and which shall
not be soon forgotten, ' I shall justify the conduct of Christ, Whose
example justifies my own course.' And Mr. Grant is right. The
Scriptures fully bear him out."

" That whatever treatment we have experienced in this discussion
is scriptural, we have the further testimony of the British Banner,
which last week declared, on the part of the intelligent and numerous
body of Evangelical Christians who put Mr. Grant forward, that 'he
completely meets their views as to the manner in which the thing
ought to be gone about.' " (P. 257.)

My constant plan was to keep reviewing the ground gone over,
and hold up the main point of debate ; as on the same evening, I
observed : — " It becomes my duty once more to see that the object
and conditions of this discussion shall be clearly understood. The
general proposition is now well known, — ' What benefits would be
gained by mankind in general, and the working classes in particular,
as to this life, by the removal of Christianity and the substitution of
Secularism in its place.' Mr. Holyoake adopted and signed this,
having altered it by omitting the term Atheistic, that 'our religions
might' not ' come into collision,' for he has kept his own out of

• Mr. Holyoake regarded every proof of the immoral tendency of his doctrines
as a personal accusation ; and applied it all to himself, whether properly or not.

sight. Whatever has not tended to establish this general propo-
sition has been beside the mark. But Mr. Holyoake disavowed this
proposition on the second evening, and therefore virtually abandoned
the object of this discussion, as too extravagant even for him to
maintain : and he adopted the course, not of removing Christianity,
but of stealing from it, to adorn his own barren annals with the
spoils of ' the Charlatan Christ.' He advanced two pretexts for
this evasion ; first, that the proposition he adopted was explained
away by the proposition he rejected, and that whilst Christianity is
to be explained literally, in all its figures, he is not literally bound
to a signature that was not figurative."

" The second pretext for his evasion was, that the proposition
originated with me ; therefore, though he signed it, he does not
pretend to maintain it ; and this course would render all debate
impossible, since the proposition must originate with one side, and
Mr. Holyoake has taught the other side to repudiate what they
sign, because it did not commence with them. The main proposition,
signed by both disputants, and agreed upon by two committees,
Mr. Holyoake did on the second night abandon, and decried the
assertion he came here to maintain."

The great point secured in this debate, besides carrying my side
of the proposition, was to abate the nuisance to which clergy and
ministers had been exposed of perpetual challenges.

As I observed: — " This point then is securely gained, in con-
nexion with this discussion, that, whereas Mr. Holyoake commenced
with me in my chapel, and all over to country openly defied the
clergy, and lectured on their avoiding discussion, till his corre-
spondence with me ; I have now silenced that cry ; and they have
set up another, changing the boast of ' opposition their opportunity'
into silence their safety ; and for the policy of forcing debate, they
have retired into the fastness of ■ discretionary silence,' whilst,
further, every principle and every name held in connexion with the
Eeasoner, as a positive denial of God, or Christianity, or another
life, up to the time of settling the proposition of this debate, is
retired from and abandoned ; for Secularists now only profess what
nobody ever denied, namely, the importance of this life and science,
which they illogically call the 'positive side' of those negations which
Mr. Holyoake refused to recognize in this discussion. His com-
mencing repudiation of the Eeasoner was intimated in the fact, that
he wished me to confine my reference to two years ; and then wrote
by the next post to declare, that he did not mean what he said.
Now, if he has been safe only two years, may he not find, at the

93

end of two more years, that his followers had better imitate those
who, in the Acts, burned their ' curious books ' at the approach of
the Gospel?"

Mr. Holyoake for this discussion adopted a work, called " The
Task of To-day," as one of the "advised and revised" standards
of the new Secular Faith; in this work, the "Task" is to destroy
and remove Christianity, as now the obstruction to progress. The
writer of it acknowledges that Christianity was the only bridge
by which the world could pass over to a better state ; but asserts
that it now stops the way. The second half of my concluding
speech — which follows, and with which I conclude this chapter, was
founded on this "Task of To-day " — to dismiss Christianity, which
is acknowledged to have done the world some service.

The Atheist secular author had said : — " 'When Jesus appeared,
the world was ripe for change. Beginning to be sick of mythology
and Judaism, but still clinging to many deep-rooted prejudices, and
incapable of discovering the whole truth, it wanted supernatural
authority for every great moral and social innovation." In other
words, nothing short of Christianity, a religion claiming Divine
authority, appealing to the natural awe of mankind, was capable of
improving the world ; or, in Secular dialect, nothing but lies were of
any service. Then, if the present improved state of the world
could only be attained by this religion, the present elements of pro-
gress are due to Christianity, since this ' lie hath abounded ' to the
world's hope and advancement ; and its continuance and cultivation
may be as useful as the helpless and pitiful pretender which declares
that it could not have done any good, in the deranged condition of
the world when Christ came ; but now that He has set the egg on
end, if He will but stand aside, these boastful reformers will manage
the world for the future. And now Christianity is dismissed with
these grateful words : — ' Whatever share the Christian religion may
have taken in the work of civilization, was finished long ago — its
errand is done.' "Well, yours is but just begun; you have done
nothing. Nor can Christianity have ' finished its work long ago,'
when you admit that the Reformation, the re -assertion of Christian
liberty, freed the world from spiritual serfdom. ' Protestantism,'
he observes, was ' certainly an advancement on Papal Christianity, as
far as liberty, humanity, and honesty are concerned.' Again, he
writes, ' The Reformation claimed for mankind the right of private
judgment, and opened the road for every man's escape from the
shackles of spiritual despotism.' Now, this was the benefit first
introduced by Christianity, and renewed in the Reformation, whose
work is surely not yet performed, since there are still many countries

94

in which men are not free ; they are free nowhere, except where the
Bible is free, and where it has achieved freedom for the Infidel who
rejects it. And here the ' Secular Standard ' declares the value of
Christianity to every man, as the source of every man's freedom.

This 'errand' of freeing men from slavery is 'not done;' and the
same reason which existed all over the world, requiring Christianity
at its origin, now exists in all those parts of the world where Christ-
ianity has not been published or received ; and in those parts where it
has been subverted by priests, for a means of despotism ; so that it
has work enough yet, and is required as much as ever, in Pagan and
Popish lands ; whilst Christian lands know it too well to abandon it
at the request of men who, like priests, misrepresent it. Chris-
tianity has begun and advanced a good work, which is not yet
finished ; so it is still required, to move the heathen and to move
the Romans, who are heathenized Christians, and ' who,' as of old,
' cannot possibly be saved without a supernatural religion ;' there-
fore that which justified its introduction, justifies its continuance.
The author of the 'Task of To -Day,'' who has thus dismissed
Christianity, addressing his reader, very solemnly declares — ' You
are no prophet, none of us are prophets ; but let us be well assured
that no bad consequences will arise from truth, and no good from
submission to falsehood.' This is when he is giving a reason for
abandoning Christianity; but at the period of its introduction, good
came out of its falsehood ; now, however, the great ' task ' he sets
men, is, to repudiate the only system which has done men any good.
This consistent Rationalist has written an epitaph for Christianity
before it is dead, and eulogizes Secularism before it is born.
■ Christianity,' he writes, ' once a green and flourishing tree, is
now sapless, pithless, and rotten ; nothing but the bark is left ; it
totters to and fro. Let thinking men quit its shade, lest it crush
them in its fall.' Did he not rightly say he was no prophet ? Let
no man be in haste to get out of the road; the tree is in no hurry to
fall; if * only the bark is left,' it must be very tough, to keep up-
right, and to rock to and fro ; there was never such a spectacle seen
before — it is another of the miraculous lies of fire-eating scepticism.
Beside Mr. Bell may be informed that if ' only the bark is left,' the
fall of the tree would break no man's bones ; so that the danger is
as imaginary from the fall, as the danger of likelihood of a fall.
When the sky falls we shall catch larks ; but heaven and earth will
pass away before the tree of life falls ; which the freethinker con-
fesses did once heal the nations, when his gourd had not sprung up,
and which will remain to give immortal fruits and cooling shade to
the hungry and weary traveller through this pilgrimage.

95

We cannot but marvel at the eagerness of our cabinet-maker to
fell this tree ; it is falling, and people are to run out of the way ;
and yet he follows up this assurance in the imperative mood : — ■
' Let all help to make it fall in a safe direction.' This we imagine
will require ' a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether ;' but
infidels never pull together, they pull away in different directions,
and so counterbalance each other's efforts ; when they shake and tug
they naturally imagine the tree rocks to and fro, as drunken men
upbraid the earth for reeling. They not only cannot pull together,
but none of them pull very long -at the same rope ; they are always
for progress, that is, for changing the direction of the pull, and their
progress is like that of an infant, — from teething to hooping-cough,
and from hooping-cough to measles, and from measles to consump-
tion, and from consumption to the grave ; and then as one rope rots
they bury it, and think the tree is rotting ; as from the death of one
form of sceptical development they go to the birth of another pro-
mising child, like Mr. Holyoake at Bradford, who on the 24th of
August last, gave ' a new development of the principles of free
enquirers,' and so they take a new voyage, in a new balloon, to see
which way the wind blows, which rocks our tree into increased
power, as a giant sapling, already the king of the forest. With all
their progress they come round to the old place, like a horse in a
mill, or a squirrel in a cage, or a weathercock on a steeple — always
progressing and never getting on. They would do well if this tree
did not stop them; but now let them start one of their own, with a
seed out of their Cabinet, and let it compete fairly in the great exhi-
bition of all magnificent products.

But these new ' developments,' that is, digging up the old seeds
to sow new ones, are very satisfactory acknowledgments of dissatis-
faction with all that they have attempted. Meanwhile, this tree of
ours is still a ' hale green tree,' after two thousand years, and pro-
mises to remain so when a thousand more shall have gone. It
grows in the soil of human affections and intellect, it grows in a
free atmosphere, it makes the atmosphere free and wholesome, it
confessedly alone could heal the bitter waters of the old world, when
Christ planted it ; and the renovated part of mankind having grown
up with it, and been fostered by it, in the infancy of the world's
improvement, still guards it jealously, singing —

1 0 ! woodman spare that tree,
Touch not a single bough ;
In youth it shelter'd me,
^nd 1 :11 protect it now.'

96

It was planted in suffering, it has been watered with blood and tears,
it has grown up under the oppression of the combined forces of dark-
ness, priests, and tyrants, — it has become strong, and now stands
calmly defying all oppressors, healing all who taste its fruits ; and
after all the fitful efforts of a variable philosophy, guided to the
attack with dark lanterns and Will-'o-the-wisp ' developments,' it
will still remain for the healing and preservation of the nations."

Chapter X.

THE RIVULET CONTROVERSY : " WHAT'S IT ALL

ABOUT ? "—1855-6.

The above controversy raged very fiercely in our denomination,
and its effects are still felt among us. The Rev. T. Binney, who
was somewhat prominent in the affair, in a letter to the Congrega-
tional Union on a question into which he sought to merge " the
controversy," — observed : — " The facts of the case with which you
will have to deal, will in their circumstances and moral aspects be
the same six months hence, or six centuries."

Those who wish to understand the growth of opinion and method
of advocacy amongst Independents, — who directly and indirectly
affect other denominations, — will find some useful lessons in a suc-
cinct review of that animated discussion in which the brave old
Dr. Campbell stood forward with zeal and fidelity, in defence of
what he considered to be the truth of the gospel, and was well
abused for his pains, by those loftier spirits who consider that all
freedom of opinion should be confined to the self-styled liberal
thinkers.

Seeing that by the activity of his foes and the number of organs
at their disposal, the veteran defender of the gospel was liable to be
almost overmatched, and that a combined effort was made to extin-
guish him ; and believing that a more terse and logical handling of
the matter might present the whole subject in a short narrative, I
determined on writing " What's it all about ? or both sides of the
' Rivulet' controversy, with a fourth appendix to Mr. Binney's
letter to the Congregational Union."

Being about this time lecturing at Cheltenham, I read the sub-
stance of my statement to the Rev. Morton Brown, LL.D., who
sent word to Dr. Campbell that I had achieved " a miracle of

97

logic." The pamphlet was published by Mr. W. H. Collingeidge,
City Press, 1, Long-lane, and some ten thousand of it were said in
a fortnight.
The facts of the case were as follows : —

" The Eev. T. T. Lynch, a minister of some individuality and genius, published
a book entitled — ' The Rivulet : Hymns for the Heart and Voice ; ' which work
not only professed to be poetry, but was incautiously put forth by its author as a
Hymn Book, which led to a theological criticism of it, as a specimen of devotional
psalmody, in the columns of the Morning Advertiser.

The editor of that paper expressed a decided opinion that the book was theo-
logically defective for its avowed purpose, and, perhaps, few ministers, however
much enjoying this poetry in their private moods, would like to give out these
hymns two lines at a time, to 'peculiar metre,'' and look the congregation in the
face while singing —

' The dewy flowers more beautiful
For tears upon their open face,
Gaze on us as from hearts brimful
Of tender pity for our case.'
But every one to his taste ; the point now to be observed is that it was a mis-
take to put forth this poetry as hymns for Christian congregations. As poetry,
the book might have passed ; but being unfortunately described as hymns, and
professedly sung in the author's congregation, gave rise to suspicion and comment:
thus originated this ' Controversy.' "

The Eclectic Review then criticised the same production, praising
it especially for " giving utterance, and not unworthily, to those
aspirations of the Christian's heart, which have the Saviour for their
object." This number of the " Eclectic " being sent to the Morning
Advertiser for notice, the reviewer in that paper animadverted on
the lofty praise bestowed on the Rivulet's high spirituality ; and
remarked that, " with the solitary exception of the Rev. Newman
Hall, no one of any note has ventured to vouch for the theology
of this volume." There must have been some force in these anim-
adversions, as they provoked the parties referred to, into a peculiar
method of replying to a criticism. Their reply became celebrated
under the title of "the Peotest," a paper addressed to the editor
of the Eclectic Review, partly to console him for his sufferings in
the encounter, and chiefly to protect one of the signers of the " Pro-
test ; " the whole of whom became known as a body by the name of
" The Fifteen," to which the adjective " immortal" was occasionally
prefixed. The following is a copy of the remarkable document : —

"THE PROTEST.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' ECLECTIC REVIEW.'

Our attention has been called to a matter of controversy between the Eclectic
Review and the Morniny Advertiser, on the subject of a book of Christian hymns,
recently published by the Rev. T. T. Lynch.

98

We are slow to intrude into such controversies, but there appears to us reasons
■which, in this instance, justify a somewhat unusual course. We have read the
reviews with pain and shame ; and feel called upon to express our utter hatred
of such modes of dealing with either a book, or a man. The Reviewer has invoked
so solemnly the sacred name of evangelical truth to consecrate his criticism, that
■we, loving the gospel, feel bound to enter our Protest ; and one of our number,
Mr. Newman Hall, having been severely blamed for his public commendation
of Mr. Lynch's poems, we, sharing his convictions, gladly place ourselves at
his SIDE.

In a book of Hymns for the Heart and Voice, we did not look for didactic
theological statements, but -we found in a measure, that greatly delighted us, a
spring of fresh and earnest piety, and the utterance of an experience eminently
Christian, and of no ordinary complexion and range, with a clear recognition
of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the divine Spirit. We feel no call
to review the Reviewer of the poems. We content ourselves with simply ex-
pressing our conviction that the spirit of the review, and the conclusions and
judgments of the Reviewer, and the manner in which Mr. Lynch is personally
referred to, are most false and unrighteous, and that, if this is suffered to pass
current as a specimen of Christian reviewing, then Christian reviewing wrill soon
become an offence unto all good men.

Concerning the doctrinal beliefs of Mr. Lynch we are not called upon to offer
a judgment. It were to place ourselves and him in a false position, to set up
ourselves as his judges in this matter. Some of us have no personal knowledge
of Mr. Lynch, and know him only by his works ; most of us know him well,
having frequent opportunities of meeting him in close Christian intercourse, and
■we simply declare that we love him as a Christian brother, and hold him in high
honour as one who, by severe and patient thought, has gained a great hnow-
ledge and understanding of that truth which is held in common by all evan-
gelical churches — ' the truth as it is in Jesus.' Though in our mode of stating
many things we should probably differ from him and from each other, we know
that we have ' one Lord and one faith.' We find ample evidence of this in
the book under consideration, and cordially underwrite your recommendation to
your readers to study it and judge for themselves.

We do not imagine that the sentiments of the articles to which we allude can
have any influence over your subscribers, but if you think the frank statement of
a few Christian brethren can help you in maintaining the standard of true
Christian reviewing, we, believing that you have been most unjustly assailed,
place it heartily at your disposal.

Henry All on,
Thomas Binney,
J. Baldwin Brown
Jas. Fleming,

Newman Hall,
J. C. Harrison,
Edward Jukes,
Benjamin Kent,

Samuel Martin,
S. Newth,
John Nunn,
Watson Smith,

James Spence,
R.Alfred Vaughan
Edward White."

The peculiar circumstance in this protest, besides its wild and
general accusations, as a specimen of " true christian reviewing,"
is, that "the fifteen" resent the Morning Advertiser s " mode of
dealing with a man" — and say, that "the manner in which Mr.
Lynch is personally referred to is most false and unrighteous,"
when the only thing that had been said of him " personally" was,
— that he was " an amiable and certainly an intellectual man, of
cultivated mind, largely imbued with a poetic spirit."

99

The protestors had either forgotten what had been said of their
friend, or thought nobody would enquire, but all would implicitly
believe that such " utter hatred" as they expressed must be occa-
sioned by some enormity. It is the custom however of this class
of men, to draw largely on the faith of their disciples.

Whatever they cannot answer, they protest against with assumed
horror, which they hope will be infectious.

Even the defence of the author of the " Kivulet" seemed
deprived of all grace and magnanimity, by the anxiety of the pro-
testors to defend " one of" their "number," Mr. Newman Hall,
by " gladly placing" themselves " at his side."

Another reviewer now entered the field, the Rev. Dr. Campbell,
who thundered in his British Banner, till Mr. Binney acknowledged
in his first appendix to a letter printed for private circulation, that
" the author was in error to call his poems hymns," and that it
" would be an error to use them as such. In the next place," he
added, " there were errors on the part of ' the fifteen.' It was
an error to issue a protest at all, things had better have been left
to take their course. It was an error for the protest to say all it
did, because some of it would be known only to persons on peculiar
terms of intimacy with the person defended ; and further there
were words, if not expressions, incautious to say the least."

People generally would imagine that after so handsome a recan-
tation, the penitent would walk softly and that the matter would
end ; but this was only an appendix to an attempt to injure the
" moral character of Dr. Campbell," in revenge for his forcing the
oldest of " the fifteen" into this acknowledgment. Having re-
pented, or at least recanted, he could with a better grace commit
another fault.

It having been announced that Dr. Campbell was about to re-
publish, with additions, his British Banner articles on " the Rivulet,"
Mr. Binney introduced the matter into the Congregational Union
meetings, May 17, 1856, protesting against this reproduction, and
urging the Doctor not to carry out his promise to the public. In a
fit of generosity the Doctor gave way, but only to find afterwards
that this act of his was not regarded as a concession of grace, but
a pledge that nothing of the kind should appear in the Banner
again. This gave it the appearance of a condemnatory suppression,
as if the critic and not those whom he criticised had been in the
wrong, or as if the Doctor had recaated the gospel and taken to
negative theology ! But though he was thus entrapped into a pro-
mise which he kept, Mr. W. H. Collingbidge from his own interest

100

in the subject determined that the articles should not be suppressed,
and re-published them on his own account.

Whereupon the cry was raised that Dr. Campbell had broken
faith, and those who had been driven by him out of their defence of
bad theology, sought by every method, open and clandestine, to
fasten on him the charge of bad morality. It was at this stage that
I came in and analysed the proofs adduced for this extraordinary
charge.

Before the question was so changed — from the theology of "the
Rivulet" and its suitableness as a hymn-book for Christian worship
to what Mr. Binney called " the moral character of Dr. Campbell"
— the real point originally at issue had been given up. But this is
the perpetual course of our more liberal thinkers ; when foiled as to
the subject in hand they invariably attack the spirit and character
of those who put them down in argument.

As to this charge, that " Dr. Campbell had broken faith" by
republishing his articles, I wrote the following dialogue, which
specially excited the anger of the Nonconformist, which took the
side of gentlemanly taste in this matter. The following dialogue
was supposed to take place between Mr. Binney and the writer : the
speakers are distinguished by their initials. All the words in
inverted commas are Mr. Binney's, either as spoken in the Union
or as written in his letter to the Union, with prefix and appendix to
the pages of which the numerals refer: —

B. — Dr. Campbell has broken faith with the Union.

G.— How ?

B. — He promised not to publish his " Rivulet" articles with preface and
additions, as he had engaged to do.

Gk— Well?

B. — But he has done so.

G. — Indeed ! "Where is the preface, and what is the additional matter ?

B. — This is mere evasion; "the thing" is done, and if there are no " addi-
tions," at least Dr. Campbell has republished the articles themselves.

G.— Who told you ?

B. — " The thing" " assumes such a shape in my mind."

G. — Suspicion is shapeless till it is fashioned by design. But how do you
make out that Dr. Campbell has violated his promise ?

B. — The pamphlet has appeared.

G. — Did the Doctor put it forth ?

B. — " What the meeting deprecated was," not merely Dr. Campbell's " autho-
rizing," or putting it forth, but its appearance at all, *' by -whomsoever put
forth."

G. — Then you think the Doctor guilty for not preventing " whomsoever" doing
what he promised not to do ?

B — Certainly ; "it never occurred to the meeting that Dr. Campbell had not
the power to secure this." (4.)

101

G. — " I am not aware that I am doing yon injustice when I cay that I think
you are not very clear or connected " (1) : for observe, we are not speaking of
what " did not occur to the meeting." but of what did occur at the meeting — in
fact, of Dr. Campbell's promise. What was it?

B.— That the pamphlet should be suppressed.

G. — Was that what you asked of him when you said it was announced that he
was going "to publish his letters with some new additional matter ?" and " I
entreat Dr. Campbell to suppress such intended publication ?"

B. — We did not merely mean that he should not do this, but that no one
should do any part of it.

G. — I am not inquiring what you meant, but what he promised, and what you
actually requested.

B. — '• It was the general understanding" that he could and would prevent all
others.

G. — But you say you do not know whether this understanding was " right or
wrong." I want to know whether you argue from "the general understanding,"
or from the particular promise ?

B. — The promise is to be interpreted by the general understanding.

G. — Whether right or wrong ?

B. — This is trifling. " In common, I believe, with most of the assembly, I
understood that before that day terminated the printer would have received the
promised prohibition" (3).

G. — But why did you " believe" that they " understood" he would write to the
printer, if you thought it was "the general understanding" that he was bound to
stop all printers " whomsoever ?" Have you not, then, evidently enlarged your
" belief " of their " understanding" — that by stretching the Doctor's promise he
may seem to have broken it?

B. — I " simply express my conviction," and " confine myself to a severe
statement of dry facts."

G. — Do you mean sly guesses and inuendoes?

B. — That is an inuendo.

G. — Yes ; but it is also a " fact," that when you expected the Doctor to write
to a particular printer you were thinking only of his special engagement with that
printer, and of his promise to agree with your desire that he would not reprint
with additions. It is, therefore, impossible that you could have had then the
interpretations of "the general understanding," which you now state " severely"
as " dry facts."

B. — This amounts to doubting my word.

G. — It is founded on your xoords, and proves that you " are not very clear or
connected," in inferring understandings that contradict one another.

B. — I distinctly recollect what I "thought" to be " the general understanding.'*
11 The case is not only not cleared, but the defence breaks down in every part,
and the whole thing comes out very much the worse for comment and explana-
tion." (Preface.)

G. — That is a forcible style of speaking, but a feeble way of answering. Your
best plan is to reiterate your statements, not noticing whether they agree with
each other, and, above all, speaking with a dignified contempt of "all counter-
statements and views." There are some who will take it for granted that you
are right, though they will in time begin to wonder that you do not make it as
clear in argument as in assertion.

It would be difficult to find a more palpable instance of changing
a great controversy into a little personality in no way related to it,

102

whilst the scheme, thus foiled and exposed, became as unfortunate
for its managers as it was unworthy of their position and pro-
fessions.

The Nonconformist and the Christian Spectator entered much
into this controversy, and while secretly sympathising with the
Neology that was exposed, pretended to be anxious only for the
spirit in which the truth should be defended. I could give many
grotesquely atrocious utterances of these advocates of meekness
towards error, and exhibitors of " utter hatred" towards those who
honestly exposed it, but content myself here with another dialogue,
which explains itself and them. The conversation is between a
thorough Independent a particular Baptist, and the editor of the
Christian Spectator ; it is to expound the true nature of liberty, and
shew what party can lay claim to it. The speakers are marked by
their initials.

Thokough Independent. — The point of the Nonconformist is, not the Tight-
ness of heterodox opinions, but the right of holding them.

P. B. — And the right of opposing them ?

T. I.— Of course.

P. B. — Then what do you complain of?

T. I. — The spirit in which it is done, of course.

P.B. — Bather general, and the usual resort of people whose temper fails with
their argument, and who think it must be a very bad spirit which vexes them.
Can you give us a specimen which excited your good-spirited rebukes ?

T.I. — We do not read the " wash ;" he blusters and abuses, and sets himself
up for the standard of theology.

P.B. — And you set yourself down for none ?

T.I. — Not of theology, of course ; that is the Nonconformist's peculiarity ; it
regulates the spirit of controversy.

P.B. — Then you are the standard of good temper and of a Christian spirit ?

T.I. — That is what we profess mainly to look to.

P.B. — And display it by accusing others of the want of it ? Cheap, rather.

T.I. — We only denounce unfairness, and recommend an insinuating gentleness.

P.B. — Do you mean in the " Bloodhound" article, where the defenders of
orthodoxy are insinuatingly represented under that amiable title, and the hete-
rodox described as " runaways ?" Have you a patent for this ferocious;
gentleness ?

, T.I. — That was only a general title to the article, it was not directly applied
to any-one.

P.B.— Only gently insinuated? This is the charity that begins and keeps «fc»
home, or never goes over the threshold, except to scold everybody into a good
spirit.

T.I. — This is banter, and leaving the question.

P.B. — The question is a good spirit ; you do not enter into theology, and you
think it worse to display a bad spirit than to have a sorry creed.

T. I. — Exactly ; that is the extent of our assertion. i

P. B. — Then on your own showing, you are more calumnious than the ortho-
dox whom you denounce. •*

103

T. I. — I cannot see that ; we do not M hound a man down" for a difference in
doctrinal beliefs.

P. B. — Because, you see, you have no doctrinal beliefs, and therefore can-
. not denounce any on that point — except indirectly ; but if you have a weakness
it is in the matter of temper ; you advocate a kindly spirit.

T. I. — And is there anything to be said against that}

P. B — No ; only it would be as well to display it.

T. I.— So we do.

P. B. — Yes, to yourselves, and to those who agree with your creed — that
gentle ways and winning methods are better than theology.

T. I. — But how are we more calumnious on our principles than those whom
we accuse ?

P. B. — Is it not your principle that a good spirit is more than a good creed?
and that consequently a bad spirit is worse than a bad creed ?

T. I. — Yes, and is not this true ?

P. B. — It may be ; but if so you are the greater calumniators ; for Dr.
Campbell and his orthodox friends attack only men's false creed, which you say
is a slight matter', whereas you attack their "spirit and moral character,'' which
you say is of more consequence ; so it is you who are the " Bloodhounds," though
you know Dr. Campbell is not among the '• Runaways.'''' I hope you see now,
that on your own showing your party is the more calumnious, because it attacks
what it considers a more vital part in a man's reputation — his spirit or moral
character.

T. I. — But you must confess that Dr. Campbell is very bitter against those
who differ from him.

P. B. — I believe he is very bitter to them ; not against them. Is it true, that
when the editor of your paper was condemned in costs and damages for a libel,
and likely to lose a thousand pounds, Dr. Campbell, who had had many a
brush with him, went straight to him, and declared he should not lie under this
loss ? Did the Doctor then show his bitterness further by calling a meeting,
presiding over it, and raising a large sum to relieve his general opponent ? Have
you ever seen anything like this on the other side? Is not " bloodhounds" the
answer? I would rather lose this right hand than join in a personal fight
against a man who had proved a generous opponent, when generosity was scarce
and was needed. [Exit T. I.

Editor Christian Spectator. — Well, but, friend, this has nothing to do
with public matters.

P. B. — But it shows who has the right spirit. And as to public matters, you
of course are liberal ?

C. S. — That is our creed ; we started for a liberalizing of religion, + and free
discussion of matters excluded from the ordinary religious magazines.

P. B. — Do you remember a series of articles on " Cant Terms," in which you
ridiculed phrases used by " the holiest members of Christ's body on earth ?"

C. S. — We did not ridicule them, we only criticised them.

P. B. — Do you remember refusing to let a Baptist Minister criticise the cant
terms and Carlylcisms of your articles on humble Christian dialect ?

C. S.— No.

+ This Christian Spectator is being revived this year by the liberal publisher,
who suppressed my pamphlet on Gladstone, and wrote me "a threatening letter for
having as heretofore used his name as my publisher. I mean Mr. Elliott
Stock, of Paternaster-row.

104

P. B. — Well, I saw the correspondence, and then learned practically, that
your review was liberal to the liberals, but insolent and offensive to those whose
language, though by you called " cant terms," is as true to them, and more pro-
found, than all the terms in which you canted against them. [Exit C. S.

Mr. Lynch himself lays down a safe principle by which to judge
of the real spirit of these men ; for in reviewing " the controversy"
in that organ ludicrously styled The Christian Spectator, he both
accounts for the origin of that title by contrast with its character,
and also explains the titles by which men of a like spirit, denomi-
nate themselves and their party; for he says: — "I know not
whether the reader has ever observed, as I have, a singular antago-
nism of pretension and character. The few people whom I have
known to obtrude love in their discourse have all been either stingy
or ill-natured. And I have heard of a most unjust man who had
continually in his mouth the words " Fiat justitia mat caelum."* —
(Christian Spectator, November 1856, page 699.)

The abuse which people heap on you when you have both con-
vinced and convicted them, is equally well explained by this writer
in the same article :

"Demons shriek loudest when they are departing from their
victims. Let us not think that vaunt and calumny and Phariseeism
are conquering because they cry. They cry because they are over-
come."—(p. 708.)

How this liberal party in theology cried " because it was over-
come" by the Morning Advertiser articles which forced the fifteen-
voiced cry of the "protest;" and Dr. Campbell's Banner articles,
which hushed it by crushing them ; and " What's it all about ?"
that swept the smoke off the field and showed the dire condition of
the vanquished, may be seen by a few specimen illustrations.

Mr. Lynch took a prose revenge, in a work called " Ethics of
quotation," which I " quoted to death" and as he signed it " Silent
Long," I taught him the wisdom of being Silent Longer. He also
published a poetical revenge, called " Songs Controversial," which
nobody could sing.

However this greatly delighted Professor Godwin, of New College,
who, as we shall see in the next chapter, took lessons in Neology at
the feet of Silent Long; it was said he greatly enjoyed the recita-
tions of Mr. Lynch's second poetical effusion, which recitations
were sweetly given at a nocturnal seance held at the Rev. Newman

* " Do justice, though the heavens should fall." This was histrionically
repeated by a Rev. Doctor at Cheltenham, as the climax of an appeal, after the
most grotesque distortions called " facts" about the poor Irish Church.

105

Hall's residence, where a live Dean has since been exhibited. This
exhibition may perhaps come in at the proper chronological stage
of our history : it excited great delight and chagrin, delight on the
part of the gentleman who entertained his company with this vara
(iris, and chagrin on the part of one who is generally the lion
himself.

The protesting party was however ashamed of publicly endorsing
" Songs Controversial," but took great interest in circulating the
prose revenge, called " Ethics of Quotation." The following
advertisement appeared at the time, and among other papers, in
The Freeman : — " The Rivulet Controversy. — At a committee of
gentlemen held at the Milton Club, on Monday evening, October 27,
1856, it was moved by Edward Miall, Esq., M.P., seconded by
the Rev. Basil Cooper, B.A., and unanimously resolved — That
this committee deem it expedient and right to give the widest cir-
culation to the ' Ethics of Quotation,' by Silent Long, published
in reply to the charges brought against the Rev. T. T. Lynch,
(i.e. Silent Long,) by the editor of the British Banner. Donations
in aid of this object will be received by the treasurer, &c."

In addition to this, various attempts were made to expel the
British Banner from the reading rooms of societies ; and the Non-
conformist (Nov. 19th, 1856) did not scruple to insert " a good
example " of this sort, namely, a manifesto of bigotry, " which was
going the rounds of the Young Men's Christian Association" at
Plymouth "for signature." " The correspondent" who sent a copy of
this to the congenial editor observed, " It may possibly give the ' cue '
in other localities for similar action, discountenancing unscrupulous
bigotry [he was exhibiting it] to serve the cause of truth." These
are the terms in which such men describe their methods of persecu-
tion for orthodox opinions. I am happy to say that the bigots were
beaten, and that the Banner continued to wave over the table of
the society in question. But this is the " cue" of our more liberal-
minded pharisaical Sadducees.

The Rev. S. M'All, then of Nottingham, now of Hackney College,
London, having sided with Dr. Campbell, a meeting of " ten" was
got up in Nottingham to protest against that gentleman's opinions
and warn people not to adopt them. This impudent personal attack
was thus admitted into the Nonconformist, which was trying to draw
out of the affair : — " Although you announce your intention to insert
no more letters on the ' Rivulet Controversy,' we trust you will give
us permission to express in your columns our extreme regret that
one of our ministers, the Rev. S. M'All, has felt it right to place

E

10G

himself at the side of Dr. Campbell." This great meeting of ten,
like the clique of "the Fifteen," says, " It is not for us to discuss
the theological questions involved in this controversy;" and then
having confessed their incompetency, which was not necessary, like
"the Fifteen," they decide that Mr. Lynch was theologically sound,
which supported their estimate of their capacity. Having said, as
most bitter persons do when about to say something offensive and
impertinent, that " the truth should be spoken in love," they go
on to contradict the truth, and display their love by begging " very
earnestly and respectfully to guard friends throughout the country
against the error of supposing" that Dr. Campbell has more than
one friend in Nottingham. This liberal trash was of course accepted
by the Nonconformist, especially as "we enclose five pounds in aid
of the fund for distributing the 'Ethics of Quotation,' and are Sir,
yours, William Cripps, chairman." Mr. Miall not only inserted
this attack on a minister for a free opinion, but added this note : —
V The letter to which reference is made in the above communication
appeared in the British Banner. Mr. M'All quotes various de-
tached passages from Mr. Lynch's ' Ethics ' with a view of showing
hat he is not sound on the question of the atonement. We only
notice Mr. M'All's letter, to make the above communication intelli-
gible to our readers ; otherwise we should have deemed it beneath
-ur notice. — [Ed. Nonconformist.] "

Now if this editor did regard the rev. gentleman's letter as " be-
neath notice," why did he insert a protest against it which, to be
intelligible, necessitated this " notice ?" The editor refutes, contra-
dicts, and condemns himself in this hysterical affectation of contempt.
The ~ame Mr. Cripps, of Nottingham, referred in his letter to the
" disgraceful special pleading of Mr. Brewin Grant:" and when I
wrote asking him " to point out what parts of the pamphlet" he "so
designated," he replied that he " would gladly comply, but then it
would involve the necessity of transcribing almost the whole :" but
when told that he was asked " to point out, not to write out" the
offending passages, so that he might now " gladly comply" by mark-
ing the parts on the margin, he said, " you ask me to point out
'passages:' this is all nonsense. It is not a question of parts and
passages ; one part is so connected with and dependent on another,
that to select would not be to make a fair exhibition of the spirit
and contents of the whole !"

This is the way with them; when they come to " select" they
meet a line of bristling bayonets, and because they cannot touch a
part, they "cry" out about " the spirit of the whole." But this

107

gentleman, not satisfied with confessing my logical connectedness
and impregnable position, had the audacity to write and say : — " I
am told you got twenty pounds for writing that book :" and when
I asked him who told him that I " got twenty pounds," he was like
all these base traducers of honourable men — silent.

The Nonconformist, whose pages this Mr. Ceipps so suitably
adorned, gave the following notice " To correspondents. An ad-
mirer of Grant almost tempts us to deviate from the line which our
judgment [he means " our cowardice"] has laid down, for the treatment
of that gentleman." In other words his " judgment had laid down
the line" of silence, as his only safety ; but he was so troubled that
he was near committing himself by the infelicity and temerity of
pretending to deal with anything said by " that gentleman." The
witty element of this correspondent's letter was the suggestion that
" Dignity and Impudence*' should be put as the heading of the
dialogue between me and Mr. Binney. I advised them to try it.

About the same time another respectable number, " The Forty,"
met at Norwich, to steal Dr. Campbell's reputation, and to get him
turned out of his situation as editor of magazines in connection with
the Congregational Union ; by which papers he had by amazing
industry and vigour accumulated large funds for widows ! These
" Forty," who advertised themselves as if comprising two large con-
gregations, were assembled by private circular. Mr. J. H. Tillett,
the great Norwich " Liberal," figured in this persecution meeting.

The perpetual annoyances to which Dr. Campbell was exposed
from the friends of freedom to persecute any who differed from them
led him to announce a really free paper, The British Standard,
saying that " for the exigencies of these times" " he must be
entirely independent of all proprietary bodies, committees, and con-
tractors, and rest exclusively on the direct support of his own nu-
merous friends and the friends of truth, of every section of the
church throughout Great Britain." Right nobly did he fill his task,
and right heartily was he seconded, but no thanks to the Norwich
Forty, and their gentle abettors, the pretentious friends of specula-
tive freedom !

The " amiable" Mr. Lynch, addressing the Congregational Union
in his introduction to " Ethics of Quotation," wrote in the following
delirious style : —

" Your editor is a person whom no Christian society can retain as
their representative without incurring the reproach of being utterly
careless about the Christian principles which should govern the us©
of tongue and pen."
e 2

108

As a specimen of those " Christian principles which governed" his
" pen" he said : —

" Murder is murder, even though it is Mr. Lynch that is killed.
Reputations may be killed as well as lives," and he goes on to sug-
gest that — " the end maybe that the murderer's own reputation
may be ' shot' with due military dishonour amid public abhorrence."

"You have evidence enough before you to warrant you hence-
forth to disown the editor of the British Banner as your editorial
representative."

This was the sort of thing that Mr. Miall conspired with others
to circulate gratuitously, in the interests of freedom, truth, and
love, — and all that !

" It may be," concludes the gentle author of " the Rivulet,"
" you will see that your editor, being the foe of truth, is the foe of
Christ," so he advised the Union " indignantly and peremptorily'
to " repudiate" the Doctor. This class of men has now the

ASCENDANT IN CONGREGATIONAL UNIONISM.

Dr. Campbell has gone to his reward, and we have no organ of
opinion that would admit of any criticism of the present heresy and
despotism.

The immediate results of "the controversy" was that the publi-
cations of one of " the Fifteen" subsided considerably ; and he had
to make earnest protestations about "the truth as it is in Jesus"
— which no doubt he and the other protestors regard as a passage
of Scripture, and so give it as a quotation. The oldest of " the
Fifteen" was said to have tried three hydropathic establishments,
and not getting cool, tried change of air in Australia, and returned
improved in everything but temper : for when asked by one who
had spoiled his "facts," to officiate in his church on a public
occasion, this rare opportunity generously offered, for showing mag-
nanimity, was taken advantage of to display that petulance which
is the distinguishing mark of those who ostentatiously write only
for " Christian gentlemen."

However, I got well rewarded for my temerity on this occasion,
by subsequent opportunities afforded to the "protestors" of remem-
bering me ; a circumstance which throws a light on many otherwise
dark passages in their career.

Namq; hoc tempore,

Obsequium, amicos, Veritas odium, parit.

109

Chapter XI.
WHAT IS NEGATIVE THEOLOGY, and what does it lead to ?
or, the Transition Period from "Baptism in the Rivulet"
to New College " Christian Faith," 1856.

The preceding chapter explains the origin and general course of
the " Rivulet Controversy." This is to exhibit the real theological
sentiments and tendencies of the party of progress : the religious
doctrines, if they may be called so, which this class of free enquirers
entertains and favours.

The Rev. Newman Hall, to the last of the conflict, stood sponsor
for Mr. Lynch's substantial orthodoxy. Thus, in a letter to the
Nonconformist, Dec. 3rd, 1856, he wrote : — " While I do not pledge
myself to all his utterances, while the style in which I preach the
gospel differs greatly from that which he thinks proper to adopt,
I repeat my conviction that he is a sincere believer in the funda-
mental articles of the Christian faith." " The Fifteen " in their
"protest" said that they have "frequent opportunities of meeting
him in close Christian intercourse," that they " love him as a
Christian brother, and hold him in high honour as one who, by
severe and patient thought, has gained great knowledge of that truth
which is held in common by all evangelical churches, ' the truth as
it is in Jesus.' " — (" Protest.")

Now let us see : — " Speaking after the manner of men, how
daringly does God manage the world ! How can He — how will He
solve the doubts and satisfy the yearnings of all the good, and make
the saved world see of the travail of its soul with full satisfaction ? "
—(Ethics 19.)

This '•' daring" description of the Almighty's management, in which
it is implied that the Governor of the Universe went to the extreme
verge of what public opinion would allow, and so made it difficult
to secure the moral approbation of these reverential critics, prepared
the way for Mr. Godwin's method of man being " reconciled to God
by the death of His Son," in the sense of being no longer alienated
by the " daring management" of Providence, which is now cleared
up, since "the saved world" sees, in the reward which Jesus re-
ceived, ground to expect the same reward for " the travail of its
soul."

The same passage also prepared for Mr. Godwin's new way oi
salvation "by the service of suffering ; " that is, not of Christ's
sufferings, but our own, which are to be equally handsomely rewarded.

In the same " Ethics of Quotation" (29), we read that. "We
e 3

110

must know Christ by becoming 'one spirit' with Him." "This
is not the propositional knowledge of the head, but the experimental
knowledge of the total humanity" — (29.) This "experimental know-
ledge of the total humanity" is beyond any individual capacity to
experience or to understand ; while this depreciation of "the pro-
positional knowledge of the head" wa*s the provision for Professor
Godwin's belief in Christ as a person, apart from any " propositions"
about Him.

The same writer, still in the character of " Silent Long," says,
"He [Mr. Lynch,] has often found that 'heresy' is the precursor
of spiritual insight, and 'orthodoxy' a cloak for transgression, and
a whited sepulchre, full of dead men's bones." — (" Ethics," 34.)

These wicked orthodox people are called upon to repent for
their sin against Mr. Lynch in the following graphic fashion : —

Some of you Independents have subscribed money to circulate Dr. Campbell's
pamphlets. It is the price of blood. The Lord will make inquisition for blood.
The blood of innocency is in your skirts ; it stains your purses, ye men rich in
cash, but poor in faith and charity. Kepent, and do works meet for repen-
tance (p. 29).

This is a solemn burlesque of the words respecting Judas and
the price of betrayal — i it is the price of blood' (Matt, xxvii. 6).
And the other passages of Scripture (Ps. ix. 12, Jer. ii. 34) are
either intended to convey the most atrocious accusations, or are the
most ridiculous abuse of Bible language. The ' works meet for
repentance' are, of course, beginning to subscribe for the gratuitous
circulation of this gratuitous absurdity, called ' Ethics of Quotation.'
'Repentance,' demanded by Mr. Lynch, is to be followed by
1 baptism' in his Rivulet.

Well were it if the critic who has, in the waters of Marah — the bitter waters
of controversy — baptized Mr. Lynch with this false name [Destroyer] would
repent, and suffering himself to be baptized in the Eivulet, hear, and that
to his good, a sermon from Mr. Lynch (p. 17).

As a forerunner of the new gospel, Mr. Lynch consistently invited
men to a baptism of repentance, after telling people pretty plainly
how much they needed it on account of their orthodox rebellion.
But the height, or perhaps depth, of this wickedness can be seen
only in the following solemn warning which "this contemptible and yet
singular young man," (25) as he affectedly calls himself, addressed
to one of his presumptuous critics : — " Oh ! Doctor Campbell,
beware lest, in maligning the stranger [Mr. Lynch] whom you despise,

YOU BLASPHEME THE HOLY SPIRIT OF God" (p. 7).

It is painful to transcribe such blasphemy ; but it is necessary in
order to show what kind of doctrines and language the more elite

Ill

and pretentiously intellectual of our ministers fostered, and for
which Mr. Miall, of the Nonconformist, "deemed it expedient" to
secure a wide gratuitous circulation, out of mere love of good taste
in controversy, which he affects and violates more than any jour-
nalist in the kingdom.

The unhealthy and profane comparisons by which Mr. Lynch
perpetually likens himself to our Saviour, and likens ckiticisji to
crucifixion, is seen in his observations on a proposal for arbitration
between Dr. Campbell and Mr. Binney, which is likened to a com-
promise by which the cross might have been avoided. As in the
Christian Spectator, Nov., 1856, Mr. Lynch, in his " Eeview of the
Controversy," wrote : —

" Perhaps the cross, after all, was not necessary. Perhaps troth and lies might
have settled matters by ' arbitration.' Perhaps the universe is or ought to be
governed by ' accommodations.' Perhaps the sad story of the ' Master ' is a
warning to us not to be ; righteous overmuch.' Perhaps the Lord was not con-
ciliatory enough to the Pharisees, and might have escaped by a little ' compro-
mise.' Perhaps there were ' errors on all sides ;' and if Caiaphas after the
Crucifixion had sent for Peter, given him a ' situation,' and married him to the
' maid that kept the door,' there might have been no Christianity !"

This is comparing small things to great, as a way of making great things
small ; as a matter of taste it is negatively theological ; as a question of perso-
nality it is a hit at Mr. Binney, who said there had been " errors on all sides."

" The maid that kept the door" might possibly have brought an action against
Peter for bigamy, if Mr. Lynch's ludicrous " perhaps" had been carried out.
Whether, if Peter had got a second wife and a good " situation," we should have
had " no Christianity" is a question we have not to decide ; but that with Mr.
Lynch's method there soon would be no intelligent belief in Christianity is
evident.

Again he says : —

" The Union was content, Pilate -like, to scourge me and let me go (!).
They did not wish to press matters to extremities. But then, why should I be
scourged ? Why should I be beaten openly uncondemned by any lawful
authority ; nay, after having been justified and honoured by such authority ?
The firmest front should have been shoicn against Dr. Campbell's whole pro-
cedure. It was not. And in this — I say it regretfully and respectfully — Mr.
Binney. I think, teas not ' himself " (p. 701).

It is this constant, profane egotism, this poetical licence of an irreverent taste,
in putting himself in Christ's place, likening all his negative controversies to the
scourging and crucifixion of the Redeemer, which shocks all decency, and plainly
indicates the tendency of such writers to diminish the greatness of Christ's work
and sufferings, and to exaggerate their own. They reverse that saying, " He
must increase, I must decrease,'' and practically say, " We must increase, He
must decrease."

The like absurdity, bordering on blasphemy, is displayed in the following
sentence, where, praising Mr. Binney, he says : — " He has been strong, and oj
his ' FCLNESS ' many have received" (p. 702). This shocking comparison is
founded on John i. 14—17; "And we beheld his glory." " full of grace and
truth ;". " and of his fulness have we all received."

112

•'We must believe in ourselves (says this theologian) because we believe in
Emmanuel — God with us" (709). This is the transition stage — a border dialect
— removing our neighbours land-marks, so that orthodoxy is gradually led into
heterodoxy by the sliding scale of varying senses. " Emmanuel — God with us,"
a reason for " believing in ourselves ;" "because (!) He is v,l-h us" (!)

This extraordinary " fulness" of Mr. Binney, and " believing in
ourselves," was the dawn of the new " Christian faith" in Professor
Godwin. The same Silent Long, quoting his own " Letters to the
Scattered," says : — " The good moral effect of punishment on the
man, the effect upon his character as distinguished from his actions,
is greatly due to his recognition that the vengeance was a right
thing." " The penalty must be, as thank God it is, administered
redemptively." In fact the place of torment, if there be one, is
simply a reformatory, so far as this theologian teaches. Mr.
Godwin afterwards founds the " forgiveness of sin" on the distinction
between " character and actions," as stated by Mr. Lynch.

We have already seen Mr. Binney described as " strong, and
of his ' fulness' many have received ;" and this " free handling " of
the Gospel of God concerning His Son is exercised in another sacred
direction, as Dr. Campbell was thus warned: — "Beware lest in
maligning ' the stranger' [that is, criticising Mr. Lynch's new theo-
logy] you blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God." This also was a
preparation for Mr. Godwin's theory that the Holy Spirit is a
good disposition in human souls ! Hence to contend against Neology
is to despise the inward light of these new prophets.

I know that many persons will be shocked on reading these things ;
nor do I wonder : for if these almost blasphemous perversions of
Scripture are not proofs of a new revelation in our modern thinkers,
Those deepest speculation is a daring if not dexterous juggling with
language, at least this exposure will reveal a state of things for
which outsiders are not at all prepared, and of which many in our
denomination are ignorant, though I exposed them ten years ago.
I was not answered then and never shall be ; but I was abused, and
I hope I always shall be by the same parties.

The Rev. Newman Hall, in his letter to the Nonconformist, Dec.
3, 1866, declaring that " Mr. Lynch is sound in the fundamental
articles of the Christian faith," warned all persons that : — " it is
not by harsh dogmatical censures, it is not by intolerance of the
free thoughts and free words of others, still less by abusive epithets
of wilful misrepresentation, that we recommend the religion of love.
The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." It would
be a great mercy if the writer of this, who, in the very act was re-

113

fleeting on other people's " free thoughts and free words," were
inspired with the sentiment which he so wrathfully recommends. I
have never received any answer from this class of men except
" abusive epithets and wilful misrepresentation," and " intolerance
of" my "free thoughts and words:" there is nothing in which
they so much excel as in " the wrath of man ;" nothing which they
more unctiously recommend, than — " speaking the truth in love."

In that same letter, which was a defence of Mr. Lynch's ortho-
doxy, and a malevolent diatribe against Dr. Campbell, for criti-
cising the pretence, Mr. Newman Hall, speaking of one whom
he represents as " once" a " friend," " long a Christian minister,"
" many years my elder," " who formerly occupied such a position
of esteem," — oils his razor after this fashion : " I shall endeavour
to do it in a spirit of meekness, not rendering railing for railing,
avoiding all harsh expressions;" then after the most virulent abuse
which generally follows such loving protestations, he says : — " We
(the Fifteen) do not simply defend ourselves against the charge of
a negative religion. "We bring that charge against others ; but we
bring it in hue." Of course ! And the charge was, that whereas
Dr. Campbell doubted the doctrinal soundness of Mr. Lynch, this
loving critic doubted the moral character of the orthodox advocate.
This was done unblushingly in that letter which professedly repu-
diated what it perfectly exemplified.

The gentleman whom Mr. Newman Hall defended so meekly
against the proof of his heresy, himself frankly confessed and denied
his liability to the charge. Thus, as Silent Long in "Ethics of
Quotation," he says : — " Mr. Lynch is not the commander of that
scarecrow army of perversions to which Dr. Campbell gives the
name of negative theology." " This of course, here and now, is but
my assertion. But you will remember that some of our most

ESTEEMED MINISTERS, Ml*. SAMUEL MARTIN, Ml*. NEWMAN HALL,

and others, — bore witness (!) to the ■ severe and patient thought'
by which" he "had sought, and as seemed to them, not unsuc-
cessfully, the knowledge of the truth. Their assertion should be
evidence. (But it was not.) To you personally (Congregational
Union) I presume it is. It was no kindly-meant falsehood that
they uttered, but sober testimony that they offered." (! !)

Yet in the same pamphlet in which he denies that he is charge-
able with that " to which Dr. Campbell gives the name of negative
theology," he said : — " Scripture appears to me to be full of
what Dr. Campbell calls negative theology," (p. 17.) So
that if he believed the Scriptures, he was a negative theologian ; and

114

if he did not believe them he was an infidel, — which is much the
same.

In his " Review of the Rivulet Controversy, Christian Spectator,
Nov. 1856," — a month before Mr. Newman Hall gave a second
testimonial (Nonconformist, Dec. 3.) to his orthodoxy, — Mr. Lynch
wrote : — " I have learnt the whole trick of the religious newspapers.
I could set up ODe myself if I were only wicked enough." This
is recorded as a hint for Mr. Miall, of the Nonconformist, and
Mr. Turberytlle, of the English Independent, and Mr. Robert
Leader, of the Sheffield Independent. "The religious world I
abhor" (p. 683 Christian Spectator.)

" The ■ religious world,' that odious compound, must yield to
analytic spiritual forces." He was of course speaking of " the
Dissenting world," of which again he asked, in Ethics of Quotation,
(27-28) :— "Has he, (Dr. C. like me, Mr. L.)with the gentleman's
heart and lineage, borne sorrowfully with ' Dissenting' vulgarity, for
the sake of Nonconformist principle ?" This was too meek, patro-
nising and genteel. But to proceed with his Christian Spectator
" Review" : — " I firmly believe that religion, in many self-styled
Evangelicals, is no better than a blind blaspheming superstition."
(685). " It is orthodoxy itself that is the great heretic. Yes, and
in the full sense of the word, orthodoxy is heretical." (704.)

" Orthodoxy is often a mere city of tombs, and its angry defenders,
the maniacs, that dwell there, and who cry ' We live among the
tombs, why cannot you ?' and then they rush on us." — (705.) Now
I do not see why such a man should object to join his fellow
" maniacs." It may, however, be considered rather serious that
"some of our most esteemed ministers" take a liking to this sort of
thing, and object to " exorcism."

" The propositions of our creed," says this calm theologian, "must
be as stone steps to advance, not as stone cells for imprisonment ;
cells in which the liege servants and champions of great liberty lie
manacled like felons." — (708.) So he would be free. His "pro-
positions" are stepping-stones to cross over, and " advance" from —
but, whither ? — Why, out of " the cell " of definite religious opinions,
to hold to which is to be " manacled like felons." This is the one
whom the truth had made free from believing in it ! So joyfully did
he rest in " the truth as it is in Jesus," which " by severe and pa-
tient thought" he had found to be his sorrowful imprisonment.
How far he and his " Fifteen" were " champions of great liberty "
is seen in the great liberties they take with scripture and common
sense, and the rights of free criticism. " But I will not, oh reader,"

115

cries he, " offer to you any creed whatever as my ultimatum, or as
what I recommend for yours." " I have much yet to say, but I
must not now say more." — (708.) "Well, he had not said " much,"
and has left us in the dark as to where he was.

But Mr. Newmas Hall knows all about it. In that fatal letter,
written a month after those ravings against evangelical orthodoxy,
this gentleman speaks of " heart utterances of a deep spiritual life,"
with which this " amiable " critic refreshed Mr. Hall and other
" maniacs," as he went to "dwell with them among the tombs."
11 We still meet for prayer and religious conversation," says Mr.
Hall, though the leading saint in this paraded' exercise, was only
applying his "analytic forces" to "that odious compound, the
1 religious world,' " in the course of this " religious conversation."
The writer of that extraordinary letter rebukes our unbelief in his
testimony as to the gospel according to the " Rivulet," saying : —
" Instead of receiving with thankfulness (!) our testimony to the
soundness of Mr. Lynch, you charge heresy not only on him but
on us also." This, though doubtless dreadful obduracy on the part
of any orthodox freethinker, could scarcely be wondered at when
Mr. Hall himself not only received such deep inspirations from
" the heart utterances" of his friend, but himself fell into the spiri-
tual cant of his client against " propositional knowledge," as in that
very letter he says, " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
and verbal statements of doctrine, and the shibboleths of even an
evangelical PARTY, not doubtful disputation and bitter strife about
modes of utterance, but righteousness and peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost." — (Nonconformist, Dec. 3, 1856.) By what right this
commentator thrust his "verbal statements of doctrine," "modes
of utterance," " and even the shibboleths of an evangelical party,"
between the two parts of the Apostle's statement (Rom. xiv. 17), I
never could tell. It is certainly an interpolation and a serious vio-
lation of the spirit of the text and the context, which is not to
depreciate doctrinal purity but to remove ceremonial scrupulosity.
This use of scripture seems to me to be an abuse of it, and a very
dangerous and reprehensible perversion.

This medley of "meats" and "doctrine," " drink" and "the
shibboleths even of an evangelical party," is more profane than
witty, and is certainly no special mark of respect to that Apostle,
who would not abandon the plain " verbal statement of doctrines" — -
since there are no other statements than verbal ones : — nor would
the apostle muffle up the denial of the doctrines under the equivo-
cating phrase " modes of utterance ;" all which is simply an affected

116

latitudinarianism ; nor would he insult that cross which he preached,
by an offensive fling at " the shibboleths of even an evangelical party."
This kind of trimming is an attainment beyond that earnest and
profound Apostle who lived only to exercise his " modes of utter-
ence," and to instruct us in " verbal statements of doctrine."

Mr. Hall might well find it necessary to hide himself behind his
Missionary Sermon, which had lately been done into a book to show
that the author could still utter " the shibboleth of an Evangelical
party."

His retreat behind that sermon to escape the charge of heresy, —
which his strange use of, or rather parody on, Scripture, seemed to
confirm, — shall be given in his own words, out of that letter : —

If you suspect them [the Protestors] also, you can easily satisfy your doubts
by examining their works. The last missionary sermon preached at Surrey
Chapel has been published under the title of " Sacrifice," and, as that subject
is the one in which, of all others, we are most in danger of a negative theology,
you can readily ascertain whether you are warranted in the fear that Ichabod
may be written on the walls of Surrey Chapel.

But what is the value of this sermon on " Sacrifice," if the write*
now says that " verbal statements of doctrine " are to be ranked
with the indifferent matters of " meats and drink," and to be de-
nounced as "shibboleths?" This question may be answered by
Mr. Hall, or his friends, when he again joins in a private meeting to
sign this sentimental effusion, so far beyond the matter-of-fact
verbal utterances of St. Paul : —

" Heart of Christ, 0 cup viost golden,
Brimming with salvation's wine."

Of this and similar varieties Mr. Hall assures us : —
I had, nevertheless, in private meetings for ivorship, much enjoyed singing

several of its [the Rivulet's] compositions, which breathe a deep-toned spirituality,

and ought to be taken as interpreters of all the rest.

Permit me to refer you to No. LXXV. — " Heart of Christ, 0 cup, &c."

Now, if these specimens of Rivulet poetry " ought to interpret all
the rest," so, in like manner, Mr. Hall's protestations of orthodoxy,
even in his " missionary sermon," are to be interpreted by this
negative comment, — " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink —
not verbal statements of doctrine, and the shibboleths of even an
Evangelical party."

For, as Mr. Lynch's style takes all meaning out of Scripture, so
this absurd comment and protestation of Mr. Hall falls into the
same course, and also takes away all logical value from any of his
" verbal statements," and " modes of utterance," to which he may
refer us, in proof of his still holding " Evangelical Shibboleths."

117

But perhaps he will require us to adopt his own method of
interpretation, as, in the same unfortunate letter, he repeats Mr.
Binney's lesson, saying — " I interpreted the book by what I knew
of the man;" and adding, "I also interpreted the book by what the
book itself contained." This last method, if it have any meaning, is
rather original ; but in the same letter we have a third mode of
interpretation, namely, by taking " several of its compositions" as
" interpreters of all the rest." We are not told " why all the rest"
should not be the interpreters of these " several " favourites. This
see-saw style of criticism is another specimen of the danger we are
in of losing all logical meaning of language in this contempt for
" propositional knowledge," and " verbal statements of doctrine."
So mystified is Mr. Hall that he has already three canons of inter-
pretation; first, interpreting books by their authors; second, by
what the books themselves contain; and thirdly, interpreting the
greater part of a book by any favourite passages.

This author, when in a spirit of Christian meekness, trying to get
the Congregational Union to turn off Dr. Campbell for the wicked-
ness of supporting the Evangelical shibboleth, put the matter in
this dreadfully effeminate or gushing style : — " I ask the members
of the Congregational Union whether they feel happy in being repre-
sented by such a writer?" Perhaps the "religious world" may
have some qualms on the subject of being represented by that
enquirer.

I will at least give this gentleman credit for logical acuteness, and
a variety of schemes for drawing an inference, and getting at the
meaning of a book; especially that device of the chief of "the
Fifteen," — " to judge of the book by the man," by which Mr. Hall
said he had the extraordinary felicity of " seeing in it many things
not obvious to others," — because they were not there.

This preliminary stage, or transitional period, of negative theology,
to be developed into the New College Dispensation, may thus be
summed up : —

Christ is God, to fight with, us, and for us ; He " hleeds with us, and for us."
" Thy hlood was his, his hlood was thine." All specific teaching is decried, and
the Gkt.man cloudland advocated, in the profession that our knowledge of
Christ is " not the propositional knowledge of the head, hut the experimental
knowledge of the total humanity.'' This is that vague rule, "the spirit of the
age," which is a sprite, or "Will-o'-the-wisp dancing over a hog. Following this
unsteady lamp, our Negationalist plays some pranks with religious phraseology
— " love can atone the selfish ; " " God can bring from the dead perishable inno-
cence, as a spirit made perfect ;" "the world has a beauty of holiness, and a
wisdom of holiness." " It is divine in itself; " we, " by yielding to good,'' which
means anything in general, " enter a celestial marriage " to Swedenborgianism,

118

through the aid of this Regenerator of Orthodoxy, who " re-inspires the letter of
our religious speech" with irreligious nonsense. We are invited to a feast of the
new moon, as "such a deliverance from darkness " as lands us in "full lustre
and rule of the night." Our teacher, who leads us into the dark, brings hell into
this world, "cools" his tongue with a few drops "from the Psalms," and so
prepares us not to be frightened at hell in the next world ; since the Rivulet can
quench it, aided by Letters to the Scattered. All belonging to Mr. Lynch is
increased, and Christ is decreased. Is the Saviour crucified, so is Mr. Lynch,
with "heavy hammer and blunt nails ;" was Christ scourged by Pilate, so is Mr.
Lynch by the Union.

The circulation of criticisms is paid for, and is the " price of blood," for which
God "will make inquisition."

The only escape is to " repent " and circulate the Ethics, and " be baptized in
the liivirtet." Let no man despise this " contemptible, yet singular man," for
this is a " climacteral instance of iniquity :" it is be;\ ond redemption even in the
Piedemptive Hell : — " Beware, oh Dr. Campbell, lest, in maligning the stranger
(Mr. Lynch) whom you despise, you blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God." " We
must believe in ourselves, because we believe in Emmanuel — God with us ;" and
as one specimen, besides Mr. Lynch, who is the Holy Ghost, or quite as binding
in obligation, Mr. Binney "has been strong, and of his 'fulness' many have
received." So does Mr. Lynch empty Scripture of meaning to fill men with pre-
sumption. And, while all this is before the icorld, Mr. Newman Hall vouches for
his substantial orthodoxy, boasts of the edification from Mr. Lynch"s private heart
utterances; invents three canons for interpreting books, which will turn Scripture
into a nose of wax; cries up love, and joy, and peace; and cries down "the
shibboleths of an Evangelical party," mixing " meats and drink" with " verbal
statements of doctrine," as -natters of indifference; as if, like Peter, in Mr.
Lvnch's supposition, he had "married the maid that kept the door," and so
given up that Christianity, which as an objective and historical religion, is a
matter of "verbal statements of doctrine," a revelation of " propositional know-
ledge," to guide the hopes, and form the experience of humanity. All this is
turned into " dissolving views," or grotesque imagery of a distorted imagination,
by the magic lanthorn of Negative Theology.

These are the " stone steps" that afterwards sink into the Ser-
bonian bog of a " Christian Faith" which does not include belief in
Christianity. Till we get to that stage, we may sing Mr. Lynch's
liii. Hymn : —

Where is thy God, my soul ?

Confined to Scripture's page,
Or, does His Spirit check and guide

The spirit of each age?

Of course we give up the second line as a narrow authority, and
fall down before the mixed " spirit" described in the fourth. Nay,
verily, for " we have also a more sure word of prophecy, wheremito
ye do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place." — ii. Peter, i. 19.

119

Chapter XII.

THE GLASGOW DEBATE AND ITS LESSONS— 1854.

Mr. Holyoake having retired from Cowper-street with the con-
fession that he preferred going to gaol to meeting me in discussion,
was afterwards forced upon the more dreaded alternative, by the
Kev. Dr. William Anderson, of Glasgow, who in reply to the cus-
tomary impudent challenge of the secular party, said: — " Send for
Brewin Grant." Nor could I complain of the preference, inasmuch
as I had intimated in Cowper- street that if these people should
pester any body else I was prepared to deal with them again. The
challenge to Dr. Anderson by John Wright, secretary of the
Glasgow Eclectic Association, or picked lot, was as follows : —
Glasgow Eclectic Association,

14, Garthland Street, July, 29 1053.
Eev. Sir,

In my official capacity as Secretary of the above Society, I beg most
respectfully, in accordance with their instructions, to state that Mr. George Jacob
Holyoake. Editor of the •' Eeasoner.' has made arrangements to visit Glasgow
in a few days, for the purpose of delivering a course of lectures on Secularism.
The Freethinkers of Glasgow, as well as in other places of Scotland and England,
are, I believe, almost unanimous in considering Mr. Holyoake as their most distin-
guished leader and efficient advocate. And as you, rev. Sir, have acquired a
widely-spread celebrity by your eminent controversial abilities in defence of what
you deem Protestant truth against Popish error and delusion, the members of the
above society, desirous that truth, and truth alone, by whomsoever taught or
wheresoever found, should reign and flourish everywhere among men, and that
falsehood, whatever form or aspect it may assume, may speedily be detected and
overthrown, deem this a most opportune occasion for a collision of sentiment
between two such gentlemen of unquestioned ability.

The Freethinkers of Glasgow are emboldened to address your reverence more
especially, from the circumstance of your having very recently challenged Dr.
Cahill to meet you in public controversy ; and as it is believed by the Christian
world that Infidelity, no less than Popery, is a system of delusion, subversive of
morals, and fatal to the noblest instincts of humanity, a public controversy upon
the merits of the two systems, between persons of acknowledged ability, would
inevitably, we think, tend to beneficial results.

Mr. Holyoake is a man of unblemished moral reputation, and held in high
esteem by many persons in every sphere of life, even venerated by many who are
altogether opposed to his doctrines. He has also held more public controversies
with distinguished divines than any other advocate of Infidelity.

To this Dr. Anderson replied : —

Glasgow, August 14, 1853.

My first impression, on reading your communication, was, that I should
embrace the opportunity which it offered of exposing to public abhorrence a
system — if system that may be called, which is ^ mere mocking negation of all
that is divine and venerable.

On reflection, however, I found I must deny myself. 1st, I am greatly exhaus-
ted in strength by my exertions in another controversy, and for liie carrying

120

forward of which I must reserve such strength as remains. I would fail in duty
greatly were I to permit the temptation of making a spectacle of Holyoakery to
seduce me from my present vocation to make a spectacle of Popery. 2ndly,
Although I am prepared to enter at once on the discussion of the general ques-
tion, yet, to meet Mr. Holyoakewith the efficiency desirable, it would be necessary
that I should study minutely his various publications, that I may be ready, by
prompt quotations, to show his dupes, from the ever-changing state of his opinions
and manifold self-contradictions, how disqualified he is for being a guide. This
study would require more time and labour, I am persuaded, than I have expended
in making myself master of the Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent.
For this I have neither leisure nor inclination. The Council of Trent has
occupied my head with quite enough of jargon, immorality, and impiety. But,
3rdly, I might have got over these objections had there been no other person
ready to accept of your invitation, and able to do it justice. Gentlemen, send
for Beewin Grant, and if he refuse to meet Mr. Holyoake in Glasgow, and I
be not satisfied with his reasons of refusal, in consequence of what he may con-
sider unfavourable terms which you propose, then it is not impossible that I
should overcome all reluctance to submit myself to the labour and excitement of
a new controversy, and enter the field.

This rather staggered the infidels, who, after debating with any
one who learns to beat them, always tried to damage his character,
and to get Christians to repudiate him, while they advanced to the
conflict with some other person, whom they first praised and finally
denounced, in order to escape a second encounter with one who
knew their tactics.

Dr. Anderson, who had referred the Eclectics to me, as at present
more in training on that subject, soon found how disagreeable his
suggestion was, and therefore thus wrote to the Christian News,
September 8, 1853.

I deeply regret that there appears to be no hope of Mr. Holyoake meeting
Mr. Grant face to face before Glasgow loose thinkers ; for admirably as Mr.
Grant acquitted himself in his first encounter, now that he has had experience of
Mr. Holyoake's tactics, he would have met him a second time with still greater
force of exposure^

The Glasgow YouDg Men's Association was good enough to take
up Dr. Anderson's suggestion, and the secretary, Mr. Robert
Stark, wrote thus to Mr. Holyoake : —

33, Glassfoed Street, Glasgow,

October 22, 1853.

The Directors of the Glasgow Young Men's Christian Association have
directed me to write to you as follows : —

On your visit to Glasgow recently, the Eclectic Association here, of date 29th
July, invited the Eev. Dr. Anderson to hold "a public controvery with you upon
the comparative merits of the two systems." That gentleman replied, desiring
that Association to " send for Brewin Grant," and stating, that if he would refuse
to meet Mr. Holyoake in Glasgow, it was not improbable that he should do as
that Association requested.

121

As Mr. Grant lias not been sent for, the Directors have instructed me to invite
you to a discussion with him in this city, at any early time that may he convenient.

This was the last thing that Mr. Holyoake expected or desired,
so in reply, he quoted the Coventry Standard, and made it say —
that I was an infidel myself : of course the quotation was a perver-
sion, as the editor of that paper wrote and showed me, but it was a
clever trick to frighten the orthodox people of Glasgow into repudi-
ating the representative whom they had chosen and whom the
infidels naturally objected to.

The following is Mr. Holyoake's " liberal" evasion: —

Your communication has somewhat surprised me. My Scottish friends wished
Secularism to be debated with a Scottish Presbyterian minister; but I do not see
how this end is to be answered by referring them to an Independent minister of
Birmingham, of uncertain religious principles, with whom the subject has
already been debated — who has said whatever he had to say on the subject, and
whose'speeches, revised by himself, are already in the hands of my friends. From
the Kev. Dr. Anderson, a very different order of minister, and of national reputa-
tion, some new criticism or some instruction is to be hoped, but from Mr. Grant,
for ever wading in a pool of personalities, nothing.

May I ask in what sense your colleagues put Mr. Grant forward? Does the
"Rev. Dr. Anderson, do the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, the Rev. Dr. King, the Rev. N.
M'Leod, the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, advertised " Extraordinary Directors " of your
Association, put forward the Rev. Mr. Grant as their representative?

You enclose with your letter the " Lecture List " of your Association for 1853-4.
I observe that from this list you omit your •' Fundamental Rules," the second of
which is, I believe, that "None shall be eligible as lecturers" to your Association,
" except such as hold the doctrines of the Divine Inspiration of the Holy
Scriptures, the Deity and Atonement of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit
in the conversion and sanctification of the sinner, and the justification of the
sinner by Faith alone. No remark shall be permitted at any meeting, or in any
publication of the Association, in opposition to any of these doctrines." Sir, has
your Association ascertained that Mr. Grant holds the doctrines stated above ?
The Coventry Standard, a paper which (though not to my taste) you icould
consider sound in the faith, reviewing the debate between Mr. Grant and myself,
wrote, as I am informed, to this effect : — '"This is a discussion between the Rev.
Brewin Grant and another Infidel, Mr. G. J. Holyoake." Throughout my con-
troversial intercourse with Mr. Grant, I solicited in vain a copy of his creed. In
certain propositions I have expressed, for Mr. Grant's instruction, what I take to
be the leading principles of Secularism. Before I debate with that gentleman
again, I require, a least, to see him express, in so many propositions, what he
regards as the leading principles of Christianity.

You are young men, seeking. I doubt not, as sincerely as my own friends, the
vindication of public truth in the discussion you propose. Do not therefore dis-
qualify yourselves by denying the equal intentions of others, or by putting
forward a minister who will do it in the grossest language. In what way is it
possible for me to listen deferentially to such a representative ? Why should I
believe in the man who arbitrarily disbelieves in my word? I counsel my friends
that they are exonerated from attending to either Apostles or Preachers who

122

address them as " deceivers" or "hypocrites." If they acquiesce in this language,
the public will have a right to conclude the imputation true. I can never be so
sure of another's veracity as of my own. If, therefore, a minister denies my
truthfulness upon supposition, what reason can he give me for believing in his ?
When he has taught me to distrust his word, he can speak to me no longer — he
can bring me no message from God — he has justified the gravest doubts as to
whether lie believes in Christianity himself.

I am, dear Sir,
Kobert Stark, Esq., Yours respectfully,

Secretary to the Glasgow Geo. Jacob Holyoake.

Young Men's Christian Association.

This v/as written from "the Reascner office, London," Nov. 5,
1853. Mr. Holyoake's liberal freethinking libel, accusing his op-
ponent of heresy and inconsistency as a compliment to his ability,
did not blind the directors, who were not disposed to let this vaunting
challenger escape a second opportunity of learning " the art of
making Christianity disagreeable." Accordingly, after telling him
that it was Ids side that obtruded the challenge on Dr. Andekson,
who desired them to transfer it to the Rev. Bkewin Gkant, as at
present a more efficient advocate than he, of Christianity against
secularism, they proceed to remove his delicate scruples as to my
soundness in the faith, saying : —

" The Directors attach little importance to the words you have been informed
were inserted in the Coventry Standard, as, even if correctly quoted, they are
evidently either a verbal mistake, or easily enough understood when taken in
connection with the previous context.

" The Directors cannot see how you and Mr. Grant, having already had several
nights' discussion, should prove that either has no more to say to the other ;
indeed, they rather think that, by means of that preliminary discussion, both will
be better prepared for still further argumentation, and that without a long-con-
tinued preparatory correspondence.

"The Directors do not think that either the Eclectic Association or they could
be held responsible for every word or statement of the disputants, such a selection
implying only a general confidence, which might afterwards be found to have been
misplaced.

" The Directors are surprised at your referring to Mr. Grant as " an Indepen-
dent minister of uncertain religious principles," when he has distinctly stated to
you, in a printed letter of 27th July, 1852, " I am concerned to defend the general
doctrines of ' the orthodox,' more especially of the Independents, with whose
opinions you are well acquainted." So that, if Mr. Grant's religious principles
are uncertain, the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw and the Rev. John Angell James must also
be • Independent ministers of uncertain religious principles.' "

To Mr. Holyoake's perpetual and feeble wail about personalities,
while he is himself at the same time libellously personal and accu-
satory, the Directors gave this straight cut : — " As to Mr. Grant's
language in reference to you, the directors think that the easiest way
of enabling the public to judge of its propriety would be to afford

123

yen an opportunity of proving its inapplicability. If found inappli-
cable, Mr. Grant will suffer and not you." This was particularly
cruel : nor were the Directors more merciful when they added : —
" We understand that Mr. Grant is not less sparing in his language
of Mr. Southwell and Mr. Robert Cooper, and that you, notwith-
standing, recommend them to meet him in debate, while you say,
■ I can never be so sure of another's veracity as of my own.' "

To relieve his mind on the score of my orthodoxy, they assured
him that " Mr. Grant is willing to assent to nearly all the statements
made in ' the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of
Divines.' " After four or five days' consideration, and seeing no
clear way out of the fix — in which he no doubt said many times,
"A plague on all challenges ! " he wrote : — " 147, Fleet-street, 11 mo.
17, 1853. — Dear Sir, — Would you oblige me with the Assembly
Catechism with Scripture proofs ? I hope in a few days to be able
to answer your letter of the 10th inst. — Yours faithfully, G. J. Holy-
oake." He was soon provided with this help to discussion, ac-
companied with this note : — " Sir, — As desired in yours of the 17th,
I enclose the Assembly Shorter Catechism with Scripture proofs.
Waiting your reply to ours of the 10th, — I am, respectfully yours,
Robert Stark, Secretary."

It took Mr. Holyoake just five months to learn his catechism :
his friends were greatly disheartened, for they saw their standard-
bearer faint who had promised to disturb every saint in the kingdom
with incessant attacks on Mount Zion ; and now he is silent.
No doubt they roused him up ; hence he broke out in April of the
next year, saying that he had been very busy, but added, " Seeing
my way clear at length to leaving town at intervals, I inform you
of my consent to meet Mr. Grant in Glasgow. My opinion of the
inconsistency of our being requested to meet again remains un-
changed, but I defer to the judgment of Dr. Anderson and the rev.
directors on whose behalf you write." After some further boggling,
which secured a few more months' delay, up to July 19, he was
brought into the field Oct. 2nd. The discussion was for six nights,
on successive Mondays and Thursdays, and took place in the City
Hall, Glasgow. During this time and for three more weeks my
family resided at " the Kirn," near Dunoon, at the foot of the Clyde,
that my wife might compare the scenery with the description of it
in my love letter, given on page 47.

The question for discussion was — "Is secularism inconsistent
with reason and with the moral sense, and condemned by expe-
rience? By ' secularism' is meant that phase of modern freethought

124

represented by Mr. Holyoake 's writings, and in the publications
edited, recommended, or approved of by him."

I spent several weeks beforehand in culling specimens, which I
strung together, with date, page, and volume, to an extent that
astonished the infidels as much as Christians. This debate finished
Mr. Holyoake and his party, so far as reputation for ability,
honesty, reason, and philosophy was concerned, and he never
recovered any hold on the general public.

To revenge himself he added — to his introductory warning res-
pecting my alleged heterodoxy, which he wished to make into a
penalty — the declaration that somebody in England doubted my
conversion. A thing that infidels do not believe in.

I got a letter from the gentleman he referred to, and he was
forced to retract publicly at the close of the discussion.

To these absurd but malicious accusations, he added that the
religious press had not reviewed our Cowper-street debate, and in-
sinuated that in this quarter I was given up. I referred him to two
handsome recognitions of my success, that appeared in the Eclectic,
Review and the London Quarterly.

Instead of defending his own productions, which was his foolishly
accepted " Task of to-day," he declared that my own denomination
had discarded me, which if true, would have been base and wicked
on the part of my denomination.

I was able, however, then, to give this answer as to my standing
with the Congregational Union, which I recommend to the consi-
deration of the committee of that grave assembly. The passage
referred to occurs on page 123 of the printed report of the Glasgow
discussion, taken by the same reporter as the Cowper-street one, —
Mr. Reed, — and published with the "joint consent" of the
disputants.

