us as luminous as it is
sublime.... They are such writers as had never before existed.... No
Church but the English Church could have produced them." Of John Smith
he says, "My value for him is beyond what words can do justice to."
The works of Whichcote, Smith, Cudworth, and Culverwel are happily
accessible enough, and I beg my readers to study them at first hand. I
do not believe that any Christian could rise from the perusal of the
two first-named without having gained a lasting benefit in the
deepening of his spiritual life and heightening of his faith.]

[Footnote 359: A writer who signs himself S.P. (probably Simon
Patrick, bishop of Ely), in a pamphlet called _A Brief Account of the
new Sect of Latitude Men_ (1662), vindicates their attachment to the
"virtuous mediocrity" of the Church of England, as distinguished from
the "meretricious gaudiness of the Church of Rome, and the squalid
sluttery of fanatic conventicles."]

[Footnote 360: Compare with these extracts the words of Leibnitz: "To
despise reason in matters of religion is to my eyes certain proof
either of an obstinacy that borders on fanaticism, or, what is worse,
of hypocrisy."]

[Footnote 361: See Appendix C.]

[Footnote 362: The classical reader will be reminded of Lucretius,
iii. 979-1036. Smith, however, would not have relished this
comparison. He devotes part of one sermon to a refutation of the
Epicurean poet, in whom he sees a precursor of his _bete noire_,
Hobbes!]

[Footnote 363: Compare with this the following passage of Jean de
Labadie (1610-1674), the founder of a mystical school on the
Continent: "Plusieurs sont bien aises d'ouyr dire qu'ils sont
justifies par Jesus-Christ, laves de leurs peches en son sang par la
foi, par la repentance et par le bapteme chrestien, et volontiers ils
I'embrasent comme Justificateur, comme crucifie et mort pour eux; mais
peu prennent part a sa croix, a sa mort, pour se faire spirituellement
mourir avec Luy, crucifier leur chair avec la sienne, et porter en
eux-memes les vives marques de sa croix et de sa mort. Peu le goutent
comme Justificateur au dedans par l'Esprit consacrant et immolant le
vieil homme a Dieu et par une pratique vraiment sainte, laquelle
dompte le peche."]

LECTURE VIII

"For nothing worthy proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven; wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,
And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith!
She reels