ERASTIAN PHILOSOPHY. 77 dark ages, in the rife apostasy; so that error mainly was held JUVAT INTEGROS ACCEDERE FONTES, religiously and with all our hearts: 'Tis better, and delightful too, to go To the spring-head, where living waters flow; While pagans in the distant plain drink the vile wash below. Indeed, the word Erastianism was revived and familiar, and often in use, especially by the Free Church, both ministers and people. When the Reformation was introduced into England, and all the clergy were coerced to adopt it, by the last and the proudest and the vilest of their Henries, the first layman that ever was proclaimed the Head of the Church. there, many of them acquiesced in what they did not prefer, and vindicated their conformity on principles of the Erastian. philosophy, though then under another name, which they professed to believe and adopt, and of which the three cardinal and related points were afterward embodied and shown to be the following: (1) The Church has the instructive and the suasory power alone, without all right of government and discipline. (2) All right of government is in the magistracy alone, extending to the Church as well as the State. (3) It is the will of God, and the duty of all subjects, that they submit to the magistracy, and obey their authority and their ordinances. It is hard to tell whether this system of the German physician* be more impious or absurd. Let it suffice, with the Christian philosopher, to observe that it is utterly unscriptural, and that the Free Church acted nobly and well in recording their protest so manfully and so decisively against it. The keys of the Kingdom were never given to Cæsar, more than to the Pope, the Sultan, or the Great Mogul; or than * De Excommunicatione Ecclesiastica. Erastus died 1583. 78 GREATNESS TURNS SLOWLY. plenary wisdom was given to that pragmatical theological adventurer and ecclesiastical charlatan, Erastus. Now, in turning from establishment to dissent, in fact, in painful and perilous reality, it was breaking their fall, or, rather, conveniently and well vindicating their rise, to talk of Erastianism, which, as an idea and as a technical term, had become, for nearly three centuries, about obsolete in the British world; and which they could condemn in itself, and charge on their opponents, both with manifest justice, and also with less show of inconsistency-though some of us believe that previously they were, virtually, all Erastians together! A steamer of magnificent dimensions, and of keel one sixteenth of a mile in length, as now often seen afloat on the surface of some American river, sails gallantly, and in a style of beauty and pleasure, provoking almost the envy of spectators. But she can not turn as shortly and as soon as a smaller one! She consults her own magnificence by necessity, in making a larger gyration in the water, sailing in curvilinears less abrupt, and more as if keeping the tangent of rectitude in her extensive course; but if it is requisite that she turn at all, if her safety and her usefulness are the consecutive result, who shall object to the fact, because its circle is wider, and the seamanship more artistic and complicated, and the time required longer, when they see her nobler navigation afterward in the right direction? Fuit hæc sapientia quondam Publica privatis secernere, sacra profanis.-HOR. I own the moral; nor with thought elate, Perhaps it may not be out of place here to remark, in few words of episode, on the domestic relations of Chalmers and his family-surely with no view of revealing secrets or of DOMESTIC SANCTITIES. 79 indelicate intrusion. Nor will I venture here as far as I could, though it is little that I know, compared with the knowledge of others, in respect to the moral, and the mental, and the social scenery of Chalmers at home. I do this with the less hesitancy, however, as I have mainly no memories that are not agreeable, and no themes that may not reflect honor on the loving and the lovely inmates of his house. He had six daughters, never a son; and his bearing in his family seemed delightfully to exemplify the virtues of the husband and the father. Affection and familiar intercourse, with confidence and filial reverence, seemed to pervade the Greatness was softened and adorned by more obvious goodness. His breakfasts were comparatively public; one could hardly be a guest there without meeting several other strangers. Ordinarily, I think, after ten or twenty minutes of friendly greeting and general converse, the Bible was placed on the breakfast-table near his plate, the guests were seated around it, he read a select passage, with sometimes a remark or explanation: mansion. Then, kneeling down to heaven's eternal King, No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear; Together hymning their [Redeemer's] praise, In such society, yet still more dear, While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere. Compared with this how poor religion's pride, In all the pomp of method and of art; But haply, in some cottage far apart, And in his BOOK OF LIFE the inmates poor enroll 80 HIS TENDERNESS AND COURTESY. On one occasion, at his request, I led the devotions of the family. On another, in 1846, myself and daughter were there, with several others, and among these the venerable Dr. Beecher and his lady, of Cincinnati. I thought, of course, that he would ask the doctor to officiate; but he did not. In his prayer at that time, the last I ever heard him offer, he seemed really enlarged and devout in an eminent degree. Such simplicity and reverence, such humility and adoration, such earnestness and confidence, such comprehension and friendly sympathy-and Chalmers in prayer; so absorbed and so solemn, so appropriate and so believing, so infantile and so importunate, it was really good to be there! He very kindly and copiously referred to his present American friends; prayed for America; and expatiated over the world and its wants, especially over those of the Church and the ministry; commending them to the eternal mercy of his God, and pleading for their due redress, only for the sake of Christ, his Lord and his Redeemer. On a subsequent occasion, he said to me, alone, in a tender and impressive manner, I fear I have erred this morning, and regret that I omitted to ask Dr. Beecher to engage in prayer with us. He is indeed a venerable person, and I have a very great respect for him. His career of usefulness has been large, and his reputation has traveled before him into Scotland. 1. Yes; and in reference to the great Temperance Reformation, its progress owes more, probably, to his original agency, than to that of any man living; under God, he is properly the father of it. His "six sermons" gave the original projectile force, while his whole influence and his eminent example engaged others in the cause. Next to him, perhaps, were the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, President of Amherst College, and the Rev. Dr. Justin Edwards, of Andover. These were the first three of David's men for the work, and an honored triumvirate in the thrice useful achievement. MRS. CHALMERS AND HER PLAN. 81 2. Think you I could have hurt his feelings in not asking him? In some degree, possi Often, at breakfast, we 1. Certainly, dear sir, not at all. Whatever your reasons might have been, I know too well the magnanimity of your venerable guest to suppose him capable of impeaching them. May I ask what they were, doctor? if the question is proper! 2. Indeed, I scarce know myself. bly, it arose from want of thought. have strangers and foreigners of the clergy, and when I ask them to pray with us, they excuse themselves, and this induces an awkward and unpleasant embarrassment for a moment. Hence I have become a little sensitive, or, to prevent the infelicity, I proceed in the action. But if you at all think, in this, that I could have injured the feelings of our honored friend, I will make a suitable explanation, or you may do so on my behalf, and I will heartily thank you for it, as it would greatly grieve me to wound his feelings, even by the shadow of indifference or neglect. I assured him that I would, if I could conceive there was any occasion for it; and I record the circumstance as evincing the delicacy and brotherly kindness of Chalmers, since, if Dr. Beecher ever sees this, it will be as novel to him as to any other reader. As an item of characteristic moral beauty and refinement, as well as amiable humbleness and heavenliness of mind, it is quite worthy of notation and imitation. When, in 1833, I was newer as his guest, it was my formal plan and stern purpose to be a listener, rather than a speaker, in his presence. Mrs. Chalmers perceived this, and remarked to me apart, that she hoped, if I desired to please the doctor and his family, I would more fully sustain my part in the conversation. Besides, she added, it will be a real assistance to him. He has always to entertain all these visitors; and sometimes it is quite a burden to him, especially as his cares, and thoughts, and duties are commonly forced to march in another direction; so you must help him; and |