tibraryoffche 'theological gtminmy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY §0§ VUr PRESENTED BY Levy P. Stone, Esq. May 1, 1873 BX5Q98 ,B7 1861 Annals or the tractarian MOVEMENT : FROM 1842 TO 1860 George Kirwan Browne. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/annalsoftractariOObrow ANNALS TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT, FROM 1842 TO 1860. EDWARD GEORGE K1OTAN 4R0WNE LATE PROTESTANT CURATE OF BAWDSET. SUFFOLK. THIRD EDITION. pmsmm fiipmnrnin. 1861. TO BE HAD OF THE AUTHOR ONLY, THROUGH MISS DALY, 75, GEORGE STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, LONDON. (Bnkttis at Stationers' Hall. [The Author reserves to himself the right of translating this work into foreign languages, and all other rights of international copyright.] Co tomtit WLofytx, DEPARTED IN THE FAITH OF JESTJS CHI! I ST, THESE PAGES ARE HUMBLY DEDICATED, AS A THANK-OFFERING, FOR HAVING PLACED THE WRITER, WHILE AN INFANT, UNDER THE MATERNAL PROTECTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. EDWD. G. K. BROWNE. Warwick, Feast St. Winefrid, 1860. C ONTE N T S . Preface Introduction Annals of the Year 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 ., ' - >, 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 I860 Addenda W, p. 304 Appendix .... Page. 1 26 60 73 57 100 129 145 158 164 174 223 262 305 326 340 345 408 448 463 498 526 529 PREFACE The progress of Christianity in England presents many curious features : with the sole exception of white- cliffed Albion, no nation, no kingdom, has ever had her lost hierarchy restored to her, which has once, only once, rejected the truth ; but England, though she has repeatedly rejected the truth of God, and trod under foot the Covenant of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, has again, after a lapse of three centuries, had the pearl of inestimable price offered her. England (it is supposed) first received the light of faith in A.D. 63, by the teaching of S. Joseph of Arimathcea and his three companions, who took up their residence at Glastonbury — the first land of God — the first home of the saints in England — "here S. Joseph resided for some time, but the rays of the Gospel were received coldly by the inhabitants of Britain," and after the death of the Missioners, Glastonbury became the retreat of wild animals. Christianity was again re-introduced into England in A.D. 156, when Lucius, King of the Britons, sent a letter to that holy man, Eleutherius, who presided over the Church at Rome, beseeching, that under 1 vi his direction he might be made a Christian. " Two most saintly men, Fngatius and Damianus, were sent by S. Eleutherius to preach the Gospel in Britain, by whom the words of life were announced, and the Sacrament of Baptism conferred upon King Lucius and his people." It does not enter into our plan to speak of the martyrdom of SS. Alban and Amphibalus, or of the labors of S. German, or S. Lupus, or S. David against the heresiarch Pelagius; we do not purpose alluding to the visit of S. German to the shrine of the holy martyr S. Alban, and how he deposited certain relics with the bones of theMartyredratronof Verulam, whose name is now, alas, all but forgotten in the very town honored in days of yore by his blood, and how he 4; took thence a portion of the earth reddened with the blood of him who had given His life in testimony of the faith." It is beside our purpose to speak of the battle of Maes Garmon, or Guid Cruc, or of the Alleluia victory. To others it must be left to write of the labors of S. Helena, S. Daniel, S. Illtyd, S. Sampson, S. Aidan, S. Cadoc, and S. Brieuc ; to others it must be left to speak of the Monastery of Caer Leon and the labors of its holy monks. A pen more eloquent than ours has, in his life of S. German, described the Alleluia victory, and we hope that others may be induced to enter as fully into the detailed history of the Anglo Saxon Church. We are now led forward to the arrivalof S. Augustine. Vll "The cause that led S. Gregory to take an anxious and earnest interest in the salvation of our nation is one that, derived as it is by tradition from our ancestors, ought not to be buried in the silence of oblivion. It is stated that, on a certain day, some foreign merchants, recently arrived at Home, exposed a great variety of things for sale in the Forum, and among the num- ber of persons who had gathered there as purchasers was S. Gregory ; his attention was instantly at- tracted to a few boys about to be sold as slaves. Three hapless young creatures were remarkable for their dazzling white skin, their bright complexion, their beauteous figures, and their fair and flowing ringlets of hair. He inquired from what country they had come, and was told from the island of Britain, whose inhabitants were as fine and beautiful in their appearance as these youths. Again he en- quired, if these islanders were Christians, or still buried in the error of Paganism, and when informed that they were Pagans, he sighed heavily and deeply as he exclaimed : 4 Oh ! grief of griefs, that the author of darkness should lay claim to beings of such fair forms, that there should be so much grace in their countenance, and the soul still so completely destitute of it.' He next asked of what race were these men, and on hearing they were 'Angles,' 4 justly,' indeed, are they (he observed) so named, for their face is angelic, and they themselves ought to be co-heirs of the angels in Heaven. But how, asked viii he, is the province called whence they camel' It was replied, ' Deira.' ' De ira Dei they must, indeed, be rescued before they are called to the mercy of God. But what is the name of the king of that province ? ' It was said, 'Alia.' 'Then,' rejoined S. Gregory, alluding playfully to the name of Alia or iElla, 'Alleluia in praise of God, the Creator of all, shall yet be hymned in that portion of the earth.' S. Gregory, unable, himself to go to Britain with these youths whom he had purchased and instructed as Christians, in consequence of his election to the chair of S. Peter, deputed S. Augustine to be the missioner to the island far in the north. It does not enter within our plan to speak of the labors of S. Augustine, or of the martyrdom of the various defenders of the Faith in this island. Nor do we purpose to speak of the Abbeys and Religious houses which once bestudded this and the sister island of Ireland ; we intend not to delay you, reader, by bewailing the beauteous ruins of Adare or Rathkeale, Mucross or Jedburgh, Bindon or Tintern, whose walls call loudly for reparation on the sacrilegious wretches by whom they were de- spoiled ; we wish not to compare the rule that once existed in S. Alban's monastery with the regulations of the S. Alban's New Poor Law Union ; but we would hurry on to the rejection of the Gospel in the time of Henry VIII. The season has now arrived for the full and perfect IX development of the " Man of Sin," and the nation selected for the denouement of the satanic plot against the peace of the Church, — was England — the island of Saints, the nursery of Missioners ; England, who had sent apostles to Germany, Sweden, Erance; England, whose fame was bruited abroad for the sanctity and learning of her children, was selected by the fallen angels as the fittest spot for the development of the most damnable of all heresies. The long suffering of an all-patient God had been long evinced towards England, but the hour had now arrived when she saw her Religious turned from their peaceful homes and sent adrift, and lands, consecrated to the service of God and His Church, bestowed on harlots and dissolute favourites. These Religious had each "ac- cording to their ability, an almonry, great or little, for the daily relief of the poor about them; every principal monastery had a hospital in common for travellers, and an infirmary (which we now call a hospital) for the sick and diseased persons, with officers and attendants to take care of them. Gentlemen and others having children, without means of mainten- ance, had them brought up and provided for."* We do not purpose speaking of the punishment which befel, and still befal those, who are guilty of plundering property solemnly dedicated to God, under a curse, and who are dedicated to the torments of eternal fire, to be tormented with Kore, Dathan * Spelman's History and Fate of Sacrilege, 1853. X and Abirom.* It does not enter into our plan to show by how "stringent a system of persecution the Catholic spirit was crushed down in this country for many generations;" nor do we purpose showing how Henry, (who had so nobly opposed Martin Luther in his Assertio VII Sacrament or um ") aided by the perjured Cranmer, Ridley, Cromwell, and a subservient Court, had succeeded in uprooting the Church and establish- ing a creature of his own. It is not our purpose to show how in Henry's reign "all episcopal jurisdiction was laid asleep, and almost struck dead by the Regale during the king's pleasure, "j* * The curse is as follows : — " Auctoritate Omnipoteutis Dei et B. Petri Apostolorum principis, cui a Domino Deo collocataest potestas ligandi atque solvendi super terrain, fiat manifesto, vin dicta de malefactoribus, latronibus et pnedonibus possessionum et rerum juriumque et libertatum Monasterii St. Wandergisilii de Fontanella totiusque congregationis ipsius Monasterii, nisi de malignitate sua resipiscant cum effectu. Si autem prsedicti malefactores hoc in quo ipsi commisserint emendari voluerint, veniat super illos benedictio Oninipotentis Dei et retributio bonorum operum. Si vero in sua malignitate corda eorum indurata fuerint, et possessiones cceteraque reddere noluerint, seu ad statum debitum redire nou promiserint et emendare poenitentialiter malitiose distulerint, veniant super illos, omnes maledictiones quibus Omnipotens Deus maledixit, qui dixerunt Domino Deo, Eecede a nobis ; viam scientarium Tuarum nolumus : et qui dixerunt, hsereditate possideamus sanctuarium Det. Fiat pars illorum et haereditas ignis perpetui cruciatus. Cum Chora, Dathon et Abiron, qui descenderunt in infernum viventes, cum Juda et Pilato, Cayapha et Anna, Simone Mago et Nerone, cum quibus cruciatu perpetuo sine fine crucientur. Ita quod nec cum Christo, nec cum Sanctis ejus, in coelesti quiete societatem habeant, sed habeant societatem cum diabolo et socios ejus in inferni tormentis deputati, et pereaut in sternum. Fiat. Fiat." t Collier's History of Bngland. xi But Almighty God, slow to punish his rebel- lious people, and mindful of the prayers of an Aidan, a Bega, a Hilda and a More, again offered the Church to this besotted nation. Christi- anity was for the fourth time restored to Eng- land by Cardinal Pole, in the reign of the ma- ligned Mary Tudor — but on the accession of her sister, an idol somewhat similar to that created by her father, but made yet more subservient to the royal will, was erected: for we find Archbishop Parker doing homage in these words, 44 1 Matthew Parker D.D., acknowledge and confess to have and to hold the said Archbishopric of Canterbury, and the possessions of the same entirely, as well the spiritualities as temporalities thereof, only of your Majesty and Crown Eoyal ;" and to this document is added, as an appendix, 44 We also, whose names be under written, being Bishops of the several Bishoprics within your Majesty's realm, do testify, declare, and acknowledge all and every part of the premises in like manner as the Right Rev. Father in God, the Archbishop of Canterbury has done." In this Sovereign's reign, more than 120 priests, besides some thousands of the Laity, suffered martyrdom for the faith ; and of the church of England, we may in truth say, that her ministers, her so called ministers, unable to bear the presence of those who adhered to that pure and immaculate faith, preached and planted in these islandsby S. Lucius, and 8. Augustine, xii and restored by Cardinal Pole, enacted penal laws making it death for a priest to say Mass, or for one of the faithful to be present at the unbloody Sacri- fice of the altar. No language can depict in their true colors the sufferings of our forefathers ; but it was left for a later day, not only to enact new laws, but to witness persecutions, yet more harrowing than any ever endured by the Church Militant. If our forefathers could with S. Gregory of Nazianzum, say, "" E")(0ujas<£* ovtoi to otirsi\eiv} rjjxsij to 7Tf oo"=r££cr0ai. ourcu to /3aAAeund it a certain decent regularity of public prayers, and, it may be, eloquent preaching, but nothing more. It could never grow into any form akin to Catholicity. If the primitive worship had been imbued with the Protestant spirit, it could never have issued in Catholicity. Catholic Christi- anity could never have sprung from a Protest- ant origin. It had its birth in a nobler region. It hath been sent down from Heaven unto the children of men, by the inspiration of the Divinity."* The Eternal Council of God had determined that the reactionary movement to His Church * Reasons for becoming a Koman Catholic, by Y. Lucas, Esq. B xiv should commence in the University of Oxford. The light was to shine forth at first dimly in Oxford, boasting of her " Martyrs' Memorial" a memorial devoted to the memory of three apostates, and traitors as well to their Sovereign as their God, whose names deserve to be held in as great execration as is that of Hainan by the children of Israel. Laud, Montague, Hooker, Beveridge, Bramhall, Jeremy Taylor, had each done their best accord- ing to the light granted them to lead souls Homeward, not knowingly, for they desired (as well as the Tractarian party), that this Church of England should flourish like the Garden of Eden, alleging, perhaps, the same reason as Dr. Featly in the " Sacra Nemesis." — "We must have an eye to the nurseries of good religion and learning, the two Universities, which will never be -furnished with choice plants if there be no preferments and encour- agements to the students there, who for the farre greater part bend their studies to the Queen of all professions, Divinitie; which will make but slow progress, if Bishopricks, Deanries, Archdeaconries and Prebendaries, and all other Ecclesiastical digni- ties, which, like silver spurs, prick on the industrie of those who consecrate their labors and endeavours to the glorifying of God, in employing their talent in the ministering of the Gospel, be taken away. What sayls are to a ship, that are afflictions to the soul ; which if they are not filled with the hope of some XV rewards, and deserved preferments, as a prosperous gale of wind, our sacred studies and endeavours will soon be calmed : for honos alit artes ; omnesque incenduntur studio glorioz ; jacentque ea semper qiue apnd quosqne improbantur. And if there are places both of great profit, honor, and powder propounded to Statesmen and those that are learned in the law, like rich prizes to those that prove masteries ; shall the professors of the Divine Law be held in less esteem than the students and practisers in the municipal'? And shall that profession only be barred from entering into the temple of honor which directeth all men to the temple of virtue, and hath best right to honor by the promise of God, honorantes me honorabo, because they most honor God in every action of their function which imme- diately tended to His glory."* Previous to the formation of the modern 1 Oxford School,' whose 4 Annals ' we are now presenting to the public, there existed another school — the Caroline or ' Laudian ' — (many of wThom submitted to the Church ; — indeed ever since that unfortunate period miscalled the Reformation, souls have been added to the Church of such as were predestinated by salvation) — whose object it also was — though not so unblushingly pro- claimed as by the Tractarian party — to ' TJnprotes- tantize the Establishment,' and to inculcate a lore of unfeigned affection to the Apostolic See; ' in lieu of that * Sacra Xemesis, p 56. xvi uncharitable and unscriptural spirit fostered by Cranmer, Cecil, and the other minions of Henry and Elizabeth. Passing over the other schools we come to that formed by the 6 Tracts for the Times,' which has given more than 200 of the clergy and many thousands of the laity to the Church. They could not remain in the Anglican Communion because they perceived that " the Anglican system was worldly in its origin, naturally wanting in divine nature and real spiritual life ;" that it was a " piece of human mechanism, like one of those rustic arbors formed of unplaned branches, which hold out some show of vegetation because its frame-work has been cut from the living tree, but it has no interior life, and you may take any of its parts without injury to what remains. Yet for a while, men sit and live and are merry within it. But in a short time the under timbers become decayed, and the worm eats into the substance, and men come and repair a little here and a little there, and as it goes on consuming inwardly, they cover it every year with some deceitful varnish that gives it a false appearance of youth and freshness, but at last it will hold no longer, and they sweep it away as unprofitable lumber, and gather up the fragments together, and heap them up for burning, "f There are some who laugh at trivial circumstances being caused by an overruling Providence, and con- t Lucas' Keasons for becoming a Eoman Catholic. xvii sequently turn those into ridicule who speak of the casual discovery of an umbrella by a Roman Priest in his confessional, as having lead to the reconciliation of the Hon. Mr. Douglas with the Church ; but such forget that a holy Confessor was once saved by means of a spider. Who can laugh at little things as not being overruled by a Provi- dence, and yet forget the case of S. Felix of Nola, whose countenance God so changed that his persecu- tors knew him not, and then protected him from their hands by means of a spider. The compiler of these " Annals "having obtained the patronage of our venerated and beloved Hierarchy, cannot do less than return his most sincere and heartfelt thanks to them for their supporting his humble efforts in collecting as many of the " fugitive pieces " as he could, respecting the doings of his quondam brethren, and most earnestly does he pray God to grant those who are yet out of the pale of the Church, grace to enter therein, lest they die extra salutem ; and to his own brother converts, a hope that he and they, profiting by the fall of some few, may learn to appreciate, yet more and more, the gift of Faith which they have received from on High. P.S. — We beg to call our readers' attention to the following reply to a review, {'penned by a convert with ivhom ive had been in correspondence previous to the publication of the first Edition, but whose name we suppress) as it appeared in the 1 Tablet ' in xviii November, 1856. Our object in compiling the 'Annals' not the 'History' of the Tractarian Movement, was simply to present documents connected with this most extraordinary revival of Christianity in England ; and hence our reason for dividing the work into years, and not into chapters, and also of omitting all reference to associations. THE REVIEWER REVIEWED. A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OE THE " TABLET." Sir — Tour assurance to a Reverend friend, who was as equally surprised as myself at the insertion of so unjust a review of my work, " History of the Tractarian Movement," in your columns, that the writer was not in any way connected with your paper, induces me to address you, instead of the readers of the Kilkenny Journal, or my opponent the Kilkenny Moderator. Tour reviewer commences with complaining of my not using Clergy lists, Oxford and Cambridge Calendars, and cheap Peerages. I can assure you that these works, with the exception, perhaps, of Mr. Walford's cheap Peerage and Baronetcy, (which I did not use because its accuracy had been attacked) were referred to by me. Tour correspondent, I will not call him your reviewer, as he is "not in any way connected " with the Tablet, while attacking me for some typographical errors, says — " We confess ourselves disappointed, whether we look to the typography or the contents of the book, to its matter or to its style. It is written on no plan' or system, nor has the author been at the pains of dividing it into chapters, or connecting his paragraphs. Whether the work is written on any "plan or system " I leave to my readers "not to your accurate and truth telling reviewer " to decide, for they will perceive that the work is divided into years. These typographical errors with which the learned reviewer — the doctor doctorum — the self appointed castigator librorwm is displeased, are as follows — " The book itself, we observe, appears, not permissu, but per- missii superiorum ; and the motto which adorns the title-page speaks of 'Ecclesia Die' sie. " On page 207, among the lists of converts for the present year, we have the Rev. W. A. Weyurlon, Vicar of South Stoke ; a reference to the ' Clergy List' shows that the individual mentioned xix is the Eev. Mr. Weguelin. Mr. E J. Hutchins, M.P., for Lymington, is omitted at page 181 ; in the list for 1855, (?) we find Viscount Dungarvan, M.P., the present Earl of Cork, who has never been accused of any love of Catholicity, though his mother is a Catholic. Again, Lord Adare, a boy 14 years of age in 1855, can scarcely be called a convert on account of the change of religion by his father, the Earl of Dunraven. In 1854 we find the Eev. W. H. Scott given as "Curate of Bolton," whereas he was beneficed with a valuable family living in the neighbourhood of Oscott. Again, instead of the Earl of Castlestuart, we find Viscount Castlestuart; the late Sir E. Blennerhassett, who has been for some years past a boy at St. Gregory's College, Downside; and two strange individuals besides, for whom we have looked in vain in every book of reference, 'Sir 11. Crown,' and 'the Hon. J. E. Chanter.' "In 1853 he need not have omitted that J. F. Pollen was Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. This same gentleman occurs also in the list for 1852 ; so that we suppose he was twice received. The initials also of the Eev. Messrs. Belany and Coleridge are both incorrect. In mentioning the name of Dr. Ives, in his list for 1852, Mr. Browne might have told his readers that he was a Protestant Bishop in America, and the only convert of Episcopal rank. In 1851 there are plenty of blunders: We happen to know that Mr. Walford was never Curate of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and, in fact never held a license from any Anglican Bishop, having been simply ordained upon his college title as a scholar of Balliol College, Oxford.* "The Eev. Mr. Harper was never ' Dean' of S. Ninian' at Perth, nor did he ever own the title of the Very Eeverend. The Hon. and Eev. William Towers (sic) Law was Vicar, not of East Brent,' but of Harborne, near Birmingham. The Eev. Seton Eooke has not taken orders as a Secular Priest, but has joined the Dominicans at Woodchester. In 1850 it was not the Eev. J. A. Dagnan, but a very different person, the Eev. J. A. Day- man, who became a convert. Mr. Maskell's name is William, not ' W. G-.' There was no such convert in that year as ' Mr. Anderon '; and it is well known that there is aright as well as a wrong way to spell the names of Lord and Lady Fielding. We observe similar inaccuracies in the names of Mr. Sergeant * Mr. Walford is himself to blame for this error. XX Bellassis (sic) and the Eight Hon. W. E. (sic) Monsell, M.P. In the list of 1849 we should extremely like to know Mr. Browne's authority for inserting the name of the late Lord Melbourne,* and we cannot but feel a doubt whether he is more correct with the name of the late Admiral the Hon. Sir John Talbot, who was baptised and brought up a Catholic ; and though occasionally in the course of a long life he entered a Protestant place of worship, yet never positively abjured his religion, but on the contrary, repeated a ' Hail Mary ' every day, and returned to his religion when nearly 80 years of age. "In the first list for 1847 we find the name of the Eev. E. Gh Macmullen given as Vicar of S. Saviour's, Leeds, a statement corrected twTo pages afterwards, where the name of the then In- cumbent, Mr. Ward, is given correctly. "We doubt whether, after the name of Mr. Darnell, we ought not to read 'Fellow of New College, Oxford,' instead of Trinity College, Cambridge. But of these errata our readers will probably have had enough. We may add, that whenever a Latin document is quoted the mis- takes are numerous and troublesome." jSTow, sir, before I refer to the learned Pundit's own errors in your columns, for which he is as much answerable and liable to censure, though typographical errors, as I am for the typograph- ical errors of the Printers of my booh, so ably reviewed by men of a far higher standing than one who cannot, as I shall presently show, quote two lines from the Mantuan Bard without making more mistakes than a child just commencing to translate the first iEneid. I shall take his corrections as they stand. I plead guilty to the typographical errors on the title page, but being absent from Dublin, I could not personally super- intend the correction ; but surely any one, except a gentleman of sjich a very hypercritical constitution, could see that I meant pcrmissu superiorum and ecclesia Dei. Had he looked to the errata on the last page of the book he would have seen that Mr. * Since the above was written we have heard confidentially the name of the Priest who actually received Lord Melbourne ; and with regard to the late Sir John Talbot, we beg most respect- fully to refer the reviewer and the Editor of the ' Tablet ' to Dr. Oliver's Collections illustrating the Catholic religion in Devonshire, Dorsetshire and Cornwall. XXI Ward's Latin Protest was corrected, and Mr. Weguelin's name properly inserted. I am not gifted with a prophetic knowledge of future events, and therefore could not anticipate the con- version of Mr. E. J. Hutchins, M.P., for Lymington, which occur- red after my book was published. "With regard to Viscount Dungarvan, M.P., the present Earl of Cork, had your reviewer referred to the list of errata he would have read — "p. 223, dele Viscount Dungarvan, M. P." If I mistake not, Lord Dungarvan was announced by some paper as a convert to the Church of Eome, and is still suspected by the Protestant party in this country as a Papist. I do not know why " boys of fourteen years of age," as Lord Adare, should not be called converts, perhaps your correspondent will kindly inform me. 'I may as well inform my reviewer that in a list lent me by an esteemed friend, I found the names of the Ladies Kerr and their brothers, who I believe, like Lord Adare, were mere children, not even "fourteen years of age," at the time of their reconcili- ation with Holy Church. The Eev. W. H. Scott was Curate of Emanuel Church, Bolton Le Moors, at the time of his conversion, unless the title page of a pamphlet published by him at the time of his secession, and the Clergy List for 1854, bear false witness. At the time of the present Earl of Castlestuart's conversion he was Viscount Stuart — as the late Earl was alive ; the convert meant was the late Sir B. Blennerhasset, and not the boy at St. Gregory's College, Downside. With regard to the "two strange indi- viduals," "Sir E. C rown," and " Honorable J. E. Chanter," I am exceedingly sorry that I gave your correspondent such a chase - but had he consulted Directories and other books of references he would have found that there were in existence, and I hope are still in existence, two (such) strange individuals as " Sir E. Crown" and "Honourable J. E, Chanter." I presume your learned correspondent is not so "well up" in American intelli- gence as in Peerages, Baronetcies, and the various on dits of the aristocracy of England. I am sorry that I omitted stating that J. H. Pollen, whom, our learned and accurate reviewer calls J. F. Pollen, was a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and also that I mistook the Christian names of Messrs. Belaney and Coleridge. Had your correspondent referred to my alphabetical list of " Clerical Converts," he would have found that I did tell my c xxii readers that Dr. Ives had been a Protestant Bishop in America, and the only convert of Episcopal rank. What will yonr readers think of the accuracy of his remarks, on reading the following passage : — " No little sensation was caused in the Re- ligious World by the Conversion, and consequent sub- mission, or THE BISHOP of north Carolina (DR. IVES) to the Church of God," — (p. 166). Good reader, and good Mr. Editor, what say you to the truthfulness of your most ACCU- RATE and LEARNED correspondent. Respecting Mr. Wal- ford, if I have been misinformed, the fault is his own, as I had been in correspondence with him while writing the work. The Rev. Mr. Harper was Dean of S. Ninian's, Perth, and there- fore HAD EVERY RIGHT TO THE title or Very Reve- rend." Should these observations meet the eye of Mr. Harper, formerly of S. Niuian's, Perth, I should be glad if he would write a line to me on the subject. Since writing the above I have been informed by a late student of S. Ninian's, Perth, that Mr. Harper was not "Dean" but "Canon" of S. Ninian's, and even in that case, as your reviewer is well aware, he would be entiled to be called " Very Reverend." In page 226, I find Mr. Law's name mentioned as Vicar of Haberston — it should have been Harborne ; and willingly do I concede this typographical error. I am well aware that there is "no such convert as Mr. Anderon," but there is a Mr. Andeiidon. . My authority with regard to the conversion of Lord Melbourne, is one of far higher respectability and credibility than that of the learned, sagacious, and trustworthy reviewer, but which I respectfully decline giving him publicly. On referring to a list of converts, I find the names of the late Lord Melbourne, and Sir J. Talbot, though according to the reviewer the latter was " brought up and baptised a catholic," and that he "never positively abjured his religion. I now proceed to the errors of your learned correspondent, with whose accurate (?) review your readers must be as tired as I am. To parade his learning and knowledge of Latin, he quotes the two following lines : " Judque ipse miserrima vidi, Et quorum para magna frie, a schoolboy's quotation,, which, from its presumed similarity to xxiii Virgil, I suppose lie meant to cite the following lines, which we quote, for his information, with the remarks of the Editor of the Kilkenny Moderator. " One thing is certain, however; the writer in the Tablet, before censuring the error in the Latin motto to Mr. Browne's book, ought to have looked to the correction of his own Latin quotations. There are two lines near the conclusion of his article which our ' typo ' copied exactly as he found them, and we are not surprised that correspondents seem anxious to have the meaning expounded to them. They ought to apply to the Tablet for that information, but we are willing to assist them. We believe the writer meant to quote from Virgil — " Quosquc ipse miserrima vidi, Et quorum pars magna fui. — " ^Eneld II. 5. "As printed by the Tablet, it was utter nonsense.1' After reading the above will it be credited that you, Sir, the Editor of the " Tablet," though ready to censure me for typo- graphical errors desire to shield your reviewer on the ground that printers often make such blunders. Perhaps, sir, you will kindly inform my readers, and the writer of first review that appeared in the Tablet, whether the lines above quoted and supposed to refer to Yirgil ^Eneid, II. 5. were the production of the same sapient and learned brain, as he who had the audacity to assert that I had not informed my readers that Dr. Ives was the only Protestant Bishop who had submitted to the Church. I must take this opportunity of requesting the readers of my contemporary to apply to this learned correspondent of the Tablet, for any information they may require respecting the above quo- tation. I have been asked by some, was the review written after dinner ? Will the learned reviewer reply to this query ? An- other mistake I must give. In quoting the title page of my book, he states correctly that I was late Protestant Curate of Bawdsey. Suffolk, but judge my surprise on finding that the learned critic speaks of my country curacy in Norfolk. Most sincerely do I regret with him (and I am glad to be able to condole with my learned and accurate reviewer, — the clever Daniel whose judg- ment is to correct the opinions of the Dublin Evening Post, Freeman, Weekly JRegister, and even THE TABLET) at a xxiv work similar to mine, not having been undertaken by Messrs. Wilberforce, Manning, or Newman. Is not the late Archdeacon of Chichester, Dr. Manning ; and yet your accurate correspondent (with whose accuracy all your readers must be deeply enamored and convinced by this time) styles him Mr. Manning. I am, sir, really ashamed of having trespassed so long on your time, but one word more to your correspondent. He says — "That the hand of the sketcher and painter is wanting to catch the cha- racter of each transient phase of Puseyism, and to combine them into a picture which shall be at once artistic and faithful." To this deficiency I willingly and gladly plead guilty. I am no histo- rian. My object was only to " collect materials," and this I declared openly to have been my intention and plan. Trusting, sir, that you will, as a simple act of justice to myself, insert this letter in your next paper. I am, Sir, Tour obedient servant, Edward G. Kirwan Browne. Journal Office, Kilkenny, Advent, Feast of St. Francis Xavier, 1856-57. P.S. — On referring to the work itself, Mr. Dayman's name is inserted, and spelt CORRECTLY, and not Dagnan, as the Reviewer says. Longford, Nov. 23rd, 1855. Dear Sir, It would be entirely too troublesome to you to be under the necessity of coming to Longford. To avoid that inconvenience, you might read over the MSS. for Very Rev. Dr. Smyth, Ballynahown, and if he say it contains nothing contra fidem vel mores, you may have inserted on the frontis- piece or title-page : " Published with the approbation of the Ordinary." Wishing your undertaking that full measure of success, which, I am sure, it merits. I am, dear Sir, With great respect, Your very obedient servant, x John Kilduff. Edward G. K. Browne, Esq. ANNALS OF THE TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT. Every tyro in Ecclesiastical History, must have observed the remarkable manner in which Heresy and Schism, though for a while nourishing like Jona's gourd, have in the end faded and withered, inasmuch as God had prepared for them likewise a worm, as he did for the tree, under which the fugi- tive prophet rested to see what would " befal the city while the Church of God has proceeded on her road like a bride, rejoicing on the happy morn of her wedding, pursuing her calm and equitable path, deviating neither to the right hand nor to the left, but keeping her eye fixed on Him who is the Sun of Justice, her "Divine Spouse, Heresy has faded and died ; She is well aware that the day of her sorest trial is the moment that God invariably displays His might and rescues her from peril ; if storms arise, and She be tossed hither and thither by the billows of the tempestuous ocean, nay, even if she have, for awhile, apparently deviatedfromher direct course, she has but to appeal to Him who rules the winds and the waves, and immediately the ocean becomes calm and tranquil and " Onward to that silent strand," S^e " Lifts aloft the solemn sail," and returns guided by her "true helmsman" to the course whence she had apparently veered, for " Jesus holds the helm, 'tis He Strikes masts and changes sail, 'Tis he does all in all at sea." 27 For, as the poet beautifully says : — " What though wiuds and waves assail thee, What though foes in scorn bewail thee, Heaven bound ark of liberty ; 'Mid the sheeted lightnings' gaze, 'Mid the thunders' cloudy lair, Where dark waves meet lurid air, Shalt thou breast the stormy sea ! Clouds afar thy course are bounding, Yet the light thy sails surrounding, Marks a path in gloom for thee, Onward ! leave the weary world, Every venturous reef unfurl' d, High and bright the pennon curl'd, Heaven bound Ark of liberty."