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 THE FINAL APPEAL IN MATTERS OF FAITH. 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 ST. GEORGE'S CATHOLIC CHURCH, 
 
 SOUTHWARK, 
 On Sdnday, the 17th of March, 1850, 
 
 THE RIGHT REV. N. WISEMAN, 
 
 BISHOP OF MELIPOTAMDS, V. A. L. 
 
 LONDON : 
 THOMAS RICHARDSON AND SON. 
 
A SERMON, 
 
 &c. 
 
 ' MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD." 
 
 John xviii. 36. 
 
 On this day, my dear Brethren, on which the 
 Church commences her solemn commemoration of 
 our blessed Redeemer's Passion, I would gladly 
 have addressed myself to that most tender and most 
 profitable subject. I should have been glad to intro- 
 duce you into the sorrowful commencement of our 
 Passion-tide ; but there are times when it may 
 appear as though the very finger of God, through 
 tlie workings of His Providence, points out to us 
 themes which it would be a neglect of duty to pass 
 by, in those more particularly whose office it is to 
 endeavour to direct the thoughts and judgments 
 of those committed to their charge, so as to suggest 
 to them what they should fear, what they should 
 hope, and, what is of far more importance to us, for 
 what they should pray. 
 
 You are all aware that within these few days there 
 has occurred an event calculated, according to the 
 opinion of all men, in a most important, and, per- 
 haps to us, in a most consoling way, to affect the 
 
state of Religion in this country, and, more par- 
 ticularly the position of that Establishment, which, 
 mider the name of the Church of England, is 
 most especially connected with the religious and 
 spiritual destinies of the great mass of the people. 
 You are aware, in fact, — for I know well what has 
 brought you hither in such multitudes, — you are 
 aware, that I am about to speak to you clearly and 
 definitely, according to my humble but sincere judg- 
 ment, respecting a late most important decision, 
 which affects necessarily the doctrines as well as 
 the position of that Body to which I have allu- 
 ded ; a decision which I know not how I can better 
 characterise, than by saying, that it suggests to me, 
 and I am sure it has suggested to many, the thought, 
 — *'Is this the Kingdom of God? Is this the King- 
 dom of Christ, which is not of this world ? Is that 
 which has been so judged by powers which at once 
 strike us as of earth, earthly, the Kingdom that 
 owns no mastership, no authority here below, that 
 cannot be transmitted through the ordinary chan- 
 nels by which earthly rule is handed down? Can 
 this be the Kingdom of Christ, which is not in any 
 way a Kingdom of this world?" Such, my Breth- 
 ren, is truly, then, my intention. Much that I shall 
 have to say to you will bear the form of an historical 
 sketch; because it is necessary to 4lave clear princi- 
 ples respecting the mode in which the Church has 
 ever upheld her authority, in order to come to a just 
 judgment respecting that decision which holds the 
 minds of so many, trembling, at this moment, in 
 the balance ; scarcely knowing whether it may not 
 
prove a final and fatal judgment with regard to that 
 ecclesiastic Polity which it mainly affects. 
 
 When om* blessed Redeemer, at this season upon, 
 which we are entering, was pleased to deliver him- 
 self into the hands of sinners, he allowed himself to 
 be led from tribunal to tribunal, from judge to judge, 
 but recognising not the authority of any of them in 
 his regard, he simply refused to plead. When it 
 was necessary to assert his Divine authority ; when 
 he was asked, if he was " The Christ, the Son of 
 the living God;" when he was questioned respect- 
 ing his Kingdom ; he answered : because he was 
 bound to avow that very principle, on which he re- 
 fused to answer else. But when they began to 
 question him respecting his disciples and the doc- 
 trine that he had taught, then Jesus simply held his 
 peace. He was judicially questioned by Annas and 
 Caiphas; he was authoritatively interrogated by 
 the Jewish President ; he was mockingly arraigned 
 before the king of his people ; and yet to one and 
 all he refused to plead. He bowed his head to 
 their buffets ; He bent his back to their scourges ; 
 He stretched forth his hands upon their Cross; He 
 laid bare his heart to their lance ; He suffered every 
 penalty, every consequence; though by a word he 
 might have escaped them. 
 
 And when that heart was thus laid open, there 
 came forth from it a mysterious flow. — The Adam 
 of the new Covenant was cast into the sleep of God, 
 and forth from his side went forth his Bride, the Eve 
 of the new Law — the Church of God; — she came 
 forth, as is beautifully and by ^ singular concur- 
 
rence expressed by the two greatest Doctors of the 
 Greek and Latin Church, placed before us but two 
 days ago by the Church hi her office, — she came 
 forth under the purest Sacramental type, in that 
 Water which regenerates unto eternal life, in that 
 Blood which nourishes and quickens unto everlast- 
 ing glory. 
 
 The Church, then, was at once the Spouse and 
 yet the Child of Christ — born upon Calvar^^, the 
 bed upon which she received her birth, was the 
 Cross, where the throes of the Divine Heart gave 
 her her first existence. She came forth as the 
 child of persecution, as the child of sufiering; and 
 she commenced at once her career of struggle, and 
 of ceaseless wrestling, with the Powers of earth. 
 
 It is easy to observe, my dear Brethren, by what 
 natural transitions the very Word of God leads us 
 gradually, in the History of the Church, away from 
 Jerusalem, where it first sprung ; guiding us as 
 though by the thread of its history, in the life and 
 actions of Saint Paul. We follow him step by step, 
 from, and back to, Judea, till his final departure ; 
 when, shaking ofi* from his feet the dust of that now 
 outcast city, he makes his way through Asia and 
 Greece, until at length he reaches, what is clearly to 
 be the final term of his Apostleship, the Imperial 
 city of Rome; where he either meets, or is soon 
 joined by, the other, the greatest, the chief Head 
 of the Apostles, the Head of the Church under 
 Christ, Saint Peter, the first Bishop and Pope of 
 that See. 
 
