The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

MARCH 15, 1856.

three to one about Sir Solomon," the whole pack opened,
and the air resounded with every shnde of odds and betting.
OW half an hour before the signal of departure fur the
bill, the Prince himself would make his appearance in the
crowd. I think I see him now, in a green jacket, a
white hat, and tight nankeen pantaloons, and shoes, dis-
tinguished by his high-bred manner and handsome person.
Be was generally accompanied by the late Duke of
Tedford, Lord Jersey, Charles Wyndham, Shelley, Brum-
men, Day, Churchill, and oh! extraordinary anomaly, the
little old Jew, Travis, who, like the dwarf of old, followed
in the train of royalty.

History of Christian Churches and Sects from
the Earliest Ages. By the Rev. J. B. Mars-
den, M.A. Two Vols. London : Bentley.
Tax author of this work is already known in
the world of letters by his publication on the
Puritans. He tells us in his preface that the
pages of his present performance " owe their
" existence, and the work itself something of
" its character, to the suggestions of Mr.
" Bentley." It is certainly a production highly
creditable to the author, though it is defective
in some respects. The clergy will not find it
sufficiently technical to please them, and those
who would wish to pursue the subject further
would desire to have more exact references,
and a more copious citation of authorities.
Yet the work has great value on account of its
vigorous common sense, and clear, manly style.
It is scarcely correct to suppose that eccle-
siastical history has never been written in a
popular manner. It is true, however, that
there is no popular work accessible to the
majority of English readers treating of the
history of Christian sects. The subject is one
of great interest to minds of a high order;
but to appreciate such reading requires a
taste for logical exercitation, and habits of
independent reflection. "It is impossible,"
wrote a deceased philosopher, " to examine
the interior of Christian sects in Europe
" without thinking more highly of them.
"They often exert great force of reason to
"rescue their tenets from dangerous conclu-
" sions. Something they owe to the civilisa
" tion of ages, but much more to the genius of
"Christianity itself; so meek and affec-
"ti mate, that it can soften barbarians, and
" warm even sophists themselves."
Mr. Marsden has classified his subject into
furty-four different heads, alphabetically ar-
ranged. He commences with "Abyssinia,
Church of," and concludes with " Wesleyan
New Connection." This classification is rather
arbitrary, and there are some sects (though
trifling in number) which deserve a place in
the nomenclature of religion But every
author has his favorite system of arranging his
matter, and Mr Marsden says, with much
truth, "that it has been too much the aim of
" ecclesiastical writers to enumerate sects
" which never had a distinct existence of their
" own, as mere eddies in the current of un-
" fixed opinion." We have ourselves been
often struck with the uniformity of plan pur-
sued by Romanists and Rationalists in re-
ference to the number of sects. They both
take a malignant delight in enumerating the
varieties of interpretation put upon the Bible.
Bosseet, and all the Jesuits, have enlarged
neon the "variations of Protestants," and in
the appencliz to Voltaire's " Age of Louis the
Fourteenth " there is an exaggerated account
of the numbers of Protestant sects in France.
The object of such artifices is transparent.
Both those who embrace the fallacy of
"Infallibility," and those who decline any
standard save that of what they call the
" Logic of Pure Reason," work by the same
means for deadening or destroying the vital
faith in Scripture.
Mr. Marsden's account of the Church of
England is written with eminent ability,
and, though we differ from his treatment
^f some of the points mooted in it, we
should heit .
glad to see in a more expanded
form It occupies about one hundred and
sixty pages, and is impartial, elegant, and
grave. He gives full space to the history of
our national Establishment in times anterior
to the Reformation. Describing the Lollards
who suffered at Tenterden, he observes, after
stating their • opintons, "These were the prin-
I
viPles of a large party. Its strength lay in
that middle class peculiar to England, who
" are neither awedaby power, nor seduced by its
" blandishments „ (vol. ii., p. 209) which

THE PRESS.

class, " peculiar to England," lies at the foun.
dation of the British Constitution.

