The history of persecution, ...

Front matter

Glass

8ook_^i

(Si3

BOOK I. Of Persecution amongst the Heathens

SECT. 1.

Abraham persecuted ------ 33 — 34

SECT. 2.

Socrates persecuted amongst the Greeks ... 34 — 38

SECT. 3.

Egyptian Persecutions ._-..- 39 — 40

SECT. 4.

Persecutions by Antiochus Epiphanes - 40 — 42

SECT. 5.

Persecutions under the Romans ----- 42 — 54

SECT. 6.

Persecutions by the Mahometans - 54 — 55

BOOK II. Of the Persecutions under the Christian Emperors - 56

SECT. 1.

Of the Dispute about Easter 67—61

SECT. 2.

Of the Persecutions under Constantine - 61 — 76

SECT. 3.

The Nicene Council, or first general Council - - 76 — 103

SECT. 4.

The first Council of Constantinople; or 5 second general Council 103—112

SECT. 5.

The Council of Ephcsus; or, third general Council 112 — 114

Yl CONTENTS.

SECT. 6.

The Council of Calcedon ; or, fourth generalCouncil Page 114 — 128

SECT. 7.

The second Council at Constantinople; or, fifth general Council 129—136

SECT. 8.

The third Council of Constantinople; or, sixth general Council - 136—140

SECT. 9.

The second Nicene Council; or, seventh general

Council 141—143

BOOK III. Of Persecutions under the Papacy, and particularly

the Inquisition 144 — 145

SECT. 1.

Of the Progress of the Inquisition - 145 — 155

SECT. 2.

Of the Officers belonging to the Inquisition - - 155 — 181

SECT. 3.

Of the Crimes cognizable by the Inquisition, and the

Punishment annexed to them - 182 — 194

SECT. 4.

Of the manner of proceeding before the Tribunal of

the Inquisition 194—203

Of the present state of the Inquisition at Goa, extracted from Dr. Buchanans Christian Researches in Asia .... - 263 — 284

BOOK IV. Of Persecutions amongst Protestants - - - 285

SECT. 1.

Luther's opinion concerning Persecution - - 286

SECT. 2.

Calvin's Doctrine and Practice concerning Persecution 288 — 300

SECT. 3.

Persecutions at Bern, Bazil, and Zurich - 300 — 303

SECT. 4.

Persecutions in Holland, and by the Synod of Dort - 303 — 311

CONTENTS. Vii

SECT. 5.

Persecutions in Great Britain ... Page 311 — 354

SECT. 6.

Of Persecutions in New England, in America - - 354 — 360

Conclusion

SECT. 1.

Who have been the great promoters of Persecution - 360 — 363

SECT. 2.

The things for which Christians have persecuted one another have generally been of small importance --.-.. 363 — 359

SECT. 3.

Pride. Ambition, and Covetousness, the grand sources

of Persecution .... - 369 — 373

SECT. 4.

The Decrees of Councils, and Synods of no Authority in matters of Faith - 372 — 377

SECT. 5.

The imposing Subscription to human Creeds, unreasonable and pernicious - 377 337

SECT. 6.

Adherence to the sacred Scriptures, the best security

of Truth and Orthodoxy - 387 — 390

SECT. 7.

The Christian Religion absolutely condemns Persecution for conscience sake - 390 — 413

II

His Majesty's most gracious interference with respect to the Religious Liberties of his subjects, and

of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent's 416 — 419 III.

Some circumstances relating to Lord Sidmouth's Bill 422 — 427

IV r .

Lord Viscount Sidmouth's proposed Bill - - 427 — 433

Vlll CONTENTS.

V.

Meeting of the Committee of Privileges of the Societies

of the late Rev. John Wesley - - Page 433 — 441 VI.

Proceedings of other Committees .... 441 — 448

VII.

Further proceedings of the Committee of Privileges,

with general remarks - 448 — 453 VIII.

The number of petitions presented in the House of

Lords against Lord Sidmouth's Bill - 453 — 457

IX.

Lord Sidmouth's speech on the second reading of his

Bill, with those of other noble Lords - 457 — 472 X.

Remarks on the effects of Lord Sidmouth's Bill - 472 — 473

XI.