 In Ecclesiastical history, how soon we turn our 
 
thoughts from the one, to fix them upon the other ! 
 Those infatuated men whose hands tore up the pave- 
 ment of Jerusalem, to cast its stones upon Ste- 
 phen, began the destruction of that city, to be accom- 
 phshed by the army of Titus, so that not a stone 
 was left upon a stone. But while there the work of 
 demolition was going forward, there was being built 
 up elsewhere a solid and an enduring Temple. In 
 the catacombs of Rome were its foundations deeply 
 laid, upon that Rock which cannot fail, cemented 
 day by day with the blood of martyrs: until in the 
 course of a short time, Jerusalem may be said to 
 have become as only the reliquary of the Church, 
 in which were enshrined noble and most holy things, 
 but things that were past ; while Rome became its 
 Tabernacle, in which, as in its centre, reposed the 
 very Life of the Church's life, the very Soul of her 
 soul. If, then, in Je]'usalem the Church was born, 
 to Rome she was brought to be weaned. Yes, this 
 infant Church was brought thither into the very 
 face of the Emperors, to the very foot of their throne; 
 not that she might be nursed in the Imperial purple, 
 not that the Pastoral staff of her authority should 
 be forged from the sceptre of monarchs, but that 
 face to face she might confront them : and that she 
 might establish the principle, that she belonged not 
 to them nor to this earth, and that her position 
 was antagonistic with that of the powers of the world. 
 During 300 years she remained in this state ; and 
 during those 300 years, let it be borne in mind, her 
 form, her constitution, her canons, her whole struc- 
 ture, were essentially and completely formed. She 
 
8 
 
 might indeed afterwards attain a greater and more 
 magnificent growth. It was reserved to her, that 
 her branches should stretch forth to the very bounds 
 of earth ; that was still to come ; that upon them 
 should be everywhere blossom flowers rich and beau- 
 tiful, of every varied virtue ; that she should be laden 
 too, with those abundant fruits of holiness, which 
 her various institutions, ripening age by age, have 
 bestowed upon mankind. But her root was firm, 
 planted securely in the ground, it had taken hold 
 of earth; and her trunk, that centre of her unity, 
 had grown straight, and round, and smooth, and 
 perfect, without knot or crevice, equally impervious 
 to the insinuating flatteries of an approving world, 
 as to the sharpest weapons of its enmity. 
 
 The Church, then, was completely constituted, 
 when, after 300 years, we find her coming publicly 
 before the world. She needed to be taught by no 
 one, as to how she had to deal with those matters, 
 and those causes that related to herself. It is not 
 to be supposed that it required the peace of the 
 empire, and the favour of emperors, to enable her to 
 hold her councils, or to promulgate her decrees. 
 Long before that peace had come, long before her 
 Bishops assembled in universal Synods, she had 
 held in various parts of the world. Councils of her 
 Prelates, for the purpose of suppressing errors that 
 had arisen ; for, even in her very cradle, had this 
 mighty Child been assailed by these ruthless ser- 
 pents: and with her own hand, unaided, she had 
 known how to strangle them, and fling them aside. 
 And so, in the second century, _ we have councils 
 
held at Rome, and in Gaid, and at Cesarea, in Pa- 
 lestine. In the third century we have them again 
 at Rome, at Alexandria, at Antioch, Iconium, and 
 more than once at Carthage. In the fourth cen- 
 tury, before the general Council of Nicsoa had as- 
 sembled, there had been held provincial synods at 
 ten different places. The Church's system, then, of 
 ruling and defining, in matters of Faith, was antece- 
 dent to all connection with imperial, or with royal 
 power. Her connection, in fact, with that power 
 was purely accidental. She had been sufficient for 
 herself, and for all her wants for 300 years, with- 
 out it. She would have persevered to the end, had it 
 so pleased Divine Providence, in the same condition. 
 When that power became favourable to her, she 
 took advantage of it, and naturally enlisted it in the 
 good cause. She accepted it in the same way as 
 she took the basilicas which had been heathen tem- 
 ples, and converted them into churches. She took 
 it as she took the limits of provinces, according to 
 the imperial or civil division, as the most simple and 
 most natural mode of dividing her own spiritual ter- 
 ritories. She took it, in fine, as she took the mea- 
 sures of Horace's lascivious Odes, and attuned to 
 them the sweetest hymns of her worship. It was 
 part of her destiny, or rather it was part of her gift, 
 to be able to seize on all that earth might place 
 within her reach, and to sanctify it and to turn it to 
 holiest purposes. Had she found a Republic, instead 
 of an Empire, she would have known as well how 
 to demean herself, and how at once to assert her 
 own rightful independence, and yet to show the de- 
 
10 
 
 ference ever due to every rightly constituted autho- 
 rity, in wnai regards its own sphere of jurisdiction. 
 Then she could not fail but revere and honour that 
 power which made Christianity a very part of the 
 civil and social order over which it ruled; she could 
 not but even, in some respects, bow before that 
 crown, of which that iron Nail which had pierced 
 our Saviour's sacred flesh in his passion, was con- 
 sidered the most precious gem. She used, therefore, 
 gladly the power and wealth of the emperors, for 
 the many purposes whereby she was connected with 
 this world. Their decrees added force to her canons; 
 their protection enabled Bishops to travel from dis- 
 tant regions, and safely to meet together. 
 
 But, as if to show how purely accidental, how 
 totally unessential to her existence and to her laws 
 was this state of union and alliance with this power, 
 it was permitted that shortly the imperial power 
 should declare itself the protector of the Arians; it 
 became heretical, and the Church remained orthodox 
 and catholic. Instead of its being uninterrupted 
 peace and constant union, harmony of thought and 
 action, between the Church and the empire, on the 
 contrary for many years it was a ceaseless struggle ; 
 and, it may be said, that many of the most tremen- 
 dous heresies which invaded the Church in the cen- 
 turies that followed the public acknowledgment of 
 Christianity, received their patronage, their support, 
 and their sanction from the Imperial seat at Con- 
 stantinople. One after the other the Arian, the 
 Nestorian, and Eutychian, and later other errors 
 were fostered at the very foot of the imperial throne. 
 
11 
 
 Hence, in tlie year 656, we have tliat interesting 
 event, of the resistance of one monk of Constanti- 
 nople, standing ahnost alone — the glorious martyi* 
 Saint Maximus— in opposition to the whole power of 
 the State, joined unhappily by Uishops who were 
 subservient to that power. But he, though interro- 
 gated by the imperial and patriarchal messengers, 
 held fast to that truth ; that so long as he remained 
 in communion with the See of Peter, he needed not 
 to heed what might be the behests of the Emperor. 
 And when he appealed from his decision to the 
 Council which had been held at Rome, condemna- 
 tory of the doctrine of the single operation in the 
 will of Christ, he was told by the Bishop Theodo- 
 sius, who had come to question him, that that Coun- 
 cil was of no value. **0f no value?" he asked — 
 ^Svherefore?" '" Because," said the courtly Bishop, 
 " it was summoned without the permission of the 
 Emperor." The holy monk intrepidly replied, ** I 
 have yet to learn that the power of the Emperor is 
 necessary for the Church to meet in Synod, or to 
 make her canons. If it be the Emperor's orders 
 which give authority to Councils, we ought to re- 
 ceive those held by their orders against the Consub- 
 Btantiality of the Son, such as tliose of Tyre, An- 
 tioch, Seleucia, and Constantinople... and long after 
 the second of Ephesus under Dioscorus. And why 
 do you not reject the Council which deposed Paul of 
 Samosata, under Pope Dionysius, and Dionysius of 
 Alexandria, presided over by St. Gregory Thauma- 
 turgus ? For it was not held by order of the Em- 
 