* Thus has it been with the Church from the commencement of time. Scarcely had she come forth all pure and perfect from her Creator's hand, ere Adam, by his transgression, marred God's work, and if we may say so, imperilled Her very existence, but He, the invisible, the immortal Helmsman, was at hand, and the Divine Word was pledged that the Seed of the woman should crush the serpent's head. Follow then the Church in her onward course. Cain and Abel were born to our first parents ; Abel, the type of the Church of God, was murdered by his brother, and the children of Seth have ever struggled with the children of Cain, the murderer of Abel, for Seth, as Eve said, at his birth, was given her by God, for Abel whom Cain slew,f and though there have been some that have united themselves with the children of men, yet a chosen few have ever been called out of the world into the assembly of the children of God ; as it was at the period of the Deluge, when the Church was miraculously preserved in Noe, and his family ; as it was at the conflagration of the * William's Thoughts in Past Years, p. 1S5. t Genesis, iv. 28 cities of the plain, when the Church was preserved by Lot taking refuge in a cave, for he "feared" to dwell in Zoar; as it was in the Captivity, in the land of bondage, when a Joseph, a Moses, a Joshua, were raised up j as it was in the revolt of the ten tribes, when two remained faithful ; as it was in the Babylonish captivity, when the prophets were commissioned to guide the children of Israel to the promised Messiah : so has it been in the Christian era ; when Arian- ism overran the Church, an Athanasius was found to preserve her from Heresy ; an Augustine was rescued from the errors of Manes by the praj'ers of a Monica and an Ambrose, to become the champion of the Church against Manicheism ; when the British Church was on the point of yielding to a Pelagius, a David and a German were at hand to shield her from the darts of the enemy j for even now-a-days, Tregaron and Llanbadarn-Trefeglwys, though lost to the faith so nobly defended by S. David, still cling to the heart-stirring tradition of his having defeated Pelagius, and point to the mountain where he exposed the errors of Mwrgan ; and even when our own Erin, " Isle of Saints justly named," had relapsed into barbarism, and the sacred tie of marriage was all but forgotten, a Malachy and a Malchus were com- missioned to rescue and restore her to her pristine faith j so has it ever been ; champions have been always found in the day of peril, to combat and defeat error. What was the mission of the hero of Pampeluna when he laid his sword at the Altar af our La dye ? What was the mission of S. Wilfrid of York when he visited Rome, or S. Thomas of Canterbury, when tempest-tossed and an exile from his own beloved see, lie sought a temporary shelter at Pourville ? Was it mere chance that sent S. Polvcarp to Rome, to encounter the heresiarch Marcion? Was it a chance and meaningless 29 tempest that stranded S. Thomas on the coast of Pourville, when banished by his Sovereign ? Was it a mere chance that inflicted the wound on S. Ignatius at the siege of Pampeluna ? or some fortuitous circumstances that induced S. Malachy to visit S. Imarus at his gell at Armagh ? No ! for if He who rules the world allows not a bird to perish without His knowledge, how much rather would He preserve His Church, for Thou to things in Heaven above, Thou to things in air that move, Thou to things on earth that breathe, Thou to things that are beneath, Dost their order' d tasks bestow, And the life they know. Therefore, though the Church may occasionally seem to slum- ber, nay, not only to slumber, but to be as it were lost to sight, immersed in the deep, yet Jesus will be there to hear the voice of His servants, crying out in accents of fearful despair "Lord, save us or wre perish and arousing Himself, He will, with a single word, rebuke the fell wind of heresy, and restore peace to his wearied and worn out spouse, for to Him, and Him alone, do the words of the Mantuan bard apply — " dicto citius tumida sequora placat Collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit." Time was when Rome, the Queen of Christendom, was regarded as a bye -word ; the Hun and the Goth had laid her waste, and was about to level her to the ground, when the prayer of an old man vanquished the proud infidel, and the city of S. Peter was saved; the touching respect displayed by the uncivilized Goth to the sacred vessels (for Alaric ordered them to be taken to the Basilica of S. Peter), and his dethronement and death, proved how carefully Jehovah was watching the Eternal City, where reposed the precious relics of the Prince of the Church ; time was when a King of England attempted to infringe on the privileges of Rome, and lo ! he met with a sudden and unexpected death, having been slain while hunting in the New Forest ; time was when D 30 William's successor ventured to follow in the steps of his predecessor, but God was nigh to protect S. Anselm, and the monarch was punished by the retributive hand of Divine Providence ; time was but our limited space will not allow us to speak of the evil deeds of England's Sovereigns, where " Rapine and lust and perjury held sway." Time was when the mighty Sovereign of a mighty Empire vowed vengeance against Rome, and proceeded so far in his audacious rebellion, as to attempt, by means of a mercen- ary Prelate, to excommunicate and depose the Sovereign Pontiff, but the prayers of the " old man " were once more successful, and the scheme, so artfully concocted, served only to humble its originator. William, Bishop of Utrecht, Hugh Le Blanc, an excommunicated Cardinal, aided by other Prelates, equally schismatical and disobedient to the Head of the Church, proceeded to depose and excommuni- cate the Sovereign Pontiff, and Henry, to further his designs against Borne, endeavoured to urge the Romans to revolt, but Gregory excommunicated Henry, and on the mere recital of a few words dictated by one old man, and repeated by another (Sigefried, Archbishop of Mayence), who was always despised by the Emperor as foolish and silly, had so great an effect, that the mighty potentate was abandoned by all, abjured by his Prelates, forsaken by his princes, and unsupported even by the presence of a single menial; Henry was humbled, and after a while, through the interposition of his good consort, Bertha, sought and obtained reconciliation with Rome.* Time was when a Bourbon, at the head of a mercenary army, marched against the Eternal City, and vowed to level her to the ground, but the God of S. Peter was there, and once more was the " old man," though a prisoner in the Castle of Sant Angelo, victorious: while his enemies were revelling in drunkenness and debau- chery, Clement was praying for them. Though De Bourbon See Appendix A. 31 had fallen at the first onset near the Porta Del Spirito Santo, his conquerors, satiated with meat and wine, and excited by the darkness of the night, conceived the idea of a masquerade with flambeaux, in derision of that captive Papacy which they imagined they had for ever destroyed. Asses were brought, on which rode some lancers vested in Cardinals' robes. Wilhelm De Sandizell, with a paper tiara on his head, represented the Pope. On arriving opposite the Castle of Sant Angelo, the party stopped, the Cardinals dismounted and knelt before Sandizell and kissed his hands and feet, and received the benediction, which he gave with a glass of wine. A voice then exclaimed, " Let us elect a Pope;" "yes/' cried others, "a Pope not created after the image of Clement, a Pope who will obey C £esar, a Pope who will not desire either war or blood." "Luther," replied the crowd, "let those that wish that Luther should be Pope hold up their hands ?" and all did so shouting, " long live Pope Luther !" When about to separate, one of the lancers (Grunenwald) addressed the following words to the captive Pontiff, "What pleasure would it give me to embowel thee, thou enemy of God, Csesar, and the world." What, reader, think you was the termination of this expedition ? The bar- barians, decimated by the plague, left Rome on the 17th Feb., 1521, and Clement, on his arrival at Orvieto, where he had fled disguised as a gardener, thus prayed publicly for those wretches who had so maltreated him — "O my God, pardon my enemies as I pardon them, the injuries and insults they have inflicted on thy Church, its invisible Head who is in Heaven, and the visible who is on earth."* Time was when a proud ambitious tyrant, who had levelled thrones and created sovereigns at his nod, conceived the idea of humbling Rome, but the " old man," though despised by the Conqueror flushed with success, again triumphed. The proud Emperor met his reserves almost as soon as he had been excommunicated. He had impiously asked his son- in-law, Beauharnais, if the Pope imagined that by placing * Audin's Histoire de Henri VIII. 32 him under an interdict, his soldiers' weapons would fall from their hands ; but what Napoleon had so tauntingly enquired really occurred. He was excommunicated in June 1809, and in 1812, during the disastrous Russian Campaign (on the retreat from Moskowa,) an eye-witness (the Comte De Segur) says that the soldiers seemed unable to carry their arms; when they fell their weapons fell from their hand, broke, and were lost in the snow. They did not cast them aside, but, from cold and famine, were unable to retain their hold. In 1814 Buonaparte signed his abdica- tion in that very palace of Fontainbleau where he had imprisoned Pius VII. f And so is it now -a -days. But a few years since, and Alleluias were resounding through the length and breadth of England, at the fall of Rome ; Maz- zini and Garibaldi, aided by Gavazi and Achilli, had utterly exterminated the Papacy ! the Church of Rome had perished ! ! Fleming's prophecy had been fulfilled ! ! ! Rome was no more ! ! ! Cumming was in ecstacies, and Spooner and Newdegate, M'Neile and Stowell, danced and whooped with very delirium ! But alas ! the "old man" to whom had descended the Fisherman's ring, weak and power- less as he was, an exile at Gaeta, uttered a few words, and lo ! a mighty heretical nation was convulsed and scared with terror, impelled by the instinctive awe which Heresy ever feels towards the truth. S. Peter had issued his mandate, and the Hierarchy was restored, in the mercy of a God, to a nation that had five times deliberately rejected the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and preferred the worship of devils, inasmuch as England had embraced heresy with its concomitant evils of drunkenness and vice. " At length the Law, the Faith, she flung o'erboard, When carnal Calvin, lecherous Luther, roar'd, Down with the Church ! free Passion from duress, Raise high the flood-gates of Licentiousness. t Rohrbacher Histoire de l'Eglise, Vol. XXVIII. 33 They stripped the Church of all the poor's estate, And gave its acres to the guilty great ;* They dressed the Latin Mass in English guise — Oh what a Mass— without a sacrifice ! Blood without cause was spilt, the poor were fleec'd, Churches destroyed, church lands to spendthrifts leas' d ; Widow's were seen their husbands to deplore, And orphans begged from door to door."t Rome cannot and will not fall. To her may be applied the following lines of a lately living poet, slightly altered, which we gladly re-echo : — " Ruin to Rome ! — Do ye dream Because fate lends you one insulting hour, That ye can quench the purified flame that God Has lit from Heaven's own fire ? 'Tisnot a city crowned With olive, and encircl'd with peerless fame, Te would dishonour, but an opening work Diviner than the soul of man had erst Been gifted to imagine ; truths serene Made visible in beauty that shall glow In everlasting freshness, unapproach'd By mortal passion, pure amidst the blood And dust of conquests, never waxing old, But on the stream of time, from age to age, Casting bright images of heavenly things To make the work less mournful, And ye, frail insects of a day, would cry, Ruin to Rome ! !" The prayers of England's martyred children had been heard. The prayers of those who suffered the martyrdom of the rack and the gibbet, the scavenger's daughter and the iron gauntlet, a Campian and a Haydock, a Nelson and * Spelman on Sacrilege, f O'Brennan'fl Ancient Ireland ami S. Patrick. sl Paine, an Arrowsmith and a Hart, a Margaret Clitherow and the aged Mrs. Killingate, have been answered, for they had not suffered for their faith in vain. S. Alban, (Eng- land's protomartyr) S. Paternus, (whose place of martyrdom is still pointed out as the Dwl Hallog in the vicinity of Aberystwyth) S. Edmund, S. Oswyn, S. Alphege, F. Arrow- smith, Fisher, F. Johnson,* and Mrs. Killingate, have not interceded, let us hope, in vain, united as their intercessions have been with those glorious confessors, S. Wilfrid, St. Wulstan, S.William, S. Anselm, S. Dunstan, and Cardinal Pole. God had, in His Divine mercy, permitted His Church in England to endure a cruel, aye, a most cruel persecution for the space of nearly three hundred years, but ere the third century had rolled into eternity, in confirmation as it were of the visions vouchsafed to S. Edward and the Spanish Hermit,t He, who had, to all appearance, yielded the field to the enemy of mankind, reappeared. " He came (says Dr. Newman) as a spirit upon the waters ; He walked to and fro Himself over that dark and troublesome deep, and, wonderful to behold and inexplicable to man, hearts were stirred and eyes were raised in hope, and feet began to move forwards to the great Mother who had almost given up the thought and seeking of them. First one and then another - sought the rest which she alone could give. A first and a second and a third and a fourth, each in his turn as grace inspired him, not altogether, as by some party understanding or political call, but drawn by Divine power and against his will, for he was happy where he was, yet with his will, for he was lovingly subdued by the sweet mysterious influence that called him on. One by one, little noticed at the moment, silently, swiftly and abundantly they drifted in, * F. Johnson was arrested near Kidderminster and executed at Worces- ter ; he had been previously concealed in the Priest's hiding hole, at Harington Hall, when he received the abjuration of Lady Yate. f See Neale's Hierologus. 35 till all could at length see that secretly the stone was rolled away and that Christ was risen and abroad/ * How truly and accurately do the following lines of an anonymous poet depict the convert's sentiments on entering the Church: — "I can sympathize with none And none can feel with me, # # # * Nor is it this, that friends may feel Though false indeed they be, For I am in my bark alone Upon the wide, wide sea." But we would caution our readers against imagining that conversions to the Church only commenced with the " Puseyite,:> movement, for many were reconciled to the See of S. Peter at a period when it was death by the law of the land to belong to her Communion, or for one holding her orders to be seen in the country. The following names, as converts and martyrs to the faith, are recorded by Bishop Challoner, who suffered not a little on the night of the Anti-Popish riots under the leadership of Lord George Gordon : — f * Christ upon the Waters, a Sermon, by Rev. J. H Newman, D.D. f The Editor of " Do/mans Magazine" gives the following account of Dr. Challoner's narrow and providental escape during the Gordon riots : — " His name was particularly obnoxious to the mob. Many had sworn to roast him alive. Castle Street, Holborn, where his humble dwelling was situated, swarmed that night with the riotors who were vainly seeking for his house. The number had been accurately supplied them, but, either from drunkenness or the mercy of God's protecting Providence, they failed to discern it. We may faintly guess the horrors endured by this aged Prelate when the frequent shouts for the Popish Bishop to come forth assailed his ears. He remained, during that long and agonizing interval, upon his knees, praying with his accustomed fervor to his Heavenly Master to give him that fortitude and resignation which might sustain him in his threatened martyrdom. If those aged eyes shed tears they were not for his own calami- ties, but for those of his flock who, like the early Christians, were exposed to the wild beasts of Ephcsus." (Dolmans Magazine, Vol. V, p. 81.) 36 1581. 1. Rev. Ralph Sherwine, Exeter College, Oxford. 2. Rev. Edward Campian, S. J. 3. Rev. Alexander Brian, Hart Hall, Oxford. 1582. 4. Rev. Thomas Ford, Trinity College, Oxford. 5. Rev. John Short, Brazennose College, Oxford. 6. Rev. William Fuller, Lincoln College, Oxford. 7. Rev. Laurence Richardson, Brazennose College, Oxford. 8. Rev. Thomas Cottam, Brazennose College, Oxford. 1583. 9. Rev. William Hart, Lincoln College, Oxford. 10. Body, Esq., New College, Oxford. 1584. 11. Rev. George Haydock, New College, Oxford. 12. Rev. James Fenn, New College, Oxford.* 13. Rev. Robert Fenn, New College, Oxford: 14. Rev. John Fenn, New College, Oxford. 15. Rev. Thomas Hemerford, New College, Oxford. 16. Rev. John Nutter, New College, Oxford. 17. Rev. John Mund, New College, Oxford. 18. Rev. Joseph Bell, New College, Oxford. 19. Rev. Richard White, New College, Cambridge. 1586. 20. Rev. Edward Strachan, S. John's College, Oxford. 1587. 21. Rev. Richard Sutton, New College, Oxford. 22. Rev. Rev. Stephen Rousham, S. Mary's College, Oxford. 23. Rev. Edmund Jennings. 24. Rev. Eustachius White. * Messrs. James, Robert, and John Fenn were brothers, and were born at Montacute. " F. James Fenn was apprehended on the public road near the house of a Catholic Gentleman, named Giles Bernard, who suffered much persecution on that account," — Oliver's Collections, 8rc. 37 1598. 25. Rev. Edward Waterton. 26. Rev. John Cornelius, New College, Oxford.* 27. Rev. John Bost. 28. Rev. John Ingram. 29. George Sallowel, Esq., Protestant Curate of Houghton-le- Spring, Durham. 1595. 30. Rev. Alexander Robins, New College, Oxford. 31. Rev. Henry Walpole, S. J., New College, Cambridge. 1596. 32. Henry Abbot, Esq. 1597. 33. Rev. William Andleby. 1600. 34. Rev. Christopher Wharton, Trinity College, Oxford. 1602. 35. Rev. Francis Page, S. J. 1604. 36. Rev. Edward Kensington, S. J.f 37. Rev. Thomas Kensington. 1612. 38. Rev. William Scott, O.S.B., Trinity College, Cambridge. * The Rev. John Cornelius was apprehended in his hiding hole at Chid- lock Castle. The Priest's hiding holes at Harrington Hall, Worcestershire and Malvern Priory, are still in existence, as also one at Little Walford Prior y, near Shipston-on-Stour. f The Rev. F. Edward Kensington, whose real name was Laithwaite, on hearing of his brother's imprisonment and condemnation, hurried to Exeter to reclaim him from the errors of Popery, and the magistrates witnessing his enthusiastic zeal allowed him free access to his brother. But at the end of eight days he became satisfied that he had been combating shadows instead of substance ; that he had mistaken for Catholic doctrine the base misrepresen- tation and calumnies of the enemies of God's Church. The discovery of such unjustifiable practices served as a beacon to direct him through the surges of error and to lift him upon the rock of truth. By the end of the Christmas holidays he was himself reconciled to the Catholic Church. — Oliver E 88 1642. 39. Rev. William Rose, O.S.B., Trinity College, Cambridge. 1678. 40. Edward Colman, Esq., Trinity College, Cambridge. 41. Rev. Anthony Turner, S.J., Trinity College, Cambridge. The following are from the " Legenda Lignea," and we make no doubt our readers will be astonished at finding that the sons of Dr. Potter, the Dean of Worcester, and Dr. Cosin of Peterborough, were among those on whom it pleased God to bestow the Divine gift of faith: — "1. Rev. Sir Toby Matthews, son of the Archbishop of York. 2. Rev. Walter Montacute, Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge. 3. Rev. Golf, D.D., one of the King's Chaplains. 4. Rev. Vane, D.D., one of the King's Chaplains. 5. Rev. Hugh Cressy, Eellow of Merton College, Oxford.* 6. Rev. Thomas Bailey, D.D., son of the Bishop of Bangor, and Chaplain to the Marquis of Worcester. 7. Rev. Richard Crawshaw, Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. 8. Rev. William Rowlands. 9. Rev. William Simons. 10. Rev. Potter. 11. Rev. Cosin. 12. Sir Kenelm Digby. 13. Sir Francis Doddington. 14. Sir Theophilus Golly. 15. Lord Andover. 16. Lord Goring. 17. Hon. C. Goring. 18. Sir Richard Lee. 19. Sir William Davenant. 20. Dr. Hart. 21. Dr. Johnson. 22. N. Read, Esq. 23. Richard Millivent, Esq. * Rev. Hugh Cressy, O.S.B., author of the ''Church History of Brittany," was received into the Church, while travelling as tutor with the Earl of Falmouth, at Rome in 1646. 39 21. Thomas Normington, Esq. 25. Glue, Esq., Balliol College, Oxford. 26. Bichard Nicholas, Esq., Peterhouse, Cambridge. 27. Edward Barker, Esq., Caius College, Cambridge. 28. Marchioness of Worcester. 26. Marchioness of Clanricarde. 30. Countess of Denbigh. 31. Lady Kilmanchie." In addition to these, we must not omit the names of the Duke of York and Rev. F. Lewgar,* the friend of the notorious apostate Chilling worth; and in our days, previous to the movement whose annals we are compiling, Messrs. Kenelm Di^by, Beste, Lisle Phillips, the late Frederick Lucas, M. P., the Rev. F. Ignatius, and many others ; nor should we forget the penalty awarded by an Act of Parlia- ment, enacted in the reign of Elizabeth, making it " High Treason to draw off any person from the communion of the Church of England to that of Rome :" and that those who •'knowingly maintained or concealed the reconciling or reconciled, and refused to discover them within twenty days to some Justice of the Peace or other higher officer, should fall under the penalty of misprision of treason." It was like- wise enacted that every person convicted of saying Mass should forfeit 200 marks and suffer a year's imprisonment, and those who willingly heard Mass be liable to the forfeiture of 100 marks and one year's imprisonment. Further: "every person above the age of sixteen years who absents himself from church, incurred the forfeiture of £20 per month, and in case the absence was continued for twelve months, he was to be bound to his good behaviour to enter into a recognizance of £200, and find two sufficient sureties." Well, then, has a Dignitary of the Establishment said, that " the Penal Laws were notorious through the whole of Europe as the most * It was through the instrumentality of Father Lewgar, R.J., that the Savoy Conference altered the words of the Ordination servic? of the Church of England, and thus acknowledged the invalidity of the Orders conferred from the time of Parker to their day. 40 cruel and atrocious system of persecution ever instituted by one religious persuasion against another ;w* and Mr. Burke justly called it " a truly barbarous system, where all the parts are an outrage on the laws of humanity and the rights of nature ; it is a system of elaborate contrivance as well fitted for the oppression, imprisonment, and degradation of a people and the debasement of human nature, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man." In a word, Catholicity was nearly extinct in England. " The vivifying principle of truth, the shadow of S. Peter, the grace of the Redeemer, had left England. All seemed to be lost ; there was a struggle for a time, and then its priests were cast out and martyr ed."t Have we not then reason to marvel at the increase of the Church now-a-day ? Have we not reason to exclaim, Digitus Dei est hie, when we see converts daily received into the Church, and not a week pass by without announ- cing the opening of a new Mission ? — But fifty years since and we were a bye-word among the people; — but half a century since, and one of our Prelates (Dr. Talbot) was tried for the crime of saying Mass, and only acquitted on the informer swearing, that he had heard the officiating Prelate say, Confiteo Deo omnipotent!, instead of the wonted formula, Confiteor Deo omnipotenti — inasmuch as (said the Lord Chief Justice of the day) the Latin language has no such word as Confiteo. " Truth was disposed of and shovelled away, and there was a calm, a silence, a sort of peace." Thus was it but a few years since. Methinks we hear our Protestant friends inquiring, "What has given rise to this unusual excitement in the world? What has caused the revival of Catholicity, not only in England, but in Germany, America, Bussia, and even Sweden and Turkey ; not only do we see mem- * Sydney Smith's Letter to the Electors of York on the Catholic Emancipation. f The Second Spring, a Sermon hy the Rev. J. H. Newman, J),D. 41 bers of the Establishment, but of every other soi-disani religious body flocking into the Catholic Church. To-day Wesleyanism gives up with a sorrowful heart a Pritchard j to-morrow records the reception of an Ida Halm, a Petcher- ine, or a Boyhimie, and the next day a Professor of one of the ' Godless Colleges/ a Crofton, or it may be a Gfroer, submits to the chair of S. Peter, and sues for reconciliation with the Rock of Ages ! It is the spirit of God, the Ruach Ehhim, once more hovering over the face of the earth, and quickening men's souls prepared in secret by Almighty God, and fitted into His Living Church like the stones in Solomon's temple, " which were made ready before they were brought to Jerusalem, so that there was neither ham- mer nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house when it was in building." So has it been now-a-days, for throughout the movement no visible exertion (if we except the form of prayer drawn up by his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, for the conversion of England, while Principal of the English College at Rome) was made by the Church ; the pear fell as it ripened, and was gathered into the garner, the chrysalis was converted into the butter- fly, and the stone that "had been hewn and made ready elsewhere," was brought to Jerusalem, and fixed in its own place ; each convert by God's grace working out his own salvation with a joyful fear rejoiced in having found rest, true genuine rest, for his soul; it was the new spring; the winter had past, the rain was over and gone. As in those happy days, when the Church was in her infancy, and Priests were wont to offer up the Holy Sacrifice in the Catacombs, and in- quirers to visit the Apostles by night, so now might men be found studying S. Thomas Aquinas, Bellarmine and Perrone, and using the " Garden of the Soul " and the " Paradisus Amince" as books of private devotion, but secretly for fear of their fellow-men — some might be seen stealing to Mass at the Catholic chapel — humble and mean as it was — but disguised, and pouring out their hearts to 42 their God, concealed from the view of man by some pillar, beseeching Him to guide them into the truth, for none dared trust another, or confer with the friend of his bosom, or the companion of his earlier days, on so sacred, so awfully sacred a subject as the salvation of the soul ; in truth, many were exclaiming with S. Augustine, " Quamdiu, qvamdiu, eras, et eras ? Quare non moclo? Quare non hdc hordV for they were consumed with very grief, so palpable was the darkness in which their souls were buried. The avowed object of the "Oxford movement" (for its chrysalis state under Dr. Lloyd, we would refer the reader to Canon Oakeley's lecture) was to contribute some- thing towards the practical revival of doctrines, which, although held by the great divines of our Church, at present have become obsolete with the majority of her members, and are withdrawn from public view even by the more learned and orthodox few who still adhere to them ;" in a word, to " Catholicize the present Establishment; and gradually to restore to England the blessings of the Catholic Church," for the " zealous sons and servants of the English Branch of the Church of Christ, seeing with sorrow that she is defrauded of her full usefulness by particular theories of the present age, which interfere with one portion of her commission, believe that nothing but these neglected doct- rines, faithfully preached, will repress that extension of Popery, for which the ever multiplying divisions of the religious world are too clearly preparing the way."* A series of pamphlets embracing a wide range of subjects was published, entitled Tracts for the Times, " embracing such subjects as the following: — the Constitution of the Church — the authority of its ministers — the Ordinances, and especially the Sacraments of the Church — refutation of the errors of Romanism, and directions how to oppose it — translations of interesting passages of early Church History, and collections of passages in confirmation of their tenets * Tracts for the Times, Vol. I., Preface, 43 from the great standard English Divines. "f The Tractarians further taught, much to the dismay of the Bishop of Ossory, (Dr. O'Brien, whose Anti-Catholic tendencies are well known in the city of St. Canice) the doctrine of Apostolic succession as a rule of practice, i.e. 1 — That the participation of the Body and Blood of Christ is essential to the maintenance of Christian life and hope in each individual. 2 — That it is conveyed to individual Christians only by the hands of the successors of the Apostles and their dele- gates. 3 — That the successors of the Apostles are those who are descended in a direct line from them by the imposition of hands, and that the delegates of these are the respective Presbyters whom each have commissioned, and that " with- out a Bishop there can not exist any Church, nor any Christian man, no not so much as in name." In vain did Dr. O'Brien disclaim this truth, so emphatically laid down by the members of the new School, who contend that "all our great Divines who maintain the reality and the advan- tages of a succession ' from the A.postles line ' of episcopally consecrated Bishops, and episcopally ordained Ministers in the Church, and who rejoice in the possession of it by our then Church, as a signal blessing and privilege, not only do not maintain that this is absolutely essential to the being of the Church, but are at pains to make it clear that THEY DO NOT HOLD THAT IT IS.* Such was the state of matters in 1833; — the opinions entertained by the " Oxford School," were becoming some- what popular, but it was by no means to be expected that they would become " widely popular, for truth is never, or at least never long, popular," though Mr. Sewell ex- pressed his surprise at the rapidity with which the funda- mental principles of the Oxford School had advanced — "a f Evans' Sketch of all Religions, edited by Rev. J, H. Bransby. * Charge of the Bishop of Ossory. rapidity which ten years since we should have pronounced a delusion;* Mr. Dalgairns in his letter to the 'Univers' also says, referring to the progress of Tractarianism — " The progress of Catholic opinion in England, for the last seven years, is so inconceivable that no hope should appear extravagant. Let us then remain quiet for some years till, by God's blessing, the ears of Englishmen are become accustomed to hear the name of Rome pronounced with reverence. At the end of this term you will soon see the fruits of patience/' The Bishops were closely watching their proceedings ; the Evangelical party were alive to their actions, and waiting their time to act. The Oxford school was attacked on all sides; Bishops, Archdeacons, and Deans, were charging against them ; Charlotte Elizabeth, in her Christian Ladies Magazine, was warning her fair readers to beware of the " sleek slim Tractarian Curate while others were accusing them of " disaffection to the Church, unfaithfulness to her teachers, a desire to bring in new doctrines, and to conform our Church more to the Church of Rome, to ' bring back either entire or modified Popery." " Tractarianism " (says one), "is a wicked, ungodly, unscriptural conspiracy to confine and enslave the souls of free Englishmen and to crush them beneath the Juggernaut wheels of episcopal tyranny and spiritual despotism. "f Another, that "in narrowness and bigotry they might vie with any production of the Dark Ages, their chief aim being to retain the great bulk of mankind in abject intellectual prostration, and blind subjection to a domineering priesthood. Could they attain such strength as to render them rash enough to attempt to reduce their opinions to practice, the result would be most awful : for a collision would ensue, which might endanger our sacred and valuable institutions, and our National Church in particular would be sure to fall in the struggle." % * Se well's Letter to Dr. Pusey on Tract No. XC. f What is Tractarianism ? By Rev. J. Gladstone. J Christian Observer, Feb. 1841. 45 According to one Bishop (Chester), "Tractariaiiism is daily assuming a more serious and alarming aspect, and threatens a revival of the worst evils of the Romish system and another, " I charge you in the name of Christ to shun these novelties, to despise such teaching, and to abhor such per- versity of learning." While the Bishop of Calcutta felt it his duty to " caution his Reverend Brethren against the whole system as proceeding upon a false and most danger- ous principle, and differing from the generally received Protestant notions. Dr. Pusey in consequence of these attacks, was compelled to defend the " Tracts for the Times" and their writers, by quotations such as the following, from their works, to prove that they were not Romanists, nor even their writings of a Romish tendency. " Rome maintains positive errors, and that under . the sanction of an anathema, but nothing can be pointed out in the English Church which is not there so far as it goes, and even when it opposes Rome with a truly Apostolic toleration, it utters no law or condemnation against her adherents."* " The Romanists are wretched Tridentines every where, "f "The freedom of the Anglican Church may be vindicated against the exorbitant claims of Rome, and yet no disparage- ment ensue of the authority inherent in the Catholic Apostolic Church." { " O that thy creed were sound. For thou dost soothe the heart, thou Church of Rome, By thy unwearied watch and varied round Of service in thy Saviour's holy home."§ Mr. Dalgairns also says in reply to the question 'why do you not join us'? The theory of the Church is pure ; but according to certain works of piety which are too widely spread, according to the statements of enlightened travellers * Tracts for the Times, No. lxxi. f Froude's Remains % Keble on Tradition. § L)rra Apostolica. Appendix B. F 46 free from all the prejudices of vulgar Protestantism, he (Mr. Newman) fears that there is a system authorized, which practically, instead of presenting to the soul of the sinner the Holy Trinity, Heaven and Hell, substitutes for that the Holy Virgin, the Saints and Purgatory. It is true that all that does not form an essential part of the faith of the Church ; but he avows that the system loudly calls for re- form, and that it would be impossible for the Anglican Church yet to cast itself into the arms of Rome."* Thus did Dr. Pusey show that the writers of the "Tracts for the Times/' were not Romanists, though closely ap- proximating to Rome in particular doctrines, principles and views, that they were not " fighting under false colors to propagate Romanism and to oppose primitive views or, as another writer says, that though " deeply convinced in spite of outward appearances, that the Church of England is intrinsically Catholic, that it is our duty to belong to her, and that it is a great sin to leave her, still were she ever unhappily to profess herself to be a form of Protestantism, (which may God of His infinite mercy forbid), then I would myself reject and anathematize the Church of England, and would separate myself from her immediately as from a human sect; and in conclusion (continues Mr. Palmer) I once more publicly profess myself a Catholic and a member of a Catholic Church, and say Anathema to the principle of Protestantism, (which I regard as identical with the principle of Dissent) and to all its forms, sects, and denominations, especially to those of the Lutherans and Calvinists, and British and American Dissenters. Likewise to all persons who knowingly and willingly, and under- standing what they do, shall assert either for themselves or for the Church of England the principle of Protestantism, or maintain the Church of England to have one and the same common religion with any or all of the various forms and sects of Protestantism, or shall communicate themselves * Letter to the 'Uuivcrs ' 47 in the temples of Protestants, or give communion to their members, or go about to establish any intercommunion between our Church and them, otherwise than by bringing them, in the first instance, to renounce their errors and promise a true obedience for the future to the entire faith and discipline of the Catholic and Apostolic Episcopate — to all such I say Anathema."* Mr. Froude also in his letters and 'Life of St. Thomas of Canterbury/ laments, (reminding one of Hamlet's affections for Ophelia so beautifully por- trayed by the Bard of Avon) the state of the Establishment, (his Ophelia) asserting that the " tyranny of the State and the weakness of the Church seem to have divested them of all claims, not merely on his obedience but also on his good faith. This is a very serious charge ; but as it seems clearly well founded, painful as it is, it is very necessary that it should be very distinctly made ; and being made of course it ought to be substantiated." f His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, with that far-seeing discernment for which he is so justly celebrated, predicted the tendency of the Oxford School, for he says, speaking of the " Library of the Fathers," " I augur results most favorable to the cause of truth, from the publications of the Fathers in a form acceptable to ordinary readers." J The storm which had for so long a period been lowering over the head of the Oxford School, at last burst forth in all its fury on the devoted person of Isaac Williams. The description of the storm that overtook iEneas and his companions, as described by the Mantuan bard, may well apply to that now lowering over the Tractarianizing section of the Establishment — " Venti velut agrnine facto, Qua data porta ruunt .et terras turbine perflanfc, Incubuere mari totumque a sedibis imis, * Letter of the Rev. W. Palmer, to Rev. C. P. Golighty. t Fronde's Remains. % High Church Claims, by Dr. Wiseman. 48 Una Eurus Notusque ruunt creberquc procellis, Africus. * * * * Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum, *##### Intonuere poli et crebris micat ignibus aether." For from this moment the Anglican party might have said with the stranded Gonzalo — " We split ! we split ! Farewell, my wife and children, Farewell, brother, we split! we split! we split!" Bishops now charged in reality against the tenet of " Reserve in teaching Religious Knowledge," regarding it as contrary to the doctrine and practice of the Gospel. Dr. Phillpotts (the Bishop of Exeter) " lamented more and more the tendency, at least, the direct import of some of their (The Oxford School) views, on reserve, in communicating Religious Knowledge ; especially their venturing to recom- mend us to keep hack from any who are baptized, the explicit and full declaration of the Doctrine of the Atone- ment," and Dr. Monk, Mr. Williams's Bishop, accused him of " withdrawing the Scriptures from mankind, and robbing us of the greatest blessing which flows from a pure religion." To this Mr. Williams replied by showing that he had been misrepresented by his Diocesan, as " Reserve" only meant, reverence, and that it was far from his intention to with- hold the doctrine of the Atonement, for he says in the Tract, " surely the doctrine of the Atonement may be taught in all its fulness on all occasions, and at all seasons, more effectually, more really and truly according to the propor- tion of the faith, or the need of circumstances, without being brought out from the context of Holy Scripture into prominent and explicit mention." Dr. Copleston, Bishop of Llandaff, thus referred in his Charge to the Tractarian movement — " It was with pain and sorrow that I observed the early indication of that evil, which almost invariably attends the formation of what must be called a school or party in matters of religion. It is true, 49 that in these 'Tracts,' the falsehoods of Popery are oc- casionally held up undisguised for rejection, and even for abhorrence. But this, so far from being a justification of the tone in which at other times her faults are palliated, and her pretensions respected, rather strikes me as carrying with it a self-condemning evidence. If she be guilty to the extent described, it is inexcusable to hold communion with her, or to court her favor : there is undoubtedly in these ' Tracts,' an admission of various corruptions sanctioned and enforced by the Romish Church. "f Nor wrere Drs. Copleston, Monk, and Phillpotts, alone in their condemnation of the Tracts on Reserve, in communi- cating Religious Knowledge; "and notwithstanding the continued asservations of the writer, that by ' Reserve,' he meant ' reverence,' the Anglican ' Bishops,' in their various charges condemned Mr. Williams and his Tracts, one saying, " we " (Dr. Carr, Bishop of Bombay), deprecate any Reserve in putting the Gospel into the hands of any who desire to secure Christian instruction — "while another (Dr. Blom- field) rejected every thing in the nature of a disciplina arcanV No. XC. at last made its appearance; and in obedience to the express command of the Bishop of Oxford, the "Tracts for the Times" were now discontinued, with an unreserved and joyful submission to the authority of the Bishop, inas- much as "the Episcopacy is a divinely ordained chain of supernatural grace/' and that it would be " acting lightly against the Spouse of Christ, and the awful presence which dwells in Her, if they hesitated a moment in not putting their Lordship's will before their own," for if " a Bishop's lightest word ex cathedra is heavy ; his judgment on a book cannot be light." The following letter to the Editor af the ' Tracts for the Times/ was the cause of No. XC. being brought before the notice of the Hebdomadal Board : — t Charge of the Bishop of Llandaff, 1841. 