Letter of the Right Honourable Spencer Percival,

Chancellor of the Exchequer, with remarks 473 — 475 XII.

Steps taken to obtain the new Toleration Act - 476 — 489

XIII.

The New Toleration Act itself .... 490—498

XIV.

Observations upon the aforesaid Act, with practical

directions - - 498 — 505

XV.

Remarks on the Edict recently issued by the Emperor of China against Christianity, with the horrible Edict itself ... - 505—508 XVI.

Biographical notes .... - 509 — 520

THE

LIFE

OF

DR. SAMUEL CHANDLER

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Chandler was descended from ancestors heartily engaged in the cause of Nonconformity, and great sufferers for liberty of conscience. His paternal grandfather was a respectable tradesman at Taunton, in Somersetshire. He was much injured in his fortune by the persecutions under Charles the Second, but " he took joyfully the spoiling of his goods, knowing in himself that he had in heaven a better and an enduring substance." The father of Dr. Chandler was a dissenting minister of considerable worth and abilities, who spent the greater part of his life in the city of Bath, where he maintained an honourable name.

Our author was born at Hungerford, in Berkshire, in the year 1693; his father being at that time the pastor of a congregation of protestant dissenters in that place. He early discovered a genius for literature, which was carefully cultivated ; and being placed under proper masters, he made a very uncommon progress in classical learning, and especially in the Greek tongue. As it was intended by

B his friends to bring him up for the ministry, he was sent to an academy at Bridgewater, under the care of the Rev. Mr. Moore : hut he was soon removed from thence to Gloucester, that he might become a pupil to Mr. Samuel Jones, a dissenting minister of great erudition and abilities, who had opened an academy in that city. This academy was soon transferred to Tewkesbury, at which place Mr. Jones presided over it for many ye,ars with very high and 'deserved reputation. Such was the attention of that gentleman to the morals of his pupils, and to their progress in literature, and such the skill and discernment with which he directed their studies, that it was a singular advantage to be placed under so able and accomplished a tutor. Mr. Chandler made the proper use of so happy a situation ; applying himself to his studies with great assiduity, and particularly to critical, biblical, and oriental learning. Among the pupils of Mr. Jones were Mr. Joseph Butler, afterwards Bishop of Durham, and Thomas Seeker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. With these eminent persons he contracted a friendship that continued to the end of their lives, notwithstanding the different views by which their conduct was afterwards directed, and the different situations in which they were placed.

Mr. Chandler, having finished his academical studies, began to preach about July, 1714; and being soon distinguished by his talents in the pulpit, he was chosen, in 1716, minister of the Presbyterian congregation at Peckham, near London, in which station he continued some years. Here he entered into the matrimonial state, and began to have an in-

LIFE OF DR. CHANDLER. O

creasing family, when, by the fatal South-sea scheme of 1720, he unfortunately lost the whole fortune which he had received with his wife. His circumstances being thereby embarrassed, and his income as a minister being inadequate to his expences, he engaged in the trade of a bookseller, and kept a shop in the Poultry, London, for about two or three years, still continuing to discharge the duties of the pastoral office. It may not be improper to observe, that in the earlier part of his life, Mr. Chandler was subject to frequent and dangerous fevers ; one of which confined him more than three months, and threatened by its effects to disable him for public service. He was therefore advised to confine himself to a vegetable diet, which he accordingly did, and adhered to it for twelve years. This produced so happy an alteration in his constitution, that though he afterwards returned to the usual way of living, he enjoyed an uncommon share of spirits and vigour till seventy.

While Mr. Chandler was minister of the congregation at Peckham, some gentlemen, of the several denominations of dissenters in the city, came to a resolution to set up and support a weekly evening lecture at the Old Jewry, for the winter half year. The subjects to be treated in this lecture were the evidences of natural and revealed religion, and answers to the principal objections against them. Two of the most eminent young ministers among the dissenters were appointed for the execution of this design, of which Mr. Chandler was one, and Mr. afterwards Dr. Lardner, who is so justly celebrated for his learned writings, was another. But after