12 
 
 peror." "" Such was the position of the Church, 
 then, after peace : in a state even still, with regard 
 to faith, of incessant conflict with the civil power, 
 and never for one moment admitting its authority 
 to pronounce upon any matter of doctrine, or of faith. 
 And thus it continued in subsequent ages. No 
 one can be acquainted with the history of the Middle 
 Ages, without knowing that there were throughout 
 them two powers, sometimes at peace, but almost 
 oftener at war — the Empire and the Papacy. With 
 the Emperor generally were to be found leagued, 
 if not in active alliance, at least in unity of prin- 
 ciple, the great sovereigns of Europe. We know 
 how, in our own country, men like Lanfranc, An- 
 selm, Thomas, and Edmund, men, whose names 
 are venerable to this day for their holiness, were the 
 victims, one and each of them, of this conflict. 
 They suffered exile, and even death, when neces- 
 sary, rather than submit to the usurpation and 
 claims of the State, in regard to the Church. In- 
 stead of supremacy having been allowed to the civil 
 rule, it must be granted that in questions, not always 
 and not so much perhaps of faith, but regarding the 
 rights of the Church, her benefices, investitures, the 
 homage to be done by ecclesiastical persons, and 
 many other similar points — the two were rather anta- 
 gonistic, than allied, powers. It miiy be said that in 
 some sort they were like two powers, which are to be 
 found in most kingdoms, the civil and the military. 
 When they go together in good accord, when 
 that which ought to have the disposition and rule, 
 
 * Fleury, vol. viii. p. 545, lib. xxxix. No. 17. 
 
13 
 
 can command the energies and vigour of the other, 
 then all is peace — all is tranquil and happy ; but so 
 soon as that which should act in dependance on 
 the principles of the other, takes upon itself to com- 
 mand, when the sword pretends to give the law to 
 the nation, then comes misery, and havoc, and ruin; 
 and yet the two powers are necessary for one another, 
 and will seek for reconciliation, and endeavour, if 
 possible, to adjust their claims. And so the Church, 
 which had under its guidance, under its care, 
 through commission of its Head, our Lord Christ 
 Jesus, the spiritual welfare of the world, rulers, and 
 people, whose duty it was to watch over its more 
 sacred and more important interests, was at times 
 in harmony with this other, this civil power, to which 
 had been entrusted the care of material and worldly 
 interests, and whose duty it naturally was to make 
 these subserve to those which were so much greater. 
 At such times all was at peace; because that which 
 should be naturally subject, in regard to moral 
 and religious matters, acknowledged the obedience 
 therein due to the spiritual authority. But when 
 it took upon itself to interfere with matters of reli- 
 gion, with matters of Divine or ecclesiastical right, 
 then came the conflict; because those were not days 
 in which the Church knew how to yield one atom 
 of her inheritance; and she fought the battle; and 
 though often oppressed and trampled under foot, 
 still she rose again, and in the end she ever con- 
 quered. 
 
 While in every other country in which Religion 
 as it existed then, has been maintained, that same 
 
14 
 
 spirit, that same principle, has equally endured, in 
 this country, perhaps alone, was ever made a clear, 
 a definite, and a deliberate surrender of spiritual 
 power into the hands of the State. It may be said 
 that the work began in tyranny. It did, no doubt; 
 but it was submitted to not merely when under the 
 pressure of the first command, but afterwards, when 
 there had been time for reflection, when there liad 
 been time to weigh in the balance the loss of tem- 
 poral advantages, the protection of the State, its 
 endowments, its pre-eminences; and on the other 
 hand, the spiritual rights and prerogatives of the 
 Church. In the 24th year of the eighth Henry ^ 
 there was issued the Royal mandate, under the 
 form, indeed, of a Legislative Act, which trenched, 
 for the first time, on the spiritual jurisdiction as it 
 had been for ages established. For, my brethren, 
 putting aside all question of right, and taking it 
 merely as a matter of consideration historically, 
 there can be no doubt that, up to that time, there 
 were appeals from this country to the jurisdiction of 
 the Holy See, that these appeals were real, that they 
 were not merely in theory, but that they were per- 
 mitted by law — by a Law which recognized it as 
 a part of ecclesiastical right. The Pope was acknow- 
 ledged as the Head of Christ's Church. England 
 considered itself as a portion of that Church. He 
 was the last, the final appeal in all matters eccle- 
 siastical; and whatever jealousy from time to time 
 may have arisen in the State, it was a recognized 
 right; and if a bishop or a priest was aggrieved, 
 he could appeal, from the last jurisdiction in this 
 
15 
 
 country, directly to the Head of the Church. The 
 first trenching on this authority consisted in the 
 forbidding-, under severe penalties, the carrying ap- 
 peals to this authority, upon certain given points. 
 And yet it would appear, as if in other matters more 
 purely spiritual than those which were enumerated, 
 it was still intended to allow the same power of 
 appeal to the Holy See. But this was shortly fol- 
 lowed up by the second tremendous act of separa- 
 tion, by which not only every appeal to the authority 
 of the sovereign Pontiff was made a crime, and 
 subjected the party appealing to grievous penalties ; 
 but even that appeal which had been given to the 
 Archbishops and to the Convocation, was repealed, 
 and the King reserved to himself the power of de- 
 ciding, by a Court of his appointment, in all such 
 cases. Now here is an act — a most clear and deci- 
 sive legislative act; and that act, though repealed 
 afterwards in the time of Mary, was again re-en- 
 acted, confirmed, and made a part of the law of 
 the country in the very first year of Ehzabeth ; and 
 it so remains to this day — with the modification that 
 has lately taken place. 
 
 Now an important question arises here; Was 
 this the act of the Church of England ? It was the 
 act of the Church of England, by its simple acqui- 
 escence; because, if a jurisdiction is established 
 which affects the rights of an individual or of a 
 body, if that individual or that body does not pro- 
 test, does not say a word to contravene it, still 
 more, if it submits to its decision, it virtually ac- 
 knowledges the existence of such authority ; it sub- 
 
16 
 
 jects itself to it; it cannot refnse to plead against 
 it; and if it allows years, and even centuries to 
 pass, in quiet acquiescence of it, and never exer- 
 cises any act at variance with it, it must be consid- 
 ered to have subsided into an acceptance of it, even 
 though at the beginning there may have been repug- 
 nance. But the second canon of the Church of 
 England, which is acknowledged to be binding upon 
 the clergy, expressly forbids any one to deny to the 
 Queen or to the King that jurisdiction or authority 
 in matters or cases ecclesiastical, which was given 
 to the Crown by the laws of the country, under pain 
 of excommunication ipso facto, reserved to the 
 Archbishop alone, who cannot absolve the person 
 that is guilty of it, until he has retracted his 
 opinions." 
 