50 ' To the Editor of the Tracts for the Times. Sir, — Our attention having been called to Xo. 90, in the series of ' Tracts far the Times by the Members of the University of Oxford? of which you are the Editor ; the impression produced in our minds by its contents, is of so painful a character that we feel it our duty to introduce ourselves briefly before your notice. This publication is entituled "Remarks on certain passages in the Thirty-nine Articles-" and as these Articles are appointed by the statutes of the University to be the text book for tutors in their theological teaching, we hope that the situations we hold in our respective Colleges will secure us from the charge of presumption in thus coming forward to address you. The * Tract1 has in our apprehension, a highly dangerous tendency, from its suggesting that certain very important errors of the Church of Eome are not condemned by the Articles of the Church of Eng- land : for instance, that those Articles do not contain any condemnation of the doctrines, 1 Of Purgatory, 2 Of Pardon, 3 Of the worshipping and adoration of Images and Eelics, 4 01 the Invocation of Saints, 5 Of the Mass, as they are taught authoritatively by the Church of Eome ; but are a condemnation of certain absurd practices and opinions which intel- ligent Eomanists repudiate as much as we do. It is intimated more- over, that the declaration prefixed to the Articles, so far as it has any weight at all, sanctions this mode of interpreting them, as it is one which takes them in their " literal and grammatical sense," and does not "affix any new sense" to them. The Tract would thus appear to us to have a tendency to mitigate, beyond what charity requires, and to the prejudice of the pure truth of the Gospel, the very serious differences which separate the Church of Eome from our own, and to shake the confidence of the less learned members of the Church of England in the Spiritual character of her formularies and teaching. "We readily admit the necessity of allowing that liberty in inter- preting the formularies of our Church, which has been advocated by many of its more learned Bishops and other eminent Divines ; but this Tract puts forward new and startling views as to the 51 extent to which that liberty may be carried. For as we are right in our apprehension of the Author's meaning, we are at a loss to see what security would remain were his principles generally recognized, that the most plainly erroneous doctrines and practices of the Church of Eome might not be inculcated in the Lecture Eooms of the University, and from the pulpits of our Churches. In conclusion we venture to call your attention to the impro- priety of such questions being treated in an anonymous publi- cation, and to express an earnest hope that you may be authorized to make known the writer's name. Considering however grave and solemn the whole subject is, we cannot help thinking that both the Church and the University are entitled to ask that some person beside the Printer and Publisher of the Tract should acknowledge himself responsible for its contents. We are, sir, your obedient and humble servants, " T. T. Chukton, M.A., Vice-principal and Tutor of Brazennose College." " H. B. Wilson, B.D., Fellow and Senior Tutor of St. John's College." " John Griffiths, M.A., Sub- warden and Tutor of Wadham College." " A. C. Tait, M.A., Fellow and Senior Tutor of Balliol College." Oxford, March StJi, 1841. The Hebdomadal Board consequently came to the fol- lowing resolution — "At a Meeting of the Vice- Chancellor, Heads of Houses and Proctors, in the Delegates' Eooms, March 18th, 1841 — Considering that it is enjoined in the Statues of this University, (Art. III., sect. 2, tit. IX., sect. 1L, § 3, sect. V. § 3) that every student shall be instructed in the Thirty- nine Articles, and shall subscribe to them ; considering also, that a Tract has recently appeared, dated from Oxford, and entitled, Remarks on certain passages in the Thirty-nine Articles, being No. 90 of The Tracts for the Times, a series 52 of anonymous publications purporting to be written by members of the University, but which are in no way sanc- tioned by the University itself : — Resolved, that modes of interpretation such as are suggested in the said Tract, evading rather than explaining the sense of the Thirty -nine Articles, and reconciling sub- scription to them with the adoption of errors which they were designed to counteract, defeat the object, and are inconsistent with the due observance, of the above men- tioned Statutes. TV. TVynter, Vice-Chancellor . ' ' Whereupon Mr. Newman addressed the following letter to the Vice- Chancellor : — " Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I write this respectfully to inform you that I am the author, and have the sole responsibility of the Tract, on which the Hebdomadal Board has just expressed an opinion, and that I have not given my name hitherto, under the belief that it was desired that I should not. I hope it will not surprise you if I say, that my opinion remains un- changed of the truth and honesty of the principle maintained in the Tract, and of the necessity of putting it forth. At the same time, I am prompted by my feelings to add my deep consciousness, that everything I attempt might be done in a better spirit and in a better way ; and while I am sincerely sorry for the trouble and anxiety I have given to the mem- bers of the Board, I beg to return my thanks to them for an act which, even though founded on misapprehension, may be made as profitable to myself as it is religiously and charitably intended. I say all this with great sincerity, and am, Mr. Vice -Chancellor, Your obedient servant, John Henry Newman. Oriel College, March 16th." 53 In consequence of the condemnation of Mr. Newman by the Hebdomadal Board, Dr. Hook thus expressed himself." "The moment I heard that Mr. Newman was to be silenced, not by argument, but by usurped authority, that moment I determined to renounce my intention of pointing out in Tract XC. what I considered to be its errors : that moment I determined to take my stand with Mr. Newsman ; because, though I did not approve of a particular Tract, yet in general principles, in the very principle advocated in that Tract, I did agree with him ; in a word, I was compelled by circumstances to act as a party-man. And in justice to one whom I am proud to call my friend, I am bqund to say that Mr. Newmans explanatory letter to Dr. J elf is to my m hid perfectly satisfactory. The Church of England is now a divided body. The most unhappy determination of the Hebdomadal Board at Oxford to censure Mr. Newman, A CENSURE WHICH I LITTLE DOUBT THE CON- VOCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY WOULD, IF SUMMONED, REVERSE— has proclaimed this from one end of the country to the other/ 'f The object of this far-famed Tract was, " to show that, while our Prayer book is acknowledged on all hands to be of Catholic origin, our Articles also, the offspring of an uncatholic age, are through God's good providence, to say the best, not uncatholic, and may be subscribed by those who aim at being Catholic in heart and doctrine."* Notwithstanding the condemnation of the Tract by the Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Pusey, and Messrs. Percival, Ward, and Keble, vindicated its principles ; and this notwithstand- ing the ex cathedra denunciations of one Bishop, wrho con- demned No. 90 as "a most dangerous delusion;" while another lamented that the Tracts "sometimes dealt with some of the worst corruptions of Rome, in terms not indicating so deep a sense of their pernicious tendency." f Hook's Letter to the Bishop of Ripon, P.C. * Tracts for the Times, No. XC. G 54 The work of God had commenced; the "Tracts for the I'imes" and " Froudes Remains" had effected their ap- pointed task, which He, in His good providence, had set them to accomplish, though unknown to the writers and leaders of the " Oxford School/' who were "earnest and copious in their enforcement of the high doctrine of the Faith, of Dogmatism, of the Sacramental principle, of the Sacraments, (as far as the Anglican Prayer Book admitted them) of Canonical observances, of practical duties, and of the counsels of perfection." They were single-minded and sincere in teaching the doctrines of "Prayers for the departed in the faith and fear of God," of the "Invocation of Saints," of the " Rep 1 Presence," of the "Church speaking with stammering lips," and of exhorting their disciples to be '•content" to be "in bondage/' and to "work in chains." It was this spirit which led Mr. Dalgairns to say in his letter to the Univers — fIf I could once be convinced that the Spirit of God had quitted the Church of Rome, I should think at the same time, that Christianity was about to be extinguished all over the world,' But it was, however, necessary, in the dispensation of Divine Providence, that the earnest and sincere "Anglo- Catholic" should see the utter absurdity of his position, accordingly the "Lives of the English Saints" made their appearance, and Mr. Newman, in all simplicity, having re- signed his living of S. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, and Little- more, retracted certain offensive expressions used by him towards Rome.* Mr. Faber, also in his "Life of S. Wilfrid" told his readers that to "look Romeward was a Catholic in- stinct seemingly implanted in us for the safety of the Faith," that "the process may be shorter or longer, but that Catholics get to Rome in spite of wind and tide," and Mr. Ward boasted that he held the whole cycle of " Roman doctrine." The Tractarian party was at this period divided into two great sections. The one, earnest and simple-minded, were content in following Mr. Newman's advice, and to "work * Appendix C 55 on in chains, submitting to their imperfections as a punish- ment, to go on teaching through the medium of indeterminate statements, and inconsistent precedents and principles bat partially developed/' to believe that God would visit and rescue them if in error; they listened reverently while he thus addressed them, — " 0, that instead of keeping on the defensive, and thinking it much not to lose one remnant of Christian light and holiness, which is getting less and less, the less we use it; instead of being timid and cowardly, and suspicious, and jealous, and panic-struck, and grudging, and unbelieving, we had the heart to rise as a Church in the attitude of the Spouse of Christ, and the dispenser of His grace, to throw ourselves into that system of truth which our fathers have handed down, even through the worst times, and to use it like a great and understanding people ! O, that we had the courage and the generous faith to aim at perfection, to demand the attention, to claim the sub- mission of the world ! Thousands of hungry souls in all classes of life stand round us, we do not give then what they want, the image of a true christian people, living in that Apostolic awe and strictness, which carries with it an evidence that they are the Church of Christ. This is the way to withstand and repel the Romanists, not by cries of alarm and rumours of plots, and dispute, and denunciation, but of living up to the Creeds, the services, the ordinances, the usages of our own Church, without fear of consequences, without fear of being called Papists ; to let matters take their course freely, and to trust to God's good providence for the issue/'* The other section is described by Mr. Marshall, as "fighting about vestments, and postures and pues," or by Mr. Faber, as "playing at Mass, putting orna- ment before truth, suffocating the inward by the outward, bewildering the poor instead of leading them, revelling in Catholic sentiment instead of offering the acceptable sacri- fice of hardship and austerity; this is a painful, indeed a * N'Mvinan's Letter to Dr. Fans>»m. 56 sickening development of the peculiar iniquity of the times, a master-piece of Satan's craft ;"f others of this party, not content with "playing at Mass" and losing themselves in "Ecclesiastical vagaries/' adopted peculiar Roman devotions, such as that to the " Sacred Heart of Jesus" or the Rosary, and felt a pleasant emotion in reading the lives of Catholic Saints and translations of Jesuit spiritual writers ; " but," continues Mr. Faber, "this is not the way to become Catholic, it is a profaner kind of Protestantism ;" disgusting, indeed, was it to hear sentimental young ladies lisping about "copes," and "cottas," and "Ecclesiastical vestments," and "Knight Templars," and "altars," and "plain chants." J While thus contending for the Catholicity of the Church of England and Ireland as established by Law, a circum- stance, clearly showing its purely Erastian character and thorough dependance on the State, occurred ; we refer to to the appointment of a Bishop of Jerusalem in connexion with the Lutheran Government of Prussia. This act, had not Mr. Palmer come to the rescue, would have so un- settled the junior members of the Oxford school as to have destroyed the party while yet in its "chrysalis" state, for the butterfly, the gaudy, gay, tinselled butterfly of the Oriental Church scheme had not yet been fully developed by Messrs. Neale, Palmer, and Maitland. Mr. Palmer had succeeded in not only puzzling his Anglican friends, but also certain members of the Russo-Greek Church, by asserting that the Church of England "had long had a double being, a double form, and a double language, the one, spiritual and religious, the other, worldly and political ; it is only inwardly that our Church is a Catholic Church, outwardly it is the Protestant Reformed Religion established by Law ; and there is now a struggle for life or death, whether the outward Protestantism shall eat inwardly into the heart of the Church and destroy her life, or the inward f Life of S. Wilfrid. % We refer the reader to Dr. Newman's " Loss and Gain," and Paley's " Church Restorers." 57 Catholicity shall rise up from below, to the surface, and expel or shake off the poison and dust of heresy, and change the outward form of our Church, and of our lan- guage. "* In vain did the Catholic-minded members (as they called themselves) of the Establishment protest against this act. The fiat had gone forth, and a Conge a" elite was issued, nominating Dr. Alexander to the new See of Jerusalem and even Mr. Newman was compelled to acknowledge that this measure " had a most grievous effect in weakening the argument for our Church's Catholicity," and in shaking the belief of it in individuals. Dr. Pusey also, in his letter to the Archbishop of Canter- bury ' confessed that he could not " see how the picture of an united Church could be presented by an English and Lutheran congregation, of which the one holds one Holy Catholic Church throughout all the world, knit together by its Bishops, as joints and hands under its one Head Christ, and joined on by unbroken succession to the Apostles; the other an indefinite number of Churches hanging together by an agreement in a scheme of doctrine formed by themselves, and magnified by the civil power/' We append the text and translation of the letter com- mendatory given to Dr. Alexander by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Letter commendatory from the Most Rev. the Lord Arch- bishop of Canterbury, dfcc. To the Right Rev. and Rev. To?9 TraveipwraToi? kuI 07a- Brethren in Christ the Prelates ^V70^ fv ate\•! n c . tw Z.vpta teat ev tcu? ouopoL? Apostolic Churches in Svna <■< >i? \ - ■ » < r J \vopai 7rjv evXdfieiav Kal iKavoTrjra, Kal €7r(7rjdeiot> Kpivavre?, e^eipo70vrj- OaueV €1? iTTlGKOTTOV 7YJ? ev 'A<^' 7\/a Kal 'Ifiepvia 'EkkXtjo-iu?, Ka7a 7ov? Kavova? T/yv ai>TM$ d^t'a? ?j/nubi> Kai aTrocrroXiKrj ? ' EiKKXrjo/a?. Egovm'av £e Xaf3dv7e? iropa 7rj? oef3ao-7rj? TjfxCov fiaoiXiao-q?, eVe'/x- tyapev av70v el? 'lepoaoXv/Jia, 7rio7evaau7e? av7iv etriTpoirr^v irvevjxa7iKrsv eVt ttTioi toi? 7rj? yp.e7epa? 'FKKXrjfTia? KXypiKoi? Kttl XaiKOl? 701? €K6l p.e70iKOuai Kai ev 7ui? ojuopoi? %u)pai?. "iva de p,rj 7(? dyvoij tivo? eW/ea 7od- 7ov 7ov dteXcbov yfiwv eiriGKOTrov ov7w? eVeyi^rmet/, ^vwpi^ofxev vplv o7i irpoa^d^afxev av7i£ pirjSapu)? ev firjBevl 7rpd*//bta7i eiri- jiaiveiv 7rj c^ovala 77} KaOrjKOvay V/HIV 701? ^YiWiaKOTTOl? Kal 701? aXXoi? ev 7iv dp-^iKiv 7u>v 'E/c/cAr/- aiCav ' AvaToXiKivv 7a^/na7t KaOecr- 7wo~t, piaXXov 6e Trape^eiv vpiiv 7rjv nrporjKovaav Tijmrjv Kal Oepa- 7T€cav, koI 7rpo6vfiov eivai 7rdv- T0T6 Kai 7TUV71 7p07TW CnTOvSd^etV 7a ei? (J)iXaSeXe\(f)ov rj/ndbvy 071 ck Qvjxov Kal Bid avvel- Srjcrtv, 7au7a ra ev7€7aXpeva vtfj rj/x&v 7rics7w? v\d£ei. YlapaKa- Xov/iev he v/.ui? ev 7w ovdfjia7i 7on Kvptov rifxCbv 'Itjnou "KptaToo, a$e\(J)ov Be^effOui aviov Kal Xp€lUV UV7U' LTTlKUlpOV TTdpk ^ fc / V . of respect, courtesy and kind- ness. We have good reason to believe that our brother is willing, and will feel himself in consciencebound,to follow these our instructions ; and we be- seech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to receive him as a brother, and to assist him as opportunity may offer with your good offices. We trust that your Holi- nesses will receive this commu- nication as a testimony of our respect and affection, and of our hearty desire to renew that ami- cable intercourse with the an- cient Churches of the East which has been suspended for ages, and which, if restored, may have the effect, with theblessing of God, of putting an end to divisions which have wrought the most grievous calamities in the Church of Christ. In this hope, and with sen- timents of the highest respect for your Holinesses, we have affixed our archiepiscopal seal to this letter, written with our own hands at our own palace of ^po 9 £ege7at, u>9 /xap7vpovaav 7)iv 7j/u.€7epav e, Kai 77) v iv ijjxiv 67ri7r60r)Giv tow avaveovoOai 70Vit to those Cities. 104 was all but finished when the call came; he arose and obeyed it, and had to leave his means of subsistence be- hind him, turned into stone. He came into the Catholic church, and remains a layman in it." Mr. Capes, accord- ing to M. Gondon, endowed the new church of S. John's, Eastover, with the sum of £4,000. Mr. Capes, on his secession from the Establishment, published the following address to his parishioners :— " To the Congregation of S. John the Baptist's Church, Eastover, Bridgewater. "My Dear Emends and Beet h hen— The time has at length arrived when I can no longer delay communicating with you on a subject, which I cannot but fear, will cause you very great surprise, perplexity and distress. I am aware that many reports, as to my religious opinions, have been for a long time circulated in the town and neighbourhood, and that you had consequently, been in much doubt in which of the many divi- sions which distract the Christian world you ought to class me. But I am afraid you are little prepared for the announcement which I have now to make to you, that after some years' con- sideration of the subject, I can now no longer consciensiously continue a member of the Established Church of England, and, consequently, can no longer act as minister of S. John's Church. I am sure you will believe that in making this announcement, I most deeply feel the painful shock that it will be to many or all of you, and that it is only because I see that it is the will of God that I should take the step which I propose, that I can bring myself to do that which must cause you so much sorrow. When I see the numbers among you who are destitute of all religious knowledge and of the hopes and joys of the Gospel; the crowds of the neglected children waiting for some one to teach and guide them; when I think of the univer- sal good-will and kindness which has been at all times shown to me and of the thankfulness with which so many have availed themselves of the Service of S. John's Church ; when I remem- ber all this, and recollect, that by mine own act, I shall be throwing all into confusion, trouble of mind, and astonishment, 105 I shrink back at the thought of making known my determination to you, until I remember also that the will of God is to be obeyed at every risk and every cost, even though to the eye of man it may seem to be the immediate cause of mischief and evil. " For the last two or three years, I have been unable to resist the conviction that the Established Church of England is not the true Church of Christ in England. She has few, barely any, of the marks by which we are taught to distinguish that Church, into which all men are called to fly for refuge from the world. I have tried her and found her wanting. She has many good qualities, and many of her members most truly deserve our sin- cerest respect and affection. But, if the Holy Scriptures are to be believed, the Lord of the Church, Who is our only rest and refuge, is not present with Her as He is elsewhere. He must be sought in that Church which has hejd the same truth from the beginning, which fulfils her Lord's command and brings souls to Him, "Which is not divided and distracted by a variety of doc- trines and teachers, all claiming to be heard as teachers sent by God. " You will ask me, if I have so long believed the Church of England not to be a Branch of the True Church, why I have so long continued within Her ? Because I have continued to hope for better things. I have waited to see whether the arm of God would interfere and save Her, and I have not felt uneasy under the line of conduct I was pursuing. I had no warnings from God (as far as I can judge) to tell me plainly to leave the Church in which I was born. But I now feel thus no longer. Latterly the question has pressed powerfully and constantly on my conscience. I can give no reason, except worldly ones, for not seeking the mercy of God at once when He offers it, and dare not refuse to obey when he offers it. I dare not refuse to obey, now that I hear (as I believe) the voice of Christ saying to me, ' Arise and follow.' " I have therefore resigned my License into the hands of the Bishop, and I beg to give up all claims to the benefits of the endowment of S. John's Church, and return it into the hands of those who have contributed to it, at the same time that I feel most deeply, how much they will be disappointed and distressed 106 at that which I am conscientiously obliged to do. All that I can do in return for their past good-will and friendship, will be to render every help in my power to assist in any arrangements which it may be thought desirable to make. To myself the loss of all that I give up is great indeed, in every way, but the call of duty requires us to make every sacrifice that may be demanded of us, and, therefore, I could not hesitate for a moment to sacri- fice everything rather than not hearken to the command of God. " I cannot either be insensible to the evil opinion which you will probably entertain respecting myself and my conduct in the step I am now taking. It is impossible, indeed, that some should not think ill of me. AW I ask is, that you would judge as charitably as possible, and believe that, if it were in my power, I would still labor to the utmost for your spiritual and temporal welfare. " I must also ask you to bear in mind that I am not now in any way changing my belief in religious doctrines ; that what I have, to the best of my power, preached to you, I still believe to to be the true and pure Gospel of the Grace of God, and it is because I am more and more convinced, that this Gospel is not that which is taught by the Church of England, that I now depart from Her, and seek for it, and for Him Who gave it, in the bosom of the Catholic Church. There I know it is to be found ; there, with the assistance of Holy Scripture, I learned it for myself; there I know, and see, and feel by a thousand proofs that our Saviour Christ is present, and there, through His Infinite Mercy, He calls his unworthy servant. I am about to go to Him. " Believe me to be ever, my dear friends, most sincerely and affectionately yours, June 20th. J- M. Capes." Mr. W. G. Ward, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, indig- nant, and justly so, at the cowardly and unmanly conduct of Messrs. Palmer and Perceval, published a work, in which he boldly stated that he held the " whole cycle of Roman doctrine," and that he could not agree with those who 107 prefer the English Reformation to the foreign; so far from it, — " I know no single movement in the Church, ex- cept Arianism in the Fourth century, which seems to me so wholly destitute of all claims on our sympathy and re- gard, as the English Reformation/' for when we " consider how signally and conspicuously the English Reformation transgressed those great principles ( the absolute supremacy of consicnce in moral and religious questions, and the high sacredness of hereditary religion J, one part of the reason will be seen for the deep and burning hatred with which some members of our Church regard that miserable event."* The work was laid before the Hebdomadal Board, and Mr. Ward was to be degraded for holding opinions not proved to be contrary to the teaching of the Establishment, if indeed she teaches any dogma. The question to be brought before the Convocation turned wholly and solely on the good faith of Mr. Ward in signing the formularies. " The resolution proposed to you is, that the passages read are not false, pernicious, anti- evangelical, or the like; I have no doubt that the great majority of you think them all this — but ' are inconsistent with the Articles of Religion of the Church of England made and subscribed by William George Ward, and with the good faith of me, the said William George Ward, in respect of such declaration and subscription/ This, and this only, is the question which you have to try; and the more intense your feeling of dislike to my theology, the more anxious a duty does it become for you to watch nar- rowly your own mind, lest any prejudice should distort your clear judgment :"f as a natural consequence, result- ing from the agitated mind of the University, Mr. Ward was condemned by a majority of 717 to 368, on the first proposition laid by the Hebdomadal Board before the Con- * The Ideal of a Christian Cht.rch, by Kev. W. G. Ward, t Address to the Members of Convocation, by W. G. Ward. Appendix H, 108 vocation,,* and by a majority of 569 to 511 on the second, f notwithstanding the exertions made by Messrs. Oakeley and Keble, the latter gentleman holding that it is " espe- cially uncharitable and unwise at present to narrow the ground of Anglicanism, and that on the side of Rome ex- clusively; both as increasing the relative power of the Latitudinarian and Rationalistic schools which exist among us, and as adding force to any doubts which maybe reason- ably or unreasonably felt concerning our Catholicity J and Mr. Oakeley contended that u the sense in which the Articles were propounded was not a Catholic nor a Protes- tant, but a vague, indecisive, and therefore, a comprehensive sense, that the Reformers themselves were without any pre- cise doctrinal views of their own upon the points in contro- versy, that they were consequently the victims alternately of extreme Catholic and extreme Protestant influences, that so far as they had any doctrinal sympathies of their own, they were Protestant rather than Catholic, but that the necessities of their position, as having to provide for the religious pacification of a country partly Catholic, partly Protestant, obliged them to a course (so far as doctrines at issue between the contending parties were concerned) of the strictest neutrality, and that the mode by which they sought to carry out this principle of neutrality was that of couching their formulary in language at once sufficiently Protestant in tone to satisfy the Reformers abroad, and sufficiently vague in expression to include the Catholics at home."§ Shortly after Mr. Ward's degradation, Mr. Oakeley ad- dressed a Letter to the Bishop of London claiming for him- self "the right of holding, as distinct from teaching, all Roman Doctrine," but so far was Mr. Oakeley from con- templating secession from the Establishment at this period, * Appendix I. t Appendix J and K. X Heads of Consideration on the case of Mr. Ward, by Rev. John Keble. § Oakeley on Tract No. XC. 109 that he bade his Bishop "pause'' ere he "snapped one binding tie, broken up one compact system, dislodged one needful element in the existing Church of England. It subsists by a balance ; it is kept in its orbit through the operation of rival and conflicting influences. If we tamper with a body of such delicate structure and such heteroge- neous materials, or enforce or enfeeble either of the pow- ers, in whose gentle and well-poised sway, it depends for the equality of its movements, my own deep and deliberate apprehension is, that it will break up, and its dissociated parts fly away in obedience to some more powerful attrac- tion, or wheel their restless and self-chosen course round and round the dreary regions of space. This, its brittle- ness and want of inward balance, might indeed be a proof that it had never been a Divine work at all, at least as to its essential frame work ; but they might also tend to show that though a Divine work, it had not been treated as God would have it treated/'* Mr. Oakeley addressed the following letter to the Vice- Chancellor immediately after Mr. Ward's degradation : — " Battiol College, Oxford, Feb. Uth. " Mr. Vice Chancellor, " The vote of Convocation upon the two propositions sub- mitted to it at the meeting of yesterday, seems to make it impe- rative, that I should address a few words to you, with the view of clearing my position in the University. I am anxious, then, to direct your attention to the following passage, in the preface to a pamphlet, which I forwarded to you about six weeks ago, and which you acknowledged by return of post with that courtesy and kindness which I have ever experienced at your hands ; — 'I have no wish to remain a member of the University or a Minister of the Church of England under false colors. I claim the right, which has already been asserted in another quarter, of holding (as distinct from teaching) all Roman doctrine, and that notwithstanding my subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles.' In a Tract which I have put out during the last fortnight, I have stated these words were published ' with the fullest delibe- * Oakeley on Tract No. XC. O 110 ration.' I appropriated and repeated them in that Tract, and here, with the same deliberation and distinction, I again appro- priate and repeat them. A statement on the subject of sub- scription, tantamount in substance to the above, is made, as I need hardly say, in the course of the extracts from ' The Ideal of a Christian Church; upon which Convocation yesterday ex- pressed an opinion, and, as it must also be necessary for me to observe, it is to this statement that I refer in the above passage, when I 'speak of the right which I claim, having been already asserted in another quarter.' This right having been apparently called in question by the vote of yesterday, it seems to me quite necessary, with a view to the defence of my own position that 1 should publicly state in what light I regard that vote. I con- sider it, then, as expressing a certain opinion upon a series ol extracts, from a particular work comprehending a variety ot statements, my agreement with which I am in no way called upon either to affirm or deny, except in the single instance relating to the question of subscription to the Articles, in whicti I have already declared that I take precisely the same view ot the case with Mr. Ward. Had the censure of Mr. Ward been limited to the single point of his statement upon the subject ot subscription to the Articles, the case, as far as this part of my argument is concerned, might have been otherwise. But, as this statement is only involved in a common condemnation with a variety of others, it is impossible, as I conceive, to determine whether, in theminds of the proposers and ratifiers of the measure, all the extracts are considered to be at variance with the good faith of the author's subscription, or only some of them, and if some only, then which in particular of the whole number ? _ I consider, therefore, that Convocation, in expressing an opinion upon these passages, has by no means necessarily made any declaration with respect to the question of subscription m particular so as to affect those, who, like my self, while appropriating Mr. Ward's view of subscription, do not appropriate (nor yet disclaim) other sentiments expressed in the selected passages. But if, in the judgment of the Board over which you preside and of the 'House of Convocation, I have rendered myself liable to penalty by the declarations above cited, I am anxious ' not to shelter myself (as I say in my pamphlet) under the cover of supposed differences as to this matter of subscription from others Ill who have been directly assailed.' If, on the other hand, I am allowed, after this plain and public declaration of my sentiments, to retain my place in the University, I shall regard such acquiescence as equivalent to an admission on the part of the academical authorities, that my own subscription to the Thirty- nine Articles is not at variance with good faith. But I am here arguing upon the assumption that the House of Convo- cation has a power to determine in what sense members of the University shall, or shall not, subscribe to the Articles. I wish it, therefore, to be distinctly understood that my argument so far has been purely one ad hominem ; I reserve to myself the power of disputing, if necessary, and at the proper time, any such claims on the part of Convocation. I consider myself to receive the Articles at the hands of the University, solely as an organ and representative of the Church of England, and inasmuch as the Church of England has no where declared against the sense in which I claim to subscribe to them, I accept them under no other limitations than those which are imposed by my consciencious belief of their grammatical meaning, and the intention with which they were at first put out, and are now proposed to me, by the Church of which I am a member. It is necessarily difficult, as I am sure you will perceive, to word a document of this nature, so explicitly as its very purpose requires, without the appearance of presumption as well as disrespect. I assure you that I would gladly have embraced a different alternative, had one presented itself which seemed to be equally consistent with my duty both to the University and to myself. But I am deeply and deliberately satisfied that the course of frankness, whatever present inconveniences or misconstructions it may entail, is at once the kindest and the fairest towards all parties, as it is undoubtedly also that which is most agreeable to my own feelings ; and I hope that this course will at least have the effect of clearing, from the very suspicion of insincerity, those assurances of personal respect towards yourself, with which I am most conscienciously able to accompany it. " I have the honor to be, " Mr. Vice Chancellor, " 5Tour faithful, humble servant . " Frederick Oakeley, " Senior Fellow of Balliol College. 112 Proceedings were also taken against Mr. Oakeley by Dr. Blomfield in the Arches' Court, when, contrary to "the judgment of his legal adviser, he declined to defend him- self, and resigned his license as minister of Margaret-street Chapel." Our space will not allow us to do more than quote the sentence of Sir H. J. Fust, — " The Court would not go beyond the justice of the case by revoking the license of Mr. Oakeley to perform the office of minister in Margaret - street Chapel, or any ministerial office in the Diocess of London, and by prohibiting him from performing such office elsewhere within the Province of Canterbury, till he should have determined to retract, and did retract, his errors." Mr. Newman was received into Holy Church on the 9th of October. Long had this event been anticipated, as well from the sermon which he delivered on the occasion of his resigning S. Mary's, Oxford, as from other reasons. He had in one of his sermons said " Alas ! I cannot deny that the outward notes of the Church are partly gone from us and partly going, and a most painful judgment is at hand;" and in the sermon delivered on the occasion of the resig- nation of his parochial duties, he thus apostrophized the Establishment — " O my Mother, whence is this unto thee that thou hast good things poured upon thee, and canst not keep them, and bearest children, yet darest not own them ? Why hast thou not the skill to use their services, nor the heart to rejoice in their love? how is it that whatever is generous in purpose, and tender or deep in devotion, thy flower and thy promise, falls from thy bosom, and finds no home within thy arms? Who hath put this note upon thee to have ' a miscarrying womb and dry breasts,' to be strange to thine own flesh, and thine eye cruel towards thy little one? Thine own offspring, the fruit of thy womb, who love thee and would toil for thee, thou dost gaze upon them with fear as though a portent, or thou dost loathe as an offence, — at best thou dost but endure, as if they had no claim but on thy patience, self-possession and vigilance, 113 to be rid of them as easily as thou mayest. Thou makest them ' stand all the day idle* as the very condition of thy bearing with them, or thou biddest them to be gone where they will be more welcome, or thou sellest them for nought to the stranger that passes by. And what wilt thou do in the end thereof?''