When Mr. Holyoake states that in England I am commonly regarded as not
orthodox, he declares what is false. For I have now an engagement to go over
to the Congregational Union, which holds nearly the same opinions in reference
to church rule as the Scotch Presbyterians, and the same doctrines as yourselves.
I am just now engaged next week, between the fifth and sixth nights of this dis-
cussion, to give two lectures under the auspices of the Congregational Union.
At its annual May meeting, a plan which I proposed for influencing this country
was adopted and recommended to a committee ; and I am invited to go and speak
upon it at Newcastle. I am quite ashamed to say these things, but I only
mention them to p \t you on your guard, and to show how these men who com-
plain, that if you don't accept the theories of a freethinker, you are bigoted, will
try to fasten on any Christian advocate the charge of being heterodox. If they
can't answer his arguments, they will try to injure his professional standing, and
all under the name of the literty of thought. There is nothing more pitiful than
that sort of warfare.

125

The infidels having been beaten out of the field, professed
Christians have taken up their poisoned weapons, and in some cases
have, like the infidels, been most bitter in revenge when completely
foiled in argument. There is no calumny which they will not
secretly circulate, and no cruelty which they will not perpetrate,
as far as is permitted. I speak now of those, to whose recognition
of me I referred in reply to Mr. Holyoake's passionate slanders.

It will be remembered with how great deference the Eclectics
approached the Rev. Dr. Anderson, and how Mr. Holyoake joined
them in respect for that gentleman and out of disrespect for me ;
but even that able and excellent man was insulted coarsely by the
secular apostle in this very debate.

This led me to make the following observations : —

It is not for me to eulogise Dr. Anderson : I will only state that I have never
heard any but Mr. Holyoake — who abuses all good men — speak of Dr. Anderson
with anything else than the deepest respect and admiration. It is not merely in
Scotland that he is a minister of national reputation, but in England a gentleman
■wrote to me, saying, '• You never had a higher compliment than when Dr. Ander-
son said, in reply to the challenge of Holvoake's party, ; Send for Brewin Grant.' "

And so much personal kindness have I received from this gentleman — (though
a young man and a stranger) — that I feel as if egotistical and praising myself
when praising one who is so generous, simple-hearted, and noble a friend. It
was by the accident of the obtrusive infidel challenge that I was thrown into his
society ; but I shall always retain the highest respect and affection for him : and
if I had not known him, it would be the best recommendation to know that Mr.
Holyoake insults him, for then he must be a good man in those respects in which
this moralist condemns him.

The first' part of the following passage describes the course
which I pursued in this discussion, and the second part contains a
very important argument, which effectually annihilates the preten-
sions of those who object to supernatural religion, since all the
wickedness of all religions, is, on their own principles, the product of
that very naturalism on which they rely. Or, as I have elsewhere
expressed a similar sentiment : if the Bible is false its authors
were infidels, for those who invented it did not believe it.

In reference to the Glasgow discussion, I said in one of my cus-
tomary summaries of the points gone through : —

I have had one object in view, and have kept steadily to it, and have demo-
lished all pretences to reason or morals in the works of these infidels, and this is
their condemnation from experience. Mr. Holyoake has questioned whether he
wrote one of the passages on " Salutary Ridicule," and I have read it to him with
additions. He has not even denied any other passage, but only explained that he
was not the author of that about the Tract Society, which contains the gross libel
on St. Paul ; but I gave him another as bad, from his own pen, about the Tract
Society as the " depository of sacred calumny," and two about St .Paul, in one of
which this meek Jesuit calls the apostle "that pious ruffian." So that his

126

denial of the authorship of one passage does not escape the sin of the slander and
wicked falsehood contained in what he did write; whilst his acceptance of the
other passage, his selection of it to adorn his organ, makes him guilty of its
crime, since " the receiver is as had as the thief."

The infidel having thus left every quotation untouched, undefended, to lie in
print before the eyes of many thousand readers, as the demonstration of the vile-
ness of this party, what has Mr. Holyoake done to retrieve himself and his
wretched fraternity from odium ? Simply this last resort of an abandoned and
prostrate cause, to indulge in "recrimination," and try to prove that others are
as bad as himself ; which, on the 49th page of this debate, he declares he will
not stoop to ; but he always does what he says he will not. Does that incon-
sistent, repudiated, and practised recrimination prove his cause good, even if he
makes out the case against others ? No : it confesses that his cause is bad, and
he adopts the — " you are another" argument. If this retort were true, it would
be no answer ; it would not exonerate him, but only condemn both sides. He is
sinking, and he wants this poor satisfaction — to be drowned in company. He
shall go down by himself. " We disclaim the wicked fraternity," as he observed
when he was sinful enough to say he " was not a sinner," which he forgets when
he asks others, " who have the grace of God," to be better than himself ; since
it is because we " are sinners" that we accept this " grace ;" and, therefore, he
who claims to be perfect should have pity on " publicans and sinners," and not
expect us to equal his unmatchable perfection.

This very doctrine of " grace" shows that he cannot retort our sins on our
principles, since we teach that we are " frail by nature," which is secular, and
good only by " grace," which is Christian ; and therefore our virtues belong to
our principles, and our vices, and his own vices, and the vices of all men, are
instances of the insufficiency of that moral nature which is his adopted
standard.

I do not think Mr. Holyoake can understand this. I am sure he will not
fairly restate and answer it ; for it sho^s that all he or others can say against
any man, Christian or Infidel, is an argument for the insufficiency of morals as
founded on human nature; whilst all he says against the Bible, enormously
wicked as his slanders are, would, if true, only make him sink the sooner ; for if
the Bible is such a wicked book — who made it ? Did not men make it — according
to his principles ; is it not a human production, and therefore the outgrowth of
those secular morals founded on human nature ; and is not the same true of
grosser religions that prevail ? Do not these, therefore, all prove that man is vile,
if he can make and almost worship vile books ?

Or will Mr. Holyoake say our book is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ? He
denies this ; therefore he admits it is the immoral production of that nature which
he says is a sufficient basis for morals. So that if he is right in his assertions,
he destroys his own cause ; for the Bible, looked at as a human production, is
like all human wickedness — purely " secular" — the outgrowth of human nature,
which Mr. Holyoake says has " sufficient guarantees for morality ;" and yet
which he accuses of producing this enormity, as he libellously describes oar
Bible to be.

Nay, more : since this book — so very wicked in the eyes of one who loves
" morality," — at least who finds it absolutely necessary to repeat this profession
and to add asseverations of his "sincerity," of which none would dream if he did
not mention it, and which none who are awake can believe, because he mentions
it too often ; — this book, so bad in the eyes of this man, is still regarded as very
good in the eyes of other men, who indeed " are sinners," and do not, like Mr.

127

Holyoake, deny it. "What, then, must be the enormous immorality of that very
•• human nature,"' which not only invented such a book and found many who per-
versely died for their testimony to it, but has allowed the very wisest nations,
and the very best men that human nature can manufacture, the most intelligent
that humanity can produce, simple and gentle, old and young, rich and poor,
learned and unlearned, all bowing before this wicked book ? What a comment
on the sufficient goodness of humanity, when the foremost nations, the best men,
thousands upon thousands of people are so morally debased ; and when tbis book
is sold more than any other, and is perversely translated into almost every human
tongue, to pollute even the unsophisticated secular barbarians, and threatening
even cultivated Confucian China, with the worse than Kussian invasion of two
million testaments at once ! "What an awful wicked world, what a degenerate
human nature, still getting worse, with only one good man that carries a higher
humanity in bis metaphysical theory — Mr. Holyoake — who stands alone to stem
this torrent of unutterable natural wickedness, by "■ noble "aspiration" after a
Utopian morality founded on a nature so experimentally perverse !

Does he not well describe himself as " saving a few from a wreck," by bringing
his metapbysical humanity from "the wreck" of that real humanity, from which
he has swum ashore to lecture on its sufficiency for morals ?

If, then, all he says against the Bible and its followers were as true as it is
false, it would be an overwhelming confutation of his pitiful metaphysical suffi-
ciency of the morals in human nature.

Bomarsund was blown up with its o»vn powder, and that is a parable for Mr.
Holyoake and his discomfited adherents. He is taken in his own craftiness,
and falls headlong into the pit he digged for others ; his attack on the Bible and
the churches, if true, is fatal to his own cause — the sufficient morality of human
nature.

I do not expect him to understand this. I am sure he will forget to state it.

Mr. Holyoake asked, " where the Bible would lead us to," if we followed it?
Why. to heaven of course ; where do you think ? And where will his system
lead ? Just the contrary road ; for it is as fatal in morals as we have in every
shape proved it to be fallacious in argument.

At the risk of occupying too much space on this discussion, I
cannot avoid quoting a passage on progress which may be of
service to many a reader. It follows an enumeration of the various
whirligigs through which these " reasoners" had led their confused
disciples ; —

TRUE AND FALSE PROGRESS.

He will for a time amu?e his followers by calling this, — " progress," like his
friend Joseph Barker ; but if " progress" means giving up your opinions, you can
get to the end at once by having no opinion at all. A railway engineer is a
" man of progress ;" but if you were a shareholder, you would like him to know
his business before he began to work on your property ; if he made you a line
pretendedly from Manchester to London, and laid out all tbe preparation on the
road for Scotland, and next offered to start in some other direction, he might call
his past blunder and his new guess, — " progress ;" but he would not, by that fine
word "progress," induce you to let him spend more of your capital on a rail to
the moon.

You are a plain man, and here is a clever engineer, who has invented a new
sort of bridge — it will cost a good deal, but then he proves (for he is a beautiful

128

talker any way), and proves to your confused understanding, that such a bridge
would be safe and lasting : it is not one of your old tumble-down bridges — of
course not ; you are persuaded, and the bridge is built, and is not an old tumble-
down bridge, but a new tumble-down bridge, and you have had to pay for it.

He himself comes, not to refund your money, not to regret his blunder, but to
praise his wisdom ; he has himself found out that such a bridge was not likely to
stand ; when he invented that, he was under the deluding influence of the old
bridge-making craft ; he is wiser now, and can show demonstratively where that
failed ; he will show you that no man of common sense could have expected any-
thing else ; and then will bring out a real new plan as safe as " progress," on
which you may spend another ten thousand pounds. For he defies you, and all
the engineers of old orthodoxy to find a flaw in the scheme ; very likely you would
be puzzled to show where the fault is, and could only say "But the bridge you
have made failed, and you sail the same about that ; we don't want a bridge that
will stand talking about, but one that will stand the weather and the trains, and
that will at least bear its own weight ; but your old bridge tumbled down."
" Ay, my dear Sir," he replies, "you little understand the march of intellect;
in this age of locomotion, ' progress' is the word ; we are not tied to old orthodox
bridges ; we are in advance, and sing the song, ' Try, try, try, again.' " What
would you say ? The reply would be, "you are very plausible, and in one sense
right — we must try again ; but we will try another engineer, who will not ' pro-
gress' in pulling down old bridges to make worse new ones, but who will put up a
firm structure, and let us ' progress' while the bridge stands still, as all decent
bridges ought."

We must die to find it out, was long a favourite phrase of
sceptics, and considered a sufficient reason for not seriously regard-
ing the claims of the gospel. To this I gave the following reply,
which may not be unserviceable ; such short statements would make
useful little "tracts: " —

There is one assertion which Mr. Holyoake is fond of making, which he will
never make again, if he has any pretension to argument. It is considered of
some force against Christianity, only because of ignorance and the boldness with
which it is uttered.

I mean the saying, that " we must die to find out whether Christianity is
true." If Mr. Holyoake were to say that he must die to find it out, the assertion
would be more modest, though not less melancholy. For does he mean that we,
for ourselves at least, have not found out that it is true ? — that we may not find
it as firmly proved to our satisfaction, as a thousand other things on which we
rely and act daily ? This saying is not true, therefore, of us, for we have found
it out already.

Secondly — We have lived to " find" Mr. Holyoake " out" and believe him not
to be true, before we die, and therefore need not attend further to his revelations.
• Thirdly — Many infidels themselves, and indeed the majority, " find it out"
before " they die ;" and, thank God, it is theirs then, if they truly accept it, as
many of them do.

Fourthly — When infidels expect to die, they are often known to send for the
minister, the elder, or deacon, in preference to their companions or teachers, and
so prove that " they find it out before they die" — as I hope all infidels reading or
hearing this, will. Nor do I believe there is any minister of the gospel that would
not attend to such a case with the utmost tenderness and alacrity, as they have

129

often done ; and I believe many hearers and readers of this discussion will even-
tually try this plan.

Fifthly — If we " must die to find out whether Christianity is true," what do
you now say it is false for ?

Sisthly — If " we must die to find it out," must not you ?

Seventhly — If we do not know whether we are right before we die, do you
kno\ any better while you live ; and, if we are both alike on this matter, why do
you say this against religion, instead of against your own notions ?

Eighthly — May you not, when you die, " find out " that your views are false?

Ninthly, — If we are wrong when we die, are we not as well off as you ?

Tenthly, — If you are wrong when you die, are you as well off as we?

Eleventhly, — If, then, " we must die to find it out," which is on the safer
Bide?

Twelfthly, — Had you not better find it out while you live ?

Thirteenthly, — Shall you not ask the same unwise question again, as if it had
never been answered ?

Fourteenthly, — If so, what do you ask questions at all for ?

Will you take my responsibility ? was another favourite ques-
tion, and perhaps still is, with the same class, and to it also my last
Glasgow speech afforded an answer, which I commend to the reader.

There is a further inquiry which I hope will never be put again, namely —

why should I believe you, if I am to suffer for myself? "Will you take my res-
ponsibility? " Now, since he will not take our responsibility, he should, on this
principle, neither offer his opinions to us, nor ask from us so unreasonable a
condition.

No infidel will take our responsibility ; then why, on the same ground, should
we believe them or their opinions ?

But if you ask me, as a minister — will I take your responsibility ? I say, God
forbid ! I do indeed trust my all to what I recommend to you, and so give a
pledge of my sincerity ; but I do not ask you to trust in me ; it is not the gospel
of my reason, but of God's revelation ; - I ask you to trust in Jesus Christ. And
if you say — well, will He take my responsibility ? I say yes, certainly ; that is
what He lived for, and died for, and lives again for ; that is why He is a Judge and a
Saviour. And since that you admit that this " responsibility" is what you feel
to be so heavy, and that you look for some one to take it off for you ; if you
really meant that, then " there is now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus ; " and therefore, in this alone will you find what you profess to
seek ; — what I cannot give, what no Infidel dare offer, what you cannot find in
yourself, but what you will find in Christ, namely — One who " takes your res-
ponsibility," and One to whom you are responsible. " For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ," and if we now are " brought nigh by His
blood," we " shall be saved from wrath through Him."

130

Chapter XIII.

CANDID ATING FOR A RE-SETTLEMENT AT THE CLOSE

OF MY PUBLIC MISSION : Letters of Commendation, 1856.

Nearly every Hall of Science and infidel shop throughout the
kingdom being shut up, and all the popular infidel orators being
similarly situated or rendered comparatively innoxious, and more
than the stipulated time, three years, having been occupied in
labours abundant — travelling and weariness — I began to look for
a re-settlement in some private pastorate.

I had been favoured with the gratitude of thousands, and received
many valuable testimonies to the usefulness of my labours from
those who had been interested observers, and, therefore, was in
many respects favourably placed for securing introductions to vacant
churches. At the same time I laboured under some serious disad-
vantages. First, there are those who have not the capacity to
understand that others may have two capacities — that a person could
both lecture and preach. Secondly, there are those who, ignorant
of human nature, imagine that he who can laugh cannot cry, and
that to be amused and amusing on suitable subjects indicates a
want of solemnity on others. Thirdly, there are those who make
amends for acknowledging your ability by hinting a doubt of your
piety ; or who, from envy, as conscious of inferiority in courage and
capacity, compensate themselves by any discounts they can take off.
Fourthly, there are those that feel that they could have done a great
deal better, and do not see why you should be so highly extolled.
Fifthly, there are good, honest Christian people, ignorant of the
materials on which you work and the various styles necessary for
various occasions, who think that the solemn preaching of the
gospel to men who laugh at it and make a mock of your solemnity,
is the only suitable course for all occasions : forgetting that saying,
" cast not pearls." Now, such persons may, and in some cases do,
from honest and conscientious ignorance, and in good faith, feel
that a " free handling "of scorners, is a desecration of the truth.
Sixthly, there are those who, knowing better, will, from mixed
motives noted above, play on the honest simplicity of godly persons
to create a prejudice against you which they know to be foolish in
others and wicked in themselves.

My name having been mentioned to some of the officials at Clare -
mont Chapel, Pentonville, London, preliminary enquiries were made
of different persons as to their impression of my suitableness in
character and ability. There was plainly this fear in the minds of

131

those who enquired, — that I should be fighting with infidelity in the
pulpit — which, in one sense, I do ; whereas it is to me always a
relief to turn from such questions, and " lie down in green pastures
beside the still waters ;" and to avoid all sound of axes and hammers
in the temple, having shaped and settled all the materials before-
hand.

" Whatever brawls disturb the street,
There should be peace at home," —

was part of the earliest poetry which I learned, and has described
my home from childhood till now ; still I cannot wonder at the im-
pression produced on timid and retiring minds, by the exaggerated
rumours and grotesque reports busily circulated by baffled infidels
and sympathizing liberal Christian brethren, respecting a style of
advocacy of which they are profoundly ignorant and the fame of
which they envy. I believe that a vague impression of this sort
affected the form of enquiry which was made up and down respecting
me by those who entertained the thought of inviting me to preach
for them " with a view." This I gather from the answers which
my excellent and worthy friend, then unacquainted with me, re-
ceived to his enquiries, the answers to which, " as testimonials,"
I now possess, to the writers of which I am indebted, and especially
to the Rev. David Loxton, who directly met that point of prejudice
from misunderstanding my aim and spirit, in my freer treatment of
scoffers who could appreciate no other mode than mine, and were
not even thankful for that.

But before introducing Mr. Loxton's letter, I shall give one
which removed the preliminary scruples as to the advisability of
asking me to " supply" at " Claremont."

The Rev. J. M. Charlton, M.A.,now Professor at Western College,

Plymouth.

" Masbro', June 19.

" My dear Sir, — I am greatly obliged by your kind letter, and for
the confidence you repose in me with respect to the affairs of
Claremont chapel. It would give me great pleasure to hear that
you were comfortably settled with a pastor.

" I entirely sympathise in your scruples about Mr. Grant. His
engagements during the last two or three years have been such as
are likely to give a somewhat controversial bias to his mind ; still I
see no reason why he should not form a very excellent settled pastor.

132

I am quite sure he possesses energy, tact, and elasticity of mind to
adapt himself to any circumstances, and I have no doubt that if he
were your minister, he would throw himself heart and soul into all
the labours necessary to raise Claremont to its ancient prosperity.
He is unquestionably a man of great pulpit as well as platform talent,
and I should expect him to fill your chapel in a short time. At all
events there could be no harm, I think, in asking him to supply the
pulpit for two or three weeks. Believe me, dear Sir,

"Very sincerely and respectfully yours,

" J. M. CHARLTON.
" Hugh Owen, Esq."

The Rev. David Loxton, Sheffield.

" Sheffield, July 23rd, 1856.

" Dear Sir, — I understand that my dear friend and brother, Mr.
Grant, is supplying your pulpit at Pentonville, with a view to a
settlement ; and as I know that the peculiar character of his late
mission to the working classes has excited a prejudice against him
in the minds of some good people, I feel that as an old friend and
*ellow- student, who has had much intercourse with him since we left
college, I may possibly be able to serve him by telling you what I
know about him.

" It would be quite needless for me to say anything about his
learning and abilities, in which he is second to no minister in our
denomination of the same age. I know from personal intercourse
with him that the mode he adopted in his late work was not the re-
sult of levity, but of a clear and deep conviction of duty to Christ
and to the souls of men. Should any persons among you view it as
an error (as I do not myself) they ought to regard it as an error of
judgment, not of heart.

"As a student, Mr. Grant was eminently conscientious and
spiritually minded, a man of prayer, and I know not of anyone of
my fellow- students in whose religious sympathies I can more fully
confide. Hoping you will excuse the liberty I have taken in ad-
dressing these few lines to you, and earnestly praying that you may
be directed from on high in the choice of a pastor,

" I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully,

" DAVID LOXTON.
" Hugh Owen, Esq."

133

FROM MY PREVIOUS CHURCH IN BIRMINGHAM.

" August, 1856.

" We, the undersigned, deacons, members and seat-holders of
Highbury Chapel, Birmingham, understanding that our late pastor,
the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., is now preaching as a candidate at
Claremont Chapel, Pentonville, London, have great pleasure in
expressing to the church assembling there our high estimation of that
gentleman's qualifications as a minister of the gospel.

" For several years he was greatly esteemed as a teacher and
pastor, evinced great thoughtfulness and study in the interpretation
of Scripture, and manifested great earnestness in the application of
gospel truth. Many were benefited by his public ministrations ;
while his visits to the sick and dying have been the source of
gratitude to many.

" We should gladly have retained him as our pastor but for
those peculiar circumstances which called him forth to a wider
sphere of labour, in which we rejoice to know he has been abun-
dantly blessed of God. And now that his work in that sphere is
happily accomplished we doubt not he will return to the pastorate
with an enlarged experience, which, under God, will render his
labours more efficient than ever, and add largely to that success
which in our midst he wTas beginning to enjoy.

" To speak of his abilities we believe would be superfluous ; but
of his Christian character, his love of his work, his devotedness,
his sincerity, his earnestness, his transparency, his warmth, his
kindness — these we cannot refrain from mentioning, having seen
them so often displayed and never wanting.

" We regard him as especially adapted to a large and intelligent
population, and shall look upon it as an earnest of good things to
come to see such a minister settled in London, surrounded by an
energetic Christian people.

" In this expression of our own feelings we feel confident we
represent the sentiments of all who have enjoyed Mr. Grant's
ministry and who have known him in public and in private.

" In conclusion we would say, if the general estimation in which
Mr. Grant was and still is held in Birmingham is any proof of his
worth, in that estimation we rejoice, for not only amongst our own
people was he beloved, but by the members and friends of other
churches and denominations. Should it please Providence to place
him in your midst, and to dispose you to strengthen and uphold his

134

hands, it is our belief and sincere prayer that lasting and abundant

good will be the result.

" JABEZ FIDGIN, )

" WILLIAM ROOKE,} ■Ueacons-

"J. C. STOKES, Treasurer.

" T. B. WILKINS, Superintendent of Girls' School."

Other signatures were appended (as many as could be obtained
in time), and the following letter was sent writh the address : —

" From the Treasurer op my previous Church.

" Birmingham, Aug. 15th, 1856.

" My dear Sir, — I beg to hand you the letter referred to in my
last, and am sorry the time did not allow of the matter being better
known to our people, for since your note arrived we have had but
one service, and at its close last night this letter was signed. This
will account for so few names being attached thereto ; but certain
I am that not one of our church or congregation would withhold
his signature if the opportunity of attaching it was given. Of course
the circumstances will be understood, as nothing of the matter was
known prior to last evening. If signatures would help the case, I
could, if a reasonable time were given, procure one from every
single individual who knew Mr. Grant ; for, speak to whomsoever
you may here respecting him, the feeling is the same. I am now
speaking of those who knew him, for certainly if anything has been
said of him at any time in the form of disparagement, it has been
from those who did not know him. I believe that our Mr. Jones has
written to one of your colleagues, and I know well, if he has, what
the nature of the communication will be, for he entertains a very high
opinion of his predecessor. I may just observe, that to my mind it
is rather too much to canvass so very severely the character of a
man so well known, and who has lived beloved and respected so
many years without the shadow of an imputation ; however,
having had some experience in this sort of thing myself, I can
sympathize with you, and my best wishes being for your success,
I can with the more heartiness advise you to take advantage of the
present opportunity in securing the man — the genius — the Chris-
tian you have in the person of Brewin Grant.

" Yours very truly,

"J. C. STOKES."

135

From my Successor, the Rev. J. Rhys Jones.

"Birmingham, May loth, 1856.

" Dear Sir, — I am very much surprised, and not without reason,
at the receipt of your note of inquiry respecting my predecessor,
the Rev. Brewin Grant.

11 Had Mr. Grant been an unknown, uncertificated novice, or had
he been either intellectually or religiously a man of doubtful repu-
tation, or if no previous enquiries had been made about him in this
town, or if the impression produced by those enquiries had proved
unfavourable, then I could clearly see why additional information
concerning him should be deemed necessary.

" As the case stands, however, it appears to me worse than super-
fluous to seek fresh testimony to the character of one who is so well
known in this country.

" I believe it to be neither possible nor desirable that any minister
should be more highly esteemed and respected than my prede-
cessor was and still is by his late church and congregation in this
town.

" They all, without a single exception, bear the most unqualified
testimony to his valuable worth as a teacher, a friend, and a
Christian. And all I have heard from them respecting his fine
abilities, loveable spirit, unworldly, unselfish, noble, generous
disposition, and general excellency of character ; I have found
more than confirmed by an intercourse with him of the most inti-
mate kind, though not of equal duration with theirs.

" To my congregation, and especially to a congregation having
young people in it, his ministrations will prove a most covetable
possession ; and if he meet with a people by whom his services will
be appreciated as they were by his late charge at Birmingham, he
will be, what he desires and deserves to be, — a useful, happy, and
beloved minister of Jesus Christ.

" Believe me, dear sir, yours very truly,

" J. RHYS JONES.

"H. Owen, Esq., Whitehall, London."

From the South Staffordshire Congregational Union.
" Westbromwich, August 7th, 1856.
" We, the undersigned members of the above union, understanding
that the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., who has been for some seven
years a member with us, is about to return to the pastorate from

136

his late mission, in which his usefulness is known to all, have great
pleasure in recommending him to the confidence of the churches.
Most of us have known him for some time intimately, and can hear
cordial testimony to his Christian character and ministerial adapta-
tion. Trusting that he will be guided to a sphere in which his
superior qualifications will he exercised and blessed, we commend
him to God and the word of his grace.

ROBERT DAVIE S, Bilston.
WILLIAM CREED, Westbromwich.
THOMAS ARNOLD, Smethwick.
W. ROBERTSON, Wednesbury.
R. D. WILSON, Wolverhampton.

The Rev. W. Creed, Secretary of the South Staffordshire
Association.

"West Bromwich, South Staffordshire,

August 8th, 1856.
"Dear Sir, — I take the liberty of forwarding to you the enclosed
Testimonial in favour of the Rev. Mr. Grant, who, I understand,
has been supplying the pnlpit of Claremont Chapel.

"My time permitted me to call upon those of my brethren only
who reside near West Bromwich, the signatures of some of whom I
was unable to procure on account of their absence from home. The
Rev. J. Hammond, of Handsworth, and other brethren would, I
feel assured, have signed it, if I could have met with them.

"From personal knowledge of Mr. Grant I can say, Qie more I
know of him the more highly do I esteem-
" I am, dear Sir,

" Yours very truly,

"WILLIAM CREEx,,
" Secretary of the South Staffordshire Association./.'
"Hugh Owen, Esq."

From other Birmingham Ministers, — the Rev. Robert
Alfred Vaughan, B.A.

17th August, 1856.

" Sir, — Having understood that there are those at Claremont
Chapel who are desirous of receiving some testimony in behalf of
thu Rev. Brewin Grant, from his ministerial brethren in Birmingham,
I have much pleasure in contributing my share therein.

137

" Mr. Grant and I were contemporaries in Birmingham for two
or three years. My intercourse with him was always a gratification
to me ; and when I came to Birmingham I found that he enjoyed
(as he did to the close of his stay there) the full confidence and
regard of his ministerial brethren, as a man of unblemished Chris-
tian consistency, of eminen!; intellectual vigour and acuteness, and of
great activity and diligence. As a preacher, I found his reputation
especially high as an expositor of Scripture, and that his discourses
were remarkably calculated to attract young men, and to instruct all
in a discriminating and thoughtful understanding of the word of God.

" With the best wishes for the prosperity of the Church to which
you belong, I am, Sir,

" Truly yours,

" ROBERT ALFRED VAUGHAN."*

"Mr. Owen."

The Rev. John Angell James.

" Edgbaston, August 14th.

" My dear Sir, — In reply to your inquiries about Mr. Grant, I
can bear testimony to his irreproachable morals during his residence
in this town ; not a shade of suspicion ever passed over his character.
Of his talents it is quite unnecessary for me to speak, after the
publicity and popularity he acquired during his important mission
as a combatant in the arena of infidelity. I believe he did great
service in rebuking the audacious atheistic spirit of the age, at

• This promising young minister, with whom I several times went out to walk
to improve his health, and who injured himself by over-much study, or rather by
too little exercise, on which I earnestly warned him, when perhaps it was too late,
contributed to " The Bible and the Pet *.-" the " the articles" mentioned on page
60, " Passages from the life of an Enquirer." His lamented early death is thus
gracefully, though briefly, referred to in the Pall Mall Budget, Jan. 23, 1867,
in a notice of his father, the Rev. Robert Vaughax, L.L.D.

" The great grief of Dr. Yaughan's life was the death of a very distinguished
and excellent son, a grief for which, like the similarly afflicted historian Hallam,
he sought consolation in compiling a memoir of the departed. Sir James Stephen,
writing of Alfred Vaughan to his sorrowing j arent, said, ' He seemed to me
formed to add another name to those of the great Konconformists of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries, and to throw over whatever he might undertake
not a little of that more elaborate polish which the scholars of Oxford and Cam-
bridge have been accustomed to regard as their peculiar boast.' "

I regard it as an honour to have been his Mend, and insert his letter with a
mournful satisfaction.

138

least, as it exists amongst a large portion of the labouring classes.
I think it of some importance that Mr. Grant should be located
in the metropolis, either as pastor of a church, or as a public
lecturer.

" Yours truly,

" J. A. JAMES."

The Rev. Charles Vince, Baptist Minister.

" Soho Park, Birmingham, Aug. 15, 1856.
" Dear Sir, — I have been in London the last fortnight supplying
at Bloomsbury for my friend Mr. Brock. While there I heard that
Mr. Grant had been supplying recently at Claremont Chapel, on
probation.

" Will you allow me to bear testimony to the high esteem for
ability and character in which Mr. Grant was held by my congrega-
tion and myself during his ministry at Highbury Chapel, in this
town.

" Mr. Grant's chapel is in the same street and immediately oppo-
site my own, so that I had great facility for forming an opinion."
" I hope a sphere will be found for him in London in which
his success may, under God's blessing, be commensurate with his
mental power and moral worth. I would gladly do much to testify
my great esteem for him.

" Yours truly,

" CHARLES VINCE,
" Minister, Graham-st. (Baptist) Chapel, Birmingham."

The Rev. Isaac New, (Baptist.)

"Birmingham, Aug. 15, 1856.

" Dear Sir, — When Mr. Grant was settled in Birmingham I was
often brought in contact with him, as a minister located near me,
and I think I knew him well, though there was never between us
what might be called the intimacy of friendship ; yet our intimacy
was always marked by the greatest cordiality. Honest, upright,
straight-forward, kind, generous, always struck me as features in
his character; perfectly free from anything like meanness or
selfishness, and utterly self- forgetful where he could do a kindness
or confer a favour.

" I did not often hear him preach, but when I did, his sermons
always evinced a very superior mind, distinguished by great acute-
ness and logical power. His mental independence and fearlessness
often carried out of the beaten track of thought, and imparted an

139

originality to his discourses which not unfrequently awakened sur-
prise, and it might be, a little suspicion as to the orthodoxy of
his views, but I believe perfectly groundless. The time that he was
in Birmingham was one of very great agitation on many questions
of public interest, and from his controversial skill great numbers
were at times drawn to hear him. This made him popular with many,
yet increased the hostility of those who differed from him ; but the
hostility was only transient ; for I apprehend it would be difficult for
any one to be long hostile against a man so really ingenuous and
good-natured, however they might feel in reference to his opinions.
But in the midst of all, his character was, as far as my knowledge
extends without a stain, and above suspicion and reproach.

" I do not know that I can add anything more than to say that I
should feel glad to hear of his being settled over a church which
would fully appreciate his intellectual and moral worth.
" I am, dear Sir, yours trulv,

"ISAAC NEW,
"Baptist Minister, Birmingham.'

The Rev. Thos. Swan, (Baptist,) the oldest Minister in
Birmingham.

" Birmingham, Aug. 14, 1656.

" Dear Sir, — I am informed that the Rev. B. Grant has been
preaching inClaremont Chapel. I hope he may meet with acceptance
among the friends, and (D. V.) may become the settled minister and
pastor.

" He is a man and minister for whom I have always entertained
the highest esteem — not only on account of his uncommon talent,
but his piety and ministerial ability — his original and instructive
preaching. You are, doubtless, aware of his disinterested labours
against the enemies of the truth in many parts of the country.
Perhaps London might be the best sphere for Mr. Grant. I hope
this note may not be deemed intrusive, I felt it my duty, in the circum-
stances, to write ; and if it be the divine will, should be most happy
to hear of Mr. Grant's settlement amongst you, as, if I am not
mistaken, I think you will find him a Pastor after God's own heart,
who will feed you with " knowledge and understanding." Wishing
you divine direction in this important matter,

" I am, yours very truly and respectfully.

«"T. SWAN.
"Hugh Owen, Esq." *L

f2

14-0

The Rev. Alexander Thomson, M.A.

South Shore, Blackpool, July 24, 1856.
" Dear Sir, — I have just heard that the Rev. Brewin Grant is
preaching at present to the congregation in Clareniont chapel, in
which you hold an official position, and I think that by expressing
to you frankly my opinion of Mr. Grant — of which you may make
whatever use you please — I shall not be transgressing the limits of
propriety, which should be regarded in such circumstances.

" I had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Grant intimately when he
was a student in Glasgow, just before his settlement as a minister
in Lancashire ; and I have met with him at different times since
then, and have all along felt an interest in his career. I esteem
him very highly as one of the most sincere, earnest, and truth-loving
men ; I know him to be possessed of genuine amiability and good-
ness of heart, combined with firmness and decision ; and I feel
convinced that in order to respect and love him, whether as a
Christian friend or as a minister of the Gospel, it is only necessary
to know him thoroughly. I do not think it needful to speak of his
talent and mental characteristics, because those have been so un-
mistakably displayed, and have received such extensive recognition,
that it is quite superfluous to bear testimony to them. I know that
no one who has appeared in Glasgow to address popular audiences
has ever excited more enthusiastic admiration than Mr. Grant did
on the occasion of his visit in 1853 and subsequently, and I do
not know where you will find on the whole more competent judges
than among the active Christian men of that city.

"It would give me great pleasure to hear of Mr. Grant's being
called to occupy such an influential sphere of Christian usefulness
as Claremont chapel or any similar position. Indeed, after the
good service he has done, it would be strangely discreditable to us
if he found any difficulty in obtaining such a position. I feel con-
vinced that he would fill it with great advantage to the interests of
the Gospel and men's souls.

Excuse the freedom with which I have written, though a stranger
to you, and praying that you may be wisely directed.

Believe me to be, dear Sir,

Yours truly,

ALEXANDER THOMSON,
Formerly of Glasgow, now minister of Rushholme-
road Chapel, Manchester.
H. Owen, Esq.

141

The Rev. Thos. Raffles, LL.D., of Liverpool.

" Kingstown Co., Dublin, July 23, 185G.

" Dear Sir, — By a letter from my old friend, the Rev. Brewin
Grant, which has been forwarded to me here, I find that he has
been preaching at Claremont chapel, with a view to a settlement
there. Now, my interest in Mr. Grant, who laboured for some time
at Prescot, near Liverpool, and the concern I cannot but feel for the
prosperity of the Redeemer's cause at Claremont Chapel, at the
opening of which I preached, lead me to say — if I may be permitted
to do so without incurring the charge of obtrusiveness — that I shall
be glad to hear of such a union having taken place. Mr. Grant has
rendered good service to the cause of revealed religion by his able
and successful advocacy, carried on against the infidel party for
several years ; and now, I believe, he desires a more quiet and
settled course of usefulness ; and for a suburban congregation in
the great metropolis, such as yours, I should deem him eminently
qualified. While in Lancashire, he enjoyed the esteem and con-
fidence of us all, and since then he has lived too much in the view
of the churches and the public to need any testimony beyond that
which his own labours supply.

'• Pardon this freedom, and believe me, dear Sir, faithfully yours,

" Hugh Owen, Esq." THOS. RAFFLES.

The Rev. Enoch Mellor, M.A.

" Halifax, July 24, 1856.
11 My dear Sir, — Though I am entirely unknown to you personally
(and perhaps by name), I cannot resist the temptation to write to
you in the present crisis of your church. I have only just learned
that Mr. Grant has been supplying for you, and it would afford me
the highest pleasure if, in the course of Divine Providence, he should
become your pastor. I have known him for several years — have
seen much of him, and can speak of his piety, his ability, his
generous and benevolent spirit in the most unmeasured and un-
qualified terms. There are special reasons at the present time
why Mr. Grant should have a metropolitan position. His endow-
ments eminently befit him for grappling with those Protean forms of
unbelief which are sapping the foundation of our common faith. It
has often been to me a source of gratification and gratitude that his
talents have been so thoroughly consecrated to the service of God ;
and I can attest from observation that his labours have been pre-
eminentlv successful in the North of England.
"f8

142

"I cannot speak of his pastoral qualifications never having seen
him in relations which called them forth, but feel proud in bearing
my testimony (such as it is) to his admirable fitness in other respects
ior the pulpit of Pentonville.

" Excuse my seeming ofiiciousness, and believe me to be,

" Yours very truly,

" ENOCH MELLOR."

The Rev. R. D. Wilson, now of Ceaven Chapel, London.
" Telford Place, Wolverhampton,

" August 6th, 1856.
11 Gentlemen, — I have heard with great pleasure that my intimate
and highly esteemed friend the Rev. B. Grant, is now supplying
your pulpit with a view to settlement. Having been intimately
acquainted with Mr. Grant for the last four years, I can most con-
fidently bear testimony to his ability and worth.

" I must say that I know of no single man who possesses so many
qualifications necessary to a high and permanent popularity and
usefulness. The moral qualities of his nature are by no means
inferior to his intellectual endowments ; in addition to high moral
integrity, he is generous, unselfish, and self-sacrificing to a fault.
In a sphere such as yours, affording large scope for his various
talents, I feel assured that — with God's blessing — he would soon
become a most successful and valuable minister of Christ. It is a
strong conviction that the Metropolis is the place for Mr. Grant,
which has induced me thus to address you.

" Earnestly hoping that he may become your pastor,
" I remain, Gentlemen,

" Yours in the gospel,

" R. D. WILSON."
" To the Deacons of Claremont Chapel."

Rev. J. W. Richardson, now at Rotheeham.

" Tottenham Court Chapel,

"Vestry, July 24th, 1856.
" Dear Sir, — I was glad to see, in passing Claremont Chapel the
other day, that the Rev. Brewin Grant is supplying for you. He is
an excellent man and seems to me well-fitted for such a sphere as
that of Pentonville. I shall be glad to learn that he has received a
unanimous invitation from the members of the Church and
congregation.

H3

" He is a man of considerable power, and with the Divine blessing,
would, I doubt not, prove an acquisition to the Metropolis.
" You will excuse the liberty I take in thus addressing you.
" Praying that you may be directed aright,
"I am, dear Sir,

"Yours trulv,
"H. Owen, Esq. J. W. RICHARDSON.

The Rev. Dr. S. McAll, then of Nottingham, now Professor,
Hackney College.

" Nottingham, July 22, 1856.

" Dear Sir, — I hope I shall be excused for what may appear an
intrusion in addressing a few lines to you, as an officer of the church
at Claremont, at the present moment when the Rev. Brewin Grant
is before you as a candidate. My sole object is to state to you, and
through you to others should you think proper, how deep a sense I
have of the obligations under which the cause, not of our own deno-
mination, but of our common Christianity, has been laid by his
public efforts. The great ability as well as the zeal with which he
has defended the cause of truth has made a decided and sensible
impression upon the general mind of our countrymen, so far as I
have had an opportunity of judging; and I believe I may especially
speak with confidence as to the young, the enquiring, the thinking
part of the community.

" I think our highly gifted and honoured friend is well aware of
the class of efforts requisite in order to pastoral success. Here
indeed another line of things than that in which he has so much
shone, is demanded : but he has all the abilities necessary to adapt
himself to this particular sphere of duty. I believe he will adorn
any such position to which he is called by a very consistent example,
and by a truly kind and affectionate spirit.

" It has appeared to me that as we all owe a debt to Mr. G. for
his lectures in the general cause, I should not perhaps be thought
to step out of my place if I were at such a moment to testify the
esteem in which Mr. Grant is held by,

" Dear Sir, vours very respectfully,

" H. Owen, Esq." " S. McALL.

The Rev. Watson Surrra, now of Wilmslow, near Manchester.
11 5, Belsize Terrace, Hampstead,

August 4th, 1856.
Dear Sir,— Finding that the Rev. B. Grant, B.A., late of Bir-
mingham, has been supplying Claremont chapel during the la/

144

three or four sabbaths, I cannot but transmit to you and the
deacons of the church there, my cordial testimony to his great
ability, — singular aptness to teach, — and adaptedness to all classes
of hearers, — high christian character and worth. I knew him well
when I was settled at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, and can
speak therefore from a nearer and closer point of view than most.
It is simply I feel it, a matter of duty to him, and the church of
Christ to communicate something of what I know respecting his
extraordinary qualifications for usefulness. There is no man I
know who is in all respects so well fitted to deal with the present
times, and the men of the times. Thoroughly grounded in the
great distinctive doctrines of our common Christianity, — admirably
fitted for their assertion and defence. I cannot but augur for him
a course oi large usefulness wherever he is settled. And he is one
who the better known the more fully will he be estimated ; who,
beneath the mere surface, bears as noble and generous a Christian
heart and temper as any brother in the ministry I have met with.
I trust that you and the brother deacons of Claremont chapel, will
excuse one personally unknown, for sending this word of testimony,
and hearty well wishing on behalf of a valued friend and servant of
Christ.

Believe me my dear Sir, yours sincerely,

WATSON SMITH.
(Then Minister of " New College " Chapel).

''The Rev. William Anderson, LL.D., Glasgow.
" Clyde-side Cottage, Uddingston,

"Near Glasgow, July 23rd, 1856.
" To Mr. Owen. — The Rev. Brewin Grant has requested a note
from me to you in his favour as a candidate for the office of pastor
in Claremont Chapel. I am somewhat surprised there should be
any need for this : I thought his fame was what it deserves to be —
kingdom-wide. Of his intellectual gifts, universally acknowledged
to be so rare, I shall not say a word. Those, however, who know
only of his public character will be gratified to be assured from one
who has had experience of him most intimately at home (my own
home, I mean), in the family circle, in the library when only we
two were there, in his freest, most confidential hours he ever mani-
fested that his appearance of zeal in public in defence of the faith
is the zeal of personal conviction. Some friends may also be
gratified in being assured that he who is so defiant and scornful of
the enemy in public is, in private, not only one of the most

145

courteous and kind of men, but as little of a self-sufficient or
opinionative character as any man of talents with whom I ever met.
His modesty is at times painful. Let me state that, when once
visiting our house he found my late wife worse than he had been
taught to expect and showing signs of a dissolution not far distant,
he, without signifying his apprehensions, guided the conversation
at tea with such tenderness and insinuations of Christian comfort
that the remembrance and influence of it remained with her for
months, till death. When he is withdrawn from the arena of public
debate and allowed to settle down in the quietude of the pastorate,
there w 11 be few churches I am persuaded in our land favoured
with a ministry so excellent.

" I am, dear Sir,

Yours in good faith and in the bonds of Christian love,
"WILLIAM ANDERSON, LL.D.,

' Minister of the United Presbyterian Church, John-street, Glasgow."

The Rev. De. Halley, now Professor in new College,
St. John's Wood.

Manchester, July 30th, 1856.

" My dear Sir, — I learn from Mr. Grant that he has been preach-
ing at Claremont. I do not write to interfere at all with the
judgment of your church, but I do not think it will be wrong to say
that his settlement in London would be, in my opinion, of great
service to the cause of religion. Of his preaching I do not intend'
to speak, for I have never heard him, but of his general ability and
character I have the highest estimate.

" As he wishes me to state my opinion, 1 can do so with con-
fidence,— my absence from home has prevented me from doing it
earlier.

" I remain, yours verv truly,

" Hugh Owen, Esq." " ROBERT HALLEY."

The Rev. James Parsons, of York.

"York, August 1, 1856,
" Dear Sir, — I understand that the Rev. Brewin Grant has been
supplying the pulpit of Claremont Chapel recently ; and that there
is a disposition to invite him to become the pastor of the church
assembling there. Perhaps I may be allowed, without intrusion, to
render a brief testimony on Mr. Grant's behalf. I believe his
character to be thoroughly consistent ; his abilities speak for them-
selves, and I should be glad to see them engaged in the regular

146

exercise of the Christian ministry. It is of course important that
the sphere at Claremont should be efficiently occupied. Pardon me
Sir, thus addressing you, and believe me,

" Dear Sir, yours sincerely,

" JAMES PARSONS.
" Hugh Owen, Esq."

The Rev. Dr. Morton Brown, Cheltenham.

"Cheltenham, 23rd July, 1856.
*' My dear Sir, — I have heard, with great satisfaction, that Mr.
Grant is now supplying at Claremont. There are so many associa-
tions connected with our denomination, immediately attached to
Claremont, that, with multitudes, I cannot but feel a peculiar interest
in the welfare of the Church of the late Mr. Blackburn. I do hope
God will direct you in your present circumstances.

" Mr. Grant is so excellent in himself as a devoted Christian and
Christian minister, that he requires no word of commendation from
any one. But from my intimate knowledge of him, my attachment
to him, my belief in the growth of his Christian character and gospel
ministrations, arising from his late engagements, I have a deep
conviction of his suitableness for Claremont. Forgive my saying so,
I could not but forward to you this utterance. May the Deacons
and Church be divinely directed.

" Yours very truly,

"A. "MORTON BROWN."

The Rev. Dr. George Legge, of Leicester.
" London Milton Club,

" 24th July, 1856.
" Dear Sir, — On my arrival here last night, I found a communi
cation from Leicester, the sphere of my ministry, from a friend of
the Rev. Brewin Grant's. I am informed that he has been preaching
at Claremont Chapel, not without an inclination to settle there if
approved, and that a word from me to one of the Deacons of Clare-
mont might be of service to him. If any one has the right and power
to speak on his behalf, I more. I have known and loved him from
his boyhood. From a conviction of his piety, I received him into
the fellowship of the church ; and from an appreciation of his talent
I was helpful to his introduction to the ministry. I have never
since had reason to entertain a doubt of his piety, and he has vindi-
cated his talent before all the world. I may say that I am, in a
measure, glad that he has given up his 'mission,' which was, I think,

147

more profitable to others than to himself, though it must have
augmented greatly his natural mastery of language and thought, and
I shall be most happy to hear of his settlement in a sphere where
he may make fuller proof of his ministry and of the various gifts
which God has lavishly conferred on him. It strikes me that Clare-
mont Chapel is such a sphere, — and I am persuaded that, under his
auspices, it would attain to a prosperity such as it knew not, even
in its palmiest times.

" Mr. Grant is under engagement to take my pulpit during my
holiday, on the first Sunday in August ; and I mention this to say,
that contrary to the proverb, "a prophet hath no honour in his
own country," — he will be the most popular of all my supplies, with
crowded congregations. There where he is entirely known, he is
held in highest esteem.

"I am, dear Sir,

"Yours truly,

" GEORGE LEGGE.

Chapter XIY.

THE MIDNIGHT TELEGRAM. OUR FIRST

DISAPPOINTMENT ; OUR FIRST GREAT SORROW ; AND

SETTLEMENT IN SHEFFIELD. 1856-7.

There were so many encouraging circumstances in connection with
my candidature at Claremont chapel, that I was induced to almost
hope for what I desired. There was also a general feeling of confi-
dence among the people as far as I could observe and learn, as well
as on the part of the deacons, who behaved to me with exceeding
kindness.

Hugh Owen, Esq., one of the permanent officials of the Poor
Law Board, was the corresponding deacon, and while I was in
London, I was much at his house. On the 7th of August, 1856, he
wrote to me saying : — " Many thanks for your very satisfactory
note. We had bills printed announcing you for the next two Sundays.
I would therefore suggest that you should give to Daventry the fol-
lowing Sunday. It is really important with reference to the com-
pletion of the ' call' that you should be with us for the next two
Sundays."

148

The " trust deed" of the chapel laid down some very compli-
cated regulations which the deacons endeavoured to follow, as far as
they understood. One regulation was, I think, that one church
meeting should be held to call another within a fixed time ; and it
is naturally supposed that the agreement to call a meeting for
deciding on the choice of any single minister is so far a proof that
he is acceptable. Accordingly it was almost regarded as settled,
as in the following letter : — " I am thankful to inform you that the
church at Claremont chapel decided last evening on giving your
dear husband a call to the pastorate of the church. I trust that
the future will show that the good hand of God ruled in this
matter."

I was travelling at the time, and Mr. Owen kindly sent this noti-
fication to Mrs. Grant, while to me he wrote more fully, saying : —
" We got through the business of last evening in a tolerably satis-
factory manner. The church resolved to instruct the deacons to take
the necessary steps to give you a call to the pastorate, and steps
will be taken accordingly without delay. There was not the unani-
mity manifested that one would desire ; but there was sufficient
however to warrant the expectation that the ' call' will in due time
be completed. I trust that you will be able to supply the pulpit
next Sunday week. Your continued occupation of it will materially
assist a satisfactory completion of the ' call.' "

I preached as requested, and on leaving for home had formed an
expectation of being formally invited, as the majority was unmis-
takably in favour of it.

But as far as I remember, there was one, an occasional attendant,
living I think some distance out, but retaining some connection with
the place, who looked at me askance, and on whom I looked with
suspicion. I fancy he was a sort of sleeping partner in the deacon-
ship, and also that he had some connection with law. I imagined
afterwards, whether rightly or not I do not know, that he played an
electioneering move, which by a fortunate accident might enable a
few to over-ride the desires of the many. As for instance, the real
completion of the " call " was by uritten votes of the members ; and
I believe that sufficient of these had already been signed before I
left ; but according to the then traditional notion of the " deed," it
was requisite that at the announced meeting, two-thirds of those pre-
sent should agree to collect and accept the written votes : in fact,
to decide whether the church should go to the poll or not ; so that
if, say by any accident or from any misapprehension as to the non-
necessity of their presence, many should not be there, a handful
could set the proceedings aside.

149

However, I scarcely anticipated such a result ; but requested a
friend to telegraph that night, Monday, August 18th, the result of
the meeting, " yes " or "no ! "

I had not told my wife of this, for I did not want to spoil he»
night's rest, as bad news would be time enough for her in the morn-
ing, in case the report was unfavourable. I accordingly directed it
to be sent to a friend in Birmingham, at whose house I expected to
receive it before very late. However, I had to go to bed without it ;
and concluded that the meeting had been adjourned.

I think it was between one and two o'clock in the morning wThen
we were woke up by a ringing and rapping of an energetic sort. I
knew what it meant, that it was The Telegram, but I did not know
what was inside it till I opened the door. There was " No ! " in it.
I went back not giving the news, but put the message in my pocket,
and tried to go to sleep, without having communicated the news or
explaining the matter. But as soon as I fell off, another quietly
rose and rummaged my pockets, and read by the gas the short
announcement. It was not so pleasant as it was plain.

The explanation was, that a violent storm of rain came on that
night in London, and many dare not go out ; while some felt that
it was not necessary, since they had already signed their voting
papers, and the matter was as good as settled. But enemies are
generally more zealous than friends, and would go through fire
and water, either to thwart you personally, or somebody else,
whose plans in relation to you they wished to circumvent. I believe
there were some thirty present out of a church of three hundred, and
eleven of these would constitute the successful minority. I was told
that the friends of the " call" proposed an adjournment, but it was
claimed that even for this, two-thirds were required as a majority.
The meeting was kept up very late, but the few held out : and it was
considered that they had by a legal technicality set aside all that
the church had done ; so that if next day, nearly the whole church
should have voted by papers, most of which were ready and many
given in, the accidental advantage of the ten or eleven would frustrate
the general wish.

It was found out afterwards that the deed, absurd as it was, did
not mean this : but as one wrote to me ; — " it is true we were done
by the deed, but then the deed is done," and it was considered
that to question it, or even to begin the formalities de novo, would
produce confusion.

I was greatly consoled on this occasion by the very sympathetic
and generous letter of the corresponding deacor, who with his
colleagues was almost equally disappointed.

150

The following is the letter, which is both a testimonial and an
expression of kindness, which I have always highly prized: —

" Whitehall, 19th Aug., 1856.

" My dear Sir, — It is with regret that reaches to the very core of
my heart that I inform you of the result of the church meeting at
Claremont chapel last evening, which was that you were not elected
to the pastorate.

" The array of cordial and discriminating testimonials from
ministers of influence, together with a most emphatic testimonial
from your late charge at Birmingham — the character of your
preaching, which was striking, interesting, and instructive beyond
anything that we have been accustomed to — the largeness of the
congregation which you attracted, coupled with the kindliness of
your nature, and friendly, frank and unaffected manner, — these, I
say, led me not only to desire earnestly that you might be elected
but also to cherish the hope that you would be elected. Other
views, however, triumphed ; and the privilege of having you for a
pastor is reserved for some happier fellowship, while our faith and
patience must endure a still further trial. Let me, dear Sir,
bespeak your sympathy and prayers.

" Trusting that the light of heaven may shine on jour future,
and that you may be a blessing to thousands,
" I remain,
" With Christian affection,

" Most truly }<ours,

" HUGH OWEN.

" The Kev. Beewin Grant, B.A."

After this disappointment came our first great sorrow, which
at times even yet flings its shadow over our minds, though it has
been softened by time, and the opportunity of cherishing those con-
siderations which the first flood of grief does not permit us to dwell
upon.

There was one who accompanied me to London, and whose voice
always sounds in my ear as I pass through some of those short
tunnels near Town — an imitation of the whistle of the engine, by a
mocking merry little companion, who somewhat startled a passenger,
and turned delighted to me, saying — " were #you frightened ?" She
was then about five years old, — a woman and a child. I remember
our visit to Daventry on our return home to Birmingham, when I
preached the anniversary sermons for Mr. Davies, who had carried on

151

life-long and honourable ministry in that town. There was a tea-
meeting on the Tuesday, to which we stayed, and the little one was
the cynosure of all eyes, as at home she was the peerless unenvied
pet and queen. The following morning Mr. J. C. Stokes, Jun., one
of my flock, drove us from Daventry to Birmingham. It was a glorious
day ; and I remember a long avenue of trees on the road, worthy of
the noblest park, while the greensward along-side tempted us to rest
there, unharness the horse, and sit down to bivouac.

I see the fairy dancing on the green, — a picture that will not fade.
Many a time when I have returned from my journeys, she with the
rest was standing on the platform to run and give me a welcome ;
and all the way riding home, would sing to extempore music and
poetry, the refrain of which was, — " Clap hands, for Pa has come
home."

And she has gone home now, though we would gladly have detained
her. I remember the farewell look, as she rested panting on my
arm, while another equally concerned was saying — "I will try and
dress her." " You will never dress her again," said I. " I shall,"
was the answer, but the departing one looked round to find her also ;
and after one last look of sweet farewell, passed to heaven. The
loneliness of that sad hour, when with all our loved ones we seemed
+o have no one left, can be understood only by those who have
experienced the same. An accident, falling from the arm of a sofa,
and injuring the spine in the fall on to the pointed ridge of a fender,
laid the foundation of weakness, through which we nursed her
tenderly ; but not more tenderly than she is now cherished in our
future home.

Oh. not in cruelty, not in wrath,

The reaper came that day :
'Twas an angel visited the green earth,

And took the flowers away.

The Sensitive Plant was the earliest

Up-gathered into the bosom of rest ;
A sweet child weary of its delight,
The feeblest anci and yet the favourite,
Cradled within the embrace of night.

No ! " There is no night there" :-

"Where the bright Seraphim, in bivrning row,
Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow,
And the Cherubic host, in thousand choirs,
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires.

152

FOR I SAY UNTO YCU. THAT IN HEAVEN THEIR ANGELS DO ALWAYS
BEHOLD THE FACE OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN."

"It is His Angel," said the fearful and unbelieving disciples,
when the damsel Rhoda knew his voice, and could not open the
door to Peter for sudden joy and desire to tell them ; as, having
heard his voice, her heart leaped. " And when she knew Peter's
voice she opened not the door for gladness, but ran in and told
them how Peter stood before the gate." At first they were sceptical,
for they had not believed in the efficacy of their own prayers for
his deliverance, and many people would be astonished if God
answered them. "It is his angel;" it is Peter come back again,
but not in bodily substance so as to be able to say, " handle me, —
' a spirit' hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." These are
the " angels," — the departed spirits of children appearing, not again
to us, but before the face of His Father, Whose " house" has
"many mansions," over which the Son presides, and from which
He says : — " Suffer little children to come unto Me."

A neat Parian marble bust, artistically executed, with a modest
wreath of flowers and leaves, by M. Beattie, of Birmingham, stands
oh a bracket in my study as I write this — the hardest chapter of
my life — which has, and will, cost some tears. Nor is this forbidden,
since " jesus wept" Who will hereafter wipe all tears from off
all faces.

It was during the first sharpness of this bereavement, in January,
1857, that I fulfilled an engagement to preach in Leecroft
Chapel, Sheffield : a "cause" sunk very low, and not having in
itself the elements of* revival without foreign aid. I remember my
first service there — too soon after the event referred to — and how I
had to leave the pulpit before the sermon, from uncontrollable
g icf ; and with what difficulty it was that I faced the congregation,
after a few verses of a hymn had been sung.

It is enough here to say that I was received with very great
kindness and sympathy by the few friends there and by others, and
was invited to settle amongst them. I liked Sheffield as a busy,
active town. There was in it my old friend the Rev. David
Loxton ; the people were very hearty ; and I was desirous of rest.
There was one difficulty in the way, namely, as to raising " means,"
and friends outside contributed for a time towards an acknowledg-

153

ment of the minister's services. Amongst those who, at a meeting
in connection with this settlement, volunteered aid, I remember
Mr. Robert Leader, of the Sheffield Independent, volunteered to
give five pounds for two years to secure the settlement of ' ; an able
man in Sheffield."

It is with satisfaction that I record the kindness received at this
time, and especially that of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Wortley, of
Philadelphia House, Sheffield, who entertained our whole family for
a little time till the house was prepared in which we were to
sojourn for a while, We have the happiness of retaining their
friendship after eleven years' acquaintance, though not long con-
nected with the same " cause."

One evening, during our stay with our hospitable entertainers,
Mrs. Wobtley was taking two of our children through the Lord's
Prayer, and when they came to that petition, " Give us this day
our daily bread," one of them looked up and put in this parenthesis
— with a most natural emphasis — " and 'pikelets" They had had
some for tea.

Chapter XV.

"THE RESCUE OF FAITH." "NEW COLLEGE"

THEOLOGY. THE GODWIN CONTROVERSY. 1862.

The most important public step in my life, and one involving
many sacrifices and losses in defence of the gospel, was the exposi-
tion and exposure of the subtlest and most dangerous form of error,
which takes the soul out of Christianity and leaves to it only an
empty name.

The history of this controversy is the more useful and necessary
on account of the fact that the errors described are still
endorsed, and even specially approved of, by the quiet restoration
of the professor who had been deposed from the chair of Greek
New Testament Criticism on account of them ; or at least in order
to prevent the continued diminution of the college income, occa-
sioned by the circulation of "the Rescue of Faith" among the
subscribers.

New College, St. John's Wood, London, is an amalgamation of
three previously existing Congregational colleges — Highbury,
Homerton, and Coward. This amalgamation took place in 1850.

154

The Rev. J. H. Godwin, formerly one of the professors at High-
bury college, was translated to this new institution, and in the
Congregational Year Book, 1880, (p. 213) his " professorship" is
described as " Philos. and Greek Exeg." ; that is, philosophy and
the exegesis, or criticism, and exposition of the Greek New Testa-
ment,— the most important chair in a theological college, and most
affecting the doctrinal opinions of the students for the ministry.

Whatever suspicions may attach to oral teaching it is difficult to
come to a certain decision ; but published statements lie fixed and
passive for dissection, and this opportunity for examining his real
sentiments was afforded by Professor Godwin, in his systematic and
formal dissertation given as the " Congregational Lecture" in 1858,
and after some delay published under Lie title of " Christian
Faiths

This " Congregational Lecture" maybe compared denominationally
with the Bampton and other lectures in connexion with our national
universities. It is regulated by an institution called "the Congrega-
tional Library."

The following description is taken from the Congregational Year
Book, 1860, pp. 288-7.

THE CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARY, BLOMFIELD STREET,
EINSBURY.

This valuable institution was established in 1830. The lease of the premises
wals purchased in 1H31 by an association of ministers and gentlemen, at the cost
of £2,100, with a view to secure a convenient locality for the various literary,
religious, and benevolent objects of the Congregational body.

The handsome library, which is mainly occupied with books, the munificent
gift of Joshua Wilson, Esq., is lofty, and adorned with several fine portraits. In
this room the meetings of the Congregational Board and of the General Body are
held. The institution is in the hands of trustees, and its ordinary business is
transacted by a committee.

THE CONGREGATIONAL LECTURE
Was established by the constituents of the library, with a view to promote eccle-
siastical, theological, and biblical literature, in that religious connexion to
which they belong. It consists of an occasional course of lectures, that partake
rather of the character of academical prelections than of popular addresses. The
lecturers are selected from such Congregational ministers of Great Britain as are
distinguished on account of their literary and ministerial reputation. Seventeen
series have been already delivered, the publication of which has greatly increased
the literary reputation of the Denomination. They were delivered and have since
appeared in the following order ; —

"1833. Christian Ethics; or Moral Philosophy on the Principles of Divine
Revelation. By the late Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, D.D."

Here follows the successive series, down to : —

" 1855. Ages of Christendom be/ore the Reformation. By the Rev. John
Stoughton."

155

" The Kev. John H. Godwin, Professor of Philosophy and of Greek Exegesis,
delivered a course of Lectures on Christian Faith in 1858. The volume is not
yet published."

It should be observed that at this stage Professor Godwin's book
is scarcely ranked with the others : that while " delivered" in 1858,
it is not published at the beginning of 18G0. My own impression
is that the managers of " the Library" had been alarmed at the
doctrines propounded, and were unwilling to have this " series"
attached to their former issues. At the end of Mr. Godwin's pre-
face to " Christian Faith" he says : — " Circumstances prevented
the appearance of this series of lectures at the proper time, and
their [its] publication was therefore postponed till after the issue of
the series which followed." Whether in the meantime " the con-
stituents of the Library" had been converted to the Professor's
opinions, I cannot say ; but I find that whereas " Christian Faith*'
is not quite recognised in the list quoted from the Year Book of
1860 it thus appears in that of 1865 : —

" 1855. Ages of Christendom, &c.

" 1858. Christian Faith, by the Rev. John H. Godwin.

■' 1860. The Divine Covenants, their Nature and Design, by the
Piev. John Kelly."

It was no doubt providential that the Professor's " Christian
Faith" was not permitted to appear till " The Divine Covenants"
had strengthened us to bear it. The " publication" of the former
" was therefore postponed" till after the series which followed."

But while in 1865 " Christian Faith" is put down with the
"Covenants," it is significant to read in the Year Book of 1867
[page 394] the following epitaph : —

THE CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARY AND THE CONGREGATIONAL

LECTURE

Are discontinued for the present. It is intended, when the Memorial Ha1! is
completed, that both shall be removed thither. Information respecting either
may be had on application to Rev. Thomas James, Secretary, 18, South-btreet,
Finsbury, E.G.

The volume whose origin and early fortunes are thus described was
reviewed by me in a series of articles in the British Standard, under
the editorship of the late Ptev. J. Campbell, D.D., at whose decease
that paper came to an end, and there remains now no Congrega-
tional Ovgan in which departures from the truth amongst us can be
fairly criticised. We may write at Colenso and the Ritualists, but
worse errors amongst Congregationalists are screened from investi-
gation— if indeed there are many who have the courage to attack

156

" spiritual wickedness in high places," — for it is not given to every
one to peril his prospects for the sake of his principles.

It was in 1862 that the criticisms on Professor Godwin's " Chris-
tian Faith" appeared in the columns of the British Standard: and
during a temporary visit with my family to Hastings in October of
that year I revised the articles for republication, under the title of
" The Rescue of Faith, or a Vindication of the Cross of Christ,
being an Analysis and Refutation of the Rationalism of the Age, as
embodied in the Congregational Lecture on Christian Faith, by the
Rev. J. H. Godwin, Professor in New College, St. John's Wood,
London, Revised and corrected from the British Standard, July to
September, 1862, by the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A." This is now
out of print.

That the public may be acquainted with the doctrines then and
still taught in the chief Congregational and Independent College, the
following extracts from the " Rescue of Faith" are selected for
perusal ; the words in inverted commas are quotations from Pro-
fessor Godwin's " Christian Faith," and the figures refer to the page
whence the passages were copied ; phrases in brackets [ ] are to ex-
plain the connection in which the sentences are used, or to adduce
equivalent expressions, by which the language is to be interpreted.

The following circumstances as described at the commencement
of " The Rescue of Faith " explain my connection with this con-
troversy, and were mentioned at the time for the sake of those who
would wilfully attribute another origin to these criticisms, as their
revenge for their conscious incapacity to answer them.

The writer happened to receive an intimation from a friend in
London, that if he should be in town to see the Exhibition, he
could preach on a given Sabbath in a chapel the minister of which
was then absent from illness. Accepting this as a favourable oppor-
tunity, the writer did accordingly visit the metropolis, and one
evening on his return to his host's, called on Dr. Campbell, who
accidently referred in conversation to Professor Godwin's lectures,
asking the writer if he had seen them, which he had not, and
whether he would look them over and write a notice for the British
Standard.

At that time the reviewer had no suspicion that there were any
grave errors in the Congregational lecture on Christian faith. He
felt little interest in the subject, and did not suppose it to be of any
pressing moment.

Accordingly, the serious reading of the book was postponed by
other engagements, until Dr. Campbell wrote, recalling attention

157

to the matter, and saying that if the writer were too much occupied
he must himself take it in hand. On that day the review of the
preface was written and sent off; but even then the fall character
of the book had not deeply impressed the reviewer : though by a
certain instinct the language of the preface was interpreted as
suspicious ; and that one article seemed to the writer sufficient as a
warning. But the editorial addition, — " So much by way of prelude ;
we shall enter into the heart of the subject in our next," — woke up
the reviewer to the toilsomeness and comparative magnitude of his
task. The character of the volume unfolded lecture by lecture ;
the reviewer was both amazed and pained at every discovery of
some new error — rampant or couchant, and the work of comparison
— reading backwards and forwards to hunt one phrase to place
along-side some other — became an absorbing pursuit.

Me. Godwin's style of language, like that of the school to which
he belongs, is so evasive, enabling him to say what he denies, only
in a different sense, that it is necessary to quote largely in order
not only to show what he says but to prove what he means ; and
this proof is afforded by some equivalent expressions, in which the
writer slides gradually down the scale of meaning from the appear-
ance of the strictest orthodoxy to the reality of the lowest heterodoxy.

The Nature of Faith. According to Mr. Godwin s Theory it is not
an intelligent Belief in the definite Truths of Religion, but a
blind Trust that has no Relation to the Atonement.

The preface to these lectures directs us to ''consider" them as
" referring to this common principle " — " the same faith in Christ "
which exists among all sects and parties — "Episcopalians, Quakers,
Calvinists, Arminians, Catholics, and Protestants " — who all have
" one hope " and " one faith," notwithstanding " many differences
of belief respecting Christian doctrine."

" The inquiry is, then, evidently of no little importance, whether
Christian faith be belief or trust" (p. 12). Yet he says that "to
believe in a person is to trust to him" (p. 17) ; and, therefore, there
can be no difference between belief and trust on a moral question.
This fatal admission is in the midst of some eighteen pages, 13-28,
all printed to show that Christian faith means " more than any kind
of belief!" (p. 13). >

That Christian faith does not imply belief in the supposed funda-
mental doctrines of the gospel is thus intimated : —

158

(P. 15.) " The truths of which the simple belief is by some sup-
posed to be Christian faith were not known by those who first had
this faith." He means that the personal disciples of Jesus had
" Christian faith" without a belief in what are ''supposed by some"
to constitute Christian doctrines.

" The truths the belief of which is thought to he sufficient for salvation refer
to His death, and to its character as a sacrifice for the sins of men. But it
appears from the narrative of the New Testament that His death was not ex-
pected by His disciples, not even by the apostles. They had faith in Him, and
through this faith became His followers. They were acknowledged to be His
friends and kindred, were assured of forgiveness and acceptance, and yet they
did not believe that it was needful that Christ should suffer. They trusted to
Him ; but not till after His death and resurrection did they learn those truths
the belief of which has been thought to cons titute Christian faith. "We have
no reason to suppose that the faith required of the disciples of Christ at the
beginning differed in its nature from what was afterwards enjoined. The
ignorance which was compatible with faith at one time may be incompatible with
it at another time. But it seems to be impossible that this faith should be the
belief of truths which were for some time unknown to all by whom it [this
Christian faith] was possessed."

This passage is the key to the position : it explains why so much
is made of trust, and so little of belief. What does it matter about
" believing the doctrines which are supposed by some to constitute
Christian faith," when the true faith was possessed by some who
knew nothing of the doctrines, and so may be possessed by those
who reject those doctrines, since this faith is the same now as at
the beginning !

II.

The Object of Faith ; or, what ice are to believe in ; not the Sacrifice,
nor any Work or Promise of Jesus, but in Christ Himself, and
not any Propositions about Him !

" We proceed to the inquiry respecting the object of Christian
faith. What is this ? Is it a proposition or a system of propo-
sitions ? Is it a fact, or a series of facts ? Or is it some Person ?
What or whom are we required to trust ?" (p. 39.)

The absurdity of attempting to " distinguish" between believing
in a "person" and believing in "propositions" respecting him is
acknowledged in the next sentence, page 89 : — " If we believe a
person we shall also (!) believe some propositions respecting him,
and the facts [which] they [the said propositions] declare, and we
shall believe the truth of what we know to be stated by him. But we
may believe & person, and not believe many truths asserted by him or
by others concerning him, being ignorant of those truths."

159

The schema is to show that we may trust in Chbist as the Person
Who was born at Bethlehem and died on Calvary, while " ignorant
of the important truths and facts" that His birth was a Divine
iu carnation and His death the divinely-appointed sacrifice for sins.
No doubt we may, and this will be so far a belief in His " person,"
but no belief in His mission, and have no relation to Christian
faith nor to salvation.

"Trusting to a person commonly includes more than trusting to
any propositions or facts." Now, a " person" is nothing else but a
"fact," and our affections towards that person result from the
" propositions" which we accept concerning him. We are told
that "Trusting to Christ is (liferent from trusting to the truth
of any doctrine, or the sufficiency of any work. Many of the
disciples [who do duty a great many times over] trusted to Hem
fully, when His doctrine was but partially understood, and His
work was still unfinished, and to a great extent unknown." (41.)

This dreary lecture concludes in the same manner : —

" If Jesus Chbist be the object of Christian faith, those representations mnst
be erroneous which assign this place to any particular facts or propositions
Not the birth of Christ, nor His death, nor His resurrection, can be the
object of this faith."

" The sufficiency of His sacrifice for the pardon of sin cannot be alone
the object of this faith."

" According to the sacred (!) Scriptures, no fact or series of facts, no proposi-
tion or system of propositions, but Jesus Cheist Himself, the Bon of God, is
the object of faith, in "Whom {not in His works and revealed character in the
doctrines of the Gospel, but in something ' different 'J men will find all that is
to be believed, desired, and chosen, that they may receive through Hhi eternal
life."

He further tells us that : —

M In more than thirty passages of the Gospel of St. John we find with reference
to Chbist the expressions trusting to Me, or trusting to Him, or trusting to

x. The same language is employed by the other evangelists, and by
the apostles Peter and Paul. The few passages which mention faith in
connection with the gospel, or with the death and resurrection of Christ,
should be understood in accordance with the many passages which speak of the
faith that saves as having for its object the person of Christ." (4<£.)

An examination of the gospels shows that neither John nor the
other evangelists present the person of Chbist as the object cf
faith apart from His work, — the benefits which He bestows, and the
sufferings which He was to endure : and that these are either
expressly mentioned or implied in every instance.

Mr. Godwin goes further than this boldness of making the
instances " few " which refer to the work of Christ, and, " many "

160

which refer to His person; he even declares that those "few
passages," which in reality are most numerous, are "erroneous!" for
he tells us (p. 73) that — ''if Jesus Christ be the object of Chris-
tian faith, THOSE REPRESENTATIONS MUST BE ERRONEOUS which assign

this place to any particular facts or propositions." And that we
may know distinctly what facts or propositions he denies to be the
object of our faith, the following are enumerated : —

" Not the birth of Christ, not His death, nor His resurrec-
tion, can be the object of this faith". " The sufficiency of His
sacrifice for the pardon of sin cannot be alone [he dares not say,
though he means, ' cannot be at all '] the object of this faith."

"According to the sacred Scriptures, no pact or series of facts,
no proposition or system of propositions, but Jesus Chhist Him-
self the Son of God, is the object of faith " (p. 73). In page 41,
Mr. Godwin says : —

" It is not said that we are saved by trusting to the doctrine
which Christ taught, or by trusting to what He has done or
will do, but by trusting to Himself." " Trusting to Christ is
different to trusting to the truth of any doctrine or the sufficiency
of any work."

HI.

The Forgiveness of Sin no Forgiveness at all, but the Hecognition of
the former Sinner's new Character: — for a Person that repents
"cannot truly be judged to be wrong, according to the Wrong of
past Actions.'"

Mr. Godwin accepts Mr. Lynch's distinction between "conduct,"
or "action," and "character." "Conduct" may be bad; "actions"
may be sinful ; and, while the agent chose to act so, he was a
sinner, but is so no longer when he repents ! ( p. 116.)

""What men choose shows to themselves and others what they are. It shows
what they are when [his own italics] they thus choose; but it does not certainly
show what they are at another time."1 That is, when they repent. "If there be
no change of mind, the testimony given by the former conduct remains, and (in
that case) men are still what their past actions indicate. But if their minds are
really changed [by repentance], former conduct ceases to be evidence of present
character. The action which is past is unalterable, and all true judgment re-
specting it must be ever the same. But the character of the agent is not unalter-
able ; and a person cannot be tkuly judged to be wrong according to the
wrong of past actions if lie is so changed that what he once chose he would
no longer choose." " If the character is really changed, there must be a corre-
sponding change in all true judgments respecting the person " (pp. 116, 117).

161

So that a man who has been a sinner all his life has but to change
in his choice, and he is accepted of God on grounds of ''strictest
rectitude " — for what he now is ; the " former conduct " not being
reckoned to him, since his "character" is different.

Forgiveness on the part of men towards each other, —

Does " not " include " forgetting the wrong, nor falsely supposing the guilty to be
innocent, but by separating past conduct from present character, no longer
viewing the one as the expression of the other. It may result entirely from
the change which has taken place, not in those who forgive, but in those who
are forgiven. In like manner, when God forgives," " His judgment of the
sinner is changed, because the sinner is changed."' (123.)

If Mr. Godwin were not afraid of speaking out his own con-
clusion, or if he clearly understood himself, he would have said that
the person so changed is no longer a sinner at all, for he adds, "He
is not what he once was. The judgment of God respecting him is
not according to his past conduct. He is not now estimated by what
he has done or left undone. His offences are not imputed to him.
They are set aside as [no longer] evidences against him, for their
testimony is to what he was, not to what he is."

Repentance thus clears off old scores ; he is a new creature ; and
bygones are bygones ! Or, as Mr. Godwin observes, the Creator
" must judge the penitent to be different to the impenitent."

As to any atonement by the death of Jesus how can this be re-
quired ? Besides Mr. Godwin tells us — " it is not easy to see how
truth or retributive justice can be satisfied by the sufferings of the
innocent for the guilty." (145.)

IV.

The Righteousness of Faith is the inherent Goodness of believing.
Not the Saviour's Righteousness, but our own.

Repentance having made a new man of the old sinner, faith now
comes in, and, embracing all the goodness of repentance, confirms
and completes it. It is a principle of obedience or Tightness that in
desire and purpose aims at " all rightness," and deserves to get on
" all right" in " condition" or future happiness, as it is " all right"
in present disposition and prospective goodness. This, and nothing
else, is Mr. Godwin's " righteousness of faith."

It saves Christ from saving sinners, for it makes every re-
deemed man accepted for his own " rightness," and " blessed with"
or like Christ (p. 172), as of Abraham it is said, " His faith and
the blessing which he therefore received are presented as an example
for all. ' With thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed ' "

162

(p. 173). Go they who have faith in Christ " will bo at last per-
fectly righteous and blessed with the Lord" (p. 172), having the
same relation to the Lord as to Abraham ; namely, being imitators
of the goodness of one or both of them.

" In many passages of the Epistles of St. Paul" " it is stated that they -who
Jiave faith are considered or counted to have righteousness.

" What is the lightness or righteousness which men are judged to possess ? Is
it something which they really have [yes, they ' really have ' pardon, really are
accepted and adopted.] Or is it something which is simply attributed to them,
which they are only supposed to have ?" " Does it belong to their conduct, their
character, or their condition ? The answer to this question will partly depend on
the general use in the Sacred Scriptures of the terms righteous and righteous-
ness." (1G0.)

Now, it is not " the general use" of the terms which is in
question, but the particular use of them in reference to the point in
hand.

" It appears, then, to be, according to the usage of words in the Sacred Scrip-
tures, that they who have faith in Christ for salvation, should be said to

HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS, BECAUSE THEY ARE REALLY RIGHT WITH GOD. He judges

them to be right, and considers them to be right, and declares them to be right"
— it is " a human rightness." " They must [as the very act of faith] have
the purpose of following Him, and therefore the purpose to seek and to do all
that is right" (p. 167). " They who had faith in Christ as the Son of God . .
had the faith which is the principle of all righteousness. [This is 'the
righteousness of faith,' not through faith, but faith itself is the rightness.]
'They became upright or righteous pesons. And so it is now with all who
have this faith in Christ," which " faith" means " the full and deliberate deter-
mination of the will to observe and obey all that is right" (168).

" If by trusting to Christ it has become the real choice of their mind to seek
the righteousness which He required [not which He bestows, but ' up-
rightness of character,' which we are to obtain], and the righteousness which He
promised [namely, that we shall be all right hereafter in k condition' in ' conse-
quence' of being upright in ' character' nowj, tlienihey are declared to be righteous
persons. And they are righteous. There is a rightness belonging to them, to
their choice and purpose ." . . (169.)