 Then by this Canon enacted by the Church under 
 such tremendous penalties, the very heaviest which 
 any Church can inflict; because it is not only a 
 censure, it is not only an excommunication incurred 
 ipso facto, that is, without any sentence, but it 
 is what is called a reserved case, a reserved excom- 
 munication, from which only the Archbishop, not 
 even the Diocesan of the guilty person can absolve 
 
 *" Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the King's Majesty 
 hath not the same authority in causes ecclesiastical that the 
 Godly Kings had among the Jews, and Christian Emperors of 
 the primitive Church ; or impeach any part of his regal supre- 
 macy in the said causes, restored to the croiun, and hy the laws 
 of this realm therein established, let him be excommunicated 
 ipso facto, and not restored but only by the Archbishop, after 
 his repentance, and public revocation of those his wicked 
 errors." — Can. ij.. 
 
17 
 
 liim — hy tins canon, so sanctioned, so sacred, the 
 Church has bound herself to acknowledge the Su- 
 premacy, in those terms in which it was bestowed 
 npon the Crown by the civil Law of the country. 
 Now if we go to the Act of Elizabeth, in which the 
 Jurisdiction is so given, it is so explicit, so full, 
 that it seems impossible to find an evasion ; for it 
 vests, by authority of Parliament, in the Crown 
 whatever authority, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence, 
 ecclesiastical or spiritual, had ever been held within 
 this rcahn by any ecclesiastical power or authority, 
 for the visitation and correction of all manner of 
 errors, heresies, schisms, abuses and offences. Then 
 here is the power given, first to the Crown, to decide 
 in causes ecclesiastical. Here is the power given to 
 the extent of any spiritual power ever held in the 
 kingdom ; consequently, it is made commensurate 
 w itli that of the Sovereign Pontiff in catholic times. 
 Here is the power given, not merely with respect 
 to mixed cases, but such as are purely of an eccle- 
 siastical character — schism, error, heresy. And 
 then comes the Canon, which confirms by eccle- 
 siastical authority, under the heaviest penalties, with 
 the strongest sanction, every word of this conces- 
 sion. Then, I ask, is it not the joint act of the 
 State and of the Church, and has not the Church 
 sanctioned completely to its full extent, the whole 
 of what the State had done ? Then it seems mere 
 trifling to speak of this not having been the act of 
 the Church, of its having been a mere temporal, 
 a mere legislative enactment; it has been accepted 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 by that Church, both by tacit acquiescence, and by 
 formal sanction. 
 
 It is important, my brethren, that you should 
 bear in mind the words of this Canon. It clearly 
 admits that whatever has been bestowed on the 
 Crown by the Laws of the country in regard to 
 causes ecclesiastical, thereby becomes a just right, 
 inherent in it. As, therefore, it simply enacts that 
 what the Legislature had given in regard to these 
 causes, spiritual and ecclesiastical, to the Crown, is 
 on that account (for it does not enter into the merits 
 of the concession) to be considered as binding, it 
 follows, that if the Legislature makes modifications 
 of this Law, that is, prescribes various modes of 
 acting within the limits of that authority, then that 
 the Church has virtually sanctioned the principle, 
 that such modifications are binding upon itself. 
 When, therefore, by late legislative enactments there 
 was a change made in the form of the tribunal, when 
 certain persons were appointed to judge instead of 
 those who had been before employed, it follows, that 
 as this rests on exactly the same authority as did 
 the former concession, that as these are mere acci- 
 dentals and accessories to the jurisdiction granted, 
 it can never be pleaded, that because a change of 
 this secondary character has been made in the mode 
 of operation of that previous law, therefore it is 
 something new, — a new usurpation, as it were, of 
 rights, dormant indeed, but still inherent, in the 
 Church. And yet, when apparently for the first time, 
 there has come forth a decision from this authority 
 (for one which had previously been made had been 
 
19 
 
 passed by, almost unnoticed) men seem startled, 
 astonished, that there did exist, ku'king somewhere, 
 a power of which they profess to have been ignorant, 
 but which now, having at length acted, having, as it 
 were, fastened itself on the Church, they begin to 
 deliberate upon the important question, what is the 
 nature of its decision — to what extent is it binding — 
 from it is there any appeal ? Is this a final sen- 
 tence, or does there yet remain another which may 
 be invoked ? This is indeed the great, the real, and 
 the vital question of the moment. 
 
 In what way are those who believe that in the 
 English Church there are inherent rights of jurisdic- 
 tion, and a power to decide on matters of doctrine, 
 to look upon the decision which has been made ? 
 They speak of it as though it w^ere onV the opinion 
 of a few persons of no authority in the Church; 
 and some even go so far as to say, that they are 
 entitled to despise it, to set it at nought, on this 
 ground. But let us examine in what way was appeal 
 made to this tribunal? For it was a Court of appeal 
 to which a cause that had been pending in a lower 
 tribunal, and had been there decided, was finally 
 carried. Was it carried up merely as to a higher 
 step of jurisdiction, or was it carried as to a Court 
 of final appeal ? Who for a moment can hesitate to 
 decide ? It was a Court constituted by law, and 
 they who appealed to it, appealed to it according 
 to the tenor of its constitution. That constitution is, 
 that, when its sentence has been pronounced, this 
 is incapable of further review or revision ; — a term 
 which at once pronounces that it is final. Then if a 
 
20 
 
 Bishop of that Church pleads before such a Court, 
 allows his case to be carried to it, he allows it to go 
 thither as in appeal to a jurisdiction which has been 
 pronounced final; and the very act of his so submit- 
 ting to it, at once gives his sanction to it in that 
 capacity. And those who presided at it, or they 
 rather who were its assessors — they too are Bishops 
 of that Church, nay one its Archbishop, and he sat 
 there and agreed to act as an assessor, and perused 
 the sentence, and gave his assent to it according to 
 the constitution of the Court, as established, and 
 that Covu't was appointed as a Court of final appeal, 
 beyond which there was no power to carry the en- 
 quiry. It is said, however, " Yes, but there was one 
 Bishop who did not assent to the judgment," and 
 much stress is laid upon this, and expressions of 
 great hope are founded upon it. But he sat upon 
 it, he sat at that tribunal as an assessor, knowing 
 it was constituted a Court of final appeal ; and we 
 cannot suppose that persons of such character and 
 station would say, *Sve will act on that court in 
 accordance with a given law, but at the same time 
 with no intention of recognizing the jurisdiction 
 which that law gives to that Court, nor the right of 
 law to bestow it." Then the whole nature of the 
 transaction, from the beginning to the end, is such, 
 as stamps it at once with the character of a final 
 act. The appeal was taken to that tribunal as to 
 one which had to pronounce a final and decisive 
 judgment — no appellate jurisdiction remained. 
 
 But there has been a fallacy most marked in 
 much of the reasoning which has been put forth upon 
 
21 
 
 this subject. It is said that it is the opinion after 
 all, that it is the judgment of Laymen, It is not so ; 
 because, it is needless to repeat, that it is the sen- 
 tence of the supreme authorit}^ to which in the 
 Church has been awarded the power of deciding in 
 matters of errors, heresy, and schism. It is the 
 Head of the Church — its Chief Governor, that has 
 pronounced the decision ; the others have been but 
 her Counsellors to guide her judgment; and her 
 fiat has been spoken under the sanction of the supre- 
 macy, which the Church herself has acknowledged, 
 or bestowed upon her. 
 