* Mr. Newman was received into the Church, by Father Dominic of the Mother of God, at Little- more, and had the happiness of making his First Commu- nion on the following morning, with Messrs. Bowles, St. John, and Stanton. Mr. Wingfield,t previous to his abjuration, published a translation of the Office of the Dead from the Roman Bre- viary, in the hope that it might be the means of "restoring among the members of our Church the Christian practise of prayer for the Faithful Departed, to the comfort of those holy souls, and the comfort and edification of us who re- main in this ' vain and transitory world/ " Mr. Wingfield, in publishing this work, merely carried out the principle laid down in Tract 85, that though "Scripture be con- sidered to be altogether silent as to the intermediate state, and to pass from the mention of death to that of the Judg- ment, there is nothing in this circumstance to disprove the Church's doctrine (if there be other grounds for it) that there is an intermediate state, and that it is important that in it, the souls of the faithful are purified and grow in grace, that they pray for us, and that our prayers benefit them;" and by Dr. Pusey, who, in his letter to the Bishop of Oxford, contends that these "prayers are not opposed to the doctrine of the Church. The Church of England has expressed no formal opinion in favor of prayers for the dead either in her Canon or Articles, but neither has she said anything against them. At the time of the Refci tion they were universal, and nothing being said against a custom thus prevalent, and which could not have escaped * Sermons on the Subjects of the Day, by J. H. Newman. t Appendix L. 114 notice, is tantamount to at least to a silent approval. " Mr. Palmer, proceeding yet further than the Regius Pro- fessor of Hebrew, says, that " when the doctrine of Purga- tory had been extirpated, the English Clergy restored the commemoration of Saints in the Liturgy, (viz., at the end of the prayer for the Church Militant) which had been omitted for many years from the said cautious and pious regard to the souls of her children.*" But Dr. Sparrow makes no reference to this custom, though he quotes a beautiful passage from S. Jerome on the death of S. Fabiola — " Quid sibi volunt istce lampades tarn splendidce ? nonne sunt athletas mortuos comitamur ? quid etiam hymni ? nonne ut Deum glorificamus quod jam coronavit discedentem, quod a laboribus liberavit, quod liberatum a timore apud se habet." But how "bright burning torches" could in any manner apply to a Church, which was only permitted by some of her Bishops to have unlit candles and candle- sticks on the communion table, we know not, and leave it to the Editor of " Sparroiv's Rationale of Common Prayer' to enlighten us. We shall find Mr. Bennett contending for " Prayers for the Dead," and defending its orthodoxy against the Bishop of London ; and on the other hand, we will find some, who are now, thank God, members of His One Church, yielding to the Bishop of Ripon, inasmuch as obedience is especially necessary at the present crisis, for " obedience to the Church is obedience to God in the highest sense as to His appointment/' and they have been rewarded with the light of Faith, for the Establishment was to them, at that period, the Church of God, and it was their duty to " obey" her, believing as they did, that when they left Her guidance they lost that security, for it is in this manner that our Church became to us the seat of "quietness and confidence." * Mr Isaac Williams complained, that this apparent exclusion of prayers for the Faithful departed, disunited us in some degree from the former com- munion of those departed saints, who are now with Christ as if deemed worthy to profess ourselves one with them. 115 " I will be still, 1 will not stir, lest I forsake thy arm And break the charm." They were mindful of the words of S. Ignatius to the Magnesians — " gvtw$ ju.yj§s u/xg?$ avsu tou e7rio~xo7rou /w.»jS=v Trpaa-a-sTe — " of that martyred Prelate, who bid the Ephesians Mr. Faber published his reasons for becoming a Catholic — " I left the Anglican Establishment for no reasons short of these — that I became convinced, with sufficient clearness to make acting upon it imperative, of what I now see clearly and undubitably by the light of Faith and the teaching of the Church, the Protestant Establishment is no Church at all, but a schismatical body in Heresy and without the grace of the Sacraments, whatever graces may be conferred with the celebration of the ordinances, ac- cording to the Faith of those who assist at them in invincible ignorance. If I believed your premiss, viz., that the Establishment is a branch of the Church, then I would grant your conclusion, that to try to convert you was wrong, or, to use simpler language, very absurd, there being nothing to convert you to} except a stricter life. If I am in error be it so, only that you must grant that, believing as I do, I cannot act otherwise than I do ; I believe you to be in great danger of loosing your soul, can I do less than strain every nerve to call you out of that peril ? I look back with trembling to my former position, can I do less than try to move you from it ? I feel such a spiritual peace and hap- piness as I never knew before, can I do less than to try to make those I love participate therein? I feel deeply grateful to God for His mercy in rescuing me from the meshes of a false position, can I do less for Him than strive to co-operate with His grace in the conversion of others."* The compiler of these Annals published the following letter, to The Editor of the Church and State Gazette, as * Faber's Grounds for remaining in the Anglican Communion. 116 embodying his reasons for seceding from the Establishment. Sir, Having so lately addressed several letters to you on the various apostacies to Protestant dissent, and also having been one of the Committee for the purpose of obtaining signatures to be appended to a Petition, about to be presented to Parlia- ment in the ensuing session against the Clergy, (I use the term Clergy out of courtesy to those Laymen in England who are laboring under a delusion in imagining themselves to be in Holy Orders,) being compelled by certain late no- torious decisions in the Ecclesiastical Court to bury persons (so called,) schismatically baptised, I feel it my duty to inform you of my having obtained admissioninto the Catholic Church. In the creeds I had been wont from a child to confess my be- lief in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church — in vain did I while a member and (so called) minister of the Protest- ant Establishment look about me for unity — in vain did I look for those marks of life, of which the Venerable Dr. Pusey speaks in such high and exalted language — in vain did I look for the communion of saints ! — but all things, both present and the prospect of futurity, combined to turn my thoughts towards Rome. Now did I begin to experience the truth of what the author of the " Life of S. Wilfrid " says — " To look Romeward is a Catholic instinct seemingly implanted in us for the safety of the Faith. " But I was unwilling to trust to feeling, I examined and re-examined the subject. The more deeply I investigated the claims of the Establish- ment— the further I searched into Patristic evidence — the more I became convinced of the falsity of her claims to be a Branch of the Catholic Church, in fact that the "English Church" was nothing more or less than a gigantic impostor, became daily evident to me. At this critical juncture, while my mind was being tossed about with the various ideas — while I was being driven here and there searching for the " Fair Havens," my soul was providentially directed to Milner's "End of Religious Controversy." I believed, before this precious volume fell into my hands, that however 117 seemingly the "English Church" might have lost the out- ward marks of Catholicity, she retained her Orders. To this point I naturally turned my attention, and soon saw from the incontestable evidence brought forward by Milner, in his twenty-ninth letter, that, even allowing the validity and succession of Parker, still the form used was such that the words applied to the Bishops, might be used to a child ; " Take the Holy Ghost, and remember that thou stir up the Grace of God which is in thee by the imposition of hands !" This form was pointed out as so objectionable by the Catholic Divines, Dr. Champney, Lew gar and others, that in 1662, Convocation altered the formula of ordaining Priests and consecrating Bishops. But (as Milner asserts) admitting that these alterations are sufficient to obviate all the ob- jections of our Divines in the ordinal, which they are not, they came above one hundred years too late for their in- tended purpose, so that if the Priests and Bishops of Edward's and Elizabeth's reigns are invalidly ordained and consecrated, so must those of Charles II. and their successors also. Admitting that Parker, and his consecrators, Barlow and Scory, were validly consecrated, yet being out of the pale of S. Peter, the Church of England as established by law is out of the Catholic Church, " Qui Ecclesice renititur et resistit, (says S. Cyprian) qui catheclram Petri, super quern fundata est ecclesia, cleserit, in Ecclesia se esse confidit ? Quisquam ab ecclesia segregatus, adulters jungitur, a jiromissis Ecclesice separatur. Alienus est, prof amis est, hostis est." Apologising for the length of this communica- tion, and sincerely praying, Sir, in the language of the pious writer of the life of S. Richard of Chichester, that the prayers of that saint (and I would fain add those of the Blessed Virgin) may avail for all those, who, in these times of perplexity, know not where to find rest for their souls, and bring them to the only haven, the Church Catholic, where peace is to be found in this wretched worldc . I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, EDWARD G. K. BROWNE. Curate of Bawdsey, Suffolk. Y 118 P.S.— Will you please to insert this letter as the produc- tion of Mr. f not the Reverend J Edward G. K. Browne. In the ensuing number of the " Church and State Gazette, the following letter appeared from the Rev. W. H. Henslowe, P. C. of Tottenhill. To the Editor of the Church and State Gazette. Sir, With concern and surprise I noticed in your columns the secession of the Rev. E. G. Browne, late Curate of Bawdsey, Suffolk, from the communion of the English Church to that of Rome — concern and surprise, not so much at the abstract fact, as from the active interest manifested by that gentle- man in that Petition to the Legislature which he refers to in his letter to you, and which has been mooted as it has been founded on the atrocious prosecutions in the Arches Court of Canterbury of the Messrs. Escott, Chapman and myself. With Mr. Browne I have no personal acquaintance, and I can only wish him well, by no means wondering that any Clergyman should feel himself unsettled, and unsatisfied in a Communion professing so much purity, and perpetrating such abominations as appears in ours. If Rome illustrates the "false prophet," England adores the " beast," — pleads for her own enthralment to state Prelacy and Prelate law, and offers up in daily sacrifice her God to Mammon. These things are " written with an iron pen." They are indelible, and yet they cannot last the lifetime of the present generation in their present state. In vain we bolster up our own "ideal" of our church with hopes and self-delusions. The Church establishment of England must reform itself or else go into perdition. My individual allegiance to the powers and laws which have revolted me, is forfeited by their blood guiltiness upon me; and as a moral duty, and as an English Clergyman and no seceder, I disclaim it, I disdain it. A Church without a synod— a clergy without brotherhood — playing the game of chance for crusts, com- mitting simony before Christ, coveting preferment under 119 human favor, truckling (through fear of losing) to the dicta of their disputes, certainly, as Mr. Browne objects, these offer little of that unity, that Catholicity, that transcendental piety and charity, which was originally meant by Christen- dom, and though I grieve that Mr. Browne should leave our body, still I cannot condemn him for the part he has taken. If it were possible for me to worship any outward system, or to look to any man as "master/' I should be more disposed to clan with Knox than side with Newman ; but in the chaos of these times, minds which depend on others, does as he says, "instinctively" revert to Rome; and wheresoever they may turn, they cannot turn to any form of Antichrist more vividly asserted than that which tolerates and triumphs in such persecutions as the Messrs. Escott's, Chapman's, Seeley's, Harvey's, and your corres- pondent's— causes, good causes, which can never be impaired by any errors of the suffering parties consequent on the sufferings imposed ; since, however faulty these might be, blame would attach commensurately to the originators and abettors of these wrongs, concerning whom it is divinely decreed, that " it were better for a millstone to be hanged about their necks and then plunged headlong into the sea." Yours very faithfully, W. H. HENSLOWE. Tottenliill, Downham, Norfolk, 27th Nov. 1845. Dr. Pusey, alarmed lest others should " straggle over to Rome," published four letters in the " English Churchman" We shall merely state that in the first letter he refers to the discussion on the Stone Altar case, and in the second and third to the sentence passed on Mr. Oakeley. We must not omit the fourth and most remarkable letter written by Dr. Pusey, respecting the secession of Mr. Newman, and while calling our readers' attention to it, exclaim with the lamented Daniel French — 120 " Thou wast not wont, so Sixtus Lawrence cried. Apart from me Heaven's food to give, And will not thou, by long loved Newman's side, Participate that food and live. Say wilt thou still, with sons of jarring strife The shadows and the types receive, Or taste the fount that gives eternal life To those that with him firm faith believe." " My Dear Friend, Truly ' His way is in the sea, and His paths in the great waters, and is footsteps are not known.' At such moments it seems almost best to ' keep silence, yea, even from good words.' It is an exceeding mystery that such confidence as he had once in our church, should have gone. Even amid our present sorrows, it goes to the heart to look at that former self, and think how de- votedly he did work for our church ; howr he strove to build her up. It looks as if some good purposes for our church had failed ; and that an instrument raised for her had not been employed as God willed, and so is withdrawn. There is a jar somewhere. One cannot trust oneself to think, whether his keen sensitive- ness to ill was not fitted for these troubled times. "What, to such dulled minds as my own, seemed as a matter of course, as something of necessity to be gone through and endured, was to his, as you know, ' like the piercings of a sword.' You know how it seemed to shoot through his whole self. But this is with God ; our business is with ourselves. The first pang came to me years ago, when I had no other fear, but heard that he was prayed for by name in so many churches and Religious Houses on the Continent. The fear was suggested to me, ' If they pray so earnestly for this object, that he may be won to be an instru- ment of God's glory among them, while, among us, there is so much indifference and in part dislike ; may it not be that their prayers may be heard, that God will give them whom they pray for — we forfeit whom we desire not to retain. And now, must they not think that their prayers, which they have offered so long— at times I think night and day, or at the Holy Eucharist — have been heard ? and may we not have forfeited him, because there was comparatively so little love and prayer? And so 121 now then, in this critical state of our church, the most peril- ous crisis through which it has ever passed, must not our first lesson be increase of prayer ? I may now say that one set of those 'prayers for unity and guidance into the truth,' circu- lated some years past, came from him. Had they, or such prayers, been used more constantly, should we be as we are now ? Would all this confusion and distress have come upon us ? Yet since God is with us still, He can bring us even through this loss. We ought not indeed, to disguise the greatness of it. It is the intensest loss we could have had. They who have won him, know his value. It may be a comfort to us that they do. In my deepest sorrow, at the distant anticipation of our loss, I was told of the saying of one of our most eminent historians, who owned that they were entirely unequal to meet the evils with which they were beset, that nothing could meet them but some movement which should infuse new life into their church, and that for this he looked to one man, and that one was N. I cannot say what a ray of comfort this speech darted into my mind. It made me at once realize more, both that what I had dreaded might be, and its end. With us he was laid aside. Engaged in great works, especially with that bulwark against Heresy and misbelief, S. Athanasius, he was yet scarcely doing more for us than he could, if he were not with us. Our church has not known how to employ him. And since this was so, it seemed as if a sharp sword were lying in its scabbard, or hung up in the sanctuary, because there was no one to wield it. Here was one, marked out as a great instrument of God, fitted through his whole training, of which through a friendship of twenty-two years, I have seen at least some glimpses, to carry out some great design for the restoration of the Church, and now after he had begun that work among ourselves in retirement — his work taken out of his hands, and not directly acting upon our church. I do not mean of course that he felt this or that it influenced him. I speak of it only as a fact. He is gone, unconscious (as all great instruments of God are) what he himself is. He has gone as a simple act of duty, with no view for himself, placing himself entirely in God's hands. And such are they whom God employs. He seems then to me not so much gone from us as transplanted into another part of the Vineyard, where the lull energies of his powerful mind can be employed, which here they 122 were not. And who knows what, in the mysterious purpose of God's good Providence, may be the effect of such a person among them : you too have felt that it is what is unholy on both sides which keeps us apart. It is not what is true in the Eoman system, against which the strong feeling of ordinary religious persons among us is directed, but against what is unholy in her practice. It is not anything in our church which keeps Eome from acknowledging us, but Heresy existing more or less within us. As each, by God's grace, grows in holiness, the Churches will recognise more and more the presence of God's Holy Spirit in the other ; and what now hinders the uniou of the Western Church will fall off. As the contest with unbelief increases, the Churches, which have received and transmitted the substance of the faith as deposited in our common creeds, must be on the same side. If one member suffers, the other members suffer with it ; and so, in the increasing health of one, others too will benefit. It is not as we would have had it, but God's will be done. He brings about his own ends, as, in His sovereign wis- dom, He sees to be the best. One can see great ends to be brought about by this present sorrow, and the more so, because he, the chosen instrument of them, sees them'not for himself. It is perhaps the greatest event which has happened, since the communion of the churches has been interrupted, that such an one, so formed in our Church, and the work of God's Spirit as dwelling within her, should be transplanted to theirs. If any- thing could open their eyes to what is good in us, or soften in us any wrong prejudices against them, one should think it would be the presence of such an one nurtured and grown to such ripeness in our church, and now removed to theirs. If we have, by our misdeeds (personal or other), ' sold our brother,' God, we may trust, willeth thereby to ' preserve life.' It is, of course, a heavy thing for us who remain, heavy to us individually, in proportion as any of us may have reason to fear, lest by what has been amiss in oneself, one has contributed to bring down this heavy chastisement upon our church. But while we go on humbled, and the humbler, surely neither need we be dejected. God's chastisements are in mercy too. You, too, will have seen within these last few years, God's work with the souls in our Church. Tor myself, I am even now far more hopeful as to our Church, than at any former period — far more 123 than when outwardly, things seemed most prosperous. It would seem as if God, in His mercy, let us now see more of His inward workings, in order that in the tokens of His presence with us we may take courage. He has not forsaken us, who in fruits of holiness, in supernatural workings of His grace, in the deepening of devotion, in the awakening of consciences, in His own mani- fest acknowledgement of the ' Power of the keys,' as vested in our Church, shows Himself more than ever present with us. These are not simply individual workings. They are wide-spread, too manifold. It is not to immediate results that we ought to look ; 'the times are in His hands ;' but this one cannot doubt, tli at that good hand of our God, which has been over us in the manifold trials of the last three centuries, checking, withholding, guiding, chastening, leading, and now so wonderfully extending us, is with us still. It is not thus that He ever purposed to leave a Church. Gifts of grace are His own blessed Presence. He does not vouchsafe his Presence in order to withdraw it. In nature some strong rallying of life sometimes precedes its extinction ; it is not so in Grace. Gifts of grace are His love and ' whom He loveth, He loveth unto the end.' The growth of life in our Church has not been in the mere stirring of indivi- duals. If any one thing has impressed itself upon me during these last ten years, or looking back to the orderings of His Providence for a yet longer period, it has been, that the work which he has been carrying on, is not with individuals, but with the Church as a whole. The life has sprang up in our Church, and through it. Thoughtful persons in churches abroad have been amazed and impressed with this. It was not through their agency nor through their writings, but through God's Holy Spirit dwelling in our Church, vouchsafed through His Ordin- ances, teaching us to value them more deeply, to seek them more habitually, to draw fresh life from them, that this life has sprung up, enlarged, deepened. And now, as you too know, that life shows itself in deeper forms, in more marked drawings of souls, in more diligent care to conform itself to its Divine Pattern, and to purify itself by God's grace, from all which is displeasing to Him, than ever heretofore. Never was it so with anybody whom He purposed to leave. And so amid whatever mysterious dispensations of His Providence, we may surely commit ourselves and our work in good hope to Him who hath 124 loved us hitherto. He who loved us amid negligence, so as to give us the earnest desire to please Him, will surely not forsake us now. He has given us that desire, and we, amid whatever infirmities individually or remaining defects as a body, do still more earnestly desire His glory. May He ever comfort and strengthen you. Ever your very affectionate friend, E. B. PUSEY." As a balm to the troubled mind of the members of the Oxford School, as a compensation for the irreparable loss sustained by them in the secession of Messrs. Newman, Faber, Ward, and Oakley, in addition to Dr. Pusey's letters to the "English Churchman" in which he bid his friends take courage notwithstanding their great loss, the church of S. Saviour's, Leeds, was opened this year j "its express pur- pose (as its unknown founder (a penitent) had embraced that system of Catholic truth, or, as he believed it, the full system of the Church of England, commonly called Tract- arianism,) was to give a practical solution to questions of inexpressible interest but even in a matter of this nature, where unity and harmony would be supposed to exist, (though division is the essence of Church of Eng- landism,) an objection was raised in limine by the Bishop of Ripon. Over the West door internally, runs the Legend, "ge urfj0 enter tfjts 6olg place prag for tfje sinner m^o built it." This gave great offence (most unfortunately) to the Bishop. On the evening preceding the consecration, he objected to proceeding to consecration, till it was removed. He was told that the church had been built upon the one condition of its being there. The reason of the objection was, that the founder must die, and so prayer might be said for him by some person after his death, and the Bishop could not think it right to pray for the dead . He was told that the founder was living, and he assented to consecrate the church, because it would have been a breach of faith not to do so, when he had assented to this inscription. Subsequently, on reverting 125 to the subject, he was informed that if the founder should die, while his Lordship was still Bishop of Ripon, he should be informed of it. Another difficulty, at the same period, was the Sacramental plate. The vessels in question consist of two large chalices, with two patens and two cruets of silver gilt enriched with jewels. The two chalices were en- crusted on the stem, top, and foot, with hearts, in diamonds, rubies, emeralds and enamels. They were the gift of a young lady, Miss Lucy Bouverie Pusey, (who deceased when not yet fifteen) her brother and sister. The jewels were given by her relations and friends. The vessels were finished accordingly, and on them a legend, inscribed "Propi'tiits esta, ©omme, 2Luaae ££ arise, $ct. (the giver,) including also her brother, sister, and those who had adorned them with their jewels. The design had been brought to her as she lay dying, and the sight of the Cross had comforted her. The last earthly subject which had given her pleasure was "the Cross which she had ever loved; to point to it when she could scarcely speak, was the last use of her emaciated finger. On this account the Bishop's wish was the harder to obey; the trial, however, was ac- complished, and the legend altered." While on the subject of S. Saviour's, Leeds, we must not omit to lay before our readers the inscription on the Foundation Stone. THE FIRST STONE OF HOLY CROSS CHURCH IN THE PARISH OF LEEDS, AND COUNTY OF YORK, WAS LAID UNDER THE ALTAR, IN THE NAME OF A PENITENT, TO THE PRAISE OF THE REDEEMER, ON HOLY CROSS DAY, A.D. 1842. Q 126 " God forbid that I should glory save iu the Cross of our Lord J esus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." " O Saviour of the world, who by Thy Cross and Precious Blood hast redeemed us, save us and help us ; " We humbly beseech thee, 0 Lord. " By Thine agony and bloody sweat, \ " By Thy cross and passion, / "Good Lord, deliver us. " In the hour of death, l " In the day of judgment, J Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom." WALTER FAR QUIT AR HOOK, D.D., Yicar of Leeds. JOHN MAC DUFF DERRICK, of Oxford, Architect, JOHN NEWLAND MILLS, of Headingly, Builder. We must not here omit recording the formation of a Society called into action by the proceedings of the School whose annals we are chronicling. It was called a Society FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES, ESPE- CIALLY IN OPPOSITION TO " ANGLO-CATHOLIC" ERRORS, but denominated by the Puseyites " the Church of man estab- lished to supply the deficiencies of the Church of God."1 The principles and rules were as follows: — " 1. Every Christian is bound to examine and ascertain the meaning of the Word of God for himself in the use of all the aids within his reach, and receive no doctrine as the doctrine of Scripture unless he sees it to be declared therein, otherwise he may receive errors as truth upon a fallible authority, against the plain testimony of the Word of God. "2. Believers are justified by the righteousness of Christ im- puted to them, not by any inherent righteousness imparted to them, by the Spirit ; and they are, from first to last, justified by faith alone without works, but as ' good works do spring out ne- cessarily of a true and lively faith' (Arts xii.), the faith which justifies is a faith which ' worketh by love.' " 3. Ungodly persons have neither been born again of the Spirit nor justified, although they were baptized in infancy, but 127 remain in an unpardoned state, exposed to the wrath of God, aud, unless they be born again of the Spirit and obtain saving faith in Christ, they must perish. " 4. There is no Scriptural authority for affirming that our Lord is present with His people at the Lord's Supper in any other manner than that in which He is present with them when- ever they meet together in His Name (Matthew xviii. 20) ; and His Body and Blood are verily and indeed taken and received by them at that ordinance by faith, just as they are verily and indeed taken and received by them whenever they exercise Faith in His atoning Sacrifice ; so that the imagination of any bodily presence, or of any other presence, effected by the consecration of the elements, is unscriptural and erroneous. " 5. The Ministers of Christ are termed in Scripture Presby- ters, Bishops, Shepherds, Stewards, &c, but are never distinctly termed Priests (Upelg) and the notion of any sacrifice, offered in the Lord's Supper, by the minister as a Priest, distinct from the sacrifice of praise and devotedness offered by every true wor- shipper, is unscriptural and erroneous. " 6. There is no Scriptural authority for asserting that these only are rightly ordained, or are to be esteemed true members of Christ, who have received episcopal ordination. " 7. The true apostolical succession is the succession of faith- ful ministers in the Churches of Christ, who have preached the doctrine of the Apostles and have ministered in their spirit. " RULES OF THE SOCIETY. " 1 . This Society shall be designated ' The Society for the maintenance of Scriptural Principles, especially in opposition to Anglo- Catholic errors. " 2. The object of the Society shall be to promote the read- ing, and the examination of the Word of God, and especially to maintain the truths contained in its declaration, by the delivery of lectures, by the publication and distribution of tracts, by the formation of associations for the reading of the Scriptures and for prayer, and by any other suitable means. " 3. All persons who express their assent to the declaration, shall be considered members of the Society if they so desire. "4. Every member of the Society who shall subscribe 10s. annually, shall be entitled to vote at the general meeting of the Society. 128 " 5. A douation of £5 shall give the same privilege for life. " 6. The affairs of the Society shall be directed by a Com- mittee, Treasurer, Secretary, and, if requisite, by a President and other officers, all being members of the Established Church. " 7. The Committee shall be chosen annually at a general meeting of the Society. " 8. All the meetings of the Society and of the Committee shall be opened with prayer. " Subscriptions and donations in aid of the Society'3 plans and operations will be thankfully received by the Treasurer at the Banking House of Messrs. Barclay, Evans and Co., 54, Lombard Street, by the Honorary Secretaries, 53, "Woburn Place, Russell Square, by any members of the Committee, or at the Office of the Eecord." If not to this Society, at least to some of its member s, we are indebted for the following circular — which, though not absolutely connected with the Tractarian Movement, may yet be regarded as a sign of the times : — " London, February 15th, 1844. "Sir, It is an undeniable fact that a considerable body of the Clergy are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the Bap- tismal Service, especially when they see how it has been per- verted by the Tractarians. Some parts of this Service, as well as of the Catechism, have given a sort of legitimacy to one of the most dangerous errors which have ever agitated the Church of Christ. The doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration is believed and taught by a vast majo- rity of the Clergy at the present time, without the least check or restraint from the Bishops. Nay, it is to be feared that nearly all our Prelates are infected with the same heresy. Eor some years past, an attempt has been made to revive the delu- sions and superstitions of the Papacy, while the active agents in this work are still permitted to retain their emoluments and preferments undisturbed. The worldly character of the National Establishment (the necessary effect of its connexion with the State), has long been a 129 cause of grief to her most pious and conscientious Members, who have mourned in secret over the withered and desolate condition of the Lord's Yiueyard. It need scarcely be added, that the strifes, divisions, and heresies, which prevail, and which are spreading more widely than ever, have made our Established Church a by -word to the whole of Christendom. What then is to be done, in order to remedy these enormous evils ? The convictions is daily gaining ground, that nothing but a revised Liturgy, and the formation of a distinct Protestant Episcopal Church, can meet the exigency of the case, or secure for us the blessing of that Grod who is the ' A-uthor of peace, and the lover of concord.' It is proposed, therefore, as a preliminary measure, that a Committee be formed, consisting of Clergymen and Lay- men, with a view to promote friendly discussion on the subject, and to consider what may be the best means for carrying the scheme into effect. If you approve of the object, I shall have much pleasure in adding your name to the list of Gentlemen who have already given in their adhesion. As to the revision of the Liturgy, I beg to state that it is intended to remodel it somewhat on the plan proposed by the Eev. John Eiland, in a work entitled, ' An Attempt towards an Analysis, &c. of the Book of Common Prayer, published by Hamilton & Co. I remain, &c, &c." 1846. The converts for this year were — Eev. H. M. Walker. Eev. J. Spencer Northcote, Curate of Teignmouth. Eev. J. Brande Morris, Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. Eev. H. Formby, Eector of Euardean. Eev. G-. Burder, Curate of Euardean. Eev. W. Wells, Curate of S. Martin's, Liverpool. Eev. W. J. Lloyd, Curate of Kevidiog. Eev. E. Healy Thompson, Curate of S. James, Westminster. Eev. J. Julius Plumer. Eev. E. Burton, D.D., Chaplain at Kilmainham Hospital, Dublin. Eev. G\ D. Eyder, Eector of Easton, Hants. Eev. David Lewis, Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. 130 Rev. H. J. Milner, Rector of Penrith, Cumberland. Rev. J. Wenham, Galle, Ceylon. Rev. J. P. Simpson, Curate of Langton, Yorkshire. Rev. J. Rodwell, Rector of S. Ethelburga, London. Rev. H. Laing, Curate of Tewkesbury. Rev. N. A. Hewitt. Rev. S. A. Mayor. Rev. L. Calvinzel. [ America. Rev. E. Rushton. Rev: H. Lauriston. J. M. Chanter, Esq. H. Mill, Esq., Trinity College, Cambridge. J. B. Walford, Esq., Barrister. H. Bacchus, Esq., Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. H. Eoley, Esq., Barrister. J. Chisholm Anstey, Esq., M.P. W. Duke, Esq., M.D., Hastings. R. Monteith, Esq. J. R. Judge, Esq. E. A. Paley, Esq., S. John's College, Cambridge. J. Morris, Esq., S. John's College, Cambridge. Captain Gooch, R.N Edward Eullarton, Esq. Lady Georgiana Eullarton. Mrs. Glenie, (R.I.P.) Mrs. Monteith. Mrs. Major Browne. (R.I.P.) Mrs. Bonsall. Mrs. Ryder. (R.I.P.) Mrs. Lockhart. Miss D'Eyncourt. Miss Sewell. Miss O'Brien. Miss Agnew. Miss Gooch. Miss Bridges. Miss Duke. Miss Harris. (R.I.P.)* * Miss Harris (the writer oi"From Oxford to Rome," 'Rest in the Church* and " Via Dolorosa;') died in the bosom of the Church, and we hope our readers will pray for the repose of her soul. 131 Hon. Mrs. Heueage. Miss Heueage. Mrs. Hatton. Miss Mimro. Miss Euscombe Poole. H. Pownall, Esq. J. Euscombe Poole, Esq. J. B. Eowe, Esq., S. John's College, Cambridge. Captain Granville Wood, E. N. (E.I.P.) Mrs. Duke. Mr. John Morris' secession from the ranks of Anglican- ism, caused some slight sensation, and ultimately led to the submission of his tutor, Mr. Paley. To the pen of Mr. J. Brande Morris, we are indebted for a work on the Incarnation of our Lord, and the cult us of the Blessed Virgin. Mr. Morris thus explains the position, that "the ascription of the power of Mary as Mistress and Servant of the Creator, Her Son, follows from an honest belief that she is Mother of God" — " You may think it is as absurd as you please for Him to become a woman's Son at all, but you cannot deny that if He did, the Church draws a natural conclusion from an absurd hypothesis. " All we contend for is, that the foolishness of God is wiser than man in other instances, so in this. If God was not in an unconscious half-brute state as we are, through the fall, He knew Mary's wishes, and was bound to obey tli cm. It is enough for God to have died on the cross, and we need not beset Him in the womb with a loathsome and unnecessary ignorance."* " If, then, he is asked (writes Mr. Edward Healy Thomp- son,) to state in a few words upon what grounds he leaves the Anglican Establishment to enter the Catholic Church, he answers, that he does so under the very deepest convic- tion, both moral and intellectual, that no where but in that communion can he profess the terms of the Creed in their original and orthodox sense. So long as he is an * Jesus the Son of Mary. By J. B. Morris. 132 Anglican, he believes not only that his creed is defective, but that he is positively unsound in the faith that he pro- fesses. He says he believes in the 'One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,' but is obliged by his position so to define it as to make it indeed not one, but many — he says it is holy, but defines it to be in parts corrupt in doctrine, if not heretical in faith — he says it is Catholic, but defines it to be not diffused everywhere and everywhere one, but local, particular, sectional and national — he says it is Apos- tolic, but maintains it to be removable from the sure foun- dation Christ, laid in S. Peter, the chief of the Apostles — he calls it the Church, but denies its individuality and identity. He goes, therefore, where he can believe with his heart and confess with his mouth One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He goes where there is a faith to hold, and an authority to reverence, where it is possible to hear Christ in His Church, and to receive Him in His Ministers, and obey Him in His Prelates. He goes to unite himself to the one body, the Church of his bap- tism, in which alone salvation is certain — where are the Cleansing Waters, and the True Anointing, and the Living Bread, and the Adorable Sacrifice — where is not only Public Prayer, miscalled Common, with a congregation for an audience, but Divine worship, whose object is the Sacred and Eternal Trinity, and in which the Blessed in Heaven and the Holy Angels communicate with and intercede for the Church still militant on earth, and the souls of the just departed — where, therefore, the Communion of Saints is not only confessed in terms, but realized in acts — where the intercession of Christ is no vague abstract doctrine, but a blessed reality, as actual a work as that which He finished on the Cross — where the humble and the penitent may undoubtedly obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and Resurrection from the dead to life everlasting."