" They who have the righteousness of God are judged to be right,

and ARE IN THEIR OWN CHARACTER UPRIGHT" (p. 189.)

V.

The Death of Christ only a model Death, as His life was only a
model life.

According to Professor Godwin, the death of Christ was not
something unique, peculiar, and unrivalled, but a standard exhibi-
tion of those common principles of obedience and submission to the
Divine will which are to be repeated by all Christians, and by
which they, like Him, are to be " made perfect through sufferings."

1G3

There is no place in Mr. Godwin's system for the death of Christ
as an expiating sacrifice for human sins ; for " as in this faith
there is the kepentance to which forgiveness is promised, and the
uprightness of heart which God requires and approves" (p. 294,)
there is nothing left for the death of Christ to accomplish. Christ,
indeed, "sought to change the relation of men to God, but this
could be effected only by a change in them.. He came to bring men
into submission to the Divine will, and make them righteous"
(p. 284.)

11 He went forward to death because He would "not cease to promote right,
and taught his disciples to do the same, thus to take up the cross and follow
Him" (p. 58.) *'■ He required of men nothing but a willingness to receive this
[eternal] life : but as it consisted in a resemblance to Him, it could only be
received by learning of Him and following Him" (p. GO.)

" His example was a pattern of the good to be desired, and of the course
to be chosen" (p. 69.)

"His life was a perpetual service and perfect sacrifice" (p. 62.) " But [His
life] did not receive its highest manifestation until He suffered and died on the
cross." •' His lessons were not completed, nor was he a complete example
lor men until he dird" (p. 63.)

" Desire for what is good for ourselves is increased, and hope is strengthened,
by what is shown to us of righteousness and its reward in the person of Christ "
(p. 80.) This " reward" will be ours, when we display this " righteousness." He
was the example of both. " There may be suffering [in our lot J as in the history
of our Lord, and its design may be the good of others, its reward, the blessed-
ness of those who are saved by a service of suffering" (p. 86.)

" Our Lord frequently referred to the course of earthly labour and suffering
which would precede the reward and joy of heaven. .. .The Faith required of
men was the acceptance of the service and the reward'' (p. 155.)

This is to be saved by our own cross, " saved by a service of suffer-
ing." Thus we are " reconciled to God by the death of His Son,"
as we forgive Him and trust Him in all our sufferings, to make it
up in the end ; as was done in the case of Jesus !

"The distrust of the Divine benevolence, which is always experienced when we
look only to the visible and present, cannot remain when the love of God is seen
in the person of ChFvIST ; when chastisement is felt to produce the peaceable
fruit of righteousness ; and when it is known that afflictions, light and momentary,
will work out a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory." ip. 225.)

" He did not seek to make them immediately wise, happy and perfect, as they
ultimately would be ; but to prepare them for that course of seeking, serving
and suffering, which is the appointed ivay through which all the sons of G-oti
must pass, that they in due time may come to the glory of their Lord. (p. 250.)

Thus we, like Him, are to be "made perfect through suffering." " Men have
learned from Christ the VMS of suffering, us they were not known before; and
thus they have been enabled to trust in God and to rejoice in afflictions, as they
could not before." (305.)

164

This is " reconciliatioD to God by the death of His Son," as we
see in Christ's death and reward a pledge of the recompense of our
patient, trustful, endurance of afflictions; " the best service, even o
the perfect, is seen in the service of suffering. Those things have
been made evident by the history of Christ and the experience of
His disciples." (305.) Their only value to us is as leaders, models,
or historical examples !

When we have Christ's faith and submission to God's afflictive
discipline, we shall have Christ's reward: — "The Saviour saw all
the difficulties, dangers, and distresses of man's state in this world :
He was not overcome by this great grief, for he trusted in
God, and therefore had what He promised to His disciples [on the
same terms], a peace and joy which the world could neither give nor
take away. As men learn from Him, and have His faith, they
look to God as the chief good ; . . . and they have a joy like that
of Christ." (p. 290.) Their faith is rewarded as His was. "He
suffered for us that we might learn from Him how to suffer, sub-
mitting ourselves to the will of God." (306.) That is, His suffering
"for us," was in being our pattern, not our substitute ; that
" we may make our lives sublime," as He made His ; " the lives of
great men all remind us' ' — of the same thing !

"He went before them in the service [of suffering] which they feared. His
own experience and example supplied what loas needed by His disciples." (307.)
" He has shown us how the children of God should die." (317.) '• They learn
from His example to irust in God" in affliction, danger, and death ; — that " death
is a service appointed for their good, and that of others." (316.) " We see in
His death [as a specimen] that submission to the Divine Will is right, [i.e.,
advantageous] whatever sacrifice and suffering ib may involve. We see that it is
for the honour of God, the giver of life and all its joys, that those gifts, when
required should be returned, not reluctantly but willingly." (p. 315.) This willing
submission and surrender of life was the pattern set us in Jesus. ' He was made
perfect through suffering,' and ' submission to the Divine Will should be perfected
in men, by the sufferings and surrender of death.' "

" It is then [when so surrendered] a service profitable to man and pleasing to
God, just in proportion to the greatness of the loss [as if a man is young or rich]
and the suffering which are included in it." (p. 315.)

It is by this proportion that Mr. Godwin exalts the loss and
sacrifice of Jesus ; He was in a fair position, and had a very pro-
mising life before Him, which He was under no necessity of
surrendering !

" In all the services and sacrifices of life, there is actually but a
partial surrender of what we have to God ; but in death all we
are and have must be resigned." (p. 312.)

165

He admits that where men die from necessity, because they cannot
help it, or with insensibility, not caring about it ; or where they
accept it as a release from present evils, it is not " a service."

" In such cases there can be no submission to the Divine will, no confidence
in the love of God. It is not thus that we should wish to die (!). It was not
thus that Christ died." " Death had long been to Him an object of clear
apprehension. [He was not insensible.] He might have avoided it [it was
not a necessity] ; and when He gave up life, all the possibilities of earthly
good were present, and might have been realised. [He means Christ
did not seek death as a refuge from ills ] : He had everything to render the

CONTINUANCE OF LIFE PLEASANT AND DESIRABLE " (p. 312).

Yes, He had many such friends around Him, as sometimes now
advocate His cause. Mr. Godwin here exalts the sacrifice of Christ
by the " sacrifice" He made in giving up very good earthly prospects,
which style keeps up the old word — sacrifice — in a new meaning.
Thus I make a " sacrifice " in losing friendships, position, and
income, for speaking the truth ; in like manner we exalt the
heroism of a young man who faces death with confidence when
a life of pleasure lies open to him ! It is impossible more deeply
to degrade the holiest character and the sublimest theme ; — the
death of Jesus was a surrender more pleasing to God in " proportion"
to His losses in losing such a life and prospect as He enjoyed here !

YI.

As THE DEATH OF CHRIST WAS ONLY A MODEL DEATH, SO HlS FAITH IN

God was a model faith. — We are saved as He was, if we believe
in God as He did, and if in proof of this faith, we ourselves submit
in the surrender, service, and sacrifice of death, as He did.

The re-iterated declarations that we are to believe in Christ Him-
self and not in His work, come at last to mean that we are to
believe like Christ and in our own work ; specially that we are to
render the greatest service and honour to God, — namely that of

DYING WILLINGLY.

Christ is " the Way" not as doing anything for us that we have
not to do, but as Columbus is to all men "the way" to America,
though all who intend to arrive there must take a berth and pay
their own way or work their passage ! So He died for us, to show us
how it should be done, not to do anything for us, as in our stead !

We are also saved by His life, as it becomes our life as our
" experience" approaches His. This is hinted on pages 171, 172,
and is a specimen of "the spirit of truth" which pervades the writer.

In the sliding scale of meanings, the " faith in Jesus" — trusting
Christ as a Person, in opposition to or exclusion of His work —

1GG

comes to be the faith of Jesus — " His faith" — the confidence which
He had in God, and which we are to have ; faith in the Saviour
meaning no more than accepting His example of confidence in God.
" They learn from His example [of dying] to tbust in God ;" that, like
other trials, death " too is a service appointed for their good and that of others''
— a service in which they, like Him, give " the highest expression of submission
to their Father's will and trust in their Father's love" — a service of submission
and trust which is "the means of perfecting them in the likeness of their Lord"
(p, 31G.) This likeness of Christ consists in " having His faith" and submission
to the Divine will. " They who seek to follow Christ in the course of life are
enabled to follow Him in the day of death" (p. 317.)

That is, to display in dying the same faith in God as Christ did
when He died. This is the faith in Jesus, and all the faith which
Mr. Godwin means, as we "go forward to death, walking in the
footsteps of our Lord" (p. 316.) All those passages which we have
quoted to show that Christ's merely model death teaches us how to
trust in God, to submit to His will in the allotment of afflictions as
the prelude to glory" ; and all the many similar passages in the work
which we have noted but not quoted, converge towards this same fact,
that by faith in Jesus, trusting to His person, Mr. Godwin means
merely accepting Jesus as an example in the matter of faith —
entertaining the same confidence as He did, submitting to God's
afflictive dispensations, that as in His sufferings "there was no
i:ipatience or discontent" (p. 314), so there should be none in
ours. As He was so far " reconciled to God" as to endure willingly
the regularly appointed path of suffering, so His imitators have
" the clearer consciousness that they are really reconciled to
God, reconciled by the death of Christ, as they are thereby con-
strained and enabled to surrender themselves entirely to the Divine
will" (pp. 293, 294). This is our reconciliation to God, by faith
in the death of Jesus, as the sort of death which we are to die,
believing, as He did, that God will " reward" our " goodness," the
"righteousness of" our "faith," because it is the same as the
" righteousness of Christ," which God has rewarded already as a
representative case — " the first-born among many brethren." That
by faith in Jesus Mr. Godwin means only imitating the faith of
Jesus is further illustrated in this sentence : — " As men have faith
in Christ they will view all objects as they were viewed by Him, in
connection with God and eternity, and so they will feel in reference
to them as lie felt" (p. 303). Faith in Jesus here means enter-
taining the same opinions and sentiments ; it is the faith of Jesus
— that which He exercised. This view is completed by the follow-
ing statement : —

167

He trusted in God fin the face of afflictions belonging to man's state on
earth], and therefore had [as the reward of His trust] what He promised to His
disciples [on the same terms and for the same trust], a peace and joy which the
world could neither give nor take away. As men learn of Him and hate His
faith, thev 1' ok to God as the chief good, and they have a joy like that of
Christ" (p. 290).

This is because they have a faith like that of Christ — not faith in
Him, but a faith like His ; the " faith in Him" being only a philo-
sophical quibble to intimate that His was a kepresentative case ;
it means believing in the way that saved Him as the way that will
save us. And Mr. Godwin lets out this fundamental fallacy or
equivocation by the phrase which confesses the whole — " as men
learn of Him and have His faith."

Henceforth let no man be deceived by "the cunning craftiness"
of heterodox teachers using orthodox language ; when they say
" We also believe in Christ," they mean we believe as Christ
believed ; we have " His faith" in God's justice, that He will
reward our righteousness and submission; we are reconciled to
Him, and no more " murmur" at those afflictions on the road,
which the case of Jesus proves will be rewarded in the end, if we
suffer as resignedly as Jesus did !

VII.

The natuke of Christ and of His condescension, not to earth,
but on earth, as living in poverty when he might have been a
millionaire.

"The Divinity which was manifested through the human nature
of Jesus existed before all worlds," and it was " the Word
of God," or the "Name of God," which " Word of God became
human" in Jesus (p. 71), was "manifested through His human
nature" (page 72), and was formerly revealed in the manifold opera-
tions of nature and humanity.

God did not, according to Mr. Godwin, send His Son into the
world, but, as he says adroitly, "to the world' (p. 72). Nor is
Jesus the object of our faith, but God, who " must be the object
of faith in respect to the manifestation given in the person of
His Son."

Not only was not Christ sent "into" the world, but only "to the
world" like the other messengers ; — but further it seems very clear,
according to Mr. Godwin, that Jesus could not be sent into the
world, for He never existed before ; at least, there is no proof of it
in such- passages as are usually relied upon.

168

iTor instance, we read : — " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though He was eich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that ye, through His poverty, might be rich" (2 Cor. viii. 9).

11 Who, being in the form of God," "took upon Himself the form of
a servant" (Philipp. ii. 6). But all this is explained away by Mr.
Godwin in the following Rationalistic style (p. 56) : —

' All the wealth of the wokld was at His command ; but though thus rich,
He became poor ; He chose the condition of poverty, that He might be more
useful ; that men through His poverty might be made rich. He had dominion
over the ] ersons of men, and the elements of nature, all things being committed
to His hands. But this power was employed only in doing good to men. The
Lord of all took the form of a servant, coming not to be ministered to, but to
minister.' ' He who had all the possessions of earth at His disposal, gave up
all for the good of men. He who was above all in dignity and authority, des-
cended to the lowest state and service for the good of men. In the love of Christ
there is a breadth and length, a height and depth, which surpass knowledge."

Mr. Godwin may well fly off in ecstacies on the love of Jesus ;
this is the best escape from the unfathomable depths of his criti-
cism upon it, in which he has managed to bring " the Lord of all"
down to a very poor condition indeed : the only other question is,
how we are to get rich by such sort of poverty ?

It was no wealth of heaven, but " the wealth of this world," " the
possessions of earth," which the Saviour is here said to have given
up ; only, unfortunately, He never had them, according to Mr.
Godwin's account. He was " thus rich," — that He could have been,
if He had been able and disposed to prostrate His miraculous
powers for His personal aggrandisement, which is generally sup-
posed to be a stretch beyond the power of any agent in such a case ;
for the miracles are to be wrought in furtherance of the mission,
and therefore no messengers, as such, ever had the power to work
miracles contrary to the object of their mission ; consequently in no
view of the case can our Lord be said to have had " the posses-
sions of the world at His command, all the wealth of the world at
His disposal," to make provision for the lusts of the flesh.

This fancied abstemiousness on His part from doing an act or a
series of acts which would have frustrated the purpose for which He
was " sent to the world," is but a case of common honesty, in not
doing what He had as a messenger no right to do. He " was
voluntarily poor" (p. 305).

But how we get rich, because He never was rich, and thus
" became poor" from having nothing, is still a puzzle. Are our
riches to be of the same sort as those which He omitted to seize
unfaithfully ? Is any Christian in the world a penny the richer

169

because Christ had not a shilling in His pocket ; and because Christ
had " not where to lay His head," do His followers " live in kings'
houses ?"

This miserable sophistry makes Christ poor indeed, for He has
nothing to give away but the example of not committing robbery to
get rich, a thing that would never be noticed in a society of honest
men ; but this is the richest crown which Mr. Godwin can afford
for the Saviour.

Those hollow words, " the Lord of all," " above all in dignity,"
mean only One Who could have been rich if He could have forgotten
His plainest duty, and prostituted Divine powers for human wealth
and pomp ! This phrase, " Lord of all," is no more than is ascribed
to Alexander Selkirk : —

"I am monarch of all I survey."

This is the reed sceptre and purple robe with which Mr Godwin
mocks and bedizens the Saviour of the world. Yet we are assured
that it is in Him Himself that we are to believe, not in the riches of
His grace, not in His precious blood, not in the royalty of heaven
which He left for a time, to enrich us with the purchase of His con-
descension and death, but in One Whose wealth was never possessed,
Who never was a rick Man, but only could have been if He had not
been an honest One ; and who, by a life of poverty, left the world so
much richer than it would have been if He had used His miraculou?
power to turn stones into bread or dross into gold.

This is turning gold into dross, disenchanting the name of Jesus
of all its power, that we, no longer having " propositions" to trust to,
may trust to a " Person" WTiose highest benefit to us is that He
lived very poor when He might have been very well o:T.

No, this is not the person in whom we trust. We look to One
for Whom the highest station on earth would have been but as the
cell of a prison ; to Whom the greatest possessions of earth would
have been infinitely puerile and mean, and Who will bestow on all
who rely on His cross a crown of glory before which all the crowns
of the world and all its rarest gems are toys and baubles. It is no
compensation for this debasement of Jesus to tell us that the
" eternal Word was manifested through His human nature," —
" became human" in Him (pp. 71, 72) ; and that Jesus, like every
other creature, is " a form of the operation and manifestation of
God." These are idle words, to fill men's ears with sounds and
their hearts with disappointment, — the apples of Sodom, tempting
to the eyes, bitter to the taste, and fatal to the health of the soul.

G

170

Such is the theology defended by " some of our most esteemed
ministers," who, knowing these things, are only angry at me for proving
them ; and treat it as Mr. Lynch's " blasphemy against the Holy Ghost' '
to explode and condemn the following monstrous errors : — That
Christian faith is blind trust, and has no reference to the work of
Christ ; that the object of faith is not the death of Jesus, or any
proposition about Him, but only trusting Himself in the abstract ;
that this "trust in Jesus Christ Himself," or faith in Him, means
a faith like that of Jesus ; — "His faith," which means ours; that
repentance clears off all sins as a matter of justice ; that faith is
inherent, all-sufficient righteousness, without regard to or reliance
on the righteousness of another ; that the Epistles are of no
authority where they seem to go beyond the four Gospels ; that the
Holy Ghost is a Spirit of Goodness ; the Spirit of Truth, a truthful
disposition ; that the church is the Holy Ghost to convert the
world ; that the death of Jesus is no more than any other man's
may be and ought to be, — only a model sacrifice for our imitation ;
that the Eternal Word is in everything, as " a personal presence,"
(p. 329) ; and was equally "present in Jesus."

It is time our colleges and pulpits were purged from this fatal
taint and spiritual leprosy ; and if these reviews shall in any way
contribute to awaken the watchmen of Zion, and put the Church on
its guard ; — if they shall arm the enquirer against the insidious
attacks of a latent scepticism, and preserve untarnished the honour
of Christ and the glory of His cross : — if any are hereby aided in
their efforts to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints ; —
if, through our instrumentality, God shall mercifully open the eyes
of any who may have been blinded, and enable them to rescue
others ; — if the understanding of the artifices and sophistry here
exposed shall increase the number of those "having their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil," we shall be able to rejoice
with the Apostle Paul, tlrat " the things which have happened," and
which at first seemed injurious, " have fallen out rather unto the
furtherance of the Gospel ; " that " as always, so also now, CHRIST
SHALL BE MAGNIFIED."

171

Chapter XYL
THE COMMOTION IN THE PATRIOT OFFICE, AND A
COUNCIL OF WAR TO PUT DOWN CRITICISM; OR
THE REVENGE FOR THE RESCUE OF FAITH.

The strictures on Professor Godwin's work, called " Christian
Faith," — called so by that sarcastic peculiarity of language which
calls those who have the narrowest creed "Broad Churchmen;"
those who resent earnest orthodoxy, "Liberal Christians;" those
who are the most exclusive, " Catholics ;" those who are the greatest
slaves, " Independents ;" and those who have no reason, " Ration-
alists,"— caused no small stir among the more affected intellectualists
of " our body," who had stood as cherubim with flaming swords
before the throne of Godwin.

Not that they all openly espoused his sentiments, but that they
liked the honour of maintaining "a little latitude," and reserved to
themselves the right of genteelly rebuking his departure from the
faith, which at the same time they condoned on the ground of
that spiritual goodness which transcends dogmas, and is upon the
whole a respectable affair. But now that an obscure provincial,
and what is worse, one who had in the " Rivulet controversy" rudely
torn the delicate screen of pretended generosity and justice with
which they had vainly sought to cover and adorn then lack of both,
— that this one should presume to expound fearlessly the errors
which they had gently corrected and were tenderly caressing, was
such as invasion of their Metropolitan jurisdiction as must be sum-
marily put down. So in their collective wisdom they concocted an
article, which, no one of them could be accused of writing, because
several of them had a hand in it.

• At the time that this was completed the Rev. J. B. Paton, M.A.,
then of Cavendish College, Manchester, in connection with the
Rev. Dr. Parker, and now of Nottingham Theological Institute,
entered the Patriot Office, and was shown the " article" that had
been done on me. The figure by which it was introduced was so
maggotty that it made him feel bad, and he assumed the liberty of a
character in Shakespere, — " Nay, but if your metaphor" is odori-
ferous, " I will hold my nose." He protested to the editor so-
called, but slanderously called, by one whom some think a very
good judge — "a nose of wTax," thumbed and twisted to any shapo
by the Metropolitan clique of liberal theologians — that if such an
article did appear he should be obliged to throw up the Patriot,
meaning that if he could by an effort swallow so nauseous a dose
g 2

172

he conld not undertake to retain it. This modified if it did not
mollify the " wax," and that particular figure was abandoned ; after
which an effort was made to concoct an article that should be
equally venomous but not quite so nasty.

This information of Mr. Paton's visit to the Patriot office, and
his successful protest against the first form of liberal revenge on
orthodox criticism, I had from a safe source, described at the time as
" a carrier pigeon from Manchester."

The combination of minds in doing up the final article was
acknowledged by the editor in a letter to the Rev. Arthur Mursell,
who, with a frankness and courage natural to him, publicly protested
against the raving insanity of the Patriot howl, even in its latest and
gentlest modulation.

Having stated these " dry facts," as Mr. Binney would express it,
I may without the least exaggeration, or over-stepping the modesty
of nature and verisimilitude, draw upon imagination for the method
by which the amended article was licked into shape and fitted to
come out for the edification of the Christian public.

A council of war must be held in this crisis of affairs : that
something must be done was manifest ; that the originally proposed
missile was more dangerous to themselves than to the object of
their conspiracy was sorrowfully conceded.

The editor was in a fix ; the orders and arrangements were, that
the condemned shell should be fired. What was he to do ? Nothing
was easier than to let his more cautious adviser meet with the
unfortunate concoctors and point out the danger of their intended
operations.

They would be dropping in soon to revise the proofs, and see if
any more vigour could be infused into the new " Protest."

The adviser agrees to call again at the time when some of " the
immortal Fifteen" — the original protestors — would most likely have
assembled. On his return he finds, say, Messrs. Binney, Allon,
Newman Hall, Baldwin Brown, &c, assembled to "see the
thing through."

" How is this, Mr. Paton ? You have induced Mr. Turbervtlle
to violate his promise ? It was 'the general understanding' that the
article should go in as it was, and you have frightened him out of
his propriety !"

"No, Mr. Binney; I tried to frighten him into propriety, for no
critical nose could stand that maggotty illustration. You will all be
blown upon — fly-blown, I mean." " ^Ve did not think you were
so very delicate, Mr. Paton ; besides, have you considered who it is
on whom we wish to do summary justice ?"

173

" Tliat is the very point which you should consider. In trying
to snuff him out you may only burn your fingers. He will proclaim
it as an acknowledgment that he cannot be answered, and therefore
is abused."

" I take it that we do not wish to answer him," said poor
Tuebeeyllle ; "the point is, that none of us defends Godwin's
theology: our stand is on the amenities of controversy."

" Do you reckon that article a specimen ?" inquired Mr. Paton,
with his winning smile. "You know what you said about 'the
Protest,' Mr. Binney — that ' the whole thing was an error ?' "

"True; but I changed the subject, and came down on Dr.
Campbell's ' moral character' for republishing the articles which
detected the error and forced the confession."

" It is not a good augury," said Mr. Paton ; " you first shifted
your ground, and next could not maintain your new position, for it
was irrelevent, and it was another ' error.' "

Mr. Binney, who is the leading mind among the Protestors,
knowing well that Mr. Paton is the cleverest fellow and best
manager present, quietly resolves to cave in, saying, — u Well, we
must make the best of the situation. Let two of the brethren
retire and revise the article, and read the whole thing to us in an
amended form."

After some botching, blotching and tinkeriDg, the two brethren
returned and gave the amended article to Mr. Tubberytlle, who
read as follows, and inserted the same in the Patriot of October 23,
1862 :—

THEOLOGICAL CONTEOYEESY.

Theological controversy has obtained a bad pre-eminence. Let a man but depart
from accepted theological doctrine, and no matter how excellent his personal
character may be, or bow impersonal and modest his assertions, be is generally
assailed with every offensive missile tbat the vocabulary of abuse or the genius
of insinuation can furnish. Instead of a regretful judicial necessity devolved
upon grave Christian brethren, an eager, exulting mob madly rushes into the
fray, and only clamours are heard, where the voice of the judgment-seat should
be calmly pronounced. Instead of a defence of truth in the spirit of truth,
hundreds of tongues and pens are loosed utterly destitute of qualification— either
of theological knowledge or of high Christian rectitude. Nothing has been
more disgraceful than the theological controversies of late years Men with un-
scrupulous pens, thinking any weapon lawful that might damage an antagonist,
defending truth in the essential spirit of falsehood, have professed to " rescue
faith'' by methods tbat might well make all honest men infidels, — " orthodox
liars for God," they think themselves right, and are thought right by others
simply because they may be on the right side. Nothing so damages a cause,
however good in itself, as bad advocacy, and nothing so damages a Christian
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174

cause as an unchristian spirit. It is of more importance that a man should
himself be true than even that he should utter true things. In the one case he
is sincerely mistaken, in the other he is consciously false.

At this stage the enquiry was made — whether the Patriot was
writing this against itself, or against anybody else ? Whether it
was intended as an illustration of the " bad pre-eminence "
" obtained by theological controversy ? "

Mr. Newman Hall replied that it was plainly pointed at the author
of the " Eescue of Faith." " True,5' said the objector, " but is it to
illustrate the only ivay in which his criticism can be evaded ? " Mr.
Paton was afraid that Mr. Grant would ask " if the Orthodox are
liars for God, — whom do the heterodox lie for ? " It was
decided however, that Mr. Grant would not be permitted to answer
in the Patriot, and it would only be necessary to persuade its
readers that he is unworthy of notice.

" In that case," observed the persistent objector, "it would be
more consistent not to notice him, and so to avoid contradicting
yourselves by a palpable — ' error.' "

Mr. Newman Hall thought it was a very allowable figure of
speech, to say that the person whom you feel bound to notice is not
worth notice. Besides, he considered that they need not be very
particular how they treated such a person as I was.
So that the reading was continued : —

The effects produced by such self- constituted champions of orthodoxy are simply
these — first, that many earnest lovers of truth shrink from a lawful warfare with
error lest they should be confounded with these unworthy assailants of it ; next,
that all healthy moral sympathy passes over from the side of truth, where it
would otherwise be found, to the side of error. Instead of a just judicial retribu-
tion, which all men would approve, the errorist is made a martyr, and the
injustice and excess of what he suffers makes all men pity him ; and we all know
how excessive pity for a criminal diminishes the sense of his crime. Hence, too,
it is that outside the religious world sympathies are alioays arrayed on the side
of heretics ; of course this is always and with characteristic charity put down
to the badness of the human heart, but may it not spring in part from its vert
goodness — may it not be the effect of the uniform want of judicial fairness and
of Christian forbearance that characterizes theological controversies? If one
thing be more certain than another, it is that the " wrath of man cannot work
the righteousness of God," and that the cause of truth is far more discredited in
the world by its unscrupulous Jriends than by its avowed enemies. How many a
man whom fairness and brotherly kindness would have reclaimed from incipient
error, has been goaded into its maturity by unscrupulous argument and abuse.
The universal moral sense of mankind must revolt at the arguments and insinua-
tions which are not only thought right by the wretched men who use them, but
which, — alas, that we should have it to say ! are endorsed and applauded by
honourable men who look on, and who permit their fear of heterodoxy to over-
power their sense of righteousness, and who wink hard at almost any means that
may secure the end that they desire.

175

For ourselves we are resolved that, come what may, incur what suspicions w«
may, we will never, without an earnest protest, permit a holy cause to he main-
tained by unholy weapons ; we will denounce unscrupulous auvocacy of truth as
loudly as unscrupulous assaults upon it ; and we earnestly call upon all high-
minded men in our churches to join us in this — to be strong enough in faith and
righteous enough in feeling to roprobate with all the strength of their Christian
conscience every writer who is either unfair in argument or vindictive in feeling.
If they would but be persuaded of it, they would by so doing promote the interests
of orthodoxy a hundredfold ; they would exalt and honour it, instead of discredit-
ing it, as it is now too often discredited.

Our own criticism of Professor Godwin's Congregational Lectures was, we
believe, the first that appeared ; and we did not hesitate fully and uncompromis-
ingly to express our opinion of it, and we trust, with a scrupulous regard to
Christian righteousness and charity, our dissent from many of its positions ;
and if, as seems probable, the controversy which it has occasioned should be
maintained, we shall not hesitate in the same spirit to take our part in it again.
And, therefore, although it is a trick common enough to confound objection to an
advocate with objection to a cause, we do not fear being misunderstood by our
readers when we seek to relieve our souls by expressing in the strongest language
of which we are capable, our unutterable dislike and disgust at such criticisms
as Mr. Brewin Grant has thought proper to indulge in. We speak in deliberate
xvords when we say that a more arrogant, vulgar, and unchristian diatribe has
never fallen into our hands. We are compelled to say that so far as the indi-
cations of this pamphlet may be trusted, for of Mr. Grant otherwise we know
nothing, he appears destitute of every intellectual faculty that can constitute a
literary critic, and of every moral quality that should characterise a Christian
one.

Here it was observed that the article was too mild, and gave the
person criticised too much credit ; for if what it said was true, the
writer thus described was too highly honoured by the expenditure
of so much bile. It was further asked whether there was any one
there who did not " know" the writer "otherwise " than by " The
Rescue of Faith ? " But it was agreed that this also was " a figure of
speech," and would prevent people from thinking that they were
revenging themselves for their defeat in the Rivulet affair.

The objector suggested that it would only turn attention to that
affair ; while all the country knew the writer from his lectures and
discussions on popular infidelity. Could they not hide their motives
by a less obvious crammer ?

They were afraid he was at bottom a friend of the person criti-
cised : whereupon he offered to retire, saying that he knew some
leading men who regarded " The Rescue of Faith" as a very able
production, and he should have liked to hear some direct answer
to its main arguments.

He was requested to stay a few moments, and was told that the
next part of the article pointed out some of the writer's references
to Mr. Godwin. " But," said he "does it give his grounds for them ;

176

and do you anywhere touch on the doctrinal questions which he so
fully discusses ? Do you enter at all into the merits of the ques-
tion ?" " Well, now," said one of the tinkerers, " there is a little
lower down a reference to that, to show that it is not worth notice."
" I should like," said the objector, " to see how you show that, after
the lengthened notice you have elaborated." " This passage," said
Mr. Turberville, " is all we think necessary on the merits of the
question :"

" Upon Mr. Grant's arguments and analysis we cannot spend a line ; they
maybe very powerful, or they may be worthless — the language in which they are
clothed, and the spirit in which they are conceived, deprive them of all claim to
attention. If there are any persons who can attach to them any weight what-
ever, we can only say that they are not the persons whom we care to address."

At the first sentence, Mr. Paton whistled involuntarily ; at the
conclusion he laughed outright. " Then" says he, " you give it
up ?" The reader continued : —

" Mr. Godwin, we believe, was Mr. Grant's tutor, and whatever may be his
theological errors, all his students bear the strongest testimony to his spiritual
goodness and personal kindness. For Mr. Grant, therefore, to be capable of
writing with so much personal vindictiveness argues something extremely dis-
creditable either to his College course or to his present feelings. Mr. Grant
might have deemed it necessary to review Mr. Godwin's book, and to controvert
its propositions ; but a right-hearted man would have felt it a ' burden of the
Lord,' and would have done it with respectful diffidence and with reluctant sor-
row. He has done it with gloating eagerness and a malignant fierceness which
would have been unseemly in any Christian brother, but which, coming from an
old student, is an indication of a nature as incapable of gratitude and delicacy
as of courtesy and charity."

The same objector here asked them if they had read " the Intro-
duction" to the " The Kescue of Faith," and if so, whether they did
not know that their " gloating eagerness" and absence of the
" burden of the Lord" were absolutely untrue ? He further affirmed
that the Eescuer's delay and indifference, the urgency of others, who
brought the matter before him, requesting him to review " Christian
Faith," the renewed application to recall his attention, the suppo-
sition that his notice of the preface would suffice — matters that are
published, and to which there are witnesses, — were too glaring to be
ignored.

As to a "burden of the Lord," the published statements of the
sorrowful necessity laid on the writer to expose errors which at first
he never expected to meet with, stamp the Patriot article with a
very ugly word. " Have you read," he asked, "this sentence on
the first page : — ' The character of the volume unfolded lecture by
lecture ; the reviewer was amazed and pained at every discovery of

177

some new error,' &c. Or this, on the second page : — ' It is because
the gospel of Christ is our only resource in life, and death, and for
eternity ; because this is not only our own and only help in our
need, but our only means of helping others, by proclaiming pardon
through His cross,' &c. ; and, ' for all these reasons the reviewer
has been impelled to follow out this subject, and to present it in this
separate form for the consideration of the candid and enquiring.' "

Is this the style which you characterize after the fashion just
read ? Does it not look like bearing false witness ? Mr. Binney
requested that the reading of the article should be concluded, on
which Mr. Turberville read as follows : —

" The Kev. J. H. Hinton has indited some ' Strictures on Mr. Godwin's
lectures in a very different spirit ; we owe him an apology for placing them in
such an association. He maintains what he thi7iks to be Scriptural truth against
tvhat he tliinks to be Mr. Godwin's errors with the most uncompromising firm-
ness and with great warmth and earnestness ; but he never violates either argu-
mentative fairness or Christian courtesy. If all criticisms were imbued with the
same spirit, religious controversy would not be the reproach that it too often is
now. Of course they produce a corresponding effect. Mr. Godwin courteously
acknowledges them, and announces his reply to them. Mr. Hinton's positions
are not always ours — some of them, it appears to us, would involve very ques-
tionable inferences; but, in the main, he is successful in making good his
objections against Mr. Godwin, and in demonstrating how untenable and
nnscriptural some of his conclusions are. We shall, however, wait for Mr.
Godwin's rejoinder, most fervently praying that it may clear away some of
those ambiguities and errors of his book which have most naturally and reason-
ably awakened the anxieties and jealousies of his brethren and of the friends
of New College:'

The objector said he thought they had not quite represented the
real " spirit in which" the Rescue of Faith " was conceived," and
recommended to them the following sentence from its intro-
duction : —

" Faithfulness to the Great Head of the Church — Whose work
and teachings are thus burlesqued by one whose office is to repre-
sent Him rightly and to instruct others how to urge the terrors of
the Lord and the mercies of our God, the wrath revealed from
heaven and the mercy that delivers from the wrath to come, through
Jesus Christ, — lays upon us the necessity of raising our voice again
and again, that we, at least, may be freed from the blood of all men
by doing our best to accomplish what Mr. Godwin says is ' the
advantage of all proper punishment' — ' the prevention of the conti-
nuance of wrong, or the prevention of the influence and imitation
of wrong' (p. 144).

" It is sad enongh to think that such a necessity is laid upon us,
and that in the chief of our institutions for the education of the

178

Independent ministry, instead of the citadel of truth We should find the
receptacle and stronghold of such doctrines and their emissaries !"

After hearing this they were not ashamed, neither did they blush ;
they only hoped that the public would never know the real nature
and motive of their Patriotic criticism, and so returned every one
to his own home, expecting to enjoy the next Patriot, and to hear
no more of the reviewer who had so disturbed their equanimity.

Chapter XVII.

THE PATRIOT OFFICE BARRICADED AND FORCED :
OR CALUMNY DEFERRING TO LAW.

The "Immortal Fifteen," who could no more answer "The Rescue
of Faith" than "What's it all About," having displayed "the
uniform want of judicious fairness that characterizes their theolo-
gical controversies," by the honour of their attack, next showed their
sense of their incompetency to argue, by the valour of their retreat.

They hastily closed and barricaded the door of the Patnot office,
cowering into a corner, and directed the bewildered editor to send
the following acknowledgment —

"The Patriot Office, 3, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,

" October 29th, 1862.
"The Editor of the Patriot respectfully declines to insert Mr. Grant's letter,
which he returns to him herewith."

At first, I thought the pronoun " he " referred to me as the
nearest antecedent ; it is editorial English. But as to the readers
of the Patriot, — how were " the Fifteen" to deal with them ? Oh !
said the editor, I " will persuade " them " and secure you." (Matt,
xxviii., 14.) Everything will be right if we can but keep the critic
out of the Patriot.

Accordingly he inserted, Oct. 30, the following : —
TO CORRESPONDENTS.

" We have received a letter from the Rev. Beewin Grant, which is inadmis-
sible in our columns ; first, on account of its style, which is that of the pamphlet
we condemned ; secondly, because it is merely an expression of opinion upon our
opinion, which can manifestly serve no purpose, and opens up a controversy to
which there would be no end."

The publisher and editor were at once informed that unless they
allowed the same space, type, and place in the Patriot for a vindi-
cation, as had been employed in maligning the author of the
Rescue of Faith, they would hear again of the matter.

179

This brought the following note : —

" Sir, — As we are unable to perceive any attack on your character in the
article to which you allude, we shall be obliged if you will point out the sentences
in which you conceive this to have been done, and they shall at once receive our
best consideration. I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

" Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A." John Howat, Publisher."

In reply, a long friendly letter was written, pointing out some of
the grosser accusations, as " orthodox liar for God," "malignant
fierceness," &c, with the enquiry whether the Patriot was so
accustomed to this coarseness of vituperation as to consider it a
ligitimate exercise of its " courtesy and charity." The writer dis-
tinctly stated that he was averse to legal proceedings, but was bound
to defend his character in order to vindicate his testimony for the
truth.

The publisher answered as follows : —

" Patriot Office, Nov. 4, 1862.
11 Dear Sir, — "We are of opinion that the article of which you complain does not
exceed the limits of fair criticism upon your pamphlet, certainly it does not exceed
the license which you have yourself taken. If we had done you any injustice we
should have most gladly made you reparation ; but we disclaim all intention of
attacking your personal character. Our remarks were entirely confined to the
style and spirit of your pamphlet. We shall, however, be quite willing to insert
any letter from you, vindicating gour own motives, and disavowing personal
feeling, to which we will append an editorial note, disclaiming upon our part all
intention (!) of imputing them, [i. e. u personal feeling "J to you.

" Yours respectfully,

" John Howat."

It was to be a mutual disavowal. I was to say that I was not
guilty of the motives attributed, and they were to say that no such
motives had been attributed, since they never intended what they
indited ! The publisher was therefore informed, November 5, that
" his answer was unsatisfactory ; " because it placed the person
maligned " on a level with his traducer." The same post conveyed
a legal communication requesting space for an answer, of the same
length and prominence as the attack, in order to prevent further
proceedings.

This was replied to by the Patriot's solicitors, November 7, to
the effect — that Mr. Grant had no ground for an action, and that if
such were proceeded with they were instructed to appear on behalf
of the publisher.

This was answered by repeating the terms on which an action
could be avoided, viz. : — the insertion of an answer, and an apology
from the Patriot, to which, after convenient delay, the following
" characteristic" compromise was offered : —

180

" November 17, 1862.

11 We have seen the Editor on the subject of your letter of the 12th instant.
We still differ from you altogether in opinion as to the article complained of con-
taining anything which would enable Mr. Geant to maintain an action ; but as
he seems sensitive on the subject, if it will be any satisfaction to him, and pre-
vent litigation, the Editor is willing to insert in the place and type usually
devoted to correspondence any temperate letter from Mr. Geant in self-vindica-
tion, the savie being first submitted to the Editoe (!) and the Editor
will also insert in the same paper among the leading articles a few lines of
which we enclose a copy. Our reason for mentioning that any letter from Mr.
Grant should be first submitted to the Editor, is, that a former letter which
Mr. Grant wished to insert, was, from its tone (!) open to fair objection.
Whilst we trust that the acceptance of the above offer will terminate the matter,
it must be distinctly understood that we do not on our client's behalf for a
moment admit any liability, and the above suggestion is only thrown out in the
hope of promoting peace.'''

The Patriot's solicitors were informed in reply that the proposal
constituted the offenders both judge and jury — that as Mr. Grant
did not have the editorial strictures on his " spirit" submitted to his
revision, his letter of defence must be inserted verbatim.

The following is the Patriot's capitulation, through its solici-
tors, November 26, 1862 : —

" The Editor feels that the nature of the reply [sent for insertion as the
ultimatum of the Kev. Beewin Ghant] precludes his referring to it in the
leading article in the terms which he had proposed.

" He will not refuse, however, inserting the reply amongst the Correspondence,
but tJien he must accompany it with a short article of which we send you a copy.
On hearing from you that this will satisfy Mr. Grant, both the article and the
reply can be inserted."

The reason which " precluded the editor from referring to Mr.
Grant's letter in the terms" previously offered was, that the
editor's proposed statement contained these words : — "He [Mr.
Grant] conceives that our strictures contained an attack upon his
personal character : but we are quite at a loss to know how they
can be so construed, and we certainly had no intention of imputing
personal motives to Mr. Grant." This is abandoned as too bare-
faced. Even the editor of the Patriot could not insert such a
statement in the same paper with the vindicatory letter, which
exposed so clearly the hypocrisy of disavowing what is so unblush-
ingly perpetrated.

The offer of the solicitors on behalf of the Patriot, to insert
Mr. Grant's reply in its entirety, if that would "satisfy Mr. Grant,"
was accepted, on the ground that his only object was to justify his
moral character against the accusations of the Patriot. But it
was required that a proof of Mr. Grant's letter should be for-

181

warded to him for correction ; also a proof of the proposed remarks
of the editor for inspection and comparison with the original
promise.

The second editorial explanation, as sent by the Patriot's soli-
citors, was as follows : —

The Rev. Brewin Grant insists on his right to reply to the article in which
•we recently [above a month before] criticised his Pamphlet, entitled "The
Bescue of Faith ;" we have from the first declared our readiness to insert any
temperate rejoinder, [this was another pure fabrication] but we were obliged to
refuse insertion of one letter which he addressed to us, for reasons we have already
stated; and we should have been quite justified in objecting to the letter which
appears in our columns to-day upon similar grounds, but we prefer to admit it,
rather than leave any pretence for saying that we have treated him unfairly.
We are quite content to leave the matter as between Mr. Grant and ourselves to
the good sense of our readers, contenting ourselves by repeating, in reply to Mr.
Grant's insinuating to the contrary, that " of Mr. Grant personally we know
nothing," and that we had neither the ability nor the wish to do more than
criticise the spirit and style of the publication he had submitted to the attention
of the religious community.

Here the editor does not scruple to affirm that he "prefers to
admit " the answer " rather than leave any pretence" for saying
that he had treated me " unfairly."

He knew that his only eeason was to avoid an action for libel.

When he " contents himself with repeating " " that of Mr. Grant
personally we know nothing," he does not " repeat " but only
alters the statement which he and the writers of the article knew to
he false, namely, — " of Mr. Grant otherwise [than by the ' Rescue
of Faith'] we know nothing." That first falsehood was written to
hide the animus of the libel ; this second was to evade the first. In
consequence of the representations of some that one of the protesters
the Rev. Baldwin Brown, B.A., was the author of this libel, I —
while believing him incapable of its malignity — told him what I had
heard. In his reply, which seemed frank, that fatal phrase "of Mr.
Grant otherwise we know nothing," was adroitly employed to show
that he could not be the author of the article. At the time when
he wrote me this demonstration I was not aware for certain that
several hands were actually employed in it.

But I now believe that the sentence in question was inserted for
two weighty reasons : — first, that the article might not seem to be a
revenge for the " Rivulet " defeat, which — like many another crime
— was proved by the too eager and early denial ; and secondly,
that each writer in turn might escape the charge of writing it,
because the sentence in question would be a falsehood in any one of
their mouths. Hence Mr. Brown wrote : —

182

" London, Nov. 17th.
" My dear Sir, — I read the article in the Patriot when it appeared.
The writer states that he ' knows nothing of Mr. Brewin Grant,' or
something to that effect. As I have known you well for twenty
years, your previous question is substantially whether I am capable
of writing and publishing a deliberate lie. I hope that I never by
public or by private report laid myself open to that question;

" And am, yours truly,

" J. BALDWIN BKOWN."

It was not till afterwards that I learned the " whole trick."

Each writer joining in the concoction of the article could say the
same as Mr. Brown says ; and so could the writer of the fatal
sentence, whether Binxey, Hall, Brown or Allon.

The editor knew that it would be false even from his pen ; and if
they fetched some lad out of the printing office to write that line, the
editor adopted it, and made it his own ; hence, seeing the inevitable
word for it, he told " another," and altered it into — " of Mr. Grant
personally we know nothing," which I am happy to say is true,
though not written truthfully.

At last the " proprietors " step in, and make the editor omit all
reference to the tell-tale untruth, "of Mr. Grant otherwise we know
nothing;" he is not even allowed to change " otherwise" into " per-
sonally," but is forced to pass it by in silent humility, after having
boggled at it with a fatal prevarication.

Hence the concluding letter from the Patriot's solicitors to
mine : —

" London, December 2.

" Dear Sir, — "We now send the proofs [of Mr. Grant's vindicatory letter,
and of a new Editorial article, instead of the one of which a copy had been sent
before.] A slight alteration will be found in the Editor's article, but this the
proprietors insist on. We shall be glad to receive back the proofs by return of
post, that they may be printed in the next paper."

The solicitors sent with the above note, this slightly altered third
attempt at an editorial article.

" The Rev. Brewin Grant claims the right to reply to the strictures on his
Pamphlet entitled the Rescue of Faith, which appeared in the Patriot several
weeks ago. "We have from the first expressed our willingness to insert any
temperate rejoinder from that gentleman. [Their invention overpowers their
memory.] But one letter we have rejected [did reject, October 30th, without
any offer to admit a " temperate rejoinder"] for reasons which we stated at the
time. The letter which appears in our columns to-day we should have been
qute justified [but not quite safe] in rejecting on similar grounds, and ak»
because it is an attempt to desciibe us as partisans of Mr. Godwin : [which they

183

are now ashamed of being.] This [that they are partisans of Mr. Godwin] ia
altogether a misrepresentation. Onr readers know that we were the first to point
ont the jiischievious tendency of Mr. Godwin's views. [This was again
altered into k what ice deem the mischievous tendency,' &c] We have however
decided to insert Mr. Grant's letter rather than leave that gentleman any ground
for complaint of unfairness : and we are quite contentto leave the whole matter
to the good sense of our readers."

The whole affair — conceived in a style of pharisaieal devoutness,
to cover heresy ; of meekness and charity, to cover malice ; and of
truth, to cover falsehood ; is consistently began with falsifying the
Rescue of Faith, and pretending ignorance of the author in order
to conceal an old grudge against him, and it closes consistently —
with the enormous joke of the editor — that when it would have
been fair to reject a reply he admitted it, in order not to seem un-
fair— though he knew that he was terrified, and crouched like a
culprit before the majesty of the law, because no other consideration
could inspire liim with the sentiment of justice, and even this has
only hardened him in rebellion against truth.

Mr. Turberyille, who thus made the Patriot illustrious, and
conducted it to its decease, is now the editor of the so-called
English Independent, named thus because the qualities called
"English" and "Independent" do net belong to it. The same
spirit rules it — the same clique gloats over its "Christian righ-
teousness."

Just above the "terms for advertisements" in the English
Independent, we read this extravagant weekly puff: —

" The English Independent is registered for transmission abroad."

" The combination of two such well-established Journals as the Patriot and
British Standard secures for the English Independent a large and influential
circulation."

After this " catchpenny appeal," would it be imagined that the
Patriot exercised "a malignant fierceness" in denouncing the
British Standard, which was carried on with so much vigour and
honesty by Dr. Campbell till the time of his decease ?

Nay, "The Rescue of Faith," which was so frantically maligned
in the Patriot, was composed of a series of articles that had appeared
in the British Standard, to which Mr. Turbervtlle is now linked
by the ceremony of a literary marriage. Yet, in his review of that
" Rescue," aided by " the Fifteen," he thus condemns the organ
that he now claims to have embraced : — " He (the writer of ' The
Rescue of Faith ') may perhaps understand us when we say that in
the world of secular literature, a great deal of it (the series of articles

184

from the British Standard) would be called blackguardism, and
would be refused admission into any respectable Journal" — (Patriot,
October 23, 1862.)

In another part of the same article, the writers, who did not then
anticipate " the combination of two such well-established journals,"
speak of my writing as " after the approved style of the periodical,
to which he contributes."

But now the name of this very British Standard, which this editor
affected so loftily to scorn, has become a respectable flag to sail
under ! We may however still expect the same insolence and
" Christian righteousness " as a reward for defending the righteous-
ness of Christ ; the same prudence in excluding answers from those
who are maligned and feared ; and the same readiness to submit on
compulsion, — in order not " to leave any ground for complaint of
unfairness ;" the same suppression of facts to keep its readers in
ignorance ; as in giving a list of pamphlets on both sides of the Irish
Church question, it carefully omitted the one by a person whose
position on the subject was constantly and wilfully misrepresented
in the English Independent, although his published statement —
" Gladstone and Justice to Ireland, " — was well known to the
editor, who could not answer it, and did not wish his readers to
know of it. Just as the advertisement of the title of the present
work, which I sent with payment to Mr. Howat, the former Patriot
and present English Independent publisher, was returned without
a word of explanation. It is only by hoodwinking their readers that
such papers maintain even the ricketty condition which precedes
"combination."

May it not be regarded as the completion of the reward inflicted
by some literary Nemesis, that the editor of the Patriot should not
only be forced to admit me into his columns — as in the next chapter
— to correct his boldness, but should afterwards be reduced to
shelter himself under the name of the very journal — the British
Standard — to whose columns my " style " was so suitable, and
whose prestige is Mr. Turberville's sheet anchor ? If he had the
courage, the openness, and real "Christian faith" of the late Dr.
Campbell, of the British Standard, whom he attacked while living,
and whose fame he would now appropriate, there would be no
necessity for these exposures.

185

Chapter XVIII.

WHAT I SAID WHEN I GOT INTO THE PATRIOT OFFICE.

THE VINDICATORY LETTER.

" The Rescue of Faith" defended against the " Patriot"
Article of October 23, 1862.

(This letter was, through fear of the law, admitted in the Patriot,
Dec. 11, seven weeks after the libel which it answers.)

To the Editor of the Patriot.

Sir, — During the Congregational Meetings I called by appoint-
ment en the meekest gentleman in London, [the Rev. Samuel
Martin, of Westminster,] with Mr. Godwin's lecture in my hand,
having previously forwarded the rough proofs of the Rescue of
Faith. He said, " Mr. Grant, I do not find that bitterness in this
production which has been attributed to some of your writings."
He enquired if I had fairly quoted Mr. Godwin. I offered to read
any passage that he asked for. When I was reading some he said,
"You horrify me; if you had not read those passages I should
have thought you were exaggerating."

The proposition maintained in the Rescue of Faith is not, as
you assume, that Mr. Godwin is not " courteous," nor that! am,
but that Mr. Godwin is not evangelical. I do not find fault with
him for, as you say, " but departing from accepted theological
doctrine," though I am at liberty to criticise his " errors," but I may
find fault with him for not departing from the College after " depart-
ing from accepted theological doctrine" which he was engaged to
teach. You defend his position by his " excellent personal cha-
racter ; " but you point out in the next Patriot the " ambiguous
morality" of clergymen who do the same ! You say, Oct. 30th,
respecting the rumoured resignation of the Rev. F. D. Maurice, —
" He has at length seen what all unprejudiced lookers-on have
long seen — the utter incompatibility of his theology with the
formulas which he has pledged himself to maintain." " His
character will no longer be compromised by the equivocal morality
of his position." He " will be free now to maintain whatever
opinions he may hold or arrive at, and when we differ from him we
shall have simply to combat the legitimate opinions of a free man,
and not to condemn the ambiguous morality of an adherent of
creeds which his teaching contradicts." " It is no pleasure to us to
see any church torn by dissension or emasculated by heresy. We
wish that we could congratulate the Church of England on Mr.

186

Maurice's example being followed by Professor Jowett and his co-
essayists, and by Bishop Colenso." The "example" was mytho-
logical ; these liberal and conscientious gentlemen will not escape
from " the equivocal morality of their position" till Professor
Godwin displays that " self-sacrificing spirit" which you recommend
in vain to the clergy who are in a similar "position." But you
make the " modesty of his assertions" and the "excellence of his
personal character" defend his position, and you make their "posi-
tion" damage and " compromise" their " character."

You also turn from Mr. Godwin's " excellent personal character"
to my " essential spirit of falsehood" and " malignant fierceness ! "
You defend his heterodoxy by exalting his spirit, and denounce the
Besctje of Faith by traducing mine.

With a boasted " scrupulous regard to Christian righteousness
and charity," you directly or by implication attribute to me " every
offensive missile that the vocabulary of abuse and the genius of
insinuation can furnish," ranking me with those who are " destitute
of high Christian rectitude" — "destitute of every intellectual
facility [which is a misfortune] that can constitute a literary critic,
and of every moral quality [which is a sin] that should characterise
a Christian one." I belong to those who use " unscrupulous argu-
ment," write with "unscrupulous pens" in the "unscrupulous
advocacy of truth," like one of its " unscrupulous friends" — dealing
in " coarseness," "vulgarity," " clap-trap," "blackguardism," and
"catchpenny appeals," with a " personal vindictiveness," " a gloating
eagerness and malignant fierceness" writing in the "essential spirit
of falsehood," coming " with a Rescue of Faith" to join the " Or-
thodox liars for God."

Suppose I am all this, it does not prove that Mr. Godwin is
evangelical : suppose I am not — what are you ?

Your article stated — u Of Mr. Grant otherwise [than by the
Rescue of Faith] we know nothing." Why was this stated?
Was the writer conscious that he would naturally be credited with
some other motive for his accusations ? Had he never heard of
" What's it all About?" How came he, in such ignorance of me,
to refer to my " college course ;" to " believe" I was a student
under Mr. Godwin, and to reason on that circumstance ? Can you
account for the insertion of this sentence — " Of Mr. Grant otherwise
we know nothing" ? It is significant and suspicious.

If it be proved, after all, that this writer had the Rtvulet Con-
troversy to " relieve his soul" of, and perhaps some more recent
event, the indelible fiction of his ignorance, assumed to seem impar-

187

tial, -will form a sad mark on his forehead. There are many cir-
cumstances which I have not space, if I had permission, to enter
into in this ; for the present, and in the Patriot, I content myself
with the leading points, and particularly with asserting that a more
painstaking criticism, or one freer from every taint of ill-feeling, or
dictated with a deeper desire to serve the truth of the Gospel,
and defend the honour of our Saviour, was never issued from the
press.

Even you neither deny its positions nor controvert its arguments :
* on Mr. Grant's arguments and analysis we cannot spend a line."
This is a fatal omission and an honest admission.

You go further, and confess that you had no legitimate purpose
to serve in the way of correcting any false impressions I might have
made, — saying that if there are any persons who attach any weight
to what I say you do not care to address them. Then, what did
you write for ?

You mention Mr. Hinton's name, and heg his pardon for intro-
ducing it in this connection : why did you not strike it out when
you saw the impropriety ? Everybody acknowledges, and none more
honestly than Mr. Godwin and his advisers and the Patriot, that
Mr. Hinton's " Strictures" and the " Rescue" are not to be
mentioned on the same day. Mr. Hinton calls Mr. Godwin's
theology a " soul- destroying leaven," and his arguments a " trick
of legerdemain ;" and you say Mr. Hinton is " courteous."

It is no compliment in controversy to be praised by the other
side : I should suspect it, or else myself. " The kisses of an
enemy are deceitful."

You treat me " in a very different spirit:" but your accusations
of me are as groundless as your praise of Mr. Godwin is irrelevant.
For instance — I prove that he is not orthodox ; you reply that he is
" courteous :" I show that he denies the atonement ; you say that
this is " blackguardism." I show that he ignores the inspiration of
Paul ; you reply that he is " devout." I prove that he sets aside
the Holy Spirit's personality and work ; you answer that he has
" spiritual goodness." I prove that he represents our Lord's death
as only a model death; you inform me that I am an "orthodox liar
for God." I show the fatal danger of upholding such a professor ;
you assure me that I have " a nature as incapable of gratitude and
delicacy as of courtesy and charity." So to the irrelevance of
accusing me, you add the peculiar "delicacy" of reproaching me for
a natural calamity. Even our street ruffians now-a-days do not mock
the blind. Natural incapacity is respected and pitied. But you accuse

188

me of wanting " every intellectual faculty," and reproach me for
not having that " gratitude and delicacy" which you are graciously
enabled to display, and which you acknowledge me to be " naturally
incapable" of J This exonerates me, and implicates you, if you
understood what you said, and it exposes you if you did not.
_ In a correspondence, the nature of which you know, your pub-
lisher said for himself and you,— " we disclaim all intention of
attacking your personal character; our remarks were confined to the
spirit of your pamphlet." This "spirit" of a thing is the most
indefinite and imaginary object in the world ; it is the refuge of the
destitute and the resort of the weak.

The Patriot publisher adds : — " We, however, shall be willing to
insert any letter fiom you, vindicating your own motives, and dis-
avowing personal feeling ; to which we will append an editorial note
disclaiming on our part all intention of imputing them [i.e. personal
feeling] to you."

Why should I " defend my own motives," if they are not
attacked ? How can you " disclaim all intention of imputing per-
sonal feeling," when you directly charge me with ''personal
vindicttveness," "gloating eagerness and malignant fierceness ?" I
leave these things to your own conscience. If I were in your
case, which I never was, I should retract what I said, instead of
saying — that I never said it, or did not mean it.

The most " discreditable" part of your attack is the effort to
bring all the odium which you heap on me, to injure my " church
and schools:" from which you omitted the "church," so leaving
the impression that you only wanted to prevent me obtaining sub-
scriptions to some private enterprise. "The catch-penny appeal"
for " Mr. Grant's schools" was, you know, what we call a" Chapel
case."

This affects only one of our churches, and that in a pecuniary
point of view, but the theological and moral sentiments which
you endorse and utter threaten the foundation of all our Churches,,
and contradict the first principles of common honesty. Thus,
defending a college professor, you say, "It is of more importance
that [such] a man should himself be true [to what ?] than that he
should utteb true things." This is like saying that it is of more
importance that a dispenser of medicine should himself be true
than that he should avoid giving strychnine instead of quinine !

Of a theological professor you say : — " Whatever, fa's theological
errors may be, he [like Maurice] uniformly impresses his students
with his spiritual goodness." He " but departs from accepted

189

theological doctrine," which he is engaged to teach : in this case
there is no " equivocal morality :" he only gives up the Gospel and
keeps his situation — that is all !

He has personal qualities of more importance than '•' uttering
true things." So they say with whom " true things" must be at
a discount.

You — without knowing anything of me " otherwise" than by this
pamphlet — accuse me of ingratitude to Mr. Godwin as my former
tutor ; but if I teach him the truth which he should have taught me,
do I not discharge the obligation ? "Am I therefore become
your enemy because I tell you the truth ?"

If it is not the truth, answer my arguments ; if it is the truth,
11 relieve your soul" by giving God thanks for enabling one — whom
you acknowledge to be destitute of " eveiy intellectual faculty" —
to vindicate the cross of Christ : that when men are silent — out of
the mouth of babes and sucklings He hath perfected praise : ever
doing the greatest works by the humblest agents, and by the things
that are not, bringing to nought things that are.

Yours verv truly,

BREWIN GRANT.

Chaper XIX.

THE ATHEIST AND THE PATRIOT:

The New Evangelical Alliance : or, how the Editor tried

to get out of it.

The Protestors having experienced Mr. Godwin's highest form of
religion — " the service of suffering," in their protracted terror, and
being forced at last into what " they feared," sought consolation
not in a text of scripture, nor in the testimony of a good conscience,
but in the testimony of an atheist, which served at once for conso-
lation and retaliation.

Thus the climax op dishonour was reached by the Patriot, when after
agreeing by i1- solicitors what observations it would make on the insertion of my
defensive letter, the editor, on the 11th of December, followed the vindication —
which he was forced by the fear of the law to insert — with this elegant paragraph :
— ' A letter now lies before us bearing the signature Atheos, and written with
manifest sincerity and earnestness, in which the writer affirms that he was con-
verted from Christianity, of which he was an earnest, prayerful professor, to
atheism, which, with his wife and children, he now professes, by listening to the
discussion which took p'ace in Cowper- street Rooms, some years ajo,\between
Mr. Bcewtn- Grant and Mr. Holyoaile.'

190

On seeing this I wrote to the editor, saying : — " Will you oblige
me with the original and history of the letter which you say lay
before you from ' Atheos :' will you tell me who iie is and where
he lives ?" In reply Mr. Turberville sent me an alleged copy of
the letter, but omitted the address, which he said " was not for
publication." Now I did not want it for publication, but for
investigation, and should have gone up to London and personally
tested the hoax ; but Mr. Turberville knew better, and so wrote
as follows :—

The Patriot Office, Bolt Court, &c, Dec. 16, 1862.

The editor of the Patriot complies with the Eev. Bbewin Gbant's request
to be furnished with a copy of the letter of " Atheos." The name and addbess
of the writer are appended to the original, but "not fob publication'." A
personal interview has confirmed the impression given by the letter itself —that
the writer is a sincere and earnest man.

Mr. Turberville had quite a sweet season with this " earnest"
saint, but would rather not permit me to enjoy the same spiritual
communion. "Not for publication!" — the writer was the most
modest of his sect. The fact is, the whole was a fabrication.

I printed and circulated through two subsequent congregational
union meetings in Sheffield and Manchester a pamphlet — " The
Kev. Isaac Yaughan ; a Memorial," on the 37th page of which
was stated in capitals, " I ilnew that no such man [as the alleged
atheist] existed."

Nor could any honest man pretend to believe the atheistic letter.
I do not give this as a reason for saying that Mr. Turberville did
not believe it : that proposition is proved by the fact that he knew
better than to tell me where the man lived.

I published at the time a declaration that it was an " impudent
hoax ;" and whether it was written by an atheist belonging to the
Patriot, or by some one not on the staff, " the earnest and sincere
man" would — if he could have been found — have gone through the
small sieve. Since Mr. Turberville is still an editor of the " acknow-
ledged representative of the Congregationalists" — doing" Christian
righteousness" under the friendly auspices of Messrs. Binney,
Allon and Company Limited to "Fifteen" — that the world may
know that an alliance of spiritual men with atheists was not first
invented in the Irish Church agitation, and, that it may be known
to what desperate and immoral expedients the present leaders of the
age have lent themselves in defence of heresy, to put down fidelity
by calumny — no matter out of what place fished up — I will give
this atheist's letter, which so entranced the patriotic band; or

191

rather I will give that alleged copy of it which Mr. Turberville
sent to me with his note already quoted.

AN ATHEIST'S TESTIMONIAL TO THE EDITOK OF THE PATRIOT.

(Copy.) November 10, 1862.

To the Editor of the Patriot.

Dear Sir. — As one of Bee win Grant's converts from Christianity to Secularism
allow me a few brief moments.

An article in the Patriot of the 23rd nit., containing criticisms upon Brewin
Grant's Kescue of Faith (?) has just been read by me. The critique contains
so much good sense, and is written in such an unusual spirit of fairness for a
Christian journal, that I feel a pleasurable duty in acknowledging the same,
as also to endorse your estimate of the firebrand known as the Kev. Brewin
Grant.

My first introduction to the " pious mountebank" was during the debate
between him and Mr. G. J. Holyoake, in Cowper-street Eoom. I had not seen
either of the disputants prior to that, to me, memorable debate, nor had I read
a line of their writings.

At the invitation of one of Mr. Holyoake's disciples I consented to be pre-
sent during several nights' discussion.

As an earnest, prayerful Christian, many years a Sunday-school scholar
and teacher, a consistent member of a Christian church, seeking (!) to know
the truth, I went/ree from prejudice against the teacher of heretical and un-
popular truths to hear both sides of important questions.

During the first evening's debate Brewin Grant, the Christian teacher,
Christ's faithful servant, evinced such intense " personal vindictiveness"[ quoted
from the Patriot ! ] and such "malignant fierceness" [quoted from the
Patriot ! ] against his opponent, accompanied with such "gloating eagerness,"
[quoted from the Patriot /] to crush his opponent — facts that unmistakably
indicated him to be of " a nature utterly incapable of delicacy, courtesy, or
charity" — [the Patriot still !] — he showed himself to be the very " genius of
insinuation" — [Patriot again] — and more than a match for any clown for ' pious
ribaldry.' Having said this much, I trust that my subsequent objections to
the cause he advocates may not be considered entirely as the result of my
objection to the advocate. I was present every evening during the debate, and
purchased the published report of it ; and the result has been a gradual growth
out of and away from Christianity to atheism.

I have been an atheist for six years. My wife is now an atheist, and so my
children will be atheists ; my brother is now an atheist, and so tvill be his
children. Of course while life lasts my earnest efforts will be for the spread
of those truths which for [six] years have sustained me, and will (!) sustain me
through life, and I doubt not will (!) also sustain me in death. — Yours sincerely,

ATHEOS.
Now first, is there any reason why a man who intended this to
be published, and really believed these glorious " truths," should
send his name " not for publication ?" Would this be modesty,
or would it be natural " secular" prudence, as the only defence
against detection ?

192

Secondly, he flatters the editor by telling him to his face that it
was very unusual for a " Christian journal" like the Patriot to
show " good sense" and " fairness ;" in fact he accuses Mr.
Tureerville of having been for once blessed with a lucid moment,
a fit of sense and honesty so remarkable and " unusual" that it
did the " sincere and earnest man's" heart good, and made it his
" pleasurable duty" to recognize the same. This dose of flattery
— for I believe poor Mr. Turberville mistook it for a compliment,
as to the unusualness of his honesty or " good sense" and " fairness"
— made the subsequent courtesy towards me all the more charming.

Thirdly, I do not see that the atheist adds to what the editor
and his coadjutors before wrote of me, beyond the terms " fire-
brand," "pious mountebank," and "Christ's faithful servant,"
which these writers had omitted to utter before. The other com-
pliments are only repetitions. I hope I shall always deserve the
last of these nicknames, " Christ's faithful servant," and then
I shall never secure the approbation of atheists, as Messrs.
Tureerville, Binney, Allon, and Co., did.

Fourthly, the writer is extremely specific as to his want of pre-
judice against Mr. Holyoake and his " unpopular truths," and as
to his associations with that class : but he omitted saying in what
Sunday school he taught, and of what church he had been a
member. This would have given a clue, but Mr. Turberville
kept the name and address — "not for publication." For "the
children of this world are wiser in their generation than the chil-
dren of light,"

Fifthly, " Atheos" himself was almost afraid that even Mr.
Tureerville would see the hoax of an " earnest, prayerful
Christian," " a consistent member of a Christian church," giving
up his Saviour because my style of advocacy was not satisfactory !
Why did not Mr. Turberville's " unusual" " Christian righteous-
ness" win the wanderer back ? If the man had said that he turned
against me because I was disagreeable I could have forgiven his
logic and pitied his taste ; but when a " prayerful Christian" and
" earnest" to boot says that he gave up his Redeemer on that
account — Credat Judaius ? — Tell it to the marines, or to " the
Fifteen !" " Atheos" tries to bridge over this chasm, thinking that
it might make even the Patriot editor wake up, so he covers it with
this odd apology : — " I trust that my subsequent objections to the
cause he advocates may not be considered entirely as the result of
my objection to the advocate." Which of the " Protesters" cobbled
this sentence ? Whoever could imagine that his "subsequent objec-

193

tions to the cause" resulted "entirely" from his previous "objection
to the advocate ?"

Sixthly, he makes as great a chasm in chronological order as in
logical sequence ; for he directly adds — " I have been an atheist
six years." This was really "subsequent" to the Cowper-street
debate, for that occurred in January, 1853, and this atheist writes
in November, 1862 — ten years after the debate, " six " of which
he had been an atheist, four years too late to be converted by
" listening " to that discussion. Perhaps he had long ears.

Yet Mr. Tureerville, in his note in the Patriot, said — "A letter
now lies before us," " in which the writer affirms that he was
converted from Christianity " "to Atheism," " by listening to the
discussion which took place in Cowper-street," " between Mr.
Brewin Grant and Mr. Holyoake." The "letter lies before us,"
and he could have added, truly — " we lie behind it."

This is Christian journalism — to bring in an atheist or manu-
facture one, in order to traduce the most useful and important
labour in which popular infidelity from being rampant became
silent, and to introduce this clumsy falsehood in revenue for another
defence of truth, not against open but masked and consecrated
infidelity !

All this was done under the very eyes of "the Fifteen" advocates
of " a scrupulous regard to Christian righteousness ; " and but for
Dr. Campbell's paper, the British Standard, which does not now
exist, nor is there anything in its place, the only reward I should
have received, would have been the "courtesy" of these liberal
theologians, who at the very time, when by force of law they are
doing penance for a libel, by inserting my defence, also insert this
tale of conversion to infidelity, as founded on a letter of an anony-
mous and impossible atheist, and whose letter, as copied by Mr.
Turberville, contradicts what he asserted out of it.

A parallel cannot be found in all the annals of " Christian
righteousness."

It is doubtless humiliating to be in any way associated with such
transactions, even though but as the innocent occasion of driving
these patriotic Christians into such desperate shifts, evasions, and
inventions. In fact, I felt at the time half guilty of the cowardice,
prevarication, submission, and revenge into which I had forced the
protesting conspirators and their organ ; and if by this present time
I have, in the exercise of meekness and charity, forgiven myself,
I have no reason for accusing them of the like vacillation of feeling.
For much as they are enamoured of Christian courtesy and charity,

194

they will not suffer these " to overpower their sense of righteous-
ness," or to allure them from the life-long and impossible task of
speaking the unspeakable, as they labour for methods of " express-
ing in the strongest language of which they are capable, their unutter-
able dislike and disgust at such criticisms as Mr. Brewin Grant has
thought proper to indulge in;" and which, from the inability of
the protesters and their allies to answer, provoked them to betray
themselves beyond all that either law or gospel would permit.

Chapter XX.
WHAT IS THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION, ITS PRO-
FESSED CONSTITUTION AND OBJECTS ?

The name " Independents," lately almost superseded by that of
" Congregationalists," as less obviously satirical, was adopted to
express the disavowal of all authority external to any single society
of professing Christians meeting for worship in one place. In
recent times three forms of usurpation or external authority have
sprung up, in the shape of " the Sister Churches," in any town and
immediate neighbourhood, the wider circle of some County Asso-
ciation, and the more ambitious conglomeration called the Congre-
gational Union. None of these are " Courts of Appeal" : they
only inflict advice, and sometimes make it as disagreeable to refuse
it as to take it.

According to our theory, union with the " Sister Churches" in a
town, or with the Association in a County, or with the Congrega-
tional Union, is purely voluntary. At present non-union with the
two first is a peculiarity, and involves a bad mark and possible
penalty.

The Congregational Union meetings are held in May and autumn
of each year. " The constitution of the Congregational Union of
England and Wales" was "revised by the seventeenth annual assem-
bly, May, 1847." (Year Book, 1850, p. 12.) The composition of the
Union, revised as aforesaid and still in substance adhered to, is
thus described : —

I. — That the Union of Congregational Churches and Ministers throughout
England and Wales is founded on a full recognition of their own distinctive
principle, namely, the scriptural right of every separate church to maintain per-
fect independence in the government and administration of its own particular
affairs ; and therefore that the Union shall not, in any case, assume legislative
authority, or become a court of appeal.

195

II. — That this Union shall consist of Associations of Congregational Churches
and of individual churches severally adhering to the Union. The qualification
of a church for membership in this Union shall be connexion with an Associa-
tion ; or, where no Association is accessible, recommendation by the three
ministers, already in the Union, residing nearest to the applicant church. Every
Church connected with this Union shall make an annual contribution to its funds ;
neglect of which, for two successive years, shall forfeit membership. The tutors
of the Theological Colleges of the Independents, and the officers of their general
public societies, being members of Congregational churches, also ministers and
deacons in fellowship with churches eligible for connexion with the Union, may
become personal members of the Union by payment of an annual subscription of
not less than five shillings.

The Congregational Union is in fact, as lately described to me
by one of our college professors, a voluntary " five-shilling club ;"
that being the price of personal membership : a church pays ten
shillings; but this admits its pastor free, and one representative for
every hundred church members. My own church, Cemetery-road,
Sheffield, was admitted into the Congregational Union for ten shil-
lings, just before the assembling of the ministers and delegates in
Sheffield, in 1866. On the same occasion, and for the same price,
the late Rev. Isaac Vaughan's Chukch, Rotherham, though at the
time not " recognized" by the " sister churches" and the County
Association, was also received into the Congregational Union. It is
however but fair to note that one object was, to secure "beds"
for the deputations among the families of the two respective congre-
gations. Every statement of the " Constitution of the Congregational
Union" declares " that the union shall not in any case assume
legislative authority, or become a court of appeal." In fact it has
no power constitutionally, and all exercise of power is usurpation,
even if authorised by the Assembly of Pastors and Delegates, and
much more so when surreptitiously assumed by the committee. The
Union can decide, like any club, as to who shall be its future mem-
bers, and what shall be the price of admission ; but it cannot,
without the grossest imposition, pretend to prescribe the boundary
of the denomination : when it pretends to this it legislates, which
is contrary to its express " constitution." When it undertook the
guardianship of the general list of ministers it ought to have pre-
served it sacredly, and cannot without a libel publish as a sort of
denominational document a list of ministers, leaving out those long
on it at mere ignorant caprice or baser malice. It has no authority
to exclude and depose.

Of the seven " objects" of the Congregational Union the first is
" to promote evangelical religion in connection with the Inde-
pendent denomination." But the practice is to watch over

1%

" evangelical religion," or rather to lament any departure from it in
the Church of England, and to screen the departure from it among
ourselves.

The seventh and last " object" of this Union is " to assist in
maintaining and enlarging the civil rights of Protestant Dissenters :"
but the practice is to extinguish those rights in dissenting ministers,
while claiming them from the State.

The Congregational Union does not comprise in its membership a

THIRD OF THE MINISTERS Or a TENTH OF THE CHURCHES. It IS the

E.U.C. of Congregationalism, though it goes beyond that English
Church Union in usurping the domination which its "constitution"
repudiates. In its Year Book for 1869, " Pastors and Churches,"
enumerated as subscribers "to the Union " (p. 83), are a hundred
and ninety out of two thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine (p.
400), English and Welsh Churches. This leaves two thousand six
hundred and seventy churches not connected with the Union.
Besides this number of " churches and pastors," there are six
hundred and forty-eight five-shillings " personal members," of whom
a hundred and fifty are laymen ; leaving four hundred and ninety
ministers — besides those of the churches named — members of the
Congregational Union, out of two thousand three hundred and eight
" ministers and missionaries" in England and Wales (p. 400). This
leaves sixteen hundred and twenty-eight ministers and mission-
aries outside the Union, to six hundred and eighty in all who are
members of it. Nor must it be imagined that the members are
permanent, but those who desire to attend the next Union meet-
ings send their annual five shillings soon enough to be enrolled as
members for the occasion, and to secure board and lodgings gratis
during ike sittings of the Assembly.

This is enough respecting the constitution and composition of the
Union, to enable the reader to understand its proceedings in the
matters to be referred to.

" The Year Book," containing statistics of the denomination, as
well as the minutes of the Congregational Union, is "prepared"
" under the direction " of " the Committee of the Congregational
Union ;" and besides a list of the members of that body, and lists
of local associations, as well as ministers in the districts of these
associations but not members of the local unions, it contains an
alphabetical list of " accredited congregational ministers" in Eng-
land, Wales, Scotland, &c. There are certain prescribed and
customary methods by which names are put upon this general list,
whicljjs arranged in alphabetical order, and is not affected by the

197

locality in which the ministers thus recorded reside. There is no
rule by which the Union can remove ministers from this list. To
remove a name from this list would be to degrade the person from
status of an " accredited congregational minister," and is the same
in effect or intention and tendency as depriving a clergyman of
holy orders. It is true that any churches might choose or cling to
such minister, but if at the time of his " professional decapitation "
he should be " without pastoral charge," it would go hard with him
in attempting to secure " a settlement," especially as the officials
who may perform the act would be diligent in disparaging him in
order to justify themselves : and secret calumny is an arrow that
flieth in darkness, and cannot well be guarded against. If any
should aid the excommunicated pastor they would be a mark for
the same shaft, but this is a danger to which few Independents
expose themselves. I know only one.

Chapter XXI.

THE ABSOLUTISM OF UNION OFFICIALS, AND THE

POWER OF ARBITRARY MINISTERIAL DECAPITATION.

Official Correspondence, 1S66.

An instance of this kind of excommunication, in which I defended
the victim and paid the penalty, will amaze if it does not amuse
those simple souls who think that the leaders of Independency are
friends of independence. The late Rev. Isaac Vaughan, of Masbro'
Chapel, whose name to the end of his life was in "the West-Riding
Congregational Register," and who was on the committee of the
Rotherham College, had this added to some other troubles, under
the combined weight of which he sunk, — that between a professor
of the college, and the Year-book editor, his name was secretly
erased from the list of accredited congregational ministers.

Though his decease occurred soon after this, I felt that in
vindication of his memory, and of the principles of our denomina-
tion, some enquiry into summary private despotism was required.

I first applied to the immediate officials, the editor of the Yea:
Book, and the district secretaries from whom, as to new names,
he should receive information ; and those new names alone are
specifically regulated for.

198

To the Editor op the Congregational Tear Book.

July 20th, 1866,

Dear Sir, — I should be greatly obliged if you could inform me how it happened
that the name of the Kev. Isaac Vaughan was removed from the list of
Congregational Ministers in the last Year Book.

As you are the editor, I take the liberty of enquiring from you on ivhat grounds
and by whose arrangement the omission was made. I see at the beginning of
the list your rules for adding names ; what I wish to learn is the authority and
process of removing them.

It could not be accidental, because it is too systematic. When his church at
Masbro' was reported "vacant," he should have been mentioned amongst the
'removals" as a matter of course : and this I suppose the editor would have
attended to, as in all other cases, if he had not received directions to the con-
trary. I buried Mr. Vaughan last Fridav. Yours respectfully,

BREWIN GRANT.

The answer to this enquiry is a rare specimen of quietly putting
a man out of the way : —

Congregational Union of England and Wales,

18, South Street, Finsbury, E.C., July 30th, 1866.

My dear Sir, — The authority applies equally to admission or omission. This
is all I can say on the matter. As the "good man" has gone, I trust to a
blessed home, it is desirable that all reference to the past should drop.

Revd. B. Grant. Yours truly, Robert Ashton.

To this I replied from —

Blackpool, August 2nd, 1866.