 Again I would ask, who ever heard in Ecclesi- 
 astical History,, or in Canon Law, of an appeal from 
 the Archiepiscopal Court to any other Court ns only 
 intermediate, to some other final appeal ? It is said ; 
 *'^there remains still a Convocation. We have still a 
 national council to which we may appeal.'* It would 
 be, I think, utterly unheard of and unknovvrn, first of 
 all that there should be an appeal from the Archi- 
 episcopal Court to the civil power (if this was the 
 decision only of the civil power) and that then from 
 that decision another appeal, nowhere provided for, 
 nowhere mentioned, nowhere sanctioned; and which, 
 if it did exist, would be, in fact, without a precedent 
 or authority in Canon Law. For in fact, the appeal 
 to a Convocation or Synod, in a matter which has 
 passed the Archiepiscopal Court, even if direct, 
 would be, I believe, a thing unheard of, in ecclesias- 
 tical jurisprudence. It would be like an appeal from 
 the Archbishop to the Archbishop, from his Court to 
 his Synod. And as the very nature of an appeal 
 
22 
 
 requires recourse to a higher power, it will not be 
 found that in this country, or in any other. Synods, 
 which can only be called together by the Archbishop, 
 were made or considered a tribunal of appeal against 
 him, or above him. But the course now imagined, 
 of a passage through a temporal, or lay tribunal, (if 
 the one in question is to be so considered,) from the 
 Archbishop's Court to the last appeal, as though it 
 were an intermediate step, is completely a new fig_ 
 ment, unknown in Canon Law, most unconsonan 
 with its principles and practice. Seeing, therefore, 
 that the Queen's Council has been admitted, at all, 
 by the highest purely ecclesiastical authorities in the 
 English Establishment, as a Court of appeal from 
 the ecclesiastical tribunals, it must be held to be the 
 very highest possible jurisdiction, in those matters 
 that are carried to it, and therefore to be final. In 
 fact, the Crown is the only authority recognized as 
 superior to the See of Canterbury, within the realm. 
 
 And surely, as things stand now, it must strike us 
 as a most strange inconsistency, that it should be 
 said in many of the publications put forward on the 
 subject, that this is the case of a lay tribunal revers- 
 mg the judgment, or decision, of the Archbishop 
 in his Court of Arches. Now the principle is here 
 assumed, that, though the bench of that Court itself 
 consists of mere laymen, and though it pronounces 
 its award without even consulting the sentiments of 
 that Archbishop, yet, because it is .his tribunal, it 
 speaks with his authorit^^, and its award is to be con- 
 sidered as his decision. Then the same principle 
 would compel us also to say, that no matter who 
 
23 
 
 speaks, who pronounces in the second tribunal, if its 
 sentence emanates from the only superior authority 
 that the Church admits ; it is not, as has been 
 said, the State, it is not the Privy Council, it is the 
 supremacy that pronounces here. 
 
 But mark a further inconsistency. It is said: 
 ^' here is an appeal made to laymen from the eccle- 
 siastical Court of the Archbishop — is that to be 
 tolerated?" Strange indeed I say it is that the 
 judgment, deliberately given, of that very Arch- 
 bishop, should be in conformity with the award of 
 that supposed lay tribunal, and for the reversing of 
 the judgment said to have been pronounced in his 
 own court. Either, therefore, that first decision is to 
 be considered as his, and then we have him pro- 
 nouncing an opinion, and concurring in a judgment, 
 completely at variance with his own award, and even 
 reversing it ; or it is not to be considered as his, and 
 then it is but a mockery to say that it proceeded from 
 his tribunal, or that there has been any previous 
 ecclesiastical trial at all. In this case there is per- 
 fect parity between the two tribunals, the lower and 
 the higher, and any exception taken to the latter, 
 must equally apply to the former. 
 
 In fine, my Brethren, who after all represent 
 the Church ? Who are they whom Christ has 
 appointed to watch over the law, over the interests, 
 over the principles of His Church ? Is it the sheep, 
 or is it the shepherd? Is it the subject, or is it the 
 ruler? Is it the Clerg}^ — the ministering Clergy 
 of the Church, and the Laity ? Or is it the epis- 
 copal body, whose duty and office it is to speak the 
 
24 
 
 sentiments of the Churcli ? Now, it is clear that 
 while the clamour that is being made proceeds from 
 those whose duty it is to listen, and to learn, and 
 to obey, and from those whose duty it is to teach 
 others to learn, and to obey ; they who naturally 
 must be admitted as the interpreters of the Church's 
 wishes, as the depositories of her true principles, as 
 the most likely to have at heart her best interests, 
 have from the beginning- acquiesced in the present 
 law; they were in fact parties to its enactment. 
 They had opportunity of protesting or warning 
 against it, of opposing it, of proposing amendments 
 to it, while it passed through the legislature ; yet 
 they never did one of these things. Surely they bear 
 the full responsibihty of such an unopposed enact- 
 ment i and the Church, which acknowledges them 
 as its ecclesiastical and spiritual rulers, is bound by 
 their collective consent, though tacit, as by a collec- 
 tive act. For no other part of the body cried out, or 
 protested against that silent acquiescence. 
 
 And further, it must be owned, that it strikes a 
 Catholic as most anomalous, and almost incredible, 
 that persons, the main drift of whose teaching and 
 theological system has been for years, to exalt the 
 rights and powers of their Church, and to urge her 
 rights over men's consciences, should now stand up 
 and declare that they did not know, till this case 
 came forward, of the existence of such a tribunal pos- 
 sessing the power to decide finally in such matters. 
 I would ask you, would you think any Catholic was 
 jesting or in earnest, were he to tell you, it was not 
 till the other day, till he heard of some decision 
 
25 
 
 which had been given, that the Pope was the ulti- 
 mate appeal in matters of faith, that the Holy See 
 had jui'is<liction superior to every other, to pronounce 
 in such causes? Would you not think he must 
 have known very little indeed about his religion, 
 never to have studied, never to have inquired, never 
 to have known, where was the last, the ultimate 
 appeal in matters of such vital importance ? And 
 then, if that power instead of being one, beneficient 
 and easily submitted to, as is that of our Supreme 
 Kuler, it has to be considered a dangerous, a hostile, 
 and even a fatal one. Can we conceive that no pains 
 should have been taken by these men to study it, 
 to know it, and to see all its bearings; so to be 
 prepared, when the day of action came, with the 
 course which they were to take, instead of being, as 
 now, perplexed and having as yet to learn what is 
 the next step in their power to take? Can you 
 imagine this, compatible or consistent with anything 
 like a true systematic teaching respecting the autho- 
 rity of the Church ? 
 
