ment, of local and temporary import. The Address will explain itself, and will contribute, it is earnestly hoped, to allay some of the idle fears and to still some of the raging bigotry of the present crisis, in which religious passions are recklessly aroused and artfully engaged on the side of Political Faction. ADDRESS ΤΟ THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND. INTRODUCTION. In all the questions wherein religion and morality are concerned, it becomes Christians, especially Protestants, to recur, in the first place, to that which they all acknowledge an infallible standard, and Protestants the only infallible standard, of truth and right-THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I know not any point of conduct on which a Christian, if he will impartially consult them, may not find there the amplest information of his duty. The precepts and the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in particular, as well as the actions and the writings of his apostles, furnish us with materials in abundance, both for forming our principles and for directing our practice. In the present controversy, may I be allowed to ask, has that recourse been had by the parties on either side to this pure fountain of light, which might have been expected? It does not appear that there has. Let our first inquiry then be, What is the mind of the SPIRIT on this subject? The It has been pleaded that the present dispute, in regard to the repeal of certain penal statutes against Popery, though it be in part, is not wholly of the religious kind; it is in a great measure also a political question. safety of the constitution, it is said, in Church and State, may be affected by the issue. This, in the second place, will deserve our serious consideration, that we may discover not only what truth there is in it, and to what conclusion it would lead, but who the persons are whom it ought chiefly to influence. It may not prove unprofitable, in the third place, to inquire briefly what are those expedients which Chris tians, and especially pastors, in a consistency with both the spirit and the letter of the Gospel, are authorized to employ for repressing error and superstition, and promoting the belief and obedience of the truth? Such a candid and impartial attention as the importance of the subject requires, to the following attempt at solving these questions, is earnestly requested from every pious reader. The most zealous person, whatever side he has chosen, ought to reflect that, being a man, he is fallible, and consequently, that it is possible he may be mistaken in his choice. We have the best authority to affirm that a man may be zealously affected, yet not well affected ;* may have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Hearken, then, to the apostle's admonition : "Believe not every spirit," not even your own implicitly, for we often "know not what manner of spirit" we of; but try the spirits, whether they be of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world." “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."§ 66 66 are CHAPTER I. The Doctrine of the Gospel in regard to Persecution, particularly of Persecutors. The name of persecutor is justly become so odious, that I know no sect of Christians who do not disclaim the character with abhorrence. Even Papists will not confess that they persecute. By their own account, they only administer wholesome severities, for recovering those who have swerved from the truth, or, if irreclaimable, for deterring others from following their pernicious courses, for defending themselves against their machinations, and for giving a timely check to the contagion of heresy. These, say they, are purposes the most salutary imaginable. They maintain, further, that what is done in support of truth, however cruel it may appear, is not persecution; that those punishments only deserve to be branded with that opprobrious appellation, which are employed in § Is. viii. 20. * Gal. iv. 17. + Rom. x. 2. ‡ 1 John iv. 1. defence of error. But as they themselves are always in the right, they can never be in hazard of inflicting these. So says the Romanist, and, by saying so, demonstrates, either that he is himself a persecutor on principle, or else that there is no such thing as persecution on the earth. For what is any man's immediate criterion of truth, but his own opinions, in which it is but too evident that the most confident are not always the best founded. On this footing, the more opinionative a man is, (which is far from saying the more wise he is,) the more he feels himself entitled to be the scourge of all who think differently from him. Nor is it possible for any man to have another rule here but the strength of his conviction, which, if it entitle one, entitles all equally-Jew, Pagan, Christian or Mahometan. I do not know that any beside Roman Catholics barefacedly avow this doctrine, but I should be justly chargeable with gross partiality did I aver that no sect but theirs act in a way which this hypothesis alone could justify. Other parties do not, with equal arrogancy, claim infallibility, but often, with greater inconsistency, they exact such a respect to their decisions, as can be vindicated only on the supposition that they are infallible. The true definition of persecution is to distress men, or harass them with penalties of any kind, on account of an avowed difference in opinion or religious profession. It makes no material odds whether the distress be inflicted by legal authority or by the exertion of a power altogether lawless. In the former case, the evil is chargeable on the community; in the latter, solely on the perpetrators and their abettors. But this difference in regard to the authors, does not alter the nature of the thing. Nor does the greater or less severity of the punishments make any difference but in degree. It is also proper to observe, that the true subject of either toleration or persecution, is not opinion simply, but opinion professed. To claim to ourselves the merit that we do not persecute for conscience' sake, because we tolerate all the opinions which a man keeps to himself and never discloses to us, is so exceedingly absurd, that one is at a loss to conceive how a man can be in earnest who advances it. If that only be persecution which is aimed at secret and concealed opinion, and if opinion revealed be a proper subject of correction by the magistrate, who does not incur thereby the imputation of intolerance, it is evident that our Lord himself was not persecuted, his apostles were not, as little were the primitive Christians or the Protestants. And who, shall we say, are persecutors by this criterion? This wonderful plea cancels the charge at once against Jews, Mahometans and Pagans, who never wreaked their vengeance against a man's secret sentiments, but always against those which he propagated, or at least professed. Nay, if it were possible to devise a plea that could clear Papists themselves from the guilt of persecuting, it would be this. Having said thus much for fixing the meaning of the word, and ascertaining what is properly denominated persecution, I shall inquire into its lawfulness on the principles of Christianity. Were I to plead the cause of toleration with Pagans, Mahometans or Deists, I should, for topics of argument, recur directly to the light of reason and the dictates of conscience; I should examine what the principles of humanity and natural right suggest on this subject. This is the only common ground on which we could enter the lists together. But as it is solely with Christians and Protestants that I am concerned in the discussion of this question, I shall, waving all other topics, recur to sacred writ, particularly the NEW TESTAMENT an authority for which we all profess the profoundest veneration. Here we have a full and unerring directory in all that concerns the discharge of every Christian duty, particularly in what regards the propagation and defence of the Gospel. The methods whereby, according to the command of our Lord, his religion was to be propagated, were no other than teaching and the attractive influence of an exemplary life. "Go," said Christ to his disciples, "and teach all nations.* Preach the gospel to every creature."† And, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." And when their doctrine should meet with no return but contempt and scorn, they are enjoined only to warn such despisers, by shaking off the dust of their feet, of the spiritual dangers to which they expose themselves. § Nay, if men should proceed so far as to return * Matt. xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 15. § Matt. x. 14. |