Dear Sir, — If a man may be "put away privily" — guillotined in the dark, by
the arbitrary will of unknown persons, who employ an editor as an instrument,
and who are in turn screened by his "discretionary silence" — let us hide our
heads in shame and say no more about our boasted Independent principles.

I am told "the authority applies equally to admission or omission," that is,
as the names are added to our list, by the recommendation of a college tutor or
a district secretary, or two neighbouring ministers, so any college tutor, district
secretary, &c, may of their own mere motion, direct you to erase any name
from the list of Congregational ministers !

The thing is incredible and monstrous. Nor do you tell where the rule is to
be found.

Yousay, "the 'good man' has, you trust, gone to a blessed home." I trust you
meant the phrase sincerely and not contemptuously ; and if so, you are con-
demned out of your own mouth in having treated him as a bad man.

Pardon me if I resent the slighting and doubtful tone of "trust," in which you
dismiss so estimable a man, whom you have helped to wrong.

Because the " good man " has gone, " as you trust to a blessed home," you
say " it is desirable that all reference to the past should drop." This is exceed-
ingly inconsequential, and it could be said by any one who had helped a " good
man" "home," prematurely, which I am sure his persecutors did.

It should be needless to remind you that you have not answered my question, —
by what rule and, at ivhose suggestion, you struck off this revered name from
the list of accredited congregational ministers. You assert what is impossible

199

and contradictor}-, that " the same authority " adds or removes these names ; by
which rule one tutor could add and another could remove the same name ; so it
would be o?i and off at the same time.

You are responsible to the entire denomination and the Christian public, not to
mention higher relationships, which cannot be escaped by saying l> this is all I
can say on the matter." You can say more ; and it is neither " desirable" nor
possible, that " all reference to the past should drop."

Yours faithfully, Brewin Grant.

The Eev. Robert Ashton, Editor of the Congregational Year Book.

No answer was vouchsafed to this, the editor being in his
impregnable irresponsible position.

The following was addressed to the Rev. F. J. Falding, D.D. —

"July 29, 1866.

" Dear Sir, — When I enquired why Mr. Yaughan's name was removed from
the list of ministers in the Year Book, and why it does not appear in the list of
" removals," though Masbro' is reported "vacant," I have been told that the
district secretary makes out the lists ; so it is put down to you, as secretary of
this district. I should be obliged if you would inform me as to the truth on this
matter. " Yours faithfully, Brewin Grant."

In answer, I received this letter —

"Kotherham College, August 2, 18G6.
" Dear Sir. — I will give you any information which you can require on the
subject of your note if you will call on me, but I decline to enter into any corre-
spondence about it. To prevent any unnecessary trouble or delay, inform me
when I may expect the favour of a call, and I will be at home to see you at the
time you appoint, or let you know if I cannot be.

" I am, dear Sir, yours truly,
" Eev. B. Grant, B.A., Sheffield." " F. J. Falding."

In answer I wrote as follows —

" Sheffield, August 4, 1866.

" Dear Sir,— I returned home late last evening, and so was unable to
acknowledge sooner the receipt of a letter in which you intimate that you have
" any information which I can require on the subject of my note, but decline " to
put it in writing. As the transaction to which I refer was a public act, though
privately suggested, I seek only such information as can be honestly laid before
the public, and such as any member of our denomination would have a right to
•expect from the officials concerned.

" Supposing you to be clear in the matter, I see no difficulty in the way of
your disavowing all share in so grave an act of injustice and indignity.

" The interview for which you give me an opportunity could answer no useful
end, unless I could publish the information you can afford ; but as you seem to
desire secrecy, of which there has been too much already, I decline to enter into
any conversation in a matter of public justice, which may not be proclaimed on
the house tops. " Yours very truly, Brewin Grant."

** The Eev. F. J. Falding, D.D."

200

The secretary of the West Riding Association, in which the
Sheffield and Masbro' district is included, could afford to be explicit.
He therefore wrote in reply as follows : —

" Moorville, Beeston Hill, Leeds, August 8, 1866.

" My dear Mr. Grant, — Yours from Blackpool reached me this morning,
and according to your request I reply to it by the first post. I am only one of
six persons upon whom the duty is devolved annually, by the Bev. R. Ashton, of
revising the fist of West Biding ministers ; the others are the secretaries of the
district. If you are so fortunate as to be a peruser of the " West Riding Congre-
gational Register," for the contents of which I am directly responsible, you may find
Mr. Yaughan's name in the last list of the " Congregational ministers of the West
Riding," which was published only a few weeks ago. Officially I never do any-
thing which I am not instructed to do by my committee, and I never received
any instructions respecting Mr. Yaughan from that body.
With best regards, I am, yours truly,

Rev. B. Grant, B.A. JAMES HUGHES MORGAN.

Before writing to the secretary of the Union, I had circulated
by post " The Rev. Isaac Vaug-han, a Memorial, with Reflections
on the Necessity for Independence among the People called Indepen-
dents, in order to work out their Church Principles."

In reply to a copy of this, I received the following emphatic
testimony from the Rev. Joseph Parker, Manchester : —

(The Italics or Small Capitals in this letter are not the writer's.)

Old Trafford, Sept. 12th, 1866.

My dear Sir. — I received yonr pamphlet, for which I beg to thank you. I
have read it with deep and mingled interest, for I knew Mr. Yaughan thirteen or
fourteen years ago, and respected him very highly. Of his latter life I have
not known anything except what has appeared occasionally respecting his public
services in the newspapers. I feel that surely you must have missed a link in
your painful narrative ; it seems to me utterly impossible that for the reasons
you have assigned, or rather the facts you have stated, that his name could
have been omitted from the " Congregational Year Book." Are you quite sure
that no link has escaped your attention ? Here and there I feel as if a point-
had been kept back from you, and a knowledge of which would have altered the
complexion of the whole case, Have you no reason to think that this is so ? If
not, I must pronounce the case one of extraordinary and indeed of inexcusable
severity. If this kind of thing is to be tolerated, then no man's name
is safe ; tour name, or mine, or the name of any other brother may disappear
without the slightest reason being assigned to us for its omission.* The

THING REALLY OUGHT TO BE LOOKED INTO ; and IF NO SUFFICIENT REASON

BE forthcoming for the omission of Mr. Yaughan's name, then men who lay
any claim to self-respect ought to withdkaw their names from the list of
" accredited Independent Ministers, "t and by a quiet earnest protest show that
while they cannot cure an evil, yet they will do their utmost to bring it into dis-
favour. I am quite anxious about the case. If anything further should turn

* Dr. Paeker was a prophet here, so far as my name is concerned. +But will he or any
others who " lay claim to self-respect" speak out ? Will he u withdraw" his " name ?''

201

up to cast light upon any phase of it do let me know, for I feel that the

HONOUR AND INTEGRITY OF BRITISH CONGREGATIONALISM ARE ON THEIR TRIAL.

With repeated thanks for your pamphlet, and with an earnest hope that you
have overlooked some important fact, I am most truly yours,

JOSEPH PARKER,

Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., Sheffield.

Sheffield, Sept. 13th, 1866.

My dear Sir, — The missing links which you require should have been supplied
by the Rev. Robert Ashton, the editor of the Congregational Tear Book, or by the
secretary of the district (Dr. Falding).

You consider it " impossible" that, merely on account of " the facts" I have
stated, " his name could have been omitted from the Congregational Year Book."
You will observe that I have not attempted to give either " reasons" or " facts"
to account for that erasure, but have simply inquired — of those who ought to
answer — what those reasons and facts were : " on what grounds and by whose
arrangement the omission was made ?"

All the facts in the world — whether manufactured after the victim is dead or
not — will never justify expulsion without notice or trial, any more than a police-
man can hang a prisoner whether guilty or not.

You have no alternative but to lift up your voice for the "integrity and honour
of British Congregationalism," which you say " are on their trial."

How can we utter protests against tyranny, corruption, and patronage in other
sections, when these things are permitted in our own ?

Be good enough to observe that all the positions I assume are independent
of any view of Mr. Vaughan's character ; the process of treatment by the
Year Book managers was utterly illegal, arbitrary, and tyrannical; for a man
has a right even to be hung constitutionally. Therefore, no new facts would
serve your turn, for the fact of the methods pursued, irrespective of the
character of the person so treated, is a scandal to our denomination.

But, while I thus distinguish between Mr. Yaughan's character and the real
question at issue, I in no degree swerve from the assertion, that taking him for
all in all, I never knew a better or worthier minister of the gospel.

Yours very truly,

BREWIN GRANT.

I next wrote to the committee of the Congregational Union,
stating the case for the consideration of the members of that body,
who were in fact responsible for the introduction of this tyranny.

"Sheffield, Sept. 17, 1866.

"To the Eev. George Smith, D.D., Secretary of the Congre-
gational Union.

"My dear Sir, — I beg, through you, to call attention to a
question directly affecting the Congregational Union, from
whose organ — the 'Year Book for 1866' — a minister's name is
purposely erased, by the editor, without any intimation having been
given to the minister so excluded.

"The committee repudiates responsibility for any accidental omis-
sions. But this was a deliberate act, which the editor refuses to

202

explain, further than by a reference to the rules of admission, at
the head of the alphabetical list of ' accredited ministers,' which
rules do not refer to, nor provide for, exclusion.

"This question is independent of the character of the
excluded minister, now deceased, and which won for him the
esteem of many friends; for his exclusion was the secret and
arbitrary act of your official, directed, perhaps, by others, the
scandal of which attaches to your "Year Book." To pass by this
act of tyranny will be to endorse it, and the world will take know-
ledge of our conduct alongside our boasted liberal and independent
principles. We make it our own act and deed, as a Congregational
Union, if we endorse the "Year Book," and say nothing openly
and officially against that private professional decapitation of one of
our ministers by the silent erasure of his name from the "accre-
dited" list.

"We can no more talk of our Bicentenary heroes and martyrs,
if we show to the whole world that, as far as we can, we inflict all
the injustice which they suffered or practically connive at it.

"As I do not desire to see any conflict or confusion in our meet-
ings, I am anxious to know from you, whether the committee of
the Union will be prepared with any explanation of this mysterious
procedure, to which any one of us may be exposed, and which it is
no less necessary to have explained because the victim of it 'is
gone to a blessed home.'

"Yours truly,

"BREWIN GRANT."

The following reply was sent to me by the secretary, the Rev.
George Smith, D.D. : —

" Congregational Union of England and Wales,

18, South-street, Finsbury, E.C., Sept. 25, 1866.

" My dear Sir, — I should have answered your note earlier, but
for the fact that I was from home when it was delivered at my
house, and though it followed me at some distance of time, your
pamphlet [' the Rev. Isaac Yaughan : a Memorial'] did not ; the
latter I have read since my return and the former I sent to Mr.
Ashton, [the Union's editor of the Year Book]. I have since seen
and conversed with him on the subject, and I find that he has only
one rule in relation to the annual insertion of names in the Year
Book. He places there only those who are returned to him [by
the district secretaries]. Mr. Vaughan's name was not so returned

203

[i.e. by Dr. Falding, district secretary,] last year, and conse-
quently it was omitted from the printed list.

"I am sure that Mr. Ashton was not influenced in any degree
by personal feeling, but simply acted on a rule which he applies
alike to admission and omission. Neither his colleague [Dr. Smith]
nor the committee interfere with his duty [caprice ? ] as editor,
and a prefatory note in the volume distinctly declares that the com-
mittee of the Union do not hold themselves responsible for any omis-
sions or errors in the statistics. If any injustice has been done, or
any needless sorrow inflicted, it will be deeply regretted by us all,
and by none more than the editor.

" I shall place your letter before the committee at their next
meeting, and will convey to you any resolution or conclusion they
may adopt.

" I remain yours faithfully,

" Rev. B. Grant, B.A." " G. SMITH.

That the committee might not come to any resolution based on
the erroneous ideas entertained by the colleagues and secretaries,
I immediately wrote in reply, as follows : —

"Sheffield, September 26, 1866.

My dear Sir, — I hope the resolution of the committee, which I
anxiously wait for, will not include any of the exploded excuses
which from your kind mention of them seem to be all that can
be suggested.

" You • find that Mr. Ashton has only one rule in relation to the
annual insertion of names in the Year Book. He places there
only those who are returned to him. Mr. Vaughan's name was
not so returned, and consequently it was omitted from the printed
list.' This implies that the names are annually added anew without
any reference to the fact of their appearing in the list before : so
he receives some 2,500 names yearly ; and if any person fancies to
omit one name out of this number he makes no enquiry, but erases
the name from the ' list of accredited ministers,' and thus can
publicly degrade any minister from his professional standing !

" A thing which neither law nor decency would permit. In this
case he carries out the expulsion perpetrated privately by our
district secretary, who permits the same name to be retained on his
own college committee !

" But ' he simply acts on a rule which he applies equally to
admission or omission.' But you know that the rule does not
apply to both.
h 2

204

"'Additions are made to this list from time to time only as
ministers [that is, new ones] are accredited by the tutors of colleges,
secretaries of associations,' &c. Where is your rule for omissions?
The ' name not having been sent is a poor evasion the name was
there before, and need not be sent'. If your ' committee does not
interfere' it ought, and is guilty of what it permits. The reference
to the disavowal of responsibility for ' omissions or errors' is out
of place, since this was no such omission but a wilful erasion.

" This ' injustice' was not done inadvertently, but on purpose.
It did inflict ' needless sorrow,' and your editor did not ' regret it,'
but treated it with levity as ' the good man's' fate — a marked phrase,
uttered either contemptuously or insincerely, and explainable on
no other ground.

"The committee, I think, will not fence with so plain a case ; if
they ' deeply regret the injustice,' let them frankly say so, and
deliver the Union from the suspicion of being an organized
tyranny sustained by organized hypocrisy, as this reference to
non-existing rules would make it appear.

" It is better to be plain in these matters ; and I beg you to
excuse this plainness of speech, which still permits me to remain
yours respectfully, "BREWIN GRANT.

" The Rev. George Smith, D.D."

The official reply from the Congregational Union committee to
my letter, as promised by Dr. Smith, was forwarded with the
following note : —

" My dear Sir, — I placed our correspondence before the com-
mittee of the Union to-day, and they adopted the following resolu-
tion, requesting me to forward it to you.

" I am, with Christian regards,

" Yours faithfully,
" October 2, 1866." " G. SMITH."

Resolution : — " A correspondence having been read between
the Rev. Brewin Grant, of Sheffield, and the secretaries
of this Union, relative to the removal of the name of the
late Rev. Isaac Vaughan from the list of accredited
ministers in the last Year Book ; this committee, assured
by Mr. Ashton that he acted in this case upon an official
communication from the district secretary according to the
invariable rule, must hold their editor blameless in this
matter, and feel confident that nothing was further from
his intention than to inflict injury, or occasion painful
feeling in any quarter."

205

This "resolution" did not remove the "injustice;" it only
attempted to shift the blame from " their editor " to the " district
secretary." The committee did not express regret at " the injustice"
committed in its own organ, nor produce the " official communica-
tion," which could not be " OFFICIAL " unless the committee of
the district authorized its transmission, which never happened ; and
when the district secretary omitted to send the name "their editor"
should have enquired the reason, and the minister himself who was
thus pained "without intention" should surely have been com-
municated with. Did Mr. Ashton think "the good man " had no
friends ?

The " invariable rule " on which it is pretended that the editor
acted, is simply taking cowardly refuge in an arbitrary invention.

To prepare for meeting the assembly in Sheffield it was necessary
for the committee to have some public resolution ; and this was
provided for by a correspondence between me and Dr. Parker, of
Manchester, who, asking me what step I should take, and what
resolution I could suggest, and at the same time corresponding with
the secretary was at last furnished, as from the committee, with
a resolution, which he had suggested and which I had amended, and
which the committee had adopted and requested him to propose in
the Sheffield meeting.

Up to this time Dr. Parker had acted in the closest co-operation
with me ; but having now been entrusted with a public position, for
the expected autumnal meetings in Sheffield, he became reticent,
adopted the principle, and ignored " the case," as indicated in the
following chapter.

Chapter XXLT.

THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION MEETINGS IN

SHEFFIELD, OCTOBER, 1866:

SCREENING OFFICIAL TYRANNY, SILENCING DISCUSSION, AND EVADING
INVESTIGATION BY A PRETENDED RESOLUTION OF ENQUIRY.

The Congregational Union having been involved by " their
editor" in an act of grave tyranny towards a provincial minister, now
deceased, by which act all the avowed principles of congrega-
tionalists are set aside, and the committee, being reluctantly forced
to enquire into the matter, in order to make some feasible
— h 3

206

appearance in Sheffield, they arranged to smother the deed, by
proposing to enquire into some new rules, instead of enquiring into
the violation of the rules that did exist, and which had been dis-
gracefully broken by the illegal erasure of a minister's name from
the " Year Book," which is like striking a solicitor's name off the
rolls, by an arbitrary act, without any notice or enquiry.

The plan of hiding the case, under pretence of advocating the
principle 3 was adopted with care and carried out with skill ; " The
Kev. Dr. Parker rose to move a resolution in reference to the Year
Book. He said the resolution had reference to a particular part
of the Year Book" — meaning the list of accredited ministers.
After a eulogy on the accuracy of the Book as " most ably com-
piled," he proceeded : —

" The resolution which he had to move was that the pastors,

deacons, and delegates then assembled most respectfully

requested the committee of the Union to consider whether

any alterations should be made in the terms on which

the names of ministers were inserted in or omitted from the

* Congregational Year Book' and report upon the same

at the next annual meeting."

" He was in favour of the most stringent conditions of insertion

being exacted, and the removal of a name was a thing that affected

the church most seriously, and assumed a grave aspect. The

removal of a name amounted to ministerial deposition ; it was, in

fact, a species of excommunication, and being fraught with the

gravest consequences to individual ministers,* he thought the time had

come when the subject should be fully and candidly expounded and

decided upon."

" It was a matter for the consideration of the Union." "Whilst
they stood up for the general repute of the denomination, they
should be anxious in regarding the status of the youngest and
obscurest minister of the Union. (Hear, hear.)" " He personally
had in the matter which he had brought before them no cause of
complaint whatsoever, and did not know that there was any case
that then required particular scrutiny and investigation ; and there-
fore that was a proper time for a full and candid discussion."

Here I must in charity suggest that the speaker's memory was at
fault, and perhaps he did not conclude his intended speech, in
which he would have added,— "At least I know of no case but the

*This acknowledgment renders the committee legally liable for the infliction
illegally of so grave an injury.

207

one that has forced the committee into admitting this resolution of
enquiry into onr methods for the future, so as to screen our tyranny
in the past."

This proposition for enquiry was moved professedly on the

GROUND THAT THERE WAS NO OCCASION FOR IT. This I think is what

they call " judicious," and is at least wonderfully reserved.

" The Rev. Dr. George Smith seconded the proposition. It was
already patent to the public by the wide circulation of the pamphlet
which he held in his hand (' Memorial of the Rev. Isaac Vaughan'),
that a long correspondence had taken place [between Dr. Smith,
Mr. Ashton, and myself] in reference to the removal of a name
from the list, [the Rev. Isaac Vaughan's] and when Dr. Parker
sent to him the terms of the resolution he had just moved, it
appeared to him to be a proper resolution, and he cheerfully
seconded its adoption. He laid it before the committee of the
Union, and they in like manner accepted it, and desired him, as
secretary, to second it. The work was a very delicate and difficult
one. No one could imagine for a moment that a name would be
omitted from any pique or prejudice, or that Mr. Ashton would be a
party to the removal of any gentleman's name from the list. (Cheers.)
He always depended upon local intelligence, and that local in-
telligence or authority ought perhaps to be held responsible. [This
means Dr. Falding.] He felt convinced that there were sufficient
reasons to thoroughly vindicate Mr. Ashton in the whole course of
his procedure. (Hear, hear.) He was not sure that the present
mode was faultless, but they ought all to be jealous of the
honour and reputation of their brethren, and no charge should
be made very lightly. [* No charge' is made at all !] The committee
very cheerfully accepted the resolution which Dr. Parker had sub-
mitted, and were prepared to give the- subject the fullest and
fairest consideration."

Dr. Smith and his colleagues never intended the matter to be
heard of any more. It was enough for the present to assure the
meeting that his colleague Mr. Ashton would not " be a party to
the removal of any gentleman's name from the list." Though Dr.
Smith knew that Mr. Ashton had done it to Mr. Vaughan, and that
he himself had transmitted to me from London the committee's
attempted exoneration of then- "editor," by his affirmation that "he
acted in this case on an official document from the district secre-
tary," Dr. Falding, who, knowing this fact, that he was accused of
this " professional decapitation," now comes in to try and throw

SOME OF THE BLAME BACK On Mr. ASHTON.

208

" The Rev. Dr. Falding said lie rose partly to snpport the reso-
lution before the meeting, and partly to offer an explanation, which
he knew would be expected [but never obtained] from him, and
which he should most readily render. He agreed with the resolu-
tion entirely, and was personally grateful to Dr. Smith and Dr.
Parker for the terms in which they had moved and seconded the
resolution. Dr. Smith had referred to a pamphlet which had been
widely circulated, bringing up the case of the removal of a name
from the list of accredited ministers. He desired not to refer to
that — (hear, hear) — but he thought he had a right just to say one
single sentence, and that was that the case had been brought before
the public only through one channel, and that the other side of the
case had never been made public." [It never will be.] " Dr. Smith
had said that perhaps the responsibility should rest, not on the
editor, but on the local informant — the person who had supplied
the information. [He means the person who suppressed the name.]
He was not sure that that was quite right. He thought the editor
ought to satisfy himself that he had information from the right party,
and then it became a kind of divided authority. But that was an
abstract question that he would not meddle with further. As to

the particular case, and as to the part " he had taken, he was

going to say, when Mr. Binney, thinking he had committed himself
and the editor far enough, got up and gravely observed — " that
there really was no case before them, and that they ought to discuss
the resolution without reference to any particular case ;" and Dr.
Falding was " willing to retire at that moment on the assurance
that the particular case would not be brought up." They were all
concerned to conceal " the case" which forced the resolution on, and
by which alone its necessity was explained. I am told that Mr.
Binney declared in London — objecting to the erasure in this case —
" I myself may, on such a plan, wake up some morning and find my
name taken off the Year Book." If he had borne this testimony in
the meeting of the Union, it would have looked more like open
justice. The plan there was to cry down any expression of even
the opinions whieh they themselves could not help entertaining.
Hence the following bear-baiting exhibition : —

" The Rev. Brewin Grant, on presenting himself, was received
with hisses and cries of ' Vote.' " This was an intelligent and grace-
ful display of Congregational freedom. After some hubbub, Mr.
Grant said he was there "to defend the dead and to protect the
living." One Mr. Morgan, of Masbro', a fierce partizan, here
" rose to order," and another " rose to order ;" since all that v>as
needed was a little more disorder to prevent free speech.

209

The Rev. J. Parsons, following the official cry, observed that ii
" was most inadvisable to introduce any particular case into the
discussion."

Then the Chairman echoed, that " the resolution had nothing to
do with a particular case," as if that case did not originate the
resolution and come fairly under it !

The chairman, the Rev. Newman Hall, "objected to the intro-
duction, especially without warning, of any particular case." He
knew it was not " without warning." He had said in reply to my
question, that " amendments" were admissible, and he had my
printed "proposed resolution" on the table; and all had seen
it for it was distributed through the meeting. He " ruled
against particular cases," which he knew composed general princi-
ples ; and then he put to the meeting — "Will you allow the
introduction of any individual matter or not ?" He knew that
this was a false putting of the case ; it was a matter of public
justice, and every minister in the meeting was concerned in it.

After much confusion, and many liberal "Xoes," which treated
me to more thunder than lightning, I was enabled to reach this
point : " The question was, the insertion and omission of names in
the Year Book ; and that the matter be referred to a committee of
enquiry. I asked — why was this proposed '? I wished that to be
known. They had introduced it on the ground of a case, which
they were afraid and ashamed of going into."

This was enough for me, and too much for them : the exhibition
of calmness and free deliberate enquiry was rather startling.

The chairman, as a true partizan, observed to the meeting that
"the last remark was on worthy of notice," which gave great delight
to those who did not know that it was as silly as it was rude, since
he was doing what he properly intimated need not be done ; and he
received this answer — "Then what did you notice it for?" They
had now, as they vainly dreamed, smothered "the particular case."

"But in these cases we still have judgment here," as poor
Macbeth said:—

"The times have been,
That -when the brains were out the man would die,
And there an end; but now, they rise again
With twenty mortal murders on their crown,
And push us from our stools."

Banquo's ghost disturbs Macbeth's feast. The committee before
coming down to Sheffield was haunted, and fear of the ghost drove
them into this resolution, in which they expected, without repen-

210

tance or confession as to the past, to cover crying tyranny by a new
rule for the future ; or rather, by forming a committee of enquiry

COMPOSED OF THE COMMITTEE THAT IS IMPLICATED, wllOSe policy WOUld

be to hush up their crime.

The suggestion, not to say pretence, of those who sought to
influence the meeting not to hear "the case" was, that something
unpleasant might come out ; as if the proposal was to enquire into
the character of the deceased. Those who suggested this were
either very dull or very dishonest. They either knew or ought to
have known, for it had been put plainly before them, in their
committee in London, and in every other way, that the question
was independent of the character of the deceased, and was
confined to the legality of the treatment which he received ;
and therefore, if anybody had come forward to accuse him of stand-
ing on his head on the pinnacle of Eotherham church steeple —
which was as true as most things that were said — the answer would
be : — all this is foreign — the case is not that of Mr. Vaughan, but
an enquiry into the conduct of Mr. Ashton and Dr. Falding.
The question was — did they illegally erase this name ? They
know they did — the committee knew they did — the whole
assembly knew they did. But they were all too delicate and
faithful to acknowledge it.

Some said they had not time to understand the case ; as if it
would take them long to understand this — ought a man to be hanged
before he is tried ? May a minister's name be erased from the
Year Book at the mutual or divided fancy of a district secretary and
the editor of the " Year Book," without any intimation being given
to him, or any chance of protecting himself from this extreme
of indignity?

If the ministers there could not answer " no," in one word,
instead of crying down the only one that protected their interests,
they deserve all they get. I have no doubt that when they come to
consider they will be heartily ashamed, and will divide the blame
with the leaders who so often " rose to order," and who misled the
meeting by courteous interruptons to suggest that " the particular
case" which they knew would disgrace their officials should be
withdrawn, and the resolution be passed without any reference to
the cruelty and tyranny which forced on this tardy and theoretical,
not to say hypocritical, acknowledgment of abstract justice, to avoid
the odium of a particular case.

By crying down the proposed resolution, which was circulated
through the meeting the ministers and delegates present stultified

211

themselves, by in effect contradicting the self-evident propositions
which it contains. The following is what they thus negatived : —
" Proposed Resolution on ' The Year Book.'

" That the omission of the name of the late Rev. Isaac Vaughan
from the list of ' accredited ministers ' in the last ' Congregational
Year Book ' without any notice or trial, or any intimation to
Mr. Vaughan before or after the omission, was an injustice and
grief to Mr. Vaughan, is a threatening danger to every congrega-
tional minister, is a violation of our principles, and should be dis-
avowed by this meeting to save the denomination from disgrace."

But the meeting voted that it is not " a violation of our prin-
ciples,9' not " an injustice," not " a threatening danger to all
ministers," not "a course to be disavowed," but a right thing,
to depose a minister without notice or trial ! They abjured their
rights, and signed articles of slavery.

If any still quibble, and say that the question of "injustice"
would turn upon the character of the deceased, then they still
assume that it is just to execute a man without trial, to which every
prisoner has a claim, whether guilty or not. In this " particular
case" a local seceetary, [the Rev. Dr. Falding] belonging to an
opposite faction, and having taken an active part, speaking in
church meetings, and signing a memorial against a minister, is the
authority to send an " official document," omitting the name, on
his own private account, being directed to do so by no committee ;
and on this "official document" from Dr. Falding Mr. Ashton
says he acted, no enquiry being made of Mr. Vaughan and his
friends ! All this the committee of the Union knew, and, with the
exception of the Rev. James Parsons, every man who helped to
induce the Assembly to suppress "the case" knew; so they in
principle repeated, in the eyes of God and man, an act of odious
private tyranny and disgraced Independency.

Mr. Robert Leader, the editor of the Sheffield Independent, and
now a consistent " country member " of the " rattening" committee
of the Congregational Union, put out flaring placards of his Satur-
day's paper, with this leading announcement :— -

" Brewin Grant Extinguished."

This was to get off his supplemental account of the Union
meetings. It is like the whole affair. It shows what these men
will stoop to. He was hard up for a "sensation." Perhaps this
little trick was suggested to him by the leaders of the Union who
assembled at his house, and made his shop their centre. It might
be good news to some that the Rev. Brewin Grant is " extin-

212

guished," but it is bad taste to confess it, and only parades the
editor's disappointment in this "particular case." If he had
announced " The Rev. Brewin Grant answered" all Sheffield
would have flocked to his office to get the paper in which he even
promises what he has never yet performed. Surely it is enough
that one victim of Congregational tyranny is removed to a ''better
home ; " but those who helped to crush his noble spirit and pain
his generous soul, as well as those who now abet that wickedness,
must not be impatient with Providence that permits at least one
Independent friend to shield his memory, shame his persecutors,
and drag into the light of public criticism those official instruments
of professional decapitation.

Trades Unions are accused of tyranny, in blowing up houses, or
getting wheelbands stolen, and refractory members shot or other-
wise disabled. Mr. Newman Hall, chairman of the Congrega-
tional Union, whose officials, together with another official acting
unofficially, took Mr. Vaughan's bands off the Union Wheel, and
blew up his professional office while he was asleep, goes and
lectures Sheffield working men about tyranny over one another.

The Congregational Union, knowing its official implication in
the same crime, justified the act, and reserved all its anger for the
man who detected and exposed it, standing bravely up for a
deceased friend, and seeking to defend the living from similar
tyranny ! I observed at the time that I had been in at least eight

HUNDRED OF THE ROUGHEST MEETINGS OF WORKING MEN, infidels

and otherwise, and I never allowed any man to be cried down, what-
ever he might say, and I never was cried down myself but once,
and that by some Canterbury roughs, who had been inspired for
the occasion at an adjoining public-house. The only other time
was by the Congregational Union, inspired from another source.

This insolence and the tyranny which it was perpetrated to
screen have been tamely submitted to by the whole denomination ;
nor can I blame ordinary ministers for silent submission when it
would be ruin to speak.

How the committee intended to carry out the resolution of the
Assembly, to enquire and report to the next meeting of the Union,
as to the best methods of admitting and omitting the names of
ministers, creating and decapitating them, will be seen in the
following chapter.

213

Chapter XXHI.

THE COMMITTEE ASSUMES ABSOLUTE DICTATORSHIP

OYER THE UNION AND THE DENOMINATION:

BY LEGISLATING INSTEAD OF REPORTING,

The Manchester Meetings, October, 1867.

The committee of the Congregational Union, having by Dr.
Smith, its " mouth, matter and wisdom," " cheerfully accepted"
a resolution which it meant to shelve, by way of giving "the sub-
ject the fullest and fairest investigation," proceeded surreptitiously
to frame a new law to legalize their old tyranny.

No man who ever expects to get promoted, or to have his like-
ness in the Evangelical Magazine, or to read a paper to the As-
sembly, or to be a deputation, or to become chairman of the
Union — the acme of honour, as all the introductions to the addresses
adulatingly confess — would venture to oppose the violation of our
principles, the injury of any brother, or any kind of wrong in the
opinion or actions of the " wire-pullers" of "the body." Honesty
is about the worst policy I know of, as Balak told Balaam long ago.
(Numbers xxiv. 11.)

It was October, 1866, when the pastors, deacons, and delegates
then assembled "most respectfully requested the committee of the
Union to consider whether any alteration should be made in the
terms on which the names of ministers were inserted in or omitted
from the ' Congregational Year Book' and report upon the same
at the next annual meeting."

This " next annual meeting" was in London, May, 1867 ; and
though " the committee very cheerfully accepted the resolution,"
and as Dr. Smith, its secretary, said, were " prepared to give the
subject its fullest and fairest consideration," they gave it the go-
by instead, and insulted the Union, with its "pastors, deacons,
and delegates," by making and printing a new law, before the
assembly met agatn, as justly thinking that those men were un-
worthy of being considered and consulted who had in so abject a
style " most respectfully requested" their own committee to re-con-
sider for their guidance those laws which they knew their com-
mittee had grievously violated.

The new law, illegally made, was never mentioned to the London
meeting to which the committee was pledged to " report," and
without whose authority it could no more make rules for the Union
or denomination than for the kingdom.

214

I determined therefore to attend the autumnal meeting of the
same year, which was to be held in Manchester, and accordingly
obtained my delegate ticket, and went there, with a series of packets
of pamphlets for distribution among the " pastors, deacons and
delegates ; " especially a letter addressed to the members of the
Congregational Union, some thousand of which besides other
pamphlets were distributed at the different meetings.

The following is the substance of my letter : —

CONGREGATIONAL UNIONISM TESTED.

" The honour and integrity of British Congregationalism are on their trial."

The Eev. J. Parker, D.D.

" TO THE MEMBERS OP THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION."

tl Dear Friends,- — The special mission of Congregationalism for
which it is deservedly prized is, — first, to afford an asylum for
Christian liberty, in its freest exercise, in opposition to tyranny, or
< lording it over God's heritage.' The second distinguishing feature
is to secure the living guardianship of evangelical Christianity.
The Rev. Samuel Martin observed in his opening address at the
annual meeting of 1862, that ' our chief care, next to the soundness
of our belief, must be to work out our church principles.''

" First let us enquire how far we carry out our own professed
principles in relation to liberty and justice. We have no Synod,
Conference, or Pope ; but we have district secretaries, and a
metropolitan editor of 'the Congregational Year Book,' to whom
most extraordinary powers are entrusted, or at least who are per-
mitted to act as absolute dictators over their ' Independent '
brethren. A proposal was carried in the meeting at Sheffield, held
in October, 1866, by which it was confidently expected that this
yoke would be taken off the necks of congregational ministers. It
was acknowledged that the yoke was " intolerable," and that some
better defence of our ministerial standing ought to be provided than
the mere dictum of any official.

Here followed Dr. Parker's letter, given in the preceding chapter.

"We have already seen this question of ministerial existence
referred to and shelved by the committee of the Congregational
Union. The pastors and delegates did, it is true, ' most respect-
fully request the committee to consider whether any alteration
should be made in the terms upon which the names of ministers
are inserted in, or omitted from, the Congregational Year Book,

215

and to eepoet upon the same at the annual meeting in May next.'
They did not propose to enquire whether the rules had been noto-
riously and scandalously violated, and teems of omission capbi-
ciously invented by their editor. This fact was carefully endea-
voured to be concealed. ' The Particular Case ' which brought on
the enquiry has since been acknowledged to be a grievous injustice,
as the minister whose existence and work were ignored while he
was living, obtains a place in the ' notice of ministers deceased,' and
the church which he was building figures now in ' the Year Book,'
while some who ignored his case in the Union took part in the
opening of his church, and thus endorsed his work, and the course
which his friends adopted in rallying round him while the union
officials excommunicated him — to ' recognise ' him after his death !

" This case is not to be set aside as merely personal, and related
only to the deceased, it is the testing instance as to the pbinci-
ples on which the Congregational Union acts, and under which
our ministry is degraded, if not enslaved.

" The committee, though ' most respectfully requested,' gave no
* report' on the matter to the meeting in May of this year, but
foisted an impoetant alteeation into the ' special notice' placed
before the ' alphabetical fist of Congregational or Independent
ministers.'

" On page 202, ' Congregational Year Book, 1867,' is printed as
follows : —

" ' SPECIAL NOTICE.

" 'Ministers are added to this list, oe omitted feom it, on the
testimony and authority of tutoes of colleges ; secretaries ot
county, district, or local associations ; three ministers, members of
an adjoining association, when no association exists in the county ;
or of five members of the congregational board, when the minister
resides within the postal district of the Metropolis.'

" The indicated interpolation, ' oe omitted feom,' had not
been foisted in when ' The Particular Case' was perpetrated : no
such rule existed : it was simply editoe-made law, on which the
committee was to enquire and report — it was not at that time a
written law ; it is now invented and printed in your ' Year Book !'

" I enquired of the editor, July, 1866, on what grounds a certain
name had been erased, and by whose arrangement the omission was
made. I knew the rules for adding names, but wished to learn the
process of eemovtng them.

" To this enquiry he replied — ' The authority applies equally to
admission oe omission.' That is, as the names are ' added to' our

216

list by the recommendation of a college tutor, or a district secretary,
or neighbouring ministers, so any college tutor, district secretary,
&c, may of his own mere motion direct the editor to erase any name
from the list of Congregational ministers ! The thing is incredible
and monstrous. Nor did he tell me where the rule was to he found.
" He could not find the rule then, but he or some one else has
made it since. So that it must be acknowledged that if the editor
exceeded the law before, he has got the law so altered that no
similar abitrary excommunication can be regarded as illegal in the
future. This is a new style of taking the law into one's own
hands. This will surely try the faith and patience of ' Independent'
ministers.

" The second excellency of Congregationalism is, that it tends to
fulfil the function of the church — ' the pillar and the ground of
truth' — as the living shrine and guardian of evangelical Christianity.
Is it true, then, that a Professor in one of our chief colleges,- u*ho
was deposed from an influential chair, under the suspicion — to say
the least — of omitting every distinguishing doctrine of the gospel,
has since then, but lately, been quietly re-installed ? Has this been
permitted because Dr. Campbell, with his Standard, is no more
amongst us, so that the criticisms which appeared in that paper,
and were never answered, could not be repeated in a public organ
that would reach the subscribers ?

It would take up too much space to give the history of the contro-
versy, which led first to a meeting of the College Council, wherein
the professor's " Christian Faith" was endorsed and his position
was confirmed ; and secondly to a meeting of the same, in which his
teaching on " main proof texts" was condemned, but his general
soundness affirmed, while his resignation of the Greek New Testa-
ment chair was reluctlantly accepted, because the subscribers had
been alarmed.

"A series of papers appeared in the British Standard, carefully
analyzing the professor's lectures on " Christian Faith." These
were collected into a pamphlet called " The Rescue of Faith," and
circulated by book post among the subscribers to the college.

" The bitterest critics of ' The Rescue of Faith,' the Patriot, the
Nonconformist, and the Christian Spectator, were obliged to condemn
the professor's theology ; while the Baptist Magazine, the United
Presbyterian Magazine, the Record, the Freeman, and the Eclectic
distinctly, and some of them at large, condemned the professor's
teaching as subversive of the gospel.

• This refers to Professor Godwin, at New College.

217

"The friends of the professor, abandoning all defence of his heresies,
turned the full power of their denunciation on the writer who had
most elaborately confuted this insidious and dangerous Neology.
1 On his arguments and analysis,' said one representative organ,
4 we cannot spend a line ;' so some of the choicest ' liberal ' in-
solence was poured on his devoted head, though not one of his
positions was even controverted.

" Only a few copies of ' The Rescue of Faith" are left, but the
subsequent pamphlets, giving a history of the controversy, with rare
specimens of the " press in relation to our denomination," may be
had for stamps covering the postage.

" Arrangements will be made, if possible, to provide any of the
ministers and delegates with copies of these at the Free Trade Hall,
and of ' The Memorial ' and ' Particular Case,' which show wherein
we do not ' carry out our church principles,' and how we may do so.

"We nullify our testimony by our inconsistency ; nor shall we be
able to open our mouth -with power till we wash our hands in
innocency. It is affirmed, and not without good grounds, that such
acts of tyranny occur amongst us as could exist in no other
denomination, and a wokse form of rationalism is silently per-
mitted in our high places than is to be found in Colensoism.
Thus we are liable to be spectacles to angels and to men, one
laughing at us, and the other weeping over us, for openly perpetrat-
ing the tyranny which we protest against, and quietly fostering the
rationalism that we scream at.

"Our excuse for not discussing the errors of opinion and of practice
that creep in amongst ourselves is, that ■ the Union is not a court
of appeal,' as if the same should not equally prevent discussing
''Ritualism' or ' Rationalism,' for we are 'not a court of appeal' on
these matters, or on any other ; though we are more concerned in the
' Rationalism' of Godwin than of Colenso, and therefore avoid
referring to it. We invent some show of reason for unfaithfulness,
as if we were tender of liberty, which we betray in ' the Particular
Case' and all cases like it ; as we betray the truth in another Case,
and so fail in both ends of Congregationalism.

" Our zealous regard for freedom, in not being ' a court of appeal'
on points wherein our own loyalty to our principles is concerned,
reminds me of a saying in Livy : — Semper aliquam fraudi speciem
juris imponitis. We put some face of right on our violation of it.

" Our allowing Christ to be discrowned amongst us, while we
are officious in testimony and loyalty to the truth, so far as other
denominations are concerned, exposes us to this rebuke from them

218

— Hsec ludibria religionum non pudet in lucem proferre ? For what
is it but a mockery to be so earnest for a purity which we do not
try to secure at home ?

"If we could but give up talking about ' Ritualism,' which is
a foreign disease, and at least spend our time on what relates to our
own efficiency and purity, we should be better prepared for a foreign
campaign. Similar remonstrances induced some attention to points
nearer home, in the Rev. Newwan Hall's presidential address at
Sheffield; but which, while claiming "greater facilities for discus-
sion," was abundantly compensated for by his subsequent arbitrary
suppression of free speech on a case that had occasioned the reso-
lution then before the meeting. Besides this confession that he did
not really mean to encourage the freedom which he advocated, we were
refreshed not only with a book on ' Ritualism,' but with a preliminary
survey by Mr. Newman Hall, of the same ground, as we ' watched
the setting sun from a lofty peak in Switzerland,' and let our
' thoughts travel far away to another scene," " up the glen, along
the torrent's brink," to see a " bare-legged urchin carry home a can
of newly drawn milk." This milk for babes led on naturally to
1 the exclusive claims on the part of an influential sectiun of our
fellow- Christians,' and we were elaborately instructed not to
swallow sacerdotal sacramentarianism and apostolical succession —
points which are more appropriate to some ' Pan-Anglican Synod*
than to the business of the Congregational Union, if it have any.

No denomination could with greater vigour rise, phoenix-like, from
the ashes of past trials and sloth, than our own : all that is required
is, that we exercise a manly freedom, and honestly consider our own
ways, reduce our own principles to practice, and no longer consider
those our greatest enemies who tell us salutary truths, however un-
welcome : but if we must regard them as enemies let us at least
remember — Fas est, ab hoste doceri.

" The Preface to the ' Year Rook, 1867,' groans over the fact
that in the Church of England ' Evangelical truth and spiritual
worship are greatly imperilled.' Among the ' objects' aimed at by
the Congregational Union, the first is asserted to be ' to promote
evangelical religion in connection with the Congregational de-
nomination,' yet no reference would be permitted in the Union
meetings to any actual case of danger to that truth amongst us.

" Instead of being distinguished for truth and liberty, we have
heresy enthroned in our chief college, and tyranny enshrined in
a ' special notice ' at the head of the ' list of Independent minis-
ters,' as follows: — 'Ministers are added to this list, or omitted

219

from it, on the testimony and authority (!) of tutors of colleges,
secretaries of county, district, or local associations, &c.' This is
the new rule of omission invented for us by those who in 1866
1 excommunicate' and in 1867 ' beatify' the same saint !

" ' There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the
children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day.
Consider of it, take advtce, and speak your minds ! ' (Judges
xix. 30.) Yours faithfully,

"BBEWIN GRANT."

This surreptitious legalising of tyranny -was one of the things which I went to
Manchester to expose. I had two ways of working — one to enlighten the brethren
by the distribution of the letter, " Congregational Unionism Tested," and the
other, to get through the cordon of officials on the platform, if possible ; for in
our free Union every scheme is adopted to prevent the ventilation of any subject
on which the managers frown. Besides that all is done up in red tape in London,
a committee of reference is appointed at the meetings to consider what other
subjects should be allowed to be introduced, or, in effect, to mind that nothing
else shall be introduced, especially from any suspected quarter.

Now, to obviate all objections as to the irregularity of introducing the enquiries
which I wished to bring before the meeting, I addressed a letter through the
chairman to the committee of reference, at eleven o'clock on Thursday morning.
They were questions which could be asked and answered in two minutes ; espe-
cially as, according to the subsequent assertions of the secretary of the Union
and the editor of ' The Tear Book,' they had a plain, short, and sufficient
(though false) answer to each question, and should have been glad to give the
answers in order to remove a painful and widely-spread suspicion. The desperate
attempt to fence off questions which they were so ready to answer, throws further
suspicion on the whole of their proceedings.
The following is the letter : —

" To the committee of reference in connection with the Congregational Union
meetings —

" Gentlemen, — I beg respectfully to inquire of you whether permission will be
granted for asking this morning — without any discussion — the two following
questions: — Namely, first, as the pastors and delegates of the Congregational
Union assembled in October, 1866, 'most respectfully requested the committee to
consider whether any alteration should be made in the terms open which the
names of ministers are inserted in, or omitted from, the Congregational Year
Book, and to report upon the same at the annual meeting in May nest,' it is
requested on this point to know ichether such report has been made, and if not,
when it may be expected ? Secondly, by whose arrangement — before any report
could have been laid before the next ensuing annual meeting — an important
addition was made to ' the special notice,' giving what was not in the Year Book
before, namelv, ' authority ' to ' tutors of colleges, secretaries of county or
district associations, &c.,' not only to add 'ministers to this list' of accredited,
but to omit from it any minister ?

" If this second question cannot be answered now, when xcill an answer be
given ?— and may the information here sought be published in the Year Book,
for the satisfaction of those concerned in these matters.

220

n The questions above mentioned may be read either by the chairman or by
the present applicant, who is prevented attending this morning's meeting before
twelve o'clock, at which time he will come into the committee room for the answer
to this application.

" I remain, Gentlemen, very respectfully yours,

"BREWIN GRANT.
" Thursday morning, Oct. 10, 1867."

When I went into the vestry at twelve no committee could be found. Two of
the members were on the platform, one was close by, and a quorum could have
been called ; but the point was to shut out the questions.

After waiting some time in the meeting I sent a pencil note up
to the chairman, Dr. Campbell, of Bradford — (not the celebrated
Dr. Campbell, of London) — and received the following note in
reply, the original of which literally lies before me : — " The Refe-
rence Committee had no opportunity of meeting to-day, its functions
being exercised principally on the first day of the Assembly's sit-
ting. The Chairman" This makes " the Committee of Reference"
a mockery : the pretence first, is, that members of the Union may
have an opportunity of introducing questions not provided for by
the London committee, but which questions may be submitted pre-
liminarily to certain gentlemen selected to sit during the meetings.
The programme had arranged for " Miscellaneous resolutions " for
that " Thursday morning," and at this stage such a question ought
to have been freely permitted. Another programme said — " The
committee of the Union have arranged for the following papers to
be read to the Assembly," and after enumerating these the notice
ends thus : — " It is intended that these papers should be brief, and
that ample time should be allowed for their discussion, and for
other business."

"The Committee of Reference" — whose "functions" and the
time of " exercising" them are so evasively and inconsecutively
described by the "Chairman" in his note — existed for the purpose
or pretence of giving opportunity to introduce "other business;"
but when the business is honest and necessary, the Reference Com-
mittee has " no opportunity of meeting," for this odd reason, " its
functions being exercised 'principally on the first day of the Assem-
bly's sitting."

Since the committee could not be appealed to, I wrote to the
chairman : — " Will you allow the question to be asked ?" — I got an
oral answer to this at the foot of the platform steps : — " We must
get through the programme first." The next move was to speak
against time. But at last, when by several demonstrations, the
attention of the meeting was called to the questioner, the chairman,

221

as represented by the Sheffield Independent, Oct. 11, 1867, which
is hostile to me, explained that " the Rev. Bkewin Grant had sent
him a note asking him to place it in the hands of the Committee of
Reference. He, the chairman, put it into the hands of such mem-
bers of the committee as were at hand, but the order of the day was
such as to prohibit the introduction of fresh matter."

This reads curiously alongside the pencil note: — " The Com-
mittee of Reference has had no opportunity of meeting to-day, its
functions being exercised principally on the first day of the Assem-
bly's sitting. — The Chairman.'"

The affected contempt with which this vigorous-minded gentle-
man informed the meeting that Mr. Brewin Grant, of Sheffield,
wanted to obtrude a question on the Assembly, only caused numbers
to cry out "Platform ! Platform ! " on which I descended from a
pew seat on which I had been standing, and ascended the platform.
There, in some flutter, I stated the case, and was surprised to
find, from three papers, that I had managed to put the question
distinctly, for it was the culminating point of long labour and
some excitement.

Mr. Robert Leader, of the Sheffield Independent, gave in his
organ, the chairman's curious intimation about " such members
of the reference committee as were at hand, but that the order of
the day [he meant ' the order of ' the committee] was such as to
prohibit the introduction of fresh matter : " and the same report
continues : —

" Mr Grant then asked him to put the question from the chair. That he
could not do, hut with the permission of the Assembly Mr. Grant might now put
the question himself.

The Rev. Brewin Geant said, if the chairman had put his question he would
not have taken up so much time as he had in explaining. It was to ask
for information in reference to an alteration that had been made in the introduc-
tion to the list of ministers in '• The Year Book.'' He wanted to know who
made that alteration, and by what authority it had been done. The introduction
had run, "the names of ministers can be added to," and to this had been
added " or omitted from," the list on certain authority. So that any member of
that assembly was liable to have his name struck off the list by the tutor of a
college or the secretary of a local association. This was now the rule : who
made it ? Had the committee to which the subject was referred at the last
autumnal meeting made a report as requested ? If so, when did they report ?
Why should business referred to a committee be carried away and smothered ?
When would the report be presented, and who had changed the introduction to
the Year Book? They were all slaves in principle, for any of them could have
his name removed without knowing anything about it until it was done. He
didn't say they dare do it, except to a few poor men who couldn't speak for them-
selves and had no friend who could speak for them. What he said was for the
honour of his brethren and of the denomination. He felt ashamed whenever he

222

stood before churchmen and talked about Independency, -when its principles were
violated by themselves. He had no object but to free the denomination from
every stigma that could be cast upon it. He believed their principles were per-
fect, but that they themselves were not. The Chaibman reminded Mr. Grant
that he was making a speech instead of merely asking a question. Mr. Grant
begged pardon ; he knew he was trespassing, and concluded by repeating his
questions — Did the committee appointed last October consider and report as to
whether any alteration should be made in the terms of adding ministers' names
to or taking them from the list, and if they had not reported when would they ?
Secondly, "Who had changed the ' Year Book ' to what it had never been before,
and -which it would not have been now if he (Mr. Grant) had not exposed a case
of tyranny ? "

This is pretty well reported for Mr. Leader : though I may correct
the last sentence attributed to me by him, and this I can do by two
Manchester papers. The Courier, Oct. 11, said, " He (Mr. Grant)
stated that the alteration in the Book had been made to cover the
tyranny which he (had) exposed." The Manchester Guardian of
the same date reported me as saying, " Why had the words ■ omit-
ted from' been put in this 'year that were never in before, and would
not have been in now but for the tyranny of the committee, which
he (Mr. Grant) had endeavoured to expose."

Dr. Smith, the secretary, instead of confessing the gross injustice
committed, and the fraud and usurpation of inventing a law to
screen it, was hysterically affected at the dreadful taste of using the
word " tyranny." Perpetrating the act is nothing — falsifying the
constitution of Congregationalism by a forged law is nothing ; but
describing it in mild English words takes the good man's breath
away ! This is the affected delicacy of men whose " words are
smoother than butter" while " war is in their heart" — " words
softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords" (Ps. lv., 21). None
are more offensive than these smooth-tongued perpetrators of rough
deeds, and whose only tenderness is for themselves as they lament
the " free handling" of honest rebuke.

The bitter sufferings which they inflict on the helpless victims of
their secret conspiracies excite in them no remorse ; but they call
out loudly for sympathy, and ride off loftily on the high horse of
fastidiousness in language when their cruelty is described in the
most moderate terms.

But of all refinement of taste and exquisite delicacy of speech,
what can equal this of Dr. Smith in reply : — " Dr. Smith asked
whether the use of the word "tyranny" was a gentlemanly way of
putting the matter ? Mr. Grant was the only gentleman who had
used such language in their assembly in all the years he had known
it." When some cried out " Question !" in reply to this egregiously

223

hypocritical evasion, the Doctor retorted : — " If any friends of Mr.
Grant were calling ' question,' he begged to remind them that he
had a right to reply to the remarks that had been made." Exactly :
but he was not replying to them : he was fainting off into fits of
virtuous indignation at the word " tyranny," to hide his practice
and defence of it. However, he did at last come nearer the point
in the following extraordinary asseveration, which I quote from
Mr. Robert Leader's Sheffield Independent: — "In reply to the
questions put, he (Dr. Smith) had to say, that in accordance with
the resolution proposed last year the committee met and suggested
the alteration as it now appeared in the Year Book, and reported
in favour of the alteration ; the report was presented to the
Union last May and was adopted by the Assembly. Neither the
secretary nor editor had auything to do with the alteration."

Now, if he had said : — " The committee contrary to (instead of
1 in accordance with') the resolution passed last year, effected
(instead of ' suggested") the alteration as it now stands in the Tear
Book, and said nothing about (instead of ' reported in favour
of ') the alteration ; no report was presented to the Union (instead
of ' reported it to the Union') last May ; and therefore it could not
have been adopted (instead of ' was adopted') by the assembly,"
he would have said the exact truth. Dr. Smith has publicly
confessed to these mistakes. Such mistakes on matters in which
men are so personally concerned do not often occur. It is true
Mr. Ashton, the editor, confirmed these mistakes, which so far
made them less singular ; but to this day I never could understand
them. Mr. Ashton, under the same strange and fatal hallucination
as reported by Mr. Leader's paper, said " He would not supple-
ment the answer of Dr. Smith further than to say that no name
was put into or taken from the list without the authority of the
brethren. The secretaries of county associations sent the names
of ministers, and they were inserted in the Year Book just as they
were sent." A Manchester paper adds : — " It was not he (Mr.
Ashton) but the brethren in the county that were responsible." He
knows, or should be taught, that even this authority of brethren
from the county has to do only with adding new names. Joseph's
name was omitted by " brethren in the country," but their " report"
was such that to describe it by name would not, as Dr. Smith
would say, be " a gentlemanly way of putting the thing." They
first thought to kill him, then sold him, and then omitted him from
the list of surviving sons of their father.

224

It was imposed upon that meeting that Joseph's " brethren in
the country," acted as secretaries, under the orders of their
respective associations ; whereas the omission referred to was of
a name admitted into the " Register of the West-Riding," and was
never debated nor decided upon by that association : the secret
personal omission of it by a district secretary, who ought to have
returned it as in his district, was the editor's excuse for a further
act of omission, namely from the standing general list of ministers.
Samuel Morley, Esq., who miraculously escaped being spoiled by
all the toadyism which he must have experienced, declared that it
was " a vital question, and that the character of no living men
should be in the hands of one man." This is plain common sense
and honesty, and it indicates that the removal of a name is the
destruction of "character:" it is in fact, the most virulent form
of libel. Mr. Morley added that " a man's character should be
safe, not in the hands of any secretary or committee, but of the
whole association:" whereas neither the man himself nor the
local association — of which he is not necessarily a member — knows
anything of the matter. He is decapitated professionally by the
private act of an official acting unofficially, and by the endorsement
of the Year Book editor, acting illegally and screened by the
committee.

Thus Dr. Falding erases Mr. Vaughan's name from the leaf
of the old Year Book, as no longer at Masbro' chapel, and omits to
put it down as in the same district connected with a "new cause;"
and this want of fidelity in a return for the district is crowned by
the London editor taking the same name out of the list of ministers
in England in which it has stood for thirty years !

Then they play at see-saw, and throw the blame on one another,
while the victim of their combined treachery suffers a silent
martyrdom and dies; and the one who protects his rights and
reputation against these magnates is denounced as a man of a very
bad spirit, who would not let such godly men extinguish a brother
in peace.

Mr. Morley's natural honesty, however, notwithstanding the
confusion of the moment and the well-acted horror of the officials
at Manchester, enabled him to see that some explanation was
required. He asked whether the explanation " was satisfactory to
the brethren ?" The Manchester Courier, gives as the answer,
"No, no!" The Manchester Guardian paper gives — " Yes, yes,
and no, no !" " The chairman" then comes in to conclude the
scene, by judiciously observing, according to the Sheffield Indtpen-

225

dent, " that all this was out of order." The Manchester Examiner
and Times reports : — " The chairman here interposed, and said the
discussion was quite irregular. The question had been put and
fairly answered. It should have been brought before the committee
of the Assembly in a regular way." The Guardian reports him as
saying : — " The question had been most irregularly introduced."
There was no need to have added this grave mistake to the other
asseverations which disgraced the meeting, and which Dr. Smith
afterwards publicly recanted, when he was certain to be detected.
This recantation will be noticed afterwards. Samuel Mopley,
Esq., in reply to a private urgent request that he would fairly
look into the matter, said emphatically — " I will" Knowing
if he had the opportunity of attending to it the matter would
be honourably adjusted, I left the Manchester meeting. I had, how-
ever, so far advanced since the " crying down" meeting at Sheffield,
that I was cried up to the platform ; and unless some new and
more desperate act of tyranny should prevent the union meetings
recurring to the subject I was sure that the battle of freedom was
won. "What further provocation the committee received, and how
it plunged into a deeper gulf to escape, will be noticed subsequently.

Chapter XXIV.

DR. SMITH'S RECANTATION OF HIS ANSWER TO ME

ABOUT THE YEAR BOOK; AND THE COMMITTEE'S

TWO NEW SHUFFLES.

London and Leeds Meetings, 1868.

The following article, re-stating this " Year Book" case, and
advancing the history of it, appeared in the Sheffield Telegraph,
January 1868 :—

" THE CONGREGATIONAL YEAR BOOK" AND THE
REV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A.

Those of our contemporaries in Manchester and elsewhere who published an
account of " the scene" on the above subject, in the " autumnal meetings" of
the Congregational Union in Manchester last year, should in justice give equal
currency to the Rev. Dr. George Smith's correction of, and apology for, the
answer which he gave to the Rev. Brewin Grant's questions respecting the
authority for certain important and objectionable changes, conferring on certain
officials the arbitrary power of omitting the name of any Congregational minister
from the " alphabetical list" of accredited Congregational pastor.

226

Such a sweeping, irresponsible power is not even dreamed of in other denomi-
nations, who are supposed to be inferior to the Congregationalists in the professed
freedom of their principles. In reply to the inquiry — on what authority this new
rule was promulgated, the Eev. Dr. George Smith, the secretary of the Congre-
gational Union, declared that it was done by the committee, in accordance with
certain instructions, which only authorised the committee to inquire and report,
not to legislate. He further said that the new law, thus made and promulgated,
six months before the meeting of the Assembly, to which the committee was to
report, was reported to, and approved of by, that public meeting. This, if true,
would have made the rule no better, and would only have convicted the Assembly
of endorsing tyranny. It is, however, now frankly acknowlddged that the rule,
bad in itself, was surreptitiously introduced, and has not even the apology of
having been publicly approved of. The full admission of this extraordinary fact
was published in The English Independent of January 2, in the following
letter : —

" CONGREGATIONAL UNION.

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE ENGLISH INDEPENDENT.

" Sir, — Will you kindly allow me, through your paper, to correct an error into
which I unintentionally fell at the late autumnal meeting of the Congregational
Union in Manchester ? When the Rev. Brewin Grant made inquiry as to an
alteration in the beginning of the alphabetical list of ministers in the Year-book,
and asked who made it, and by what authority, I replied that it had been made
by order of the committee, under an instruction of the assembly at Sheffield, and
that it had been reported to the annual meeting in May last and approved. On
looking at the annual report of that meeting, as given in the Year-book for
1868, much to my surprise I find there is no allusion to the alteration, and I
conclude that it was from forgetfulness omitted. While regretting this omission,
I very deeply deplore the mistake I made in stating my conviction that the change
had been noticed in the report. The statement, though erroneous, as I now
fear, was made in perfect good faith, and with the concurrent opinion of my col-
league, Mr. Ashton, who was equally of opinion with me that the alteration had
been reported. On finding now my mistake, I lose no time in offering to Mr.
Grant and all the members of the Union an expression of my sincere regret for
its occurrence. The effected alteration in the heading of the alphabetical list
will be reported to the next annual meeting, when opportunity will be afforded of
ascertaining how far it meets the views and wishes of the brethren.

" I remain yours faithfully,

GEORGE SMITH.

" Poplar, January 1st, 18G8."

It is needless to inquire how the two secretaries, who arrange the business of
the committee meetings and the public assemblies, should have been so almost
contemptuously confident that this important matter, which had caused " no
small stir," formed a part of the public business in May, 1867.

"It is equally difficult \o understand how the secretary, who takes the minutes
of the meetings, should have waited to see them in print and published before
knowing their contents, when all the world could read and discover the mis-
statement.

" It is, however, satisfactory to find so open a confession, and still more
to learn that the matter is not only to be reported but to be debated at the next
annual meetings in May. Let us hope that the debate will be free and open, and

227

mat the Bev. Brewin Grant will not meet with such finesse and scheming as were
employed to prevent the public utterance of his two plain questions at Manchester.

" In order that the point may be settled in London, and not have to be re-opened
rregularly at the next country meeting, where it might be roughly ventilated,
the committee should arrange beforehand to permit an amendment on the report,
namely, the counter-proposal that the new rule is irregularly introduced, is a
violation of ministerial rights, and ought, for the honour of the denomination, to
be omitted from ' The Congregational Year Book.' A fair hearing of this subject,
of a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, with five minutes for reply, might in
justice be accorded to one who has given himself so much trouble on this subject,
and who could have no other motive, in exposing himself to obloquy from the
more influential, than to defend the rights of his brethren and recover the honour
of his denomination. Of one thing the committee of the Congregational Union
may be assured, namely, that the question cannot be shelved; nor can it be laid
at rest till it is fairly debated, if, indeed, it admits of debate.

" If Congregationalists expect to influence others in the way of freedom, they
must not enslave their own ministers and enshrine tyranny in their ' Year Book.' "
— Sheffield Telegraph.

The method of introducing the matter at the London May
Meeting in 1868 may be called smuggling. There was no intention
for the matter to be debated, whether such an insane or wicked
rule should be adopted, but just to adopt it as " the effected alter-
ation," as Dr. Smith affectedly calls it in his curiously-timed letter
of apology for a very extraordinary mistake.

In consequence of being engaged with a second Bazaar towards
liquidating the debt on my church before leaving it, I was unable
to be present at the London May Meeting, 1868.

Dr. Smith relying, and for once mistakenly, on the servility of
his audience, referred in the report to " an accidental omission"
from the preceding report, of this " effected alteration," and told
the Assembly how the committee had appointed a sub-committee,
and being itself reported to, had accordingly adopted those new
words " or omitted from" which gives new illegal power of
expulsion to certain august officials. He did'nt apologize for this
assumption of legislative functions by a committee that engaged to
report to the Assembly.

Notwithstanding the efforts of Mr. Binney by the diversion of a
little joke to rivet the fetters of slavery on his weaker brethren, the
whole scheme was foiled. The following account of the matter is
given by the English Independent, whose slavish or tyrannical prin-
ciples make it the willing tool of the " ruling elders," and therefore
its testimony is valid against them.

" The Bev. E. S. Prout : I intended to have seconded the resolution without
a single sentence ; but there is one paragraph in the report I feel must be spoken
offer a moment, because it is now or never. The report submits to the judg-
ment of tMs meeting the altered terms in regard to the adi^i&sioi? and omission

228

I

of names on the list of our accredited ministers. Inasmuch as it is submitted
for our judgment, I do not feel I am violating the confidence of the secretary in
referring to it. The terms on which names are added to the list are unquestion-
able. There are five methods in which a minister's name may be added to the
list already in existence, but the same rules, according to the wording of the
resolution, would cause a name to be omitted ; and tbere, I think is the weak
point, and it is really a serious one in matter of form, even though we have perfect
confidence that neither secretary or committee would do anything that would be
ungenerous or harsh to any brother throughout the whole country. But, as the
terms of this resolution run, if two tutors of a college write up to the secretary to
say, ' Mr. A. has forfeited his character, he has been guilty of so-and-so, he has
lost the confidence of his brethren, and therefore his name ought to be left out,"
according to the wording of those terms the secretary would be bound to strike
out the name. The committee does not mean that, I feel certain. If the secre-
tary of the district association sends up to say, ' Mr. A. is no longer a member of
that association,' that is a different matter ; but as the words are here written,
certainly two tutors or five members of the Congregational Board of Ministers in
London would have the power of requiring the name to be omitted. I think the
mistake arises from endeavouring to condense into one sentence the terms of
admission and omission. The terms of admission are unquestionable ; the terms
of removal need to be very carefully re-considered. I have great pleasure, with
that exception, in seconding the resolution.

" The Kev. Thomas Binney : I think there was an expression that must have
come upon the minds of a great many persons here who were present at Man-
chester, and I am afraid must have caused them a great deal of pain. A little
alteration would remove that distress, and I am sure my friend Mr. Geo. Smith
will attend to it. He said it was a very great thing that the hospitality of the
people of Manchester was equal to the ' increased requirements ' of their visitors.
Now I think he means the increased number of visitors. (Laughter.) I was not
at Manchester, but I should be very sorry to think that you went there, all of
you, with increased requirements. (Laughter.)

<; The Kev. Dr. Smith : I am very sorry we had not the benefit of that criticism
before, but Mr. Binney has given the right meaning to it. It means an
augmented number, and the correction shall be made.

" The Chairman was about to put the resolution adopting the report, when a
delegate interposed, and asked what were the terms or exclusion ?

" The Chairman : It has come upon me partly by surprise. But it seems
that there never has been a report given to this Union from the
committee that was appointed to report to it, and that we have the
thing now tabulated and adopted without really having ourselves
sanctioned it. Possibly the thing might be accomplished, and all interests and
susceptibilities met, by simply referring this point for consideration during the
year, and bringing it up again for your adoption in an amended form.

" The Rev. Dr. Smith: I think, sir, that would be a very wise course. I
quite think there is weight in the remark our friend made. I have no doubt that
attempting to put the whole definition into one short phrase led to obscurity. I
may state it is the intention op the committee that the name of no
person shall be omitted but on the authority of local, COUNTY, OB
other associations ; that the authority shall not be in London, but with the
brethren in the neighbourhood where the man lives. If that does not
appear quite plain now, I think the suggestion of Dr. Raleigh a very wise one ; it
can be taken into consideration, and reported upon at a future meeting."

229

Ordinary persons would imagine that Dr. Smith and the committee
could now have no escape from bringing it before the next general
meeting ; whereas they suppress all reference to this debate in
their Year Book, and simply say — " It was moved and seconded
that this assembly, in receiving and adopting this report, renders
its cordial thanks to the committee," &c. (Year Book 1869, p. 33.)
But the vote of the assembly and the dictum of the chairman would
lead any judge to decide that the newly-forged law is an illegality,
and its enforcement a punishable crime.

But then it was brought forward at the next meeting, perhaps,
and settled, as far as the Assembly has authority by its " constitu-
tion" to settle it ? By no means, my verdant friend ; it was silently
passed by, as no doubt intended to be, when Dr. Smith thought
the chairman's " suggestion" " a very wise one."

I was busy lecturing when the next Union meeting was held, in
October of 1868, at Leeds ; otherwise, as my church was " in
arrears," so I could not go as a delegate from it, I should have
sent the "five shillings" and gone, especially as I had several
invitations to the houses of friends.

I however sent a letter and a number of pamphlets — " Gladstone
and Justice to Ireland" among the rest — which excited such
indignation and wrath that a friend wrote to say he was glad I had
not gone, for I should not have been permitted to be heard. The
feeling ran very high ; and even he, said he did not expect among
my papers one on the Irish Church ; but that he should always be
" glad to see me as a personal friend," which meant no longer in
my public ministerial capacity, — that was sealed and doomed, for
we are extremely "liberal."

The Rev. Mr. Thomas, of Leeds, who, like a great many more,
once oracularly denounced my " Rescue of Faith," and had to
confess in company that he never saw it nor the " Christian Faith"
which it criticised — rose towards the end of the proceedings to move
some vote of thanks, when he incautiously admitted the terror under
which the officials and then adherents had assembled, for fear I
should be there after all !

He declared how they had met in fear and trembling, expecting
some earthquake or tornado, and then looking round with recovered
courage, observed with gratitude, but I do not see the person present
-who was to — "No! no!" greeted him; he was rebuked for the
confession ; and then rallying, he said how he at any rate blessed
the Lawhd that they had been able to hold their meetings in
harmony, &c. — "Hush ! " So, he stopped short, or would have added,

230

that they could sit under their own vine and fig tree, none daring to
make them afraid ! For tyrants are often cowards.

Now why should it have been so dreadful for me to appear among
a host of cultivated speakers ? I had the above account from one
intelligent witness, and it was confirmed to me lately by another,
who, like the first witness, is a Gladstonian.

In my letter to the Union Meeting at Leeds, which was circulated
extensively, I quoted Dr. Smith's recantation and the shuffle at
London, and asked: Will the question be "fairly debated" at
Leeds ? or, " will the brethren still stand in this independent
position ? It is nothing to me. I secure only insult and defama-
tion. But the honour and integrity of British Nonconformity are
at stake, as Dr. Parker says."

The English Independent gave out hints that a new method of
arranging the names of ministers would be adopted ; .and in one
place I think I read that it would facilitate a "judicious weeding of
the list." That paper had already declared that I could no longer
be a Congregational minister, since I did not adore Mr. Gladstone,
or his " gods and heroes of Greece" or Rome. Aided by liberals in
other liberal papers, it tried to smooth the way of the dictation
in the Union as they all set up a dictator in the State. The Non-
conformist, gladly joining in this conspiracy, quoted (Nov. 11, 1868)
the following from its colleaguing contemporary : —

The Congregational Year Book. — An entirely new plan has been deter-
mined for arranging the list of Congregational ministers in the "Year Book."
Henceforth the names of those only will be inserted who are connected with the
London Congregational Board, or with one of the county associations. Others
can only be admitted on the requisition of five neighbouring ministers who are
themselves accredited ministers of some association. This will relieve the editor
from all responsibility. — English Independent,

Neither of these editors explained how responsibility was evaded
by the surreptitious invention of a new rule a second time, for now
another alteration had been determined on without the assembly
having been consulted.

This second new rule came out with the Year Book of 1869, and
was thus referred to in the Nonconformist (Jany. 6) : —

In the list of ministers no names are allowed to appear but those returned by
the secretaries of County Associations or Unions, and the secretaries of the Con-
gregational Board and the General Union. This rule has been adopted with a
view to obviate unpleasant controversies.

Now this method " of obviating unpleasant controversies" only
aggravates them, and places the committee and its agents and pub-

231

lisher in a dangerous position , if their victims are not so crushed
as to find neither friends nor means to vindicate and recompense
the sufferers.

Before the Year Book came out, the rumours and paragraphs
respecting some new style of "thumb-screw" led me to enquire of the
secretary, Dr. Smith, but knowing how he had insulted me previously,
as when, at Sheffield, I civilly asked him a civil question as he passed
out of the meeting, he went on muttering thunder, and I followed
saying " I beg your pardon, I did not understand what you were
saying ;" to which he replied, rather gruffly, "lam ashamed of
being seen speaking to you." I promised that it would not occur
again: — in writing to so great a man, even though he had publicly
apologized to me for his Manchester answer, I thought it becoming
and modest to assume the third person ; which I did as follows : —

" Sheffield, Dec. 8th, 1868.

" The Rev. Brewin Grant presents his compliments to the Rev. Dr.
George Smith, and would be obliged by being informed whether the
statement respecting "the entirely new plan" "for arranging the
list of Congregational Ministers in the Year Book," as described in
the English Independent, and quoted thence into the Nonconformist
of November 11th, was sanctioned by any public meeting at Leeds,
and whether it refers to new ministers only, or to names that have
long been on the list.

Further — whether the Year Book question as previously brougrTt
up in Sheffield, Manchester and London, was put down on the
programme for Leeds ? On both public and personal grounds an
answer to these questions is respectfully requested ; since it should
be known if new terms for continuing on the list are demanded, and
by what authority the long-established custom of the denomination
is departed from, if such should be the case.

" A directed and stamped envelope is enclosed for the favour of
a reply."

" Bournemouth, Dec. 17th, 1868.

" Dear Sir, — I have no recollection of the newspaper paragraph
to which yon refer, and therefore cannot answer your question
respecting it.

" So far as I remember, the Year Book question was not put
down for Leeds, it having been decided upon at the annual meeting,
if my memory serves me aright ; but as I am from London, on ac-
count of the state of my health, I have no access to the documents
which would enable me to give the information you seek. Mr.

232

Ashton, the editor of the Year Book, is better able than I am to
answer the questions you propose to me.

" I remain yours faithfully,
" Rev. B. Grant, B.A." " G. SMITH.

Mr. Ashton was surly and would not answer at all, even when I
was myself the victim ; but I ought here to say, to Dr. Smith's
credit, that since this occurred he has always been prompt and
courteous in his answers. But it will not escape the notice of the
reader that this official of the Union should not only, at Manchester,
make so grave a mistake, confirmed by Mr. Ashton of course, but
should, at the time of writing the above, be ignorant whether the
question was put on the programme for Leeds, according to his
public promise to the chairman in London : and even think the
matter was settled there, when his report of it was rejected by the
assembly ! It is on such rules, so concocted, that the Congrega-
tional Union may have legally to vindicate its good faith in its
dealings with ejected Nonconformists.

Chapteb XXY.
THE CHERRYTREE ORPHANAGE,

TOTLEY, NEAK SHEFFIELD,

Notwithstanding the difficulty of getting into the space fixed upon
for this book all that I should like to say, I must give a short
chapter to this excellent institution, which needs and deserves the
assistance of Christian people.

A few years ago, Mr. E. R. Taylor, who was I think brought up
among the Wesleyans, and was for some time Havelock Missionary
to our soldiers in India, and in the same capacity in other parts,
was impressed with the idea of taking in> and educating orphan
children. He first received some into his house at Cherrytree,
Sheffield ; then filled the next house ; then took a large hall at
Highfield, Sheffield, and then began to build a large Orphanage
at Totley, about four miles distant.

All this was begun in faith, and he found, generally, that supplies
'•atne in for support of the children. But some became afraid that

233

the contract for building could not be carried out ; that it was rash,
or too adventurous ; and steps were unwisely taken that eventually
lessened public confidence, so that the building was in danger of
stopping a little above the foundation.

At this time J. Webster, Esq., the Mayor of Sheffield, kindly
laid the foundation-stone ; and I attended, simply because ,the
enterprise was in danger.

I was asked to act as treasurer to the building fund, and spent
two months in begging and teaching the collector to beg. We had
much misrepresentation to battle with ; but with many, my name
did the institution good : and a few days before writing this, I saw
the last certificate to the builder for £250, and went with the
collector to S. Fox, Esq., of Deepcar, who had promised a second
help when the building and grounds were put in trust ; but our ex-
Mayor, who laid the stone, had not yet been able to complete the
trust deed. However, as we could explain that it was in process,
and would soon be finished, but that in the mean time the con-
tractor needed some advance, Mr. Fox, kindly gave us another
£50. Many gentlemen had generously given fifty ; among the
earliest, Feancis Hoole, Esq., the worthiest layman among Dis-
senters in Sheffield, sent for me, and having enquired into the case
gave £50 : several others did the same, and so we started into
public confidence.

I write this simply to enlist the sympathies of the benevolent,
both towards the support of the children — between forty and fifty
of whom I saw dining on Christmas day last, with only one sickly
child amongst them — and also for any further aid towards com-
pleting the furnishing, and the final entire purchase of the land, or
rather removing any debt, for it is purchased, and at a very
reasonable rate.

The following is quoted from a circular which contains a list of
the subscribers to the building fund : —

" This Institution is not local or sectarian in its operations, but receives
orphans from all parts of the United Kingdom ; has been in operation over five
years, and it was necessary to erect a suitable building. A. site was accordingly
secured at Totley, near Sheffield. The foundation stone was laid by John
Webster, Esq., Mayor of Sheffield, August 21st, 1867.

The object of this Institution is to feed and clothe orphan children of both
sexes; and to educate them on unsectarian principles, and prepare them to
become honest servants and good citizens.

The new building, and Brook Hall, with nine acres of land, will cost £3500.
The whole is being put in trust.

234

The following gentlemen are the trustees : —
J.Webster, Esq., Ex-Mayor, Broom-bank[ W. Fisher, Esq., J.P., Norton Grange

T. Moore, Esq., Mayor, Ashdell- grove
S. Butcher, Esq., J.P., Banner Cross Hall
Henry Pawson, Esq., Broomhail Place
W. C. Leng, Esq., Broomhail Park
W. Howson, Esq., Storr Wood
F. W. Hoole, Esq., Moor Lodge
C. Doncaster, Esq., Broomhail Park
John Unwin, Esq., Kockingham-street
John Hall, Esq., Westbourne
B. Nicholson, Esq., Cemetery-road
W. H. Greaves, Esq., Norfolk-road
Alfred Chadburn, Esq., Brincliffe
Thomas Searles, Esq., Pitsmoor
Joseph Haywood, Esq., Highfield
James Morton, Esq., Lawson-road
W. H. Ward, Esq., East Bank
George Saville, Esq., Snig-hill
Samuel Fox, Esq., Deepcar

G. Wostenholm, Esq., Kenwood-house

William Harmar, Esq., Norton

S. Osborn, Esq., Butledge, Clarkehouse-

road
W. Whitehead, Esq., Sharrow-head
H. Cooper, Esq., Pitsmoor
W. H. Fawcett, Esq., Clarke-house
R. Broadhead, Esq., Upper Hanover-st.
George Bassett, Esq., Endcliffe
Isaac Milner, Esq., Priory Villas
E. Searle, Esq., Belmont, Upperthorpe
E.T.Eadon, Esq.,BrookVilla,Attercliffe
S.Meggitt, Esq., Cannon Hall, Pitsmoor
Henry Rossell, Esq., Broomhail Park
Thomas Cole, Esq., Cavendish-road
J. W. Travis, Esq., Clarke-street,

Broomhail
J.Wortley,Esq.DonHouse,Philadelphia

Noble assistance has already been secured from gentlemen of influence in
Sheffield, and it is hoped that this case of the orphan will commend itself to other
gentlemen, whose kindly aid will be gratefully received.

Will you kindly give a donation to this work ?