 But this is not all ; this is not, my Brethren, a 
 question merely of circumstances, it is a question of 
 principle. It does not matter what the decision has 
 been. Men are alarmed becanse this Council, or the 
 Sovereign, in accordance with its recommendation, 
 has pronounced respecting a given doctrine — has said 
 that it is indifferent to the Church, whether a person 
 holds one doctrine respecting baptismal regeneration, 
 or the very opposite. But this is nothing. The main 
 principle existed before the tribunal pronounced its 
 award, and for it, it mattered little whether it should 
 
26 
 
 give sentence one way or the other, but the enquhy 
 is, whether such a power could possibly have been 
 allowed to exist, unless it was a part, and an essential 
 part, of the very constitution of that Church. For 
 after all, there are doctrines and principles which 
 belong to the very essence of a system, that may 
 not be touched, may not be interfered with, without 
 its destruction. Can you imagine, for instance, 
 that the catholic religion could lose its faith in 
 the supremacy of Saint Peter and his successors, 
 without its very existence, as that catholic Church, 
 ceasing? Would you not say that if Catholics all 
 over the world deliberately rejected that doctrine, 
 they would no longer be the same Church they 
 were before — na,y, that they would no longer possess 
 the very vital principle which holds them together as 
 such? And so of other more mysterious doctrines. 
 Were the Church to surrender her particular belief 
 respecting the Real Presence, there is no doubt she 
 would be so completely changed, as that she would 
 no longer be the same Catholic Church. Then, as 
 the existence of a last appeal is necessary to a Church, 
 and as the authority, holding and exercising it can- 
 not be secondary and accidental, but an essential 
 part of its very constitution, it follows, that if the 
 Crown, after deliberating in Council, pronounces in 
 final appeal of doctrine, this its authority is an essen- 
 tial part of the English Church's polity; the denial 
 of which would destroy the very vitality or essence of 
 that body. But further, if the doctrine of baptismal 
 regeneration be as vital to Anglicanism as that of the 
 real presence is to Catholics, if the denial of that doc- 
 
27 
 
 trine, or its being made indifferent, is a heretical 
 decision, and may even, as has been justly observed, 
 plunge that establishment into (further) heresy, and 
 if the last Court of appeal, provided for itself, and 
 recognized by that Church, is thus one capable of 
 making such an erroneous decision and leading to its 
 disastrous results, it follows that the very essential 
 constitution of that (church is vicious, and at variance, 
 iu principle, with the first requirements of a Church. 
 For look at the consequence of the acknowledged 
 state of things : it is that the Church of England has 
 committed itself to a jurisdiction, which it now sees 
 may, in its turn, commit her to heresy. But the 
 vitiating act was not committed when the second step 
 took place, but when she first recognized the author- 
 ity, that was capable of committing it. 
 
 And, my Brethren, the question now. arises, if this 
 be not the final appeal, as it clearly seems to me to 
 be, to what will the dissatisfied further appeal ? We 
 are told that they will summon a convocation or a 
 national Synod. I have already said that this is not 
 a Court of appeal ; but, be it so, how is this to be 
 called together ? They, in the Articles, which they 
 have subscribed, have sanctioned, that such councils 
 cannot be called without the authority and jurisdic- 
 tion of the civil ruler. In other words, it requires an 
 appeal to that very supremacy which it is sought to 
 set aside, to take the very step for removing it. It is 
 only by appeal to the Crown, to allow such Synod to 
 meet, that according to their sworn subscribed prin- 
 ciples, they can possibly attempt to put aside its 
 award. Here, then, in the very measure proposed. 
 
28 
 
 tlioy fall back upon that which they are flyuig from, 
 and they at once recognize that very power under 
 which the last judgment has been pronounced. 
 Then, perhaps, they will meet without its sanction ; 
 they will call together a national Synod, without 
 minding what may be the wishes of the Crown, or 
 the dispositions of the State. I will not pursue 
 that thought further. We will watch events. We 
 will see whether in that ecclesiastical Body, whether 
 in that Establishment, there is the vigour and power 
 to act of itself. Not that I should wish to defy 
 them to any such act, I believe simply that it is im- 
 possible to them. I believe that it is impossible, 
 because they have themselves so bound themselves 
 on every side, that they cannot, if they would, break 
 the fetters by which they are enchained ; and there 
 would be questions to be raised and solved involving 
 such terrible sacrifices, as I am sure they would not 
 dare to face, before these Bishops could be all 
 engaged to join in this one great act, of re-asserting 
 a power which they have themselves now, as their 
 predecessors before had done, renounced, and ack- 
 knowledged to be vested in another. 
 
 But is there then no appeal ? Has there never 
 been any appeal beyond this? I have shown you, 
 my Brethren, that there were, in ancient times, 
 appeals to another power, to a spiritual and superior 
 power, acknowledged by the whole Church. To that 
 they cannot appeal: and there has been the great 
 error, that they have cut themselves so completely off 
 from that authority, and that tribunal, to which 
 alone an appeal, in matters of Faith, would lie, that 
 
it is necessary for tliein to treat this appeal as filial, 
 because it leaves them no otiier direction in which to 
 escape. Yes, my Brethren, in former times, if a 
 matter like this had arisen in one Church, it would 
 not have been left to her, with her own limited re- 
 sources, to fight the battle with a power that she con- 
 sidered hostile. Nor in those days would such col- 
 lision have been made, in the same way; because 
 there were laws recognized by the State, as well as 
 by the Church, in regard to the limits of the mutual 
 jurisdictions. 
 
 But liow is it that England, or rather we will say, 
 that which calls itself her Church, should be now 
 so cut off from the sympathies of the rest of the 
 world ? Will she dare to appeal to the Universal 
 Church in which so many of her writers declare, 
 lies the nltimate appeal in matters of Faith ? Yes, I 
 admit their words. It is to the Universal Church 
 that the only final appeal can come; whether that 
 Universal Cliurch be represented by her head, or 
 whether she be represented by a General Council, or 
 whether she be represented by all the churches of 
 the Catholic Unity, separated, indeed, in place, but 
 yet speaking with one assent. To that authority, 
 however represented, I own, that the appeal must lie. 
 Then let this Church, let this powerful Church, as 
 no doubt in many ways she is, raise her voice and 
 call upon the Catholic Church throughout the world, 
 to come and bear part with her, and sustain lier, in 
 this her intended struggle. Or let her ask all others to 
 join their suffrages to the truth of the doctrine which 
 it is said has been noAv, for the first time, impugned. 
 