* What a miserable picture does Mr. Wrey, in his Address, * Remarks on Anglican Unity, by E. II. Thompson. 133 on his curate's (Mr. Wells) secession,, draw from the Establishment ! He says that the deviations from the doctrine, discipline, and ceremonial of the Church have at length arrived at such a height, that " men of a reverential tone of mind are actually driven from us by the keen dis- gust they feel at our miserable inconsistencies" — that " the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel are denied" — that " it is to be feared that there is very little real worship in our churches" — that "it is to the doctrines cf the Church, the fundamental and clearly defined doctrine of the Church, that numbers who minister at her Altars, are violently and schismatically opposed. This is the festering cancer which is gnawing at the Church's vitals — this is the damning plague- spot which scares away from her thoughtful men, who would cheerfully shed their blood in her cause, if she ivere only true to herself But she is not true to herself. Heresy of the most fearful kind is openly taught in our pulpits, and this unrebuked by authority. Holy doctrines of the Gospel, such as the Apostolic descent of the clergy, Baptismal Regeneration, and the Real participa- tion of Christ in the Eucharist, are not only denied but blasphemously denounced as ' soul deluding/ and thus the entire scheme of the Church's teaching is contravened. This is unhappily too notorious to need proof. " Such is the picture drawn by Mr. Cecil Wrey in his address to the congregation of S. Martin's, Liverpool, on the secession of Mr. Wells, whom he calls "an earnest minded deserter/' and of whom he thus expresses himself — " He often expressed to me in grief and much perplexity, his difficulty in retaining his confidence in a Church, which was unable to maintain any authority as a consistent dog- matic teacher, which proved herself equally powerless to suppress Heresy, and to determine truth : which durst not fix the sense of her own forms of faith ; which permitted her clergy to fraternize with Dissenters, and every principle of discipline to be trampled upon ; her Bishops to be in- sulted ; her excommunications to be laughed to scorn ; and R 134 her theory of Catholic sympathy with other branches to be proved an empty conceit."* Nor can we omit in onr annals of Tractarianism a corres- pondence between a lady, a relative of ours and a convert of this year, and the Rev. S. Symons, Rector of Philleigh, and late Anglican Chaplain at S. Servan. Mr. Symons * having been informed that our relative and her mother purposed following our footsteps, penned (having in vain endeavoured to preach against them) the following letter : — " My Dear Madam, — Herewith I send you some books I have just received from England, and beg that you will do me the favor to read them carefully, as I am sure that they will prove to you that Protestantism is the old Meligion, the religion of the Bible, of Christ, of the first Christian ages. Popery is the new Beligion. I defy the Romanists to contradict the following dates :— A.D. Invocation of Saints . . . . . . . . 800 Image worship . . . . . . . . 887 Infallibility .. .. .. .. .. 1076 Transubstantiation .. .. .. .. 1215 Supremacy . . . . . . . . . . 1215 Holy Communion (under one kind) . . . . 1415 Purgatory .. . . .. .. .. 1438 The Seven Sacraments . . . . . . . , 1547 Priestly Intention . . . . . . . . 1547 Apocryphal Books . . . . . . . . 1547 Venial Sins .. .. .. .. 1563 Sacrifice of the Mass . . . . . • . . 1563 Indulgences introduced in the Fifteenth Century, but not sanc- tioned by a Council till 1563. " With many earnest prayers to Almighty God that He will keep you and yours from error and guide you to all truth, " I remain, " My Dear Madam, "Tours faithfully, S. Servan, SAML. SYMONS. Feb. 15th, 1846. * Wrey's Scandal of Permitted Heresy and a Violated Discipline. 135 " Dear Sir — I received the books you sent, and beg to re bum you my sincere thanks for the kind interest you take in my welfare. I trust you will not think that I am taking too great a liberty, or be angry with me for sending you the accompany- ing book, which you will oblige me by reading mth care. I must say I have too high an opinion of you to think that you have read the ' Gospel Lever,' or that you agree with the dread- ful doctrine contained in it. Tou well know that at one time shortly after my brother's secession, none could have been more bitter against the Catholics than I, but I now find that I was mistaken in my opinion concerning them. If you speak to twenty or more Catholics, you will find that they all aoree AND BELIEVE THE SAME DOCTRINE ; but among Protestants NOT three will do so, neither can they answer Catholic arguments, but by some evasion elude the force of them, and whenever they are at a loss, their whole business is to get out of the question as well as they can, and to leap directly into some other point of controversy, and it is next to impossible to keep them to the same point. The followers of the new religion interpret Holy Scripture as the freak takes them, and even those of the same stamp clash against one another in articles of belief ; they can- not then be the one church. I shall have much pleasure in returning you the books you lent me in a few days. It is my earnest wish and sincere prayer to the Lord that you will be able to see things in their proper light, and not judge them, as I am sure you now do, by prejudice. Trusting you are, with Mrs. Symons, quite well, " I am, " Dear Sir, " Ever Yours truly, "ELLEN L. BONSALL. 8. Servan, .Feb. 1M, 1846." * " Dear Madam — I have to apologize for keeping Mrs. Ryan's ' Golden Treatise' so long ; I have read it carefully, and consider it one of the best works I have ever met with, to prove that the Roman Catholic is not the church of Christ. It does not Bay one word of the errors of which I sent you a list, and which 136 were clearly unknown in the year 434. This takes from the antiquity of the Romish Creed. In page 169, Queen Elizabeth is called a she pope ! the church of England is merely so far on a par with the church of Rome, for she had her ' she pope,' which was not discovered till Her Holiness was seized with the pains of labor, whilst walking in one of (I may say) your pagan pro- cessions. It is a well known and undisputed fact, that since that time a peculiar sort of chair has been used at the consecra- tion of the Popes, in order that similar imposition might be avoided. About the year 1300 there were several Popes at one time ; one was at Rome, another at Avignon, and they all issued their Bulls, and opposed each other in various matters ; will you oblige me by asking some of your Roman Catholic friends which of these was the infallible Pope. In reply to your note I beg to assure you, that I have read the ' Gospel Lever' more than once, and hope to read it again ; if I did not agree with what you and your unfortunate brother are pleased to call the ' dreadful doctrine' contained in it, I should not have requested you to peruse it. I have just read in this day's ' Times' that fifty Roman Catholics were admitted into our Protestant Apostolic Church the first Sunday in March, at the very place where Mr. N angle is stationed (Achill), Although several persons, from worldly motives, have left the Church of Christ in England, I rejoice to see that in France, and that hot-led of Popery (Ireland), Protestantism is rapidly gaining ground. "Whatever your mo- tives may be, I hope that you will yet draw back from the cer- tain perdition awaiting all those who place their trust in man for the pardon of their sins, and are not satisfied with the advocacy of the one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, but must pray to all the saints in the kalendar to inter- cede for them, thereby making beings canonized by a single man, equal, if not superior, to our great Advocate with the Father. You must allow that the Saints are omniscient and omnipresent, attributes which belong to Grod alone ; and if you suppose that that they can hear your prayers, read Revelations xxiii. 89. If the Romanists were allowed to read the Bible they would soon discover that the Priests (I hope from igno- rance) are their greatest enemies and deceivers. The poor unen- lightened Romanist is bound to believe his Priest, though he were to tell him that the stars in the firmament are holes made 137 ou purpose for the Saints to peep through, to discover what is going on upon earth. Do let me entreat to consider the souls of your children, even if you are determined to join an idolatrous Church. " I remain, " Dear Madam, " Yours faithfully, "S. SYMONS." S. Servan, lith April, 1846. Mr. Henslowe, (whose letter to the ' Church and State Gazette 1 referring to our secession, may be seen in p. 118) published the following solemn Protest, to which we beg to call our reader's attention : — "A SOLEMN PEOTEST AGAINST THE PEELATE CLEEGY, OF THE CHUECH OF ENGLAND. " 0 Lord our God, other Lords besides Thee have had domin- ion over us :" — Isaiah xxvi, 13. (copy.) To Her most Gracious Majesty the Queen, this solemn protest and denunciation in the sight of God and of our common Country, sheweth — I. That Jesus Christ on no occasion instituted such an order as the prelate clergy or the bench of bishops, now endured within this realm of England — made none of his apostles "lords" or despots of the rest — but utterly forbade such absolute authority and power to destroy one another as is usurped at this time by the prelate clergy over other clergymen in England. 138 II. That as chief magistrate of England, and a member of the church, your Majesty is vested with peculiar powers and duties for that church's welfare, and for the welfare of its clergy, the parochial pastors, no less than for the common welfare of the realm ; and that, accordingly, it lies within your Majesty's responsibility to summon all the church in convocation, when and as you summon all the state in Parliament for council. III. That, notwithstanding such provision for good govern- ment in church as well as state, the "Sacred Synod" of the Church of England is at no time summoned to debate on church necessities, abuses, and reforms : but that the prelates only meet in parliament and legislate in church aftairs without the " Com- mons'-Clergy" or the "nether house of convocation." IV. That these said prelates do not represent the clergy in the parliament, and are not chosen by them even as their presi- dents or prelates ; but are selected by some minister of state to rule, to recompense, or ruin other clergymen, without responsi- bility, or check, or any earthly guide, but that of their own ar- bitrary will. Y. That clergymen accordingly have no security against the overwhelming weight of wealth, and privilege, and power be- stowed on prelates ; and as a consequence, become too commonly, too palpably, degraded into moral serfs, " men-pleasers," and time-servers in the stead of being elevated to that high and holy standard proper to the ministers of G-od. VI. That clergymen are thus inequitably and irrationally dealt with both by church and state : some having no assured provision whatsoever during their whole lifetime ; some having such inadequate provision only as lay impropriation or episcopal appropriation may have left ; and all permitted, tempted, or else obligated either to solicit or make merchandise of church endow- ments. VII. That the subscribed, or underwritten, clergyman has been so dealt with by certain lord bishops, and has had such ex- perience of injustice and oppression in the church (so called,) and has been so beleagured with intrigues and injuries, so pub- lic and notorious on the part of those whose duty called upon 139 them rather to protect him, as to feel equally deprived of need- ful ardour in his holy calling, aud of all sense of duty and affec- tion to " lord bishops," who betray alike the cause of God and of the church, and both the duties and the rights of English clergymen. VIII. That the subscribed, or underwritten, clergyman (whose grievances, by no means singular, are registered before the public and the Primate, and in the so-called Arches Court of Canterbury) accordingly and solemnly, and to your Majesty, and in the presence of the nation and Almighty God, protests against the prelate clergy, the "lord bishops" of this realm, as he has been required also to protest against the Pope of Rome, who neither hath, nor " ought to have, such jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within the same." IX. That the subscribed, or underwritten, clergyman has many grounds and reasons to be true and faithful to your Ma- jesty, and to your royal house ; and cannot better prove his loyalty than by denouncing solemnly this public wrong ; and that the grace and goodness of Almighty God may govern all your councils to promote His glory, and His people's and your own, he will not cease to pray. (Signed) AVilliam-Henet Henslowe, P. Curate, Wormegay and Tottenhill, Norfolk. June 18, 1846. [Tlie foregoing document was forwarded in manuscript, together with the ensuing letter, to the Lord High Chancellor of England. It teas also first published in " the Eailway Bell and Family Newspaper, of Saturday 27th June, 1846 : 335, Strand, London:" and subsequently, in " the Church of England Journal, of Wed- nesday, 5th August, 1846 : Duke Street, Douglas, Lsle of Man"] " Tottenhill, Downham, Norfolk, July 24, 1846. " My Lord Chancellor,— Tou have already earned the grati- titude of all the commons' clergy, by throwing out, or putting 140 on ? the bill for the correction of clerks — projected (it appears) by the Lord Bishop of London, and unanimously ap- proved of by the whole bench of bishops, (Ecclesiastical Gazette, 14 July, 1846, page 9.) The commons' clergy of the Church of England, are {like the common soldiery of England's army,)* in a very " evil case" (Exodus, v. 19 ;) and, from the moral treatment they receive, can never reach the moral standard they profess. As one of those experienced in this treatment, I adjure your Lordship to protect the commons' clergy from the legislation of the prelates; and to present, on my part as a clergyman of christian England, to her most gracious Majesty, my individual protest herewith sent, in this behalf. I have the honour to remain, my Lord Chancellor, your Lord- ship's very faithful and humble servant, "W. H. Henslowe, P. Curate, "Wormegay and Tottenhill, Norfolk. To the Eight Hon. the Lord Cottenham, Copse Hill, Wimbledon, Surrey. BY THE SAME AUTHOE. I. FACTS AND TEACTS, in evidence of the Apathy, Dereliction, and Degredation of the National Clergy — W. E. Painter, 342, Strand, London. 1844—1845. " It is a miserable consideration, but so is the fact, Mr. Hens- lowe was prosecuted by his Bishop, for doing an act of positive duty '."English Churchman, June 12, 1845, p. 380 ; also July 24, 1845, p. 473 ; also Church and State Gazette, May 30, 1845, p. 340, &c. " Sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law." — Paul, Acts xxiii. 3. * This refers to a recent case of a soldier's death, after "flogging," at Hounslow Barracks. • 141 Mr. M* Mullen, whose degree of B.D. had been refused him by Dr. Hampden, owing to his extreme Romanizing views, to the danger of losing his fellowship, was as Vicar of S. Saviour's, Leeds, inhibited by the Bishop of Ripon from all further Priestly duty in the Parish, owing to his having preached a sermon on " Intercessory Prayer by the Saints below and above/' towards the close of which occurred words of this sort — " What comfort to us, who are struggling, to know that the prayers of those who have reached the eternal shores, are offered on our behalf — for those who covet purity of heart to remember that the Blessed Virgin is interceding for them — for the penitent to think of S. Peter asking pardon for those who have erst denied their lord — for the Christian Priest, toiling for souls, to know that the Apostle of the Gentiles, once in labors abundant on earth, now pleads in Heaven the cause of those who strive to follow in his steps." To those who remember the late trial of the Incumbent of Fulham, Rev. Dr. Ferguson, for marrying two of his parish- ioners without the presence of the Registrar, and the indig- nation of the worthy magistrate, will be amused at hearing of the exertions of two of our quondam friends, Mr. Irvine of Bedford Leigh, and Mr. Cooke of Lulworth, — the first in refusing to marry parties without their producing a certi- ficate of Confirmation, and the latter, drawing up tickets of Confirmation and Baptism for emigrants. Were it not that the souls of men were imperilled, it would be amusing to contemplate the writhings and contortions, as also the mi- micry of Catholic custom peculiar to this party : but to adopt F. Faber's words, when speaking of the school whose annals we are penning; — "It would be hard indeed to keep our patience with such objectors, if we did not know how much they were above their own criticisms, how much that is high, and noble, and generous, and lofty, lives and loves under all this crust of pedantry and narrowness of mannerism ! They were born for better things than to worship the gentlemanly and canonize the respectable, and by the grace of God, in His due time, those better things s 142 will they do, and better far than we. They are fighting with shadows ; they are beating the air ; they know not what they want; all they know is, that they are not in possession of it yet, and they are teazed by the possibility that it may after all be with us, whom it has been a first principle with them to dislike as deteriorated and fallen from noble things. Men toss most in a dream when they are on the eve of waking. They seem petulant, but they are in reality affectionate ; they appear wanting in gene- rosity and fairness to opponents, but it is their school and party which cannot afford to let them be otherwise." Hence it is that we would speak of our quondam fellow- combatants gently and mildly in love and affection, feeling assured that they would far exceed us in the race of per- fection had the like grace been vouchsafed to them. Who can peruse a volume from the pen of either Pusey, Keble, or Williams, without perceiving deep striking devotion, and inducing one, that has been rescued from the entanglement of the " Oxford School," to pray for their release. At present they are, as Dr. Faber truly says, " fighting" for " shadows" and " beating the air f what though Mr. Irvine gained his point in the single parish of Bedford Leigh — still the question occurs, would his successor, at his death, keep on the custom ? and we are of opinion that were this school (as a body) to take this matter seriously into con- sideration, they would immediately secede from the Estab- lishment as a sectarian and human Institution — they would then see, what we, thanks be to God, know, that the Estab- lishment is in reality a slave, acting at the nod and will of its imperial master ; the love of Jesus Crucified is a stranger to it; "preferment," as Dr. Featly acknowledges, is all the inducement it holds out to its ministers. Unlike the Church, it (we speak not of individuals but of the body) believes not that its mission is to save souls. Our annals of the Tractarian movement would indeed be incomplete, were we to omit mentioning the formation of a H Society of Mutual Intercession" by Messrs. Pusey. Keble, 143 and Marriott, which was condemned in no unmeasured terms by the Bishop of London. " I feel myself called upon to caution my younger brethren, against a spurious proposal, which has been recently made to form a sort of association or fraternity for mutual intercession. . . . But when it is proposed (continues his Lordship) to estab- lish something of a Sodality or brotherhood for mutual intercession, the members of which are to have their names registered, in order that they may be informed of particular objects to be prayed for, either of general interest or con- nected with themselves or their own friends, the plan seems to me to be . . . likely to form or bind together a secret party in the Church, and to teach them the necessity of doing something more than the Church instructs them to do, or of doing it in a different manner." We well re- member when this subject was first mooted, the " English Churchman/1 and, if we mistake not, the "Church and State Gazette" rapidly seized on it as a sure means of pro- curing the return of Mr. Newman and his fellow converts. The prayers and proposals we give in the Appendix.* Our readers will permit us to remind them, that in this year England bethought herself of poor Popish Ireland, and taking advantage of the famine, endeavoured to cor- rupt her children, but in vain; for notwithstanding the boasting of Mr. Marrable, that, "for every pervert in England there are one hundred converts in Ireland," and that "it is calculated that thousands upon thousands of persons have been converted in Ireland within the last few years, besides thousands who have emigrated to America to escape the persecution at home" — that "there are hundreds of thousands now enquiring, no longer led blindfold by the priests"t— of Mr. Bickersteth, who told the Society in 1853, that the work of the Missions was not " only an emancipation from the outward trammels * Appendix N. f Marrable's Sketch of the Origin and Operation of the Society of Irish Church Missions to Roman Catholics. 144 of Romanism, and an introduction into the visible fold of Protestantism, but a real work of spiritual emanci- pation from the power of Satan to the power of God, and from the errors that make them slaves, to the truths that make them free;"* we are assured by Protestant writers of great credibility, that the whole system depends on their feeding the famished, and clothing the naked j and to an American Presbyterian writer we are indebted for the following confession of the system — " It requires the Irish language to provide suitable words for a suitable descrip- tion of the spirit which is manifested in some parts to pro- selytize, by bribery, the obstinate Romanists to the Church which has been an instrument of oppression for centuries. The English language is too meagre to delineate it in the true light. Rice, India meal, and black bread, would, if they had tongues, tell sad and ludicrous tales. The artless children, too, who had not become adepts in deceit, would, and did sometimes, by chance, tell the story in short and pithy style. It was a practice of some of the zealots of this class to open a school or schools, and invite those chil- dren who were in deep want to attend, and instruction, clothes, and food, would be given on the simple terms of reading the scriptures and attending church. The Church Catechism must be rehearsed as a substitute for the Romish. " The children nocked by scores and even hundreds; they were dying with hunger, and by going to these places they could 'keep the life in them' — they could go on the prin- ciple, 'if thou hast faith, have it to thyself before God;' and when their hunger was appeased they could go back again to their own religion. When such children were in- terrogated, the answer would be, ' we are going back again to our own chapel or our own religion, when the stirabout times are over;' for when the potatoes come again/ f *Report of the Irish Church Missions Society to Roman Catholics, A.D., 1853. f While at Corophin, County Galway, we ourselves heard of a poor woman who, while on her way to Tuam to receive her mite, knelt down while passing the chapel door, and solemnly took leave of Almighty God till the potatoes came back ! ! ! 145 ' But you are saying these prayers and learning this cate- chism ? ' ' We shan't say these prayers when we go back — we'll say our own then.' " * The further development of this Satanic development was left to the ensuing year when the famine was at its height. 1847. The following are the principal converts of this year : — Eev. E. G. M'Mullen. Eev. W. Walker. Eev. C. Cox, Exeter College, Oxford. Eev. F. J. New, Curate of Christ Church, S. Pancras, London. Eev. E. Caswall, Curate of Stratford, under the Castle, Wilts. Eev. J. Gordon, Curate of Christ Church, S. Pancras, London. (R.I.P.) Eev. Edward Horne, Eector of S. Lawrence, Southampton. Eev. E. Ornsby, Curate of S. Olave, Chichester. Eev. Alexander Chirol, Curate of S. Barnabas, Pimlico. Eev. T. Turner. Eev. J. Wilson, ) T . _ . Eev. J.Brown, Independents. Eev. G. Allin, Prof, of Greek in the University \ of Pennsylvania. ( A _ _ J ) America. Eev. E. Wdkes i Eev. E. Wilkes. ) C. Wilkinson, Esq. Daniel Haigh, Esq. W. J. Buckle, Esq. H. Kingdon, Esq., Trinity College, Cambridge. W. Gordon, Esq., Trinity College, Cambridge. J. G. Ehubenson, Esq. Captain Tylee. J. Fogg, Esq. (E.I.P.) * Nicholson's Annals of the Famine in Ireland, p. .300. 146 T. Tarleton, Esq. N. Darnell, Esq., Trinity College, Oxford. James Burns, Esq. Captain Baines, (E.I. P.) F. Charles Xew, Esq, Captain Burnett. E. Suffield, Esq., S. Peter's College, Cambridge. J. Cruikshanks, Esq., Eugby. Lady Duff Gordon. Mrs. M'Cabe. Mrs. Cliirol, sen. Mrs. Chirol, jun. Mrs. Caswell Mrs. James, (E.I. P.) Mme. De La Barca. Miss Du Poncliallon, and her two sisters. Miss Munro. Miss Wrighte. Miss Gordon. Miss Banks. Miss Bicknell. Miss E. Agnew. Mrs. G. Allen. Mrs. Buckle. Miss Buckle. Walter Buckle, Esq. Mrs. Burns. Mrs. Barker. Hon. T. J. Bernard. Mrs. Cornish. Hon. Edward Chitty, Judge in Jamaica. Miss Dudley. Mrs. Harstey. Captain Ballard, (E.I.P.) Miss Lechmere. Mrs. Xew. Miss S. New. Miss Plumer. Mrs. Phillipps (of Longworth.) G. Weatherlaw. 147 Mr. Gordon, in his " Reasons of his conversion to the Catholic Church," says, — "Our best hope and our best ground of confidence is the strong ground we have of believing that we are in the Church of God — in the deep conviction that we have left the unreal for the real, the human for the divine — that God is with His Church ; and that whatever obstacles may oppose, or whatever length of time may intervene, success is surely Hers in the end, because Her cause is the cause of God." As a consequence of Mr. M 'Mullen's secession, the then Vicar and Curate of S. Saviour's, Mr. R. Ward and Mr. Case, were obliged to leave, and " the hopes of the founder and the College of Priests fell to the ground/ ' A length of time elapsed before a new Vicar was found, and as the reasons for this apathy in clergymen, believing themselves to be Priests, sent by One who, Himself " worked as a car- penter' while on earth, are so naively brought forward by Mr. Pollen in his " Narrative," our readers will excuse our giving them in full ; we merely do so, as a sample of the reasons adduced even by the Tractarian and Transitionist party. " First : the Vicarage was poor ; the tithe is about £30, a sum which would be more than swallowed by the expences of collecting, were it collected. There is a sum of £150 offered yearly by an individual for the support of Curates. Secondly, it is a laborious position, and placed amidst much that is dismal and distressing to look at. And lastly, it was generally condemned by the authorities and sent into Coventry, or, as an important dignitary afterwards expressed it, a cordon sanitaire was drawn round the place by the neighbouring clergy after some slight delay the living was given to Mr. A. P. Forbes, who " could get no Curate because the place was in such odor." Within a short time of Mr. Forbes' "institution'' he was elected to the See of Brechin, and "a new Vicar had again to be provided." At the recommendation of Lord Campden to Dr. Pusey, Mr. Minster was appointed. Xo little sensation was created, not so much by the 148 secession of Mr. Alexander Chirol, Curate of S. PauFs, Knightsbridge, as by a sermon preached by the deserted Incumbent on the occasion; for not only was Mr. Chirol excommunicated, but his secession thus referred to from the pulpit : — "It was only in the month of April last that he, of whom we unfortunately speak, solicited of me, with more than usual earnestness of entreaty, the office of a Curate in this Parish, and I, confiding in that implied truth- fulness which one has a right to expect between man and man, in the commonest things of life — much more in the solemn profession of the works of the Priesthood — appointed him to serve in this Curacy, with more especial reference to those duties which were to be performed in the school- house and district of S. Barnabas. Consequently, since it is the custom at the entrance of any Curacy to renew the subscription to the Articles, and, before the Licence is given by the Bishop, the oath of supremacy is required to be again sworn. It was only in the month of April last, that these oaths, to which I have alluded, were deliberately and solemnly renewed. But observe the issue. The oath had hardly gone forth — the words had hardly left their sounds still vibrating on the ear — the Holy book had hardly yet become dry from the sacred kiss of solemn abjuration, wherein he denied the authority, both ecclesiastical and spiritual, of the Bishop of Rome within these realms : — I say, that Holy book had hardly become dry from the kiss of that abjuration, when lo ! he is found in open adherence to that very Roman Bishop whom he had so solemnly de- nied ; hugging to his bosom the very errors which he had so determinedly professed to hate, and ready to propagate with violent schismatics and sectarians, his new found brethren, the very opposite and contrary of those pure and apostolic doctrines, which he had vowed himself before God and the Church for life, as his Priest, to teach. For what can we say ? If the Church had, in the interval, changed in her character, or openly mutilated her doctrines; if great temptations had come upon the Church, and we had 149 suffered many things and had gone back from the faith ; if twenty years had passed — ten years — five years — two years — something might be said. But when two months had barely passed ; when no word is said of doubt or misgiving ; when no guidance is sought as of friends within the Church, but counsel taken only of those without ; when, beneath the unruffled exterior of one serving in the fold of Christ, there lay the whole time the secret lust after the accursed thing, and the spirit within was giving the lie to the words and deeds without ; when we are left, in our simple confi- dence, to hear by an accident, that plots and stratagems are being carried on to undermine the faith of the flock, and that he who was appointed the Pastor was himself the traitor. What, then, are we to infer — what, then, are we to say — how, then, are we to characterize (keeping within the language of charity) an act of apostacy so glaring, so indecent, and so fearfully treacherous in the eyes of both God and man?"* Well may a reviewer of this sermon enquire, " Is this sermon the kind of food with which the flock is to be fed? Was it to provide such meagre fare that the Saviour died and the Scriptures were written? Where is the passage, throughout the entire address, that would tend to heal the broken-hearted, or to ' set at liberty them that are bruised?' Is it merely to give an opportu- nity for the outpouring of a tirade of abuse and misrepre- sentation, that money is sought to erect new churches and schools? Grant, for a moment, that all the conduct ascribed to Mr. Chirol is true ; that he acted hastily, dis- ingenuously, and unlawfully, yet how striking is the con- trast in the language of the Preacher to that presented by the Apostle Paul. He writes : — ' We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children, so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have im- parted unto you not the Gospel of God only but also our own souls.' Successor of the Apostles forsooth ! As well * Apostacy. A Sermon by the R ev. W J. E. Bennett. T 150 might Robert Owen claim to be a successor of the ' Judi- cious Hooker/'* The sentence of excommunication was thus worded : — NOTICE. " Whereas Mr. Alexander Chirol, late assistant Curate of this Parish, has joined certain Schismatics and Sectarians generally called Eomanists, and is thereby, ipso facto, deprived for the present of all the spiritual functions of Holt Orders, and Excommunicated from the Church of England ; and whereas the said Mr. Alexander Chirol has been circulating letters, and otherwise tampering with the faith of certain of the Parishioners, endeavouring to induce them to join him in his sinful act of Schism and Apostacy, it is my duty, as the Parish Priest, to warn the Parishioners, and all other faithful members of the Church, and they are hereby warned against holding any intercourse by letter, speech, or otherwise with the said Mr. Alexander Chirol until such time as he may be restored to communion of the Church. The rule of Holy Scripture and the Church is, that the Faithful should not hold communion with Schismatics and Apostates, according to the precept of our Lord, ' If he shall neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an heathen and a publican. (S. Matthew x\iii. 1.) " The Parishioners are also requested to notice that the school-room of S. Barnabas (in addition to the present services of Sunday) will be opened on Friday Evenings at 7 o'clock for an Evening Service. " A plain Lecture will be delivered by the Ret. Wm. Bennett for the benefit of the poor and those who seek religious instruc- tion. " The subject of the Lecture will turn upon the peculiar fea- tures of the Church of England as opposed to Dissent and the Schismatic Communion of Rome, called forth by the conduct of the late Curate. " To commence next Friday, the 12th of November. Wm. J. E. Bennett, M.A. " Perp. Curate of S. Paul's. "S. Paul's, 23rd Sunday after Trinity, 1847." * Strictures on Apostacy, by Caustic. 