declaration of his Christianity was sufficient; but,
strange to say, his apology has not a word about it.
We are left to gather it from some expressions which
imply that he is a Protestant; but we did not wish
to inquire into the niceties of his orthodoxy.
To his friends of the
old persuasion the distinction
was impertinent; for what cares Rabbi Ben Kimchi for
the differences which have split our novelty?
To the great body of Christians that hold the Pope’s
supremacy—that is to say, to the major
part of the Christian world—his religion
will appear as much to seek as ever. But perhaps
he conceived that all Christians are Protestants,
as children, and the common people call all that are
not animals Christians. The mistake was not very
considerable in so young a proselyte. Or he might
think the general (as logicians speak) involved in
the particular. All Protestants are Christians;
but I am a Protestant;
ergo,
etc.:
as if a marmoset, contending to be a man, overleaping
that term as too generic and vulgar, should at once
roundly proclaim himself to be a gentleman. The
argument would be, as we say,
ex abundanti.
From whichever cause this
excessus in terminis
proceeded, we can do no less than congratulate the
general state of Christendom upon the accession of
so extraordinary a convert. Who was the happy
instrument of the conversion we are yet to learn:
it comes nearest to the attempt of the late pious
Doctor Watts to Christianize the Psalms of the Old
Testament. Something of the old Hebrew raciness
is lost in the transfusion; but much of its asperity
is softened and pared down in the adaptation.
“The appearance of so singular a treatise at
this conjuncture has set us upon an inquiry into the
present state of religion upon the stage generally.
By the favor of the church-wardens of Saint Martin’s
in the Fields, and Saint Paul’s, Covent Garden,
who have very readily, and with great kindness, assisted
our pursuit, we are enabled to lay before the public
the following particulars. Strictly speaking,
neither of the two great bodies is collectively a
religious institution. We had expected to have
found a chaplain among them, as at Saint Stephen’s,
and other Court establishments; and were the more
surprised at the omission, as the last Mr. Bengough,
at the one house, and Mr. Powell at the other, from
a gravity of speech and demeanor, and the habit of
wearing black at their first appearances in the beginning
of fifth or the conclusion of fourth acts,
so eminently pointed out their qualifications for such
office. These corporations, then, being not properly
congregational, we must seek the solution of our question
in the tastes, attainments, accidental breeding, and
education of the individual members of them.
As we were prepared to expect, a majority at both houses
adhere to the religion of the Church Established,
only that at one of them a pretty strong leaven of
Catholicism is suspected,—which, considering