ich are attached in this
country to the Catholic Priesthood. It is one of which my accusers have
before now said much,--the charge of reserve and economy. They found it
in no slight degree on what I have said on the subject in my History of
the Arians, and in a note upon one of my Sermons in which I refer to it.
The principle of Reserve is also advocated by an admirable writer in two
numbers of the Tracts for the Times, and of these I was the Editor.

Now, as to the Economy itself[20], it is founded upon the words of our
Lord, "Cast not your pearls before swine;" and it was observed by the
early Christians more or less, in their intercourse with the heathen
populations among whom they lived. In the midst of the abominable
idolatries and impurities of that fearful time, the Rule of the Economy
was an imperative duty. But that rule, at least as I have explained and
recommended it, in anything that I have written, did not go beyond (1)
the concealing the truth when we could do so without deceit, (2) stating
it only partially, and (3) representing it under the nearest form
possible to a learner or inquirer, when he could not possibly understand
it exactly. I conceive that to draw Angels with wings is an instance of
the third of these economical modes; and to avoid the question, "Do
Christians believe in a Trinity?" by answering, "They believe in only
one God," would be an instance of the second. As to the first, it is
hardly an Economy, but comes under what is called the "Disciplina
Arcani." The second and third economical modes Clement calls _lying_;
meaning that a partial truth is in some sense a lie, as is also a
representative truth. And this, I think, is about the long and the short
of the ground of the accusation which has been so violently urged
against me, as being a patron of the Economy.

[20] Vide Note F, _The Economy_.

Of late years I have come to think, as I believe most writers do, that
Clement meant more than I have said. I used to think he used the word
"lie" as an hyperbole, but I now believe that he, as other early
Fathers, thought that, under certain circumstances, it was lawful to
tell a lie. This doctrine I never maintained, though I used to think, as
I do now, that the theory of the subject is surrounded with considerable
difficulty; and it is not strange that I should say so, considering that
great English writers declare without hesitation that in certain extreme
cases, as to save life, honour, or