151 Mr. Ornsby, now Professor of Classical Literature in the Catholic University, is thus referred to in the "Catholic University Gazette," — "Mr. Ornsbyis a Master of Arts of the University of Oxford, where he early distin- guished himself by gaining one of Lord Crewe's Exhibi- tions. On his examination for his Bachelor's degree, he gained the highest honors in Classics, and was afterwards elected Fellow of Trinity College. Subsequently he served the College Office of Lecturer in Rhetoric, and the Univer- sity office of Master of Schools, and was for four or five years actively engaged in private tuition. He has been, both before, and since, his conversion, a contributor to several periodical publications, a translator and editor of various historical and religious publications, and a constant writer of critical reviews." Mr. Haigh (one of the Leeds converts, aud now P.P. of Erdington, where he has built a magnificent church) de- voted previous to his conversion, some £10,000 or £\ 2,000 of his private fortune to the building of a church and school in the York Road district, Leeds, which, like Mr. Capes, he was obliged to leave behind him in the service of a heretical Establishment. This year an appointment was made which called forth the ire of the Puseyite party, and protests against the nomination of Dr. Hampden to the See of Hereford/ were as thick as mulberries ; nay, there was some rumour of the Dean of Hereford suffering from the statute of Premunire, as he had resolved to oppose her Majesty's Conge d'elire ; but alas ! Dr. Merewether was no " Athanasius" or " Basil/' and the fiat having gone forth, the whole matter quietly ended in Dr. Hampden succeeding Dr. Musgrave as Her Majesty's Clerical Inspector at Hereford ; for the only satisfaction Dr. Merewether obtained on signifying his opposition — as Dean of the Cathedral of Hereford — was the following cool and significant note from Her Majesty's chief Inspector in England, Dr. Sumner: — 152 'Rev, Sir, " It is not within the bounds of any authority possessed by me to give you an opportunity of proving your objections. Finding, therefore, nothing in which I could act in compliance with your remonstrance, I proceeded, in the execution of my office, to obey Her Majesty's mandate for Dr. Hampden's con- secration in the usual form. " I am, " Eev. Sir, " Tour obedient servant, "J. B. Cantuar." "We have inserted in the Appendix the Protest of certain Bishops,,* addressed to Lord John Russell, and his reply, the Memorial of Dean Merewether to Her Majesty, f his letter to the Premier, and the reply of Lord John Russell, J with the copy of the Conge d'elire,§ the Letter Recommen- datory, || the Citatory Letter from the Dean and Chapter,^ and an Extract from the Statutes of Provisors,** (enacted in 25 Edward III.) and premunire,ft (16 Richard II.) The Protest, however, of Dean Merewether, against the appoint- ment of Dr. Hampden, being too important to be inserted in the Appendix, we beg to present it to our readers : — PROTEST OF THE DEAN OF HEREFORD. " In the Name of God. Amen. To all to whom these presents shall come, especially to the Canons of the Cathedral Church of Hereford, John Merewether, Doctor in Divinity, Dean of the Cathedral Church of Hereford, lawfully constituted, and as styled in the form of his installation therein, Rector thereof — greeting. Whereas, in the year 1836, the Rev. Renn Dickson Hamp- den, Doctor in Divinity, was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. * Appendix O. t Appendix P. % Appendix Q. § Appendix R. || Appendix S. % Appendix T. ** Appendix U. tf Appendix V. 153 And whereas, in the same year, it was in convocation of the University of Oxford decreed as follows : — ' Seeing that it has been committed by the University of Oxford to the Eegius Professorship of Divinity that he should be one of the number of those by whom the select preachers are appointed, according to Tit. xvi. s. 8, — (Addenda, p. 150). And also that his counsel should be given if any preacher should be called in question before the Vice-Chancellor, according to Tit. xvi. s. 11, — (Addenda, p. 154) — and since he, who is now pro- fessor, has treated theological subjects in such a manner in his published works that the University in this respect hath no con- fidence in him. It is therefore decreed that the Eegius Profes- sor of Divinity be deprived of the afore-mentioned offices until it shall otherwise please the University ; but, lest the University in the meantime should suffer any detriment, let others dis- charge the functions of the said professor — namely, in appoint- ing the select preachers, the senior among the deputies of the Vice-Chancellor, or, he being absent, or filling the place of Vice- Chancellor, the next in order, provided always that he shall have taken Holy Orders ; and, in holding any consultation concern- ing sermons, the Lecturer of Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond. ' And whereas, in the year 1842, the following proposition was in convocation made : — ' Seeing the Statute, Tit. xvi. s. 8, pro- mulgated and confirmed in the House of Convocation on the 5th day of May 1836, it was determined that the Eegius Professor of Divinity should be deprived of certain offices mentioned in the same statute, until ft should otherwise please the University. It hath pleased the University to abrogate the statute.' And the said Convocation thereupon decreed not so to abrogate it, and it has never been abrogated to this day. And whereas the said Dr. Eenn Dickson Hampden, in the correspondence which thereupon ensued with his Grace the late Archbishop of Canterbury, thus wrote : — ' 1 disclaim the calum- nious imputations with which I have been assailed ; I disclaim them for myself, I disclaim them for my writings : I retract nothing that I have written, I disown nothing.' And again, in the preface to the second edition of his ' Bampton Lectures,' (p. 19 of the introduction,) which professed to bean explanation, he 154 writes — ' I see no reason from what they (the objectors) have alleged for changing or retracting a single statement.' And whereas when, upon the translation of the late Bishop of Hereford, Dr. Thomas Musgrave, to the Archiepiscopal See of York, it was understood that the said Dr. Eenn Dickson Hamp- den was to be appointed to the See of Hereford, although the same was not yet vacant, the late Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. "William Howley, did write a letter of objection and remon- strance, and also that thirteen other Bishops did join in a com- bined remonstrance, and another Bishop also wrote a separate letter of similar objection and remonstrance, to the Right Hon- orable Lord John Russell, the First Lord of the Treasury, against the said appointment. And whereas addresses to the number of from ninety to one hundred, as well as numerous letters from individuals of all shades of opinion tolerated in the Church of England, were presented to the Dean and Chapter of Hereford, entreating them not to elect the said Dr. Renn Dickson Hampden, should the Conge d'elire be issued in his favor notwithstanding the various objec- tions stated. And whereas, I, the Dean of the said Cathedral Church, did fully and fairly represent the same to the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, the First Lord of the Treasury, both by per- sonal communication and repeated letters. And whereas, when the Conge d'elire and letter mandatory were received, and the Dean and Chapter assembled on the 28th day of December, 1847, to consider the same, the said Dr. Renn Dickson Hampden was not duly elected according to the statutes of the said Cathedral Church, to observe which each member of the same is by oath obliged. And whereas, upon certain members thereof proposing to affix the capitular seal to certificates of election unstatutably made, I the Dean, did specially object thereto, and in due form in writing protest against the said course and the said election, and which Protest duly signed, sealed, and attested, was attached to the document so in spite of my objection sealed. And whereas, on the 11th of January, at Bow Church, in the city of London, a confirmation of the said unstatutable and in- 155 valid election was forcibly made, notwithstanding that, when opposers were called, three beneficed clergymen of the province of Canterbury, two of them of the diocess of Hereford, did appear by their duly authorised proctors and advocates, but were not permitted to proceed. And whereas, on the -14th day of January, 1848, the said opposers, feeling aggrieved by such proceedings, did thereupon move the Court of Queen's Bench for a rule to show cause why a Mandamus should not issue to permit and admit, in due form of law, the said opposers to oppose the said confirmation, and require the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and his Vicar- G-eneral, to hear and determine upon such opposition, and upon the articles, matters, and proofs thereupon ; and the said rule was granted. And whereas, on the 24th day of January, 1848, and three following days, the arguments upon the said rule were heard at great length ; and on the 1st February the matter was in effect left undetermined, as it appeared that, of the four judges on the bench, two were in favor of making the rule absolute, and two against it. And whereas, upon the lamented death of the late venerated Archbishop Howley, to whom an appeal had been made by the said opposers, and the appointment of his present Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, the same appeal was presented to his Grace Dr. Sumner, and also an address and appeal, signed by 1650 Priests of the Church of England, praying his Grace to surcease from the consecration of Dr. Eenn Dickson Hampden, besides another address signed by a very large number of Clergy and Laity, all having the common object of claiming a satisfac- tory investigation and decision, by a competent ecclesiastical inquiry, into the objections and the whole of the works so objected to, and which has not been granted. And whereas, I myself presented an appeal to his Grace, which was duly acknowledged, praying visitorial decision upon important matters touching the stringency of oaths, and the ob- ligation and effect of our Cathedral statutes, and the postpone- ment of the said consecration until such questions have been resolved which has never yet been replied to. 156 And whereas, on Sunday, the 26th day of March, the said Dr. Renn Dickson Hampden was consecrated at Lambeth Palace, and a Mandate to install him in the Cathedral Church of Here- ford, has, as is alleged, been issued, but which I, the Dean of the said Cathedral Church, have never seen, it having been sent to the Bishop's secretary, Deputy Registrar of the diocess of Hereford, and by him to the Canon in residence, and not, as it ought to have been, to the Chapter Clerk, the registrar of the Dean and Chapter, in the first instance. And whereas the said Canon in residence has called together the Prebendaries of the said Cathedral Church, and irregularly issued, as I am informed, a citation to the general Chapter, I having, under the circumstances and in the absence of any au- thority to me delivered or conveyed (the mandate never having passed into my hands, nor having ever been seen by me), been precluded from interfering in the matter. Therefore, I do declare and proclaim my dissent to the said proceedings, as irregular and unstatutable, and protest against the said proposed installation in the Cathedral Church of which I am Dean Archipresbyter, and Rector, and inasmuch as the whole course of events touching the appointment, election, con- firmation, and consecration, of the said Dr. Renn Dickson Hampden, I do believe to be uncanonical, inconsistent with those decrees and usages of the Church of Christ upon which the practice and discipline of the Church of England have ever been considered to be based, and injurious in the most essential manner to the vital interests of that Church. And I do further solemnly declare that I make this protest, not from any considerations which can be regarded in the slight- est degree as having any personal reference to the said Dr. Renn Dickson Hampden as an individual, inasmuch as I have never spoken or written to him, nor he to me, but I do so pro- test because I could not conscientiously, nor consistently with my previous conduct, take any part in the said installation, and because I believe that it is my bounden duty to God and His Church to do so, notwithstanding the painful position in which I may be placed thereby, and in spite of the consequences which may result, and be productive, not only of perplexities and diffi- 15T culties, but of obloquy and misrepresentations of my motives and of positive injury to my own interests. And, finally, I do claim and require that this my Protest be entered in the act book of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathe- dral Church of Hereford. Given under my hand and decanal seal, this 26th day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1848. John (L. S.) Merewether. Dean of the Cathedral Church of Hereford." The transition from the defeat of Dean Mereweather, and his Protest against the appointment of Dr. Hampden to the See of Hereford, to the doings of the Proselytizing party in Ireland during the height of the famine, where people were dying by hundreds, is so natural that our readers will pardon the digression. A Protestant, to whom we have already referred, thus writes of a much vaunted case of persecution in Kerry, and as he really gives the true version, we cannot do better than place both accounts in juxta position. The Protestant Officer's Account. " Some five or six years ago a half dozen or more of the Romanists had concluded to unite with the Protestant Mission established at Dingle, and the Sabbath that the union was to take place in the church, the soldiers were called out to march under arms, to protect this little band from the fearful persecu- tions that awaited them in their way thither. The coast guard officer was summoned to be in readiness cap-a-pie for battle, if battle should be necessary; he remonstrated — he was a Methodist by profession, and though his occupation was somewhat warlike, yet lie did not see any need of carnal weapons in building up a spiritual church — but he was under Government pay, and must do Government work. He accordingly obeyed, and, to use his own words substantially, ' we marched in battle array, witli gun and bayonet, over a handful of peasants — a spectacle to imply our trust in a Crucified Christ — and the ridicule and gratification of the Priests and their flocks, who had discernment U 158 sufficient to see that with all the boasted pretensions of a purer faith and better object of worship, both were not enough to shield our heads against a handful of turf, which might have been thrown by some ragged urchin with the shout of 1 turn- coat' or 'souper,' as this was the bribe which the Romanists said was used to turn the poor to the Church ! " Society' 's Account. " So great are the persecutions in Dingle that the believing converts cannot go to the house of Grod to profess their faith in Him without calling out the soldiery to protect them." 1848. The chief converts this year were — Rev. R. C. Thomas, Yicar of Brandeston, Suffolk. Rev. E. P. Wood. (R.I.P) Rev. R. K. Sconce, Curate of S. Andrew's, Sydney. (R.I.P.) Rev. H. R. Makinson, Curate of S. Andrew's, Sydney. Rev. W. Allan, Curate of Dumbarton, (R.I.P) * Rev. J. C. Robertson, Chaplain to the Duke of Buccleuch. J. Strongitharm, Esq., King's College, London. J. Mivart, Esq. J. Baxter, Esq., S. John's College, Cambridge. J. C. Algar, Esq., Trinity College, Cambridge. E. Palgrave, Esq. Aubrey De Yere, Esq. R.N. Sir De Yere De Yere. Stephen De Yere, Esq., M.P. Chevalier Di Zulueta J. B. Aspinal, Esq. G-eorge Moore, Esq. Captain Tucker. Major Eaber. Major Ballard. Major Phillipps. Captain Carden. Colonel Le Couteur, Jersey. H. J. R, Greata, Esq. 159 Colonel Jarrett. Mrs. Paglar. Mrs. Di Zulueta. Mrs. Baxter. Miss Emily Simpson. Miss Carden Hon. Miss Methuen. Miss Le Couteur. J. E. Bowden, Esq. Miss Bpnsall Miss H. Bonsall. W. A. Archer, Esq. J. Bowden, Esq., Trinity College, Oxford. Andrew Blake, Esq., J. P., Gralway. Charles Bowring, Esq., (R.I. P.) Miss Bowring. Pierce Butler, Esq., Cahirciveen. Mrs. Dakins. Mrs. Jarrett. J. V. Moore, Esq., Gralway. Mr. B. Marcus.* F. Quaiu, Esq. J. Simpson, Esq., Trinity College. Cambridge. Lady De Yere. * Mr. Marcus is a native of Russian Poland, author of the new work en- titled " Mykum Hayem," printed at the University Press, Trinity College, Dublin. He is also author of many other works, and well versed in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Rabbinical erudition. He has for some years past been lec- turing against Christianity, and in a particular manner against the Protestant version of the Bible. A few days ago he received an introduction to the Rev. J. B. Morris, late under professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and a convert to the Catholic Church, a gentleman intimately acquainted with Jewish modes of thought and reasoning. Discussions took place between these two gentle- men upon the great questions at issue between them, which eventually terminated in the expression, on the part of Mr. Marcus, of a thorough con- viction of what he termed the truths of Christianity, and a desire to be admitted into the Romish Church. Before, however, this ceremony took place, Mr. Marcus expressed a desire to state his reasons for his change ; and accordingly the household was assembled, young and old, to hearhis statement of reasons. The Rev Mr. Heneage then performed the ceremony of Baptism, after which the convert made a public profession of faith. — Morning Herald. 1848. 160 Scarce had the storm, excited by the election and consecration of Dr. Hampden to the See of Hereford, and the expected con- fiscation of Dr. Mere wether's property for premunire, subsided, ere another rumor of an approaching hurricane, faint indeed at first, was heard ; a storm was brooding in the distance, of which it might be said : " Depuis deux ans, le demon des tenebres M'a dechaine, Et le pays sous mes accents funebres A frissoime :" and that storm was about to burst with greater fury than ever on the heads of the " Tractarian" School. Long had they vaunted, that if the Church of England spoke with stammering lips on every point, in that of Baptismal Regeneration she was safe. Her Offi- ces, her Divines, all spoke on this subject at least unanimo corde and unanimd voce ; lor the Gokham Case, the terrific Gorham case, was looming in the distance, both the Bishop and Presbyter were buckling on their armor and preparing for the mortal com- bat. But while men were thus employed, amid the revolutionary exploits of Ledru Bollin, Louis Blanc, Cabet, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Gavazzi, and Kossuth ; while impious and blasphemous wretches urged on at home by the pious " Lydia" Shaftsbury, Lord Camp- bell, Lord John Russell, and Lord Palmerston, with Messrs. Cumming, Stowell, and the " Angel's" butler, — were drinking downfall to Popery, and belching forth in their Exeter Hall orgies, blasphemies and impieties yet more awful than those uttered by the lawless band led by De Bourbon against Borne, Jehovah was raising up for His Church a protector in the pri- soner of Ham — the Emperor Napoleon III. Amid this excitement, and while her visible head was an exile at Gaeta, having fled from Rome in the company of the Comtesse de Spaur, the Church was not inactive in these countries. She has a mission to fulfil — it is to save souls, and with this idea Her children are naturally impressed. F. Faber says, in a work from which we have already quoted, " There is no part of the Church where this instinct for souls is not to be found at work. Multitudes, who are leading but ordinary and lukewarm lives themselves, would hardly be easy if they did not belong to some Confraternity which did not impose upon them intercessory 161 prayer for others. To make or to get Noveiias or Triduos, to write to convents and schools for prayers, to have Masses said and to recite Eosaries, or to beg extra communions of their con- fessors simply to get the conversion of some Anglican minister, of whom they know nothing more than that he is a good man and near to the Faith ; these things are no marks of any extra- ordinary seriousness, or even of men aiming at perfection. They come natural to a Catholic ; he hardly goes through any process of self-persuasion in doing them, they come to him of themselves as the workings of an instinct, on which probably he never re- flected for five minutes in his life." It was this spirit which led F. Gentili to sacrifice his life to missionary efforts in Ireland ; it was this spirit which induced F. Segneri to travel forty or more miles over frost and snow ; it was not unfrequently the case, moreover, that (continues his biographer) "in treading upon the earth his feet were sorely pricked by the sharp thorns ; and one who followed him for years assures us that he has frequently seen him thus wounded, and suffering to such a degree as to cause fever;" it is this spirit which induces the missioner to proceed onward, for even if life be shortened, there must be no rest, no truce — there must be continuous work, continuous sacrifice. The Anglican party commenced this work of Missions at Banbury, but Dr. Wilber- force soon perceived it was a failure, because the Establishment is not of God nor from God. " Again, (says Dr. Faber) how frequently is the confessor of little children besieged by such petitions as, ' Father, may I pray that papa or mamma may become a Catholic. May I say such or such a prayer for them yet no one has put the child up to it — it has a growing sense of discomfort in the matter simply be- cause it is a Catholic." F. Faber refers to Catholic children ; we knew a dear child, now, we trust, interceding for us in Heaven, who was so anxious to be received into the Church, as to beg every Catholic he met to pray for his Mamma to become a Catholic, that he might become one. The little angel went to "his own Mamma" as he was wont to call the Blessed Virgin, during the course of 1848. Mr. E. K. Sconce, curate of St. Andrew's, Sydney, published his " Few Plain Eeasons" for submitting to the Church in which 162 he thus refutes the t Tractarian Movement,' (which he truly describes— as we have already seen Mr. Sewell and Dalgairns do — as almost miraculous in its rapid spread and awakening power.") " Step by step the teachers and the learners had advanced in Catholic truth — unconsciously approaching that one visible fold to which the Holy Spirit was guiding them. At length the leading men, the best and the wisest — and with them, sooner or later, as grace was given them, many an humble follower — en- tered the gate of the Holy City. Such was the state of things two years before I became a Catholic ; and it was this that led me to devote these two years to prayer and study, in order that I might not be influenced, on the one hand, solely by respect for men who might have erred in judgment ; nor, on the other hand, be deterred from doing my duty, if those men really wrere appoint- ed to be my guides, by mere reverence for a religion in which I happened to be born, or by the force of old associations, or by present interests and affections. In acting thus, I did what I was obviously bound to do And as the Church of England bade me go to antiquity ; I did so. I acted not in a spirit of self-conceit, or because I had much trust in my own powers of discernment, but in simple obedience to the authority under which I was placed. It was no fault of mine that my studies convinced me of the unsoundness of Anglican divinity, and of the fact that the theology of antiquity was essentially the same as that of the Church of Eome. I found that the living Catholic Church was, from the time of the Apostles downwards, the guide which all implicity followed, and that the doctrines, branded as corruptions by the heretics of the present century, were taught as apostolical traditions. I saw no ground whatever for the belief, recently invented by Protestants, that the Bible is the sole rule of faith ; I saw every ground for believing that the Church in communion with, the See of S. Peter, on whom it was founded, was to be unhesitatingly followed. Here, then, was an intelligible and practical answer to the question, What is the Church ? It was that Society which was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, upon S. Peter, against which the gates of hell should never prevail — the Church which was com- * mitted to the government of S. Peter and his successors— the 163 Church which, as an undeniable historical fact, has ever been so governed, has ever been one, has ever taught one and the same doctrine — the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. This was the result of my reading ; and of course I became a Catholic." Mr. Sconce further adds — a hope in which every convert must join, for with him they all cordially and unanimously say, — " Truly they who spread reports about the disappointment of converts, little know how far beyond all poiver of words to describe, is their satisfaction and their happiness. It is as though they had passed from, death to life — from shadows to reality — from longing to fruition."* "My sincere hope is, that the unreasonableness and inconsist- ency of "High Church" principles will soon be generally apparent, and then those who are Catholics at heart, those who feel the need of a living guide, those who read in Scripture that there is such a guide, will hasten to the one fold of the only true Christian Church. Prophecy describes that one fold in plain terms, and the New Testament declares, in terms as plain, that the Christian Church fulfils the prophecy. We accordingly be- lieve in one Holy Catholic Church. Are the Churches of Eome and England one ? Most clearly not. Is there any Church that can pretend to be that one Church, but the Church in com- munion with the Bishop of Eome? If there is reality in that article of the Apostles' Creed, two Churches strongly opposed to each other cannot be meant by it. "We must choose between the Church of S. Peter and that of the Eeforraers. The Ox- ford theology, which has attempted to solve the difficulty, has been tried, and is found wanting. The via media is losing its supporters one by one. Men must be either Catholics or Pro- testants. They cannot continue any longer half one and half the other. Their theology is ingenious, and looks well on paper, but it is utterly unreal and unpractical ; and clergymen who, in the zealous discharge of their duties, find it necessary to reduce it to practice, must, sooner or later, be undeceived. t * Sconce's supremacy of the Holy See. t Sconce's few reasons for submitting to the Catholic Church. 164 1849. The principal converts this year were — Rev J. A. Stewart, Hector of Yange, Essex. E-v W. H. Bittleatone, Curate of All Saints, Margaret Bev- A. J. Hanmer, Curate of Tidcombe, Tiverton. Rev. W. C. Thomas Rev. R. Simpson, Y. Mitcham, Surrey. America. Rev E Preston, Curate of S. Luke, New York Rev. J. M. Forbes, D.D., Sector of S. Luke, New York. Rev. E. Pitman. G. H. Plomer, Esq. T. S. Knowles, Esq. Captain Hibbert, Dr. Yonge. J. Longman, Esq. W. R. Gawthorn, Esq. Captain Moore. Lieutenant Randolph. W. Neville, Esq. Dr. Hassell. Lord Melbourne. (E.I. P.)* J. Oswald Wood, Esq., Liverpool. Sir J. Talbot. (R.I.P.) Mrs. Pierce Butler. Lady Curtis. Mrs. Rhetigan. Mrs. Bowden. Madame Yeron. Miss Bradstreet. Miss Bathurst. Miss Eyre. Miss Sarah Bowden. * Since the accasat !on was brought against us by Mr. Walford, we have heard JZeOf^cW-ao who actually received Ix>rd Melbourne's abjurauon. 165 Mr. Bittlestone had been compelled the preceding year to leave the Diocess of Worcester, in consequence cf Dr. Pepys objecting to Auricular Confession, and had taken shelter for a while under the wing of the Rev. Upton Richards, of All Saints, Margaret-street, but finding no rest for his soul out of the Church, he submitted to the See of S. Peter. Mr. Hammer says — " Simply and in one word, strange and harsh though it may seem, I must confess that I could not have remained where I was without incurring the loss of every atom of faith. In adhering to the principles of the Established religion (could I have done so) I must have become an Infidel; — a downright total Infidel; — and in the long run, no doubt, an avowed and open Infidel ; — a Deist, or Pantheist, or Atheist, as might have happened."* Though this did not occur to Mr. Hammer, yet two or three of the Tractarian party avowed themselves Panthe- ists, and one of them justly ridicules the Establishment as " having nothing really established; its doctrinal teach- ings being still the subject of endless controversy within the pale of her Communion ;t another laughs and sneers at miracles;^ while a third openly glories in his unbelief. § Mr. Allies, accompanied by Messrs. Pollen, Wynn, and Marriott, proceeded to the Continent on an ecclesiastical expedition — the journal, a joint-stock production (we be- lieve) of these gentlemen, was published, and immediately condemned by the Bishop of Oxford, whereon it was with- drawn by the Rector of Launton. Mr. Gorham having been presented by the Chancellor to the Living of Brampford Speke, was obliged to undergo an examination as to his Orthodoxy by the Bishop of Exeter, notwithstanding his having held the living of St. J list, in Pen with, for several years previous to his nomina- * Submission to the Catholic Church, by A. J. Hammer, f Popular Christianity, by F. J. Foxton. X The Soul, by F. J. Newman. § The Ncmcais of Faith, by W Frc.ide. V 166 tion to Brampford Speke. The examination which ex- tended to 149 questions, was on the single subject of Baptismal efficacy, which terminated in the Bishop of Exeter refusing to institute Mr. Gorham because he " held doctrines contrary to the true Christian faith, and the doc- trines contained in the Articles and Formularies of the United Church of England and Ireland, and especially the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacra- ments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the United Church of England and Ireland * Mr. Gorham consequently carried the case into the Court of Arches ; " turning from the servant to the sove- reign, I appeal from a private interpretation to a constitu- tionally constituted court — from a personal opinion to a legal deliverance;" and issued a monition on the 15th January, 1848, requiring the Bishop to show cause why he refused Institution : upon which Sir H. J. Fust, after mature deliberation, gave the following judgment: — The points which were decided: — "1. Does the Church of England hold the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration in the case of infants ? " 2. Does Mr. Gorham hold this doctrine ? " It is quite clear from the formularies of the Church that children do receive spiritual regeneration in Baptism. It is also evident, from the whole tenor of his examination, and from his counsel's argument, that Mr. Gorham does not hold this doctrine. "The Bishop of Exeter has consequently shown suffi- cient cause for refusing to institute Mr. Gorham to the Living of Brampford Speke, and therefore his Lordship must be dismissed and with his costs.'' The Tractarians were in ecstacies of delight — an Eccle- siastical Court, the same that had decided against them with regard to Stone Altars, and Mr. Oakeley, had now de- * Appendix. W. 167 cided that Baptismal Regeneration was a doctrine of the Church of England ; the Apostolicity and Catholicity of the Establishment was proved j after such a decision, New- man and Faber, Oakeley, Ward, and all the seceders, would return; England, and Rome would embrace one another, and mutual concessions would be made on both sides; nay, Mr. Gorham, Mr. Goode, Mr. Goligbtly, Dr. Symonds, and others would " walk their chalk, " and An- glicanism would triumph. God was good, the dayxof tri- umph was at hand — the night of bitter woe and sorrow had past ; but, alas ! Mr. Gorham appealed to the Queen in Council ! ! (poor Church of England !) and the Judicial Committee, consisting of the following judges, sat for the first time on 11th December to try a purely doctrinal question, viz : — The Master of the Rolls, (Lord Langdale). The Lord Chief Justice, (Lord Campbell). Mr. Raron Parke. Vice- Chancellor, Sir J. Knight Bruce. The Right Honorable Dr. Lushington. The Right Honorable Pemberton Leigh. The Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop of York. The Bishop of London.* WITH THE FOLLOWING COUNSEL FOE MS. GORHAM. Mr. Turner, Q.C. Dr. Bayford. THE BISHOP OF EXETER. Dr. Adams. Mr. Badeley. * The two Archbishops and the Bishop of London were not members of the Committee, were not present as judges, and had no right to vote or to sign the report that the Committee would submit to the Queen."— Great Gorham Case. 168 Here at present we leave the " Gorham case/' as in the annals of the following year 1850, the decision of the Queen in Council will be noticed. Mr. Sheridan Knowles, indignant at the submission of his son to the See of S. Peter, abandoning the buskin for the black gown of Geneva, commenced a crusade against Rome, as if he could hurt the Church of God, and hurl Her Head from that high position in which He had been placed by Him who said to His first Vicar on earth — " Thou art Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church.'' Mr. Knowles says — "You misrepresent Christ, you dishonour Him, you deny Him when you quote Him as the authority for your fundamental dogma — your arch and blasphemous Heresy if it be not too late, we should advise Mr. Knowles to study the question of the Rock of Rome again, and we feel positive that he would find no difficulty in admitting the Divine right of the Papacy. About this time an enquiry was made into the manage- ment of a soi-disant religious house under the care of Miss Sellon, as the Mother Superior (better knows as Mother Lydia), and the following rules were published: — Rules of the Orphans' Home. 1. Study to offSr up every duty and every action to Christ. 2. Devote ordinarily six hours each day to works of mercy. 3. In all intercourse with the poor, follow as much as possible the direction of the parish Priest to whose care their souls are committed. 4. Shew tender sympathy towards the sick ; for the most part begin by relieving his bodily wants, and contribute in any way you can to his cleanliness, ease, and comfort — for we are most inclined to listen to those who shew love towards us. When ye have to visit those who in health have forgotten God, dwell on the tender love of Christ to all true penitents : yet warn them affectionately, that unless they seek His mercy and pardon in the way He hath appointed, they must be miserable through all eternity. 169 5. Impress yourselves, and speak to them as being impressed with the Truths ye speak of, and as feeling the value of the soul ; for if our own hearts be not moved, in vain shall we hope to move the hearts of others. 6. Pray earnestly with and for them, and especially that God would look down on them with pity, and bring them to repent- ance. 7. When there is no hope of the patient's recovery, if it is necessary to make this known to him, do so with great caution, and, if time permit, gradually; telling the sick man that to submit himself wholly to the will of God, trusting in His mercy for His dear Son Jesus Christ's sake, will turn to his profit, and help him forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life. 8. Speak in a gentle, soothing, impressive way, and be careful not to fatigue the sufferer by trying to gain too much in one visit. 9. If mention be made to you of the disposal of property, endeavour to put the subject from you, and refer the patient to some proper person, in whom he may have confidence. 10. In visiting the schools, besides the ordinary instructions, ye shall be diligent in teaching the children to direct all their thoughts, words, and actions, to the glory of God, and to realize His presence everywhere ; — to implore His grace that they may know and love Him, and keep His commandments ; and to respect their parents and superiors. 1 1. Especially ye shall be diligent in catechizing, and preparing the children to go before the parish Priest for examination previous to Confirmation and for Holy Communion. The orphans shall be the especial charge of the Sisters, in proportion to their numbers : great watchfulness shall be used that they do not teach each other harm : they shall be carefully trained in all the duties of their calling ; the Sisters who have the care of them allowing nothing to interfere with this work of love. 12. Aim to do all things in the spirit of deep, sincere, unfeigned humility, ' in honor preferring one another.' 13. Eeceive any suggestion or reproof with an expression of thankfulness, or otherwise in perfect silence. Whatever ye think it necessary to say defer till another time. 170 14. Dwell in unity, with one heart and one soul in God. 15. Let there be no contention, or at least let it be soon ended, 16. If there be a difference of opinion and ye must speak your thoughts, give your reasons with modesty and charity, with a view to truth and edification, and not to get the better of the argument. 17. Should any offend another, let her make amends as soon as possible, and the offence must be pardoned directly ; if both have offended, both must mutually pardon. 18. Carefully avoid all harsh expressions. 19. Shun all party spirit and partizanship as a source of discord and division. 20. Be content with such food and raiment as ye have ; let the furniture in the dwelling rooms of the Sisterhood be simple and plain. 21. Let all things needful be given to all alike, according to their needs. 22. The Sisters being constantly employed in works of mercy, care shall be taken that the health do not suffer by indiscreet abstinence ; yet the Sisters shall refrain from eating out of meals, unless health require. But whatever is needed they shall ask for. 23. There shall be no unnecessary conversation in rising and going to bed, amid daily duties, and in going to and from Church. 24. Let each attend to herself and her own duties, and not curiously enquire of others, or needlessly talk of them. 25. Take whatever befalls yourself or others as from the hand of God. 26. The dress of the Sisters shall be as simple as possible, both as to material and as to form. 27. Consider personal neatness and general order as religious duties. 28. If sick, obey not the Superior only but the Physician also, in all things relating to the body: The Sisters, especially the Superior as Mother, shall frequently visit the sick, and treat them with tender love. 29. If death be apprehended, the Superior shall take care that the Holy Communion be administered in due time. 171 30. Fathers, mothers, or such as have stood in the place of parents, brothers, and sisters, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, shall be admitted to see any of the Sisters, but except on any urgent occasion, only at stated hours. 31. It shall be a strict rule that the duties of the Sisterhood shall not interfere with the Sisters shewingfilial piety and affection towards relatives. It shall be also allowable to any Sister to visit her parents yearly for a limited period. 32. The Superior shall not value herself upon the authority she holds, but rather esteem it an opportunity of rendering loving service to others. 33. She shall be loved and honored as a mother, in matters of great or less moment, in things agreeable or disagreeable, not considering whom they obey, but rather Him for whose sake they obey, that is, Jesus Christ our Lord. 34. She shall have the direction of the employments of the household, and exercise a mother's care of the health of the whole family. 35. She shall make herself a pattern to all, receive and support the weak, be patient with all, be exact with herself, and cautious in what she requires of others. 36. The Sisters who serve shall by no means be treated differently from the others, but all shall live together in equal love. Any orders given them shall be seasoned with charity. 37. All the Sisters shall call them Sister, mindful that although these be servants in outward circumstances, they are still the daughters of God, and with them in hope co-heirs of Jesus Christ. 38. Whereas the Institution is still in its infancy, and it may be expedient that other regulations should be adopted for the well-being of the Sisterhood, and of the Orphans' Home, the Superior, with the advice and consent of the Sisters, shall have power to frame such further rules in harmony with the foregoing, as she may conceive calculated to promote those ends. And such rule shall be laid before the Bishop, whenever he shall think that they have been sufficiently approved by experience. Rules foe the Sisterhood of Mercy. In order to secure, as far as may be, that the Sisterhood of 172 Mercy in Devonport, recently established by the permission of Almighty God, should, under His Divine Blessing, be continued upon the same principles on which it was begun, the following Regulations, as to its funds and operations, have been adopted, with the sanction of the Lord Bishop of Exeter. 1. A legal instrument has been prepared, by which certain of the Sisters have agreed to live together (conforming to certain regulations, sanctioned by the Bishop, for the better conduct of the interior of the Institution ;) but with free liberty to any Sister to withdraw if it shall so seem good to her. 2. Any Sister so withdrawing, or in any way ceasing to be a member of the Society, shall be entitled to her own personal property ; but neither she nor her heirs shall be entitled to any share of the common property of the Society. 3. The Sisterhood shall belong to the Church of England; and if any Sister should unhappily cease to be a member of the Church of England, she shall, ipso facto, cease to be a member of the Society. 4. The object of the Sisterhood shall be the education of the female children of Sailors and Soldiers, who shall have lost either parent; the visiting the sick and needy; superintendence of schools, infant or adult, industrial or educational ; oral instruc- tion of adults in smaller classes ; the visiting of female emi- grants on board of vessels sailing from or touching at the port of Plymouth : and any other purpose of love (such as the care of hospitals or infirmaries, the temporary shelter and training of distressed women of good character) ; which God, in His good Providence, shall open to them. 5. The Bishop of Exeter, for the time being, shall be ex officio Visitor of the Sisterhood ; and all the internal regulations of the Sisterhood shall be open to him. 6. The Sisters, in visiting the poor and sick, shall be under the direction of the Clergy in whose districts they visit. 