Donations may be paid into the Sheffield and Rotherham Bank or to the
following gentlemen : —

Francis Hoole, Esq., Solicitor, Moor

Lodge, Sheffield
Eogers Broadhead, Esq., 6, Upper

Hanover-street, Sheffield
B. Nicholson, Esq., Cemetery-road.*

Sheffield

John Webster, Ex-Mayor

Eev. Brewin Grant, B.A., Broomhail

Park, Sheffield
William Hargreaves, Esq., Merchant

Eyre-lane, Sheffield

J.Unwin, Esq., Piockingham-st., Sheffield

P.S. — The undersigned having been requested to act as treasurer to the building
fund, this office has been accepted pro tern, in order to facilitate the important
bject in view.

BEEWIN GEANT, Broomhail Park, Sheffield."

N.B. — The building is nearly paid for, but many extra expenses,
beyond the contract, were incurred, and the furnishing is not all
paid for.

Mr. PAGAN, Fits-orilliam street, Sheffield,

Collects for the Institution.

235

Chapter XXVI.
BUILDING THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CEMETERY
ROAD, AND RESIGNATION OF MY CHARGE FOR A
TEMPORARY PUBLIC MINISTRY, FOR SPECIAL
SUNDAY SERVICES, AND WEEK NIGHT LECTURES
AGAINST RITUALISM, RATIONALISM, and ROMANISM.
1860 to 1868.

Soon after my settlement in Sheffield it was considered desirable
by the denomination generally to erect new churches for new dis-
tricts growing up round the town. I was recommended to lead in
this enterprise, and was promised the support of the other churches :
so went with a very few to found a mission church, or entirely new
cause. I received great assistance from persons of all denomina-
tions ; and should say that out of some three thousand five hundred
pounds raised during my pastorate for the building fund at least a
thousand pounds was contributed by churchmen.

A circular, sent round for a second bazaar, to be held in order to
advance towards the entire payment for the edifice, is given here to
indicate the spirit in which I conducted my ministry in relation to the
town at large.

THE CASE of the Cemetery-road Congregational Church, being an Appeal
by the Kev. Brewin Grant, B.A.,to friends outside the congregation, to aid them
in their present efforts to complete the liquidation of the debt remaining on that
edifice.

If we were to draw a line from Hunter's- bar down Ecclesall-road to Sheffield-
moor, then turn round to the right up to Highfield, passing a little way up Shar-
row-lane, and then turning to the left, round, and including Nether- edge, going
on lastly to Brincliffe-edge across to Hunter's-bar where we started from, we
should have an area within which was no place of worship when the site was
selected for our Church. Since then others have happily joined in meeting the
necessities of this populous neighbourhood. Besides the Baptist Chapel, built
almost simultaneously with the above Congregational Church, two families of
Methodists have occupied Nether-edge, and a National Episcopal Church is being
erected near Shirle-hill, by Kenwood Park.

If any, as we can scarcely imagine, should think that the whole burden of pro-
viding religious instruction should be left to the Episcopal Church, the members
of which are doing munificently in Sheffield, it is enough to say that a variety of
denominations meets a variety of tastes and conditions in life, and serves to keep
the Churches alive by the stimulus of a healthy competition. Under any one
Church the population would go to sleep : but those outside the National Church
serve at least the purpose of the poor man in a Scotch Kirk who, while the
minister was preaching, amused himself with throwing peas at the heads of the
sleepers, and when rebuked from the pulpit, retorted — " You go on preaching, I
will keep the folks awake." Or the Dissenters in general, in relation to the
i 2 I*

National Church, may be compared to that other slenderly endowed individual
who, while a good Scotch minister was conducting the service, would go up into
the pulpit to assist him, and when told that he ''must not come there," replied
— " They are a stiff-necked generation, and require us baith." That both are
required in Sheffield, as well as in other places, is obvious enough ; regulars and
volunteers — the combined forces of every brigade — will not be too much to con-
quer the ignorance and irreligion which are natural to all mankind. Every one
who contributes to the establishment and efficiency of any place of
Christian worship perpetuates an ameliorating influence, whose benefits are
incalculable.

The minister of the Cemetery Eoad Congregational Church has endeavoured to
dc his part for the general advantage as well as for his own congregation. Besides
tSn mission to tho working classes, in which a most rabid and infectious form of
popular infidelity was checked and almost annihilated, he has, since his settle-
E&ght ir Sheffield, endeavoured to do his share in the public service. When there
was 2 danger of an unhappy division of feeling between church and chapel by an
untimely controversy, he preached and published and circulated extensively, by
post, to leading men of both parties, a discourse intended to withdraw attention
froit nrrior differences to those material truths and principles of liberty in which
all Christians are concerned, and which are perilled as much by our divisions and
estrar ^ement of feeling, as by the tactics of the common enemy. The title of
thn discourse was — " The Church : Her Dangers and Her Duties: or, The Pro-
testant Eirenicon."

When the Bradfield inundation spread terror and misery in our neighbourhood,
he took the opportunity of printing and circulating gratuitously a pamphlet,
entitled " The Flood and its Lessons." The same was done by him in reference
to the unhappy disclosures in connection with recents events, in a pamphlet,
entitled — " The Trade Outrage Commission and its Lessons." These were in-
tended to disseminate useful principles of religious union, social kindness, and a
wise forethought, together with true ideas of political economy and religious
responsibility.

It can scarcely be expected that every one will agree with every principle
advanced in these papers, a copy of which as far as they remain on hand will be
sent with this statement; but it is confidently anticipated that the general views
and purposes are such as to commend themselves to the considerate and in-
telligent.

It should be stated here, with thanks, that the author of these pamphlets has
been enabled to distribute gratuitously many thousands of these and other pro-
ductions, by the aid of contributions from gentlemen who sympathise with the
object. Though much more has been done in these and other ways, than any
such kind assistance has covered ; and the writer hopes for the future to be still
further enabled to " serve his generation," and is gateful for such assistance as
may in any way be rendered towards the success of his endeavours.

He is especially concerned in the removal of the debt on the Congregational
Church, Cemetery Boad, and will be grateful for any assistance kindly rendered
towards this object, the accomplishment of which will remove the only hindrance
to complete efficiency and extending usefulness.

A Bazaar will be opened in connection with this movement a little before
Whitsuntide of 1868 ; contributions of money and goods will be thankfully
received by the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., Broomhall Park, Sheffield.

We obtained about four hundred pounds by this second bazaar,
in a time of great depression of trade, and were enabled to claim

237

another hundred pounds from the English Congregational Chapel
Building Society which was promised when we reached a certain
stage.

About the beginning of the year 1868 much attention was called
to the rapid growth of " the Catholic Revival in England." Several
clergymen in Sheffield gave lectures on the subject, and I began
carefully to examine the question.

I saw inside the church traitors, and outside enemies, and that
to " conquer an imperial race" was the concentrated scheme of the
sacerdotal caste.

I read many books and gave two lectures on the subject, and felt
deeply impressed with the necessity for some persons being, for a
time at least, wholly disengaged so as to attend to this matter.

Although I felt necessitated to throw my energies into this work,
I could not at first let it be known to my church and congregation,
because we were then engaged in raising a bazaar towards liquidating
the debt on the building, and if my people had known, many would
have ceased to work ; and people outside, from whom the greater
part must be raised, who gave on personal grounds, would have felt
less interest in the matter.

I did, however, privately inform the treasurer of the church, so
that he might make arrangements to prevent a sudden change pro-
ducing confusion or disruption. I secured the services of a late
student of Lancashire College as my " occasional supply," and did
everything to facilitate his entrance early into the pastorate in my
place.

This succeeded ; and when at the close of the bazaar it came out
that I was going to leave, some were angry and some in tears ; and
many in the sudden feeling would have left, but I prevailed on most
to stay at the church and to secure the services of the young
minister whom I had introduced.

THE REV. BREWIN GRANT'S

ANTI-RITUALISTIC CAMPAIGN, &c.

The following account of my resignation and farewell address is
adopted from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of June 15, 1868.

Last evening the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A.. gave a public state-
ment of his reasons for entering into the above line of public
advocacy, giving his reasons in the form of a farewell address on
retiring from the pastorate of Cemetery-road Congragational church,
tthich had been built in connection with his efforts, aided by a few
friends who joined him, to raise a new congregation as a mission
: 3

238

church. Three thonsand five hundred pounds had been raised
towards the building fund, besides meeting the expenses of worship,
though none of the worshippers were rich, and only a very few
commenced the enterprise.

Mr. Grant observed that, though leaving the office of pastor of

that church in order to carry on more extensive labours which he

onsidered absolutely required, he should still reside in Sheffield,

where he had so many friends, not only in his own congregation

but outside his own denomination.

He would not trouble his audience with detailed facts, which
accumulated every day, as to the rapid growth and monstrous cha-
racter of the Catholic revival, which threatened the destruction of
English religion and liberties in order to dominate over the world
in one vast confederation of priestcraft. But while not entering
into these particulars, which would be more appropriate to lectures
on the subject, he could adopt the words of Sir Alfred Slade, Bart.,
and apply them to this case : — " My fellow countrymen, you are so
peaceful and so prosperous that you have not yet opened your eyes
to the revolution in which you are living. There are bloody
revolutions and bloodless revolutions. It is not clear to my mind
which are the least evil. Certainly the last admit and encourage a
much greater amount of self-deceit than the first. But whether
you will or no, the day of battle has come, and you and your
children cannot escape it."

He would put before them in a condensed shape the result of
extensive reading and observation — the grounds for his new form of
public ministry and general advocacy, which were stated in the
following propositions : —

1. A determined and formidable movement is now being made to extinguish and
overthrow such religious light and liberty as have so long distinguished this land.

2. The movement has, by secret processes, gained considerable advantage
and foothold, so that batteries formerly masked are now boldly opened

3. One in a responsible position is reported to have said, what certainly
describes the actual position : — " The High Church Ritualists and the followers
of the Pope had long been in secret combination under the guise of Libe-
ralism ; and under the pretence of ' legislating in the spirit of the age' they
were about, as they thought, to seize upon the supreme authority of the realm."

4. In a meeting where Irish priests preponderated, it was said that it would
be more true to affirm that such a confederacy existed between English Libera-
tionists and Irish Romanists.*

5. " The English Church in both its branches is the key to the position,"
and the enemy has gained a lodgment.

6. It is only public apathy, founded on ignorance and aided by a false
liberality, that renders the position of the enemy tenable and progressive.

* This turns out to be the truth.

239

7. This apathy can be removed by careful, persistent, enligbtened, and Scrip-
tural advocacy of the principles of religion and liberty, bequeathed by our Lord
through his Apostles, recovered by the battle of the Reformation, and now again
endangered by what is called "the Catholic Kevival " in England, in which
'• Anglican Jesuits" are strenuously engaged.

8. A great awakening of the Evangelical party in the Church of England,
clerical and lay, is both a pledge of earnestness on their part and an acknowledg-
ment, though tardy, of the crisis which is threatening.

9. A more general movement, independent of, but in honourable and free
alliance with, Evangelical Episcopalians, is also needed, in which the " more
advanced Dissenters " and English Protestants generally may contribute their
share, and prove that while pseudo -liberalism can ally itself with superstition
and despotism, real liberality is allied to real religion, " not as a question of
party, but of Christ and Christianity.''

10. It is proposed, therefore, that a representative of this class, or several
representatives, as may be feasible, should be devoted to the study and popular
exposition of this question, by tongue and pen — mastering the secret and
policy of this conspiracy, and awakening such public attention as that people
shall be warned and alarmed before they are beguiled and fascinated.

11. Such an anti-Ritual advocacy would supplement and complete the efforts
of Evangelical " Church Associations," and would possess some advantages
peculiar to itself, both in freedom of action and as to the force of disinterested
and independent testimony, and not the struggle of one party for power against
another party, as Erastian philosophers might say of Evangelical Churchmen.

12. Many who have means, but not time, to enter into details of such publie
questions, and yet have deep convictions and solicitude on the matter, would no
doubt gladly aid in the support of such agency as they could confide in, and
thus, as if by deputy, take an efficient part in the defence of all that they hold
most dear and sacred.

13. Money spent in law is useful, as in the late St. Alban's case, in which a
Ritualistic judge, while abandoning the principle to find "room for both
parties," — still condemned and forbade certain details of Ritualistic innovations.

14. But money spent on public advocacy, to prepare the national mind for
resisting all the encroachments of priestcraft, may be more advantageous than even
building and endowing a Church ; for it may, by the blessing of God, prevent
the misappropriation of all present and future churches.

15. In anticipation of some such movement, and in faith that God's pro-
vidence will secure friends to sustain the effort and render it effective by the
Divine blessing, the accompanying letter was prepared as the draught of an
intended public announcement, and the basis of the writer's resignation of his
present charge.

LETTER OF RESIGNATION.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CEMETERY-ROAD.

Sheffield, June, 1868.
Christian Friends. — For some time I have been impressed with the fact that
there are certain public questions demanding more time and thought than could
be devoted by one who has the prior and personal claims of his own pastorate,
especially if many demands were made upon him, without much organised
assistance. " The English Independent," during the same period, contained
some suggestions respecting a general ministry in contradistinction to an
exclusive pastorate, which coincided very much with my own feelings in favour

240

of some being occupied, at least for a time, in public -work, so as to be able to
take more special services, and enter further into public questions than is con-
sistent with the numerous claims on a settled pastor. My own mind has been
powerfully wrought upon in reference to one public question, on which the
future religious condition of England, humanly speaking, greatly depends — I
mean the partly clandestine and partly open attempt, under the cloak of Ritual-
ism, to involve our nation in the darkness of superstition, and bind our posterity
in the fetters of priestcraft.

I feel deeply and solemnly that we, as Dissenters, are bound to come to the
aid of the Evangelical party in the Chuch of England, to prevent the citadel of
that Church being employed to dominate over and enslave the country. From
our independent position we can, in some respects, speak out with greater force
and impartiality than is always permissible to an Evangelical clergyman.

It is, therefore, to the study and development of this question of Ritualism
that I propose for a time to devote my chief efforts in the way of week-night
lectures, while I shall be open to special services and occasional " supplies'' in
any chapels the managers of which may honour me by invitations to such
services. My resignation of the office of pastor among you, necessitated by the
above considerations, would have been tendered earlier but ior the interest of
our Bazaar, which might have suffered from the intended change. I shall
continue to feel an interest in your highest welfare, and doubt not you will
heartily respond.

I remain yours affectionately, BREWIN GRANT.

THE CHURCH'S ANSWER AND TESTIMONY.

TO THE REV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A.

Reverend and dear Sir, — At the special Church meeting of the Cemetery-road
Congregational Church, held June 10th, 1868, for the purpose of considering the
propriety or otherwise of accepting your resignation, it was unanimously resolved
that the members express their deep regret that from your convictions as to the
necessity of your intended public work, they have no alternative but to accept
your resignation, believing as they do that nothing but a deep sense of duty could
have induced you to resign your office as pastor, and give precedence to the im-
portant undertaking to which you have devoted yourself.

We know well that any system regarded by you as delusive, subversive of
morals, and fatal to the noblest instincts of humanity, will be dealt with by you with
an unsparing hand, never abandoning your right to use persuasion or denuncia-
tion, ridicule or philosophy, wit or invective, eloquence or science, the treasures
of history or the resources of genius, the amenities of art or the severity of logic,
the ornaments of poetry or the maxims of experience, all which we know you
regard as the gifts of God's good providence — intrusted to our reason to be employed
in the defence of that crowning gift, — His Holy Word, the palladium of our
liberties and the solid basis of our hopes ; and you would still regard yourself as
false to the truth you hold, faithless to the minds of others whom you ought to
wain and deJend, forgetful of your allegiance to your blessed Lord, if you allowed
His kingdom to be invaded without employing the artillery of argument, and
sweeping with the battery of truth the legions of the enemy, who menacingly
march up to the walls of Zion and boast that they can shake them.

To drive back and check the incursions of the enemy is no doubt your great
aim in the work upon which you are about to enter, and believing you to poss^ m
tfvery intellectual and other necessary endowments, we wish you every success
It will be impossible for those who know the service you rendered during ue

241

erection of the Church to forget your untiring efforts to meet the financial re-
quirements of the place. Your interest in the Church has been proved during the
late Bazaar by not making known your intended resignation until it was over,
lest it should suffer in any way. Many of our friends, not wishing to lose your
services, have been very anxious that a co-pastor should be obtained, but others
whose views are coincident with your own thought it would be to your advantage
if your resignation was accepted and you were free from any minor claims.

Your general liberality, and kindness in seasons of difficulty and distress, will
never be forgotten. Hoping that, although your official connection with us has
ceased, we may long be spared to reciprocate those friendly feelings which for
many years we have enjoyed,

"We remain, on behalf of the Church,

THOS. 'BOWER, 1 ~„nTIO

WILLIAM BISSETT, f^^00118-

He, with the Church, regretted his being called away by im-
perative duty, and desired for his late flock all spiritual prosperity.
They had experienced many difficulties and many blessings together,
and he hoped that they were but beginning to reap the fruits of past
labours.

He wished further to explain, for the satisfaction of his numerous
friends, that while his sole original intention was to confine his
advocacy to the Ritualistic and Rationalistic movement, he had also
seen the necessity of examining with closest scrutiny the tendencies
of certain politico-ecclesiastical changes as proposed in relation to
the Irish Church.

The same circumstance which awakened his grave suspicion as to
the possible ulterior objects of that proposal had also awakened
similar suspicions in the mind of the celebrated preacher, the Rev.
C. Spurgeon, although that gentleman had at first committed him-
self determinedly to the side of Mr. Gladstone's resolutions. He
still sees that it is necessary for Churchmen and Dissenters to unite,
in order to demand that " not one penny" of the funds proposed to
be distributed be given to Roman Irish priestly educational esta-
blishments, or any other form of deadly Papal error.

Mr. Gladstone having declined to give any guarantee in the form
of a resolution on that subject, and having even opposed such gua-
rantees, it is only necessary that the general public should under-
stand this point of danger, and he (Mr. Grant) should consider it a
part of his public work to make that increasingly understood.

The reverend gentlemen begged to apologise for saying one word
as to his own motives in the undertaking, which had naturally begun
to be impugned by those who had no other answer to his argu-
ments, and who, as a class, never did give any other answer than a
perversion of what he said and an imputation against his motives,

242

all in the name of fairness and that much-abused phrase, " a
Christian spirit." It was beneath him to enter into controversy
with men who are forced to descend to such topics, and whose only
liberality is liberality of insolence and abuse.

It had been very generally and industriously reported — he
scarcely thought it was believed — that he was seeking ordination in
the Church of England. He was not aware that even this would
be a sin, except in the estimation of more liberal-minded people,
who had a right to differ from everybody, but felt that nobody had
a right to differ from them. Still, he wished again to say that he
did not remember ever dreaming of such a step, and certainly it
never occurred to him in his waking moments. But wherein he
could co-operate honourably with the Evangelical section of the
Church of England, in defence of their common Christianity, he
did not feel called upon to refrain, even though the " English Inde-
pendent," which is very much like the Sheffield one, had not scrupled
in its last number to say that ' ' he wtill find it very haet> to con-
vince them of his own sincerity." Such insults he naturally
expected ; and his only answer was, that they would find it much
harder to convince him that they doubted his sincerity. Nor did he
doubt theirs ; he believed that such persons were as sincere
tyrants as ever applied a thumbscrew, and that the " sincerity" of
their tyranny was the most fatal judicial element in their own
blindness and self-conceit. They were not even ashamed of their
own imputations, which indicated the blessedness of the fact that
their power was not equal to their disposition. All this, however,
was but a tribute of their fear to his influence ; and when such
ceased to malign and began to applaud him, he should fear that
he had forgotten his own independence, and betrayed the cause of
God's truth and man's liberty, to which his whole life had been
consecrated.

There were two objections which had been made against his
course. One was that he was doing it for pay, and the other was
that he was doing it for nothing. One came from friends and one
from enemies. The latter, who say he does it for pay, did not
believe what they said, and themselves hoped it was not true ; for
there is nothing that they like so little as to see a minister well paid,
and nothing they like so much as to be well paid themselves, except
seeing those starved who work independently and are not the tools
of their party.

There is one thing to be said of such people, and goes far to
soften anger into pity, namely, that they are so little accustomed to

243

any generous impulses or heroic self- sacrifice that they have lost the
capacity of seeing it, or at any rate of openly acknowleging it, and
to "level down" to themselves, are forced to deny its reality.
Accordingly the "English Independent," which trades on the repu-
tation of the British Standard, the last free Orthodox organ of
Dissenters, says : — " Mr. Brewin Grant's ' anti-Ritualistic campaign'
turns out, as might be supposed, to be a stump on behalf of the
Irish Church." "Possibly he may convince the audiences he
addresses that he represents ' the more observant English Dis-
senter ; ' but he will find it very hard to convince them of his own
sincerity. He best knows the proper market for his eggs ; but not
even this accession of talent to Mr. Disraeli's company will suffice
to keep the concern going beyond the present season." (June 11,
1868.) These men have no higher conception than the best "market for
eggs," though they often take them to the wrong market after all,
and do not get them sold, because they are suspected ; nor hatched,
because they are addled. Such writers and organs are the disgrace
of controversy and the bane of liberty. The Church News, a cele-
brated Ritualistic paper, from a less dishonourable motive says —
" It is given out that the Church Association has engaged the well-
known Congregational minister, Mr. Brewin Grant, to lecture
against Ritualism." This is a mistake, but not a malicious one.

I have even been asked by friends whether I am not " engaged "
— promised payment ; in fact, whether some party has hired me,*
which no party is rich enough to do ; because, though some men,
judging from themselves, say "Everyman has his price," there
are still those who believe in God, and cannot afford to dispense
with their conscience for any "engagement" with "the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them," as the reward of venality.

But then a second objection, that of anxious friends, is — " You
have a family ; you ought to have a certainty ; " and to them I
reply — I wish no party to be responsible for my course, but desire
to obtain the personal sympathy of friends without involving any,
and without being myself involved, as the mere agent, delegate, or
hired advocate of any party, which position might both endanger
my own independence of thought and weaken the force of my public
testimony. The undertaking of the enterprise is in no way depen-
dent on such assistance, being morally necessitated by the growing
and irrepressible conviction that it is demanded by " the signs of
the times ;" but such aid would nevertheless greatly help in the

* The Rev. David Loxton put this question to me just before cutting me
for not joining in Gladstone worship.

244

comfort and efficiency of carrying ont the work, and especially in
the pioneer work of making the mission known and understood, as
well as in the careful study requisite for entering upon it fully armed.

I believe, moreover, that He Who calls to this work — for I am
constrained to regard it in this light — will prepare the way and
provide the means in answer to confident waiting and earnest effort ;
nor do I expect to be without the aid of the fervent supplications of
those who desire, above all things, that the truth of God may be
vindicated, and His name glorified in the revival and increasing
prevalence of pure and undefiled religion, as the security for all
other blessings on which the liberty and happiness of mankind
depend. I cannot think that God will forsake England, after all
that He has done for it ; and I believe* that if we are not utterly
faithless He will not permit this land, which should be the centre
of light and liberty to all others, to become what some now strive
to make it — the centre and stronghold of priestly domination. The
rev. gentleman continued : — Any who could aid him in his work by
securing the opportunity of giving lectures, or holding special
Sunday services, or in any other way, would receive his hearty
thanks. To them he said, in words formerly employed — be sure
of this, that the English Church is the key to the position foi
mastering England ; it is already sapped and mined, and the
enemy is inside, and the fight is going on.

Shall we not adopt some means to arouse the majesty of Britain
to abate this danger, and leave to our children the same inheritance
of God's truth and man's freedom as we received from the hand of a
beneficent Providence ? As for himself, he could only utter the reply
of the prophet, when in Israel's apostacy, the inquiry was, " Whom
shall we send?" In this way he would be consistent with that
prayer which he lately publicly offered : — Would to God that He
would raise up some whose lips are touched with a live coal from off
the altar, who should stand out and vow before Him Whose gospel
is insulted — that every energy they possess, all diligence of study
they can use, all heroic zeal which they can evoke, all eloquence of
tongue or pen they can reach, every power of body, soul, and spirit
shall be consecrated to this great cause of religion and liberty
against superstition and despotism, to the glory of God the Father,
by the sanctific ation of the Spirit, and in honour of Jesus Christ,
the one only Priest — that Great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.

The address was listened to throughout with profound attention
The sacred edifice was crowded by a large and respectable congrega-
tion, outside the pews being also occupied. We believe some had
to return on account of their not being able to obtain admission.

245

THE LEY. BEE WIN GRANT'S

ANTI-RITUALISTIC CAMPAIGN,

And General Ministry in defence of the English Reformation against

the so-called Catholic Movement.
I. — Which Side shall we Join: The Ritualists or the Evan-
gelicals ? AND WHICH SIDE IS THE PRAYER-BOOK ON ?

Containing a Plea for united action on the part of Christians of all denominations

against Superstition and Despotism.
This Lecture can be had as a specimen, by any one sending his address and six

stamps to the Author.

II. — A Defence of the English Reformation against the Rev.
Dr. Littledale's Ritualistic " Innovations."

III. — The Sacramental System: or the Mystery of Iniquity.

Showing how the Temptation of our Lord in the Wilderness, is repeated ; to
tempt His people, by the same misuse of Scripture, to seek supernatural
Bread, to follow Sensationalism in Religion, and to commit Idolatry, in
falling down to worship the Host and the Priest.

IV. — The Purple Robe : or Ritualism a Mockery of Christ and
Christlinity.

With Criticisms on the Rev. Mr. Legett's Lecture on Christian Worship,
wherein he advocates Objective in opposition to Subjective Worship ;
that is, a sensuous and idolatrous Ritual, instead of worshipping " in
Spirit, and in Truth."

Y. — The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain.

Or an Analysis of the Bishop of Salisbury's " charge," at his " Triennial
Visitation."

VI. — The English Church the Key to the Position for the
Mastery of England.

N.B. — The Rev. Brewin Grant undertakes to give the above Lectures in con-
nection with any Association of Christians, or any individuals interested
in the subject ; but not as the Agent, Representative, or Advocate
of any Party or Society.

Asiocidental to the above Lectures and Mission, he is also prepared to give a
Lecture on

The Irish Church — an English Dissenter's View of it;
or Mr. Gladstone's Missing Link.*

It is desired that, on the occasion of delivering this Lecture, hauf-an-hour
should be permitted for Questions and Objections; on condition that
opponents listen moderately quietly to the Lecturer's statements.

* The title of this lecture is now changed to — " Liberationists Betray Dissent, Rob the
Church, Favour Popery, an I Destroy Liberty." This should be given in every large town.
It has been given in Sheffield and Birkenhead. To the above may be added — "Nuns and
Nunneries. Should Conventual Institutions be under Government Inspection ?"

246

Arrangements can also be made with Young Men's Christian Associations,
Mutual Improvement Societies, and Literary Institutes, for
Lectures suitable to the objects of those institutions. — A list of Lectures
on application.

Ministers, Sunday School Teachers, and others, are also respectfully
informed that the Kev. Brewin Grant, B.A., having for a time resigned
a private pastorate for the above public work, is open to form engage-
ments for Anniversary and other Special Services; many invitations
to which he has been hitherto obliged to decline, and in some cases, from
accumulated engagements, has been driven to neglect applications, to
which now he will be able to pay immediate attention.

It is desirable, as far as possible, that arrangements should be made for "Week-
night Lectures in, or near to, the locality in which the Sunday Services
are held.

Broomhall Park, Sheffield.

Chapter XXYII.
THE REV. GENERAL PICTON, B.A., and HIS LEICESTER
BRIGADE OF VOLUNTARY ROUGHS, AIDED BY
LIBERAL AND RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPER EDITORS,—
LEADER, BAINES, MIALL, TURBERVILLE & Co.

"When I was at Carmarthen, — where a person named " Joseph,"
who was drunk and interrupted my lecture, and then wrote a false
account of it, which Messrs. Leader and Tuebeeville accepted and
repeated, but which a gentleman who was sober corrected in the
Carmarthen Journal, — I walked up a long street till I came to an
obelisk celebrating Picton, and enumerating the battles in which he
fought for his country.

The " Picton" at the head of this chapter is another person who
headed a Leicester mob of liberal dissenters, invited by the " Free
Press," probably at Mr. Picton's dictation, to cry me down, which
feat thc}T celebrated as a victory of liberalism — which means
rowdyism. There never could be a public meeting on the other
side if such liberals could prevent it.

Mr. Picton's friends not only cried me down, interrupting me for
the space of an hour and a-half, when we had paid for and engaged
the hall, — and they had no more right to interrupt and prevent
speaking than they had to pick pockets ; — but they also, perhaps at
his instigation, came to me personally, and accused me of having
had my education paid for me by my late friend Dr. Legge,

247

respecting which a corset dealer in Leicester market, an agent for
the party, insulted me in the most liberal manner.

The suggestion was that I was ungrateful in turning against
people who had educated me in the faith that I should turn out a
Gladstonian.

This Mr. Pictox, who is a member of the Congregational Union
committee, demanded that my chairman, A. Pell, Esq., now M.P.
for South Leicestershire, though announced on the placards, should
vacate the chair before I should be allowed to give my lecture.

I acknowledge that I had formerly proved that Mr. Pictox had
forsaken the truth once believed amongst us ; for in two Bicentenary
discourses on the words " That they without us should not be
made perfect," — he showed that Christ and His apostles were not
perfect without him ; that our trust deeds of our chapels should be
made of india-rubber, to admit any growth of thought, as they call
the erratic conceit of improvers on Inspiration.

But if Mr. Pictox improves on the apostles he stops at Mr.
Gladstoxe ; and while claiming liberty to differ from the gospel he
should preach, does not permit me to differ from him.

I paid a second visit to Leicester, and had a ticket meeting to
keep out the roughs ; at which time Mr. Picton was invited to a free
debate, in which his own lambs should be muzzled, and only the
speakers be allowed to speak.

He loftily declined the honour, as not being willing to " come
into personal contact" with me ; though, as I explained to a large
audience, he need not have come any closer than when he mounted the
platform with his yelping pack at his heels. They can well master
you if they can stop you ; but all of them together neither could
answer me nor report honestly what I said. The right of public
meetings ought to be settled by parliament, and every one inter-
rupting contrary to the rules of the chairman, by the printed
conditions of the placards, should be expelled by the police as a
public nuisance. Mr. Roebuck nearly lost his life by liberal rowdies
in Sheffield, hustling him in one of his own meetings, and mobbing
him outside ; on which Mr. Leadek, a Congregational committee-
man, observed in his paper to the effect "that no man more
righteously incurred public indignation."

These are the disgraceful principles and proceedings to which I
was exposed, the most unmitigated ruffianism, physical and literary,
that ever trampled liberty under foot.

Every falsehood was secretly or publicly affirmed, to make Dis-
senters close their ears and to discard one who, if wrong, was open

248

to an answer, and always asked for it, and never got it. I was
seeking for ordination in the Church, I had offered my services to
the Liberation Society for five hundred pounds, and been rejected ;
I then sold myself to the Church, and in the first meeting I attended
was asked how much I got while a minister, and how much now
from the Church Association. This was heard by ministers and not
rebuked.

Mr. Leader, or some one else from Sheffield, sent down to the
Independent and Baptist ministers at Haverfordwest, that I per-
mitted my wife and family to go to the Rev. J. Burbidge's church,
and that my own church was just on the point of turning me out,
that the place was getting hot for me, on account of my opposition
to Mr. Gladstone.

These men did not state this as an accusation of my Church for
its supposed bigotry, but as a proof and reward of my wickedness.
The ministers I refer to are a Mr. Long and a Mr. Dr. Davies of Haver-
fordwest. At Llanelly, a Baptist minister, with two or three others,
headed a meeting, tickets having been got in the lump by the liberal
committee, and grossly insulted me, and left a mob at the door,
of their followers, to wait till I went out. I let them cool their heels
for two hours. A clergyman's position in Wales and other places
was often intolerable : they lived in a state of siege, and were
coarsely insulted; the Rev. Bury Capel, M.A., of Abergavenny, was
to be throw7n into a horse-pond if he took me to the lecture ; and so
much were the friends of Protestantism afraid, that the committee
proposed giving up the lecture but Mr. Capel, who was as courageous
as he was modest and gentlemanly, would not succumb, and the
meeting was held. Another excellent clergyman, the Rev. D.
Howell, of Cardiff, was denounced in placards of the most,
unfair character, even to quoting his translation, when a youth,
of some Dissenting publication.

A Baptist minister, named Young, at Abergavenny, obtruded
himself upon me at an hotel, to say that he was disappointed in not
hearing me on a previous occasion, and when asked to hear me in
a few days, immediately got out a placard, as many others had done,
to malign me as a purchased renegade ; and in reply to a note, in
which I offered him a long space to criticise my lecture, wrote to
say, that when I had actually gone into the church and no longer
appeared under false colours, he would condescend to debate the
question with me.*

* The Saturday and Sunday bef ore this Abergavenny lecture I stayed with the able
and exoellent clergyman of Llanover, the Rev. Joshua Evans.

249

This kind of insolence and ignorance greeted me frequently, and
men pretended not to know my position, as the Dissenting papers
also wilfully falsified it, in order that Dissenters might be prejudiced.

What offended these men most was, that while like my former
friend, the Rev. David Loxton, they could challenge clergymen
on state- church principles, they could not deal with a Dissenter
who knew all their tactics, despised their policy, and exploded
the liberal trick that made Dissenters the dupes of Manning,
Cullen, & Co.

A liberation agent asked a friend of mine, who was himself a
Gladstonian, how I was paid ? and when told " that is the last
thing my friend Mr. Grant thinks of," said — "Well, he is a mystery
to me:" for the free spontaneous defence of what a man considers
the truth, to his own injur}r and loss, is a " mystery " to many.

As it was foretold to me, before I began, that I should lose my
preaching if I opposed Mr. Gladstone, so it turned out, and four
sabbaths for which I was specially engaged, were thrown, on my
hands, on the ground that I did not go against the Irish Church.

The persistent misrepresentations of the Liberationists and Con-
gregational Unionists have prevented me obtaining a preaching
engagement since ; and the tyranny of the Union has closed, as far
as it can, the Congregational pulpit against me for the future.

The illegal act of "ministerial deposition and excommunication"
perpetrated on me by the Congregational Union will, I hope, be
expounded in a court of justice which recognizes the rules of any
society as a contract with its members ; but to contest such a point
which will be comparatively short and simple, will require the
pecuniary aid of friends who are opposed to arbitrary power.

There is not a man in all the Liberation society's ranks that has
lifted, or will lift, up his voice against this slyest — most offensive and
injurious — act of persecution. The secretary of the Liberation
society, Mr. Carvell Williams, is a member of the Congregational
Inquisitorial Committee.

Instead of Dissent laying down, as was its duty, a model of
freedom and purity on which the Church if disestablished could be
partly formed, it stands as a warning of the base and servile ends
to which the loud professions of liberty may be prostituted.

The same is true of our semi-religious newspapers of the liberal
caste. The editor, of the Sheffield Independent, who is a "country
member" of the "rattening" committee of the Congregational Union,
prepared the way for their tyranny by a wilful falsification of a
testimonial into a libel by inuendo.

250

The falsified statement was as follows : —

" A meeting of the Cemetery Eoad Congregational Church, held en
"Wednesday eTening, unanimously accepted with a polite expression
of regret the resignation of the Eev. Brewin Grant.
This appeared first in the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, June 13, 1868.
It was a puee fabrication of Mr. Eobert Leader, the editor of that paper,
or fabricated at his instigation, or by his responsible agents, contrary to the
plain truth of an official communication, written, signed, and taken to the Inde-
pendent office by Mr. "William Bissett, of Broomgrove, Sheffield, treasurer and
deacon of my church.

This is the original notice : —

The Eev. Brewin Grant, B.A. — At a Church Meeting of the Ceme-
tery Boad Congregational Church, held on Wednesday evening it was
unanimously resolved, that the church regretted that in consequence

Of MR. GRANT'S UNCHANGEABLE CONVICTION OF THE NECESSITY OF

his public work in relation to Bitualism and Bomanism, they were
obliged to lose his services : and that a memorial, expressive of
their regret be prepared and presented to him. Mr. Grant preaches
his farewell sermon to-morrow evening.
This true account appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph June 13, 18C8.
Mr. Leader was furnished with the same, in the same hand-writing, but he chose
to falsify the news in order to furnish an untruth for his few semi-denominational
and semi-religious " Exchanges," such as the Nonconformist which quoted it. and
would never correct it, but adds more falsehoods since : as, that I am a State-
Church lecturer, which the English Independent with equal liberality endorses,

though BOTH EDITORS KNOW BETTER.

The same libel having been inserted in the Leeds Mercury, I sent the true
statement with a private note expressing my confidence that Mr. Baines would
correct the injurious report referred to, but I was mistaken ; the editors of that
paper did not think it was " an injurious report," for Mr. Baines also is a
" country member" of the Union Committee!

" Mr. Gladstone's ' suspensory bill ' suspended honour, and truth, and courtesy;
and his semi-religious defenders are obliged to asperse any independent Dissenter,
lest their readers should see through their trick and their partizanship, in which,
from their one idea of anti-state churchism,* they blindly sell their country's
religion and liberties to those who use them and despise them. But Dissenters
are beginning to see through it, and when they do use their eyes they will under-
stand the truthful character of their scrupulous seini-religious Gladstonian editors.

Chapter XXVIII.

WHAT MR. GLADSTONE SAID OF ME, AND WHAx

I SAID IN REPLY, TO HIM.

During my lecture on the Irish Church — " An English Dissenter's
view of it " — all others having failed to answer, Mr. Gladstone was
appealed to, and instead of getting to learn intelligently what I said,

* Which they have abandoned in practice and principle to receive State pay for
Denominational Bchools.

251

he wrote a confirmation of my leading argument. This being pnt
round the liberal papers, and gloried in as " the Hey. Brewin
Glant Extinguished," I at last wrote and circulated very exten-
sively the following, which is still useful.

MR. GLADSTONE AND THE REV. EREWTN GRANT, B.A.

The Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., presents his compliments to the
Hon. W. E. Gladstone, and begs most respectfully to call his atten-
tion to a letter lately going the round of the papers, purporting to
be Mr. Gladstone's answer to the Rev. Brewin Grant's lectures on
the Irish Church.

Mr. Grant would rejoice, for Mr. Gladstone's sake, to find the
letter a forgery, but fears — from other acknowledged instances —
that it is only another specimen of Mr. Gladstone's epistolary con-
tributions to electioneering literature, to be classed with that
honourable gentleman's East Worcestershire letter, and his curious
reply to the Rev. A. A. Rees, of Sunderland.

Mr. Gladstone's latest development of this kind, as stated in the
Nonconformist, October 7th, the English Independent, October 8th,
the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, October 3rd, the Yorkshire Post and
Leeds Intelligencer, October 1st, is here given verbatim : —

Mr. Gladstone on Irish Disendowment. — On Monday evening
week a public meeting was held at Ilkestone, when a lecture was
delivered by the Rev. W. Mitchell on the Irish Church, in reply to
one given on the previous Tuesday evening by Mr. Brewin Grant.
The secretary of the liberal committee, Mr. Wright Lissett, read a
letter he had received from Mr. Gladstone, in reply to one addressed
to him on the subject of Mr. Grant's lecture. The letter was as
follows :— "Hawarden, North Wales, Sept. 27, 1868.— Sir,— I feel
a cordial interest in your Derbyshire elections, alike on account of
your candidates, of the abusive attacks which have been made on
that wise and excellent man the Duke of Devonshire, and of the
revolutionary doctrines concerning property which appear to have
been put forth, under Conservative auspices, in your quarter.
Mr. Brewin Grant requires no reply from me, nor (I should think)
much from any one, lor I see he vehemently condemns me because
I refused outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's motion. That was a
motion which pledged the legislature to give nothing to
Roman Catholics, but left it free to give to Unitarians, Jews,
Mahometans, and Mormons. Mr. Brewin Grant seems to think
differently from the thousands of his brethren who have cheered me
on by their approval. As he has, no doubt, a respect for minorities,

252

I recommend to him and to you the excellent charge of the Bishop
of Fredericton, in New Brunswick, who has been disestablished, and
says, ' I would not wish it otherwise.' There, too, he describes
the Koman Catholics as the most numerous body of Christians. — I
remain, W, E. Gladstone."

On this attempt to answer, or seem to answer, his lectures, the
Rev. Brewin Grant observes, —

1. Mr. Gladstone should have stated what it was that he pro-
fessed to reply to, and through what medium of information he
had qualified himself to honour " Mr. Brewin Grant" by name, and
in so courteous a style. "Was it the Ilkestone liberal committee's
representations that Mr. Gladstone replied to ?

2. It would be inferred from Mr. Gladstone's letter, that the
Rev. Brewin Grant had been advancing some " revolutionary doc-
trines" respecting the Duke of Devonshire's share in Irish Church
property, which Mr. Gladstone is too just to sequestrate. No doubt
this is a tender point, but Mr. Gladstone should not have referred
to it, since the Rev. Brewin Grant chivalrously omitted attacking
the weak place ; and was innocent of any reference to, much less
any " abusive attacks on, that wise and excellent man the Duke of
Devonshire," whose large "vested interests" in Irish Church pro-
perty, in tithes and patronage, would have been better defended by
Mr. Gladstone's silence.

3. When Mr. Gladstone said — "Mr. Brewin Grant requires no
answer from me, nor (I should think) much from any one," he gave
a good reason for not writing his letter, and also a sly rebuke to
" the Rev. Wm. Mitchell, and Mr. Wright Lissett, the secretary of
the liberal committee," for their pains in getting Mr. Gladstone
and Mr. Wfright to aid in this work of supererogation. It should
however be admitted that the qualifying word " much," is the usual
"suspensory" style that leaves open a possible defence of a little
reply, but not "much," which latter is not "much" expected by
the humble individual whom Mr. Gladstone condescends to notice
even in this little way. Certainly it is true that " Mr. Brewin Grant
requires no reply from Mr. Gladstone," never having asked for such
a thing, and having no right to demand it ; but why Mr. Gladstone
should inform the world of this simple circumstance "requires"
some explanation.

4. The reason for Mr. Gladstone saying that "Mr. Grant
requires no answer from him, nor much from any one," is a curiosity :
— " for I see he vehemently condemns me because I refused
outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's motion." What "outright"

'253

means, in tons case, is not apparent : but when Mr. Gladstone
"refused outright," he betrayed the Liberationists, and showed
that he "refused outright " their professed doctrine of impartial
disendowment ; and as the Church Times, May 16, observed, made
up for his forced abandonment of Maynooth, by leaving himself
" perfectly at liberty to give the Roman Catholics an endowment of
ten times the amount."

Mr. Gladstone may see this argued, under the head of " the
testing point" in a pamphlet entitled, " Gladstone and Justice to
Ireland : The Liberal cry examined on Liberal principles," by the
Eev. Brewin Grant.

5. The fatal point in Mr. Gladstone's letter is the account
which he gives of Mr. Aytoun's motion. He says — " That was a
motion which pledged the legislature to give nothing to the
Roman Catholics, [namely, out of the Protestant Church fund] :
but left it [the legislature] free to give to Unitarians, Jews,
Mahometans, and Mormans." The first part of the sentence vin-
dicates Mr. Grant's argument, and the second insults Mr. Gladstone's
allies. For what Mr. Grant argued was, that Mr. Aytoun wished
impartially to disendow all; but Mr. Gladstone wished to disen dow
the Protestant Church in order to endow the Romanists with the
proceeds ; and that honourable gentleman admits it, in saying that
he "refused outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's motion," "which
pledged the legislature to give nothing [out of the Irish Church
funds] to the Roman Catholics." Therefore, Mr. Gladstone's object

Was, A TRANSFERENCE OF ENDOWMENTS, NOT THEIR REMOVAL I accor-
dingly, he " refused outright to vote for Mr. Aytoun's motion"
"which pledged the legislature" against this transference of
property.

G But in the next place, Mr. Gladstone having admitted what
he was interested in contradicting, namely, that he opposed strenu-
ously a measure that would have prevented Roman Catholics having
IrisL Church property added to their large taxation grants for
education, goes on to state that " this motion pledged the legis-
lature to give nothing [of the confiscated estate] to the Roman
Catholics, but left it free to give to Unitarians, Jews, Mahometans,
and Mormons."

What will the Unitarians say to this courteous classification of
Mr. Gladstone's most ardent and enlightened admirers, as if the
eery idea of their sharing in educational grants from Irish Church
funds would outrage the feeliogs of the country ? What will his
Jewish friend Mr. Alderman Solomons say, who is keeping his bed

254

warm as a sleeping partner at Greenwich, in case he is not allowed
" to sleep here to-night" by the inhospitable Sonth-west Lancashire
hotel keeper ?* Mr. Solomans gives himself out as the one who em-
bodies in his own person civil and religious equality, and yet he is
among the people whom it is, by implication, monstrous to allow to
participate in the sequestrated revenues of the Irish Church !

7. Whether Mr. Aytoun's motion would have permitted this
enormity of allowing Unitarians, Jews, and the numerous Mahome-
tans and Mormans in Ireland to share in the educational funds
transferred from the Irish Church, is, to speak softly, rather pro-
blematical. But if this were the enormity which Mr. Gladstone
desired to prevent, by way of compliment to his allies of the Unita-
rian and Jewish persuasions, he had an unequivocal opportunity of
showing his abhorrence of people who have as much right to share
in public educational grants as anybody else.

The English Independent, which is a thick-and-thin Gladstonian
organ, though it unwisely inserted Mr. Gladstone's fatal letter,
acknowledges the following: — "Then Mr. Greene proposed as an
amendment, that no part of the endowments of the Anglican church
[in Ireland] be applied to the endowment of the institutions of other
religious communities." Here all were excluded, even Mr. Glad-
stone's particular friends " the Unitarians, Jews, Mahometans,
and Mormons," But did this satisfy Mr. Gladstone ? No !
Because it included Romanists in the exclusion.

The English Independent does not say — as Mr. Gladstone's late
letter would imply — that he accepted this desired exclusion of
Unitarians, &c, but "Mr. Gladstone again protested against vague
pledges at this stage." What will that honourable gentleman's
friends now say as to his modern horror of Jews and Mahometans
and Unitarians and Mormons sharing in the Irish Church funds,
when he " protested against " preventing it ?

Mr. Gladstone "requires no answer from Mr. Brewin Grant, nor
(I should think) much from any one ;" all that is required is that
the country should understand him.

Even Mr. Miall says — " What Mr. Gladstone needs at the present
moment is not the criticism but the support of all Nonconformists :"
but they will not long support a man who cannot stand " criticism,"
and who, when he attempts to exercise it, lays himself open, as in
this late epistle.

8. Mr. Gladstone, however, has his consolation : " Mr. Brewin
Grant seems to think differently from the thousands of his brethren
who have cheered me on by their approval."

• Now a fulfilled prophecy.

255

These " cheers " may be required, and may support Mr. Glad-
stone against " Mr. Brewin Grant's" criticisms, bat they will not
answer them, and will not hold water long. The Apostle Paul
" seemed to think differently from his brethren " when he said
— " At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook
me."— (II Tim., iv., 16.)

Perhaps some would stand with him afterwards ; though this
would not affect the question.

Mr. Gladstone having — as the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelli-
gencer points out — first taunted Mr. Grant with being in the
minority, next asks him to respect the authority of a minority,
which Mr. Gladstone himself ignores.

What Mr. Grant respects is consistency of profession and of con-
duct, a real principle of right, and a practical plan of action founded
on it, and these are the two things which Mr. Gladstone lacks in
his Irish Church agitation.

As Mr. Gladstone has done the Rev. Brewin Grant the honour
of singling him out for refutation, the Dissenting minister thus dis-
tinguished takes this opportunity of calling Mr. Gladstone's atten-
tion to the published statement of the Rev. Brewin Grant's argument
on the subject, given at large in "Gladstone and Justice to Ireland:
the Liberal Cry Examined on Liberal Principles. A Repertory of
Arguments for all True Liberals, Liberationists, Protestants, and
Patriots : by the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., Congregational Minister
of Twenty-five Years' standing, and Author of the First Anti-State
Church or Liberation Society's Prize Tract — • The Church of Christ
— What is it '? ' — Sheffield : Pawson and Brailsford." *

P.S. — Mr. Gladstone was properly suspensory on the Telegraph
bill, saying respecting it exactly what he should have said about
his own Irish Church resolutions, namely: — "It was impossible
for the house to complete the operation by passing another
bill — -first, because they did not know the facts, and second, because
the right lion, gentleman icoidd not under the circumstance?
enter upon such a financial operation. That would be a matter
of comparative insignificance if the question were to be consi-
dered by the same body next year; but as it would not be, it
was desirable to understand clearly the position in which the new
parliament would be placed ; and this parliament had no right to

* Mr. Elliott Stock, Paternoster-row, "whose name I used from custom, as
my publisher, suppressed this pamphlet by refusing to supply it ; but he is a
liberal, and wrote threatening me with legal consequences if I sold any more with
his name on !

256

put the members of the new parliament in the position of having it
said to them, i You are not free ; you are bound by the assent of those
who have gone before you.' The new parliament would not, could
not, and ought not to admit that it was bound. It must have not
only a legal but a moral freedom of choice." Times, July 22-

Is Mr. Gladstone aware that these were exactly the reasons why
he should not have wasted a session in trying to bind a new par-
liament by the dictum of an effete one, while this same dying
parliament " did not know the facts" and was waiting for the
evidence of that commission of enquiry which Mr. Gladstone's
friends had instituted ?

Broomhall Park, Sheffield, Oct. 13, 1868.

Chapter XXIX.

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN: OR,

DISLOYALTY TO MR. GLADSTONE AND ITS PENALTY.

"MINISTERIAL DEPOSITION" AND

" EXCOMMUNICATION."

TO THE OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION.

Gentlemen, — Having been all my life connected with the
Independent denomination, having spent seven years in training
for, and twenty-five years in the exercise of the ministry in con-
nection with it, is my "name" now "cast out as evil" by some
secret decree, for which your "Year Book" editor alleges your
authority.

I still hope yet to be installed by your acknowledgment in that
position for the loss of which your authority is alleged by your editor,
as sanctioned by your "resolution" of Feb. 15, 1869. I cannot but
suppose that some of you are entirely ignorant of this transaction,
and will be as much astonished as the world outside ; but so long as
you do not protest and secure me reparation, but like Dr. Falding,
of Rotherham, permit your names to be used in the Year Book as
the authority for my " ministerial deposition," you are responsible
both in law and morals.

Your "Year Book" publicly accuses t>r. Falding of sending
a false return, and he privately accuses the editor of falsifying the
return which he sent. Between you I am made a victim.

257

The following letter to you, written directly after I discovered
— for you did not condescend to inform me of — your act of pro-
fessional decapitation was inserted in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph,
January 12th, and copied into many other papers, with this preli-
minary title and note.

THE DISSENTING " SCREW."

The Committee of the Congregational Union has invented a new
instrument for the private decapitation, without notice or trial, of
ministers, who venture to have and to express an opinion on public
matters contrary to that of " the wire-pullers" of the sect. The
following letter is from the victim for whose advantage this instru-
ment was invented. He must now feel that his heretical and
contumacious pamphlet — " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland ;
the Liberal Cry Examined on Liberal Principles" :|: — is liberally
answered : —

TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION.

Sheffield, January 11th, 1869.
Gentlemen, — As you have introduced a new law into our denomination, by
which you have put it into the power of every district secretary to omit the name
of any minister resident in his district, and on this omission you have assumed
to alter the standing list, to which you had only authority to add, according to
established custom ; and as by this new rule you depose every minister at the
close of the year, and recognize by recording and re-enrolling only those who are
newly endorsed by the district secretary, who thus makes and unmakes ministers
as he chooses ; and, whereas I am the chief, if not the only intended, victim of
this more than Episcopal or even Papal power, by which both my spiritual and
legal rights are seriously infringed and my usefulness and prospects endangered,
I therefore, in the first instance, apply to you for explanation and immediate
redress of this great grievance and injury ; for which I can discover no other
motive than your revenge for the position which, as a Dissenter, a Protestant,
and an Englishman, I took, and had a right to take, on the Irish Church policy
of Mr. Gladstone.

But apart from your motive, it is enough to show that the unauthorized plan
you have put into operation is contrary to the practices and principles of Congre-
gationalism, and therefore you are in every way responsible for the injury which
you have illegally inflicted.

That your self-originated plan is contrary to the principles of Independency is
plain from a few facts wherein you acknowledge it. When your agents had
capriciously excluded the Eev. Isaac Yaughan's name, and thereby hastened his
decease, you proposed that the Assembly in Sheffield, 1866, should request the
committee to consider the best methods of adding names to, or removing them
from, the list. This general motion — which your secretary sent beforehand to
me, in reply to my letters on the subject, was proposed by you to avoid inquiry
into the injustice of the particular case.

• To be had by post, of the author, for seven stamps. Address- the Rev.
Brewin Grant, B.A., Sheffield.

258

It was a part of the motion that the committee of the Congregational Union
should report to the next assembly in London, in May, 1867. But, instead of
waiting to report to that meeting, and gain its sanction to any suggested changes,
you assumed the right to legislate, made a new law, and printed it in the l'ear
Book six months before the meeting assembled to which it was your duty to
report. You thus surreptitiously legalised the tyranny that was questioned, and,
making the iniquity into a law, usurped the position of dictators to the denomi-
nation. When I enquired at the Manchester meetings by what authority the
power of decapitating ministers, without notice or trial, was foisted into the Year
Book, every obstacle was put in my way to prevent the question coming before
the meeting ; and your two secretaries declared at last, with great confidence,
that the obnoxious law had been endorsed, if not proposed and passed, in the
May meeting in London. One of them afterwards published a letter to acknow-
ledge that the Assembly had not been appealed to on the subject, and promising
that at the next meeting an opportunity should be afforded of discussing the
matter. Instead of this, the change was referred to in your report as an accom-
plished fact, and the only point for the meeting to consider was the condoning of
the omission to report it before. It was assumed that the law itself was right,
and that the committee had a right to make it. That part of your report was
rejected by the Assembly, as recorded in the English Independent, but ignored
in our Year Book. Your secretary, at the suggestion of the chairman — who
expressed his surprise at your illegal course — referred the matter to the next
meeting at Leeds, and there it was ignored entirely.

Since then you have gone further, and prescribed that each new year only
such names shall be printed as " Independent ministers in England," &c, as the
district secretaries may send up to the editor. Tbis gave Dr. Falding, of
Masbro' College, an opportunity of not sending my name, and I think your rule
is made for the sole purpose — to sacrifice me on the altar of Dissenting "persecu-
tion; and thus at once to relieve yourselves from all further remonstrance, and
to execute summary vengeance on my failure to worship the idol of the hour,
Mr. Gladstone.

But you have not escaped either remonstrance or responsibility by this second
false step to retrieve your first.

If I had joined a secular club, which by its constitution and rules offered me
certain advantages, the law of the land would come in as arbitrator, to enforce
the stipulated conditions and set aside any contrary rules.

I vail tell you now how far your course tends to injure me, on the same
principle, but in an infinitely higher degree. I announced myself as intending
for a time to engage in a general ministry, in which I should preach special
sermons on Sundays, and on week evenings lecture on Eomanism, Ritualism,
and Rationalism. To free myself for this I gave up my pastorate.

As to preaching, I may now be told that my own denomination rejects me ;
and it may be imagined that there was some moral ground for it. The same may
operate to prevent my lecturing ; and in case I should seek to re-settle as a
minister, as intended, the same would bar my progress — " He is not on the
list of our congregational ministers." If, thus rejected by you, who usurp the
place of the denomination, I should seek to preach the gospel in some other
really independent church, any body of Christians to whom I should offer myself
might naturally make the same objection.

Tb( so are the direct and immediate injuries you have inflicted on one who
has the same right to be on the list as anyone of you. But further, there are aids
to retiring pastors, and subsequent advantages to their families, if required ; and

259

from all these opportunities of usefulness, benefits, and repute, you have, as far
as you can, debarred me by the illegal procedure already described ; and it is for
this deprivation — which I learned only from your printed book — that I ask your
immediate, unequivocal explanation and reparation.

I have equally demanded of Dr. Falding, to whom you gave the power to erase
my name, or, rather, on the pretext of whose omision to send it you presumed to
erase it, what reasons he had for his share in this transaction, which tends to
make the profession of religion the scorn of the world.

The Roman cardinal's aspiration to "conquer an imperial race" does not
seem so extravagant, when we consider that the present leading statesman has
introduced into the Queen's Privy Council the most active Romanist, who lately
proposed that our next monarch should not make the Protestant declarations
which assured England of her liberties. But this is nothing in comparison with
the fact that the committee of the Congregational Union is the Pope's execu-
tioner, for all in that denomination who shall with any effect oppose the present
Roman invasion of England, Ireland, and Scotland; nor will the Pope's generals,
Drs. Manning and Cullen, find much liberty to conquer in England, for its
loudest friends have smitten it ; having first been false to Christ's honour in
abetting the spiritual Fenianism that would wickedly depose Him, it is a fitting
preparation for trampling on human liberty, which flourishes in perfection only
under the sacred shadow of His throne.

How far the assumed leaders of Dissenters are betraying them into a position
false to Christianity and liberty, I have too abundant and sad materials of showing
in the preparation for " The Dissenting World; an Autobiography," which wL;
be ready by the opening of Parliament.

Besides the effect upon the nation at large, I do not doubt that it will fin'"
some amongst us, as Independents, "who have not bowed the knee to Baal;1'
and though you may unhappily be so eager to "receive honour one of another"
as to make it morally impossible for you to " believe" or acknowledge the truth,
I trust that God, in His mercy, will not only defend me against your policy, but
sustain me in honour and fidelity, still to witness more effectually for the truth
of Christ and the liberty of man, so that to all sympathising friends I maybe able
to say — "I would ye sbould understand, brethren, that the things which have
happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel." —
Phil, i., 12.

Yours faithfully,

BREWIN GRANT.

The noble and independent editor of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph
whose industry, genius, and courage have achieved a marvellous
success in a few years, and who first broke down that terrorism, which
the former cowardice and compliance of others had fostered in Shef-
field and its neighbourhood, and whose high moral tone and literary
culture promise to lead and sustain all other influences in elevating
this vast population, and redeeming the district from that reproach
which the supineness and cupidity of the assumed leaders and
guides of the people had too much encouraged, came forward in this
crisis of my life, and voluntarily gave the following testimony, at a
time when even common justice was a rarity and a consolation : —

260

"The Independents do themselves an injustice in having no
church courts in which to try questions affecting the character and
standing of their ministers. They appear to have no tribunal before
which to arraign the preachers of their persuasion. A minister of
stainless character and superior ability — a kind father, an excellent
husband, a spirited citizen, a genial and generous friend, a powerful
writer, an able debater, may any day find his name erased from
the list of recognised ministers, and himself treated as an outcast for
reasons unknown to him. An Independent minister, distinguished
by qualities of head and heart which stamp him a superior man,
may be stealthily accused, secretly denounced, and as secretly de-
posed from the rank of an acknowledged pastor before he has the
slightest chance of knowing who were his accusers, or what was the
nature of the charge brought against him. Such a system of pro-
ceeding to pass sentence in private outrages every sense of justice,
and is open to the grossest abuse. We do not like to use strong
language about matters of this kind, yet what language can be too
strong ? ' He who judgeth a cause before he heareth it is not wise.'
In the law courts of the land no one, however poor, however damaged
in character, however vile, can be treated as some pastors of ad-
mitted ability and no small reputation have of late been treated in
this part of England. The thief caught in the act, the ticket-of-
leave man pinioned in the house into which he has penetrated as a
burglar, the murder taken red-handed, are duly informed of the
charge against them, have a fair allowance of time in which to pre-
pare their defence, are assisted by counsel, in order that no mental
dulness of theirs may place them at a disadvantage, are permitted
to see their accusers face to face, are tried by jurymen who have no
personal interest in the question, and are at liberty to object to any
juror who is suspected of entertaining any private feeling against
them. For them everything is open and above-board. The full
glare of daylight is let in upon the proceedings. All irrelevant
matter, all hearsay and gossip, all indications of animus, all attempts
to strain a point for the conviction are sternly rebuked and
firmly arrested. The jurymen are not even permitted to know that
the accused have been previously convicted, lest the knowledge of
the facts should prejudice their minds against the prisoners. Such
is the treatment to which even the worst of criminals are entitled
under secular law. But an Independent minister is treated so
much worse than a criminal that a sentence of ministerial decapita-
tion may be issued against him in his absence without so much as
a pretenee of trial, and without letting him know either the names

261

of the instigators or the nature of the accusation. What a pre-
mium this upon the development of personal pique ! It is not a
word and a blow with the blow first ; it is simply the blow without the
word. The victim is stabbed from behind, and knows not in the
darkness whose is the hand that has driven in the weapon. All
that he knows is that he is wounded — wounded deeply, wounded,
it may be, fatally — wounded, not improbably, by men who would
have hesitated to meet him in fair fight, face to face. If such a
system of dealing with respectable and highly intelligent men who
believe themselves to be honest is right, the rules of our law courts
must be strangely wrong, and if on the other hand it is not right,
parliament should grant us another commission, with full power to
sit in Sheffield, and institute a most searching enquiry into some
recent cases of ecclesiastical trade outrages. Let us calmly take
an example. In William Broadhead's case there were ex-
tenuating circumstances. He at least warned the men who were
incurring his anger. In his case there was a sort of trial before
sentence was passed, nor did he take any measures until his
private law court had pronounced the suggestive words, "some-
thing must be done." Can we say as much in reference to
the rattened Independent minister, whose account of his treat-
ment appeared in our Tuesday's paper? That gentleman's
position is, if we understand it aright, something like this. He
has the misfortune to differ from the majority of his class in a
matter of opinion. The difference is not one of morals, nor is it
one of faith. His private character is irreproachable ; his religious
belief has not been called in question ; his peculiarity is one of
purely political opinion, and the remarkable thing about his political
opinion is that it is nothing new, even among the highest authori-
ties of the body to which he belongs. What he thinks and feels
on the subject of Protestantism in Ireland is precisely what some
of the most distinguished Nonconformist divines have thought and
felt on the same subject. Having a mind of his own, and a strength
of will which makes him speak his mind, he does speak it. He
declines to conceal his convictions ; he dares to dissent from the
political policy of the majority ; and being by nature a very bold
man, he dares even to practise dissent amongst Dissenters. In
stating this much we are not endorsing his opinions. It is sufficient
for us that they are his opinions. Has he a right to think his own
thoughts ? Is he at liberty to say what he thinks ? These points
ought really to be settled. If there is somewhere or other a politi-
cal Pope, and an infallible political creed, the authority of that

262

Pope should be announced by proclamation, and the necessity of
believing in that creed, and of cursing with more than Athanasian
vigour all who do not believe, should be made known to all candi-
dates for the ministerial office, so that they at least may take their
politics in prepared pulp, as babies take spoon &eat, and may, in
the event of refusal, know what is before them." — Sheffield Daily
Telegraph, January 14, 1869.

A copy of my letter to the committee of the Congregational Union,
having been sent to a friend who is on the committee, led to the
following correspondence, which with the preliminary notice here
given, appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, January 23rd.
This letter from a Ministerial member of the committee contains
such sort of defence as that body may possibly adopt. How far it
is valid, is seen by the answer : —

THE DISSENTING "SCKEW" NUMBER TWO.

The Congregationalists having illegally excommunicated the Rev. Brewin
(3-rant, B.A., because the Liberationists could not answer his arguments in his
lectures, recorded in his pamphlet, " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland," which
foretold all that is now taking place — the demands of the Roman cardinals,
exposed for a second time by the Rev. W. Arthur, of the Wesleyan denomina-
tion; we inserted Mr. Grant's letter to the Congregational Union in the
Telegraph of January 12th, and we expressed our views on the matter in an
article inserted January 14th. We are now favoured with a reply from a
ministerial member of the committee of the Congregational Union, and Mr.
Grant's answer thereto. We think that Churchmen should form a "Liberation
Society for the freedom of Congregationalism from all union patronage and con-
trol," in kindly answer to a similar Dissenting society to "liberate" Churchmen
"from all state patronage and control."

LETTEB FROM A MINISTERIAL MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE CONGRE-
GATIONAL UNION.

" January 18, 1869.

" My dear Mr. Grant, — I now write because a long friendship prevents a cold
silence, but with no desire for controversy. Let me say that until I read your
letter I was in ignorance of the omission of your name from the Year Book. At
the same time I feel bound to express my belief that the motives you attribute to
the committee in the matter are altogether unreal. I never was on a committee
where there was more independent speaking. From what I have seen of Dr.
Smith and Mr. Ashton I am certain they are incapable of acting from mere per-
sonal considerations in such an important matter.

" While sincerely hoping justice may be done to you, I cannot see where blame
can attach to the committee. The Union passes rules for the guidance of the
editorial secretary, and he has no choice but compliance. If those locally con-
nected with the case do not send up the name how can the committee help that ?
It may be an argument for altering the rules, but I cannot see how you can lay
the blame on the committee. Besides, you have another mode of having your
name inserted in the Year Book ; if I mistake not the signatures of five brethren
insure it.

263

« It would be an evil day for Independency if a difference of view on political
mictions ceased to be accepted as a personal right. '

q ' Vo o/ifmor. tku I did lamented your action *r*v tfc wceni Action;
tat it www- crossed my mind to question your absolute right to take as an In-
flpvendent minister the position you did.

<TmZ wish an opponent to be on my side, but if he could see his way into
believin" that Disraeli is a statesman of high honour- and deep religious principle,
3e Gladstone is a Jesuit and an adventurer, I know of nothing in Independency
to prevent him proclaiming his views wherever he can find hearers or readers.

" I suppose your letter will come before the next committee meeting. ' For
Auld Lang Syne' I will try and be there. I should like much to have a long
chat with you over matters to be looked at from many sides ; one cannot do this
in a letter. . , _ ,

" Now, show that you believe a man may be your friend, and not on the
high road to perdition, because he does not see eye to eye with yourself.

" Yours affectionately,

" The Eev. Brewin Grant, B.A.,
Broomhall Park, Sheffield."

" Jan. 20, 1868.
" My dear Sir, — If you had favoured me with your opinion as to the ' motives'
either of the committee or the editor, I might have compared it with my own.
It is for them, however, to tell the world what their ' considerations' may have
been, whether ' personal' or political. You ' cannot see where blame attaches
to the committee ; the Union passes rules for the guidance of the editorial secre-
tary and he has no choice but compliance.' Did the Union pass rules, or did
the* committee or editoral secretary forge them ? I suppose you have not seen
the Year Book, and have forgotten my letter. ' If those locally concerned do not
send up the name, how can the committee help it ?' Why need my name be ' sent
up' when it has been ' up' for 26 years ? Who are the committee that they should
take mv name or yours off the standing general list, at their caprice, because a
local secretary at his, omits the duty of remembering that I live in his district ?
This is not ' an argument for altering the rules,' but against ' altering them,' and that
surreptitiously. The kul.es were good till arbitrarily altered. That five
brethren's signatures might insure the re-insertion of my name is poor comfort,
when I am traduced as expelled, which perhaps, is no greater indignity than to be
reduced to receive their recommendatory signatures. But the newly-invented rule
which repeals all rules, does not leave even this resource. See our new Year Book.
You say it would be an evil day for Independency when political liberty is de-
nied, and that you admit my ' right as an Independent minister' to take any position
as to the Irish Church. I know from a wide experience that your opinion is
singular, and that the English Independent's repudiation of me as a minister on
this very account, and its acceptance of the newly-forged rule as a chance for 'a
judicious weeding of the list,' was only a part of that general persecution
which culminated in the erasure of my name. I am thankful for the large liberty
of opinion respecting Messrs. Disraeli and Gladstone. I doubt not you imagine it
' the very image' of my Irish Church position. I have nothing to do with either,
but with measures. But I neither believe in the virulent abuse of Mr. Disraeli,
which is orthodox liberality, nor in the hysterical adulation of ' the heaven-born'
and ' high -stepping' Gladstone, whose progress is the perpetual motion of
self-contradiction. Nor do I believe in currying favour with priests to put down

264

Fenianism by lowering Protestantism, -which Fenians do not care abont. I am no less
amazed at your concluding wish, that I may ' show that I can believe a man to
be my iriend, and not on the high road to perdition, because he does not see eye
to eye with me.' This is what I have wanted hundreds of my friends to show, and
they resent my want of ' seeing eye to eye' by every insult and indignity and
injury ; but none more than the committee of which you are a member.
Nothing has occurred by which I am disqualified from being recognised by them
as a Congregational minister, except my not ' seeing eye to eye ' with the
idolators of Mr. Gladstone, no one of whom knows what he means ; and in this
sense he is truly oracular. If I had been on the other side, or could have been
answered, I should have been in our Year Book as heretofore.

'•If you put it wholly on Dr. Falding's shoulders, as not having • sent up'
my address, whose presumed omission is made by your new rule a pretext for
erasure from the general list, you can account for his courage to do such an act,
only on this supposition, that as the leading Liberal spirits had abused me
because they could not answer me, it would be a grateful sacrifice to their vanity
to immolate one who was too much for their ability. If ' I am become a fool in
glorying, ye have compelled me ; for when I ought to be commended of you' —
as standing up for our Dissenting and Protestant principles, which are both
betrayed, as I have proved, — ye have expelled me instead. If I had been a
naturalist or a Neologian I could have been, so far as my sentiments are con-
cerned, a professor in one of our colleges, or a member of the Congregational
Union Committee.

" I might safely and advantageously deny Christ among you, but the worship
of Mr. Gladstone is the new Uniformity Act of Nonconformists which is enforced
by Ejection". You see that if you are not controversial, I am, and perhaps you
would be if, like me, you were cast out of the synagogue. People who have not
the tooth-ache do not always sympathise very deeply with one who has, and they
are scarcely fair judges as to the intensity with which he expresses his feelings.
In a great sorrow there are few persons who can be so calm and self-possessed as
those who are not sufferers ; and it is a general rule of human nature that we are
enabled to bear with great equanimity the injuries endured by other people. Yet
I am sometimes surprised that those who are exposed to the like evils, and are
disgraced, and their professed principles dishonoured, by that submission which
is perpetration, do not for their own safety and credit shake off the sloth and
servility which invite and deserve attack. It is for you now to solve this problem
by going straight into the business, and so aiding the committee to answer my
appeal by no evasion or reference to forged rules, which are themselves the worst
part of the grievance, or to the personal responsibility of their agents, but by a
substantial act of justice , that shall recover their requtation by repairing the
injury they have inflicted on your friend,

"BKEWIN GRANT."

With the preceding letters, the Daily Sheffield Telegrayh leader,
I sent to the committee the following terms, which were transmitted
through Samuel Mokley, Esq. Considering the injury, the terms
were moderate : —

A public acknnvledgment in twelve newspapers, to be selected by me, and in a
fly-sheet to be attached to unissued copies of the present Year Book, the same to
be repeated in the Year Book for 1870, stating on the part of the committee by
their secretary : — That my name was illegally and unjustly omitted from the list

265

of accredited Congregational Ministers in the Year Book for 1869 ; that the
committee will regret if such omission be regarded as a stigma, or be employed
to my disadvantage ; that I be at perfect liberty to publish such explanations as
I may deem necessary to the removal of such misunderstandings as may have
been occasioned or confirmed by this occurrence ; that the committee in such
public acknowledgment of the error of erasure be perfectly free to repudiate any
motives which may have been, or shall hereafter be attributed to them ; and that
it be left to Samuel Morley, Esq., M.P., to adjudicate whether any, and if so,
what pecuniary compensation be awarded for such losses and anxiety from uncer-
tainty as may have occurred, or may be reasonably expected to occur, before the
effects of this u ministerial deposition" be fully removed.

The following answer is the only communication received from my
deposers, who do not even say: — "And may the Lord have mercy on
your soul, for there is no hope of mercy from this committee,"
but the bare, cold, insolent notification that they ratify the deed, is
all that they could afford ; so that one of them can now write in his
paper to this effect — " We need take no more notice of him, he is
an outcast." I mean the one who at the commencement of the
conspiracy wilfully changed a testimonial from my church into a
libel by inuenclo, which the other editor on the committee adopted,
and when informed of its untruth declined to do me justice. That
they should pass this resolution I do not wonder : —

" Congregational Union of England and Wales,

" 18, South-street, Finsbury, E.C., February 15, 1869.
" To the Eev. Brewin Grant, B.A.
" Sir, — In the absence of my esteemed colleague,* the Bev. Dr. Smith,
through indisposition, I am instructed by the committee to forward to you the
following resolution passed unanimously this day : —

" ' That Mr. Grant be informed, in reply to his letters, that the omission of
his name from the Year Book of 1869 was not owing to any new regulation
adopted by the committee of the Union, but was in accordance with the course
which had been previously pursued in the preparation of the Year Book.'

'• I am, sir, yours truly, " ROBERT ASHTON, Secretary."

THE REV. BREWIN GRANT'S FINAL WORD TO THE COMMITTEE.
" To the Committee of the Congregational Union.

" Gentlemen, — The Rev. Robert Ashton, by your direction, sends me the
following : —

" ' That Mr. Grant be informed, in reply to his letters, that the omission of his
name from the Year Book of 1869 was not owing to any new regulation adopted
by the committee of the Congregational Union, but was in accordance with the
course previously pursued in the preparation of the Year Book.'

"1. I shall be obliged if you will explain by what old regulation — (since you
deny the new one, affirmed by your editor, page 400 of the Year Book for 1869)
— you did this deed ?

"2. Secondly, I will thank you, when you inform me how it happened that
Bince, as you say, ' the course' vaguely referred to was, ' previously pursued,' you

* They colleague together.

266

did not 'previously pursue' it in my case? For instance : what happened be-
tween your books for 1863 and 1869 to make the difference? Was it opposition to
Mr. Gladstone's policy ; and if not, what else ?

" Perhaps the humblest brother may, in common decency, request this infor-
mation from his deposers.

" 3. I require you at once to return my papers contained in the book which
Samuel Morley, Esq., sent to your meeting. The book is mine, and it is im-
portant to my case that it be produced. Mr. Ashton should either have returned
it with his copy of your evasive and unfeeling resolution, or have told me where
it is.

" I regret for your sake, and that of Congregationalism and of Christian honour,
liberty, and charity, that you force me to seek by other means that redress and
justice which you fail to afford in reply to reasonable offers and remonstrances.
If public law should fail, public opinion will mark your union as a secret proscrip-
tion agency, and the precursor of the Inquisition in England. You avow no
motive, and dare not ; you assign no reason, and cannot. If my case is not
peculiar your case is still more disgraceful. Yours faithfully,

"BEE WIN GBANT."

Chapter XXX.
WHEREIN DISSENTERS HAVE BEEN MISLED; WHERE-
IN THEY ARE IN DANGER OF BEING USED FOR
WHAT THEY DISLIKE; AND HOW THEY ARE
LOSING THE MORAL POWER TO OPPOSE IT.

There are thousands of Dissenters who have had it dinned into
tnem by reiterated assertions from those who have, happily, also
distinctly repudiated what they perpetually affirm, namely, that the
present Irish Church agitation is an Anti- State Church movement.

So undoubtingly is this taken in, that every ore who opposes Mr.
Gladstone is regarded as a renegade Dissenter, and in heart a
churchman and tory. But it is not considered that the Rev. Dr.
Miller, the Rev. Mr. Hains, and other churchmen who take the
opposite side, are false to State churchism; they are "nien of pro-
gress" who turn over to the " Liberals," while those who turn from
" the Liberal party," to maintain liberal principles, are Judases
and renegades if not turncoats. This at least will be admitted,
that this is not the road in which promotion lies. They who peril
friendships and prospects, even if blind, may, by a stretch of liberal
charity, be regarded as honest.

But such writers as Mr. Miall, who are not by me accused of
being Romanists because they accidentally on a political question

267

join Panl Cullen, yet presume to call me " a State Church Lecturer"
because I honestly, on a politico-religious question, join those
clergy who have not forgotten their protestantism.

Now in order to justify clergymen of Gladstonian views, and to
cover his proposal of a vote of confidence in two members of Parlia-
ment, who had just repudiated the principles which Mr. Miall left
his pulpit to advocate, namely, Anti-State Churchism, Mr. Miall
discovered and printed this principle — " that neither the Esta-
blishment of the Church of England nor the principle of church
establishments was at issue now." — Nonconformist, September
80, 1868.

If this be true, it is false to say that any Dissenter is inconsistent
in taking either side on this confessedly neutral question.

Mr. Turbervtlle, of the English Independent, October 29, 1868,
said — " The present conflict does not at all turn upon the abstract
right or wrong of establishments " Yet this writer coarsely told his
readers that it was great presumption for me any longer to pretend
to be a Congregational minister, or Dissenter, because I take a side
on a question in which he says that. neither dissent nor churchman-
ship is involved !

The Congregational Union gave the same utterance in its paper
on the Duty of Dissenters it said: that " many false issues had
been raised," and that we could not too strongly repudiate the notion
that the present question involved " the righteousness or wisdom"
of state-churches.

Now this union, like the two editors quoted above, treats me as a
renegade Dissenter on what it calls — a " false issue." I cannot say
whether the mistake of all three is from honest and sincere
stupidity, or from a dictatorial or overbearing disposition to
tyranny. But I put the three opinions on record, for the use of
those who will know how to understand and to use them. For any
of these parties, after such acknowledgments, to treat those Dissen-
ters as renegades who do not swallow Mr. Gladstone's still
undeveloped scheme, is either fatuity or hypocrisy.

Yet these men do not scruple to utter such atrocious sentiments
as the following, which the English Independent, Des. 3, 1868, and
other liberal organs accepted without a blush : —

During the late severe struggle for East Esses some scores of Liberals,
many of them members of Dissenting churches, voted for the two Tory can-
didates or plumped for one of them. The explanation of such disreputable
conduct is found in the fact that most of these men had been pressed and worried
beyond all endurance by parson and landlord and customer. Amongst the last of
those who voted at the Colchester booth on Thursday last was a member of a
k2

263
Dissecting Church who plumped for Round! [Dreadful!] The bare

STATEMENT OF THE HUMILIATING FACT IS THE STRONGEST INDICTMENT WE

could frame against the man. He has proved false to the grand historic
traditions of his denomination, and has disgraced the cause with which he pro-
fesses to be identified. — Essex Telegraph. (Quoted in the English Indcpendcn t.)

While so fierce and rabid against men vrho use an independent
judgment on the other side, they consider it a great crime in other
people to imitate them in a very mild way. Thus, the following is
quoted in the English Independent, Dec. 17, 1868: —

The Zlanchester Guardian reports that an outrageous exhibition of party
bigotry was witnessed on Sunday in St. Philip's Church, Saiford. The Eev. F.
Hains, of "Wigan — a clergyman who has of late come scmewhat prominently
before the public as a supporter of Mr. Gladstone's measores — was announced to
preach a sermon in aid of the Additional Curates' Fund. No interruption of any
kind occurred during the prayers, but as the rev. gentleman was about to enter
the pulpit some twenty or thirty persons rose and left the church,
some of them on their way to the door shouting " No Popery." It is stated that
the brawlers do not belong to the congregation.