B 2 some time this lecture was dropped, and another of the same kind set up, to be preached by one person only ; it being judged that it might be thereby conducted with more consistency of reasoning, and uniformity, of design ; and Mr. Chandler was appointed for this service. In the course of this lecture, he preached some sermons on the confirmation which miracles gave to the divine mission of Christ, and the truth of his religion ; and vindicated the argument against the objections of Collins, in his " Discourse of the grounds and reasons of the Christian Religion." These sermons, by the advice of a friend, he enlarged and threw into the form of a continued treatise, and published, in 8vo. in 1725, under the following title : " A Vindication of the Christian Religion, in two parts : I. A Discourse of the nature and use of miracles. II. An Answer to a late book, entitled, A Discourse of the grounds and reasons of the Christian Religion. ,, Dr. Leland observes, that in this work our author " clearly vindicates the miracles of our Saviour, and shews, that, as they were circumstanced, they were convincing proofs of his divine mission." But though Mr. Chandler refuted the arguments of Collins against Christianity, he was not unwilling to do justice to his merit, and therefore candidly said,* in the preface to his own book, " The preface to the Discourse of the grounds and reasons is, in my judgment, an excellent defence of the liberty of every one's judging for himself, and of proposing his opinions to others, and of defending them with the best reasons he can, which every one hath a right to, as a man and a Christian."

Our author also zealously opposed any interference of the civil magistrate in the defence of Christianity : " Though the magistrate's sword," says he, " may very fitly be employed to prevent libertinism, or the breach of the public peace by men's vices, yet the progress of infidelity must be controuled another way, viz. by convincing men's consciences of the truth of Christianity, and fairly answering their objections against it. Is it not surprising, that men, who take their religion upon trust, and who therefore can know but little of the intrinsic worth of Christianity, or of that strong evidence that there is to support it, should be in pain for it, when they find it attacked by any new objections, or old ones placed in a somewhat different view from what they were before ; or that they should call out aloud to the magistrate to prevent the making them, because they know not how otherwise to answer them ? But that men of learning and great abilities, whose proper office it is to defend Christianity, by giving the reasons for their faith, and who seem to have both ability and leisure thus to stand up in the behalf of it, should make their appeal to the civil power, and become humble suitors to the magistrate to controul the spirit of infidelity, is strangely surprising. It looks as if they suspected the strength of Christianity ; otherwise, one would think they would not invite such strange and foreign aids to their assistance, when they could have more friendly ones nearer at home, that would much more effectually support and protect it ; or at least, as though they had some other interest to maintain than the cause of common Christianity j though at the same time they would t) LIFE OF DR. CHANDLER.

willingly be thought to have nothing else in view, but the service and honour of it. If the scheme of our modern deists be founded in truth, I cannot help wishing it all good success ; and it would be a crime in the civil magistrate, by any methods of violence, to prevent the progress of it : but if, as I believe, Christianity is the cause of God, it will prevail by its own native excellence, and of consequence needs not the assistance of the civil power." A second edition of this work was published in 1728. Having presented a copy of it to Archbishop Wake, his grace expressed his sense of the value of the favour in the following letter, which is too honourable a testimony to Mr. Chandler's merit to be omitted. It appears from the letter, that the Archbishop did not then know that the author was any other than a bookseller.

« Sir,

a Though I have been hindered by business, and company extraordinary, the last week, from finishing your good book, yet I am come so near the end of it, that I may venture to pass my judgment upon it, that it is a very good one, and such as I hope will be of service to the end for which you designed it.

" I think you have set the notion of a miracle upon a clear and sure foundation; and by the true distinction of our blessed Saviour, in considering him as a Prophet sent from God, and as the Messiah promised to the Jews, have effectually proved him, by his doctrine and miracles, to be the one, and by his accomplishment of the prophecies of the Old Testament to be the other.

" I cannot but own myself to be surprised, to see so much good learning and just reasoning in a person of your profession ; and do think it a pity you should not rather spend your time in writing books, than in selling them. But I am glad, since your circumstances oblige you to the latter, yet you do not wholly omit the former. As we are all, who call ourselves Christians, obliged to you for this performance, in defence of our holy religion, so I must, in particular, return you my thanks for tTie benefit I have received by it ; and own to you that I have, as to myself, been not only usefully entertained, but edified by it. I hope you will receive your reward from God for it. It is the hearty wish of, " Sir, your obliged friend,

" William Cant."