30 
 
 Why does she not do so ? Or if she does, will they 
 respond? Is there then no longer any internal 
 union, any bond of love and of charity, that binds 
 her to the rest of the Christian world, so that, upon 
 her cry of distress, it will rise to succour her ; and if 
 it may not help, at least to console her and encou- 
 rage her ? Will Gaul send a Saint Germanus or a 
 Saint Lupus once more, as she did when the Pela- 
 gian heresy was threatening the faith of this island, 
 to come and instruct men in the truth, and to con- 
 fute the propagators of that heresy? In former 
 times, when even nearly the whole of the Church 
 seemed to be sinking in a state of hopeless error, 
 one single Bishop, who stood up to fight her battle, 
 did so with confidence and with success ; because he 
 knew that he carried with him the prayers and the 
 good wishes, and the ardent aspirations, of his 
 brethren throughout the world. And it was thus 
 that Athanasius stood alone ; it was thus that Ease- 
 bius baffled the councils of confederate Arians ; it 
 was thus that Saint Hilary became the apostle of the 
 orthodox faith, in the very country into which he had 
 been exiled, and returned again in triumph to his 
 own See : because in communion with the Universal 
 Church, they were sustained in their struggle, and 
 they felt, that though around them there might be 
 error and darkness, still beyond the horizon which 
 had closed on their view there were bright and 
 radiant fields, in the Church in which the true faith 
 shone forth still in its glory, and where pastures 
 of eternal life were still spread to the flock of 
 Christ. 
 
31 
 
 Then what is the meaiihig of this ? This Church, 
 which is ever glorying through those who speak as 
 her particuhir admirers and defenders — this Church, 
 which calls itself a branch of the catholic Church, 
 which considers herself as forming one of the many 
 churches united together under the name of the 
 Universal and catholic Church, is she then so com- 
 pletely alone in her insular existence, as that she can 
 awake no cry ? not even a feeling of sympathy and 
 of sisterly affection? Oh ! this country can do much 
 to arouse the thoughts and the actions of the whole 
 world. She can send forth her fleets to the very 
 extremities of earth, and her behests are obeyed, and 
 her very name is respected, and kings tremble at the 
 thought of her powder. She can send forth a peace- 
 ful message over the whole of the world, and it is 
 immediately responded to. You have called toge- 
 ther the whole of the nations to come and bring 
 here together, the produce of their skill, and that 
 cry has thrilled through the entire world. You have 
 excited to activity the sluggish inhabitants of the 
 banks of the Ganges; — you have aroused the weakly 
 inhabitants of Thibet, in the luxurious valleys ; — and 
 you have inspired new energy and power into men of 
 every caste, and of every race. You have put acti- 
 vity into their brain, and industry into their hands ; 
 and the furnaces, and the workshops, and the looms 
 of the world, are at work to bring to your feet, as a 
 tribute to the Queen of the nations, the works of 
 their hands, elaborated with their utmost skill, as if 
 you were the judges and the supreme in all that is 
 great, and nobb, and beautiful on earth. And is 
 
32 
 
 there in this conntiy all this wonderful power of 
 commanding the sympathies, and even the activity of 
 men, in regard to what is of this earth ; and its 
 Church, which speaks even as if it were the purest 
 branch, the most apostolical of all the Churches of 
 the earth, can she be in distress, can she be, as men 
 speak for her, trampled under foot, can she be on 
 the point of being extinguished, can the most 
 solemn doctrines, of which she has been the deposi- 
 tary, be, as it were, slipping from her hand, torn 
 thence by the cruel grasp of her enemies, and 
 does she cry out, — and not one response? The 
 Vatican remains in its solemn silence. That 
 word, which formerly spoken, was echoed in the 
 hearts of the faithful throughout the world, which 
 called for their prayers, and their livel}'- interests in 
 the struggle of a depressed or afflicted Church; — ■ 
 that voice is silent and will not be raised, even 
 though desolation should take place, and this whole 
 fabric of men's hands (for no more is it in our esti- 
 mation) should crumble to pieces. And even from 
 the neighbouring coasts, to which the very cry of 
 distress may be supposed to reach,' there will be sent 
 back no sympathetic or loving reply ; but all will be 
 dead in her regard. Save this, that all and every 
 part of the great and glorious Church of Christ, 
 stands, as in awe, to see what will become of that 
 Establishment, which has been raised up to great 
 worldly excellence and magnificence, till it has 
 towered on high^ amidst the nations, as a mighty 
 and splendid fabric, which learning and genius, and 
 great individual worth, as well as the loftiest social 
 
33 
 
 position, have conspired to enibellisli and enrich with 
 every human and earthly advantage. Yes, they are 
 watching to see how this structure is able to resist 
 the shocks, not of the power of man, but of that inte- 
 rior element of dissolution, which seems to have 
 begun its work within her, and to be agitating her 
 to and fro to her destruction. They are looking 
 upon all this as men look upon a great judgment 
 that has come down in mighty power from on High. 
 They are looking at it with that interest which a 
 great crisis naturally excites in things of earth, and 
 only subject to human laws; but the end, the destiny 
 of which, is as yet concealed. These various parts of 
 the living Church of Christ can in fact only look on 
 the agitated Establishment of this country, as men 
 can do from a firm and lofty shore, upon a frail and 
 shattered bark, tossed upon the billows. To save it, 
 and guide it into port, is totally beyond their power : 
 they can only pray for those who are on board, that 
 when it shall break to pieces on the rock, they may 
 be borne, on its fragments, towards the only safe 
 shore, and stand ready, to stretch forth a helping 
 hand to them in that hour. But, as a Church, as a 
 religious body, one which has any claim upon them, 
 they heed it not, they leave it to itself. And thus 
 it is shown, how truly mdeed the great principle of 
 unity has been here lost, and once lost, cannot be 
 recovered, save by total change, and return again 
 to the ways that have been departed from. Surely, 
 my Brethren, this ought to make some impression 
 on those who believe, or affect to believe, that the 
 English Church is a living member of the great and 
 
34 
 
 holy Body of Christ's Church. For if it be true 
 doctrine that one member cannot be afHicted or 
 injured, but the others must hasten to comfort and 
 assist it, how is it that the present distress of this 
 rehgious community does not thrill as a pang 
 through the entire catholic frame? It needs must 
 be that the present sore is but as a gangrene on a 
 palsied and withered limb, which can convey mes- 
 sage of the affliction to the centre of life, and all that 
 beats in unison with it. 
 
 That principle once lost, of union with the whole 
 Church, of submission to its real power, there 
 remains no hope, except in such resources as mere 
 human skill, and human wisdom may suggest. For 
 no one, my brethren, no one, I believe, of what- 
 ever religious principles he may be, whether he be- 
 long to that party that exalts the destinies and privi- 
 leges of the Church, or to that which individualizes 
 the Church to each in himself — no one, of whatever 
 shade of opinions he may be in that Church or out of 
 it, no Catholic, no Protestant, has even for one mo- 
 ment imagined, that in the whole of this discussion, 
 in the trial, in the examination which has been made 
 respecting doctrine, in the sifting of evidence, in the 
 weighing of the authorities on each side, there has 
 been any exercise of the Divine influence, any exer- 
 tion of Almighty power, any over-ruling of the Spirit 
 of God, any infusion of Grace and of light into the 
 hearts or thoughts, of those who had to treat of such 
 momentous things. It is looked upon as a judgment 
 guided by human principles, based upon mere earthly 
 prudential maxims. The whole has been treated as 
 
35 
 
 a case of ordiiiaiy interpretation might be, without 
 thought for a moment of what the spiritual conse- 
 quences of the decision might be, or in what manner 
 this opinion, or the contrary, might influence men's 
 eternal destiny. This was not the case formerly in 
 regard to matters of faith. Oh! there was most 
 solemn prayer and three days' fasting, before a deci- 
 sion on doctrine was made, even by Bishops assem- 
 bled from every part of the world. And there was 
 the turning over with solemn thoughts to the writ- 
 ings of the great lights of the ancient Church, and 
 there was much grave and serious discussion, and 
 much deep reflection, before at length the decision 
 came forth ; — " It hath seemed right to the Holy 
 Ghost and to us." And thus, and thus alone, were 
 doctrines of faith decided then. 
 