Now, if Mr. Hajns had been a Dissenter and taken the other side,
they would have turned him out of the pulpit, as they have done
me, and they rejoice in the iniquity.

But I am more concerned to warn Dissenters against another error
and immediate danger, wherein their leaders, having given up their
principles of voluntaryism, and agreed to accept state pay for deno-
minational schools, can no more face a clergyman about the alleged
State support of religion ; for all denominational schools are little
State churches, and worse, because the Church has property, while
taxes are forced out of the sinews of the people by compulsoryism.

Now, as I demonstrated in " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland,"
— the Aytoun debate — that the suspensory statesmen, who deluded
the Liberals, are ready to transfer Irish Church property to Eomish
denominational schools, which Mr. Bright expressly pleaded for,
and Mr. Gladstone " refused outright" to vote against — what can
we Dissenters say against endowing Popery in the form of schools,
which are ecclesiastical nurseries, and feed monks and nuns, and
starve the minds of the children, and blind their eyes in the most
slavish depression impudently called education ? Now this is
what the priests are clamouring for, and Mr. Gladstone has to
satisfy them and "pacify Ireland," which means the priests, of
whom the Saturday Review says, though it is Anti-Irish Church,
" it is their business not to be content "

Liberationist Dissenters have lost the power to speak against
this endowment of popery: for Mr. Gladstone can say to Mr.
Baines : — " You have taught me to do justice by equality in Ireland,

269

and now that yon say that yon will take state money for rout
schools, would it be equality not t© pacify the priest, with a share
of the spoils ?

Mr. Miall, who never had bnt one idea, and gave that np before
going down to Bradford, now submits to Mr. Gladstone's " logic of
events," and will have compulsory education. Homerton college, our
Congregational training school, is now inspected and paid by govern-
ment; and Mr. Baines, who like Mr. Miall spent his life in advo-
cating what he is now repudiating, attended a meeting in Halifax,
reported in the Leech Mercury and the English Independent (Feb.
11, 1889,) in favour of this institution, in which he said as chair-
man : — " It had been found necessary to depart from the principle
of voluntary action, on which the college was originally formed."
And in this they depart from the principles on which Dissent is
based, and by which alone we can consistently oppose the present
demands of a hungry priesthood. Mr. Baines said " they had
fought a noble battle on the highest principle," and in the same
breath admits that he has nobly abandoned his high principle " and
was ready to admit that they would have been more wise" if, like
others, they had " taken Government money feom the beginning."
(English Independent, Feb. 11, 1869.)

The Education Question is the most dangerous and the most important.
It is here where the Papists are pressing in, and the Liberationist Dissenters are
opening the door, though they know the danger, but from fidelity to their party
they are faithless to their principles.

The English Independent states it clearly and betrays us as boldly. Respecting
the " Xo Popery" cry, it admits it to be good for Spain, while bad for England.
So of the priestly education which Spain has repudiated, the same paper admits
its badness for France, and winks at its introduction to Ireland and England.
Speaking of the French Emperor's desire to weaken the power of the priesthood,
this paper said : — " His obvious resource is education ; an education that shall
not be controlled by the Church [of Eome] but by the State." '*He encouraged
throughout the empire classes for girls taught by lav.:\ien, as antidotes to tlie
education of the convent, [which our Government pats at Hull] hitherto [con-
vents have been] the sole source of female instruction in France. This blow at
the root of theie power is furiously resented by the hierarchy. Dr. Cullen and
Archbishop Longley denounce, the one, the Godless colleges, and the other, the
attempt to sever religion TEomanism] from education." — English Independent,
June 4, 1868.

Now this acknowledged " root of the power" of the priesthood is not to receive
a " blow" in Ireland, but a pension out of the Protestaat church's sequestrated
property. This is the only plan brought out up to February, 1869, though this
same paper says that " a mixed education" is the plan •• that will countervail
the influence of the EoiiisH priesthood." (June IS. Ib68.) Xow the
priests are insisting on our abandoning this unpriestly education ; they claim a
14 denominational" system, which Bright and Gladstone agreed to, one by silence,
e3

270

the ether hy speech, in ihe Aytoun debate ; and Liberation Dissenters not
only back them, but set the priests the example of taking money for denomi-
national schools. The Rev. C. Spurgeon saw the danger at the time, but has
gone silent. However, the Rev. Mr. Arthur's " tongue of fire" will, I hope,
warm the Wesleyans, as he now says — what I said at first in " Gladstone and
Justice to Ireland," — all which is coming true ; and those who were for a time
duped by my interested liberation maligners, will turn from them to me, after an
ancient example : —

Unus homo nobis cunctando constituit rem :

Non ponebat enim rumor°s ante salutem,

Ergo postque magisque virei nunc gloria claret.*

He who did not place rumours, or immediate personal fame, before the public
safety, is still a good example, and his followers being few must be distinguished.

If my " Ejection" and another advocate's promotion, had not followed so
quickly on the heels of our advocacy, it would have been more creditable to the
authors of both.

But I must still warn my countrymen if I lose my friends, who wanted me
to "curse Israel," — to answer the Rev. J. D. Massixgham, in Sheffield, on which
condition the Rev. David Loxt ox offered to take the chair : as at other places I
was written to and asked to buttress Mr. Gladstoxe's equivocal move, and was
told how much it would be to my advantage. But I preferred to lose, and
did lose, and do lose, and so far as Liberationists are concerned, should be
lost and ruined. I preferred this, to bartering my honesty, in colleaguing
with that temporary insanity into which leading dissenters were duping their
followers. I recommend to the misleading spirits the question of old Enntus : —
Qu5 vobis menteis, rectae quae stare solebant
Ante hac, dementi sese rlexere ruina ? t

Even Samuel Mori.ey, Esq., M.P., who could not be professionally deposed
and straitened in his means, was attacked in his character, because he, while
going with the attack on the Irish church, did not think the same necessary
in relation to the English church.

It is true that in this respect Mr. Morley agreed with the present " verbal
utterances" of Mr. Gladstone, but then, as the English Independent intimated,
Mr. Gladstone is in a •' suspensory" state, and by at present repudiating
all intention of attacking the one, is the more able to depose the other ; and
then will be prepared to obey further the "logic of events."

The readiness of the Liberationists to back up the Romanists is especially
exemplified by Mr. Miall, of the Nonconformist, in which paper of October
II, 1868, he uttered these memorable words : —

" We want to adopt a policy which will bear evidence upon the face of it
that it has been framed with a view to satisfy Irish Roman Catholic
feeling. It is their will, not our own, that we desire that policy to express." —
Noncojiformist, Oct 14.

He told the people of Bradford that he " opposed the inspection of Nunneries "
— those living tombs of deluded women, — and mentioned other things, saying
"These are my titles to the political confidence of the Roman Catholic Yoteks
of Bradford." Are not these reasons for the Protestant voters withholding their
confidence from these allies of the Papacy ?

* Fragmenta Ennii, Ex. xn. Annal.
+ Fragmenta Ex. v. Annal.

271

This bold avowal of a desire to "satisfy Ikish Roman Catholic feeling,"
is a proof of how far the Liberationists will go in liberating us from Protestantism.
As ior Dissent, which is based on "Willinghood, and is a general principle of free
trade, in opposition to protection, relying on free individual effort and responsi-
bility, apart from Government force, favour, or pay, Mr. Miall has abandoned
that. As I said in a letter to Mr. Morley — He never had but one idea, and

HE HAS GIVEN THAT UP.

Like Mr. Gladstone, he believes in repudiation of all that he has lived to
advocate. This one idea was christened by him " Willinghood'* : and he left
his pulpit and the ministry to rock that baby in the Nonconformist cradle. But
at Eradford he tells them "that this baby is only a doll which he has been singing
and talking to so long, and about which he wrote articles headed, " Take care of
the baby."

When be gave up " willinghood" in education, he gave up the principle on
which he had defended " willinghood" in religion : for these were his Siamese
twins, and one cannot well survive the other. Education is to be supported for
its moral effects, and his principle was, that Government is confined to material
questions.

He told them at Bradford that events had been too many for him ; which
means that he succumbed to adverse opinion, and pocketed his principles for the
sake of popularity.

He is now for compulsion, on compulsion rather than on conviction.

He proposed, and recorded his proposal of, a vote of confidence in two can-
didates for Parliament, who had just avowed their disbelief in ' disestablishing
the English church ;' the tbing for which his paper was established.

This parly condemned Mr. Morley for saying the same thing that Mr. Miall
said when he proposed confidence in two avowed State Churchmen.

In a discussion on education, in the West-Riding Congregational
Association, the Rev. David Loxton, of Sheffield, describing himself
as " a fossil Dissenter," because holding to those principles which all
other dissenting leaders are giving up, said : — " Dr. Falding had held
that it was the duty of the State to create morality. If that was so,

it Was ALSO THE DUTY OF THE STATE TO USE THE BEST INSTRU3IENT it

could to attain that end." He means religious establishments ; and
added, " If they accepted State aid in their [denominational]

SCHOOLS THEY CUT AWAY FROM BENEATH THEIR FEET THE GROUND

on which they had based their dissent." — ( West- Fading Congre-
gational Register ior 1868. )

Now it was precisely on this principle that I opposed Mr. Glad-
stone's scholastical policy and the priests' ecclesiastical demands ;
yet for this alone, the speaker last quoted-— a friend of thirty years'
standing, cut his old companion and treats him as a moral leper, for
carrying out what Mr. Loxton himself so earnestly professes to
believe. If this ministerial brother, after so long and intimate a
friendship, should go mourning all his days and be sleepless half his
nights during my wicked revolt against Mr. Gladstone, which "none

272

lamented more" than another clear friend on the Union committee
— if the greatest liberal in Sheffield was too full for utterance when
I went up to shake hands with him, what could be expected from
his " weaker brethren," such as the Rev. J. P. Gledstone, as well
as some outside our denomination among the other liberal branches ?
It is sometimes grotesque enough to see the mighty fine airs
with which some, with whom I have been too familiar — for the
most conceited know that I never treated a puffed-up brother
with the contempt he deserved — besides that I aided many a
brother in difficulty as they all know ; — but as I was saying, it is
grotesque to see a-well-got up young man who once could at least
smirk if not smile a greeting across the road, now raise his head —
erect, if not filled — over " that column of true majesty in man"
called the spinal column ; and, with that feature of the countenance
— which in some is the leading one, and by which others are led,
carefully poised between horizontal and perpendicular, and the
whites of the upturned eyes visible, — all as an attitude of appeal
to heaven that the important individual so attitudinizing, perfectly
but humbly coincides with the Almighty, in any judgments which
may be inflicted on the sinful brother opposite, with whose inde-
pendence and consistency he has no sympathy, and in which, God
knows he has no share.

There are exceptions, but I dare not name them, or they would
be like "Sister Scholastica " among the " Revd. Mothers " who
preside over the " sister churches."

But I will mention one who is beyond being injured in his pro-
fession, having retired from it — the Rev. Charles Larom, the
respected Baptist minister, who has seen so many come and go, but
who always was a brother, even when his long standing and charac-
ter gave him the position of a father in the ministry.

There is one other thing to notice — that both locally and nation-
ally, the Liberationists have seen the necessity of not accepting my
public offer to prove on any platform, against any gentleman the
Liberation society might select, or in any liberal paper, in alternate
letters, this thesis — " That no Dissenter, Liberationism Liberal, or
Patriot, can honestly and intelligently go with Mr. Gladstone in his
Irish Church gyrations."

If this position were weak, or I were too weak to hold it, they
would have assailed it : — but they assail me instead, in public papers
and by private slanders and insults, and finally by that shameful
ejection, which I trust may be rescinded ; and that by denomina-
tional opinion and national opinion, as well as by public law, I may

273

be both restored and compensated for this persecution, the resort
and refuge of those who so violate their principles. I have been
compared by contrast to Abdiel as ' faithless ' among the ' faithful; '
but Milton's lines will be restored :

" Faithful among the faithless, faithful only he."

For who now are renegades — who are consistent Dissenters — those
who so cruelly cried down Dr. Vaughan for advocating State education,
and now equally cry me down for opposing it in Mr. Gladstone's
sop to Popery ; or I, who never changed a principle that I ever
held, but lost my way for honesty, both in defending our old prin-
ciples of orthodoxy and opposing our new principles of tyranny ?

Now all Dissenters are prepared to touch the public money, and
so give a valid liberal argument of equality on behalf of the priest
and his school, whose cry is for " denominational education,"
called by statesmen — " Irish purposes," to which the proposed dis-
endowment of the Irish Church is to contribute so handsomely. Is
it not " time to awake out of sleep ? " The Dissenters, who take a
few pence and give the priest an argument for a few pounds, not
only play the Pope's game, but with his methods — of stern, secret,
unrelenting persecution. I hope my own denomination will aid me
in providing means for the prosecution of those officials who enslave
them and depose me ; and that, tidied by their own principles in an
impartial court of law, their condemnation will be a vindication of
our principles, as not permitting such execution by a secret conclave
of Congregational cardinals, nor even allowing " a mob of priests "
with impunity to assassinate one who would fetch the jewel of the
State's supremacy from the keeping of usurping ecclesiastics.

Chapter XXXI.
REV. DE. FALDING, DISTRICT SECRETARY.

" TO THE REV. F. J. FALDING, D.D.

"Dear Sir, — I find that by an alteration of the rules respecting
,the list of Congregational ministers— for which alteration the
committee of the Congregational Union is responsible — it is left
solely to the secretary of the district to omit sending any minister's
name, and by that omission to remove such minister from the
alphabetical list of accredited Congregational ministers.

"In the Sheffield Union meeting, 1866, you desired that this ex-
clusion might be performed by " a divided authority;" that is, you

274

did Dot wish the whole responsibility of such a proceeding to rest
on you. But by the new method it is thrown on you ; and what is
more, if I may rely on the returns, as published in this Year Book,
you have accepted that responsibility, for, while sending up three
names as of ministers resident in the district, without "pastoral
charge," you have omitted my name ; and so have contributed to
what the English Independent, I think, calls a "judicious weeding"
the list of ministers.

"Now it is true that I have offended some more liberal Irethren
by not agreeing with Mr. Gladstone's uncertain Irish Church policy;
but this scarcely seems a sufficient reason for being excluded from
the list of Congregational ministers.

"It is also true that I differed from you in the case of Mr.
Vaughan ; but as Dr. Smith said of Mr. Ashton in that matter, "No
one could imagine that a name would be omitted from any private
pique or prejudice," I give you the same credit ; and as in the
report in this Year Book Dr. Smith said " it was left to the district
secretary," as "providing for the removal of none without a sufficient
•reason," I beg to be informed what your reason was for emitting my
name.

"Pardon me for adding that you are responsible to me, to the
denomination, to the Christian public at large, and let me say in all
charity, that you are responsible to Christ, for either doing this
extraordinary act, or for permitting your name as secretary to stand
at the head of a list supposed to come from you, from which my
name is excluded.

"It is for you to repudiate or justify the course for which your
name is publicly employed as the guarantee.

" I regard this as a very serious matter, in which your own
honour and that of our denomination is involved.

" I need not say that the question cannot rest where it is: and
that such a reward for independence in defending the truth of the
gospel against Neological protesters and ajieretical professor, and
defending Protestantism against the combination of infidels, priests,
liberals, and equivocal statesmen, will not redound to the credit of
those who, while professing to be the special friends of freedom,
1 use their liberty as a cloak of maliciousness.' — (I Pet. ii. 16.)

" It will be agreeable to me to be able to exonerate you from this
odious act of private irresponsible tyranny, the illegal power to
do which is put into your hands by the committee of the Congre-
gational Union, contrary to the decision of the assembly in London,
18G8, and in contravention of the resolution passed in Sheffield,
1866, u-lucli has never been carried out.

275

" It is witb the utmost regret and shame that I write this of the
conduct of Christian ministers, towards one whose only fault, so
far as they are concerned, is — forgive the boast — that he has done
and suffered more for Christianity in England than even the chief
among them, though as in the sight of God he be as nothing.

" I await your answer, which I trust may be satisfactory, so far
as your part in this matter is concerned.

' ' Yours faithfully,

« BREWIN GRANT.*

Dr. Faldtng's Reply.

" Rotherham College, Jan. 13, 1869.
" Sir, — I know nothing about the removal of your name from the
list of accredited ministers in the Congregational Year Book. I was
not aware that it had been removed until informed by your letter.
I have accepted no responsibility whatever for the contents of the
Year Book, nor had I anything to do with the removal of Mr.
Vaughan's name from that list. In connection with this last-
named matter, I gave you the opportunity of satisfying yourself by
a personal interview.. You did not think proper to avail yourself of
the invitation. I now renew it, and am, Sir, vours faithfully,

"F. J. FALDING.
" Rev. B. Grant, B.A., Sheffield."

As this carefully avoided the real question, while seeming so fully
to answer it, I wrote this

Second Letter to Dr. Falsing.

" Sheffield, Jan. 14, 18G9.

" Dear Sir, — I thank you for your reply, and shall be further
obliged when you inform me whether you had been told of the new
rule made by the Congregational Union committee and printed in
the Year Book for 1869, p. 400 : — ' No names are allowed to
appear but those which are returned to the editor by the secretaries
of county associations,' &c. The list is described as of ' Indepen-
dent ministers, &c, whose names have been furnished by secretaries
of county associations,' &c.

" From this list my name is omitted, as not having been 'fur-
nished' by you. I assume from your letter that you were not aware
that this would be the effect of your omission ; and since it is so
used, to my detriment and your discredit, it is for you to repudiate
such employment of your name. Your letter does not meet this
point : — Did you intend, or do you still desire, that any act or

276

omission on your part should be the ground for, or defence of, the
committee's action in regard to me ? That you ' have accepted
no responsibility whatever for the contents of the Year Book' can
scarcely be correct, when you are responsible for the names in this
district, and are published as such.

" I do not know whether your proposal of ' a personal interview'
may refer to this or to Mr. Vaughan's case ; but when a plain
denial of the crime which the Year Book fixes on you would be
accepted as an exoneration, if you cannot give this in writing, then
a private conversation would be as wide of the mark as your letter
appears to be.

"As no doubt you intended that letter to show your innocence,
you will complete your vindication by an answer that admits of but
one interpretation. The point for you to answer is stated above.

" Awaiting that answer, I remain yours faithfully,

"BREWIN GRANT."

" P.S. — After stating that ' No names of ministers are allowed to
appear but those which are returned to the editor by secretaries,' &c,
Mr. Ashton, the editor, adds, — ' The preparation of the returns has
been made this year in accordance with this rule.'

" This accuses you of wilfully causing the omission of my name
from the Year Book."

The above postscript was sent January 15.

THE REV. DR. FALDING S SECOND REPLY.

Rotherham College, Jan. 18th, 1869.
" Sir, — I think my letter to you ' admits of only one interpreta-
tion" as it stands ; but as you think otherwise, I will use your
own words : — I ' did' not ' intend,' nor ' do ' I ' still desire that
any act or omission on ' my ' part should be the ground for a
defence of the committee's action in regard to' you ; all of which I
said more clearly and strongly in the words of my letter : — ' I know
nothing about the removal of your name from the list of accredited
ministers in the Congregational Year Book :' in fact, the idea of
removing, or in any way causing the removal of you name, never
entered my mind or ' desire' at all. That 'I have accepted no
responsibility whatever for the contents of the Year Book' is (!)
correct.' As to the new ride made by the Congregational Union
committee, and printed in the Year Book for 1869, 1 never heard of
its existence, until I read it in your letters of the 15th and 16th
inst., and have never been told that such a rule was likely to be
made.

277

" You seem to differ from me as to the use of a personal interview
for which I have given you opportunity. I presumed that that
was the best way to arrive at a manly and honest understanding
and settlement on both sides. You appear to prefer a method
which can most readily be turned to one-sided account in pamphlets

AND NEWSPAPERS.

"I am, Sir, yours trulv,

" F. j". FALDING."

Answer to Dr. Falding's Second Reply.

" Sheffield, January 19, 18G9.

" Dear Sir, — Your second letter entirely exonerates you from
having wilfully acted under the new rule, according to which
Mr. Ashton said the returns were made.

" There remains now that other question which I have put in
several forms. Did you return to Mr. Ashton, as a list of ministers
resident in this district, with or without pastoral charge, one from

WHICH MY NAME WAS OMITTED ?

" You are represented as having done so in the printed returns.
Do you still permit yourself to be represented as my private pro-
fessional executioner ? Was this your act and deed ?

" If I seem to trouble you too much, pray remember that I am
■fighting for life and reputation, through an act of which the Year
Book accuses you, on your own authority, and by which the editor
excuses himself.

" You have already distinctly answered his accusation, that he
had your authority for striking my name out of the general list :
will you now equally exonerate yourself from his printed accusa-
tion, that you set him the example by omitting me from the local
list ? " Yours faithfully,

" The Rev. F. J. Falding, D.D." " Brewin Grant.'*

" P.S. — The last ' Congregational Register for the West Riding
of Yorkshire,' (p. 114) also accuses you, as secretary of the district,
of omitting my name from your returns, which may have happened
in the case of Mr. Vaughan ; although his name, like mine, was
put by the editor into the general alphabetical list."

" Rotherham College,

January 27, 1869.
" Sir, — You have never before asked me the ' question' in any
form which in your letter of the i9th instant you say you ' have
put in several forms.'

278

" You have assumed that I have ' omitted' something which I
ought not to have omitted, and you have charged me with having
done so, but on this occasion as on a previous one, you first accuse
and then enquire.

" Yet as you have now asked the question, I will answer it also.

" I have not omitted your name from any list on which it had a
right to stand.

" At the last meeting of the Sheffield and Doncaster District of
the West Riding Congregational Union and Home Mission Society,
held in Howard-street chapel, Sheffield, on March 9th, 1888, and
very fully attended by the ministers and delegates of the district, I
prepared in open meeting a list containing the names of churches
and ministers, being members of the West Riding Congregational
Union, within the district. This list, made out in the meeting, was
read aloud, and received the authority and sanction of the whole
meeting.

" It contained neither your name nor that of the church of which
you were then pastor, and for the reason then and there 2)ublichj
stated. The list was required, by the rules of the society and by the
instruction of the general secretary, to be a list exclusively of
ministers and churches in actual membership with the Union, and
as you were not a member of the Union your name was not
placed on the list.

" That you were not in membership, and consequently that your
name was not included in the list, ivas entirely and solely your own
doing. Previous to the meeting the general secretary wrote twice
to you, and I as district secretary once, to call your attention to the
rules of the society, and to request you to inform us whether you
intended to comply wTith them and so qualify for membership, but
neither of us received any reply from you, and you never complied
with the rules and never joined the society. For that reason, and
that alone, as publicly stated in the meeting, your church and your-
self were not entered on the list prepared for publication under the
care of the general secretary. You will find the rules in accord-
ance with which this was done, in the West Riding Congregational
Register for 1868, pages 184-5, together with the regulations of the
executive committee, pages 48-9, &c. ; also lists on pages 114 and
116.

"To transmit the list thus prepared and authorised by the disHct
meeting to the general secretary, is the only thing I was bound od>,
and I did transmit it intact, to be subjected to his revision an< u i
in his preparation for the register. But I did more ; I rotoruJl

279

your name and that of your church and did not ' omit' it in a
smaller list of churches and ministers resident in the district but
not members of the Union. If you had not resigned your pastoral
charge in the interval between my sending the list and the printing
of the register, your name would have appeared both in the list of
churches on page 114 and in the alphabetical list on page 116. I
presume it was subsequently struck out by the editor after your
resignation, but inserted in the alphabetical list, with the usual mark
to denote a minister without charge.

" In the same way later in the year in November I think, I
returned your name to the editor of the Year Book. In the usual
schedule furnished by him I wrote your name as having resigned
your church, as living in the district, but as not being a member of
the county association. Why your name nowhere appears in the
Year Book, I have already said, I know not.

"Had you attended the district meeting referred to as you might
have done, or had you called upon mo to enquire on the matter,
this correspondence might have been spared. At all events I pre-
sume you will neither expect nor desire that I should continue it.

'• I am, Sir, yours truly,

F. J. FALDING."

" P.S. — I ought, perhaps, in my second letter, to have mentioned
the possibility of some notice having been sent me by printed cir-
cular, of the adoption of the new regulations contained in the 18G9
Year Book. This possibility did not occur to me when writing, as
I have no recollection of any information being sent to me. And
this does not affect my statement. If my consent to the regulations
had been asked previously to their adoption and publication I
should have declined to give it. And when they are published
without my knowledge, I do not accept any responsibility whiah
they may seem to throw on the district secretaries."

"Sheffield, Jan. 30th, 1869.
"Dear Sir, — Your extra delay, and the unhappy and unhand-
some conclusion of your second letter, caused me to despair of
receiving a third, which, however, came to hand last night. The
form in which I put the question to you before was, whether you
would still permit your name to appear as secretary to a list from
which mine is excluded. I told you that you were responsible,
either for doing the act or for permitting your name to be employed
to sanction it.

280

" You first denied all knowledge of the * rule ' by which your
omission to name me on the local list would remove my name
from the category of Independent ministers in England. I accepted
your word. I then asked, whether you did send a list without my
name. I did not ' accuse and then enquire.' I told you that Mr.
Ashton accused you of having made your returns on this new
principle, and further, that the ' West Riding Register' and the
* Congregational Year Book' both accused you of omitting my name
from those of ministers in your district, and that Mr. Ashton's
Year Book justified the excommunication of me on the ground of
your local returns, to which your name is appended as guarantee.
I asked whether you were guilty of this. You in effect not only
say ' No,' but you accuse the Rev. Robert Ashton, editor of the
Year Book, and the Rev. J. Hughes Morgan, editor of the West
Riding Register, of falsifying your reports. I accept your account
and shall apply to them.

"But as your name still stands to both accounts, and now with
your knowledge, by which you publicly endorse what you privately
repudiate, you are legally and morally responsible for the conse-
quences of allowing your name to deceive the public and to injure
me.

" Dr Parker, to whom you expressed yourself as 'personally
grateful for the terms' in which he proposed a resolution for enquiry
— in which speech he sold me, to buy off you and Mr. Ashton,
— said : ' the removal of a name [from the list of ministers]
amounted to ministerial deposition; was, in fact, a species of
excommunication, fraught with the gravest consequences to individual
ministers.

" These * consequences' I am suffering, and your name is used as
the pretext and instrument of infliction. This is the only pretext,
and you know it, and you say that the pretext is false. All that you
have to do, therefore, to escape the odium and danger into which
you are brought, by publicly sanctioning what you privately deny,
is to purge yourself from legal and moral complicity, by no longer
being guilty, through permission and compliance, in the allowed
public use of your name. The act in which you at present publicly
conspire takes the gospel out of my mouth and the bread out of my
children's ; and you stand silently by, consenting to and sharing in the
deed. Your reference to a meeting of delegates is an irrelevance,
aud no public reading of a list of your subscribing members would
justify you or any one else in saying that I am not a Congregational
minister residing in the district.

281

" Your final declaration that you do ' not accept the responsi-
bility which they [the new rules] seem to throw on the secretaries,'
will not pass either for law or gospel. Whether I expect or desire
you to continue this correspondence is of no moment ; it is your
own concern whether you will still stand before the world as signing
that act of my ' ministerial deposition,' for which nothing but your
name is the guarantee, against which you protest privately, — in every
degree of emphasis, — you had no hand in. Your name is your
hand, by which you perpetrate the act, till you publicly purge
yourself from what you privately deny and openly sanction.

Yours faithfully,

BREWIN GRANT.
" The Rev. F. J. Faldixg, D.D."

" Rotherham College, Feb. 9, 1869.

" Sir, — I beg to acknowledge your last letter. Having answered
at least every question which you had a right to put, I decline to
notice the twisting of words and perversion of facts contained in
your letters.

" I have permitted myself to enter into this correspondence not
because I thought for a moment that you cared to know the truth or
justice of the matter, nor because I cared to ward off from myself
the abuse which you seem to find pleasure in uttering, but because
I thought it right to shew the hollowness of your pretence of being
persecuted on account of any opinions which you have chosen to
advocate. For this reason I shall feel at liberty to publish this
correspondence if at any time I think proper to do it.

" I am, Sir, yours truly,

" F. J. FALDIXG."

" Dear Sir, — I have received your letter begun 'February 9th,'
and finished for post late on February 11th, and I am obliged by
the proof which it affords of what it denies, namely, that I am
1 persecuted on account of any opinions I have chosen to advocate.'
I equally thank you for contradicting yourself again in the absurd
observation, after a lengthened incubation, that you ' decline to
notice the twisting of words and perversion of facts contained in my
letters.' Perhaps I had better explain that this was ' noticing,' or
rather inventing, such ' perversions.' I am more particularly gratefu

282

for your frankness in telling me that you did ' not think for a moment
that I cared to know the truth or justice of the matter.' No doubt
you dictated this from that critical maxim, ' Look into your own
heart and write.'

Your liberty to publish this correspondence may be turned into
compulsion, as you join those two rev. mothers, Mrs. Star and Mrs.
M'Owne. If you destroy these letters, as they did certain documents,
for conscience sake, I have your originals and my copies.

" You are still convicted out of your own mouth of permitting
your name publicly to cover my ' ministerial deposition, ' while in
private you repudiate what you openly perpetrate by conniving at.
Wishing for you more facility and better temper in answering
letters, I remain yours faithfully,

■■ BREWIN GRANT."

L'EXVOI.

I cannot help thinking that some of my readers will wish to know
after all, how I am placed, and what I purpose doing. It is to such
friendly ears that I make this frank confession : — This book does
not express, nor can any book, the deep darkness and almost agony
which for some time I experienced, after my return from prostrating
labours, and clangers, and " perils among false brethren," a fortnight
before Christmas. Nothing but blackness was before me. My
preaching was gone, on which I had relied for half my support in
my general public ministry. My character was gone, so far as such
persons as edit our semi-denominational papers, the Nonconformist
and the English Independent, and the baser Sheffield one, could
warp the minds of Dissenters, by what Mr. Miall calls, and knows —
" unscrupulous venomousness ; " not one of whom dare represent me
truly or let me represent myself in his columns. Besides these,
such speakers as had made themselves prominent in glorifying Mr.
Gladstone's policy, of which they are still ignorant, were bound
both not to meet me in argument, and to justify their cowardice by
their malice in maligning me. Not only was my good name gone —
as it then seemed to me in that darkness — so far as the denomination
was concerned in and for which I had laboured, and whose principles
1 held and hold — but my means were gone, my pocket was empty,
and so far as the sale of myself for tory gold was concerned, I was a
hundred pounds out of pocket for extensive printing and gratuitous
circulation of papers, and other incidental expenses.

283

As to the future, nncl as a minister, my way was blocked up ; and
I should have been more painfully straitened if, during my hard
tour of lecturing, my son, some months under his majority, had not
taken my pecuniary affairs into his own hands, and raised my terms
for lecturing, which then scarcely covered my travelling expenses.
I owe to the same fealty, the management of my correspondence,
answering some seven hundred letters of subscribers, and making
all business arrangements for the issue of this volume, in all which
matters I should have been inextricably confused. The darkness and
difficulties above referred to, occurred before it came out that the
conspiracy would culminate in my formal exclusion, by the Congrega-
tional Union, from the list of accredited Congregational ministers.
That act, for my ruin, will, by the blessing of God, awakening the
sympathy of man, be my salvation.

As my health gradually recovered, my mind cleared : a few friends,
all that I had opportunity of calling on, contributed something
towards my losses. I began to feel that there was hope yet ; and
the definite form which the persecution of me by Liberationists
had assumed, gave me a plain mark to shoot at, and a visible enemy,
which aroused my courage, and I felt that the darkness was j^ast.
I blessed God and took heart.

But during the writing of my life, besides two cases of illness
among my children, one of which in particular excited my fears,
there was another cloud still blacker, but happily temporary, as the
one who had shared my fortunes, and more than half supported our
family by her own, fell into a low nervous way, and seemed struck
with a panic fear, after I had recovered ; and the forebodings which
for a little time came upon me, and which I dared not then utter to
my family, and which they will see only in print, made me for a
time fear to write, lest the bitterness of this new calamity, which in
my mind I attributed to the conspirators, should tinge my book —
which indeed could not have been finished if I had not been merci-
fully delivered both from the fear and from what I feared.

I wish every Dissenting minister had as good a house and house-
hold as we have hitherto been able to maintain, in moderate com-
fort, and in a peace and mutual love which can be surpassed in no
house this side heaven.

God has mercifully preserved us from being broken in upon again
by the dreaded visitor, and I doubt not He will raise friends to help
me to keep necessity at the staff's end, and enable me to maintain
the honourable position of an Independent Minister in every sense.
As a pledge of this, among eighteen letters ordering copies of my

284

Autobiography, which have come in this morning, March 1, 1869,
whilst I was writing the preceding sentences, was the following : —

"February 27-

" My dear Friend, — The letter sent to you by Mr. Ashton is not
true , as you will see from the enclosed. [From the Eev. Dr. Smith,
Union secretary.] Dr. Smith must know 'the course which had
been previously pursued ;' you will see that he [Dr. Smith] wrote
to me in reply to a letter of mine, of the 20th of January, saying*

that IF YOUR NAME HAD BEEN SENT UP [by Dr. FALDING, who

who says he sent it] it would have been inserted.

" I feel very much disgraced and humbled to think that such a
cruel and nasty job can be done by the angels of our churches. I

have a letter from P who says it looks very queer, * * says

the business ought not to have been done.

" I have spoken to many about the matter, and they one and all
complain of the transaction.

" I Shall BE GLAD TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE FUND FOR BRINGING
THE WHOLE MATTER BEFORE THE PUBLIC.

" Yours truly "

• 18, South-street, Finsburv, January 20th, 1869.

To , Esq.

Dear Sir, — Your note has been forwarded to Bournemouth, where I am re-
maining on account of my health. In answer to your enquiry, I beg to say that
Mr. Ashton, the editor of the Year Book, inserts in the lists the names only of

t'WSe MINISTERS WHO ABE RETURNED BY THE SECRETARIES of COUnty and other

associations as recognised ministers within their bounds. If Mr. Grant's
n\me had been returned from Yorkshire, it would have been inserted in
the county and alphabetical list. — I remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully,

G. SMITH.

N.B. — Dr. Smith neither saves himself, nor Mr. Ashton, nor the committee
by this implied contradiction of Dr. Falding's professions, which a district
meeting lately accepted as his exoneration, thongh that meeting was too slavish
or tyrannical to protest against the illegality and cruelty of the act which they
were ashamed of being directly implicated in. "Whether the name was sent up
or not, the erasion of it was a crime and a sin, by the laws of the land, the
laws of the Union, and the laws of God.

My correspondent assumes that Mr. Ashton had received my name, and even
then suppressed it, contrary to tbe new rule alleged for " the previous course ;" Dr.
Smith assumes that it was not received "from Yorkshire," that is from Dr.
Falding ; let them wriggle together.

" Tbese haunted men will never lay
The gbosts" of " Eivers, Vaughan and Gray."
Grant and Shakespere, Richard in, Act i, Scene iii; Act v. Scene iii,

285

This is from a friend who is a hot Gladstonian, but a real liberal,
and I believe that Providence sent this letter while I was writing
this appeal, to give me a pledge and earnest, that ' nothing shall
harro. you if ye be followers of that which is good. '

In this case sympathy means a subscription, which I believe will
come from the poor and the rich, from a few stamps to a few
pounds, to aid me both in advertising my book and the case, and
writing other things, and in sustaining me while thus engaged, and in
enabling me to draw up a case for legal opinion, providing fees for
counsel, and piromises towards a prosecution fund, to be paid to an
appointed receiver, in case counsel's opinion justifies legal action.

With thanks to the many friends who have subscribed for
nearly a thousand copies of this Autobiography, and devout over-
swelling gratitude to that providence which has carried me no less
through this writing than through the scenes which it describes, I
commend this book and the reader to the blessing of Almighty God.

The course of my past life is traced in this Autobiography ; as to
the future and what '• inward ripeness" may be attained, is, I hope,
described by the immortal bard, who paid the penalty for "Liberty's
defence ; his " noble task, with which all Europe rung from side to
side : —

"Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
" It shall be still in strictest measure even

" To that same lot, however mean or high,
" Towards which time leads me, and the will of heaven ;
" All is, if I have grace to use it so,

" As ever in my great Task-master's eye."

In relation to the dangers which threaten our country from
our unhappy divisions fomented by our enemies, — the friends of
superstition, I beseech the reader to join me heartily in the follow-
ing supplication : —

0 Thou, Who art the Father of Lights, Who hast condescended
to shine into this world, not only to remove the natural chaos, but
that moral darkness which overspread the earth, mercifully grant
that the priests of superstition — the blind leaders of the blind — who
obstruct the rays of Thy truth, and cover the eyes of men with a
cloud of ignorance, may themselves be illuminated with the light
of Thy glorious gospel ; and that those, hitherto led in darkness,

286

through the ignorance that is in them, may be translated out of
the darkness of papal error into the kingdom of Thy dear Son !■

May this dear land of freedom, bathed in marvellous light, not
again be overshadowed with that train of errors which once darkened
the firmament and hid the Sun of Righteousness in a total eclipse of
heathenish night : let not the locusts, coming into this our Eden
and second paradise of gospel delights — in which is every tree good
for food and pleasant to the eye — settle clown and march on, having
before them the garden of the Lord, behind them a desert ; but
may a mighty wind, as of Thine all-reviving and sustaining Spirit,
sweep back this devouring army of Egyptian locusts ; and, filling
Thy people with joy for Thy interposing Providence, inspire them
with that gratitude and watchfulness by which they shall not only
dress and keep this land, uprooting every weed, but send forth
the seed of Thy truth to be sown in every barren place, so that
when He shall come Who will gather the wheat into His garner,
when the angels shall put in the sickle, and the harvest of the
world will be ripe, a large ingathering may be made "into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

Broo:mhall Park, Sheffield,
March 1, 1869.

286a

The Examination of the Rev. De. Hallat, which formed part of The
Tmal contained in the subsequent pages, was accidentally omitted from its
place, and is presented here in a condensed form, by the opportunity of two
blank pages, in making up this edition.

The English Independent having intimated that my name, which
in May, 1869, was publicly declared restored, ought again to be
erased from the list of congregational ministers ; and the clerk to the
secretaries of the Union, having shown how this threat of our " repre-
sentative journal" might be carried out, while no further information
was vouchsafed by the secretaries themselves, I found it necessary
for my own vindication, and for the fuller information of the public,
which is studying the experiment of The Free Churches, to put the
leading perpetrators, and accessories before and after the fact, into
the witness box, and from their own mouths, by their own proved and
recorded woeds, to leave them all without excuse. Their reiterated,
astute, and helpless attempts to cover the dishonour of their course,
form the most effective confession and reward of their deed.

The Eev. Dr. Halley having appeared in London, May 11, 1869,
to prevent the Assembly agreeing to that " apology," which he
acknowledged had been agreed to, by "the Preliminary Meeting" that
sat on the subject, appears now, to be cross-examined as follows : —
The Preliminary Meeting of the Congregational Union having
agreed upon a recommendation to the Assembly, you considering it
as an apology, justified the course thus apologised for, by asking : —
" Does anybody suppose your secretaries for any political purpose or
any unworthy motive whatsoever displace anybody from the list ? —
(no, no) — and I am sure if you approve the resolution passed last
night you do pass that censure — (no, no) — upon your secretaries.
(Confusion, "vote, vote.") Let me be heard! (Cheers.) It has
been said that a gentleman has qualified himself within the last
fortnight by becoming a member of the Union, then he was not
qualified before — (hear, hear) — and the secretaries did right in leaving
out his name from the list. (Applause.) If he be now a member
ey will do wrong in leaving out his name from the nesct list ; but
lid right in leaving out his name from this list. (Cheers.) And
they have done right in this business, why should you now wish
make a special reference to any name whatsoever of any one man,
he who he may, who was not a member of this Union last
iristmas, and who has become a member since ? (Hear, hear.)
ras sorry to hear it was to prevent a pamphlet from being dis-
puted. (Laughter, "No.") It was said so here. ("No, no,"
* \~ote, vote," cheers.) Let Mr. Grant distribute his pamphlet —

(hear, hear, and cheers) — to the ends of the earth for aright I care.
(Laughter.) I for one will vote against this resolution. (Loud cheers.)
— (English Independent, May 14, 1869.)- You say, that being
but "lately qualified by becoming a member of the union," " the
secretaries did quite right in leaving his name from the list?" Yes.

What " List" no you mean ? I mean the Alphabetical List of
Ministers of the denomination.

Then did you really think that only members of the Congregational
Union, are on the list of ministers of the Denomination ? Yes ; I
said, he had "qualified within the last fortnight by becoming a
member of the Union."

Do you know this book '? It is " the Year Book for 1869."

How many ministers are in your list of members of the Congre-
gational Union ? I do not know.

Well, look at page 81. How many ? I cannot count them.

Well there are 557. How many ministers' names appear in your
" Alphabetical List of Ministers ?" I do not know.

Well look at page 400. How many ? 2,898.

Then you have 557 ministers who are " members of the Union,"
and nearly three thousand on the " Alphabetical List of
Ministers ?" So it seems.

There are also 190 ministers, ex officio " members of the Union,"
by being pastors of churches, who subscribe to it ; making 747
members of the Union; and nearly three thousand on the list of
Ministers of the Denomination ? Yes.

Yet you asked — how could he be on this list of Ministers, till he
had " qualified " for the other list of " members '?" Yes.

And you could see at a glance in that " Year Book," two thousand
one hundred and fifty-one names on the List of Ministers, that
are not in the List of Members '? I did not know.

But you know now ? Yes.

You said that " it would be wrong," if, now that Mr. Grant " is
a member " of the Union, his name should be left out of " the next
list " of Ministers for 1870 ? Yes.

Do you know that this is contemplated : and shall you protest
against this premeditated " wrong ?" I was not aware of it.

Well, this probable and threatened violation of a promise, and of
what you call a rule, is the only occasion of this Trial, which must
be trying to you.

Dr. Halley stepped down from the witness box, not being " quallified" till "lately"
and so " was not qualified before" to speak on Congregational Polity.

* From the " Dissenting World." An Autobiography.

THE TRIAL

OF THE

CONGREGATIONAL UNIONISTS

BEFORE THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO

SPIRITUAL TRADES-UNION OUTRAGES;

WITH A FULL REPORT

OF THE

EXAMINATION OF THE WITNESSES —

DR. GEORGE SMITH, DR. FALDING,

DR. A. RALEIGH, DR. HALLEY,

KEY. A. HANNAY, BEY. J. H. MORGAN,

REY. T. BINNEY, EEY. NEWMAN HALL.

By the Author of

THE SHEFFIELD TBADES-OUTBAGE COMMISSION

AND ITS LESSONS;
being THE APPENDIX to the THIRD EDITION of

THE DISSENTING WORLD:
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

PUBLISHED SEPARATELY, FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF PURCHASERS OF THE FIRST AND
SECOND EDITIONS, AND OTHERS.

Sheffield : PAWSON and BRAILSFORD, High-street.
London: WILLIAM MACINTOSH, Paternoster-row.

1869.

PREFACE

Pudet et hrec opprobria nobis

Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refeili.*

— Ovidii Metamor. I. 758-7.

"SPECIAL NOTICE."

To the Readers of the following Trial of the Coxgeegatioxal

Unionists.

" The Coming Struggle, or the Liberationists and the Inquisition:
shewing the Danger to Truth and Liberty in the Unestablished
Churches ;" was the suggestive title of a pamphlet lately issued in
connection with this illustrative case. In that pamphlet it was
observed that " The people of England are looking on at this ex-
periment of Esse Chuechism. They want to know what is to be
substituted for the Establishment which is to be attacked ; and
whether disestablishment means the establishment of a spiritual
tyranny and serfdom that is consistently allied with altar denuncia-
tors, to aid in ' liberating' us from all forms of law, order, trial, or
redress, and establish a Dissenting Inquisition more odious,
because more hypocritical, than the honest out- spoken domination
of the Church of Rome ?"

A specimen of this tyranny is afforded in the case of the freest
of the Free Churches, the Congregationalists, which are subject to
the centralized despotism of the managers of the Congregational
Union, comprising only a small fraction of the denomination.
So absolute is this usurped authority that any one out of a list of
some three thousand ministers may at any time be deposed and
unfrocked if he is not politically subservient to the Libeeatiox
Society, whose secretary, Mr. Caevell Williams, was on the
Congregational Union Committee, that invented a new rule to
ostracise a minister who did not fall in with Mr. Gladstoxe's
Cullenite policy. <

* The grief is, both that such reproaches can be uttered, and that they cannot

be refuted.

290 PREFACE.

As was said in a meeting of the Irish National Association — it
would be more true to say there was a confederation between the
Romanists and the English Liberationists than between the
Romanists and the Ritualists, on the Irish Church question.

The secretary of the Liberation Society works with Cullen and
through the Congregational Union, or at least never protests against
the act of the committee on which he sits, and by which, without
notice or inquiry, an opponent of Gladstone's Cullenite policy is
excommunicated from the Congregational ministry. This is accom
plished by the surreptitious application of a surreptitious rule to
strike his name off the rolls in the Congregational Year Book.

The pretexts and equivocations on which this measure was adopted,
and by which the Romish power of Auto de Fe was consistently de-
fended by a Jesuitical change in the meaning of words, is abundantly
manifest in the following Trial.

It should also here be noted, that in the Assembly — which in
haste, and through misleading, passed this rule of despotism — it
v/as declared that the name of the one who had been victimised by
the rule before it passed would be restored next year.

But even this has since been protested against by the English
Independent, and, while this promised restoration is pretended to be
founded on a certain constitutional rule, the victim has been officially
informed that it may be "vetoed by the Assembly' at Wolver-
hampton, October, 1869, — so that neither rule nor declaration is
any obligation.

For without a rule he was excommunicated, and with an alleged
rule, ignorantly applied, he may not be restored. This is Free
Churchism in its " Independent" development.

"Sheffield, Aug. 19,1869.

"Dear Sir, — As Mr. Hannay affirmed in the Union meeting that
my name would be inserted in the next Year Book, I wish to know
whether this was merely his personal statement, or whether he
had the authority of the committee, or any on whom I can rely that
this will be the case ; as the knowledge of this, one way or other, will
affect my action at the Wolverhampton (fathering.

" Yours truly,

"BREWIN GRANT."

" The Rev. Dr. George Smith."

"August 23, 1869.

"Dear Sir, — As Dr. Smith is from home, I have pleasure in
replying to the inquiry contained in your note addressed to him as
secretary of the Congregational Union.

PREFACE.

291

" Mr. Hannay's affirmation in May last, relative to the insertion
of your name in the next Year Book, was in accordance with the
rule.

"As a minister, in fellowship with a church connected with the
Union, you became a member [of the Congregational Union] on pay-
ment of the usual subscription, and your name will, therefore,
appear in the Alphabetical List of Ministebs,* unless its inser-
tion should be vetoed by the Assembly of the Union.
" I am, dear Sir,

" Yours truly,

" THOMAS H. COLLINS."

" Kev. B. Grant, B.A."

" Sheffield, August 24th, 1869.

" Dear Sir, — ' The rule,' ' in accordance with ' which you say
* Mr. Hannay's affirmation ' was made, has nothing to do with the
subject of my inquiry. It relates to personal membership of the
Congregational Union, not to the list of Congregational Ministers.
It is a special provision for those who are ministers, and who,
therefore, before joining the Union — which is a private voluntary
association — are already enrolled, or entitled independently of this
' rule ' to be enrolled in the ' Alphabetical List of Congregational
Ministers.'

"To say that a minister by paying five shillings to the Union
may be a minister, is to be reduced to an absurdity.

" Members of the Union are one thing, ministers of the denomi-
nation are another. It is, however, necessary for the officials of
the Union to confound a plain distinction. But if the rule did
apply to being on the ' List of Ministers ' instead of to ' personal
membership of the Union,' to which alone it refers, as you can
see by looking at it, — still, if it meant what it never mentions and
cannot mean, but contradicts by clear implication, it seems that it
may be ' vetoed by the Assembly ' in October, without any intima-
tion to the victim, although it is a part of ' the constitution ' of the
Union.

" A * rule ' therefore means something that we are not to go by.

" I do not ask for Mr. Hannay's personal misapplication of rules,
l)ut for the Committee's official authority — on which I may rely— -
that what he said would be done — will be done.

" The members of the committee will be wise not to stultify
themselves by advancing an irrelevant rule as an excuse for fulfilling

* Which is distinct from and independent of the List of Members of the Union.

292

PREEACE.

a public unchallenged pledge which they permitted to he given, and
which, if not intended by them, should not have been permitted to
be openly made in their presence by their representative speaker.

" But, as you surmise that this restoration may be 'vetoed by
the Assembly,' will it be open to debate ? Will the committee
send me the articles of impeachment, giving a list of any rules

THAT I HAVE VIOLATED and THE THEN EXISTING RULES ON WHICH
THEY ACTED ?

" The confused and hasty post mortem legislation in May was
only a confession of the illegality of their proceedings.

"Nothing but a fair, frank, authorized statement can restore the
credit of the Union, and this statement neither the committee nor
the Assembly has given, or dare give.

"I ask now, however, for a plain statement whether my name will
be restored, as publicly affirmed in the Assembly last May ?

This information is the more necessary after your intimation that
even the pretended rule on the subject may be violated by those
who are weak enough or reduced enough to plead it — in order to
break it.

"As I said before, my proceedings at the "Wolverhampton
gathering will be affected by the way in which the committee deals
with this inquiry. " Yours very truly,

" BREWIN GRANT."

" T. H. Collins, Esq."

" Please to show this letter to the secretary, Dr. Smith, as I wish
for an official reply."

No answer was vouchsafed to this inquiry. Indeed it is im-
possible to put into words an excuse for the pretence that because
a Congregational minister joins a voluntary association — the Congre-
gational Union — to attend its meetings, he is therefore put on the
list — not of members of that Union, which was the only common-
sense result, but on the list of Congregational ministers, which is
a separate thing, and to which place he had a right before, and must
have, according to the rule referred to, in order to qualify for
" personal membership " in the Union. Yet it is pretended that
the personal membership of the Union qualifies a minister for the
ministry, which again reciprocally qualifies him for securing "per-
sonal membership !" Thus tyranny is reduced to imbecility when
it tries to excuse itself.

It was the astuteness of Mr. Hannay, the committee's mouth-
piece in the Assembly, that imposed on the simplicity of Mr.
Collins, the worthy clerk to the secretaries.

\

PREFACE. 293

Any one reading his letter would expect this conclusion, that
because " as a minister" I had joined the Congregational Union
my name would therefore appear "in the list" of the members of
that Union. But guided by official and authorised hallucination,
the writer's pen turns off [from the only legitimate conclusion, and
substitutes the "Alphabetical List of Congregational Ministers," on
which I had stood for a quarter of a century.

It is like saying to a town councillor, that "as a burgess, having
obtained a membership of the town council by the votes of your
fellow burgesses, your name will therefore appear on the alpha-
betical list of burgesses," according to the rule which permits a
burgess to be a town councillor and so qualifies him to be a burgess.

I put it in this way to make it plain even to the committee of
the Congregational Union, that if possible they may understand to
what deplorable shifts they are reduced. Their reasons are their
ruin — whether we look at their reasons for taking the name off,
or for promising to put it on again, or for not fulfilling that promise.
The only fear I have is lest their incredible absurdity, as they
struggle helplessly in the net which they wove for me, will throw
discredit on this history, and make some imagine that this helpless
floundering of a committee, backed by the ablest intellects of our
men of progress, must be what the genius of the English Inde-
pendent calls "flim-flam."

It is by these arts that Independency is conquered. There may
be some satisfaction in falling before brave and able men : — Ne
virtute quidem, premi libertatem, sed arte eludi ::;: — Not by
open bravery was our freedom vanquished, but spirited away by
trickery. As the same master of language observes of one : —
Excepit deinde euru lentius spe bellum, quo nequidquam vi
adortus, postremo minime arte Romana, frauds ac dolo, adgressus
est.f Afterwards another war engaged him, which dragged on
longer than he expected, in which, having vainly tried fair strength
of war, at last by treachery, very little after the high Roman fashion,
by fraud and guile, he gained his end.

We must distinguish between Roman and Romish art, and
remember that the latter is adopted to advance Romish equality
by consistently imitating it. Both to Independent Ministers and
others the writer's case is a warning and example of the " equality"
which they may experience — he can suffer no more than is already
inflicted. Ceteri sibi ac liberis suis consulerent J — Let the

* Livii, lib. III., cap. x. f Livii, lib. I, cap. liii. + Liviii, lib. III.

294 PREFACE.

rest consider for themselves and their families. Aliena oalamitate
documentum datum Mis carenda similis injuria — By the misfor-
tunes of another, there is given to them a specimen of the kind of
injury against which they have to guard themselves. Si animus sit,
non defore auxilium* — If they are not wanting in faithfulness, they
will not want for help. Quum priorum audacia dubiis etiam animum
faceret— The boldness of a few would give courage to the rest.

This power of ministerial life and death was well described by
the Rev. S. M'Call in the following observations to the Assembly of
the Congregational Union, May, 1869 : —

" It was foreseen from the very beginning that the Year Book
would come to be a serious and perhaps formidable power. That
was foreseen. The thing was inevitable. The appearance of a
name in that book was a kind of authentication ; the omission of the
name seemed to be an emphatic disownment of the person. And the
omission was more serious than the insertion, for, whereas the
insertion would seem to imply that there was nothing to be said
material against the person, the omission would seem to imply that
there teas nothing to be said for him, and, therefore, that the Year
Book would be a very serious power in our hands was anticipated
as a matter of course, and that there would arise some difficulties
in managing this power might be anticipated by every thoughtful
person. I am glad they have not arisen earlier, for then it might
have damaged our condition as a Union ; and I am glad that they
have not been deferred longer, for then possibly the mischief might
have become unmanageable. It lies at present within comparatively
narrow bounds, and I sincerely hope, with my honourable friend
Mr. Hannay, that this morning will see the end of it for ever."\

Instead of ending that difficulty that morning, the power of
arbitrarily and secretly excommunicating ministers was then for the
first time publicly confirmed, so that " the mischief" has become
" unmanageable."

* Livii, lib. III., cap. x. f " English Independent," May 14, 1869.

KEPOKT OF THE TKIAL

OF THE

CONGREGATIONAL UNIONISTS

BEFORE THE COMMISSION OF INQUIET INTO

SPIRITUAL TRADES-UNION OUTRAGES.

The Constitution of the Court, the occasion and object of
its appointment, may be understood from the opening remarks of
the President, who observed, for the information of the public, —
that of late it had been found necessary, in order to discover certain
crimes and protect future possible victims, by deterring the perpe-
trators, to arm Commissioners with a power of enquiry beyond the
ordinary jurisdiction of legal courts. Yet, at the same time, in
order to protect the accused, while consulting the interests of the
public, it was seen to be necessary that extra-judicial methods of
securing evidence should not tell penally against those who were
convicted by it ; that is, providing they themselves honestly aided
the cour*. in obtaining information by making, as Mr. Overend
observed a. *he Trades-Union Outrage Commission in Sheffield —
" a clean bi'btist of it." If the court were satisfied that the persons
examined gave all the information in their power, even though
thereby criminating themselves, they were to receive a form of indem-
nification ; but if it were believed by the Commission that any
witness concealed information, such witness was liable to be tried in
the ordinary courts and punished, if found guilty. The Court of
Inquiry had also power to enforce answers, and to commit for
contempt.

It was under the provision of indemnity that evidence as to the
agency in suspected Trades -Union Outrages was obtained ; and
even though, in the case of the murder of the man Linley, and
the " blowing up " of the house of the man Fearnehough — to the
extreme danger of the lives of himself and family, who were in bed

296

at the time of the explosion — the confederates in those deeds were
pardoned, according to the conditions laid down, of a full confes-
sion ; still, the liability to such investigation and exposure would
tend to prevent similar acts, while the information thus acquired
would aid the legislature in deciding how far new laws regarding
Trades Unions were required, and what those laws should be.

The same principle has been applied to questions of bribery in
elections, in the case of Norwich, Beverley, and Bridgewater, by
which evidence was obtained that had eluded the search of the
judges lately appointed to decide on election petitions.

This Court or Commission of Inquiry into Spiritual Trades-
Union Outrages is of the same kind, and founded on the same
principle. It is the boast of our present legislation that all parties
shall be treated on the principle of equality ; and it would be
manifestly unequal to inquire severely into the conduct of the Unions
of the working classes, as in Sheffield, and not to inquire into the con-
duct of that Spiritual Trades-Union whose president, the Eev.
Newman Hall, in its name, lectured the working classes of Shef-
field on tyranny over one another, which that same Ministerial
Uniou was then accused of perpetrating on its own account, while
it was also endeavouring to screen and justify the perpetrators.

This was well brought out in " The Particular Case for Congrega-
tional Unionists," the author of which now, in turn, and to a great
extent, as he believes, for that exposure of an outrage, is himself
the subject of one ; not only to silence him, but to terrify others
from public criticism, and render the repetition of Spiritual Trades-
Union outrages as secure to the perpetrators as they are fatal to
the victims.

It is not for the Court to pronounce an opinion on the case before-
hand— in fact, we cannot entertain an opinion till we have pursued
the investigation : but justice requires this distinction, that while
the sacred character of Christian societies and ministers should be
jealously guarded and respected, the same renders it more impera-
tive to require of them a greater scrupulousness and magnanimity
of conduct than can reasonably be expected of untaught men
following the impulse of an apparent though mistaken self-interest.

This distinction is the more obviously just, inasmuch as the
Congregational Union took upon itself to instruct the working men
of Sheffield in the duty of respecting ether people's rights while
defending their own.

The working classes naturally expect their, teachers to set them
an example

297

But there is a greater principle, or one more important, than any
hitherto mentioned, and which both justifies and necessitates the
inquiry on which we are entering, and to this we desire to call
special attention.

At present, the presumed tendency of legislation is to withdraw
religion at least — though nothing else — from the patronage, pro-
tection, and subsidising of Government, even so far as the with-
drawal, not of public money given from the Consolidated Fund —
the common taxes, to which all contribute — but of corporate
property, which prescriptive right would seem to perpetuate.

Now, the professed object of these changes is to secure liberty
and equality in the free exercise of private opinion on religious
and moral questions, and on political questions as relating to them.

It is therefore necessary for the public good that the nation
should be informed how far those so-called voluntary societies. —
which are presumed to be the alternative of National Establishments
and to " liberate" men from evils said to be incidental to those
establishments — are fraught with the evils for which they
are the professed remedy.

Whether, in fact, these societies as at present existing, however
free in theory, do not need the regulation of public law to
defend the natural rights of individuals against what is called " an
organized tyranny supported by an organized hypocrisy."

There are two objects professedly to be secured by the so-called
" Free Churches " — the purity of Christian truth and the freedom
of individual consciences ; and it is alleged that there are two
dangers from unestablished Churches ; besides that it is said that
the freer Churches are departing from the Christian truth referred
+o — a point not at present before us, except so far as they may
infringe the rights of their members by illegally excommunicating
them for maintaining the professed principles of these societies.
That this has had something, and not a little, to do with the outrage
specially before us has been affirmed by so high a Broad Church
authority as the Pall Mall Gazette*

However, it is enough to observe that the two dangers from un-
established churches are first to suppress individual freedom by the
tyranny of majorities, by the usurpation of officials, by technical
rules technically applied, or rules invented for the occasion ; by
patronage, and by terrorism of penalties. Secondly, the danger

* In a review at considerable length of " The Dissenting World : an
Autobiography."

298

from Free Churches is to the State, which may be predominated
over by what has been well described as a "fraternity of Eccle-
siastics, without families, without the ties of home or country, a
race of spiritual gypsies belonging to no nation, but domineering
over all ; fomenting wars, distributing crowns, annulling the alle-
giance of subjects, laying interdicts on kingdoms, not to free the
nations but to enslave monarchs and consummate their conspiracy
against mankind."*

These also accumulate vast wealth by frightening the dying;
and when aided towards equality by other "Free Churches," imme-
diately demand domination over schools and Government pay ; as
Paul Cullen, for Ireland, in gratitude for pacification by the over-
throw of the Protestant establishment, to be followed by the con-
fiscation of property of Protestant landowners.

This fraternity would dominate over the Government, and secures
its power by domineering over private conscience even in scholastic
affairs, publicly threatening in a pastoral to deprive of the sacra-
ments, and so to consign to everlasting ruin whoever shall send
their children to Government schools not modelled into Romish
" establishments."

This is done at the same time that a Triduwn, or three days'
thanksgiving service, is instituted to bless God for the liberality of a
liberal Government, and the special enlightenment of our Premier,
Mr. Gladstone, in giving the Romish priests equality, as a step
towards this domination, which is " conciliation."

Nor are the priests the only danger to Government, for as they
dictate to electors, so "the Dissenting screw" is worked against
any one who does not fall into rank on the liberal, side to lift priests
into the position for new demands. The kind of intimidation em-
ployed is seen by the fact that the leading organ of the " Spiritual
Trades -Union," whose proceedings in this case we are to inquire
into, plainly intimated to its readers that for taking an independent
view of the election contest the plaintiff could no longer be
regarded as a Congregational Minister and " on this hint" the
Union would appear to have acted.

The object of this inquiry is to shew hoiv far, apart from the
preservation of doctrine, such Free Churches can be entrusted with
the preservation of individual liberty, and whether some special
legislation may not be required for these " Spiritual Trades-Unions,"

• Orations to the-Oratorians, in reply to Dr. Newman, by the Kev. Brewin
Grant, &A.

290

as well as for those Secular Trades-Unions, which the managers of
the former are so ready to advise and correct. "We have something
else to do besides disestablishing the English Church, if we really
mean to secure religious freedom and purity of doctrine and disci-
pline as well as civil rights.

In the words of a great authority among the Free Churches— -
the Rev. Dr. Parker, late of Manchester, the great advocate of
' ' Aggressive Nonconformity — "The honour and integrity of
British Congregationalism are on their trial."

FIBST DAYS PBOCEEDINGS

OPENING OF THE CASE.

It was arranged by the President of the Court that a general
statement of the case on both sides should be put in as the basis
of proceedings.

THE KEY. BREWIN GRANT'S STATEMENT.

In order to exhaust all moral means before having recourse to
legal proceedings to secure reparation for the Union outrage, which,
without notice, trial, or even accusation beforehand, and without
explanation afterwards, unfrocked, deposed, and excommunicated
him, he determined on petitioning the general " Annual Assembly,"
May 11th, against the illegal action of its committee on surrep-
titiously forged rules. The following is a copy of the petition that
was sent to the Committee for presentation to the Assembly :■—

THE PETITION

OF

THE REV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A.,

to the congregational union, in public annual meeting
assembled,

" ShEWHTH —

" That the petitioner's name has been on the list of Congrega-
tional ministers for the space of twenty-five years, up to the ' Year
Book for 1868,' and was omitted from the"' Year Book for 1869,'
without any intimation to the petitioner beforehand, or any explana-
tion afterwards.

300

" That this act of the editor of the 'Year Book' has been en-
dorsed by the Committee of the Union, which gives no reason, and
affords no redress*

" That such erasure was admitted by Dr. xarker, m the Union
meeting in Sheffield, in 1866, to ' amount to ministerial deposition ;
a species of excommunication,' and to be ' fraught with the gravest
consequences to individual ministers.'

"That the petitioner is suffering these 'gravest consequences,'
contrary, as he believes, to the law of the land, and contrary to the
positive votes and directions of the Assembly, whose authority the
Committee have ignored, contravened, assumed, and surpassed.

" That the committee acknowledged it had not the authority to
make regulations for deposing ministers, when in reply to the peti-
tioner's remonstrance against the unconstitutional erasure of the Rev.
Isaac Vaughans name, without notice or trial, the committee agreed
to introduce a motion on the subject at the autumnal meetings in
Sheffield, in 1866.

" That the committee, by its own arrangement, was most respect-
fully requested to consider the methods of adding names to, and re-
moving them from, the list of ministers, and to report on the same
to the next Annual Assembly.

" That the committee did not report to the Assembly, but legis-
lated in its place, creating a new rule six months before the next
Annual Assembly, and placed its illegal law in the ' Year Book for
1867,' to authorize that power of expulsion which was in question,
which was already protested against, and which should at least have
been debated and sanctioned by the Assembly, and been regulated
within the constitutional power of the Union.

" That in the autumn of 1867, at Manchester, the petitioner in-
quired by what authority the new law of expulsion from the Inde-
pendent body was inserted in the 'Year Book,' when no report had
been made to the Assembly, as ordered and promised.

" That in reply, the Secretary said the committee had reported in
favour of the alteration, and that the alteration was sanctioned by
the annual meeting.

"That the secretary afterwards apologised publicly to the peti-
tioner, acknowledging that no report had been given, and conse-
sequently no sanction received for the innovation.

" That the secretary promised that it should be reported to the
next annual meeting for the consideration of the members, as to
whether the new rule should be adopted.

" That it was not presented for discussion, but referred to as

an

301

* effected alteration,' which had been forgotten to be reported ; the
authority to ' effect ' it was assumed on the part of the Committee,
and all the Assembly had to do was not to debate the new rule, but
to condone the failure to report it before by those who had no
authority to make it.

" That this part of the report — 3Ia\\ 1868— was objected to by
the seconder, the new rule being declared by the chairman to be il-
legally made ; and the whole question was recommended to be re-
served for a future meeting.

" That on this condition only, the report in general was accepted,
and consequently the innovation was repudiated by the seconder,
condemned by the chairman, Dr. Raleigh, and voted down by the
Assembly.

11 That the ' Year Book for 1869' if/nores this important circum-
stance, which was fully recorded in the English Independent, and is
quoted at large in 'The Dissenting World: an Autobiography,'
pages 227-8 : in which book, also, every stage of this business is
carefully recorded.

" That the secretary again publicly pledged himself and the com-
mittee to bring the matter before a subsequent meeting, as directed.

" That he did not do so ; but when asked whether it was brought
up at the next meeting in Leeds, October, 1868, replied that he
believed it was settled in London, in May ; as at Manchester, he and
the editor of the ' Year Book ' averred that the rule was proposed
and passed in London, 1867, though it had never been mentioned.

" That instead of bringing forward the question, according to re-
iterated public promises, a more stringent rule was made by the same
illegal power of the committee ; and this second surreptitious altera-
tion of the laws of Independency is placed in the ' Year Book of
1869,' for which the editor alleges a resolution of the committee,
which he knew had no authority to make the alteration, but was
pledged to bring its former illegal rule before the Assembly for con-
sideration and decision.

" That under this second surreptitiously-made rule, the petitioner
was excommunicated and deposed, the only possible pretence being
that his name was omitted to be returned by the district secretary,
Dr. Falding, as that of a minister resident in his district.

" That the rule requiring such return was illegally made ; that
the application of it to previous ministers is unconstitutional as a
retrospective law ; and that the pretence that the petitioner's name
was not returned — if such pretence should be advanced respecting a
name that had been recognised for a quarter of a century — is con-

302

tradicted by a letter from Dr. Falding to the petitioner, which avows
that he did return the name.

1 * That, therefore, if the new illegal rule were legal, and appli-
cable to previous ministers instead of to new ones, it does not apply
to the petitioner. [It should be explained here, that though Dr.
Falding, to defend himself from the odium of being the private
illegal professional executioner of a brother minister without note or
comment, trial or execution, or notice, declared he did " return" the
name, he explained afterwards that he returned it — as not re-
turnable (!) This prevarication is sacred to Professors : not to be
imitated by the profane vulgar.]

" That the committee has * assigned no reason and cannot — it
avows no motive, and dare not ;' but evasively refers to a ' previous
course,' which was not previously pursued ; and nothing happened
between 1868, when the petitioner's name was in the ' Year Book,'
and 1869, when it was erased, except his opposition to Mr. Glad-
stone s movements to transfer the endowment of Protestantism in Ire-
land to Roman Catholic institutions and management.

" That the petitioner had a right to his opinions, and to the free
utterance of them, since he did not, as some do, undermine the Gos-
pel of Christ and deny his Saviour, but only doubted the policy of
a variegated and ' suspensory ' statesman, whose course has been
* a perpetual motion of self-contradiction.'

" That whatever motive the committee had in endorsing the action
of its editor, that action was illegal and injurious, and that no technical
rules or excuses will cover the grave injustice which is inflicted, and
for which the petitioner believes the law of the land will afford repa-
ration, as a condensed libel ; a violation of the implied contract in
the principles of our denomination ; a deprival of professional stand-
ing, its usefulness and its advantages, in violation of all rules of
honour, and justice, and open dealing.

" That, nevertheless, the petitioner prefers, as he has all along
offered, a settlement by moral and Christian means, the last of
which in his power is an appeal direct to the Union to carry out its
own principles, and neither itself to be over-ridden by the usurpa-
tion of its committeee and paid agents, nor to permit them to over-
ride the common claims of justice, to the discredit of the Union, as
an organised and centralised despotism that can strangle in the dark
any Independent minister without a word.

" That no subterfuges will escape the general conviction of the
world outside — that this act is lending the Union to the side of
political and religious despotism.

303

"That it can be settled now to the honour of the denomination,
by the restoration of the name to the list of the Congregational
ministers, and for this the petitioner appeals as the barest act of
justice.

" That the refusal to entertain this petition, and deal frankly
with the merits of the case, uill entail continued agitation, the
result of which may be as disastrous to the denomination as the
conduct of the committee is to the petitioner, who was brought up
an Independent, was over seven years educated for the ministry,
has been engaged twenty-five years in it, and wished to continue ;
and who has received recognitions as to character, ability, and use-
fulness, such as few have been honoured with, and who is deeply
convinced that the only reason for his deposition is the anger of
some, both for his defence of orthodoxy and liberty among our-
selves, and his opposition to Roman encroachments in political
parties.

" That whatever real or affected contempt any may feel or feign,
the petitioner believes that calm consideration will lead the gene-
rality to a desire to do justice, which can be prevented only by clamour
and misrepresentation, and the averting of impartial enquiry.

" That the loftiest throne, in heaven as on earth, may be
approached by the lowliest petitioner, even to sue for mercy and
favour on behalf of offences against the law, while the petitioner
asks his brethren neither for mercy nor favour, but for the removal
of the injustice of condemnation without trial or accusation — the
restoration of their own good name no less than his ; the removal
of a scandal which amazes the world, and the continuance of which,
by the direct act or silence of the Union, will be a stain on our
practice, which no " exposition of congregational principles" will
wipe out, but only intensify, as a mocking contrast between our
high professions and our low performances : and that this may be
averted by wisdom given to the assembly " to do justly," is the
only desire and prayer of your petitioner.

" B re win Grant."

In reply to letters urging the committee to lay this petition
before the Assembly, the secretary wrote : —

" Congregational Union of England and Wales.

" Dear Sir, — The committee are unable to comply with your
request to present to the Assembly the printed petition you have
seut me. I am, yours truly,

" Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A. " George Smith."

304

After the laying of these before the Court, as a general statement
of the plaintiff's case and as the basis for investigation, the Presi-
dent directed other witnesses to be called, leaving it open to cross-
examine the plaintiff at a subsequent stage of the enquiry.

Counter Statement on Behalf of the Congregational Unionists,
report on the year-book.

The Rev. Dr. Smith : I have now to submit the special report on
the Year Book which was adopted by the Assembly.

" In the report presented to the last annual meeting of the Con-
gregational Union, the committee explained to the Assembly the
accidental omission from the former report of a statement which
ought to have been made, ' on the terms on which names of
ministers are inserted or omitted from the Year Booh ;' and they
endeavoured to supply the deficiency by a statement of what they
had done in this matter, in conformity with a resolution adopted at
Sheffield. The information thus conveyed not being deemed suffi-
ciently definite by some of the brethren, the subject was remitted to
the committee for further consideration, and for a subsequent
report, which they now proceed to make. In June of last year the
Committee appointed a Sub-committee of their number, consisting of
eighteen gentlemen, to consider the question. They met, and sent
up a recommendation to the effect that the present heading of the
alphabetical lists be expunged, and that the following heading should
be substituted : — ' Alphabetical list of Independent ministers in
England whose names have been furnished by the secretaries of
County Associations or Unions, or by the secretaries of the Con-
gregational Board, or who are members of the Congregational
Union.' Acting on this minute, which was adopted by the com-
mittee, the editor prepared the list for the present year.

" Exceptions having been taken to the operation of this regulation,
by which certain names were excluded from the list which it was
imagined ought to have been inserted, the committee again referred
the subject to the consideration of their sub-committee, who recom-
mended that the following in future be the heading in the Year
Booh, preceding the alphabetical list, instead of that published in
1869 : — ' Independent Ministers, Great Britain and Ireland, whose
names have been furnished by the secretaries of associations or
unions, or by the secretaries of the Congregational board, or by five
ministers already on the list and residing in the neighbourhood, or

305

who are members of the Congregational Union.' N.B. — These
returns in each case are made annually.

"It will be observed that the principal change in this heading
from that which appears in the Year Book for the present year is
found in the provision made for the introduction of names on the
testimony of five neighbouring ministers.

" After the most mature deliberation given by your committee to
the subject, they recommend the Assembly to approve the proposed
form of announcement, as the only way of avoiding the evil of making
an editor or a committee responsible for the insertion of names, and
placing the responsibility on those local associations with which the
minister may be connected, or on his ministerial brethren who have
recommended the insertion of his name. Your approval of this will
give for the future a certain well-defined regularity to the list. It is
important to state that the editor from the commencement of the
publication of the Year Book has never professed to furnish a list
of all Independent ministers, but only the names of such as were
supplied to him for insertion,

" The committee are free to acknowledge that in changing the
heading of the list, before reporting to the Assembly, they
perhaps acted prematurely, but forasmuch as they in no respect de-
parted from the fundamental principle on which names have been
admitted to the list from the beginning, they anticipated no difficulty
in obtaining the approval of the Assembly. They have now only to
add that no name has been omitted from the Year Book of 1869 by
the operation of any new regulation adopted by them, but because
the name was not sent to the editor for insertion by any one compe-
tent to send it ; and that in accordance with the course which had
been previously pursued in the preparation of the Year Book."

That is the entire report of the committee ; but last evening in the
preliminary meeting a conversation upon this report, which was then
read, and, I believe, in the main approved, led to the introduc-
tion of what the committee- were very anxious to avoid — some-
thing in the shape of personality. It resulted in the adoption of a
resolution by the preliminary meeting which they instructed me to
bring up and lay before you. The preliminary meeting of this
Union held last evening determined to recommend that the follow-
ing resolution be submitted to the Assembly this morning : —

" That with relation to the complaint which the Kev. Brewin Grant has made as
to the non-insertion of his name in the "Year Book" of 1869, the Assembly hereby
assures him that no personal disrespect was intended to him by such non-insertion,
nor had it any relation whatever to his political opinions, nor did it imply the
slightest reflection either on his cnaracter or on his ministerial standing."*
* " The English Independent," May 14, 1869.

306

Examination of the Eev. Dr. Geoege Smith, Secretary of the
Congregational Union.

In reply to the question, by what authority, according to the
principles and usages of the Congregationalists, the Rev. Brewin
Grant's name had been omitted from "The Alphabetical List of
Congregational Ministers " in the Year Book for 1869 ? — the Rev.
Dr. Smith said :

The whole matter is explained and justified in the Report on the
subject, which was submitted to the Assembly in May, 1869, and
which the meeting confirmed. The Report in question had been
read in Court.

Dr. Smith examined mainly on the basis of this Report : — Was
that Report, with its appendage about the plaintiff's case, adopted
by the Assembly ? The Report was adopted apart from that
appended resolution. — Then the Assembly would not affirm — as
advised by the preliminary meeting — that the non -insertion of the
plaintiff's name " intended no persoual disrespect," had " no
relation whatever to his political sentiments," and did " not imply
the slightest reflection on his character or on his ministerial
standing?" No. — Did they admit, then, that this " non-insertion"
ivas an act of " personal disrespect " for " his political sentiments,"
by which he lost " his character and ministerial standing " amongst
Independents ? I did not understand it so. — How then ? The
proposal was negatived. — Then the Assembly did not agree with
the Preliminary Meeting's interpretation of the omission of this
name ? They might agree with it, and yet not think it wise to assert
it. — Why ? Because, as it was said, it would seem like an apology. —
But, if the statement was true, why should they be afraid or ashamed
to accept it ? I cannot say. — Did you consider it necessary to gain
the sanction of that meeting, in order to give validity to regulations
that were suggested in the Report ? The Committee has authority
©nly to suggest and recommend alterations, which the Assembly
aaay decline or accept, and in this case the Assembly adopted the
new rules.

Then, in fact, you had acted upon new methods that had not
received any sanction? — "No name was omitted by the adoption of
any new regulation."

What, then, do you mean by saying, "exceptions having been
taken to the operation of this resolution, by which certain names
were excluded from the list"? It was all "in accordance with the
course previously pursued in the preparation of the Year Book."

307

How was it, then, that those names were not previously excluded;
and how can it be " by the operation of this regulation " that
" certain names were excluded," if, after all, no alteration of the
rules had been made ? " We have departed from no fundamental
principle on which names have been admitted from the beginning."

We are not speaking of " names being admitted," but names
being " omitted^ Did you not say that this omission arose from
"the operation of this regulation" which you proposed to the
Assembly ? Yes.

Then " this regulation " was not in operation before ? Oh, yes !
We always acted on the same principle.

Then why did you propose "this regulation " to the Assembly
for its approval if you had always acted on it before it existed ?
Because the Assembly's " approval " would " give for the future a
certain well defined regularity to the list."

How can it give " a well denned regularity for the future" to this
list, if the same rule has existed and been acted on in the past ?
I do not understand.

You say that this rule has always been acted on ? Yes.

And that " its approval " by the Assembly will " give in future a
well denned regularity to the list" ? Yes.

Then hitherto it has not had this "well denned regularity?"
Oh, yes ! for we have always acted on the same rule.

Without securing " a well denned regularity to the list ?" I do
not say so.

But I want you to say one way or the other — has the observance
of this rule, which you say has been observed in the past, secured
" a well denned regularity to the list ?" No answer.

If the use of the rule in the past had not secured " a well de-
fined regularity to the list," what difference would be made in its
operation by its receiving the "approval" of the Assembly ? I
have replied to the best of my ability. No doubt.