7. The schools formed by the Sisters shall be open at all times for the inspection and religious instruction of the Parochial Clergy of the district, and of the Diocesan Inspector of the schools appointed or approved by the Bishop. 8. Any property given to the Sisterhood, either by the Sisters themselves, or by donations for permanent purposes, or by 173 bequest, shall be vested in the Sisterhood : but the accounts shall be at all times open to a person appointed by the Bishop to inspect them. 9. Any one who shall hereafter be admitted to join the Sister- hood shall have the concurrence of two-thirds of the Sisters above the age of 25, with the sanction of the Bishop. 10. Should it hereafter unhappily ever become necessary (which God avert !) to remove any Sister, it shall be requisite that such removal shall be deemed necessary by at least two- thirds of the Sisters above the age of 30, and be confirmed by the Bishop. Bequests being made to the Sisterhood under the title of ' Church of England Sisterhood of Mercy in Devonport.' Rules for the Orphan's Home. 1. The Institution shall be called ' The Orphans' Home, for the Orphan Daughters of British Sailors and Soldiers.'' 2. The object of this Institution shall be to feed and clothe - such children from the earliest age, and to train them in the fear and love of God, in the Church of England. And for the right discharge of their duties in the state of life to which God shall call them, they shall be trained either as trustworthy ser- vants, or for other important and reasonable offices, as village school-mistresses, attendants on the sick, &c, as their capacities and dispositions shall indicate. 3. All due economy shall be used, consistent with the health and comfort of the children, in order that a new Orphan shall be admitted for every £10 10s. subscribed. Any subscriber of £10 10s., or a Donor of £100 to the permanent Eund, shall have the power of recommending one child at a time, to whom such subscriber shall be especially interested, as the Orphan of a soldier in any regiment, although at a distance, or of a sailor belonging to any of Her Majesty's ships. Members of a family, or any number of individuals contributing the above sums, shall have the joint right of a subscriber. 4. When there is no other paramount claim, preference shall be given to the Orphan of any soldier or sailor who has died in actual service, or been lost at sea. 5. Evidence must be produced that the children who are w 174 candidates for admission, are really the daughters of sailors or soldiers in Her Majesty's service. 6. No child shall be expelled while there is any hope of amend- ment. 7. Sickliness, or even consumptive tendency, shall be no ground of exclusion ; nor shall any child he removed on account of any infectious disorder, but shall be transferred to some place sepa- rate from the other children. 8. Great care shall be taken of the individual training of the children, according to their capacities. They shall in all cases, besides religious instruction, be taught reading, writing, arith- metic, plain needle-work, and knitting. Such as show tender- ness and other qualifications, shall be trained as Nurses of the younger children ; and such as, in addition, evince talent and high religious principles, shall have a superior education to fit them for village schoolmistresses. 9. The children shall be allowed to remain in the Institution until they be fully qualified to undertake a respectable situation in the line of duty for which they shall be fitted. 10. Near relations and friends shall be admitted to see the Orphans from time to time, especial regard being had to the surviving parent when they shall be sick. 1850. The principal converts this year were — Rev. A. J. Dayman, Curate of Wasperton, Warwickshire. Rev. J. H. Stuart, Curate of Bramford, Suffolk. Rev. T. F. Balston, Rector of Benson, Oxford. Rev. T. Scratton, Curate of Benson, Oxon. Rev. J. H. Wynne, Fellow of AU Souls, Oxford. Rev. J. L. Pattison. Rev. F. Gr. Case, Curate of All Saints, Margaret st., London. Rev. W. G. Maskell, Vicar of S. Mary's Church, Devon. Rev. C. B. GJ-arside, Curate of All Saints, Margaret st., London. Rev. T. Bodley, Curate of Archbishop Tenison's Chapel, London. Rev. C. Cavendish, Curate of All Saints, Margaret st., London. Rev. E. S. Bathurst, Rector of Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester. Rev. T. W. Allies, Rector of Launton, Oxfordshire. 175 Rev. E. Ballard, Curate of Pucklechurch, Grlocestershire. Rev. W. F. Trenow, Curate of Northfield, Staffordshire. Very Rev. W. A. M'Lauren, Dean of Eoss and Moray. Rev. TV. H. Anderdon, Yicar of S. Margaret's, Leicester. Rev. H. W. Wilberforce, Rector of East Farleigh, Kent. Rev. R. S. Butler, Warden of the House of Charity, Soho, London. Rev. E. Scott. Rev. C. H. Laprimaudaye, Curate of Lavenham, Sussex, (R.I.P.) Rev. T. Mostyn. Rev. W. Dodsworth, Incumbent of Christchurch, S. Pancras, London. Rev. T. G-. Rogers, Chaplain to the Convicts, Botany Bay. Rev. D. G-oltz, Christchurch, Southwark. Rev. N. W. Dubois, Free Church of England, Southwark. Curates of S. James's, Bristol. America. Rev. E. Johnstone, ] Rev. J. W. Huntington, > New York. Rev. A. Stewart, J Feance. Rev. X. Ferre. Rev. T. A. Boyhimie. The Earl of Roscommon, (R.I.P.) Viscount Feilding. Hon. C. Pakenham, (R.I.P.) Baron Strutzech. Lady Foley. Lady Ida Lennox. Ctsse. Ida Hahn-Hahn. Mrs. Taplin, (R.I.P.) Mrs. Foljambe 176 Mrs. W. Wilberforce. Mrs. H. Wilberforce. Edward Windeyer, Esq., King's College, London. N. A. Goldsmid, Esq., Trinity College, Oxford. E. Bethell, Esq. It. J. Tillotson, Esq. G. Ballard, Esq. G. Bowyer, Esq., M.P. H. Alban Arden, Esq., Dorchester. Edward P. Bastard, Esq., (R.I.P.) The Eight Hon. W. J. Monsell, M.P. Lord Nigel Kennedy. Countess of Arundel and Surrey. Lady Cavendish. Lady Fielding, (E.I.P.) Ctsse. De Pepe. Sergeant Bellasis Miss Peel. Miss Lechmere. Miss Lockhart. Miss Scott. Miss Yates. Miss Brande. If paucity of matter compelled us to be but brief while tracing the events of the past year — if events were but few — such will not now be the case. The " Gorham case" was still pending — the Tractarian party was in suspense, anxiously waiting for the moment when the six laymen, forming the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council, should decide whether Mr. Gorham was orthodox or heterodox : in addition to this all-important case, came the restoration of the Hierarchy to England — for from the See of S. Peter was issued a decree, annihilating, as it had created, the Dioceses of Canterbury and York, Lincoln and Chichester — the cities of S. Augustin and S. Wilfrid, S. Hugh and S. Richard, were no more — they were blotted off the ecclesiastical map, and in their place were created Westminster, reminding one of S. Edward and his pro- 177 phetic vision— Beverly, sweetly bringing to our memory S. John of Beverly— Northampton, recalling to our mind a certain weary and way-worn Prelate, sitting on a harsh December morn at a nook in the vicinity of De la Pre Abbey, and even then mindful of future generations, N blessing the weary and way-worn pilgrim with a fountain still bearing his name, though he himself be all but for- gotten—and Shrewsbury, to excite in our mind a longing for the restoration of those happy days when the Church was one. The subjects, consequently, which will attract our atten- tion are — 1. The Gorham Case. 2. The Mask ell, Dods worth, and Pusey Correspondence. 3. The anti-Puseyite Crusade. 4. The Greek Church. I. — The Gorham Case. The decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy- Council, so long and so earnestly expected by all parties, was delivered on the 8th of March, when it was u held that the sentence pronounced by the learned Judge in the Arches' Court of Canterbury, ought to be reversed, and that it ought to be declared, that the Lord Bishop of Exeter had not shown sufficient cause why he did not in- stitute Mr. Gorham in the said Vicarage/' on the plea that the " doctrine, held by Mr. Gorham, is not contrary or repugnant to the declared doctrine of the Church of England, as by law established, and that Mr. Gorham ought not, by reason of the doctrine held by him, to have been refused admission to the Vicarage of Brampford Speke." Mr. Denison, of East Brent, thus spoke of the anticipated decision of the Judicial Committee — "I may be allowed in this great assembly, holding in my hand the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacra- ments, with my finger upon the Catechism and the Office of Baptism, to say that all Church education depends upon and flows from the Catholic doctrine of Regeneration in 178 Baptism. We have lived to see what our fathers never saw. We have lived to see it called in question before a Supreme Court of Appeal, a Court, not composed necessa- rily, even of professing members of the Church of England a Court with no spiritual character necessarily attaching to it— we have lived to see it called in question before such a Court as this, whether the Church of England holds, as necessarily and exclusively true, the doctrine of the One Catholic and Apostolic Church in respect of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism. In other words, we have lived to see it called in question before a Supreme Court of Appeal, whether the Church of England is, or is not, a branch of the Church Catholic. We have lived to see a Supreme Court of Appeal asked to declare, not that Regeneration in Baptism, as held always by the Church Catholic, is not the doctrine of the Church of England— for this nobody has yet dared to ask— I say yet, for we know not what may be coming upon us— but that there is room in the Church of England for this, and also for the denial of it. In other words, we have lived to see it asked, of a Supreme Court of Appeal, that it should set the seal of its authority upon this— that the Church of England has no doctrine of Holy Baptism. Has any thing so revolting, ever been at any other time attempted to be palmed upon the religious sense of the English people f Room for the two doctrines of the one Baptism in the one Catholic and Apostolic Church ! WThy not say at once, room for ten thousand doctrines ? There would be some honesty in that. Mr. Gresley also asks " whether it is not one of the most astonishing facts in religious controversy, that Ministers of the Church of England, should baptize infants brought to them, and then call on the congregation to join with them in thanking God for that it hath pleased him to regenerate each, and yet hold the opinion either that the child has not been regenerated at all, or that his regeneration is hypo- thetical."* * Greeley's " Real Danger of the Church." 179 Mr. Turner thus stated his client's case — "He con- ceived Mr. Gorham to entertain this doctrine — that spi- ritual regeneration meant a change of nature, not religion ; and that it was a gift of the Almighty— that it might be given before or after Baptism as the Almighty saw fit — that if infants received Baptism aright, by which he under- stood well, he considered that they must have received the grace of God before Baptism, or that they must receive it in Baptism — that in such cases Baptism was a sign of re- generation— that in such cases infants were grafted into the Church, and that the promises of God to infants were signed and sealed, confirmed and increased in accordance with the terms of the Gospel j but that, on the other hand, if infants did not receive Baptism rightly, that Baptism in such case had no immediate spiritual effect," and then, after laboring to establish his client's cause, he quotes the judgment of Sir H. J. Fust — " It may be said that there is no evidence to show that Mr. Gorham comes within the description of those who entertain Calvinistic opinions. Mr. Gorham undoubtedly says, that our Church has deter- mined, that those children who are baptized and die before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved. But then Mr. Gorham will not allow that benefit to be by regenera- tion in Baptism. He says it is by 'prevenient grace/ without which they could not be ' worthy recipients,' and that if not ' worthy recipients,' they could not receive the sacrament with advantage. That I take to be the doctrine Mr. Gorham holds." But in order to justify that position his learned Counsel maintained, that the Reformers were Calvanists, and that therefore we must construe the Ser- vices and Articles in a Calvinistic sense. Mr. Gorham had defended this doctrine of "prevenient grace" in his examination before the Bishop of Exeter.* Moreover, as Mr. Turner stated that the " Articles were, by the Statute * This Article (Article xxviii.) teaches 1 that there must have been a pre- venient act of grace to render such infants worthy.' — Gorkam's Examination, p. 125. 1,80 Law of England, the code of the doctrines of the Church of England, and not the Prayer Book, which was a mere code of its devotion/' most truly then did the six Lay judges decide, that if it be, " as undoubtedly it is, that in the Church of England many points of theological doctrine have not been decided, Baptismal Regeneration is among the number, for it has been ruled that the code of laws of the Church give no decided judgment on the matter.5' The Bishop of Exeter accordingly carried the case into the three Law Courts. The Queen's Bench, speaking through the Lord Chief Justice, decided — " We all think that no reason has been alleged to invalidate the sentence in this case on the ground that the Queen in Council and the Judicial Committee had no jurisdiction over the appeal ; and, there- fore, we feel bound to say, that a rule to show cause why a prohibition to stay the execution of the sentence ought not to be granted." It was then earned into the Court of Common Pleas, where Chief Justice Wilde delivered the following sentence : — " In determining upon the present application we have attentively considered the circum- stances under which it comes before us. The litigant parties have concurred in prosecuting the appeal to the Judicial Committee; and, after a decision has been come to, an objection is for the first time made upon the ground of a want of jurisdiction in the tribunal." " The case was elaborately moved before the Court of Queen's Bench; that Court has pronounced a deliberate judgment upon the construction of the Statutes, and the applicant has since exercised his undoubted right of making a similar application to this Court ; and when so doing the learned Counsel who made this motion brought before us all the authorities that there is any reason to suppose have any bearing upon the subject ; and the Court of Queen's Bench, having stated that there were several instances of appeals to the delegates, founded upon the construction adopted by that Court, nothing was presented to us during the arguments in support of the application tending to 181 create any doubt of the accuracy of that statement, although we cannot suppose that due investigation was made as to the fact of such instances having occurred and of their ap- plicability to the case ; and we have informed ourselves of the particulars of those cases as before detailed, and further, no appeal has been discovered to have been made to Convocation. Under these circumstances, we have every reason to conclude, that further discussion will not furnish additional information or light upon the subject; and pas- sing by another question to which the application might be subject, and founding our decision simply on the construc- tion of these particular ancient statutes, as supported by the usage in the only instances of appeals in matters touch- ing the Crown known to have occurred since they passed, we think that it would not be consistent with the due discharge of our duty, but would only tend to prolong an useless litigation, to grant any rule/' The case was then taken into the Court of Exchequer, where the Chief Baron thus decided : — " Entertaining as we do no doubt upon the question before us, and concurring with the other Courts of Westminster Hall, and as far as we know with every judge of all the Courts, we do not think that we should be justified in creating the delay and expense of further pro- ceedings with a view to take the opinion of the House of Lords, and our judgment is that the rule be discharged with costs/'* A motion was accordingly issued which the Bishop obeyed, merely lodging the following Protest against the institution of Mr. Gorham to the Living of Brampford Speke, which was rejected by the Court of Arches. Protest of Henry, Lord Bishop of Exeter. " In the name of the Holy Trinity, Amen. — We, Henry, by divine permission. Bishop of Exeter, having been mouished by this venerable Court of Arches, to bring into the registry of the same, the presentation made to us by her Majesty Queen Victoria as patron of the vicarage of Brampford Speke, in our said diocese, commanding us to institute the Rev. Gr. C. Gorham, clerk, * The Gorham Case. X 182 Bachelor of Divinity, to the church of the said parish, and to the cure and government of the souls of the parishioners of the same — presentation aforesaid notwithstanding, — we have found it to be our duty to refuse to admit and institute the said Eev. George Cornelius Gorham to the said church and cure of souls, inas- much as it hath manifestly appeared to and hath been adjudged by us, after due examination had, that the said clerk was, and is not, fit to be entrusted with such cure of souls, by reason of his having held and continuing to hold certain false and unsound doctrines, contrary to the pure Catholic faith, and to the doct- rines set forth and taught in the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England and in the Book of Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments, according to the use of the said Church — against which our refusal to institute him, as aforesaid, the said clerk did prosecute his suit called duplex querela in this said venerable Court, and such suit was by the same, after due hearing, solemnly refused and rejected, whereupon the said clerk did appeal to the judgment of her Majesty in Council, and her Majesty in Council hath remitted the cause to this venerable Court, declaring that we, the said Bishop, have not showr suf- ficient cause why we did not institute the said George Cornelius Gorham to the said vicarage of Brampford Speke, and command- ing that right and justice be in this Court done in this matter, pursuant to the said declaration — do hereby, in obedience to the monition of this Court, bring into the registry of the same the said presentation : — " Under protest, that whereas her said Majesty, before she remit- ted the said cause to this Court with the declaration aforesaid, did refer the same to the Judical Committee of her Majesty's said Council to hear the same, and to make their report and recommendation thereupon ; and the said Judical Committee did accordingly hear the said cause, and make their report and recommendation after hearing the same, that her Majesty should remit the said cause with the declaration aforesaid ; but such their report and recommendation was notoriously and expressly founded on a certain statement of the doctrines held by the said George Cornelius Gorham as it appeared to them, the said J udi- cal Committee, which statement was in the terms following : — " 'That Baptism is a Sacrament generally necessary to salva- tion, but that the grace of regeneration does not so necessarily 183 accompany the act of Baptism, that regeneration invariably takes place in Baptism ; that the grace may be granted before, in, or after, Baptism ; that Baptism is an effectual sign of grace, by which God works invisibly in us, but only in such as worthily receive it — in them alone it has a wholesome effect ; and that without reference to the qualification of the recipient, it is not itself an effectual sign of grace ; that infants baptised, and dying before actual sin, are certainly saved ; but that in no case is regeneration in Baptism unconditional.' " And whereas, the above-recited statement, on which the said Judical Committee did so expressly found their said report and recommendation to her Majesty, was set forth by them as a just and true and sufficient statement of the doctrines held by the said George Cornelius Gorham, notwithstanding he had declared (Article XV.), that 'as infants are by nature unworthy recipients, being born in sin, and the children of wrath, they cannot receive any benefit from baptism, except there shall have been a preve- nient act of grace to make them worthy ;' and solemnly re-affirmed the same, (Article LXX.) when his attention was by us especially called thereto, in order that he might correct it if he thought fit ; and notwithstanding that he, the said George Cornelius Gor- ham, had further declared (Article XIX.) of 'baptised infants, who, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved,' that, 'therefore they must have been regenerated by an act of grace prevenient to their baptism, in order to make them worthy recipients of that sacrament.' Again (Article XXYII.) 'the new nature must have been possessed by those who receive baptism rightly ; and therefore possessed before the seal was affixed' — meaning thereby before baptism was given. Again (Article LX.) 'that filial state' (meaning thereby 'adoption to the sons of God'), 'thought clearly to be ascribed to God, was given to the worthy recipient before baptism, and not in baptism,' manifestly contradicting thereby the said Articles of Keligion, and the doctrine of the said Book of Common Prayer, as set forth in its offices of public and private baptism of infants, and of Confirmation, and especially in the 'Catechism, or instruction to be learned of every person, before he be brought to be confirms i by the Bishop.' "Notwithstanding, too, that the Lord Bishop of London, who was summoned by command of her Majesty to attend the hearing 184 of the said appeal, and who did attend the same accordingly, having been requested by the said Judical Committee to read and consider the said report and recommendation before it was laid before her Majesty, did thereupon read and consider the same ; and, after such reading and consideration thereof, did say and advise the said Judical Committee to this effect, that he could not consent to the said report and recommendation, because the said George Cornelius Grorham holds not that remission of sins, adoption into the family of God, and regeneration, must all take place in the case of infants, not in baptism, nor by means of baptism, but before baptism ;— an opinion which the said Lord Bishop declared to the said Judical Committee appeared to him to be in direct opposition to the plain teaching of the Church, and utterly to destroy the sacramental character of baptism ; inasmuch as it separates the grace of that sacrament from the sacrament itself: which said heretical opinions so held by the said George Cornelius Gorham, and thus by the said Lord Bishop of London expressly brought to the notice of the said Judical Committee, and the manifest contradiction of the said opinions to the teaching of the Church plainly pointed out, were never- theless wholly omitted by the said Judical Committee, in the statement of the doctrine which appeared to them to be held by the said George Cornelius Gorham, on which they professed to found their report and recommendation to her Majesty as afore- said. "Now we, the said Henry, Bishop of Exeter, taking the premises into our serious and anxious consideration, and furthermore con- sidering, that the judgment of her most gracious Majesty in Council on the said appeal was pronounced solely in reliance on the statement made in the report and recommendation of the said Judical Committee, as being a just, true, and sufficient statement, do, by virtue of the authority given to us by God, as a Bishop in the Church of Christ, and in the apostolic branch of it, planted by God's providence, within this land, and established therein by the laws and constitution of this realm, hereby solemnly repudiate the said judgment, and declare it to be null and utterly without effect inforo conscientce, and do appeal there- from in all that concerns the Catholic faith to 'the Sacred Synod of this nation when it shall be, in the name of Christ, assembled as the true Church of England by representation.' 185 " And further, we do solemnly protest and declare, that whereas the said George Cornelius Gorham did manifestly and notoriously hold the aforesaid heretical doctrines, and hath not since retracted and disclaimed the same, any Archbishop or Bishop, or any official of any Archbishop or Bishop, who shall institute the said George Cornelius Gorham to the cure and government of the souls of the parishioners of the said parish of Brampford Speke, within our diocese aforesaid, will thereby incur the sin of sup- porting and favoring the said heretical doctrines ; and we do hereby renounce and repudiate all communion with any one, be he whom he may, who shall so institute the said George Cornelius Gorham as aforesaid. " Given under our hand and episcopal seal this 20th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1850. "H. EXETER," By thus protesting, the Bishop of Exeter followed as well the example of his progenitors in the formation of the Estab- lishment, the common course pursued by the "Trac- tarian" party ; when Dr. Pusey was condemned — when Tract XC. fell under the censure of the Bishop of Oxford — when Mr. Escott of Gedney was mulcted for refusing to bury a schismatic — when Mr. Ward was degraded and Mr. Oakeley deprived of Orders — when the Stone Altar Case was decided — when Dr. Hampden was raised to the See of Hereford — Protests without end were signed and presented, and so now Protests became quite fashionable ; among the most celebrated was the following, bearing the signature of Messrs. Mill, Wilberforce, and Manning : — " Whereas it is required of every person admitted to the order of Deacon or Priest, and likewise of persons admitted to ecclesiastical offices or academical degrees, to make oath that they abjure all foreign jurisdiction, and to subscribe the three Articles of Canon XXXVI. , one whereof touches the Royal Supremacy; " And whereas it is now made evident by the late appeal and sentence in the case of Gorham v. Bishop of Exeter, and by the judgment of all the Courts of Common Law, 186 that the Royal Supremacy, as denned and established by Statute Law, invests the Crown with a power of hearing and deciding in appeal all matters, howsoever purely spiritual, both of discipline and doctrine ; ** And whereas to give such power to the Crown is at variance with the Divine Office of the Universal Church, as prescribed by the law of Christ ; "And whereas we, the undersigned clergy and laity of the Church of England, at the time of making the said oath and subscription, did not understand the Royal Supremacy in the sense now ascribed to it by the Courts of Law, nor have until this present time so understood it, neither have believed that such authority was claimed on behalf of our sovereigns : " Now we do hereby declare ; — " 1. That we have hitherto acknowledged, and do now acknowledge, the supremacy of the Crown in ecclesiastical matters to be a supreme civil power over all persons and causes in temporal things, and over the temporal accidents of spiritual things : "2. That we do not, and in conscience, cannot, acknow- ledge in the Crown the power recently exercised, to hear and judge in appeal the internal state or merits of spiritual questions, touching doctrine or discipline, the custody of which is committed to the Church alone by the law of Christ. "We, therefore, for the relief of our own consciences, hereby publicly declare that we acknowledge the royal supremacy in the sense above stated, and in no other. " Henry Edward Manning, M.A., Archdeacon of Chichester. " Robert Isaac Wilberforce, M.A., Archdeacon of the East Riding. " William Hodge Mill, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge 187 The reader must not suppose that the Bishop of Exeter, in his Quixotic gallantry against the Erastianism of the Establishment, quietly succumbed; nay, so far from this, he wrote a letter to his Metropolitan, in which, after accus- ing the judges of having been guilty of a grievous violation of their plain duty, and of introducing confusion into the Church, thus concludes — "Meanwhile I have one most painful duty to perform. I have to protest not only against the judgment pronounced in the present cause, but also against the regular consequences of that judgment. I have to protest against your Grace's doing what you will speedily be called to do, either in person or by some other exercising your authority. I have to protest, and do here- by solemnly protest before the Church of England, before the Holy Catholic Church, before Him who is its Divine Head, against your giving mission to exercise cure of souls within my Diocese to a clergyman who proclaims himself to hold the heresies which Mr. Gorham holds. I protest that any one who gives mission to him till he retract, is a favorer and supporter of those heresies. I protest, in con- clusion, that I cannot without sin — and by God's grace I will not — hold communion with him, be he who he may, who shall so abuse the high commission which he bears."* In vain did Archdeacon Wilberforce contend that " the Church may be rich without worldly wealth, and its mem- bers reverenced without worldly titles, but if it abandon that Creed which was committed to its trust, or those Sacra- ments which it was embodied to administer, it will neither secure man's respect nor God's favor."f "The Privy Council," (says Dr. Pusey), "cannot con- tinue to be the judge of heresy in the English Church. Points of faith will not be accounted of less moment than points of honour. Civil courts are not thought the best tribunals to decide on military discipline, cowardice, and obedience. Are the Eternal Sonship of God the Son, or * Bishop of Exeter's Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, t Wilberforce on Erastianism. 188 the Being of the All Holy Trinity, or the extent of Christ's redemption, and of His love for all our infants, subjects less deep, less essential to our being or to our peace? Common sense, natural feeling, instinctive reverence coin- cide with the rules of the Church, and the practice of Christendom in all ages, which requires that matters of faith should be referred to those* who are by God's appoint- ment ' Overseers' of the Church of God, whom the Church requires to vow before God, that ' they will banish and drive away all erroneous or strange doctrine contrary to God's word' — the special guardians of the faith ;" notwith- standing Dr. Pusey's assertion, that the Privy Council can- not continue to be the judge of heresy in the English Church, and that twelve pious, unlettered communicants of our peasantry would have been more likely to have given a sounder judgment than the members of the Privy Council, the six laymen, acting as the judges of the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council, still continue to be the judges of heresy in the Establishment, and will ever be so. Were one not busied in the din of contro- versial warfare, to simply peep at the quarrel now raised by a certain school in the Establishment, he would be con- vinced of the truth of Hobbe's position, that ( though king's take not on them the ministerial priesthood, yet are they not so merely laick as not to have 1 sacerdotal jurisdiction.' Hence we must conclude taht not only have they (we speak of Protestant sovereigns only), ' sacerdotal jurisdic- tion,' but even jurisdiction in doctrinal matters. Dr. Pusey, referring in anticipation to this decision of the Queen in Council, says, " our eyes are now opened, we dare not close them, nor act as if they had not been opened. We see now on the brink of what peril the Church is placed, and even if by God's mercy we escape at this time, we dare not leave the flood-gates open which might again admit it : we have seen a doctrine to us as plain as the sun itself, called in question in a Court from which there is no ordinary appeal ; we have heard part of the faith defended 189 and cross-examined. A Court, we have been told, must ' take time to consider/ whether a truth held by the whole Church, from the first, 'always, by all, and every where,' confessed in the Baptismal services of the Universal Church in every tongue from Britain to India, is a part of the doc- trine of the Church of England. It hangs, as far as ordi- nary means are concerned, on six laymen chosen with no reference to, or thought of, such an office, — no, it hangs upon the will and goodness of God, whether as far as disci- pline is concerned, the Church of England shall be pro- nounced in a Court, without appeal, to be indifferent to the truth. But (continues Dr. Pusey), judicial sentiments are not authorities for the Church ; but if right from the Church. They are not the ground of Canons ; but if true they flow out of them ; if false, they are to the Church ipso facto null and void. They do not doctrinally hear the Church, but deserve anathemas. Although judicial sentences can- not affect the real doctrine of the Church, they may very seriously attack her as to her discipline. As judicial sen- tences they are authoritative until they are rescinded. Bishops ought to act against it if wrong. They cannot bend even in discipline, the authority which Bishops have from God. Our eyes are now opened, we dare not close them, nor act as if they had not been opened ; we see now on the brink of what peril the Church is placed, and even if, by God's mercy, we escape at this time, we dare not leave the flood-gates open which might again admit it.*" Poor Dr. Pusey ! one really grieves at recollecting that he is still out of the pale of the Church, still beating the air and fighting for airy nothing, contending for a phantom, a vain shadow : can Dr. Pusey seriously imagine that God would allow His Church to depend in matters of doctrine or "discipline" on the judgment of six laymen, "chosen with no reference to, or thought of, such an office ?" It is * Pu6ey on tbe Eojal Supremacy. Y 190 with such men as Dr. Pusey that it is difficult to keep our patience; men who would labor for " His one Church, " are indeed in danger, as long as they remain members of a Body that has arisen on the ruins of everything that is holy, — on the destruction of the altar — on the defacing of the sweet pictures of the Saints — on the denial of angels — on the denial of Holy Celibacy — on the persecution of a life of solitude — on the denial of the efficacy of intercessory prayer, whether among ourselves, or among a higher order of Beings — on the denial of the mysterious powers of the Christian Priesthood — on the denial of the necessity of con- tinued and multitudinous prayers — on the denial of the need of a life of abstinence, as far as can possibly be attained, from all things that inflame the flesh and blood — it is not surprising then, that with a German writer, we should say, " clelenda est ista infernalis, seclerata, sanguined, et execranda religionis Christians deformatio, qucefalsissime vocatur, Reformatio." To one depending on the Book of Common Prayer as his guide, to one looking up to Dr. Pnsey and Mr. Bennett as their spiritual leaders, regarding their opinions as the voice of the Church, it may not be amiss that the follow- ing language from some of the Reformers, so forcibly adduced by Mr. Gorhanr's counsel, should again be quoted to show the really inanimate condition of the Establishment. Becon, the favourite chaplain of Cranmer, says, "The Sacra- ments of the New Law, i.e., Baptism and the Lord's Supper, do not confer and give grace, righteousness, and remis- sion of sins: but only shew and set forth to us those things which God, of His infinite goodness, gives to the faithful, and seal, confirm, and testify God's good-will towards us." Hooper. "Although Baptism be a Sacrament to be received and honorably used by all men, yet it SANCTI- FIETH no man. And such as attribute the remission of sins unto the external sign doth offend." And we are told by Coverdale, that the " water in Baptism is an out- ward thing which cannot cleanse the soul from sin." 191 The following Resolutions were also drawn up and circu- lated : — 1. "That whatever be at the present time the form of the sentence delivered on appeal in the case of "Gorham v. the Bishop of Exeter/' the Church of England will even- tually be bound by the said sentence, unless it shall openly and expressly reject the erroneous doctrine sanctioned thereby. 2 " That the remission of original sin to all infants in and by the grace of Baptism is an essential part of the Article — One baptism for the remission of sins. 3. " That to omit other questions raised by the said sen- tence— such sentence, while it does not deny the liberty of having that article in the sense heretofore received, does equally sanction the assertion that original sin is a bar to the right reception of Baptism, and is not remitted except when God bestows regeneration beforehand by an act of prevenient grace (whereof Holy Scriptures and the Church are wholly silent) thereby rendering the benefits of Holy Baptism altogether uncertain and precarious. 4. " That to admit the lawfulness of holding an exposi- tion of an article of the creed contradictory of the. essen- tial meaning of that article, is in truth and fact to abandon that article. 5. "That inasmuch as the faith is one, and rests upon one principle of authority, the conscious, wilful, and delibe- rate abandonment of an essential meaning of an article of the creed, destroys the Divine foundation upon which alone the entire faith is propounded by the Church. 6. "That any portion of the Church which so abandons the essential meaning of an article of the Creed, forfeits not only the Catholic doctrine in that article, but also the office and authority to witness and teach as a member of the Universal Church. 7. "That by such conscious, wilful, and deliberate act, such portion of the Church becomes formally separated 192 from the Catholic body, and can no more assure to its mem- bers the grace of the Sacraments and the remission of sins. 8. " That all measures consistent with the present legal position of the Church ought to be taken without delay to obtain an authoritative declaration of the Church of the doctrine of Holy Baptism impugned by the recent sentence ; as for instance, by praying license for the Church in Con- vocation to declare that doctrine, or by obtaining an Act of Parliament to give legal effect to the decision of the collec- tive Episcopate on this and all other matters purely spiritual. 