" Lambeth House, Feb. 14, 1725."

Besides gaining the archbishop's approbation, Mr. Chandler's performance considerably advanced his reputation in general, and contributed to his receiving an invitation, about the year 1726, to settle as a minister with the congregation in the Old Jewry, which was one of the most respectable in London. Here he continued, first as assistant, and afterwards as pastor, for the space of forty years, and discharged the duties of the ministerial office with great assiduity and ability, being much esteemed and regarded by his own congregation, and acquiring a distinguished reputation both as a preacher and a writer.

In 1727, Mr. Chandler published " Reflections on the conduct of the modern deists, in their late writings against Christianity: occasioned chiefly by two books, entitled, A Discourse of the grounds and reasons, &c. and the Scheme of literal prophecy considered : with a preface, containing some Remarks on Dr. Rogers's preface to his eight sermons." In this performance he exposed the unfair methods that were employed by the enemies of

Christianity in their attack of it, and the disingenuity of their reasoning ; and in his preface, he combated some sentiments which had been advanced by Dr. Rogers, canon residentiary of Wells, and chaplain to the Prince of Wales, to the prejudice of free inquiry, and the right of private judgment. Mr. Chandler, who considered what had been advanced by Dr. Rogers, " in favour of church power and authority, as strongly savouring of the spirit of persecution, could not refrain from examining the Doctor's scheme, which was to blend religion and politics together, or to make religion not a personal but a state matter. Accordingly he has offered some very spirited and judicious remarks on this subject, with a design to shew that religion, as it implies a belief of certain principles, and a peculiar method of worshipping God, said to be contained in revelation, is a purely personal matter ; and that every man ought to be persuaded in his own mind, of the nature of its proofs, and doctrines, and principles, and to dissent from the public establishment, if he finds it erroneous in any, or every, article of its belief; since no man is to be saved or damned hereafter, for the faith or practice of his superiors in church or state, and because neither nature nor revelation hath given them, nor can give them, a right or power to judge or believe for others*

In 1728, he published, " A Vindication of the antiquity and authority of Daniel's prophecies, and their application to Jesus Christ ; in answer to the objections of the author of the Scheme of literal prophecy considered." " Among other prophecies of the Old Testament, which the author of the

4 Literal Scheme' would not allow to have any literal reference to the Messiah, he reckoned those of Daniel ; and to make out this the more clearly, he began with endeavouring to prove, that they are no prophecies at all ; that the book of Daniel was not written by the famous Daniel mentioned by Ezekiel ; and that it contains a manifest reference to, or rather, an history of, things done several hundred years after that Daniel's time. This attempt' to depreciate the authority and antiquity of a book, which our author esteemed a noble testimony to the truth of Christianity, induced him to try whether the * Literal Schematisms' criticisms were just, and his arguments conclusive; with which view he enters into a particular examination of the Eleven Objections, wherein Mr. Collins had comprised what he had to urge against the book ; and, upon the whole, he concludes, that these objections are of no weight, and therefore do not deserve any regard from the thinking and impartial part of mankind. He then produces some distinct arguments to prove the proper antiquity of Daniel's book ; and having so far established its authority, he proceeds to the consideration of the several prophecies contained in it, in order to obviate the exceptions of Mr. Collins against the Christian interpretation of them, and at the same time to shew, that the explications w T hich this writer would substitute in their stead, are founded on palpable mistakes, and consequently false ; all which he has executed with great learning and acuteness."

Mr. Chandler had a strong conviction of the pernicious nature, and dangerous tendency, of the

c

LIFE OF DR. CHANDLER.