Will you be good enough to turn to the foot of page 399 of the
Year Book for 1869 ? I have it here, sir. Well, read " the
Editorial Notice." "He [the editor] would bespeak the special
attention of Association Secretaries in Great Britain, Ireland, and
the Colonies, to the decision of the Committee of the Congregational
Union, respecting the names to be inserted in the Year Book, as
indicated at the head of the Alphabetical List. No names of
ministers are allowed to appear but those which have been returned
to the editor by the secretaries of country associations," &c.

Is not that a fundamental change — making every minister

308

dependent for his continuance on the list on your arbitrary " regu
lation ?" We have not departed from " the course previously pur
sued."

Then how is it that the editor "bespeaks special attention" to
the fact that "the preparation of the returns has been made this
year in accordance with this principle ?" The rule had always been
acted on.

Was it " traditional" or does it exist in any Year Book " at the
head" of any " alphabetical list" before that of 1869 ? It was not
a written rule.

Were not your " notices" after this fashion, — " names are added
to this list ?" Yes.

Did not that imply that the persons who managed the list had
no authority to remove old b7~t only to admit new names, according
to acknowledged rules, to an accredited and standing list ? I do
not quite understand.

Well, can you direct me to any rule, in any Year Book, giving
the committee or any one power to remove a minister's name ? No
answer.

In that Report you say: — "It is important to state that the
editor of the Year Book has never professed to furnish a list of all
Independent Ministers, but only such as were supplied to him." Do
you mean that he did not profess to give as accurate a list as he
was able to obtain ? No.

Among those " supplied to him" did he not include those that
came originally from college, " supplied " " by the authority of
tutors," &c, according to the old " headings " of your list ? Yes.

Did he ever before-hand venture to acknowledge that he assumed
to omit, or " non-insert," names that had been " previously
supplied to him," on the pretext that they were not re-supplied
every year ? No.

Then, in seeing the " importance " of saying that he inserted
" only those that were supplied to him" you do not mean that he may
now omit them because not supplied again ? No answer.

Has any one ever said that the editor is to insert names that are
not " supplied " to him ? No.

Then why did you introduce this irrelevant defence ? It seemed
necessary.

Perhaps so, but it is irrelevant ? I do not see it.

Well, if nobody complains of his not " inserting names that are
not supplied," why do you say that he has never done this ? I
cannot tell.

ir-

309

No, but I can : is it not this, that under the plea of never having
inserted names not " supplied "from certain specified sources, he may
now omit oe expunge the names that had been so supplied and
had long stood on the list — but which are now, if convenient, to be
omitted on the plea of not being " supplied" annually : that is, " sup-
plied" in a new sense, namely, by secretaries, to whom you have ille-
gally transferred the responsibility, of " expunging" names under
the cover of " not supplying" them ? No answer.

" You now use the word " supplied to him" in a different sense,
to prove that you follow the old plan ? No answer.

In fact, your defence is an equivocation. It is true we never
admitted those not " supplied."

Yes ; but now you do omit them, under the pretence that they
are not supplied annually ? No answer.

"When did you first assume this power ? We did not assume it ;
we " placed the responsibility on those local associations with
which the minister may be connected," " as the only way of avoid-
ing the evil of making an editor or a committee responsible for the
insertion of names."

I am not speaking of "insertion," but I [want your rules for
11 omission ;" if you never had this power, how could you confer it
on local secretaries or associations'? It was "to avoid respon-
sibility."

No doubt you may desire to avoid that, but if you had no right
arbitrarily to depose the Rev. Brewin Grant by erasing his name
from its old place in your "Alphabetical List," had you a right to
make a regulation to do it on condition Dr. Falding pleased not to
"return" it ? I do not wish to make a personal question of the
matter.

Was not the injury " personal," and done by " persons," by the
aid of " personal," political and neological motives? It is said so.
Then you are not prepared to tell me whether you escape " respon-
sibility " by employing a tool to do what you have no right to do,
either with or without the tool ? We had the authority of the
Assembly for what we did.

Then, why did you ask for its " approval" six months after you
did it ? We secured that approval afterwards.

Then you acted without authority? We acted "in conformity
with a resolution adopted at Sheffield."

Will you state that resolution ? Resolution moved by the Rev.
Dr. Parker, seconded by Dr. George Smith : " That the pastors,
deacons and delegates now assembled most respectfully request the

310

committee of the Union to consider whether any alterations should
be made in the terms upon which the names of ministers are
inserted in, or omitted from, the Congregational Year Book, and to
report upon the same at the Annual Meeting in May next."

Did you " report to the Annual Meeting in May next," — that is,
in 1867 ? No.

Did you not say, in October of that year, in the public meeting
in Manchester, that the committee had reported and that its sug-
gested alterations were accepted by the Assembly ? Yes ; and my
colleague, the Rev. Robert Ashton, confidently confirmed my
words ;* but I afterwards offered to Mr. Grant and all the members
of the Union an expression of my sincere regret f for the mistake.

It certainly was a curious mistake for both of you to make, on a
subject in which you were both so deeply concerned. But had you
legislated instead of reporting, and already made an alteration in the
terms, so as to provide a method of expulsion without consulting the
Assembly ? Yes.

Did the resolution authorize you to make any alteration ? We
were "to consider whether any alterations should be made."

And " to report ?" Yes.

And you did not report, but legislated six months before the
Assembly met ? Yes.

You assumed or conferred the power of secret " ministerial
decapitation?" That is not "a gentlemanly way of putting the
matter."|

But you gave license to any tutor or secretary, or batch of three
ministers to get rid, by excommunication, of any independent
brother ? We simply altered the heading of the Alphabetical List,
thus : " Ministers are added to this List, or omitted from it, on
the testimony and authority of tutors of colleges, secretaries of
local associations, three ministers," &c.

Exactly, you might as well have said " Yes," at once. You gave
power " to omit from " the list of ministers, that is, to excommuni-
cate and depose any in a private fashion, and you have used this
engine against the plaintiff to secure your empire by a coup d'etat ?
He may please to say so, in order to make himself a martyr.

Was it he or you, and Dr. Falding, and the Committee, who
employed Mr. Ashton to erase his name, and depose him from his
profession, instigated by The English Independent newspaper ? I
do not see the relevance of the question.

• "Dissenting World," p. 223. f Ibid, p. 226. J " Dissenting World," p. 222.

311

Did he strike himself off the rolls ? The English Independent,
of April 29, explains, that " the omission of Mr. Grant's name befell
by natural operation of law."

But who surreptitiously made the " law," and put it into
" natural operation " to the plaintiff's injury ? No answer.

In your apology for the grave mistake made by you and your
colleague at Manchester, you promised that " the effected altera-
tion," which you had smuggled into the Year Book, should " be
reported to the next annual meeting, when opportunity will be
afforded of ascertaining how far it meets the views and wishes of
the brethren ?"* Yes.

Did you, then, in London, in May, 1868, present this question
to the Union as a proposal to be considered, or only refer to it
in the report as legislation accomplished ? The report as in the
Y'ear Book for 1869, says of " the effected alteration — " they (the
committee) now submit it for your judgment and approval."

Yes; for their "approval," but was it put before the meeting
as a distinct proposition to be debated, or merely as part of a
report of what was already done, and had been accidentally
omitted to be reported before ? We said, " this alteration, which
ought to have been reported to the last annual meeting, was by a
pure oversight, which your committee regret, omitted from the
report."

Exactly ; you laid it before them as an " alteration" which you
had " effected," when you were authorised only to report as to
whether alterations were needed, but had no authority to make
them? You say so.

Well, did the Assembly give its ' 'approval" to your " alteration?"
The Year Book (for 1869, p. 33), says, it was " moved and
seconded," "that this Assembly, in receiving and adopting the
report now read, tenders its cordial thanks," &c. Do you not know
that the statement is untrue, so far as your " effected alteration " is
concerned ? That was the resolution of the Assembly.

Was there not a debate on the alteration in question, and was
not the consideration of it reserved for a future occasion ? Yes.

Then the Assembly was not yet prepared to endorse your new
rule of tyranny, and, in fact, did not favour it with " approval?"
Not on that occasion.

Then why not say so at first ? How came the disapproval of the
Assembly to be concealed in the Year Book ? I do not edit that
volume ; it is my colleague's department.

* "Dissenting World," p. 226.

312

¥bu mean the Rev. Robt. Ashton, who gives the finishing stroke
to ministerial decapitations? He compiles the lists from the returns
of the local secretaries.

And strikes oft', without enquiring of the victims, any whom such
as Dr. Falding may proscribe under your " effected alterations ?"
He completes the list.

And finishes his brethren ? No answer.

But now about that debate which is so carefully omitted by your
colleague ; what did the chairman, Dr. Raleigh, say of your
" conformity with the resolution adopted at Sheffield?" I do not
remember.

Let me refresh your memory from the English Independent ;* —
" The Chairman : It has come upon me partly by surprise. It seems

THERE NEVER HAS BEEN A REPORT GIVEN TO THIS UNION from the

Committee that was appointed to report to it, and that we have
the thing now tabulated and adopted without really having our-
selves SANCTIONED IT."

So this new law was as clandestine in its manufacture as it is
silent and dark in its operation ? Do you mean that as a question ?
Right, sir ; there is, as you delicately hint, no question about it.

There is, however, a question to which I " bespeak your special
attention." The seconder of the motion for the adoption of your
report, in objecting to your " effected alteration," pointed out that
it put the power of exclusion into the same hands as held the
authority to recommend : for instance, as any tutor, secretary, or
three ministers could secure the addition of a name to the list of
accredited ministers, so " according to the wording" of the altera-
tion, any such parties could " cause a name to be omitted."

In explanation of this, he observed, " I think the mistake arises
from endeavouring to condense into one sentence the terms of
admission and of omission." Now I want your attention to your
answer on this point ; you said, " I have no doubt that attempting
to put the whole definition into one short phrase led to obscurity."

What " obscurity " do you mean ? I mean that it confounded the
terms of omission and admission, and made them appear to be the
same.

Undoubtedly, there can be no other interpretation of your an-
swer. Though there is no possible " obscurity" in the "definition,"
it does clearly give power to such persons as can recommend minis-
ters to expel them at any time.

The Dissenting World," p. 228.

313

But was not that the plain doctrine of your " alteration" and your
own express teachings that the same rule applies to both cases ?
That is what I objected to, or rather I accepted and endorsed the
objection of the seconder.

True, for that occasion : but did not your colleague write to the
plaintiff about another victim, and say, "the authority applies
equally to admission or omission ? This is all I can say."* I am
not responsible for my colleague.

But you act together, and he is your official editor. Besides,
did you not write defending him in a letter to the plaintiff, in which
you say, " he [your colleague] simply acted on a rule which he
applies alike to admission and omission ?"f I do not remember;
Mr. Grant has a way of keeping letters and quoting them.

That, no doubt, is unfortunate for the other side ; but as to your
memory, now. Would not such a scene as the one in London —
when you were again, for the third time, publicly pestered with this
awkward Year Book question — make an impression that would last
a twelvemonth ? I should think it would.

Well, on the occasion referred to, the Chairman, who then
honestly followed plain common sense, concluded by suggesting a
reference of " this point for consideration during the year, and
bringing it up again for adoption in an amended form ?" Yes.

To which you replied : "I think that would be a very wise
course." " It can be taken into consideration and reported upon
at a future meeting." Now, did you forget all about this during
the same year ? I do not remember.

Did you, in reply to the inquiry whether the question was
reported on at Leeds, in the autumn of 1868, say: " So far as I
remember, the Year Book question was not put down for Leeds, it
having been decided upon at the annual meeting, if my memory
serves me aright ?" \ I may have written that.

Speaking of " writing," has it not been affirmed that the plaintiff
was written to several times and neglected to answer, respecting
qualifying for being on the list ? I heard Dr. Falding and the
Bev. Hughes Morgan make that assertion, and they implied that
his neglect to answer was the occasion of the omission of his name.

True, they hinted so, and knew better ; I shall talk to them all
in good time ; but did not the plaintiff, in the same letter which
enquired about the Leeds meeting in October, 1868, ask whether

* " Dissenting "World," p. 198. t " Dissenting World," p. 203.
♦ "Dissenting World," p. 231.

314

*' the entirely new plan " "for arranging the lists of the Congrega-
tional Year Book, as prognosticated in the English Independent and
Nonconformist, " refers to new ministers only, or to names that
have long been on the list ?"* Perhaps he did.

Were not you the proper party, as the Secretary of the Union, of
whom to make this inquiry ? Yes.

Then, though no man's position should be seriously affected and
undermined by new rules, of whose operation he receives no notice,
could he have done anything more to avoid the threatened blow
than ask you what the new rule was, or whether it affected him ?
I directed him to Mr. Ashton.

That is your colleague ? Yes.

But are you aware that he wrote several times on the subject of
these alterations to that colleague of yours and got no answer ? I
was not aware of that.

Can you trust your memory in this case ? I do not remember.

Are you still of opinion that in twice making alterations in the
fundamental rules of your society affecting the status of ministers
outside it, instead of reporting to the Assembly, you were acting
" in conformity with the resolution adopted at Sheffield ?" We say
distinctly in our report that "the Committee are free to acknowledge
that in changing the heading of the list, before reporting to the
Assembly, they, perhaps, acted prematurely.

" Perhaps " they did ; but it is not only " prematurely," it is in
direct contempt of the Assembly for you to make any alteration at
all, since you had no authority to do so. But was it not a still
graver fault to take action against an individual on. a rule that had
not been passed, even if the Assembly were competent to pass it ?
The rule was not made for an individual.

No, but against him. Do you think that you would have
introduced the resolution at Sheffield, — which you shirked for three
years, — or that you would have made the second alterations to cut
him off, or would have reported to the Assembly in 18G9, if the
plaintiff had not occasioned all these steps ? He thinks himself of
too much consequence.

Nay, it is you that give consequence to him, or acknowledge it ;
but you have not answered my question : — Was it not he who caused
the resolution to be adopted at Sheffield, in 1866, and made you
afraid of carrying it out, and forced you to do so in 1869 ? And
did you not think the late political agitation a favourable oppor-

* "Dissenting World," p. 231.

315

tunity, from Liberal prejudice, to secure impunity in throwing him
overboard ? I am not bound to answer such questions.

Sir, you are. Whose correspondence with you, as secretary,
caused the question of the Year Book to be introduced at Sheffield ?
The plaintiff's.

If you had not confessed it, I could have shown you your own
words in acknowledgment of the fact. Now tell me who caused
the question to be brought up in London, in May, 1868 ? The
plaintiff's pertinacity.

Who forced on the same question in May, 1869 ? The plaintiff's
pertinacity.

Then you have shifted the whole basis of your constitution,
and got rid of your principles to get rid of " the plaintiff's pertina-
city" in the defence of truth and justice ? We have not changed
our constitution ; we pursue the same course as previously.

Do you not say in your report, in reference to a second great
alteration in the formation of your ministerial list, that "■ acting on
this minute [of the Committee] the editor prepared the list for the
present year " ? Yes.

Is not that an alteration of the constitution of your society, to
make it the autocrat of the denomination, so as to depose ministers
by the unauthorised action of a committee of a Union that com-
prises only a fraction of the denomination '? I think not ; and as I
said before, " no name has been omitted from the Year Book of
1869 by the operation of any new regulation."

You said that before, and did not explain your contradiction of
it: — namely, "exceptions having been taken to the operation of
this regulation by which certain names were excluded from the list,'"
&c. Can you explain it now ? No answer.

Well, can you tell me by what old regulation the plaintiff's name
was omitted ? No answer.

Do you know any other circumstance than his opposition to
Liberal Gladstonianism, which should operate to his expulsion now,
and that would not equally have operated for 1868, or for any
of the previous twenty- five years during which his name was in-
serted ? No answer.

Come, sir, you have done admirably under the circumstances ;
you can certainly say " yes" or "no" to this question. A.s it is by
no " new regulation" that his name is omitted, can you mention
any old regulation, and explain why this expulsion did not " befall
by operation of law" till the introduction of your " new regulation"
for 1869 ? I am not at present prepared with any definite rule.

316

Well, sir, if yon think of one before the examination of witnesses
is concluded, my honourable friends on the other side will no doubt
put you forward.

Dr. Smith then stepped down.

The Key. Dr. Alexander Ealeigh's Examination on the
Validity of the Committee's " Premature" Legislation.

You were chairman of the Congregational Union in May, 1868,
and presided as " retiring chairman " over the " preliminary meet-
ing," May 10, 1869 ? Yes.

Is the Committee of the Union the master or the servant of the
Assembly ? The servant.

Did you consider the Committee went beyond its province, when
being requested, and having agreed, to consider and report whether
any alterations were required in the " method of admitting to or omit-
ting Ministers' names from the accredited list," it inserted a new rule
giving power to certain parties to depose their brethren from the
Congregational ministry ? My evidence has been already quoted :
I distinctly affirmed that " no report had been given by the Com-
mittee that was appointed to report to the Assembly, and that we
have the thing [that is, the new " premature" rule] tabulated and
adopted without really having ourselves sanctioned it."

And you suggested the postponement of the question "for con-
sideration during the year, and bringing it up again for adoption in
another form" ? Yes.

Then the Assembly did not " adopt it" in May, 1868 ? No.

Did not Dr. Smith promise to adopt your suggestion, " and re-
port upon ' the matter' at a future meeting" ? Yes.

Do you consider that after this open rebuff by the Assembly, for
'•'premature" legislation, the Committee had liberty to repeat the
offence by printing in the Year Book for 1869 a still more strin-
gent code, changing the entire character of the list, and of the
principles of its construction ? I do not know that such entire
change was made.

If you considered the Committee wrong in its previous act of
forming a law and " tabulating" it before the Assembly " really
sanctioned it," do you think they were justified in repeating that
error ? I am not the judge of the committee.

Pray sir, does a " retiring chairman" mean one who " retires" from
his acknowledged principles ? I am not bound to answer such a
question.

317

If it was illegal for the Committee to legislate instead of report-
ing in one year, was it legal the next ? No.

Did you protest against this second open infringement on the
authority of the Assembly and the rights of the Ministry ? I was
not called upon to protest.

But were you not, as President, whether "retiring" or " inaugu-
ral," bound to see that the rules and principles of the Union were
not openly violated ? Perhaps so.

Yet " not called upon to protest" against it ? Not necessary
sarily. But morally, and as a Christian man, in defence of the rights
of illegally expelled brethren, and the honour of the Assembly '?
The Assembly can take care of its own honour.

I doubt that. Did it defend its own honour in accepting illegal
rules, that had already been clandestinely employed to the injury
of individuals, and after such illegal assumption of making rules
had been by it publicly repudiated the year before ? The Assem-
bly is the best judge of that.

Perhaps so, but as the Assembly is not here, will you favour us
with your judgment ? I decline to answer.

Can you explain how it was that an Assembly of Independents
should so readily abdicate its authority to the Committee, its ser-
vant, and submit to be a second time informed of laws made for it,
and without its sanction or knowledge ? I cannot say.

Was it because, in " the particular case" most involved, there
was a political feeling excited by denominational organs against the
person injured ; so that the Assembly was willing to be ridden by
its committee, and the ministers ready — partly out of fear and
partly out of liberality — to sacrifice their own independence on the
altar of fidelity to Mr. Gladstone ?

The committee and a large "preliminary meeting" decided
unanimously — with one exception — under my presidencj", that
" the non-insertion of Mr. Grant's name had not any relation what-
ever to his political sentiments."

Exactly : and you, having agreed to this, and requested that there
should be no debate on it, but that it should be recommended to the
Assembly next day at once to accept this as part of the "com-
promise," joined Dr. Halley and others in arguing for setting it
aside '? I was not quite satisfied with the decision of the preliminary
meeting.

But you concurred in setting that decision aside which you
recommended should be accepted ; and so you aided the Assembly
to contradict by rejecting the assertion of the preliminary meeting —

318

that "the non-insertion of his name had not any relation whatever
to his political sentiments ?" I agreed with the decision of the
Assembly.

And differed from the opinion of the preliminary meeting ? I
considered that its decision took the form of " an apology," and we
had done him " no wrong."

Was it not wrong to legislate without authority, and condemn
and ministerially execute the plaintiff on that unauthorised law, and
without any notice or trial ? No answer.

You do not like to say? As " retiring chairman," you think it
modest to conceal your opinion ? You can retire again.

Dr. Raleigh retires.

The Rev. Dr. Falding, Resident Tutor of Rotherham College,

Examined.

You are the Secretary of the Sheffield District of the West
Riding Congregational Association ? No ; I was the Secretary of
that district till the close of 1868. That office is now filled by the
Rev. David Loxton, of Sheffield.

While Secretary of the district what was your duty in relation to
the general list of congregational ministers ? To supply to the
editor of the Year Book information of any changes in the ministry
of the district, so that the general alphabetical list of congregational
ministers might be continued in a correct state.

Should you feel at liberty to omit the name of any minister
resident in your district, so as to procure or promote its removal
from the general alphabetical list ? " Dr. Smith has said that per-
haps the responsibility should rest not on the editor of the Year
Book, but on the local informant — the person who had supplied the
information. But I am not sure that that is quite right. I think
the editor ought to satisfy himself that he has the information from
the right party, and then it becomes a kind of divided authority."*

That is what you said over the case that brought on a motion
for inquiry ? Yes.

Then you think that you and the editor of the Year Book between
you, have the "divided" or combined "authority" to drop any
name you may agree to have erased ? I have already hinted that
such removal or insertion of names in arranging the list should be
by " a kind of divided authority."

* " The Particular Case," p. 7. " Dissenting World," p. 208.

319

You said " the editor should satisfy himself that he had the infor-
mation from the right party": what did you mean by that ? I
meant that the editor of the Year Book should know the party who
gives information as to the names to be retained, omitted, or added.

But who is the " right party ?" The secretary of the district.

Who was secretary at that time ? I was.

You say " the editor should satisfy himself that he has the infor-
mation from the right party," and that you were " the right party :"
could he, then, be in any doubt as to the party ? I do not say he
could.

Then why should he have to " satisfy himself" on a subject on
which he was " satisfied ?" I do not see the drift of the question.

Is that necessary before giving a plain answer ? No reply.

Were you not the " local informant " in the case then referred to ?
I was the secretary of the district.

Were you not " the local informant ?" Yes.

Then did you inform the editor that the name of the Rev. Isaac
Yaughan should be omitted from the list of ministers ? I have
already said, and it has been made public, that "I accepted no
responsibility whatever for the contents of the Year Book, nor had
I anything to do with the removal of Mr. Yaughan's name from that
list."*

But were you not " the local informant " on whose information
the list was corrected from year to year ? I am not responsible for
what the editor put into " that list."

But are you responsible for what you put into your own — the list
you send up for him to correct by ? Yes.

Then, if on the ground of this local list in your return, he alters
" that list," which is professed to be founded on yours, have you no
responsibility in the matter ? "I have accepted " none.

Did not Dr. Smith state publicly in your presence, in Sheffield, in
connection with the omission of the Rev. Isaac Yaughan's name
from the Year Book, that " the editor always depended on local.

INTELLIGENCE ?"f YeS.

Then had he your" local intelligence" to guide him in that
omission ? I am not responsible for the contents of the Year Book.

Was that list, so far as your district is concerned, founded on
your " local intelligence ?" The editor used his own judgment.

Guided by your " intelligence ?" I do not see the necessity of
answering questions so put.

* "Dissenting World," p. 275. t Ibid, p. 207.

320

No, but you see the necessity of not answering them ? I do not
see the necessity of answering that.

Perhaps not, and sometimes silence goes as far as speech. Did
Dr. Smith say what was true when he declared that the editor of
the Year Book " always depended on local intelligence?" I am
not here to question Dr. Smith's word.

But does not his statement directly contradict yours ? No.
I have never said that the editor did not " always depend on local
intelligence."

But could he " depend on local intelligence " if you returned
Mr. Vaughan's name for insertion and he omitted it, contrary to
your " intelligence ?" The editor uses his own judgment.

Then he does not " always depend on local intelligence ?" I did
not say he does ; but Dr. Smith said so.

And it was not true as to that " particular case ?" I do not
my so.

Then it was true ? I do not say so.

It was either true or not ? I see no other alternative at present.

But, if it was true, then you had, as " local informant," caused
the omission of the name ? I have only said that I had not " any-
thing to do with the removal of Mr. Vaughan's name from that
list" — it would be the editor's act.

But if he acted on your "information," had not this " anything
to do with it ?" I do not say that he acted on my " information."

Nobody said you did say it ; but Dr. Smith said it and you did
not contradict it, but partly implied it in saying that the editor
" should satisfy himself that he had the information from the right
party, and then it became a kind of divided authority" — you meant
"divided" between the editor and you? I did not say that I
furnished him with the information in that case.

Did you say that you did not 1 No.

Will you say so ?iow ? No answer.

Did you permit yourself to be publicly accused of an act of which
you were innocent ? One cannot answer everybody's wild accusa-
tions.

But have you not since answered this wild accusation, in your
letter, saying " nor had I anything to do with the removal of Mr.
Vaughan's name from that list?" I was not responsible for the
editor's " depending on local intelligence."

No, that is certainly the editor's responsibility. But were you
not responsible for the " intelligence" on which it is said he acted?
I am not responsible for his use of it.

321

But for your conveyance of the information '? That did not
remove the name from the Year Book.

No, but it caused its removal '? Not necessarily, for the editor
need not have acted on it.

Not if "he always depended on his local informant ?" It was
not necessary that he should depend on his local informant.

But if he did, must he not necessarily omit the names that you
indicated for omission ? That is " an abstract question."

Then you think that the information on which a man acts has
not " anything to do"' with his actions ? I do not say so. I denied
that I had "anything to do with the removal of Mr. Yaughan's
name from that list." I did not say the " information had not
anything to do with it."

But who gave the information '? It was the editor's duty to
" satisfy himself that he had it from the right party."

And being " satisfied" of this, to act upon it ? He must use his
own judgment.

As to "the right party?" Yes, and as to the validity of the
information.

Then "the right party" might give wrong information ? Possibly.

But you were " the right party" in this case ? Yes.

Did you give the wrong information '? No answer.

Was the list formed on your information ? It was founded on
the editor's own judgment.

Guided by your information ? That might aid his judgment,
but the actual " removal" of the name, was the editor's act, not
mine, and in that sense I had not " anything to do with its removal
from that list."

You mean the sort of " sense' in which one who lays the train
has not "anything to do with" the explosion, because he did not
light, or at least did not apply, the match ? I have already ex-
plained the sense in which my words were to be taken.

Then in the same sense you had not " anything to do with the re-
moval " of the plaintiff's name from that list" ? I some time ago
wrote to Mr. Grant saying : "I know nothing about the removal of
your name from the list of ministers in the Congregational Year
Book. I was not aware that it had l)een removed until informed
by your letter."*

In what sense did you "know nothing about" this transac-
tion ? Were you not aware before it was done that it would be
done ? No one can be certain of any event till it has occurred. v

* •' Dissenting "World," page 275.

322

But you expected it ? I have said that " I knew nothing about
the removal."

Did you not receive an intimation from the editor of the Year
Book of a new rule according to which the list which you were about
to return for 1869, of ministers in your district, would determine
what ministers, hitherto recognised, should continue to be on the
list or omitted from it, according as their names were or were not
returned by you for insertion ? Mr. Grant knows that I wrote to
him Jan. 18, 1869, saying : "As to the new rule made by the
Congregational Union Committee, and printed in the Year Book for
1869, I never heard of its existence until I read it in your
letters of the 15th and 16th inst., and have never been told that such
a rule was likely to be made."

Had you no correspondence with the editor of the Year Book,
on the "new rule" and its application by you to Mr. Grant's
name ? I wrote to the plaintiff Jan. 13, 1869, as already declared,
saying, "I know nothing about the removal of your name." "I
was not aware that it had been removed until informed by your
letter."

But did you correspond previously with the editor of the Year
Book on the question of omitting this name ? " Can words go
further" than my express declaration ?

That I think was the celebrated phrase by which a political leader
completed his disavowal of intending to perpetuate the endowment
of Maynooth. Do you know the answer to that question ? No.

Well, it was, that " words can go no further, but you can."

Did you, or did you not, correspond with the editor of the Year
Book respecting the omission of Mr. Grant's name from the Year
Book of 1869, when the editor was inquiring about the list ? I
wrote distinctly to Mr. Grant, saying: — "I did not intend," nor do
I " still desire, that any act or omission on my part should be the
ground for a defence of the Committee's action in regard to you."
" The idea of removing, or causing your name to be removed, never
entered my mind or * desire ' at all."*

Do you mean to shelter yourself under the word " removal," and
to adopt the new doctrine of the " preliminary meeting," May 10th,
that there had been " no removal " but only "non-insertion," in
the list for 1869 ? I answer for my own words. Yes ; but
when you denied any share in " the removal " of his name,
did you mean its " non-insertion?" I meant what I said.

* " Dissenting World," p. 276.

323

In the sense that was understood by your correspondent and
the public, or in the concealed, and subsequently revealed, sense
of contributing not to its "removal," but only to its " non-inser-
tion /" My words will bear a fair interpretation.

Will you tell us what that interpretation is ? The words speak
for themselves.

Then did you mean that you did nothing nor omitted anything
to cause its " non-insertion," and that the idea of its " non-inser-
tion," which you know was all he could mean by " removal,"
"never entered your mind or desire at all ?" No answer.

Were you not aware that by a " new rule," your omission of the
name in your return would cause its omission from the Year Book ?
I have already said " I never heard of its existence till I read of it
in Mr. Grant's letters."

Are you quite sure that you had not heard of it ? "I ought,
perhaps, in my second letter to have mentioned the possibility of
some notice having been sent me by printed circular of the adoption
of the new regulations contained in the 1869 Year Book. This
possibility did not occur to me when writing, as IJiave no recollection
of any information being sent to me. And this does not affect
my statement."*

Then why did you advance it ? I do not understand your
question.

Excuse me ; I wish to be quite clear ; you made a very positive
statement, that you knew nothing of the new regulation as to the
use to be made of your returns, and then you explain what does
" not affect your statement." Then why did you give the explana-
tion ? Did you think your statement was too broad, or had you
been reminded by Mr. Ashton, in consequence of the plaintiff's
inquiry of him, whether he sent you word of the new effect of your
returns ? I do not understand.

Well, on the 18th of January you wrote, saying, that you had
never heard of the new regulation. On the receipt of that letter the
plaintiff wrote to the editor, Mr. Ashton, inquiring if he had " given
the local secretaries clearly to understand that their omission to
send the address of any minister would involve the removal of his
name from the alphabetical list of ministers in England?" The
editor did not answer the plaintiff. May he not have reminded
you that he did send you notice ? and would not this account for
your return to the subject in your third letter, in which you make

• " Dissenting World," p. 279.

324

provision for the " possibility " of having had such a notice as you
denied having had ? I distinctly say, then, in my third letter, that
" I have no recollection of any information being sent to me."

But had you not been reminded by the editor ? I do not
remember.

You still persist that you never heard of the " new regulation ?"
I do not deny " the possibility of a printed circular" having been
received.

The question was not as to the " possibility" of such a circum-
stance, but as to its actuality. I do not remember.

You say you " had never heard of" the " new regulation ;" do
you read the Nonconformist or the English Independent ? Some-
times.

Well, did you notice this statement on a matter in which you
figured somewhat, and in which you were particularly concerned ?
It is quoted by the Nonconformist, Nov. 11, 1868, from the English
Independent, and so appeared in both papers — " The Congrega-
tional Yeae Book. An entirely new plan has been determined for
arranging the list of Congregational Ministers in the Year Book."
" This will believe the editor from all responsibility." Did
you see this striking paragraph ? I do not remember.

Nobody ever mentioned the "new rule" to you in any shape ?
I told Mr. Grant, Jan. 18, 1869 — " I have never been told that
such a rule was likely to be made."*

Were you told that it had been made ? I have no recollection.

Did you return the plaintiff's name for insertion in the Year Book
for 1869? I told him that in the preparation of the list for the
West Fading Register .

I am not speaking of that. I observe in your letter that you
make a long complicated foreign statement about your preparation
of a list for that local book, I am speaking of the general Year
Book. Did you return his name for insertion in that book? In the
letter you refer to, I said to Mr. Grant — " Later in the year 1868,
in November, I think — I returned your name to the editor of the
Year Book. In the usual schedule furnished by him I wrote your
name as having resigned your church, as living in the district, but
as not being a member of the County Association."

Did you intend this non-membership of the County Association as
a reason why the editor of the Year Book should omit the plaintiff's
name from the alphabetical list of Congregational Ministers ? [After
a pause] — No.

" Dissenting World," p. 276.

325

You are sure ? Yes ; and on looking at that letter I see by the
very next sentence that I could not be inferred to mean that, for I
said: — "WHY your name nowhere appears in the Year Book, I
have already said, I know not."

I was about to draw your attention to that statement : will you
now tell me whether you did not yourself justify the omission of
that name on the ground of the plaintiffs not being a member of your
local Sheffield club, as a branch of the West Riding Union ? I do
not remember.

Allow me to aid you: it was in the " preliminary meeting," a
rather large assembly, at the City Terminus Hotel, Cannon-street,
May 10, 1869 : do you remember now ? There was no reporter at
that meeting.

You are mistaken ; besides, there were witnesses there ; and I
am asking you as a witness, did you not publicly assert there, that
the plaintiff had failed to answer your applications about his joining
the County Association ? Yes.

Was not that adduced to justify your not returning his name for
insertion in the Year Book ? No answer.

Did not your colleague, the Rev. Hughes Morgan, repeat your
excuse in the Assembly next day ? No answer.

There was a report of that meeting, was there not ? Yes, several.

Well, did Mr. Morgan in that Assembly, repeat the excuse wThich
you attempted in the preliminary meeting ? Yes.

Then he justified the omission on the ground of the plaintin's not
being a member of the local union ? Yes.

And you had done the same the night before, and permitted it to
be repeated without contradicting it ? I was not bound to contra-
dict it.

But you did not believe it ? You allowed the Assembly to be de-
ceived, and permitted Mr. Dyer to refer to your tale about the
County Association, as justifying the omission of Mr. Grants' name
from the Year Book, and so to mislead the general Assembly,
contrary to plaisr- ijacts within your own knowledge ? — You per-
mitted all this by your silence ? I was not bound to correct them.

You did not believe that the use made of your statement about the
County Association was any reason for the omission of the name
from the Year Book ? I do not admit that.

Do you deny it ? No answer.

Have you not said that you could not be inferred to mean, by
his " not being a member of the County Association," that he was
therefore not to be retained on the list of Congregational Ministers ?

326

Yes ; for I declared alongside the statement that he was not a mem-
ber of the County Association — " WHY your name nowhere appears
in the Year Book, I have already said, I know not."

Then the excuse which you made for its non-appearance, and
which you caused others to repeat and deceive the Assembly by
it, was not true ? No answer.

Was it true that " the idea of removing, or of in any way causing
the removal of his name from the list, never entered your mind or
desire at all ?" I have said it emphatically in my letters to the
plaintiff.

Then you were entirely ignorant of the omission of the name and
of the reason " why " it was omitted ? I have said so.

Yet you justified its non-insertion, on the ground that he was not
a member of your local association and had not answered your
circulars inviting him to join it ? I have shown that it was
impossible that I could regard that as a reason, since, while
mentioning that circumstance to him, I declare : " Why your name
nowhere appears in the Year Book I know not."

True ; nevertheless, in the preliminary meeting you gave this as
the reason "why" — which you did not know, and which, as you
properly observe, it was impossible you could think to be the reason ?
I could not think so ivhile writing that letter to Mr. Grant.

Certainly not. Then you struck out this reason afterwards ? No
answer.

Now, besides inventing a reason afterwards, for May 10, of
which in your letter of January 17th you declare and demonstrate
your ignorance, had you not already, before writing that letter,
stated " why" his " name " should " nowhere appear in the Year
Book ?" How could I, if I did " not know why ?"

Pray do not ask me how you could do what we know you did do..
Is it not true that before the thing was done you gave a reason to
justify it, and after it was done you were ignorant that it had
happened, and knew not the reason " why," but could state in the
"preliminary meeting," in May, that very reason which you did
not know in January, but had given " in November, I think," of the
previous year ? I do not know "why" you ask these suggestive
and indefinite questions.

Well, did Alderman Bantock, of Wolverhampton, give out
publicly that you omitted to return the name, and that when asked
the reason " why," you gave a reason that satisfied the Year Book
authorities, and so caused the name to " appear nowhere" in that
book ? I do not read the Wolverhampton papers.

827

Did you receive the following specific inquiry on the subject : —

" Dear Sir, — I am sorry to inform you that, notwithstanding
your positive assertion, for which I gave you credit, that you did
return my name for the Year Book, and that you 'knew nothing
till informed by me of its omission ; that you knew of no rule
giving you any power in the matter, and did not do nor omit any-
thing to produce the result ; and that you did not intend nor desire
that anything you did or omitted should be any ground for the
Committee's action' in relation to me [pages 273-283, " Dissenting
World "] ; still the onus in this case, as in that of the late Rev.
Isaac Yaughan, is thrown on you by the secretary of the Union.

"As to my case, and your share in it, the entire responsibility
is attributed to your direct intervention and act by Mr. Alderman
Bantock, of Wolverhampton, as reported in the Wolverhampton
Chronicle of April 21, in an account of a meeting over which that
gentleman presided.

" He refers to Dr. George Smith, secretary of the Congregational
Union, as his authority for ascribing the whole transaction to you
in these words : — ' What were the facts ? He had taken advantage
of the opportunity — for it so happened that the secretary of the
Congregational Union [Dr. George Smith] was preaching sermons
on the previous day on behalf of Queen- street Chapel Sunday
Schools — to ask him [Dr. Smith] what were the real facts in
connection with the Rev. Brewtin Grant.' Among the facts he
affirmed two things: — First, that my 'name was omitted' "last
year in the list of ministers sent up by the secretary of the district,
Dr. Falding.' Second, that ' on the secretary of the Union writing
to Dr. Falding, and being satisfied with Dr. Falding's explanation,
[viz., of his omission of the name from his district returns] ths:
omission of the Rev. Brewin Grant's name from the Year Booy
followed as a matter of course.' This want of harmony among
yourselves is as ' disedifying* as the conduct of the Committee is
in hanging me on a technicality made for the occasion. But though
they placed my professional life in your private hands to make or
mar me, without the trouble of a reason, or the disagreeable neces-
sity of giving one, except to the Committee's secretary's private
ear, still you did return my name, though Dr. Smith writes that
if you had it would have appeared in the Year Book ; and
though Alderman Bantock says you omitted it, and so far justified
your omission as to relieve the conscience of the secretary of the
Union, in doing what they had better undo, and that speedily.

"Yours faithfully, " Brewin Grant."

328

You received that letter ? I did.

Were the allegations in it true ? I take no notice of the plain-
tiff's allegations, and gave him this answer : —

" Eotherham College, April 28, 1869.
"Sir, — I have received your letter of the 27th instant, and am

"Yours truly,

"F. J. Falding."

Were the contents "the plaintiff's allegations ?" He sent them
to me : I had only his word for it.

Will Alderman Bantock's word do ? He says here in this letter,
that "the Rev. Dr. George Smith was his "authority" for the
statements made on the occasion. Or will this letter from Dr. Smith,
in reply to the plaintiff's inquiry, suit you ? —

•' Congregational Union, April 27th, 1869.

"Dear Sir, — A mistake might naturally enough arise in the im-
pression received as to what I said to Mr. Alderman Bantock, and I
hasten to correct it. I did not say that I had written to Dr. Falding,
but that Mr. Ashton [the editor of the Year Book] had, as well as
to Mr. Morgan, [secretary for the West Riding] and that on the
ground of your name not being locally returned it was omitted from
the Year Book. I have shewn your note to Mr. Ashton, and he
says I am correct.

" Yours faithfully,

" Rev. B. Grant, B.A." " G. Smith."

Do you admit this letter, or shall we recall Dr. Smith ? It is
evidently his handwriting.

Then, in reply to the inquiry whether Dr. Smith had said that
you omitted to return this name, and that he wrote for your reason
and received one, which was satisfactory, and caused its omission
from the Year Book, Dr. Smith, hastening to correct any wrong
impression, corrects only this — that it was not he, but Mr. Ashton,
who inquired your reason, and was satisfied with it, "and conse-
quently the name was omitted, as a matter of course, from the
Year Book?''' So you say.

No ; I do not say it, I ask it. Do you deny it ? No answer.

Then the name was not " returned " by you, and " you did know
why it nowhere appeared," and " the idea and desire for its
removal " did " enter your mind at all," and 3Tou knew all about
it, and did " in any way cause its removal ?" I have answered to
the best of my ability.

329

Then are we to conclude that you did cause " the removal " of
the name ? There was no "removal;" it was only not inserted
in this year's list, so could not, in strict propriety of words, be said
to be removed " from that list " on which it never appeared.

Had you this meaning in your mind when you so positively-
denied all knowledge of or share in its " removal," in this foreign
sense ? I am responsible only for my words, and not for your
interpretation.

And that is your best answer ? It is sufficient.

Did you not meet your constituents of the Sheffield branch of the
West Riding Union to clear yourself, through them, of any share in
this ejection ? There was a meeting held in Nether Chapel, Shef-
field, at which the following resolution was passed unanimously: —
"That Dr. Falding, having explained to the meeting how the list
of ministers and churches had been prepared and furnished
to the editors of the West Riding Register and the Year Book, to
whom he had communicated the names of all the ministers and
churches, whether they were in the Association or not — resolved, that
the meeting entirely approves what Dr. Falding has done, and
expresses its entire confidence in and sympathy with him."*

Did you intend by that to lead the world to believe that you
" communicated" the plaintiff's name as eligible for insertion in
the Year Book ? Another account says that I " had returned to
the editors of the West Fading Register and the Congregational
Year Book a full list of all the mtnsiters resident in this
district, both of those connected with the society and of those
unconnected with it."f

Did you intend the public to receive this in the sense that you had
" returned a full list of all the ministers resident in the district,"
without marking any one name for omission, but all for insertion in
the Year Book ? It was intended, in the strict sense of the words.

"What sense is that? I leave others to judge.

Then you meant it to be understood that you had not been
justly charged with procuring the omission of the plaintiff's name ?
No answer.

It was to justify you before the district meeting, and the neigh-
bourhood outside, as not the procuring cause of the plaintiff's ejec-
tion ? Yes.

Then why did you not publicly declare that the editor of the
Year Book, and the entire Congregational Union Committee in

* " Sheffield Independent," Feb. 25, 18G9.
t "The Sheffield Daily Telegraph," Feb. 24, 1869.

330

its report — which you agreed to — maligned you, by saying that you
did not " reiurn a full list," but omitted to return the plaintiff's
name ? I have said distinctly that I did return the name.

For insertion in the alphabetical list in the Year Book ? I
" returned" the name.

Have you two senses to the word " returned" ? I do not say so.

Did you "return" it in the sense in which the committee of the
Union and the editor of the Year Book employ the word "re-
turn" ? It is enough that I " returned" it.

In some private sense of your own, by way of " local intelligence" ?
No answer.

Yrou were at the " preliminary meeting" ? Yes.

Was the report on the Year Book read and accepted in that
meeting ? Yes.

Did you object to it ? No.

Did you object to it when it was proposed to the Assembly ? No.

Did it contain the truth about your conduct in reference to this
name ? No answer.

Does not that report say : — " No name has been omitted from
the Year Book of 1869," "but because the name was not sent to
the editor by any one competent to send it" ? — [After a pause] —
Yes.

Then were you not " competent to send it" ? I did send it.

" For insertion ?" No answer.

Did you send it " for insertion" ? I " returned" it.

For " insertion" ? No answer.

Your silence is as wise as it is instructive, for if you say "no"
you contradict yourself: and if you say "yes" you contradict the
committee and yourself too, for you were a party to the report that
impugns your letters. Does not Dr. Smith say, in the letter you
have seen, that "on the ground of the name not being locally
returned it was omitted from the Year Booh" ? Yes ; I returned
it to Mr. Ashton.

Well, does not Dr. Smith say, " I have shown your note to Mr.
Ashton, and he says I am correct" ? Yes.

Then both they and the Report of May, and the Year Book, all
accuse you of not returning the name ? I could have " explained"
it all in " a personal interview," but the plaintiff " prefers a method
that can be most readily turned to a one-sided account in pamphlets
and newspapers." *

• " Dissenting World," page 277.

331

So you said, when you pretended that a conversation was more
definite than a correspondence ; but could not the former be tra-
vestied " in pamphlets and newspapers" ? Yes.

"When you, in a private meeting, without the committee of the
Congregational Union, whose secretary and editor accused you of
not returning the name, led the Nether chapel meeting into the
belief and public statement that you had " returned" it, the meeting
expressed " sympathy with" you ? Yes.

What for ? For having been falsely accused of not returning a
name which I had returned.

Who accused you ? The plaintiff.

No ; he did not : he only inquired of you whether the accusation
of Dr. Smith, Mr. Ashton, and the committee was true. They
were your accusers : the Year Book accuses you : and did you not
accuse youeself of this act ? How could I ?

My question is not how you could, but whether you did — did
you ? How could I ?

Did you ? No.

If a person sitting in conclave on a paper votes its acceptance,
does he not endorse its statements ? He may overlook some.

Would he overlook the only question that caused the paper to
be written, and in which his own conduct is a main part of the
discussion ? Perhaps not.

Was not the Report such a paper, in which you were so con-
cerned, and on which you debated ? Yes.

Did you object to that part which said, " no name had been
omitted from the Year Book" "that had been sent to the editor
for insertion by anyone competent to send it ?" No.

Then you agreed to that statement ? (After a pause) — I agreed
to the Report.

And objected to that part ? No answer.

Then did you not unite to accuse youeself of causing the
omission of that name, by not sending it, when you were "the
competent person to send it ?" No answer.

Why did you call a meeting in Sheffield to justify yourself from
a charge which you afterwards joined in making in London ? No
answer.

Did that meeting in Sheffield, when your weightier brethren sat
on you and exonerated you from doing what in London you
admitted, justified, and glorified, — did it protest against the injustice
committed on the plaintiff by the omission of his name, on the
alleged false ground that you had not returned it ? No answer.

332

They " sympathised with " you for having been detected in the
operation, but not with your victim ? No answer.

It was to whitewash you, but not to relieve him ? No answer.

You accepted their " sympathy ?" Yes.

But did they extend it to the person injured by the act attributed
to you ? No !

They did not send a memorial to the Congregational Union,
requesting them publicly to restore a name that had been erased by
the pretence of an act of their official of which act they were
ashamed ? I do not say that they were ashamed of it.

Then why did they " sympathise with " you, and try to make the
world believe that you, as their official, were not guilty ? No
answer.

If they believed that even " the new rule " invented by the
Congregational Union — which was falsely made — was falsely applied,
and their local union disgraced by the supposition that you had taken
advantage of it to the deposition of a brother, why did they not
seek that brother's restoration ? That is a question for them.

Perhaps so ; but you were one of them ; and did not the fact
that you let remain, without protest, the wrong which you were
ashamed of being charged with committing, show that in principle
you were all guilty of it, only wished to avoid the shame of it ?
That is also a question for them.

Any more than for you ? I was in the hands of the meeting.

Or, were they in your hands ? Did you state the case fairly to
them about your correspondence with the editor of the Year Book,
in which you satisfied him "why the name should nowhere
appear?" They were satisfied with my explanation.

No doubt they desired to be, and perhaps some of them did not
suspect any equivocation. Did you meet again to sit on the letter
which contained the following ? —

De. Falding's Nether Chapel Meeting. — The Mystery
Fathomed.

to the editor ot the sheffield daily telegraph.

" Dr. Smith, and Mr. Ashton, the editor of the ' Year Book,' and
the Pieport of the Committee, all affirm, distinctly that my name ivas
' not returned' by the local secretary, and Dr. Falding says
it was returned by him. You would think that Dr. Falding meant
that he returned it for insertion ; he ' returned it' for non-insertion :
and instead of giving, in the sense understood by you, a full list for

333

insertion in the Year Book, ' both of those connected with the
local association and those not connected with it,' he gave the latter
as persons not for insertion in the Year Book."

" He justified this evasive distinction, in London, on the ground that
I had not answered some circulars about the amalgamation of two
local societies, which had nothing to do with the ' Year Book '
question."

Did any of you venture to notice that ? We treated it with silent
contempt.

Were you not more wise than contemptuous in your silence ?
" The other side of the case had not been brought before the
public."

Modesty becomes you, doubtless ; but will you give a plain answer ?
Did you return the name as not returnable, and justify it by a
reason that was not applicable ? I do not understand.

You perpetually do yourself injustice by this humility. You say
you returned it ? Yes.

But you argued that, not having qualified by a paying com-
munion with the sister churches in your district, it was not to be
inserted ? I do not say so.

But you argued so in London, and set others on to do the same ?
I am not responsible for their words.

Not when they only repeat yours, which you put into their mouth ?
No answer.

It was your argument, and it was a false pretext ? I do not
say so.

Was it a true reason for the omission of the name from the Year
Book ? Yes.

Then you returned it as not returnable ? I do not admit that.
No, you only prove it.

Had you ever returned the name for insertion before ? Yes.

For some ten years as in your district ? Yes.

Was the plaintiff a member of your local association then ? No.

Then the reason was not applicable ? I do not see that.

No one said you did ; but I think you do. You " did not know
why his name nowhere appeared in the Year Book ?" I have
said so.

Yet you gave the reason ? No answer.

And a reason not applicable for a return as not returnable ? No
answer.

You may return to college and study casuistry.

Dr. Falding "returns."

334

The Rev. James Hughes Morgan, Secretary of the West
Riding Congregational Association, examined.

In the General Assembly of the Congregational Union you are
reported as having said — " When it was stated by Mr. Dyer that it
was entirely Mr. Grant's own fault that his name was left out
of the Year Book, somebody cried out ' No ?' I am here to say
1 Yes,' it was entirely his own fault. Mr. Grant was asked three
times to unite himself with the West Riding Congregational Union,
and he has never had the courtesy to answer one application."*

That was in substance your statement ? Yes.

Can you explain to us what connection there is between " uniting
himself with the West Riding Congregational Union," and having
his name in the list of ministers in the Congregational Year Book ?
A pause — another pause — and then another.

Shall I have to " ask " you " three times " before you have " the
courtesy to answer?" A pause.

Now, Sir, for the third time — what connection is there between
these two things ? A pause.

Did you not receive great applause in the Union for your
observation, mingled with cries of " Shame !" at the victim whom
you so clearly impaled ? Yes ; and really the matter seemed so
very plain to us all then — and I think my observation quite carried
the meeting.

No doubt. But where did it carry the meeting to ? I am afraid
to an unsatisfactory conclusion.

Certainly, if it followed your premises ; but are all the leaders of
Congregationalism as ignorant of its principles and usages as you
seem to be ? Judging from the way in which the " Preliminary
Meeting " received Mr. Grant's statements about the relation of the
alphabetical list of ministers to the list of members of the Union,
and of some associations, I am afraid that many are in my condition.

Well, we may leave that meeting for the present, and return to
your application to the plaintiff "to unite himself," as you call it,
" with the West Riding Union :" you considered him eliyible for
that fellowship '? Quite so.

Do you think that persons, as a general principle, are bound to
answer circulars ? A pause.

Well, are you sure that he "never had the courtesy to answer the
application" ? — [A pause.] — I never received any answer.

* "English Independent," May 14, 18G9.

335

Nor do you give me one. Are you sure that he never answered ?
I do not remember that he ever answered to me, and Dr. Falding,
who is secretary of the sub-district to which the plaintiff belongs,
said the same the night before.

That gentleman is not here, and perhaps would rather not
"return" at present ; but are you aware that the plaintiff did attend
a Nether vestry meeting, in reply to a circular of your colleague's ?
I was not aware of it.

Of course not. Were you aware that the circular, inviting the
plaintiff to a meeting for re-constructing or amalgamating your local
societies, had these words at the foot — that he was invited to attend
" if a member ?" No.

Did you know that he asked your colleague in that meeting
whether he as secretary did not know whether he were a member
or not ? No.

Well, about these circulars of yours, inviting the plaintiff to "unite"
himself by a money bond to your local Association ; you cannot tell
me what that had to do with being on the list of Congregational
ministers in England? No sir, not for the life of me, at present.

Well, I can tell you : it had nothing to do ivith it ; and it requires
charity to charge your more astute colleague with so much
ignorance on that question as not to know so much about his own
denomination.

Now will you oblige me with a copy of your application, which
you say was three times unsuccessful ? Here it is, sir, in the West
Riding Congregational Register ; it wTas addressed to pastors and
churches " without the pale of the Union," inviting them to join,
according " to the new laws" which made it " imperative" to pay
for membership. It is dated, Leeds, December 24, 1867. It was
to " draw attention" of persons to the fact of " not being in mem-
bership," and " inviting them to join the Union" by paying a sub-
scription.

Exactly ; it says nothing about this local union being the door of
admission to the list of Congregational ministers ? No.

Was it not a curious circular for people to receive, December 25,
that is, on Christmas morning ? Perhaps so I did not think of that.

Well, those who had not joined by payment up to this time,
December 24, were not members ? No.

Was the plaintiff one of these ? I believe so.

Don't you know ? Yes, or he would not have had a circular sent.

Were there many at this time, " outside the pale " of your local
union ? There were " thirty pastors and churches."

336

And did you then, in returning your district list for the Congre-
gational Year Book, omit these thirty, and get them expunged from
the denomination ? I do not quite understand.

Well, the plaintiff was one of the non-contributors to your Union ?
Yes.

He had not " united himself" to you by a subscription up to the
end of 1867 ? He never did give a subscription.

But his name was " returned" for insertion in the Congregational
Year Book, notwithstanding his non-membership in your local
society ? Certainly, always.

It appeared in 1868 ? Yes.

Then it was a new pretence, got up for the Year Book for 1869,
that made you so eloquent in the Assembly, on the point on which
you were so dumb here ? I can account for it only in that way.

You have now altered your plan with your West Riding Register,
to print no names as ministers who are not paying members ? Yes.

Yet you call it " Congregational Ministers of the Riding ?" That
is at the head of the page, but at the beginning of the list, it is
explained — " who are members of the West Riding Cougregational
Union in 1869."

So you recognize in your book no ministers who do not pay to the
Union, though living in the Riding ? Yes.

This is a new plan, for giving the secretaries, who are the com-
mittees, a good grip of the Independent denomination ? I do not
understand it so.

Your churches look at this list, and pick their changes from it,
so that a minister who does not come in and pay, is not advertised,
even if " moveable" ? That is not the object. But it is the fact?
Yes.

Then you have changed the principle of free voluntary Unions,
which persons may or may not join, into a compulsory payment on
the one hand, with the chance of patronage on the other ? As I
said before, that was not our object.

Perhaps one object was to suppress such erratic spirits as the
plaintiff by changing the whole polity of the denomination, and leav-
ing no chance for Independents to trouble officials for the future ?
I can only answer as before.

Your answer is very good. I ought to have said that everybody
who belongs to a society ought to support it, or it cannot be
carried on.

Just so, perhaps, but you must not force people into a spikituai>
trades union, and "ratten" all that do not pay you " natty money,"

337

or prevent their getting employment if they are non-unionists.
How much extra would the financial secretary of the Congregational
Union gather by forcing all either to pay five shillings or leave the
denomination ? Well, there would have been sixteen hundred extra
subscriptions in 1868, for England and Wales only.

Good. But now you say, if every member does not pay, societies
cannot be carried on ? Yes.

Is that true ? I believe so.

Then do you require a money payment for church members,
and enrol afresh every year only those who have paid up ? No.

But the same reason for it exists ? The members are expected
to pay according to their means.

Was this not so among the pastors and churches in your Union ?
Yes ; but all did not do so, and we wanted money.

Then the voluntary principle, in the sense of leaving it to the
conscience of the members, did not pay ? The members did not
pay. The principle was good ; the fault was not in it.

But in the want of it ? Yes.

So you set that principle aside for one that would work, and
enforced a contribution as a term of membership between the
churches ? Yes ; but it was still voluntary as to the amount, and
as to whether they joined at all.

But if they did not join you would have a further impulse to the
voluntary principle, and the exercise of spiritual fellowship, in the
power of the keys, to lock out of the denomination any minister
who did not " unite himself" to you by a " money nexus?" I do
not understand.

You could put them on the black list by keeping them off your
Riding Register and the Year Book ? I don't quite see that.

But they would feel it ? I do not understand the drift of your
questions, nor quite see their pertinence.

Sir, you sadly underrate your capacity. It is your penetration
that produces hesitation. I am referring now to " the dissenting
screw," and the compactness with which the whole body can be
operated on, as any ecclesiastical or political power turns the
handle of the secretaries, who are the committees, and their repre-
sentatives. Is not this so ? That is contrary to our polity.

Yes : but not contrary to your policy. Must not every man who
is ambitious find it agreeable to be on good terms with the secre-
tary, who has so many chances of doing him a good turn ? Sir, we
are independents.

Your forefathers were ; it is an age of progress. But if the more

338

ambitious need a lift from secretaries, who are the door of promo-
tion and honour, will not the weaker brethren find it advisable to
be pliable ? I believe the contrary.

If any do not join by payment, and generally run in harness, can
you not forget to send their names to Mr. Ashton, and so get them
off the list of accredited ministers ? Sir, one would think you were
referring to the Inquisition.

That is another instance of your penetration. But you cannot
tell what joining your local Union by a contribution has to do with
being on the list of Congregational Ministers ? Yes, I can ; it has
nothing to do with it at present: but the secretaries may change
all that, for the Union will endorse all " irregularities."

When you so confidently affirmed to the public assembly in
London that the omission of Mr. Grant's name "was his own fault"
for not noticing your circulars on another subject, was it a new idea
learned in " the preliminary meeting " of the night before, or was
it the principle on which you and Dr. Falding acted when you
made your district returns ? I really could not say when the idea
of that reason for omission first occurred.

But it was a new idea ? I do not say that.

Had it occurred to you in January, 1869 ? I should suppose so :
certainly, if it affected the returns, for they were made in the
latter end of the previous year.

Shall you be at all surprised if I refresh your memory, and show
you in your handwriting, that by the 20th of January, 1869,
you could have no idea of that reason which you so confidently
imposed on the Assembly ? Perhaps you will show me the letter.

Certainly. Will you kindly read it to the court ?

The Rev. James Hughes Morgan read as follows : —

" Moorville, Leeds, Jan. 20, 1869.

" Dear Sir, — In answer to your inquiry, I write to say, that
accompanying the printed questions, sent to me by the editor of the
Year Book in the autumn, there was an intimation, I believe, in
the very icords of the notice which appears on the 400th page of that
book, and which you quote in your letter of yesterday. Notwith-
standing that notice, I, for several reasons, decline to be held
responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the list of the
West Riding Congregational Ministers which appears in the Year
Book.

" I hold myself strictly responsible for the list published in the
West Riding Congregational Register. I forwarded a copy of the last

339

number, in which you will find your name among the West Riding
Ministers, denoted like the names of others who are in a similar posi-
tion, as being without a pastorate, and not a member of our Union.

For the omission of your name from the last Year Book I am not
responsible, and I consider it quite possible — inasmuch as you are
not a member of the Local Union, and you resigned your charge in
the course of the year — for your name to have been omitted,
without any conspiracy to bring that to pass, especially if you
neglected to inform the district secretary, or the editor of the
Year Book, of your subsequent position and residence.

" I am, dear sir, yours,
"Rev. B. Grant, B.A. " James H. Morgan."

Then you did have a notice of the Congregational Union Com-
mittee's new rule for Mr. Ashton to omit from the Year Book all
that were omitted from your local lists ? Yes.

As general secretary should you not see that the same important
notice was sent to the sub-secretaries of your West Riding ? Yes,
or Mr. Ashton would supply them.

Then Dr. Falding would have one for his district ? I should
think so, as a matter of course.

Though you received notice of this " new rule" of the Congrega-
tional Union Committee, you did not then think that because a minis-
ter was not in your local Union his name was to be struck out of the
list of Congregational Ministers in the Year Book ? — A pause.

You remember your letter now ? Yes.

Does it contain any such hint ? No.

Does it not exclude the possibility of your then entertaining
such an idea ? It seems to do.

In that letter you say, that " invitations to join" your local union,
that is to subscribe, " were sent" to him " at the close of 1867, and
in February of that year," and you send him the West Riding Con-
gregational Register to explain why he was not put down as a member
of your union — which he never asked to be nor inquired about. But
you do not pretend, nor even now think of pretending, that his non-
reply to your circulars, and not "uniting himself to your West Rid-
ing Union," is to account for and justify the omission of his name
from the list of Congregational Ministers in the Year Book ? No.

So far from adducing these things as a reason for that, you men-
tion them to explain why, though published among the West Riding
Ministers, he does not appear as a member of the West Riding
Union ? Yes.

340

You had not then thought of mixing matters, and substituting a
place in the Congregational Year Book for a place in your local
union ? No.

You then honestly treated them as distinct questions, quite inde-
pendent of each other ? Yes.

And having explained, what he did not ask about — which is
quite a feature in your colleague, Dr. Falling, which perhaps you
got b}7 contagion — you next try to find an explanation of the omis-
sion of his name from the Year Booh t Yes.

You do not find it in the fact that he had not answered your West
Hiding circulars ? No.

Your tone in that letter is not so insolent as your subsequent
speech in the Assembly ? No answer.

You admit that if the name were intentionally omitted it was " a
conspiracy ?" No answer.

You give two alternatives, conspiracy and accident, and you argue
for the accident ? Yes.

And you think it possible that the omission was accidental, and
not by " any conspiracy to bring it to pass ?" I do not use the
word " accidental."

No : but you suggest how the accident might have occurred? Yes.

And do you think that possible ? I must have thought so then,
since I said so.

Was there any ground for your thinking that he had left the
district ? No answer.

If you had any doubt could you not have inquired ? Yes.

Did you inquire ? No.

Do you think he need " inform the district secretary," Dr.
Falding, that he had not changed his " residence ?" No answer.

Your supposition that the name might be omitted by accident
was an acknowledgment that you knew of no reason for omitting it
by design ? Yes, certainly.

That design would have been a " conspiracy ?" Such maybe
inferred from my letter.

But if accidental omission were possible, at any rate your
alleging it as a defence, so soon after the offence, is a proof that
you did not then believe that "it was his own fault ?" Yes.

And your attempting that excuse was a proof that you did not
then believe that his not having answered your circulars and joined
your union was any valid reason for omitting his name from the
Year Booh ? Yes.

Then the statement to the Assembly that you were "thereto

341

say ■ Yes,' it was his own fault," and your reason for that state-
ment— because he had not answered your circulars nor joined your
union — were both false ? I did not intend to say what was false.

But it was not true ? It was true he had not joined our local
union.

But that was not a true reason for the omission of his name from
the Year Book? No.

Then your statement was false and your reason for it was false ?
I was mistaken in both.

But you were very confident ? Yes, I believed it.

At the meeting, but not when you were inquired of by the
plaintiff at the proper time ? I have already admitted that my
letter to him proves what you intimate.

Through what process of growth had you gone to attain that
remarkable contradiction of your written evidence ? I cannot
explain it.

Do you regret it ? Certainly.

Then will you apologise to the brethren in Wolverhampton,
and tell them that your evidence, on which they voted, was
entirely wrong ? I do not expect the matter to be brought up
again.

But is it not your duty to bring it up, and secure reparation from
the Assembly for the injury which you led them to inflict ? I only
said what Dr. Falding said the night before.

Then had you not better both of you unsay it ; since now that
you know it is false, your silence would be the practical repetition
of untruth ? There was a manifest disinclination in the leaders of
the Assembly in London to do anything that might seem to bear
the appearance of an apology.

But this was under your prompting and that of others, who
deceived the Assembly ? Not intentionally.

But actually ? Yes.

Then why not correct your evidence and give them an opportunity
of doing justice ? The Assembly fully responded to Mr. Newman
Hall, that rather than enter upon these questions we should be
engaged in loving and honouring the Saviour.

I shall come to Mr. Hall in good time : but is it your theoiy
that you honour the Saviour by insulting your brethren ? They
seemed to consider that no individual was of sufficient importance
to receive sach personal consideration from the Assembly.

Is that Mr. Newman Hall's idea of a sweet season of sacred
communion and friendship ? No answer.

342

Have you never read — " Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least
of these my brethren, ye did it unto Me ?" Certainly.

Then the superciliousness assumed by the august manipulators
of that meeting was scarcely justified by the consistent sanctimo-
niousness of the concluding speaker ? I have explained the matter
as well as I can.

Shall you ever again affirm so confidently, what you had already
by letter contradicted so clearly — "it was his own fault" — for he
neglected "to unite himself with the West Riding Union," and did
" not condescend to answer" our circulars inviting him to do so?
It is not likely.

Let us hope not ; I have no more to ask, you can go down.

The Rev. James Hughes Morgan goes down.

SECOND DAY'S PEOCEEDINGS.

The Rev. Alexander Hannay, the Spokesman of the Congre-
gational Union Committee, examined, especially on the
New Pretence that the List of Congregational Ministers
is an entirely new llst of new men, or men newly
accredited annually, whose llcense lasts but a year.

You were a member of the Committee of the Congregational
Union for 1868-1869 ? Yes.

You took an active part in the Year Book question in May of
this year, proposing, explaining, and defending the committee's
Report on that subject ? Yes.

In your third speech on this subject you say, " the view the
Committee takes of the matter is this, that there is no such thing as
a list from year to year. In considering the principle of its con-
struction it is a new list every year.'" " It has been a new list from
year to year, in all times, ever since it was a list ?"* Yes.

Then at the close of the year who makes up the new lists ? The
secretaries of the Local Associations, or the London Congregational
Board, or five neighbouring ministers on the London "board" may
certify men who are not on it.

Exactly. But who certifies them? I do not understand you.

343

I think you do. Pray try to answer : — Who certifies your " five
neighbouring ministers" that have the privilege of "introducing
names ?" I do not understand.

Well, at the end of the year your list is broken up ; there is no
accredited minister left ; who accredits them all afresh ? Your
" question arises from an imperfect apprehension of the case."*

So you told Samuel Mokley, Esq., when you evaded his ques-
tion ; pray do not evade mine. Who certifies the certifiers
when all are of the list and want new credentials ? The local
associations are left to make out a new list.

But how can you recognise or know those associations, when your
list of them and their members is to be an entirely new one — of
newly certificated preachers ? The question seems captious.

No doubt. But now, for instance, did you not repudiate the idea
that a man, being on the list the year before, had therefore any
claim to continue ? What I said was in reply to Mr. Gascoyne,
who treated a place once acquired on the list as a " vested interest,"
which ought to be " regarded ;" and that it would be " unfair that
any new regulation should affect names already in the Year
Book."

Exactly ; and you said — what ? "I am sure you will all agree
with me, that we could not adopt the suggestion of Mr. Gascoyne."
By which you meant, that a minister having been on that list, no
matter how long, say, as in the plaintiff's case, twenty-five years,
lie has thence no prescriptive, presumptive, or vested right to be
continued on the succeeding year? That is the very gist of our
defence.

I hope you will hold to that — it is what you really mean ? Yes :
for I added : — " A man may be on the list this year — he may not
lapse into grave heresy, but he may become an unworthy minister
of Christ, whom his brethren in his own locality have no fellowship
with."

True. And you have so little faith in one another, that you
annually break up the list of Congregational ministers in England,
Wales, and the Colonies, to get a new set of newly certified men ?
I do not say so.

But that was the principle of your defence ? I do not see that.
You will not acknowledge it ? No answer.

Now in this natural uncertainty about the theology or spirituality
of the formerly certified and accredited ministers — who is the locum

* Report of the Congregational Union Meeting, "English Independent,"
May 14, 1869.

344

tenens for the suspended breath of Independency — who " sits on"
the new candidates for enrolment ? I have already said — the local
associations.

But they have new lists too, and announce their members as
annual, do they not ? I am not aware.

What is this Book? It is the West Riding Congregational
Register for 1869.

Eight. How do you read on page 107 ? " Alphabetical List of
Congregational Ministers, who are members of the West Riding
Congregational Union in 1869."

Then these are Annuals ? Yes.

Who starts that society every new year ? I suppose the secre-
taries REMAIN.

No doubt they are the life of these societies. But how can you
tell, — having disbanded your list, on the faith that you cannot rely
on the faithfulness of the brethren, for above a year, — that the
secretaries formerly on your lists may not be themselves unfaithful ?
No answer.

Well, can you tell me who amongst you, on the committee of the
Union, is left to inquire after the brethren in the country ? The
secretaries.

Then their names do stand, though the old list has died out ?
Your question suggests needless difficulties.

No, it is your newly invented theory of an entirely new list,
independent of the old one, that involves you in these difficulties.
The old list is waste paper, lumber ; the men on it, for all you
know, in your solicitude against immorality and Neology, may be
tainted with New College-ism, or worse ; — how then do you re-start
this firm of uncertificated bankrupts ? The plaintiff could not use
harsher language.

Nor more appropriate ? No answer.

Well, let us be more delicate about facts than words : — who starts
your new accredited list ? I said in that meeting : — " Mr. Ashton
no doubt makes use of the slips of the last Year Book, for clerical
convenience, and sends the old list down to Yorkshire or Leices-
tershire, and so forth, and it is returned, with such new names
written as the secretary finds it necessary to write in, and such old
names erased as he finds it necessary to erase ; but the book is a
new book, and the list is a new list from year to year."

That is a very satisfactory account of " Independancy ;" but if
being on your old list affords no prescriptive or presumptive, or
" vested right" to be on the new one, why does this mysterious Mr.

345

Ashton, who survives when all are defunct, — send the old list to
make a new one out of? I said it was " for clerical convenience."

You mean, to save the trouble of writing the old names over
again ? No answer.

Does it not seem as if out of all the names in the world, it is con-
sidered probable that those on the former list are likely to make up
the bulk of the new one ? Certainly.

Then it is not so much a new list as the old one revised? No
answer.

Was it not to evade the charge of omitting the plaintiff's name
from that list, that you invented this new theory — nobody is omitted,
the list is a fresh one, and his name was only — not inserted ? No.
It is not for the first time a new list, it always M has been a new
list, from year to year."

Can you find such language in any Year Book, or any un-
questioned statement in any record of your proceedings ? It always
has been so regarded.

I asked you whether you could find any language of that sort in
the Year Book ? No answer.

Do you know anything about this question ? I am perfectly
acquainted with the method of our procedure as a Union and as a
denomination.

Then you know that what you say about a new list is not true ?
That is an offensive imputation.

But is it a fact ? No answer.

Can you find one Year Book before 1869, that does not treat the
Alphabetical List of Ministers as a permanent list ? No answer.

What does the Year Book of 1868 say? " Special Notice. —
Ministers are added to this list or omitted from it on the authority
of tutors of colleges, &c."

What do you read in 1867 ? The same.

What difference is there in this from 1866 ? The words — " or
omitted from " are inserted.

That was an unauthorised interpolation of the committee ? I
do not say so.

But the chairman of the Assembly said so in May, 1868 ?
Possibly,

With or without that interpolation, the list is plainly treated as a
standing list from year to year ? I do not say so.

But it is so ? You say it.

And you know it ? No answer.

What does the Year Book for 1863 say ? "Additions are made

346

to this list from time to time, only as ministers are accredited by
tutors of colleges, &c." Does that say it is "a new list ?" No.

Is that said anywhere till you put into your report for 1869,
"N.B. — These returns are in each made annually?' I do not
know.

Is not this " N.B." a proof of a change ? Not necessarily. But
naturally and probably ? No answer.

Was not this report made with a view to " The Dissenting
World ?" No.

Do you make a report on the Year Booh annually ? No.

How came you to make one this year ? It was in accordance
with a resolution adopted at Sheffield, as the report says.

When were you required by the Sheffield resolution to make a
report? In May 1867.

And you did not ? No.

Then instead of reporting, as required, in May 1867, you passed
over four half-yearly meetings, — what brought it on in 1869 ? The
plaintin's representations in " The Dissenting World?" No answer.

But did that resolution in Sheffield imply that it was a " new list
from year to year?" I have said that " the view the committee
takes of the whole matter is this, that there is no such thing as a
list from year to year."

I am not asking what you said for that occasion, but what the
resolution referred to said : can you tell me? Yes: — " that the
pastors, deacons, and delegates then assembled most respectfully
requested the committee of the Union to consider whether any
alterations should be made in the terms on which the names of
ministers icere inserted in or omitted from the Congregational Year
Book, and report upon the same at the next annual meeting."

And you at last reported that there could be no "adding to or
omitting from," as it was a " new list ?" That was the meaning of
our debate and report.

True : but you never thought of this wretched evasion till you
were accused of " omitting from;" and then you invented this con-
tradiction of the resolution, that there could be no " terms of removal
or addition," because there was nothing to add to or omit from ? No
answer.

In fact, you made game of the resolution ? A pause.

Was it not an afterthought to escape the charge of secretly
erasing a name, by an excuse that made the Assembly and com-
mittee eat their own words ? I have told you as well as I can.

Were you in the Assembly in May, 1868 ? Yes.

347

Did you hear Mr. Prout, in seconding the report, say : " Thero
are five methods in which a minister's name may be added to the

LIST ALREADY IN EXISTENCE ?"* No answer.

Can you think of any form of speech, publicly adopted, giving
any other view, before you were driven to contradict yourselves in
order to contradict the plaintiff ? No answer.

When Samuel Morley, Esq., asked, " Why, if Mr. Grant's
name was reinstated, that should not be acknowledged in the
resolution" "of the Assembly in May, 1869 ? What did you reply ?
I said : " It cannot be put in the Year Book for 1869 ; the book is
printed, we cannot issue a new edition — that course is out of the
question."!

Was not your answer " out of the question ?" The Assembly
did not think so.

Well, you were asked : Why not acknowledge the restoration of
the name — " why be afraid or ashamed of saying it " in the resolu-
tion then before the meeting ? Yes.

And you answered : The Year Book is printed, we cannot put it
in that. Who said you could ? No answer.

You think that your "new rule" and " new list" required a
" new " kind of logic ? No answer.

You said his " name will go in in the Year Book for 1870, because
he has qualified within the last fortnight, by becoming a member of
the Congregational Union ?" Yes.

Was that qualification also " new ?" It was just being proposed
in our report.

Then you had made that " new " rule to meet the case and creep
out by promising to put him in, after you knew he had joined the
Union ? No answer.

Do you not know that this new rule, to admit on the list of minis-
ters those who joined the Union, is also itself a contradiction or
an imbecility ? I cannot answer such a form of question.

Let me alter it : Do you not know that it was trifling with the
Assembly to allege such a qualification ? It was in the proposal
contained in the report.

Does that make it less ridiculous ? We have a rule for admission
of personal members to the Union, and compliance with that entitles
a minister to be on the Alphabetical List.

Will you state the rule ? Yes. It is that " Ministers, being

* "English Independent" Report, May, 1868. f "English Independent,"
May 14, 1869.

348

members of Congregational churches in connection with the Union,'
"become " Personal Members" by subscribing five shillings.
But this is for " Ministers ?" Yes.
By " Ministers " you mean recognized as such ? Yes.
Then they have a right to be on the list as ministers before they
become " personal members " of the Union ? Yes.

How then can this personal membership, which requires a man to
be a recognized minister before he can be such member, give him
the right to be recognised as a minister ? I do not see.

Nor anybody else. Had you ever made membership of the Union
a door to the Alphabetical List before ? No answer.

Was the plaintiff on the list for twenty-five years ? Yes.
Was he ever a " personal member ?" I do not know.
Then up to this time, there was no connection between being a
member of the Union, and being on the list of ministers ? No
answer.

In 1868, how many ministers were on the Alphabetical List
who were not members of the Congregational Union ? I do not
know.

You have not read the Dissenting World ? No answer.
Did not the plaintiff tell you, the night before, that your Union
in 1868 contained only a third of the ministers on the Alphabetical
List ; — that sixteen hundred were there, and not in your Union ?
We laughed at him.

So I understand. Because you were ignorant enough to suppose
him mistaken ? No answer.

You twit him with having joined the union only a fortnight
before ? Yes. Any minister being a member of a church in con-
nection with the Union can be a personal member for five shillings.
True, but how long had the church of which he was a member
been connected with the Union ? I do not know.

Then why did you venture on the observation ? No answer.
Do you know that he joined the Union in order to be at your
meetings, and see if he could secure a reasonable inquiry into his
illegal deposition ? No answer.

Was your remark about his late joining the Union, made to
deceive such as Dr. Halley with the absurd inquiry — then how
could he be on the list of Congregational Ministers ? Can you
account for the general ignorance of the leading speakers on the
commonest facts of your Congregational polity ? — Was it assumed
for a purpose, or was it honest bond-fide ignorance ? We do not
call it ignorance.

349

Well, perhaps it was not : certainly it was specially required and
well adapted for the occasion ; but you see it does not serve
further, and rather reacts unfavourably. Were you the only one
that could keep his face while solemnly saying what you could
not know ? I am not here to answer that.

Perhaps not ; I almost think you really did not know better than
you said ; but you must have taken great pains to acquire such an
aptness in not knowing. Is that a question ? No.

You did not know that the Committee always treated the list
not as " a new one from year to year," but a permanent record of
honoured brethren ? No. But you know now?

You say so. No : all your books say so : and your language is
as " new" as your lists.

That will do. The Rev. Alexander Hannay, after this tourna-
ment, left the lists.

The Rev. Thomas Binney, examined.

You were at the meeting of the Assembly, May 11, 1869, and
took some part in the Year Book debate ? Yes.

I rose " to put a question to the secretary, not about putting a
man out, but about getting in"*

You mean about his getting into your ministry ? Yes, as on the
accredited list.

Were you not aware that the real question of difficulty was as to
putting out those who had long been in ? That occasioned the
debate ; but I was anxious to prevent such easily getting in again
by a five shillings subscription. "Part of the resolution was that
any man who qualifies as a member of the Uuion is to have his
name put in the Year Book.'"

You mean in the Alphabetical List of Congregational Ministers ?
Yes. And I asked what the qualification for the Union was, and
some one called out " five shillings." I said, then why not pay it?

You considered that a valid answer ? It seemed to me absurd
that a man should be disturbing our meeting, clamouring for a place
which five shillings would have bought.

Had he been asked for the five shillings ? I do not know.

If you secretly make a five shillings qualification and then "put a
man out," as you mildly term it, for not paying what was never

* "English Independent" Report, May 14, 1869.

350

heard of before, and was not demanded of him then, and so join to
ruin his prospects on your five shillings plea — is that manly, mag-
nanimous and Christian, or a pitiable snuffle worth}7 only of a trick-
ster ? I am not used to be talked to in that style.

No, you have been flattered too much : but will you answer the
question ? Enough has been said on so paltry a question.