 I own, my brethren, it does appear to me as if God 
 had some great view in what has happened. If 
 it has been treated by men here below as a matter 
 of earthly interest, as a decision to be guided by 
 human wisdom, yet it cannot appear to us otherwise 
 than as a providential event in which the wisdom of 
 God has directed the course of things, as it does 
 those of all earthly events, for the advancement of 
 His holy religion, and for the triumph of His true 
 Church. It is impossible not to see what a new ele- 
 ment of dissolution has been hereby introduced into 
 the English Church; how those errors which, 
 till now, have been, merely unrecognized differ- 
 ences of opinion, may now take a systematized 
 form. It is impossible not to see how the decision 
 which has been come to on this matter, would be 
 
36 
 
 similarly pronounced upon other doctrines, were 
 they to be brought into the same course of judg- 
 ment. And one can hardly foresee the extent, to 
 which this may increase that complete division that 
 already exists among, not merely the members, but 
 the rulers of that Church, upon the other of its great 
 admitted Sacraments, and upon the very vital ques- 
 tion of Apostolic succession, and the divine rights, 
 even in spirituals, of the rulers of the Church. My 
 Brethren, when these great questions of principle 
 may arise, as I before said, it is not what may 
 actually happen, but it is what has virtually taken 
 place, when the cause has been permitted, that we 
 must attend to. It is not certain that a house will 
 fall immediately, because it is undermined, but the 
 fact of its being so may prepare us for the fall at any 
 moment. And oh ! may God, — 1 hesitate not to 
 say, — hasten the day when reflections such as these 
 shall open the eyes of men, and let them see how 
 uncertain is their foundation ; and what a slight 
 shock more may be sufficent to overthrow their pre- 
 sumptions, and to destroy their hopes. And, more- 
 over, I cannot help but feeling still more, that God, 
 here, as on so many other occasions, has been pleased 
 to make use, for His judgments, of those very things 
 wherein men have offended. For we know, how as 
 T;yre gloried in her riches, and in her merchandise, 
 and in her splendour, so therein was she punished ; and 
 as the Jews exclaimed, " The Temple of the Lord ! 
 the Temple of the Lord !" and in that put their trust, 
 and by means of that tried to delude, and draw men 
 away from the real law of God, therefore that temple 
 
37 
 
 seemed more particularly to attract the judg'ment of 
 God, and was the more frequently sacked and dese- 
 crated, and at length completely destroyed. And 
 how have men been trying to keep others, whose eyes 
 were already unveiled, from joining the true Church? 
 It has been by boasting so much of the sacramental 
 power of their Church. It has been by cautioning 
 them against turning away from what was called the 
 Church of their Baptism, as though Baptism, any 
 more than Christ, could be divided: and one could 
 say, '* I am of the English Baptism, and another, 
 " I am of the Roman ;" any more than he could say, 
 " I am of Paul,'' " I am of Cephas," or, " I am of 
 Apollos ;" because, as there is but one God, so is 
 there but one Baptism. But as this has been the 
 delusive theory whereby many have been detained in. 
 error, and held back from the Church, it seems to 
 me, that God has been pleased to strike those who 
 employ these means, in their very darling thought, 
 and strike, from their hand, the very weapon which 
 they have forged against His kingdom. They cannot 
 in future speak of their Church, as if characterised 
 by its baptism, or as entitled to any allegiance, 
 because of any security which she affords her follow- 
 ers in regard to this vital point. For, from henceforth 
 it must be said, that what was lately considered by 
 many an essential point of her doctrine concerning 
 this Sacrament, has now become in her an open 
 question, and therefore no matter of faith. But 
 we, my brethren, we, my Catholic friends and 
 dearly beloved children, we will turn our thoughts 
 another way. It is not to triimiph, it is not to 
 
38 
 
 exult over what I believe to be tbe sorrows and 
 conscientious sufferings of many, that I have ad- 
 dressed you; but it is right that you should be armed 
 on a point like this, which is agitating men's minds. 
 Many will speak to you concerning it ; many will 
 endeavour, perhaps, in reasoning with you, to defend 
 the position which the}^ are about to take ; and it is 
 well that you should know its fallacy, and be able to 
 show how vain and how foolish are their hopes. For 
 thus at once to cut off' so much of the way which they 
 might be determined to traverse, instead of taking 
 the short and direct line at once to the Catholic 
 Church. We, I say, have a different view and a differ- 
 ent duty to follow. Ours it will be, with all earnest- 
 ness of heart, during these days of grace, — during 
 these days when we shall contemplate our blessed Re- 
 deemer in the midst of his sufferings, to redouble our 
 prayers, our most earnest supplications, that He will 
 look down with pity and compassion upon the multi- 
 tudes, whom we believe, nay, whom w^e know, to be 
 ensnared in the meshes of error and crooked doc- 
 trines ; and especially that He will pour forth at 
 once the grace of complete and immediate conversion 
 upon those who are wavering, who desire still to 
 cling to this bark that is sinking beneath their feet ; 
 but who have not the courage at once generously to 
 throw themselves into the bark of Peter, the only ark 
 in which God is pleased to rescue from error and per- 
 dition. Oh ! let us entreat, let us pray to our dear and 
 blessed Lord, from whose bitter death and passion 
 alone come grace and eternal salvation, that he will 
 pour forth, in these days of our sympathy with His 
 
39 
 
 sufFerings, His most precious and saving streams of 
 life, upon those souls, and change them ; bringing 
 them, as fruits of His Redemption, as the peculiar 
 commemoration of what He did in that day when 
 he died for all mankind,— bringing them safe within 
 the precincts of his Church, to the bosom of their 
 dear Mother, who stretches forth her hands to receive 
 them; that so they may take part with us in our 
 paschal joys, and to receive that true and holy commu- 
 nion which is only to be found in that Church of 
 God : which, being not of this world, places her 
 thoughts, her hopes, her aspirations, in that holy 
 heavenly Jerusalem to which she seeks to draw all 
 men. 
 
 PRINTED BY RICHARDSON AKD SON, DERBY. 
 
'y 
 
 ^' 
 
BV4253.W814 
 
 The final appeal in matters of faith : a 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00216 1810