Romish religion, and was desirous of exposing the persecuting spirit by which that church has been so much characterised : and it was with this view that he published, in 1731, in two volumes, 4to., a translation of " The history of the inquisition, by Philip a Limborch:" to which he prefixed, " A large introduction, concerning the rise and progress of persecution, and the real and pretended causes of it." In this introduction Mr. Chandler says, " I wdll not deny, but that the appointing persons, whose peculiar office it should be to minister in the external services of public and social worship, is, when under proper regulations, of advantage to the decency and order of divine service. But then I think it of the most pernicious consequence to the liberties of mankind, and absolutely inconsistent with the true prosperity of a nation, as well as with the interest and success of rational religion, to suffer such ministers to become the directors-general of the consciences and faith of others, or publicly to assume, and exercise such, a power, as shall oblige others to submit to their determinations, without being convinced of their being wise and reasonable, and never to dispute their spiritual decrees. The very claim of such a power is the highest insolence, and an affront to the common sense and reason of mankind ; and wherever it is usurped and allowed, the most abject slavery both of soul and body is almost the unavoidable consequence. For by such a submission to spiritual power, the mind and conscience is actually enslaved; and by being thus rendered passive to the priest, men are naturally prepared for a servile subjection to the prince, and

LIFE OF DR. CHANDLER.

for becoming slaves to the most arbitrary and tyrannical government. And I believe it hath been generally found true by experience, that the same persons who have asserted their own power over others, in matters of religion and conscience, have also asserted the absolute power of the civil magistrate, and been the avowed patrons of those admirable doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance for the subject. " At the close of this piece our author observes, that the use of the view which he had given of the rise and progress of persecution, was, " to teach men to adhere close to the doctrines and words of Christ and his apostles, to argue for the doctrines of the gospel with meekness and charity, to introduce no new terms of salvation and Christian communion, not to trouble the Christian church with metaphysical subtilties and abstruse questions, that minister to quarrelling and strife, not to pronounce censures, judgments, and anathemas, upon such as may differ from us in speculative truths, not to exclude men from the rights of civil society, nor lay them under any negative or positive discouragements for conscience sake, or for their different usages and rites in the externals of Christian worship ; but to remove those which are already laid, and which are as much a scandal to the authors and continuers of them, as they are a burden to those who labour under them.' 9 This piece was written with great learning cuteness, but was attacked

by Dr. Berriman, in a pamphlet, entitled, " Brief remarks on Mr. Chandler's introduction to the history of the inquisition." Our author published, in the form of a letter, an answer to these Remarks,

c 2 in which he defended himself with great spirit. This engaged Dr. Berriman to write " A Review of his remarks ;" to which Mr. Chandler replied, in " A second letter to William Berriman, D. D. &c. in which his Review of his remarks on the introduction to the history of the inquisition is considered, and the characters of St. Athanasius, and Martyr Laud, are farther stated and supported." This publication was soon followed by another, entitled, " A Vindication of a passage of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London, in his second pastoral letter, against the misrepresentations of William Berriman, D. D. in a letter to his lordship ;" and here the controversy ended. As our author had the firmest persuasion, that there was nothing in the principles of protestant dissenters which rendered them unfit to hold offices in the state, or in corporations, and that it was a manifest injustice to deprive them of the common rights of citizens, he likewise published, in 1732, in 8vo., " The dispute better adjusted about the proper time of applying for a repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, by shewing that some time is proper ; in a letter to the author of the Dispute adjusted, viz. the Right Reverend Dr. Edmund Gibson, Lord Bishop of London."

Among other learned and useful designs which Mr. Chandler had formed, he began a Commentary on the Prophets ; and in 1735, he published, in 4to., " A Paraphrase and critical commentary on the prophecy of Joel ;" which he dedicated to the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, Esq. Speaker of the House of Commons. He afterwards proceeded a

LIFE OF DR. CHANDLER.

great way in the prophecy of Isaiah ; but before he had completed it, he met with the MS. lexicon and lectures of the famous Arabic professor Schultens, who much recommends explaining the difficult words and phrases of the Hebrew language, by comparing them with the Arabic. With this light before him, Mr. Chandler determined to study the Hebrew anew, and to drop his commentary till he should thus have satisfied himself, that he had attained the genuine sense of the sacred writings. But this suspension of his design prevented the completion of it ; for engagements of a different kind intervened, and he never finished any other commentary on the prophets. He continued, however, to publish a variety of learned works, and displayed a very laudable zeal in support of religious liberty, and of the truth of divine revelation.