You mean that five shillings is a paltry question ? Yes.

Suppose you had to pay it for church rates, and were distrained
upon for that sum in an illegal rate, payment for which had not
even been asked ? This is not a church rate question.

No : but a "five shillings" question, which your party raises,
and which you endorse ; and because they did not get five shillings
— the new price for a license — you "put a man out ?"

My question distinctly was, "not about putting a man out, but
about getting in." Yes: you thought he ought to be " put out"
for not paying a paltry "five shillings," which was neither due
nor asked for, but you were afraid of his "getting in" again at
the same price ?

I said to the Union that at this rate " your door is wide open
indeed.''''

True ; you did not object to the width of the door for " putting
a man out " on a newly misapplied five shillings rule, of which he is
not informed, and which you had no right to make, — for you can
raise a tariff for your Union, but not "put a man out" of the
ministry of your denomination because he does not join your club.

But were you not aware that the door you spoke of, as too
"wide," is no door at all for a man to get in at ? The resolution
was. that " any man who qualifies as a member of the Union,"
which is by payment of five shillings, "is to have his name on the
Year Book."

Y7ou mean as a minister, and that this is a wide door to the
ministry ? Yes, certainly.

Pray is not that five shillings rule made for ministers? I do not
know.

Then why did you get up in the meeting ? I got up for informa-
tion.

You needed it, but did you get it ? I was told by Mr. Ashton,
that the rule was : — " Any minister who is a member of a church
in connection with the Congregational Union is eligible for mem-
bership."

That is, for membership of the Union ? Yes, and so for going on
to the Year Book list of ministers.

m

351

But he must be a minister to start with, to become eligible as a
member of the Union for five shillings ? Yes.

Then if he is a minister before he pays five shillings, how does
the five shillings rule " open a very wide door indeed" — for those
who are inside already, and so do not want " your door ?" That
was the way the thing appeared to me.

Do you mean that your observation in the meeting implied a con-
tradiction that amounted to an absurdity ? Xo answer.

You were in the Assembly, 1868 ? Yes.

And when this matter was debated, as to the committee's new
illegal rule to depose secretly your weaker brethren, you turned
off to a miserable joke on another subject ? I criticised the report
which was before the meeting.

Yes. When Mr. Prout objected to the report putting into the
power of certain paid officials the opportunity of deposing any minis-
ter they chose, you rose and said : — " I think there was an expres-
sion that must have come upon the minds of a great many persons
here present, who were present at Manchester, and I am afraid
must have caused them a great deal of pain. A little alteration
would remove that distress ; and I am sure my friend Mr. George
Smith will attend to it. He said it was a very great thing that the
hospitality of the people of Manchester was equal to the increased
requirements of their visitors. Now I think he means increased
number of visitors. (Laughter.) I was not at Manchester, but I
should be very sorry to think that you went there, all of you, with ' in-
creased requirements.'' (Laughter.)* This was your speech on that
occasion ? Perhaps so ; it was a joke, and was kindly taken, for the
English Independent adds — " The Rev. Dr. Smith : — ' I am sorry
we had not the benefit of that criticism before ; but Mr. Binney has
given the right meaning to it. It means an augmented number, and
the correction shall be made.' The chairman was about to put the
resolution, when a delegate interposed and asked — what were the
terms of EXCLUSION ?"

Exactly, so this delegate recalled the attention of the meeting to
the serious subject of "causing a great deal of pain" and "distress"
by something more than your " sentimental grievance" about " in-
creased requirements," which you trailed across the path of the
meeting to put them off the scent ? I simply criticised the report.

"Would it not have been more worthy of your standing and ability
— knowing, as you did, the many sacrifices and troubles connected

* "Dissenting World," p. 228.

352

with the ministerial vocation — to have thrown the shield of your
protection over the brethren, that to the difficulties incident to
carrying on their profession there may not be added this official
Union tyranny of secretly " putting the man out" ? No answer.

Your wit is well known ; but can it be any satisfaction to vent a
poor joke, when a great principle affecting the honour and life-
work of your brethren is at stake ? It was a mere sally, and the
joke was good enough.

No sir ; it was as illogical as your "wide open door," for ministers
to become ministers. Were there not " increasing requirements"
met by " Manchester hospitality?" No : Dr. Smith acknowledged
it was "increased numbers."

But would not "increased numbers" involve "increased
requirements ? " Certainly.

Then your joke was as illogical as it was ill-timed, and was no
better than your " door" of entrance for people who are already
admitted to the ministry ?

The Rev. Thomas Binney, father of the "Immortal Fifteen"
Protestors, " puts " himself " out " of court through " a dor
very wide open indeed."

The Rev. Thomas Ashton, Editor of the Year Book,
examined.

You read the rule in reply to Mr. Binney ? Yes. He seemed
to think, that by admitting to the Year Book List members of the
Congregational Union, we opened a wide door for the Ministerial
List. But I showed him by the rule that they were ministers
beforehand.

Exactly. Then why does your report give them a license to be
enrolled as ministers, if that was their status before ? The matter
is very difficult, and has given us a great deal of trouble.

No doubt. You had been striking names off the list without any
rule but such as the committee had made for you, to suit diffi-
cult circumstances ? No. It is a "new list from year to year,"
as Mr. Hannay said ; so there is no striking off, but only " non-
insertion."

Then the terms "adding to," "omitting from," "exclusion,"
"extrusion," "excommunication," " ministerial deposition," were
expressions of the ignorance of those who uttered them ? Yes.

353

Then you and your committee were only giving expression to
your combined ignorance when you proposed that " the present
heading of the Alphabetical List should be expunged, and the fol-
lowing heading be substituted ?" No answer.

How can you " expunge " a heading from a " new list from year to
year?" No answer.

Your new " heading " says that the list is composed of the
names of "Independent Ministers of Great Britain and Ireland
whose names have been furnished by the secretaries of associations
or unions, or by the secretaries of the Congregational Board, or by
five ministers already on the list, and residing in the neighbourhood,
or who are members of the Congregational Union ?" Yes.

What do you mean by "five ministers already on the list?"
That those on the list this year may recommend others for the list
next year.

Exactly : but how can this be if they all want recommending
over again ? I do not understand it so.

That is not the question. You allege Mr. Hannay's doctrine,,
who uttered " the view which the committee takes of the whole
matter." The list is new each year : being on the old list is no
claim to be put on the new one. Then how can being on the old
list, which is abandoned, give license to unlicensed persons to
license other people ? I do not understand it.

But does your new "heading" mean that ministers, members of
the Congregational Union, may recommend somebody else ; or does
it mean that they, the members of the Union, are themselves to be
on the list of ministers ? It means the latter.

No, it does not : for as you read the heading, these members of the
Congregational Union are a continuance of the enumeration of per-
sons who may recommend : is it not so ? That was not our meaning.

Very likely not : but is it not the meaning of the new " head-
ing ?" I cannot say.

Perhaps you got it up in a hurry ? It was very carefully debated.

But it is as ambiguous as your conduct in this bungling ad rem
legislation, and your excuses for it are equivocal ? That is the
style of language against which we have always protested.

And that is the style of evasion which you have always practised?
I have no answer to such questions.

In your new heading, which no doubt was composed by old
heads, you speak of " five ministers already on the list and

RESIDING IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD." WHAT NEIGHBOURHOOD did

you mean ? I do not see the necessity for that question, f

354

What did you mean by putting: " N.B. — These returns in each
case are made annually ?" What it says.

Doubtless ; but does this mean that it is a new plan ? No ; it
is the old plan.

Do you generally introduce a long existing plan by " N.B. ?"
No answer.

What is the meaning of " in each case ?" Everybody can see it.

Does it mean in the case of each list ? No ; each individual.

Then there is no individual on the old list that has from that
position a right to go on the new one ? No.

Then who makes the new body of Independent Ministers ? It
is not a new body, but a " new list."

Of the old body ? No ; it is new " in each case"

Then what person has authority to judge of the qualifications for
going on the new list ? The secretaries.

But they are off as well ? I do not say so.

No ; but " in each case ?" I do not see it.

You all begin de novo ? No ; I am left, as secretary.

It is not a new list in your " case ?" No.

Then not " in each case ?" Yes.

How are we to understand you ? I trust we are Christian men
seeking to do our duty.

I trust you are, and I hope .you may yet be able to see what your
duty is, and have grace to perform it "in each case."

The Rev. Robert Ashton retires, evidently hoping that the
" return " of this " case " may not be " made annually."

The Rev. Newman Hall, examined.

At the Annual Assembly, May 11, 1869, when the Preliminary
Meeting's proposal respecting the case of the plaintiff's name being
omitted from the Congregational Year Book was considered, you
are reported to have said :* —

"Mr. President and brethren : I am sure it must be a grief to us
all — (hear, hear) — that a thousand pastors and delegates from all
parts of the kingdom, and representatives from the world, and the
representatives of the press, should be gathered together here for
the interests of Christ's kingdom, the promotion of our spiritual
welfare, the furtherance of those grand principles about which we

* The " English Independent," May 14, 1869.

355

listened just now, and that we should spend a moment of precious
time on personal squabbles or on even constitutional matters which
owght to be attended to in committee or at the preliminary meeting.
(Applause.) "With all respect I move the previous question."

Is that a true account of your speech ? Yes.

You moved the previous question ? Yes, and it was " carried
unanimously and was followed by loud and long continued cheering."

Your "previous question" was to set aside the decision of the
" preliminary meeting ?" Yes.

But in your speech you say that these are matters which " ought
to be attended to in the preliminary meeting ?" Yes.

Had they not been ? Yes.

Then why did you say they " ought" to have been ? I do not
understand you.

No, but I understand you : under pretence of supporting the
"preliminary meeting," and pointing out its duty, you ignored its
labours and unsettled what it had endeavoured to settle : did you
not ? I spoke " with all respect."

Exactly : perhaps you generally do when you mean to act "with-
out respect" to those persons or opinions that you are about to
abandon ? My proposal was made " with all respect" to the preli-
minary meeting.

By accusing its members — " delegates from all parts of the king-
dom"— of introducing "personal squabbles?" It was the fault of
the plaintiff that a "personal" question was introduced.

Is not that the fault of every plaintiff that appears in any court
in the world ? I do not see the relevance of the inquiry.

Well, what do you mean by " a personal question ?" Is not every
question of right or wrong, as an actual case, connected with the
conduct of persons? It may be ; but these questions "ought to
have been attended to in the preliminary meeting."

So you said before, and you knew they had been, and spoke as
if they had not been ; and " with all respect" to those whose con-
clusion, after anxious deliberations, you stigmatized as "personal
squabbles ?" No answer.

Do you not generally make a personal application of your text in
preaching ? I do not see what that has to do with it.

No, but it is " personal," and perhaps if you had been one of
David's courtiers, you would have told Nathan, when he said —
"|Thou art i ie man" — that it was a " personal squabble ?" Tbat
instance is foreign.

Yes ; but it was " personal ?" Certainly.

356

Are there not many other " personal" sayings in that book ? No
doubt.

Speaking of " Thou art the man," had you not a "personal"
grudge to pay the plaintiff for his analysis of your curious scornful
hodgepodge — " The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink and
verbal statements of doctrine, and the shibboleths of even an
Evangelical party, not doubtful statements about modes of utter-
ance, but righteousness and peace "?* That had nothing to do
with my course.

But considering the "personal" relations in which you stood
doctrinally to the plaintiff, inasmuch as he had expounded, and, as
the Pall Mall — though defending your " liberal" theology, acknow-
ledges— defeated the attempt of "Messrs. Binney, Newman Hall,
and Baldwin Brown" to " throw" protection by their " aggis" over
the theology of ' The Rivulet,' would it not " personally" have been
more honourable and free from the taint of personality if, instead of
a second time revenging this defeat by coming personally forward
to defeat justice and revenge your "personal squabble" on the
plaintiff, you had " with all respect " stood back, and not either
have exposed yourself to the charge of pursuing a "personal
squabble" while protesting against it, or to that of insulting the
preliminary meeting " with all respect ?" I did not come forward
with any personal feeling.

Of course not ; it was all for the furtherance of " those grand
principles " which you introduced to cover little actions, — " with all
respect?" No answer.

Were you not the central figure of " the Immortal Fifteen,"
being yourself the fifteenth, "by whose side" fourteen "gladly
placed " themselves, with Mr. Binney, the father of them, at their
head — all under the pretext of defending poor Lynch, but in fact to
defend you ? That has nothing to do with the present question.

It explains your anxiety to consult the " spiritual welfare" of the
brethren, by at once destroying their liberty, and preventing the
plaintiff obtaining even the shadow of a redress for that victimisation
in which the liberty of all were representatively sold to recompense
your previous defeat. Have you ever seen this pamphlet " What
is Negative Theology, and who are its Abettors ?" Yes ;
that was a sequel to "What's it all about ?" and both gave
great offence.

Exactly : and so we see what it's all about, — when you come out

• " Dissenting World," p. 115,

357

against "personal squabbles" to create one, as a revenge for the
exposure of your insult to " the Shibboleths of even an Evangelical
party." But how do you explain your " respect" to the preliminary
meeting ? That is plain of itself.

Yes, too plain : you said they " ought to have attended " to the
subject ; did you mean to inspire that agitated and befogged
assembly with the notion that the plaintiff was introducing a subject
over the head of the preliminary meeting ? No.

What other object could you have ? My speech speaks for itself.

True ; but it speaks against you, and may I not say that it was
fitting that you, who led and fell in the Rivulet battle, should crown
the contradictions of those who misled the assembly '? I uttered no
contradiction.

Not directly, but by inevitable implication you suggested that
the Preliminary Meeting had not — but only ought to have — attended
to the subject, while you showed "all respect" to their recom-
mendation. Did you not know that you were in fact contradicting
them ? No.

Had you not heard Mr. Haxnay say — " In moving this resolution
I abstain for obvious reasons from dealing with its merits, and shall
only state to the assembly the fact that the preliminary meeting had
a protracted and somewhat heated discussion, a discussion of three
hours on the last clause of this resolution ; and though they did
not put it upon me to entreat the assembly to accept the resolution
as it is, seeing that it was adopted after three hours' discussion and
protracted conference with Mr. Grant, — adopted by representative
men, who felt that they were making a certain concession in the
matter, Mr. Grant accepting it, and, by the way, suppressing a
pamphlet which he was to have circulated on the subject this
morning, — a fact which, I think, ought to be mentioned, — it was
hoped that this meeting " would, " considering all the circumstances,
agree to pass it. I have no right to assume the position of making
an appeal to my brethren in this sense, but I believe I am fairly
expressing the feeling of the meeting last night, that by accepting
this resolution we shall be saving much valuable time and our-
selves a great deal of trouble" — that, in fact, the members
of the Preliminary Meeting had " spent " in the previous night's
discussion nearly "all their strength," which should have carried
them through the week ?* I may have heard that.

And your answer was, " with all respect," the preliminary
meeting ought to have attended to it ? I have already said.

Yes ; and " with all respect " you have cut a sorry figure, and the

* English Independent, May Uth, 1869.

358

" loud and long continued cheering" of the assembly is echoed back
by "loud and long continued" jeering of an unbelieving world, at
the sacred cajolery by which Independents were cheated into a
surrender of honour and liberty.

The Kev. Newman Hall, bowing "with all respect" to the
court, retires to utter "the Shibboleth of even an Evangelical
party."

The Eev. Kobert Macbeth, an Association Secretary, examined
on the Notice given to a Victim before Ministerial
Execution.

You said in the Assembly, in May, "there has always been the
most ample opportunity given to any man to see to it that his name
should be inserted in the list from year to year ?"* Yes.

You meant that the plaintiff had warning, and could have avoided
excommunication by getting his brethren to recommend the re-
insertion of his name ? Yes.

Who gave him that warning, and what reason did they give to
him for seeking a recommendation or re-ordination ? I do not
know.

Did you not know that what you said was untrue ? No.

Did you know it to be true ? I believed it.

On what ground ? A pause.

Have you read the Rev. Josiah Miller's recommendation
in the English Independent, May 14, 1869 — " that in future the
name of no minister be omitted from the list in the Year Book
until he has had a notice from the editor, that owing to his
name not having been ' returned ' to the editor he is about to be
omitted?" I may have seen that.

Does it not contradict your asseveration that there " always had
been most ample opportunity given to any man to see that his name
should be inserted ?" I do not see that.

No ; but if it had "always" been the rule to give this notice,
why should Mr. Miller beg to make that " practical suggestion ?"
I do not know.

Does not the editor in that same paper say, " If anything further
be needed, the suggestion of a correspondent in our columns to-day
will probably supply the omission ?" Perhaps so.

Then what you said was not true ? No answer.

* " English Independent," May 11, 1809.

359

Was it not declared afterwards, in that organ, that the com-
mittee had since made " a bye-law " to gice in future such a notice,
and did not some one say that it should include the case of any
omission from this present list ?* No answer.

What induces you Congregational leaders and association secre-
taries to make such assertions about your rules and procedures
which the least inquiry disproves ? No answer.

Your assertion that " every man has always had most ample "
notice of his coming excommunication was contradicted by the
editor of the Independent, his correspondent, and the committee's
new " bye-law ?" I do not see it.

Can you tell us what notice your namesake, Macbeth,! gave to
his guest as a " most ample opportunity to see to it that his name
should be inserted " next morning in the list of those newly licensed
to live ?

Mr. Macbeth, being reminded of Macduff, who died without
warning, is thankful for a " most ample opportunity " of retiring
from the witness box.

The Kev. Dr. Waddixgton examined on Union Love.

You spoke very strongly in favour of affection and forbearance
under all the trials of criticism to which the Union was exposed,
and concluded thus : " However, the more in this matter we
(Unionists) may be threatened, or the more unkindly treated as a
body, the better it is that we should act in a noble way to people,
and overcome evil with good ?"* Yes.

And yon retired from that speech to say privately: " We must

CAST HIM OUT AT ANY PRICE?" No answer.

This was your loving observation, as a commentary on the sweet
speech of forgiveness towards your victim, who ought to have died
quickly and quietly, and saved — the Union ?

Dr. Waddixgton forgiving the unkindness of these questions
" cast " himself " out of" Court.

English Independent," May 27, 18C9.
t Shakespere.

360
THE CLOSE OF THE INQUIRY.

Conversation between the President of the Commission and
Messrs. Cossham and Campbell, respectively watching over
the Interests of the Unionists and the Plaintiff.

The President, addressing these two, said : "We have power to
permit any explanation to be addressed to the court by represen-
tatives of the parties directly concerned, and you have been allowed
to suggest any questions to be asked the witnesses, with the court's
approval. All the main questions have been founded on previous
sayings or doings of the witnesses themselves, and it is scarcely
necessary to observe that the answers, though coinciding with what
the witnesses are known and proved to have said elsewhere, form a
painfully conflicting group of excuses scarcely less satisfactory than
the act which so much has been done and said to cover. I may
refer for instance to that huddling up of new laws and conditions,
changing the whole framework of not only the Congregational Union,
and its method of preserving the list of Congregational Ministers,
but even the West Riding Association has been wholly changed —
all in the face of this difficulty ; which is a palpable acknowledgment
that the old orthodox machinery afforded no cover for "the parti-
cular case" before the court.

Mr. Cossham : Will your Honour allow me to observe that this
whole matter, which seems so complicated, lies in a nutshell ?

The Presdent : Will you crack it for us, brother Cossham, and
show us the kernel ?

Mr. Cossham : With permission I will try. The fact is — and I
know this was stated by one who " sits under" a Professor, and is
at the same time kindly disposed to the plaintiff — that it was
generally thought he had left the denomination, and was going into
the Church, and so his name was omitted from the alphabetical
list of Congregational Ministers.

President : Was there any ground for that supposition ?

Mr. Cossham : Well, he lectured on the Church side, at least
against Mr. Gladstone's scheme.

President : But did not the Nonconformist, the English
Independent, and the Congregational Union in its tract on the
duty of Dissenters, all declare that the State Church principle was
not involved in the Irish Church agitation ?:;:

* " Dissenting World," p. 267.

361

BEr. Cossham : True, they did ; and, also, they did not consider
that Dr. Miller and other clergymen had become Dissenters by
taking Mr. Gladstone's side ; but we know how party feeling at
times warps the judgment of the best intentioned.

President : You are aware that the plaintiff always put himself
forward as a Dissenter in his lectures ?

Mr. Cossham : Yes ; and that made the English Independent
declare that he could no longer be considered a Dissenting Minister.

President : Was not that the very element of the persecution
complained of ?

Mr. Cossham : I am only explaining how they looked at it, and
how it was not from any animus.

President : But was not that method of looking at it the
expression of the animus ?

Mr. E. S. Campbell : Will your Honour pardon me if I observe
that respecting the Congregational Union's tract on the duty of
Dissenters, it was said by the English Independent* that its circula-
tion would do good in any neighbourhood in which a person from
Sheffield, professing to be a Congregational minister, should lecture
on the subject ? This showed that they knew he had not gone into
the Church, and they accused him of this — Mr. Miall calling him
"a State Church lecturer," on purpose to prejudice Dissenters;
and when they found he had not gone into the Church they drove
him out of Dissent — closed the door of his profession — so that, if
they can drive Mm into the Church, they will say, "We knew he
would ; we said so." But he would still be an ejected Non-
conformist.

The President : But, Mr. Cossham, you have a statement of
seceders to the Church on page 401 of the Year Book for 1869.
Wras he included in those five ?

Mr. Cossham : I do not know.

The President : Is he intended by " To the Free Church of
England, 1 ?"

Mr. Cossham : I do not know.

Mr. E. S. Campbell : On page 219 of the same book your
Honour will find a list of " removals of ministers," stating " name,"
" place left," and " place settled at." In several instances there is
a blank as to " place settled at." Now the plaintiff's name should
have appeared also in this list; and since he had not "settled"
yet at any " place," his location should have been left blank ; but,

* August 6, 1868.

362

while the book pretends to account for " removals," the plaintiff is
not referred to.

Peesident : Evidently the whole matter has been exceptional ;
and if the Unionists believed that the plaintiff had gone into the
Church, — for which they had no reason, — they should have
acknowledged the palpable mistake and restored the name honour-
ably, instead of altering all their rules and involving themselves in
inextricable contradictions. It is altogether a painful exhibition,
and you should advise your friends — Mr. Cossham — to retreat clean
out of their evasions, and put the matter in statu quo, without
adopting the excuses intended to shield while only shaming the
officials and their abettors.

Mr. E. S. Campbell : Such a settlement was what the plaintiff
asked for in his petition, and it was in part conceded to him, and
accepted by him, in the " Preliminary Meeting ; but those who had
previous grudges for " the Rivulet" and the Godwinian Contro-
versy, in which Mr. Newman Hall, Mr. Binney, and others figured,
misled the public Assembly into repudiating that settlement. To
secure this end, they perpetrated those changes and evasions which
have excited so much pain and surprise in the court, duriug this
present enquiry.

The Peesident : But if they could give it all up and shake
hands ? If the next Assembly, finding that the witnesses who mis-
led them before, were hopelessly befogged, and have now been
clarified — should accept the finding of the only meeting that at all
looked into the matter — would not that be the best course under
the circumstances ?

Mr. Campbell : But already the plaintiff has been greatly injured,
for to cover their act, they must misrepresent him, and the act
itself was an " emphatic disownment," as the Rev. S. M'call said;
so that to recover from it so as to secure a settlement, especially
if the wire-pullers are diligent, would be difficult, besides the
past expense and loss and anxiety to which the plaintiff has been
exposed.

The Peesident : Doubtless. But surely a respectable body of
Christian men can back out of a mistake into which they are blindly
led, and make suitable amends.

Mr. Cossham: I am sure "the generality of Dissenters," as the
plaintiff acknowledges in his " Gladstone and Justice to Ireland,"
"only want to see the truth in order to do justice ;" and that on
the whole, however occasionally misled, "they are a fair minded
people."

363

The President : Well then, since even when bearing the brunt
of their displeasure, the plaintiff spoke so honourably of Dissenters
as a people, there can be no objection to their justifying his good
opinion. They had better take affairs out of official management
and revert to their position in and before 1866, as to the Year Book,
and abandon all those new equivocal phrases — about "sending" up
names — in the sense of to be inserted, or not to be inserted ;
"return" as returnable, or not returnable; "supplied" to the
editor, in the sense of " supplied " originally at the beginning of
a man's career, or supplied "annually" at the caprice of local
secretaries ; " non-insertion," to escape the charge of " erasion "
or "removal:" with the " new list " theory, — making ministers
annually licensed, and not like beerhouse keepers by a good
character from outsiders, but by licensing one another with no one
left to do it, since they all need new credentials — a humiliation of
the whole body of Congregational ministers newly invented to cover,
by intensifying, the humiliation of injustice to one by the degrada-
tion of all.

Perhaps the worst feature in this melancholy affair is the finding
out of a reason afterwards by the District Secretar}^, who said
at the time, — " why your name nowhere appears in the Year
Book, I have already said, I know not." This statement was not
even covered by the evasion of not being "removed" but only
" non-inserted :" the asseveration left no loophole.

Mr. Cossham : I may perhaps here remind the court, that the
District Secretary referred to, has resigned that office.

The President : Then you have the less official difficulty in
backing out of the transaction, in which he took so prominent a
share.

Mr. Cossham : It should be borne in mind, that the plaintiff had
given offence by being a leader in opposing the Amalgamation of
two colleges, in one of which the former district secretary is engaged :
and he was a great promoter of that plan, which the plaintiff joined
in defeating.

The President : Your professor and secretary should have been
the more scrupulous, and carefully have avoided the appearance, of
joining a present prejudice to revenge an old grudge.

Mr. E. S. Campbell: Your Honour has exactly described the
situation : former offences, as the defence of orthodoxy, and opposing
amalgamation, prompted some to encourage and take advantage of
a political excitement in order to " extinguish" the plaintiff.

The worst part was played by the editors of newspapers : — the

364

English Independent, the Sheffield Independent, edited by a country
committeeman ; followed by the Leeds Mercury, under another com-
mitteeman ; the Nonconformist, edited by the leading liberationist ;
and even the Christian World, inspired by the same parties.

The President : We are not now sitting on "the Press of the
denomination."

Mr. Campbell : No, your Honour, but when you do, there will
be as curious disclosures as about Union officials. Some striking
specimens already appear in "the Dissenting World:" and there
are others, if necessary.

The President : The inquiry is closed for the present : a report
will in due time be issued by the Commissioners ; with such recom-
mendations for the security of Her Majesty's subjects, as the
threatened encroachments of Free Churchism on individuals rights
and liberty may appear to require.

CONCLUDING CHAPTER,

With a few Inferences.

Hapid Progress of Independents in the Abandonment of their
Principles, — Ecclesiastical, Political, and Theological, — Solving
all Difficulties by holding all Things in Solution, that in this
"suspensory" state they may lead the "Liberal" Thought of
the Age.

Qui exemplo aliis esse debetis, aliorum exemplo peccetis potius, quam alii vestro
recte faciant.* — Livii, lib. III., cap. xxi.

Si vacat, et placidi rationem admittitis, edarn.+ —Juvenalis, Sat. I., 21.

Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se
Crimen habet quanto major qui peccat habetur.t

—Juvenalis, Sat. VIII., 140.

Sed quid opus teneras mordaci radere vero
Auriculas ? Vide, sis, ne majornm tibi forte
Limena frigescant.§ — Persii, Sat. L, 107.

The mission of the unestablished churches was to provide a platform and
example on which Christian Truth and Liberty might be preserved, without the
machinery of even Protestant establishments ; instead of which we are in danger
of becoming a warning rather than an example, of which both philosophical
statesmen and state churchmen are not uninterested spectators. The former

* Ye who should be for an example to others, rather sin by their example than lead
them right by yours.

|- If you have leisure and paiience, I will go through the matter.

^ Every fault is so much the worse in itself, as the one who commits it is held in
higher estimation.

§ But what necessity is thereto wound delicate ears with biting truth ? Miud lest you
get the cold shoulder from influential persons.

365

will ask for some legislative guarantees for personal liberty against the encroach-
ing centralized organizations of Free Churchism amongst Protestants, no less
than against the Romish altar denunciations, and " spiritual influences;" while
the latter will not fail to see that we have abandoned voluntaryism, and so lost
our vantage ground, before the grand attach on the English Church.

But the more serious objections to our present position will arise
from thoughtful Christian people, both among Churchmen and
Dissenters, who are jealous for that fundamental Christian truth
which we, as Dissenters, ought to have enshrined in the living
organization of our churches, but which we have betrayed, as we
have destroyed independency of churches, and liberty of individual
ministers, by a network of technical organization, the mouth of
which is opened and closed by the Liberation Society in amalgama-
tion with Irish and English Ultramontanes.

Speclal attention, with careful study of the proofs referred to,
is requested to the following

Five Important Points as Conclusions from " The Dissenting
World :" — Congregational Unionism and Liberationism destroy
real Independency, and contravene the true objects of Free
Churchism, in the following particulars : —

I. — The Abandonment of Voluntaryism, as a principle of
religion and of free trade, for " protection," and subsidies from
Government taxes for denominational schools : which opens the
way for priestly education, or small State Churches, indefinitely, out
of the taxes. — " The Dissenting World," Chapter xxx. We gave
up the Regium Domini to keep up our consistency, and take State
Taxes for our religious schools, to lose it again.

II. — The Abandonment of Christ, as in any evangelical sense
a Saviour : in conniving at the gravest heresy, while professing to
be the pillar and ground of the truth. — Chapters x., xv.

III. — The Abandonment of Liberty for a secret irresponsible
despotism ; and the centralization of voluntary societies into Com-
pulsory Spiritual Trades-Unions. — xx. to xxvi.

IV. — The Suppression of Open Inquiry into official private
tyranny, guarding it by terror and secresy. — xxiii., xxiv.

V. — The Employment of the Press to suppress Criticism on
the orthodox side. — "The Dissenting World," Chapters xvi. to xix.

That the reader may know who is the great authority frequently quoted I give
the following explanation : — Air. Turberville, the presiding genius of our
order, to whom the Eev. W. Cuthbebtsox at the autumn meeting of the Herts
Congregational Association, " asked the meeting to express their sense of the
services rendered to the Congregational body by their representative
Journal, the English Independent,'' — observed, " as to the high hopes and
expectations of Congregationalists ?' of being " the religious leaders of an

366

imperial race," as suggested by Mr. Cuthbertson, that it would be "in-
expressibly ridiculous " for a " body of men to put forth pretensions like
these in these days without securing representation in the press, and
having at least one journal to expound, defend, and enforce their opinions."
" It was not particularly to the credit of any minister or layman taking a leading
part in the affairs of their Church to say that he did not see or read their
representative paper." Whether he referred to Dr. Falding " not having
heard" of the change in the "Year Book" list, which was put out in our
" representative paper," was not said; but Mr. Turberville thought that " a
little more loyalty to their literature, even a little more enthusiasm in its
behalf, would do Independents no harm." — English Independent, Sept. 30, 1869.
He is our factotum. Yet even he says: —

" The great work of construction is opening before us;" "it has been
noble to protest against the wrong ; we ought to leel it nobler still to aid in
building up the right." " Of the part which Congregationalism has yet to
play in these coming days of mingled hopefulness and trial, we have yet much
to say." — (English Independent, September 24, 1868.) But it all comes to
nothing ; for Congregationalism has to be amalgamated, like the two papers into
the English Independent, or the different assurance offices into the "Albert."

The same Independent contains a recommendation by the Bev. T. Mann, a
district secretary, that "ordination is to be the recognition of the Associated
Churches," i.e., county unions, who are to examine and certificate the person
before he is permitted to be ordained, though a congregation has "called" him,
and if this were done, we are told " our ministry would not be flooded by so

MANY UNQUALIFIED MEN."

Besides this abandonment of Congregational rule in choosing our ministers,
our churches or congregations are to be merged into a general body of all
the believers in a town or neighbourhood, as another form of amalgamation.

For " the truth is," we are told (July 9, 1868,) " that the theories of Non-
conformity presuppose, in order to their thoroughly efficient working, the
general assent and support of all the Christians in the neighbourhood;" and
"when they fail to obtain that assent and support they are certain to work at a
practical disadvantage." Hence all the failure of our Dissent is because Church-
men have dissented from us, as our oracle intimates : —

" The New Testament model of Church government, in which each town and
city possessed its own independent Christian society, with a staff of rulers
and assistants, and in which the whole expense of its procedure was sustained
by the voluntary offerings of the faithful, without assistance from the State,
would work admirably enough in our time, as of old, under similar conditions.
Those conditions are simply that all the faithful of each neighbourhood should
give their allegiance to the same sacred society : that rich and poor, high and
low, learned and ignorant alike, who believe in Christ, should contribute their
quota of influence, labour, power, and wealth, to the same church. Let this
apostolic model be adopted in England to-day, and the characteristic
faults of ' Dissent' would immediately disappear. The persons of the highest
culture and piety would in such case immediately assume their proper position ;
and there would be little room for complaint of lack of funds when all
the supplies, instead of being frittered away through twenty channels, ran into

a COMMON TREASURY.

"But if, through obstinately clinging to a Ceiurch system, which in its
leading outlines is a growth of post-apostolic times, the Christian part of the
upper and more cultured classes abandon the support of the apostolic form of

367

Church government [which does not yet exist] to the middle and lower ranks,
no wonder if the inevitable results of such an abandonment appear. The obvious
defects of Nonconformity are the natural and direct consequence of the withdraw-
ment of the more cultured orders from its societies."

We have only to deprive the clergyman first of his endowment and next of

s supporters, and get them
nobody Nonconforms from it.

Though what it is to be we cannot say : but " the idea that lies behind
Independency and Congregationalism is the unity and self-government of the
Church of each neighbourhood ; and if ever a single town in Great Britain
should attain grace sufficient to throw all its Protestant Christianity into one
organized society, allowing freedom to its various internal elements" — the
mihenium would be insured. This is the wild conglomeration of organisation in
which Congregationalism is to be merged ! It is only a clumsy imitation of
the parochial system, with a provision for amalgamating all Churches into one
denomination — without saying which it is to be.

"At present," concludes this facetious writer, "there is nothing to be done
except by God's blessing, to render Noncomformity as good a thing as the
materials will permit it to become."

The whole scheme of this organ is to attempt something new in which all
present denominations shall be absorbed. This is a poor result of our Free
Church experiment.

No doubt the editor said rightly, of the Congregational Union Annual
Assembly of May, 1869 : — " it was as good a Church council as was ever
summoned by Bishop or Pope," (May 14, 18C9 ;) but unless we admit his or its
infallibility, we seem to have no coherence or consistency.

The constitution of the Congregational Union itself is held in solution ;
we have not even organized that as our Free " Church body." The secretary
of the South Staffordshire County Union writes to the editor of the English
Independent to coincide with the editor's proposed re -construction of that
" body; " which, he says, instead of being formed out of, and regulated by, the
county associations, ignores them, and visits " the Churches of a particular
town," instead of paying its " autumnal visits to the County Associations," who
ought to "nominate the general committee of the Congregational Union."
(September 16, 1869.)

In reference to this relation of the Congregational Union to county associations,
the English Independent, Sept. 9, 1869, says: "This is precisely the difficulty
attaching to our Congregational system. We wish to maintain individual liberty.
We want more corporate life." Which is employed to strangle liberty.

'* The problem " he admits " is a difficult and a delicate one ; but we believe it
is capable of solution. If it is to be solved by the Congregational Union, that
body must consent to vert considerable changes in its constitution, and
perhaps to some diminution in the number of its members : but even this will be
preferable to the present anomalous and unsatisfactory state of things."
In all this our Churches are not considered, nor the liberty and honour of our
ministers: it is "individual liberty of the Associations," in relation to the
Congregational Union, that is pleaded for. The denomination is assumed to be
handed over to that fraction of organizers of disorganisation. " Who can con-
template" inquires this regulator of Independency, "with any thing like satisfaction
the present state of the denomination with reference to such matters as the
membership of our churches, the status of the ordained ministry, and our
collegiate system?" What a platform we present as a model for the enslaved
churches on the day of then emancipation !

8G8

Besides our church membership, which is to approach nearer to the " multitudi-
nous " system, as well as to include children on the principles of the Church
Catechism, as " hens of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven,"* our
form of worship is to be borrowed from the Church : so that if we can teach
them nothing we can learn everything from them. Thus after warning "those
protestanfs" who, as high church, " have been dallying with Rome," to " draw
back," we have an article that commences by attributing the improvement of our
" methods of conducting divine worship" to "the Catholic revival." But we
stop soon enough we are only to adopt the Church prayers.

" There is now a pretty general agreement that some of the prayers in the
Church of England service may be used with advantage both to minister and
people. As to the extent to which these principles should be applied, there is
however the greatest possible diversity of feeling." But if we cannot get Church-
men to turn dissenters, we can get them to our side by taking theirs ; thus : —
" Thirdly, we should try to adapt our forms of service as far as ice can
conscientiously to those of other churches, and especially to those of the Church
of England, that, when its members set out in search of more evangelical
worship and simpler church government, they may not find in our chapels any
harsh and repellent difference from the beautiful service round which all their
associations have entwined themselves."

Thus after all our mockery of " praying by the book," we are brought to book,
to get Churehnien to Chapel.

"These remarks" says our English Independent, " are occasioned by the
publication of a form of service which has just been brougbt into use by the
Congregation at Cheetham-hill Chapel, Manchester, under the pastoral care of
the Rev. G. W. Conder. It is a free revision of the Morning and Evening Service
of the Prayer-book. Thus after an opening sanctus or anthem, comes the well-
known 'Dearly beloved brethren,' omitting the phrase ' miserable offenders.'' "

Now, why we should be above the phrase " miserable offenders " is not
explained — perhaps it is sufficiently acknowledged by our return to Church, or
rather our adaptation of its services — " convey, the wise call it," — in order to
abstract her worshippers. We are told — " It is an honest attempt to help the
Free Churches to a more hearty and intense devotion in their public worship"
— by imitating the enslaved church ! This is our achievement.

In an article " Dishonesty in the Pulpit," it is scarcely concealed by the
editor of the English Independent that this dishonesty exists in the Dissenting
pulpit, which seems to be accused by him of already anticipating and not yet
acknowledging that more rational theology which it is to be our distinction as
Congregationalists to introduce, yet so as not to follow Germany altogether. In
this article, copied into the Church Opinion, the editor sa}'s . —

" It is not of the clergy of the Establishment only that we would speak. Let
the Dissenting ministry, the Congregational ministry, look to it. A charge is
even now brought against them that they hold certain doctrines in reserve —
that they have an exoteric and esoteric creed — that they preach one thing in
the pulpit and say another thing in the parlour. If this charge if confined to
one doctrine, or set of doctrines, on one particular theme, while it is admitted
that the men are on all otlier points, or at bottom and in the main honest and
true, it must surely be founded on mistake. Ob, if with regard to that
particular doctrine the charge is true, the construction which we are bound
to put upon their conduct is that they find it impossible to dogmatise about it,

* fciee a paper read 10 tbe Union, en the " Edition of Children to ths Church,' pp.
16 and 8GS, Congregational Year Book for 1889.

369

and that believing the subject to be very imperfectly explained in Scripture,
they are themselves very cautious in their language. Our ministers must, as a
body, be too sensible to the penalties attending insincerity in the pulpit to dare
to preach that "which they do not believe. The ministry of a voluntary Church
are not in much danger of sinking into formalism ; and there is no one that
would dare to charge the Dissenting ministry of England with general hypocrisy ."
'• But there may he much unfaithfulness and accommodation without
hypocrisy." "It may he. too, that some considerable changes in the forms of
our theology and the methods of presenting truth will be needed for the great
struggle with unbelief that is at hand. Perhaps the power of the Reformation
of Luther and Calvin is worn out, and that a new one is needed. Perfect
candour and honesty of soul can alone prepare our ministry for a crisis such as
this.

" At the St. James's Hall meeting in May the Rev. Alexander Kannay
urged with great force and eloquence that upon the Congregationalists of England
lay the honourable service of placing the faith and religion of England on the
basis of intelligent conviction. If such be then- duty, how ill can our
ministers afford the least suspicion of the sincerity, of the thoroughness, either
of their character or of their speech." — English Independent, August 19, 1869.

Now this very office of " placing the faith and religion of England on the basis
of intelligent conviction " means nothing more than accommodating religious
doctrines to rationalistic pretensions. To suppose that now, for the first time,
Christianity has to be "placed on a basis of intelligent conviction," and that
" we are the people to do it," is as great an insult to former believers and to the
Gospel itself, as it is a considerable compliment to our own conceit. The only
testimonial for securing this office to us is that we have settled nothing yet, but
retreated out of every " intelligent conviction " of which we have boasted.

Mr. Binney told the students at New College that older ministers had " found
out what a terrible thing it was to attempt to do a divine thing if they were
not divine men," — to "put their hands to the doing of a divine thing" — to
say, " I am the gift of Christ to man." — (English Independent, July 2, 1868.)

Now, these " divine men" and their '"divine'' predecessors should be able to
do this " divine thing " of " placing religion" on an "intelligent" basis ; but
even this great teacher told them respecting the atonement, (November 26,
1868) — " He did not attempt to explain it ; there was more satisfaction in
broadly stating the truth. He did not care for the philosophies of the atone-
ment : he would be saved by eaith, not by the understanding." Now
" faith" is " the understanding" in opposition to sense, and also in opposition
to ignorance. " 0 ye of little faith," " how is it that ye do not understand ?"

It seems however that we Congregationalists are looking out for a faith that
will settle on "intelligent conviction" — a flight beyond the Apostle Paul, no
doubt, for he says : — " I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the
understanding also." He preferred " five words" " with the understanding " to
instruct others" before " ten thousand" in this " new tongue" of a blind Roman
" faith."

It is modestly admitted by our oracle that ' it would be a little too audacious
and self-complaisant to say that the Congregationalists in their Union had set a
model for all Protestant Church Assemblies." (October 8, 1869.) They might
say that last May they set a model for Papist Churches, in the way of persecu-
tion, and in the evasions to escape the odium of it.

The same paper contains a letter sensibly recommending " Bishoprics or
Archbishoprics" to look after the Churches, — " to organise disturbed elements

370

into peaceful strength," for " we are in a good deal of sad confusion in con-
sequence of trying to proceed on the principle that we are all equally able to
take care of ourselves and do what is right."

ri- " "With respect to the denomination in its more general interests, what is our
boast ? That we exist in England in order to testify to certain [query,
uncertain?] essential principles of the Christian Church — that we are a witness-
ing body." (August 12, 1869 ; " from a correspondent," in leader type.)

Besides many letters urging amalgamation with the " United Methodist Free
Churches," a specific and spasmodic effort in another direction is to be proposed
at the autumnal meetings at Wolverhampton: since "Dr. Morton Brown
will propose a possible basis of union between Congregationalists and Presby-
terians." (English Independent, August 12, 1869.)

" Let it not be supposed that we wish to point to Congregationalism as the
only resource of bewildered Christians who have become detached from their old
moorings." This is modest again. We are next told that we have not to read the
scores of letters in the Daily Telegraph "to prove that there are hosts of
malcontents within our borders, or that the organization of the denomination
is so very loose and imperfect as to have small claim to the title of a system at
all." (September 3, 1868.)

As to religious and voluntary education we have turned round ; and
are not yet sure whetber still to agree to last year's acceptance of Government
denominational schools.

The report to the Annual Assembly, Tuesday, May 7, 1850 ("Year Book" for
1850, p. 17 — 36,) says : — " Had your Union existed for no other purpose than
for the struggle in favour of voluntary and religious education, which it
commenced, and has all along steadily maintained, through evil report and
through good report, its work herein would have remained its lasting vindication
and honour."

It will be recorded, probably, as it is anticipated by the English Independent,
respecting the autumnal meeting of 1869, that this Union sitting on " the basis of
intelligent conviction," heartily repudiates both religious and voluntary education,
and goes for a Government secular scheme, to enforce church rates on
Christian people for the support of a form of education from which they con-
scientiously dissent. It may be called an infidel church-rate.

Last year the " intelligent conviction" was that we should take whatmoney we
could get for our small State Churches, called " denominational schools :" this
year we may repudiate that, to liberate Gladstone from the priests of Ireland — if
that be possible.

In 1850 " The Congregational Board of Education," having been so highly
lauded as the gem of the Union in the general report, makes these observations
in its own special report : — " They feel satisfaction in being able to express
continued confidence in the principle they have adopted :" — religious and
voluntary education ! " Under the influence of this growing conviction, and
having entire confidence in the vitality of their principles, they cannot but
cherish [in italics] bright hopes for the future," p. 29.

These "bright hopes for the future" were connected with the fact that —
" The annual petition against Government interference in education was
presented in March last, by Mr. Bright," (34.)

" The Crosby Hall Lectures," now the silent witnesses against Congrega-
tionalists and for the voluntary principle, sent to the members of Parliament
" had been thoughtfully read. The Board hopes the day is not far distant when
the spirit of the House of Commons will be more decidedly in favour of the prin-
ciple of voluntary education."

371

But now, as Mr. Gladstone lately believed in disendowment only for the
province of Ireland, so we believe in the voluntary principle only, so far as to
disendowthe clergy, and to endow secular schools, or denominational, if feasible :
for we are in transition. But " Willinghood " is gone !

The failure of the free churches to establish a platform of polity, finance, and
doctrine as an example for those that are or may be "disestablished," is too
painfully manifest in the disorder and uncertainty in all these three respects
which " the Dissenting World" manifests at the present time.

As a free element dissent is destroying itself or being destroyed by factitious
organisations over-riding Congregationalism ; so that while " a rope of sand " as
to unity of doctrine, it is a rope of strangulation and red tapeism as to officialism
and the usurpation of those who " lord it over" the heritage more haughtily if not
more handsomely than any prelatical authority.

Our voluntaryism is often an excuse for not being obliged to do or give any-
thing : and while we boast of voluntaryism, the compulsory churchman practices
it.

"We perpetually speak of the disadvantage of being endowed, and in the same
breath complain of the injustice of others enjoying that disadvantage : we
patronized the Irish peasant, as no more to be a slave working for the Irish
Church : not that we cared for the poor any more than our political leader did,
but because we envy the English clergyman. We cry out against the ritualism
of the church, and instead of joining as citizens to call for an enforcement of
the law, we rather prefer the evil, as a ground for " disestablishing " the
Evangelical party. We follow as our "heaven-sent" liberator, the greatest
ritualistic layman in England, whose theological testimonial was afforded by the
greatest ritualistic bishop — late of Salisbury — assuring the world that " Mr.
Gladstone would be true to the end to God's truth" — that is, to ritualism,
which we, his dissenting followers so loudly lament.

When red-handed murder led the way of a red-hatted cardinal, he was
accompanied in his triumph by Quaker peacemon, liberation Baptists, Indepen-
dents, and United Free Church Methodists, with Bradlaugh and Finlen,
followed by the rearguard of agrarian sharpshooters, who levelled down Protes-
tant landlords to prepare the way for the Pope's legate to demand government
pay for educating men in treason and assassination, as the sole lords paramount
of the human mind and dictators to civil governors in all affairs ecclesiastical,
agrarian, and scholastical.

Our great leader, Mr. Miall, in the Nonconformist, argued for putting all
power into their hands, when he said — " We want to adopt a policy which
will hear evidence on the face of it that it has been framed with a view to
satisfy Irish Roman Catholic feeling. It is their will, not ours, that we
desire that policy to express." (Nonconformist, Oct. 14, 1808 ) A more ultra-
montane sentiment has never been uttered. In seeking the casting votes of the
Irish Roman Catholic voters at Bradford, he renounced voluntaryism in education,
and specially told them that he had " opposed the inspection of nunneries"
— those living- tombs of women misled in the romance of youth to bid farewell
to the world, at a time when they are unfit to decide, and after which all retreat
is cut off — by Liberation Conformers to ecclesiastical domination.

"These," said he. " are my titles to the political confidence of the Roman
Catholic voters of Bradford."

This is the road in which Liberation is leading us ; while our abandonment
of gospel truth, and general melting down of dogmas, or specific religious
doctrine, will leave our people exposed to all Roman wiles and seductions.

372

The Fvglhh Independent, on " Congregationalists and Education," Oct. 29,
18(i8, says : — *' The repeated conferences which were held last year by the Con-
gregationalists on the subject of education have resulted in the opening of some
new day-schools in connection with our chapels (we have no means of knowing
how many), in the acceptance of the Government grants by the managers of
others, and in the conversion of Homerton College into a Government
training school under advantageous conditions. The College has been favoured,
for the training schools already subsidised by Government produce more teachers
than are required ; but to Homerton we look for a supply of earnest religious
teachers, who, it may be hoped, will hereafter be in great request."

It appears that we have been bribed by the "favour" of introduction to compete
with poor men and women ''already subsidised" into an overcrowded profession,
who may join the emigrant ship — carpenters and other economically " dis-
established" individuals. This cruelty to "subsidised" schoolmasters and
mistresses — deliberately increasing the number of educated paupers, for the good
of our denomination that others may starve, or go back to trades that they have
forgotten, is a principle proposed even for ode Ministry, which is too generally
regarded as simply a convenience "for the good of the cause," having neither
manly nor sacred rights to support and honour.

Perhaps the most wicked and cruel specimen of this is presented in a long
communicated article, in leader type, English Independent, Aug. 12, 1869,
wherein it is acknowledged that our ranks are over- crowded by non-collegiately
educated men: " Our colleges in five years' time have trained 185 men, when
440 were wanted," and were supplied from other sources.

Then comes this cool commercial suggestion: — " If ever we are to have a
ministry of thorough efficiency, then we ought to have in training con-
siderably MORE THAN WE REALLY WANT, in order that AFTER THEIR TRAINING,

we may have a selection of the best for the work of the ministry." A large
" stock " is to be kept on hand !

I cannot imagine anything more insulting to the Ministry, more cruel to poor
students, who are thus deliberately trained for non- selection !

But then our Congregationalist teachers who are to glut the market are to be
"religious:" and so the proper objects of Government support by taxation!
Even Mr. Turberville, who edit* that paper and leads our Congregational
dance through all figures and moods, theological, neological, secular, and
communistic, with a kind word for the Atheist, whom he invented and flattered, —
Chapter XIX, " Dissenting World," says : — " Let us frankly own that the
change has been all on our part," Oct. 29, 1868. In fact we have done
nothing but change, and as one writer says are now " rounding the point " on
the educational question, — oscillating between government "religious" and
government " secular" education — so that we have at least the " only demon-
stration,'' of the unity of the church, in the anarchy of our principles ; as is pro-
foundly observed by the English Independent, May 14, 18G9, on the President's
Address to the Annual Assembly : —

" No passage of his (Mr. Dale's) address more profoundly affected the
assembly than that in which he insisted that the existing and living unity
of the Church was only demonstrated by the violent differences
about doctrine and organisation, in the midst of which, and in spite of
which, a great multitude of believers retain tha same essential characteristics of
heart and soul, the same repentance, faith, and love."

This " same faith," with contradictory belief, is full-blown Godwinianism, as
expounded in chap. xv. Now if contradictory doctrines prove " one Lord, one

373

faith ;" " Ecclesiastical anarchy" — (as the state of the churches is headed,
English Independent, Sept. 3, 1869) — is -visible unity, and is all that [we have
to show. "This general breaking up," says our editor, "is but a part of
the revolt for which the Eeformers gave the signal when they departed from
Eome. It is the Protestantism of the Protestant Eeligion." — Sept. 3,
1869. None but Jesuits should say so ; and none but Jesuits should introduce
the "anarchy" here described to show the "unity" — in the "same faith" — in
"violent differences about doctrine and organisation." No better argument
could be held for going back to Eome, than this account of the Eeformation and
its effects. The wretched pun invented by Professor Godwin, and adopted (let
us hope inadvertently) by Mr. Dale, but so glorified by our editor, — that faith is
the same whatever we believe, since believing is believing all the world over ;
the same process of mental machinery ; and therefore we have ' ' the same
faith," whether we accept Mormonism. Hahoniedanism, orEomanism deservedly
gains for its inventor this emphatic description — plus ariis adhibuisse quam
Fidei* They have displayed more of artifice than of Faith, which also means
Fidelity. Whoever masters this " with the understanding," knows the whole
trick of our " Liberal pastors," and the danger to our innocent flocks. Some will
say, — Hcec ludibria religionum non pudere in lucem proferre, etvix pueris
dignas ambiges, scnes ac consulares fall end cejidei exquirire ?f Do you not blush
to bring out such mockeries of sacred obligations ; and you, being grave and
reverend seniors, excogitate quirks scarcely worthy of schoolboys playing
with words, and all this in order to undermine the faith of the people ?

Our doctrinal vagaries were painfully exhibited in Dr. Ealeigh's inau-
gural address, Hay, 1868, in which he offered to take the "facts" of science if
the scientific sceptic world would take ours, giving them free licence to hold the
doctrines of religion in abeyance.

The pretence to this new power of licensing unbelief was thus defended — " If
we claim the right to reason on scientific data, to draw our own deductions,"
" shall we deny that they [scientific men] have the same right to reason freely
from the Christian data, the historical facts relating to our Lord Jesus Christ ?"

" We are surely bound to allow exactly the liberty that we take." That is, we
Christians claiming a liberty to hold different opinions on scientific questions,
ought to give to scientific men the same liberty on Christian doctrines.
Undoubtedly, as between men and men anybody can reject any fact or any
theory, but we have no license to make any compromise as to the claims of
Christianity. Whether men believe in Christ or not is no compact between
them and the Congregational Union, even though its meeting is " as good
a church council as ever was summoned by bishop or pope." The vigorous
vapidity of that inaugural address is beyond criticism ; the whole was a vain
logomachy, and tended to lower the claims of the Saviour and Judge of the world.

It seems that while the pope and his cardinals condemn modern science,
we accept it, if its professors will accept our "facts; which is all we insist
on. For we do not know that " facts " are not science nor religion ; the
one being theory, and the other, doctrine ; and both are to be ignored as a
compromise between the Church and the World. For as to "facts" in
science — the earth, the sun, moon, and stars ; the first may be as fiat as a
pancake, or "as round as a horse's head;" the moon maybe the size of a
pancake ; the sun, twice its diameter ; and the stars, " little diamonds in the

* Livii, Lib. iv., cap. xliv.
f Livi, Lib. is. cap. xi.

374

sky." These are the visible " facts : " but the science is, our present
astronomy, by which, sun, moon, and stars are enlarged, and the earth rounded
like an orange, only flattened at the poles.

Now just as " facts," to the untutored senses, eeduce the sun, so " facts"
in religion — apart from its momentous truths, reduce the Saviour's glory, as
much as the eye of sense for visible facts, reduces the vastness and magnificence
of the eye of day. The Christ of the Gospels, in the " historical facts of his
life," Who. when presented again as He lived on earth — is to conquer the world,
is that same Christ Whom, as Dr. Baleigh said in another address, the
" nations crucified ; " as if He appeared again, and came to our Union
meetings, it would perhaps be said of Him, as by an editorial Committeeman
in 1866, and by the Christian World in 1869, that He was " extinguished."

To tell the Congregational Union, as Mr. Dale did in his inaugural discourse,
May, 1869, — weakly following Dr. Baleigh's " fact " theory, — that Christ, when
on earth, conquered men by his acts and character, which, being so presented,
would conquer the world afresh, is to forget the whole story of Christ
crucified.

Even Mr. Turberville, in our " representative" organ, observed that Mr.
Dale did not make enough of the Christ of the epistles. No ! this is the
part which we ignore — the revelation of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
We are now to " know Christ after the flesh ! " — and put the facts of His life to
scientific analysis.

Mr. Dale's declaration, that we should preach Jesus Christ Himself,
rather than about Christ, was only that fatal Godwinian language which
repudiates all " propositions " about the Saviour's rank and work, and presents
" Jesus Christ Himself," just as the priest does in the Eucharist ; and to our
new cry, that we have •' Jesus Christ Himself," that idol is their old
answer. This form of speech is sufficiently expounded in Chapter XV. of this
Autobiography.

To help the Papists in their educational demand for Ireland, nothing-
better could be said, than what this English Independent says, October 29,
1868 : — " As matters stand, however, no one would dream of interfering with the
existing system of grants in aid ; and the Congregationalists can do nothing
better than multiply good schools as fast as they can, and take as
much of the Government money as they can fairly get.

A writer glancing but obliquely at the position lately assumed by the Con-
gregational Board of Education, asks — "Are we in a Jesuit-like spirit to take
pay and patronage professedly for secular results V

" As to those Independents who are in favour of Denominational Schools, I
should like them," says he, " to state clearly the difference between establishing
and endowing Denominational Schools and establishing and endowing Congre-
gational Churches.''''

He reminds the Congregational Union, preparatory to its meetings at
Wolverhampion, October, lb69, that " Denominational Schools"* are exactly
what the Irish priests are demanding. We Liberationists are opening the door
for them. Even the English Independent, which recommended us to get all the
Government money we can for our Denominational Schools, now gays: — " If we
are determined at all hazards to resist the claims of the Irish priests for money for
schools, we must be prepared to give up denominational grants in England."

In the Congregational meeting at Leeds, October, 1808, Mr. E. Baixes. M.P.,
who like Mr. Miall so long opposed Government edncation. and advocated the
* The Rev. F. S. Johnstone, English Independent, September 16, 1869.

375

voluntary principle instead, when joining with " voluntaries" to make Homerton
Training School "compulsory,'1 said: — "They might expect the aid of State
grants for education, and let them be assured that by doing so there would be
no interference with conscience, or with any amount of religious instruction
which they might think it their duty to give. (Hear, hear.) Before sitting
down he declared his solemn conviction that it would be vain as well as wrong
for them' to seek to discharge the religious element from the education of the
people. (Hear, hear.)" English Independent, October 29, 1868.

But we are " rounding that point " also, for the same oracle puts down for
"the autumnal session" at Wolverhampton, 1869: — "On Friday evening, a
public meeting on Education is announced, Mr. S. Morley, M.P., presiding ;
and after so long an interval for discussion and formation of opinion, the
Congregationalisms of England and Wales will be prepared to make an unequi-
vocal declaration in favour of a scheme of public education in which all
denominational differences shall be completelg ignored. We are not called
upon to say that such a scheme is immediately possible, or that it would be
desirable to abolish the existing system of grants in aid of denominational
effort ; but we are called upon to declare that that is the end which we desire
to see resulting from all our educational experiments, and at which we shall
always steadily aim."

Here it is stated that we shall give up "the religious element" in the educa-
tion of the people, but we are to " get as much Government money as we can,"
under the pretence that we " always steadily aimed'' at doing without it. But
so thoroughly are we opposed to endowments, and especially religious and public
endowments — not Lady Hewley's Charity, which we fought the Unitarians for —
that as another specimen of our " steady aim" : —

" Papers will be read on several topics of the very first importance and urgency.
How we may best avail ourselves of the [Endowed /] Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge for the education of our ministers," is the title of a paper which Mr.
Neville Goodman proposes to read. Dr. Morton Brown will propound " A
possible basis of union between Congregationalists and Presbyterians ;" and the
Bev. E. R. Conder, of Leeds, will read a paper on ' The Church and the
Congregation.' "

After these dislocations of our principles, we are treated to this finale : —
" It is proposed to hold a public meeting in Queen-street Chapel on the Tuesday
evening, and a meeting for working men next evening in the Agricultural Hall.
A conversazione in the Com Exchange will wind up the general meetings of the
Union on Thursday evening, but on the same evening a detachment of Congrega-
tional leaders will be told off for duty in Birmingham, and the noble town hall
of the midland metropolis will be used for the enunciation or our victorious
principles."

Now, if the editor had said " the renunciation of our victorious principles "
the whole would be complete. Perhaps '• enunciation of our victorious
principles " is a misprint for the " renunciation " of them.

For what have we left, of all that was " most surely believed amongst us"
when I entered the Congregational ministry?

His ego gratiora dictu alia esse scio : sed me vera pro gratis loqui, etsi
meum ingenium non moneret, necessitas cogit.

Vellem equidem vobis placere, Quirites, sed multo malo vos salvos esse,
qualicumque erga me animo futuri estis.*

* Livii, Lib. Ill, cap. lxTiii.

37G

I know that there are other things to be said that are more agreeable ; bnt
even if my disposition did not prompt me to speak truth in preference to
flattery, necessity forces me. I could wish, indeed, to please you, but I would
far rather that you should be safe, with whatever feelings you may hereafter
regard me.

Broomhall Park, Sheffield, October, 1869.

THE DISSENTING WOBLD :

AN AUTOBIOGKAPHY.

By the BEV. BREWIN GRANT, B.A.,

Congregational Minister of Twenty-jive Years'' standing.

WITH TESTIMONIALS

As to Ability, Character, and Usefulness, from the following

EMINENT NONCONFORMIST DIVINES: —

DR. JOSEPH PARKER

JOHN ANGELL JAMES

JAMES PARSONS

DR. MORTON BROWN

DR. S. M'CALL

T. ARNOLD

ROBERT A. VAUCHAN, BA.

ALEX. THOMSON, M.A.

R. D. WILSON

CEORCE LEGGE, LL.D.

DAVID LOXTON

THOMAS RAFFLES

DR. HALLEY

ISAAC NEW, (Eaptist.)

WATSON SMITH

J. M. CHARLTON, M.A.

CHARLES VIKGE, (Baptist.

ENOCH MELLOR, M.A.

WM. ANDERSON, LL D. (Presbyterian.)

J. W. RICHARDSON

THOS. SWANN, (Baptist.)

THIRD ENLARGED EDITION, PRICE FIVE SHILLINGS,
WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.

London : W. Macintosh, Paternoster Row ; and direct by Post from the
Author, (Sheffield,) for GO Stamps.

377

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

From the PALL MALL GAZETTE.
"AN EXTRAORDINARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

" No doubt it must have been a great relief to him (the author) to sit down and
write out his grievances, greater still to publish them, greatest of all to induce
the public to buy and read them. And with some such slight comment we were
at first disposed to take our leave of Mr. Brewin Grant and his book, but as we
were alternately attracted and repelled by the naive sincerity and virulence of
the style, it struck us that both the man and the book threw a very singular tiqht
upon the manners and the customs of the Dissenting world, and might afford

the GENERAL PUBLIC SOME USEFUL MATTER FOR REFLECTION.

" His superiors evidently recognised iu him a young man of considerable
talent, and were glad to employ him in a wild raid against the Infidel and the
Romanist, but when it was found that, like an exceedingly explosive shell, he
might go off at any moment and injure friends and foes alike [by attacking
' heresy ' among themselves] we can hardly wonder at their desire to get rid of
him, although we may regret that they were not more scrupulous in the

MEANS THEY USED.

" He preached before his examiners on the appropriate text, ' Who art thou,
0 great mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.' At college
he appears to have been an incorrigible wag.

" Mr. Grant showed that he could be independent as well as witty, by refusing
to submit to a method of inquisitorial discipline which certainly reflects little
credit upon the college."

" It is surprising that with his very extensive course of reading he failed to
imbibe more enlightened views of human life, and more liberal [heterodox] ideas
of theology."

Respecting the Rivulet Controversy the Reviewer, who is " Broad Church,"
says : — " In a rash moment a reverend brother published a book of poems called
'The Rivulet; Hymns for the Heart and Voice,' which were found to deviate
in some parts from the orthodox doctrine. The scathing satirist, the British.
Banner, was immediately down on the poor little ' Rivulet ' with a very severe
article. In vain does the venerable Mr. Binney intercede. Mr. Newman Hall,
Mr. Baldwin Brown, and a few other leading Dissenters tried to cast their
aegis over the prostrate poet. But Mr. Brewin Grant leads on the attack.
Can anything be too severe for a man who is weak on the Atonement ?"

On the New College Neological Controversy, the Reviewer observes : —

" It seems that Professor Godwin, of New College, St. John's Wood, hailing
the rise of liberal opinions amongst Dissenters, and priming himself for a
little more freedom of speech, published a book in which he advocated a mild
form of what is commonly known as Broad Church theology. This proved too
much for the self-constituted champion of orthodoxy. The liberal pastors
" Messrs. Binney, Newman Hall, and a few other liberal-minded leaders
of Dissent," again try to stop their" "impulsive" "friend," who "appears
hardly aware" of the "slow but sure progress" "the new tenets"
have been " making amongst Dissenters."

This opposition to ' the new tenets ' fostered by the ' liberal pastors,'
was the author's first offence ; when he found it ' necessary to write ' — ' in

378

capitals of no ordinary dimensions ' — " Christ shall be magnified." But his
' capital ' offence was in not lauding and magnifying Mr. Gladstone, with ' the
liberal pastors.' They had borne much and long with him, but this was too
much : — "After a dashing attack upon Mr. Gladstone his own long-suffering com-
munity became too 'hot for him. They seem to have borne long with him for
the sake of his great talents, but when it became evident that his zeal was not
according to knowledge — [i.e., not according to Gladstone] — we regret to write
that they cast him out of their synagogue [where Gladstone is worshipped].
The act was no doubt an act or flagrant injustice. There was no trial, no
defence, and no formal proceedings of any kind. They objected to what he
himself calls his ' offensive honesty,' and the Congregational Union simply
omitted his name from the list of their accredited ministers. This is nearly
equivalent to depriving a man of his orders, for no congeegation will engage
a minister so discredited."

" It is just as well to note these blots in Dissent at a time when a new con-
stitution is being framed for the disestablished Church in Ireland. Another
blot which Mr. Grant points out and from which he has suffered is, that the
school and college is allowed to extend over and influence a man's future career."
" His (Mr. Grant's) earnestness) makes one regret that no room can be found
for him in the religious community to which he belongs. At the same time, the
unfortunate narrowness of his opinions [not being Broad Church] and the
unbridled nature of his eloquence [not being pliable] renders it exceedingly
difficult to utilize him at a time when something like an intellectual [i.e. rational]
revival is traversing the Dissenting sects.

However, we suppose all religious bodies have their difficulties in connection
with ministers whom it is neither possible to silence nor to soothe, but it is
certainly remarkable that whilst the Congregational Union are turning out the
Eev. Brewin Grant for his orthodoxy, the Bishops of the English Church are
trying to eject the Kev. Charles Voysey for heresy."

N.B. — The above review instinctively fixes on the Autobiographer's original
offence — orthodoxy — which was completed by his "dashing attack on Mr.
Gladstone."

From the EDINBURGH EVENING C OUR ANT.

This ' Hal o' the Wynd,' who has fought hitherto for the cause of a consistent
orthodoxy, and is now, in the book before us, forced to fight ' for his ain hand.'
Mr. Brewin Grant and all his brethren may suffer from every possible evil which
a prejudiced Presbytery may, under malign influences, inflict, while neither he
nor any one of them has a single advantage, such as trial by one's peers, appeal
from court to court, and fair play in public reports, which are guaranteed as
the most elementary advantages of Presbyterian brotherhood. The book has
all the interest which we always feel in vigorous personal collisions, especially
when in the record of these we find questions answered and points cleared up,
regarding which the ordinary reader of the newspapers has only a very vague
and hazy notion. The Congregational Dissenters are handled rather roughly in
this autobiography. We have no pleasure in seeing any large and respectable
body of men, especially religious men, under 'such unmerciful mauling ; but it
seems to be the only means of redress an individual has in the body where Mr.
Grant has had a standing of twenty-five years. We promise his readers a
rich treat.

379

From THE PUBLIC OPINION.
The Dissenting World: An Autobiography, by the Rev. Brewin Grant,
has reached a second [now third] edition. In it the author makes a fearless,
open, and straightforward attack upon certain practices which have lately obtain-
ed among Congregationalists, and the exposure here made tells sadly against
them. To keligious bodies, whether Dissenters or not, this volume

WILL BE OF MORE THAN ORDINARY INTEREST."

From THE 3IORNING ADVERTISER.
" It is a work that cannot fail to nutter the Volscians of the Congregational
world. The Rev. Brewin Grant, of Sheffield, has long been known amongst the
Independent portion of the Nonconformist denominations for his ability and bold
ness, and his eminent controversial talents, both as a speaker and writer.''
" Such an insight into the secret working of Congregationalism as will create no
small interest in the religious world. The work is, certainly, a racy one — ' spicy'
would probably be a better term."

From THE ROCK.
"Avery clever and caustic exposure of the worst features of Dissent, and
the less scrupulous editors of Dissenting periodicals, by one who evidently knows
them too well."

The KELSO MAIL AND GAZETTE for the Counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk,
Berwick, and Northumberland.
The author of this work, a minister of the Congregational body, has made
some noise in the religious world. It must be admitted that he has fought with
indomitable energy. A giant in controversy, his autobiography has some
pages of stirring interest. If Mr. Grant's ex-parte statements are to be taken
as correct, The English Independent must be as great an anomaly as the Scotch
Free Churchman. The author's name has been erased from the roll of
the Congregational ministers in a manner which would have done no discredit
to the Holy Inquisition. We wish him all success, and meantime assure our
readers they will find in the volume he has written much entertainment.

From THE CAERMARTHEN JOURNAL.
' ' The Rev. Brewin Grant has done signal service by exhibiting the inner
life of ' The Dissenting World.' " " The book deserves a wide circulation."
"Even for youth it provides most pleasant reading. It illustrates the labours of
one who has ever evinced a love of truth and a hatred of tyranny, and who now
casts off the political shackles of his religious brethren from pure love of
country and Protestantism."

From the ESSEX AND WEST SUSSEX GAZETTE.
" Mr. Grant is a remarkable man, and his eventful career is, for several
reasons, well worth recording. We admire his talents and his fearlessness, and
sturdy consistency and adherence to his principles. His book is valuable as a
description of the training and experiences of a Dissenting Minister of more
than ordinary intelligence. We purpose to make extracts from it from time to
time. Churchmen, as well as Dissenters, ought also to read Mr. Grant's very able
pamphlet entitled, ' Gladstone, and Justice to Ireland.' "

From the KING'S COUNTY CHRONICLE.
" The revelations made as to the working of the Congregational Union, in
this volume, will at once show how inapplicable such a system would be to the

380

conditions of society in Ireland, even with the assistance of Mr. Gladstone's
'church body.' "We are thankful to Mr. Grant for his exertions in favour of a
persecuted church, although he has reaped the reward of being persecuted him-
self. The Autobiography commences with the boyhood of the author, and
brings us through his college career, when he evinced that independence of
disposition, and energy, which has characterised him through life."

From the INQUIRER. (A Unitarian Organ.)

" Mr. Brewin Grant is not a person with whom we can feel any particular
interest. He is diametrically opposed to us in theological opinioiix, represent-
ing that narrow, hard, and dogged orthodoxy, of which the late Dr. Campbell,
of the British Standard was the hierophant. Like bis great chieftain, he is a
redoubtable malleus hereticorum; wages fierce warfare against 'the three R.'s' —
Romanism, Eitualism, and Rationalism. It is clear that he still professes to
he a Congregational minister; equally clear that the Year-Book, like our own
Unitarian Almanack, comprises the names of both settled and unsettled ministers."
" We cannot help feeling a little sympathy with him. We hope he will come off
the victor in the approaching contest" [with the Congregational Union.]

" Mr. Grant's amusing sketches of his college life, both at Highbury and at
Glasgow, will be interesting to old students."

"In Mr. Grant's contests with the Secularists" "his ready wit seems to
have silenced many of the usual captious objections of his opponents. One of
his audience at Sheffield having asked the usual infidel question : Does Mr.
Grant believe that Balaam's ass spoke?" he replied, "Why skouldn"t I ? It
might have been a miracle in those times ; but it is very common now-a-days."

"Notwithstanding our essential differences from Mr. Grant, we close his
book with a kindly feeling towards him."

From the BATH CHRONICLE.
" The volume has made so much stir in the English Nonconformist world,
and has brought the writer so prominently before the English public, that but
few of our readers can need to be informed of its existence. The book has a more
permanent interest than that which relates to the author's share in the Irish
Church controversy. Mr. Grant's book is most important,"

From the YORKSHIRE POST AND LEEDS INTELLIGENCER.

" The Rev. Brewin Grant has achieved a reputation, which extends far
beyond the denomination to which he belongs, for his energetic labours in his
vocation, and his fearless denunciation of rationalism and sacerdotalism, which,
in mysterious concert and with renewed vigour, are assailing in these days,
from opposite quarters, the simplicity of the Christian religion. For a quarter
of a century he has laboured in the ministry of the Congregational body, with a
zeal and ability which, had they been combined with a due regard of sycophancy,
would have obtained for him a commanding position among the leaders of that
denomination. But unfortunately for Mr. Grant, there is nothing so offensive
to modern Independency as independence. Belief in Mr. Gladstone is practically
imposed as an indispensable article of faith on all who minister in their pulpits.
Disloyalty to that sacred name is treated as an unpardonable sin, drawing after
it ministerial deposition and secret excommunication."

" Mr. Grant's work will be welcome to his numerous friends as a record of
his active career, and will be useful amongst a wider cirrfe, as showing how
apt ultra-Liberalism is to degenerate into the gror-scst illiberality, and how
ecclesiastical tyranny of the meanest kind can indulge its malevolence under the
cloak of evangelical freedom."

331

From the EXETER AND PLYMOUTH GAZETTE.

" To a large section of the community — indeed to two or three sections —
the name of the Eev. Brewin Grant is familiar. In the first place, he is a Congre-
gationalist Minister, noted for considerable ability and a rare facility of expres-
sion in the pulpit and on the platform. There have been disputes within the
Congregationalist body in which Mr. Grant has been ranged on one side, while
such men of mark as Newman Hall, Edward Miall, and Thomas Binney have
been prominent on the other." " He upsets them, routs them, and disturbs
tbe common-place placidity of their lives. 'Can't you let it alone?' is the
ordinary sentiment about a good many troublesome subjects. Now Mr. Grant
cannot ' let it alone' He will make no sacrifice for a quiet lite."

" Something more than a year ago he found that Protestantism was being
undermined by the Romish Church and the extreme Bitualists, and he deter-
mined to resign his living, and to go on a crusade against these enemies, as he
had gone fifteen years before on a crusade against Secularism. But there was
something more. His inquiries led him, as they would any impartial investigator,
to the conclusion that there was a close connection between the secret warfare
against Protestantism and the movement for the disestablishment and disen-
dowment of the Irish Church." " Thereupon Mr. Grant became an ardent opponent
of Mr. Gladstone's Irish Church scheme. But in the Congregationalist body
this was heresy. "What was to be done ? Why the Bev. Brewin Grant has been
made an outcast of the sect. His name has been struck off the list of ministers
in the most arbitrary possible manner. No charge has been made. He has
never been called upon for an explanation, and the committee have refused to
explain; but his name has been quietly erased from the Year Book. Anything
so monstrous and so inexcusable we never read of in the history of ecclesiastical
polity or Church government. It is the crowning instance of the Liberal
intolerance of which we have read so many examples of late. Dissenters and
Churchmen, Liberals and Tories alike should read the book. His
autobiography is very frank. All must agree that he is an honest, able, zealous
man, and a faithful minister of Protestant Christianity."

From the WILTS AND GLOUCESTERSHIRE STANDARD.

" Mr. Grant writes as one who being a Dissenter in heart as well as in
profession, is very jealous for the honour of Dissent, and wishes to remove from
it a crying evil, which mars its usefulness, tarnishes its honour, and cripples its
power. "He is as loyal to Nonconformity as ever he was ; and it is to his brother
Nonconformists, particularly those of his own sect, that he addresses his book ;
which should be read by the members as well as the ministers of
evert Dissenting body in the kingdom.

From the SHREWSBURY JOURNAL .

" TVe have never seen Dissent so completely turned inside out, as in this
able book."

,; For being so outspoken and politically independent, the (officials of the)
religious body of which Mr. Grant has been so long a distinguished member,
attempted to put him down and altogether extinguish* him. The attempt has
failed, as is well known. We recommend Mr. Grant's interesting volume to our
readers."

*': Extinguish him.:' — N.B. In 1866, a member of the Congregational Union
Committee announced on the placard of his paper — ' The Eev. Brewin Grant

extinguished." In 1869, the so-called Christian World put the same announce-
ment on its placards : probably in a few more years he may be "extinguished "
again !

From the STAFFORDSHIRE SENTINEL. (A Liberal Organ.)
" At the instigation of the Eev. J. A. James, he entered on a crusade" " in
which he did signal service to the cause of Christianity." " He has unfortunately"
taken " a position of antagonism" to leading men of his sect. " The statements,
however, (being founded en " letters,") we may assume to be correct." " His
present isolation from his own denomination appears to have arisen chiefly from
his erratic course againt Mr. Gladstone's Irish Church policy." " Such a book
cannot well be matched." " Charity would have witheld it from the world."
From the CARLISLE PATRIOT.
" A curious and most interesting book, the moral of which is that the
Independent body (the most pronounced political section of Dissenters) will
tolerate no species of Independence which they have the means of crushing.
Mr. Grant was for 25 years a distinguished minister of that persuasion ; but last
year he ventured to oppose Mr. Gladstone's Irish Church policy, as inimical to
the best interests of Protestantism ; and for that reason the wire-pullers of the
body executed him ministerially, — that is, with a paltry meanness unparalleled,
they omitted his name from the official list of ministers for 1869, which is
tantamount to unfrocking him. If this Dissenting inquisition had their way,
they would rival Hildebrand in intolerance, if not in genius. We commend
Mr. Grant's autobiography to all those who wish, inferentially, to know the
value of a State Church."

From the CHURCH OPINION.

" An extraordinary book, brimful of matter of a readable and novel kind. It
seems a genuine autobiography ; incidents in Mr. Grant's earlier career being
related, unimportant in themselves perhaps, and yet greatly adding to the value
of the book as the authentic record of a man's life, — a bold and a brave man
too, as he has had the hardihood and courage to stand up against the community
of which he was, and still is, a minister.

" No such book as this has been published for many years — not since Mr.
Frazer published " My Life," " Your Life," &c, Those books were avowedly
fictions, based on fact perhaps, but this is said to be fact throughout. Places
are referred to, dates are given, names are added, so that verification is possible
and easy. "We have Mr. Grant's early training, his going to college, then to
Glasgow University, his seeking a settlement, his removal to Birmingham, his
discussion with Mr. Holyoake, the Rivulet controversy, his settlement at Sheffield,
&c, &c, down to the present time, shewing that in all matters that came before
him Mr. Grant has taken no unimportant part."

" The entire book is very amusing and even entertaining, and will be read
by all those icho wish to know something of the inner life of Nonconformity.
When a third edition is demanded, we would suggest that it should be better
printed and bound — even if that would entail a slight increase of price ; we think
it destined to become very popular — the life it depicts being so new and

STKANGE TO MANY OF US."

N.B. — The English Independent declined to advertise the above.

PAWSON AND BRAILSFORD, PRINTERS, HIGH-ST. AND MULBERRT-ST., SHEFFIELD.

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