The writing of Mr. Marsden throughout is
of a thoroughly Protestant character, but in
discussing the Reformation in England he
does not gloze over some of its errors. " The
" execution of the Maid of Kent, for heresy,
" has left," he writes, " an ignominious brand
"on the advisers of Edward VI." Elsewhere,
alluding to other blots, he writes, " These
" were the blemishes of the Reformation, but
" they belong to the age itself rather than to
" the actors, much less the cause. and the
" Reformed Religion is not responsible for the
" infirmities of its first leaders" (Went, p. 229).
We fear that the Jesuits might put in the
same plea of " the age itself." But with more
closeness the author remarks, "The evil prac-
" tices of the nobility of that day, their rapacity
" and selfishness, have been more injurious to
" the Church of England." It would have
been well here to have particularised some of
that nobility. Even Mr. Hallam, we recol-
lect, takes care to specify " the Riches, the
" Russells, and the Pagets." Upon Cranmer
Mr. Marsden writes with tenderness. He
calls him "that great man" (p. 225). Allud-
ing to the act which stains his fame, he writes,
" The gentle spirit and failing courage of an
" old man of sixty-seven gave way " Such is
a better tone for dealing with Cranmer's case
than the harsh and vituperative censure often
penned on him by modern writers, who seem
bent on giving aid to the Church of Rome.
On Laud, also, Mr. Marsden writes with
forbearance :
Laud was no doubt sincere ; the wisdom of his cause is
another matter It is not easy to believe that he enter-
tained the doctrinal views of the Reformation, or the
Reformers' dread of superstition, or their abhorrence of the
corruptions of the Church of Rome. . . . He hoped,
by religious pageantry and lofty notions of priestly rule, to
give force and solidity to the Church of England. But he
mi-erably failed, and drew the Church of England with
him to destruction.

The same temperate tone is taken by Mr.
Marsden throughout. Of the Nonjurors, so
roughly treated by
,Mr. Macaulay, the author
writes :

They were men in general of quiet, harmless lives, or
political enthusiasts, contented to suffer for conscience
sake, and not often detected in any attempt to upset the
existing Government.
The Sacheverel agitation, also, is related in
a calm style. The author makes a remark on
the House of Peers which is now worth re-
collecting. Alluding to the excitement and
irrational fanaticism of tbose days, he ob-
serves:--

It is on occasions such as these that the House of
Peers has so often commended itself to the deep respect
of the English people and shown that, if the House of
Commons give full expression to their will, the House of
Peers is no less necessary to interpose sometimes between
the democracy and its own excesses. But, in fact, it is
impossible, at this period, not to be struck with the con-
trast between the wisdom and moderation of the House of
Lords and the factious turbulence of the House of Com-
mons and the Convocation.

On the question of the Methodists the
author's tone is generous He observes that
" the bishops, wiser and more moderate than
" the clergy, had not thought proper to con-
" demn Wesley." He then remarks, with
much force :

The Church of Rome, in her deep sagacity, could have
seized the opportunity, drawn Wesley into closer commit•
nion, and made him the instrument of reviving a languish.
ins( eause. She could have made allowance for a zeal
which, if errat'c, was fervent; for a loyalty to the Church
which, if self willed, was perfectly sincere. We of this
generation owe no gratitude to the age which cast forth the
Methodists. We suffer still from the wrongs it infUcted on
those righteous men.

Similar liberality is shown elsewhere. There
is no contemptuous writing, no snarling po-
lemical bitterness Speaking of the evils of
patronage in the Church, the author ob-
serves, " Tts evils lie on the surface, and they
" are by no means slight." After enumerating
some of the more obvious results, he says :
It [the system of patronage] fills our choicest parishes
with men rather well bred than deeply learned—men of
courtesy and benevolence rather than a fervent zeal: and
consequently the parish church wears to the poor man too
frequently something of a cold and aristocratic air. He
is spoken to by his s•iperior in the presence of his in-
feriors, and he retires to the dissenting chapels, not that he
prefers dissent, but that he meets with sympathy, and feels
himself at home.