In 1736, he published, in 8vo., " The History of Persecution, in four parts; viz. I. Amongst the heathens. II. Under the Christian emperors. III. Under the papacy and inquisition. IV. Amongst protestants. With a preface, containing remarks on Dr. Rogers's Vindication of the civil establishment of religion."* In 1741, appeared, in 8vo., " A Vindication of the history of the Old Testament , in answer to the misrepresentations and calumnies of Thomas Morgan, M. D. and Moral Philosopher." Dr. Leland observes, that in this work of our author he has clearly proved, that Morgan " hath been guilty of manifest falsehoods, and of the most gross perversions of the scripture history, even in those very instances in which he assures his reader he has kept close to the accounts given by the Hebrew historians." He likewise published, in opposition to the same writer, in 1742, "A Defence of the prime ministry and character of Joseph."

In 1744, Mr. Chandler published, in 8vo., " The witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ reexamined, and their testimony proved entirely consistent." This was a very important controversy, which was at that time much agitated ; and Dr. Leland, who stiles our author's piece upon the subject " a valuable treatise," observes, that, in his last chapter, " he hath summed up the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus with great clearness and judgment." In 1748, he published, in 8vo., " The case of subscription to explanatory articles of faith, as a qualification for admission into the christian ministry, calmly and impartially reviewed; in answer to, 1. A late pamphlet, entitled, The Church of England vindicated, in requiring subscription from the clergy to the Thirty-nine Articles. 2. The Rev. Mr. John White's Appendix to his third letter to a dissenting gentleman. To which is added, The speech of the Rev. John Alphonso Turretine, previous to the abolition of all subscription at Geneva, translated from a manuscript in the French." His writings having procured him a high reputation for learning and abilities, he. might easily have obtained a doctor's degree in divinity, and offers of that kind were made him ; but for some time he declined the acceptance of a diploma, and, as he once said, in the pleasantness of conversation, because so many blockheads had been made doctors. However, upon making a visit to Scotland, in company with his friend, the Earl of Finlater and Seafield, he, with great propriety, accepted of this honour, which was conferred upon him without solicitation, and with every mark of respect, by the two universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. He had, likewise, the honour of being afterwards elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of Antiquaries.

On the death of King George the Second, in 1760, Dr. Chandler published a sermon on that event, in which he compared that prince to King David. This gave rise to a pamphlet, which was printed in the year 1761, entitled, " The history of the man after God's own heart •," wherein the author ventured to exhibit King David as an example of perfidy, lust, and cruelty, fit only to be ranked with a Nero, or a Caligula ; and complained of the insult that had been offered to the memory of the late British monarch, by Dr. Chandler's parallel between him and the King of Israel. This attack occasioned Dr. Chandler to publish, in the following year, " A Review of the history of the man after God's own heart ; in which the falsehoods and misrepresentations of the historian are exposed and corrected." In this performance our author, though he could not defend the character of the Jewish prince from all the accusations that were brought against him, yet sufficiently cleared him from many of them. His learning and sagacity also appeared to great advantage in this piece; and his skill in the Hebrew language, and his extensive acquaintance with biblical learning, enabled him to correct a variety of mistakes into which his opponent had fallen,

16 LIFE OF DR. CHANDLEK.

from his taking many things as he found them in our common English translation, without paying any regard to criticisms, various readings of particular passages, or the opinions of expositors and commentators. It must, however, be confessed, that in this controversy Dr. Chandler expressed himself with too much warmth and asperity, which was indeed not unusual with him in his polemical writings. But this being a subject on which he was determined to enter into a full investigation, he prepared for the press a more elaborate work, which was afterwards published in two volumes, 8vo., under the following title : " A Critical history of the life of David : in which the principal events are ranged in order of time : the chief objections of Mr. Bayle, and others, against the character of this prince, and the scripture account of him, and the occurrences of his reign, are examined and refuted ; and the psalms which refer to him explained." As this was the last, it was, likewise, one of the best of Dr. Chandler's productions. We may safely assert, that, in point of judgment, it is far superior to Dr. 'Delany's Life of King David, and that it is every way equal to it with respect to literature. The explanations of the psalms, which relate to the Jewish monarch, are admirable ; and the commentary, in particular, on the sixty-eighth psalm, is a master-piece of criticism. The greatest part of this work was printed off at the time of our author's death, which happened on the 8th of May, 1766, in his seventy-third year.