The strength of the Church of England"
according to Mr. Marsden, " lies not so much
ig the wealth of her endowments, in iler

257

" ancient associations, in her well-ordered con-
" stitutions, as in the piety, zeal, and wisdom
" of her episcopate and her parochial clergy."
And he asks the reader to imagine what would
be the state of England, not in three centuries,
but in as many weeks, "If the clergy were
" silenced, the churches were closed, and if
"the parish schools were deserted by the
" minister and his family, and if the fountain
" of theological literature, fed in every shape by
" a regularly educated clergy, were suddenly
" dried up ?" and he then adds :
What would there be left in England worth preserving?
How far could voluntary churches supply the dismal void ?
These considerations may lead the reader, as they have led
thousands, whether churchmen or pious dissenters, de-
voutly to thank God for the preservation of the Church of
England.

We prefer the writing of Mr. Marsden on
English subjects of religion to his observa-
tions on foreign Churches. He does not seem,
for example, well versed in the literature of
the modern French Protestant Church. He
makes no allusion to the writings of Coquerel
and Bungeuer. The first of these able writers
demolished Strauss's notorious work in mas-
terly style. Mr. Marsden does not, we think,
attribute sufficient importance to the Greek
Church. He writes, "In doctrines the Greek
" Church differs but little from the Church of
" Rome. It receives tradition as a joint rule
" of faith with Holy Scripture;" and elsewhere,
" The Greek Church does not assign infalli-
" bility to its head, the Patriarch, or ad-
" dress him as the Vicar of Christ." There
are about fifty millions of the Greek Church
in Russia, and twelve in Turkey, and the ad-
herents of the Church altogether are set down
as sixty-five millions.

Now, the total number of the Roman
Catholics, according to " Battersby's Registry
for the Whole World" (a partial authority), is
set down at one hundred and sixty-four mil=
lions. The fact of sixty-five millions of
(Greek) Catholics, with traditions themselves,
and rejecting that of the Papacy, is a stern
fact, which a Jesuit finds very hard to digest
when offered to him in controversy.

The tone of Mr. Marsden on the Church of
Rome is that of vigilance, as distinct from
apathy or positive alarm. "At present," he
says, " her position in France, and throughout
" the whole of Christendom, is that of an in-
" stitution which seems to be conscious of no
" d.cay, struggling intensely for the recovery
" of all that it possessed in the days of Hilde-
" brand or Innocent th, Third, and often with
" great success." The Bill of 1829 he calls
" that momentous law " (vol. ii., p. 214) which
was " followed by visible signs of renewed ac-
" tivity and zeal. Churches, colleges, monaste-
" ries, and schools sprung up with amazing
" activity." Again :—" For the last quarter of
" a century the position of the Church of Rome
" in England has been that of perfect unity,
" and unquestionably of great success."
" But," he continues, " that success has
" dazzled the leaders of the Church, and
" brought on a conflict with the Government
" and Protestant feeling of England, which is
" not likely to subside." And, after narrating
the excitement on the Wiseman aggression, he
concludes :

The Church of Rome had raised up against herself a
new race of combatants. The English clergy of the last
generation were scarcely acquainted with the rudiments of
the controversy. It is HOW their familiar study, and one
in which not a few of them are profoundly versed. The
result of the struggle is vet to be seen. The two parties
once more stand to their arms, and Protestants and
Roman Catholics have resolved to renew the solemn
conflict which the Reformation opened but did not set
at rest.

In the same quiet, measured tone the author
discusses and describes each of the various
sects of which he treats. The volumes are
readable and instructive. They would still be
more valuable with copious foot-notes and
special references to the authorities. The
style is at once so liberal and comprehensive
that the work deserves to reach a second
edition, and those defects could easily be
cured. It is entirely deficient in statistics,
and " blue be oks " have set the taste of the
age upon "hard facts." that sentimentalists
may lament it. The poll of the various creeds,
if we may so speak, might be exhibited in
tabular statements, compiled with care.

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