9. " That failing such measures, all efforts must be made to obtain from the said Episcopate, acting only in a spiritual character, a re-affirmation of the doctrine of Holy Baptism, impugned by the said sentence/ ' H. E. Manning, M.A., Archdeacon of Chichester. Robert I. Wilberforce, M.A., Archdeacon of the East Riding. Thomas Thorp, B.D., Archdeacon of Bristol. W. H. Mill, B.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew, Cam- bridge. E. B. Pusey, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford. John Keble, M.A., Vicar of Hursley. W. Dodsworth, M.A., Perpetual Curate of Christ Church, St. Pancras. William J. E, Bennett, M.A., Perpetual Curate of S. Paul's, Knightsbridge. Henry William Wilberforce, M.A., Vicar of East Farleigh. John C. Talbot, M.A., Barrister at Law. Richard Cavendish, M.A. Edward Badeley, M.A., Barrister at Law. James R. Hope, D.C.L., Barrister at Law. George Anthony Denison, M.A., Vicar of East Brent. In vain did Mr. Robertson appeal to " a Convocation as the only existing authority for the solution of our difficul- 193 ties,'* and Mr. St. Leger express a hope that the ' self- denying holy Bishop of Exeter would cut off Mr. Gorham by excommunication, that act being the last, the sternest, the most awful that a Bishop of Christ's Church can exe- cute. And in the performance of this act, continues Mr. St. Leger, (an act though the sternest and the most awful that a Bishop of Christ's Church can execute — but which Dr. Phillpotts not having the power, being no Bishop, could not execute) ; let all the faithful, as well those who are awaiting a favor till judgment in the rest of paradise, as they who are journeying on in the strait and narrow way that leadeth unto life, strengthened in their toilsome travel by the " means of grace," lodged in and dispensed by the Church, the Spouse of Christ, and lightened in their path by that word of Truth which she holds forth to reflect upon the baptismal boon of salvation — let all unite in earnest prayer to God for the blessing of strength and for- titude upon His faithful consecrated servant, that he may exercise boldly his Apostolic power in defence of the Faith, and also that he may use the power of the keys, and pronounce the sentence of excommunication against the heretic who would force himself into his Diocess, to defile the holy Altar, and to blaspheme the blessed font of spiritual regeneration." II. — the maskell, pusey, and dodsworth correspondence. It pleased God of His love and mercy to bestow the grace of faith, and a corresponding disposition on Messrs Maskell, Allies, and Dodsworth. Mr. Maskell, perplexed as to the doctrinal teaching of the Establishment, addressed a letter to Dr. Sumner, and was informed by his "Grace," that he was as good a judge as the Archbishop of the interpretation 1 by the Church of England of Holy Writ.- As Mr. Maskell, Mr. Allies, and Mr. Dodsworth had, in conjunction with Dr. Pusey, and at his suggestion, after no little difficulty, suceeded in " restoring/' or partially " restoring/' the sacramental rite of Penance among their people, they 194 accordingly addressed him the following letter, on the sub- ject of confession : — Ascension Day, 1850. Dear Dr. Pusey, — We wish to put you a question on a point clearly concerning our own peace of mind and that of others. It is this. What authority is there for supposing that the acts of a Priest are valid who hears confessions and gives absolution, by mere virtue of his orders, without ordinary or delegated juris- diction from his Bishop ? We believe it to be the undisputed law of the Church that as it flows from order, acts done wrongly and illicitly are yet though when done, valid) the reason of which is that the power of order being given by consecration and indelible, cannot be taken away: but that acts flowing from Jurisdiction, if done upon those over whom the doer has no jurisdiction are absolutely invalid and null; the reason of which is, that jurisdiction being a relation of command between a superior and a subject, one who has no subject can bear no jurisdiction, and accordingly cannot exercise a power which he has not received. But the act of remitting sin upon confession is an act not only of order but of jurisdiction. That it is an act of order, nobody doubts, and therefore proof is needless ; that it is likewise an act of jurisdiction, a power, is by two considerations ; first, it is a guiding power, and all judgment, to be valid, requires jurisdiction ; and secondly, it is not only a power of remitting, but also of binding, and none can bind one who is not his subject. Now Priests, by virtue of their ordination only, and their sacerdotal character, have not subjects in the Church, nor have christian people been committed to their care and government. To Bishops alone the flock of the Lord is intrusted, to feed it, and they have to render account to Grod for the Priests likewise, who act under their commission. Every particular Church is founded upon its own Bishop, inasmuch as he is its head, and as such is the principle, fountain, root, and centre of its unity. Therefore every ecclesiastical act and function ought to be regulated by the Bishop, either doing it immediately or by means of others who received from him their jurisdiction and authority to do it. And an act so principal in the government of souls as the absol- 195 ving them from sins, cannot be regulated, but by the Bishop, nor done, but by authority emanating from him. Such authority emanates from him when he commits to any Priest the care of souls, thereby intrusting such an one with a part of his own ordinary jurisdiction, as regards such particular souls, for all purposes of the Christian Ministry, and among them, for absolution from sin in order to the due reception of the Lord's Body and Blood. Such authority, again, he can commit to any person qualified by sacerdotal orders, over the whole or any portion of his flock, as to a Vicar-general, or a Penitentiary ; who would accordingly have a delegated jurisdiction. But what we wish to know is, whether there be any authority for considering valid the absolution of a Priest, who has neither such ordinary jurisdiction ; or again, who, having the care of souls, absolves not only his own Parishioners, but others also, without license from their own Parish Priest or Bishop. "We can find in the first fifteen centuries of the Church's history, no trace of such power being allowed to reside in Priests by virtue merely of their ordination ; on the contrary, the further we go back, the stricter appears to be the dependance of the Priest on his Bishop in all such acts, until in the first ages we find the Bishop alone in person receving penitents and admit- ting them to absolution. S. Cyprian is an instance of this in the case of the lapsed: and the discipline then allowed was a relaxation of a severer law. In progress of time as the faithful multiplied, and offences too increased, Penitentiaries were appointed in the various Cathedrals by express commission from the Bishops ; and when the public discipline of penance fell into disuse, and private confession was gradually substituted, and the Bishop no longer dwelt with all his clergy in one city, and he was obliged to send Presbyters for the government of rural Parishes, the number of confessors was increased in proportion, but the office was never exercised, save by direct commission from the Bishop, even the persons specially entrusted to the Priest who absolved them ; one proof among many of this is, that certain cases were reserved by the Bishop for himself. Such appears to have been the state of things existing at the Council of Lateran in 1215, which in its 21st Canon ordered, 196 " Let all the faithful of both sexes, as soon as they come to years of discretion, faithfully confess all their sins in private, at least once a year, to their own Priest .—but if any one for a just reason desire to confess his sins to a Priest not his own, let him first ask and obtain leave from his own Priest, inasmuch as otherwise the other cannot absolve or bind himr— Mansi Tom. xxii. p. 1010. " The minister by this Sacrament," (says the Council of Florence in the year 1439), " is a Priest, having authority to absolve either ordinarily or by the commission of his superior ."—Mansi. Tom. xiii. p. 1058. What was the received doctrine in England be- tween these two periods of 1215 and 1439 is proved by Lind- wood's " Provinciate Anglieanum" containing the constitutions of fourteen Archbishops of Canterbury, from Stephen Langton in 1112 to Henry Chickeley, in 1415. The following quotations are to the point— Constitution of Walter Eeynolds, Archbishop, from 1313 to 1327, " Let no Priest admit to penitence the parishioners of another, except with the permission of his own Presbyter or Bishop." Again: "As it often happens that the Rectors of Churches, and even certain Priests and persons in sacred orders, because they are subject to none, as they suppose, in respect to the penitential forum, either confess not at all, or appoint such as have no power to bind or absolve ; we appoint that in every Archdeaconry one or two fitting Presbyters of competent know- ledge, and approved character, have this charge given them in each Deanery, to hear the confessions of such, and enjoin on them penances, to whom we will that authority should be imparted by the Diocesan of the place, or his Vicegerent, strictly 'prohibiting religious persons, or Monies, or Canons, or Hermits, daring to admit to penitence any one's subject." Mansi. Vol. xxxi. p. 451; and Constitutions of John Peckham, Archbishop, from 1278 to 1293, " Absolution likewise from voluntary homicide, as well public as secret, we reserve to the Bishops alone, except in the article of necessity." Ibid. p. 452, It would seem, then, that the Council of Trent only affirmed what had been the doctrine of the Caurch from the earliest times, when it declared—" Since, therefore, the nature and prin- ciple of a judgment demands this, that a sentence be passed on all those subject to it, it hath always been the belief of the Church of God, and this Synod confirms it as most certain verity, that the absolution must be held to be of no force which a Priest 197 pronounces on one over whom he has not ordinary or delegated jurisdiction." Session xiv. cap. 7. "We have not overlooked the sentence in the exhortation ap- pointed in the Common Prayer Book before communion : — " Let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned minister of God's word, and open his grief," &c, &c. But, after the best consideration in our power, we have come to the conclusion that, so far from weakening the difficulties which we have suggested, it strengthens their force. The words " some other," &c, would of course be intended to be understood only in the sense of the common practice and discipline of that time, (1548) in the matter ; and we believe there is not any doubt whatever what that practice and disci- pline were ; so that the " some other," &c, would of necessity be a Priest who had been appointed by the Bishop for that dio- cess and district. It would certainly follow from all this, as it seems to us, that the authority which for some time past has been exercised by some among us, and especially by ourselves, not only in our own dioceses, but in other dioceses, — often without the knowledge, and probably (were it known) against the consent of both the Parish Priest and Bishop, — has not been based upon true and sufficient foundation ; nay more, has been (however ignorantly) in opposition to the Catholic rules from the first ages to the present time. And further, a point to which we allude with reluctance and sorrow — it wrould follow likewise that the vast majority of those persons, to whom you and others have given absolution in this manner, are still, so far as the effect of any such absolution is concerned, under the chain of their sins, because they have not made confession to Priests who had duly received power to absolve them. Hence, we cannot suppose that you will be surprised that we should earnestly desire from you an elucidation of this matter, and that we purpose to make public both our questions and your answer ; in order that this very solemn matter should- be pro- perly considered, and that persons who are in much doubt and 198 anxiety should know whether they have, or have not, been misled concerning the true conditions of any ordinance of the Gospel. We are, Dear Dr. Pusey, Ever yours faithfully, Thos. W. Allies, W. DODSWORTH, W. Maskell. London, May 16th, 1850. Dear Dr. Pusey, — We are very anxious to disclaim every intention or thought of calling yourself, personally, to account in the letter which we sent to you. Our only object was to arrive at the truth upou a very obscure question, and to lay before you, in a plain way, a doubt at this time pressing very heavily upon ourselves and many others. We cannot alter the wording of our letter to you ; and we are confident few will think the open way in which we have alluded to our own practice, and that of many others, is beyond what the nature of the case itself requires. We cannot press you to give us an answer ; but propose as soon as possible to print that letter and the present one, with some remarks. We shall not do so, however, for a few days, until we have learnt your final decision as to receiving any answer. You will see that we regard the two letters which you have already written to one of us as private ; but we are quite ready to print both of them, if you wish it. Mr. Dodsworth is from home for a few days, and has instructed us how to act for him in this matter during his absence. We are, dear Dr. Pusey, Faithfully yours, Thos. W. Allies, W. Maskell. London, May 22nd, 1850. Dear Dr. Pusey, — We are surprised and deeply regret that you continue to suppose that our letter referred to, or tended 199 to implicate yourself, personally, in any degree more than many others, who, during the last few years, have been in the habit of receiving confessions and giving absolution. We "can most sin- cerely say that we selected you as the person to be publicly addressed on this very solemn matter, on account of your position in the Church, your acknowledged learning and long practice of administering in various Dioceses the Sacrament of Penance. We must therefore leave our first letter as it was originally written, and unless we receive your answer, we propose to pub- lish these three letters without further delay. We are, dear Dr. Pusey, Very faithfully yours, Thos. W. Allies, W. Maskell. "Dr. Pusey, (writes Mr. Dodswortli) I mention it to his honor, was one of the foremost to recommend the restora- tion of this salutory practice, (confession) both by precept and example. He was the first Anglican clergyman who spoke to me of its revival in the Established Church, and I know of many persons whom he has lead into the prac- tice."* Mr. Dodsworth had accused Dr. Pusey of encourag- ing, not enjoining, auricular confession, and giving special priestly absolution, and also other acts of a Romanizing tendency, such as introducing the Rosary, and the use of crucifixes, which induced Mr. Palmer to observe, " that Dr. Pusey, holding the position of a recognized leader of a section of the Church of England, has at length openly, avowedly and argumentatively maintained the propriety of introducing Romish devotion, of using images and cruci- fixes, and offering to them the signs of worship customary in the Church of Rome, of employing Rosaries, devotions to the ( Five Wounds/ multiplied repetitions of the Pater Noster, besides inculcating such hints as ' counsels of * Dr. Pusey hears confessions kneeling — he. at one side of the table, and his penitent at the other, and occasionally forgets to give a penance. 200 perfection/ and other doctrines in his letter carried to the extreme verge of orthodoxy or beyond it ; and Dr. Pusey has publicly denied that the Church of England has any 1 distinctive' doctrine, and asserted that ( it is idle' for any of her members to make declaration against Romish error and idolatry ; when in accordance with these views, it is the practice of many persons of influence to discourage all argument against Romanism, to speak only of what is good in the Church of Rome, and to dwell upon the defects existing among ourselves, and when, in fine, we have seen the results of this mode of teaching in a restless and dis- satisfied tone of mind, which either precipitates men into Romanism, or leaves them imbued with party-spirit, un- settled in principle, and disobedient to the heads of their own Church, e ever learning and never coming to the know- ledge of the truth,' and yet positive and dogmatic to the last degree."* Dr. Pusey, in reply to Mr. Dodsworth's accusation, of introducing ' Auricular Confession,' says, " Since I have not, except in some few very special cases, recommended indi- viduals to use confessions, I need not hardly say that I have not recommended persons to place themselves under what is commonly understood by the technical word ' direction.' III. — THE ANTI-PUSEYITE CRUSADE. In consequence of Lord John Russell's celebrated Epistle to the Bishop of Durham, and the violent conduct and language of some of the leaders of the Exeter Hall section of the Church, aided by the signor Gavazzi, a regular crusade was commenced against "Puseyism," and as Messrs. Blunt, Baugh, Cameron, and Courtenay, had been the victims of the Evangelical party, in the previous years ; so now Mr. Bennett of S. Barnabas, was chosen, and as the ringleader of the attacking party, a butler in the service of an " Angel," was elected. * Letter of Rev. W. Palmer to Bishop of London. 201 In vain did Mr. Bennett appeal to the Bishop of London, in vain did Mr. Harper tell his Diocesan that he had " driven from the service of the Church some of her best men." Mr% Bennett himself refers to those attacks by a lawless mob on his private residence and chapel, attacks which made it necessary that he should call in the aid of the police.* " Our Bishop was silent — he left the Priest to fight it out as best he might. The mob were his people — he was their Bishop. He had episcopal jurisdiction over them, if not, who had ? for the people are never without a Bishop in the Church of Christ. He might then have come down among us and preached to his unruly mob, but alas ! he did not, he left them to their own ungodly and merciless .devices; he neither sent word of comfort to me, nor word of reproof to them j we were left to fight our way by our- selves, and in ourselves, and how to act we hardly knew." To one acquainted with the real nature of the Establishment, and how it is governed by an " unruly mob/' Mr. Bennett's remarks affords no little amusement. Poor Dr. Blomfield ! it certainly would have been a sight far more worthy of chronicling than the exploits of the hero of La Mancha, or Mr. Wildgoose, whose acts of spiritual heroism are recorded by Mr. Greaves, had his Lordship "gone down to S. Barnabas and preached to this unruly mob for it would certainly have been a more Quixotic act than the celebrated tilt at the mill, or the Spanish knight's successor, Mr. Wildgoose, preaching to the colliers of Derbyshire. Did Mr. Bennett really imagine that Charles James London, of unlit candle celebrity, would have ventured among the lamps under the leadership of the angelic butler. No, no, good reader, the Anglican Bishops are not of the same stuff as the martyred Affre of Paris, who sacrificed his life for his flock. London might have been in flames ; Belgravia sacked, and Mr. Bennett tied to the stake by the " unruly mob," ere Charles James would " have gone to preach to his people." * Appendix Y. 202 IV. — THE GREEK CHURCH. Messrs. Neale, Palmer, and Manning, held out a hope of reconciliation with the Oriental Church. They forgot that though Moskowa and Constantinople rejected the autho- rity of Rome, and denied the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, yet she held and taught the invocation of the Saints, and our Blessed Ladye,* and even Purgatory, and ignored, with the Church of Rome, the validity of Anglican Orders. "While on the subject of the Greek Church, we must not forget to mention, that re- peated attempts have been made to patch up a reconcilia- tion between the Protestant bodies of nearly every shade and denomination with the Oriental Churches. The Estab • lishment has made several attempts. 1. In the time of Charles I., when a friendly correspon- dence arose between Cyril Lucar, and Dr. Abbot. 2. In the reign of Charles II., when Sir Paul Ricard was English Consul at Smyrna, and Dr. Smith, Chaplain to the British Embassy at Constantinople. 3. In 1722, by a Dr. Coret. 4. In our own time by certain of the Tract arian School. Cyril Lucar contrived some means to open a correspon- dence with Dr. Abbott, Archbishop of Canterbury, who promised that if Lucar would send a properly qualified young man to England, he should be cared for, and edu- cated ; and accordingly, a young priest, of good extraction and studious habits, was sent to this country, and at the command of the king was sent to Oxford, where he received a regular collegiate education. Cyril Lucar was however condemned by the Council of Constantinople m 1639, as a Calvanistic heretic, and deposed from his Patriarchate. Though not exactly in harmony with our plan, to refer to * We remember the Chaplain of the Russian Embassy in Paris, assuring us that no Russ would, even in the presence of royalty, think of saluting the Czar, or Czarina, without having first invoked Her who is their Queen and Patroness. The late war has furnished us with many instances of the devotion of the Russian soldier to our Blessed Ladye, and the Saints. •203 the correspondence carried on between the eccentric scholar Martin Kraus, and the Patriarch of Constantinople; still, as Mr. Mason Xeale is anxious to unite the Jansenists here- tics in Holland with the Greek and Anglican bodies, it may not be amiss to inform our readers that the Patriarch of Constantinople refused to enter into correspondence with the Lutherans on the following grounds— 1. That the Sacraments and rites in the Catholic Church of orthodox Christians are seven,* viz -.—Baptism, Chrism by Divine Unction, Divine Communion, Orders, Marriage, and Holy Oil ; for seven are the gifts of the Divine Spirit, as Isaiah says; and seven also are the Sacraments of the Church which operate by the Spirit/' 2. The Catholic Church thinks after consecration, the Bread is changed into the very Body of Christ, and the wine into the very Blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit. 3. The Spiritual Physician ought to be accurately ac- quainted with all things, and the person making confession should speak specifically (Kar' fto-o?) and confess on all the points which he can remember with a contrite and humble heart. The ' British Magazine ' gives the following rules as a guidance for the Anglican ' Clergy ' in paving the way for the restoration of complete intercommunion between our- selves and them, and our ultimate purification ; — e. g. "Every clergyman should have the English congregation abroad in communication with the Bishop, in whose ter- * /SawTic/x-a, yclo-fxx Qztov pupou, yjipoTGvdz, yuixoc, fj.?T unfit for the cure of souls by reason of the unsoundness of tenets holden by him, the Archbisdop had wilfully, and in despite of such warning, proceeded to institute him." The Bishop of Exeter's summons to a Synod was met by several protests, but notwithstanding this opposition, the Synod met, passed certain resolutions, and the affair was regarded as an event betokening undoubted signs of life, and Mr. Mayow expressed it as a source of the most heartful thankfulness, that the present Bishop of Exeter is what he is. The following important protest is from the pen of the Bishop's old antagonist Mr. Gorham : — The Vicarage, Bramford Spelce, June 18th, 1851. My Lord Bishop, — Although I have already stated several reasons for objecting to the Synod which you propose to hold on the 25th inst., in a letter to which my signature is annexed in association with those of many other clergymen of this diocese, yet I cannot refrain from requesting your Lordship's serious at- tention to some other considerations, which could not be embo- died in that letter without my brethren being pledged to cer- tain documentary facts, which few (if any), of them had per- sonally investigated, and for the accuracy of which I am alone responsible. This must be my apology for troubling your Lordship with a separate communication, supplementary to that letter, which (heartily as I adopt it as far as it goes), only partially sets forth my objections to the Synod to which you have invited your clergy to send elected representatives. In truth, the two reasons (hereinafter stated), which have the greatest weight in compelling me to protest against that As- sembly, could not have been conveniently adduced in so concise a letter as that to which our united signatures are appended. I will now, however, endeavour to state them as briefly as may be consistent with perspicuity : and I humbly solicit your Lord- ship to give them deliberate consideration. I feel bound to protest against this projected measure — I. Because I have a very strong impression of the illegality of a diocesan Synod assembled without permission of the Crown. 247 It may appear presumptuous for au individual clergyman to avow such a scruple, after your Lordship's assurance in your pastoral letter, on the 9th of April, that you have " sought to obtain the very highest legal authority on this point;" — and more especially after the declaration of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons, on the 1st of May, based on the opi- nion of the law officers of the Crown, that diocesan synods are " not unlawful," provided it be not attempted by them to enact canons to bind the clergy. Nevertheless, I venture to think that such an opinion (formed apparently in haste for the im- mediate use of the minister), was adopted from a too implicit reliance on the authorities of Bishop Gribson's "Codex," and probably without the knowledge of at least one material fact, which I shall presently state. "Who your, lordship's " highest legal authorities" are, or how the case was put to them, we are not informed. 1. It cannot, I believe, be doubted, that in ancient periods, up to the year 1553, both provincial and diocesan synods were summoned by the same or by similar authority, and proceeded to discharge their functions "pari passu:" namely, by the King's writ, when the affairs to be discussed concerned the state ; and by the independent authority* of the Archbishop, when the business related to the Church at large, and of the Bishop, when the matters touched the interests and discipline of a par- ticular diocese. Examples of diocesan synods, summoned for state purposes by the King's writ (though inadvertently ignored by Lord John Russell, on the authority, I presume, of the law officers of the Crown), are not rare. We have instances, in 1279, in the diocese of Worcester ; in 1340, in the dioceses of Winchester and Worcester ; and in 1464, in the diocese of York ; in fact there can scarcely be a doubt that a Eoyal Brief was transmitted in each of these cases (as it is expressly said to have been in 1340 to all the Bishops) of both provinces, commanding * I am aware that the form of submission of the clergy contained an ac- knowledgment to the King, that " convocation always hath been, and must be, assembled by your high commandment or writ," But this form is said to have been dictated by the King, and was rather in conformity to the royal claim, than to the invariable practice in ancient times. If held to be literally declarative of the fact, it would, of course put an end to all pretence for aynods, provincial or diocesan, except under a writ from the Crown. 248 thorn to summon diocesan synods. Those which I have cited may be seen in "Wilkin's Concilia," vol. ii. pp. 40, 624, 659; vol. iii., p. 59. 2. From this long-established parallelism of the authorities by which both the general and the limited Convocations of the clergy were summoned, it appears to be a fairly analogical inference, that the Act of Submission (25 Hen. VIII., cap. 19), which in terms forbids the provincial synod hereafter to con- gregate, even for purely ecclesiastical business, without the sanction of the Crown, does, in its spirit, and virtually, pro- hibit the revival of diocesan synods for concluding any questions of faith, or adopting any orders of discipline. The major pro- hibition seems to me' naturally to include the minor; for it is surely a highly imaginative supposition that the two Arch- bishops were absolutely restrained from exercising a privilege which their suffragans might nevertheless continue to assert without hindrance. It is still more romantic to entertain the notion that, while the general Synod of the clergy can no longer meet, by the summons of the Archbishop without licence from the Crown, to conclude the smallest matters of interest to the Church, a diocesan synod may yet lawfully assemble by the mere fiat (or rather the conveniat) of the Bishop, to utter, by the assumption of a corporate voice, a declaration interpretative of doctrine, and calculated (if not intended), to cast disrepute on the authority of a judgment, framed by the most learned ex- pounders of the law, approved by the Archbishops of both pro- vinces, and adopted by the Sovereign in her privy council. The Church of England might, indeed, with reason tremble for her Catholicity, while she watches anxiously these proceedings, were the clergy of this single western diocese calmly to ac- quiesce in this anomalous (if not illegal), act of its Bishop ; and were they silently to permit a Synod to be convened, chiefly for " One Gkeat Question" (as your Lordship terms it in your circular to your Archdeacons), or mainly for the purpose" of making " A Declaration " (as you denominate it in your pas- toral letter) of adherence to an article of the Nicene Creed, which you extravagantly " consider to have been virtually de- nied when her Majesty decided, as she did " by affixing her sign manual to the late judgment. It is, however, a hopeful fact, that more than 100 voices of the clergy have been lifted up in 210 solemn disavowal of participation in this proceeding ; and I do not doubt that (should it be necessary) their protest will be echoed by multitudes of both clergymen and laymen, in token of their loyalty to their Queen, of respectful confidence in the Archbishops, and of their earnest desire to conserve the peace and unity of the Church of England. While I thus state my views, I do not forget that your Lord- ship disclaims the idea of committing your convention to any authoritative act — (Pastoral Letter p. 112); and, indeed, it is manifest that no assembly of the clergy, possessed of common prudence, would "presume to attempt, enact, promulge, cr execute any canons," since, by such proceedings, it would clearly be liable to the severe penalties of the statute of sub- mission. But, even the agitation of the "one great question," which has been already decided by supreme ecclesiastical au- thority, and on which, therefore, no subordinately-authoritative conclusion could be attained, would from that very circum- stance, be replete with the mischievous influence of a theolo- gical controversy, without the possibility of an effective issue. If your Lordship's anticipated pseudo-synodal proceeding be not positively illegal, it is discriminated from illegality by a very thin covering : Periculosae plenum opus aleae Tractas : et incedis per ignes Suppositos cineri doloso. The treacherous crust may break in suddenly under your feet, and the flames may burst out before your Lordship or your assembled delegates dream of danger. I hesitate to fol- low, even my Bishop, in such a perilous track ; and I must be content still to pursue the ordinary path which the laws of my country, and the usages of my Church, have distinctly marked out for me, though it be a beaten, and, therefore, in the appre- hension of some minds, an inglorious w ay. I forbear to occupy many moments on the single, and very obscure, post-reformation precedent quoted by your lord- ship ; namely, that of the synod of the diocese of Kilmore, con- vened by Bishop Bedell in 1638. It may suffice to say, that it affords no evidence of the legality of that synod ; but rather the contrary, for it does not appear that he ventured to summon it again agreeably to his original intention. It occasioned much discussions ; but it was connived at by the state, for reasons 250 which may be assigned with great probability, chiefly on ac- count of the universal veneration with whick this simple- minded and pious Prelate was regarded. The primate, Ussher, whose influence was not small, threw his shield over the amiable Bishop. Archbishop Laud would be slow to check a proceeding in which the Church had asserted an ancient pri- vilege independently of temporal authority. Moreover, these synodal decrees were of an innocent, and most of them of a very trivial character ; for instance, the forbidding clergymen to wear long hair (" comam ne nutriant") the prohibition of intramural burials, the exclusion of women from seats in the chancel, in- junctions to wardens to prevent children from running about the Church, and to vergers to turn dogs out of the house of God. In fact, there was no " One Great Question," which might have thrown the Church into dangerous agitation. Con- nivance, therefore, might be a wise, because a safe course. As a legal precedent, however, the Synod of Kilmore is utterly without value. But there is one lesson to be derived from it, not inapplicable, perhaps, to present times, and not the less gravely important, though it be connected with a homely and somewhat ludicrous incident. It is recorded in the still existing autograph MS. notes of a friend of Bishop Bedell, who was pre- sent at the diocesan convocation (though the occurrence is not noticed in Burnet's printed account of the Synod), that one clergyman, " D. Faythful Teate," subscribed the Kilmore de- crees with the reservation of his dissent from that relating to the exclusion of women from sittings in the chancel : " and the reasons was this, because he had erected a new seat for his wyfe in the chancell but a little before, and was loathe to re- move it!" Alas! my lord, it is humiliating to find that per- sonal motives, and considerations, far removed from a simple de- sire to promote the good of the Church, can easily creep even into diocesan synods — yes, even when the matters to be discussed are of the most simple character. "What, then, may not take place, when "One Great Question," connected with a lament- ably fierce controversy — a question long prejudged by the Bishop who is to preside, and, therefore, to be brought before his representative assembly with an undue influence — a] ques- tion which admits of no possible synodal solution except with his concurrence — is to be carried " at every hazard ? " I further protest against this proposed assembly of the clergy : 251 II. Because, even if it were admitted that a diocesan synod may be lawfully convened, without the sanction of the Crown — yet there does not exist, as far as I can discover, any precedent for constituting it by election, representation, or ex-officio mem- It appears, from unquestionable records, that, while the pro- vincial synods, invariably assembled by delegation, diocesan synods always comprehended the tvhole of the Clergy cited for personal attendance. Upon the obvious reasonableness of this distinction it is not my purpose to dwell ; the fact alone is to my point. The only instance which presents the color of an exception is, in truth, a confirmation of the general rule ; for when, at the close of the 11th century, Wistan, Bishop of Worcester, summoned a synod (or rather a commission under that name), for so limited a purpose as to decide a disputed privilege of a certain parish church in his cathedral city, " all the wisest incumbents of the three counties of "Worcester, Gloucester, and Warwick" (which then constituted that diocese,) were " assembled by invitation," for the discussion of even a matter of merely local interest. (" Wilkins' Cohc." vol. 1., p. 369.) But, when matters concerning the whole diocese were to be debated, the assembly was universal. Thus, in 1312, among the constitutions of Richard de Kellow, Bishop of Durham, for annual diocesan Synods, to be held at Easter and Michaelmas, it was declared that " all abbots, priors, arch- deacons, provosts, rectors, vicars, parochial chaplains, and others," were "bound to appear, by custom or by right,'" in those assemblies. (Wilkins' Cone, vol. 2., p. 417.) On the verge of the Reformation, the Bishop of Hereford, when con- voking a diocesan synod, in 1519, disclaimed the idea of framing its constitution by a scheme of his own, for the limitation of members, and addressed his Archdeacons by a circular, in which occur these remarkable words : — " We, not acting by ourselves alone, in a headstrong way, nor relying on our prudence, have determined to proceed by the counsel of prudent men, and by the assistance of our whole clergy ; we, therefore, have cited all clergymen of every degree, state, and dignity, to our synod, in our cathedral church, namely, " all and singular archdeacons, rectors, portionaries, vicars, chantry priests, stipendiaries [curates'], and ministers of every sort" (Wil kins' Cone, vol. iii., p. LSI.) 252 How different is this language, my Lord, from that of your pastoral letter, and of your circular to your archdeacons ; in which you assume " the necessity of the synod being composed mainly of representatives — (the objectionable word is empha- sised by yourself) — " elected by the clergy of the different deaneries." You add, "that if there is to be a meeting of so numerous a body of clergy — comprising nearly 800 persons — it must be effected by representation, is manifest:" — but the inference is contradicted by facts extending through six, pos- sibly many more, centuries. You proceed to confer, by a few strokes of your pen, eoc-officio Synodal seats on certain spe- cified clergymen ; and you name the number and mode of election of delegates from the rest of our body,— indulging the delusion that all the presbyters and deacons of this diocese will be thus represented with our "full confidence !" . . . . I confess my bewilderment at the boldness of conception which has sketched out the plan of such a synod, with the faintest expectation that it could meet with the concurrence of the clergy, at a period, and in a diocese, in which opinions on eccle- siastical matters are so greatly and so unhappily divided. I cannot wonder that the First Minister of the Crown, when expressing his opinion on this matter in Parliament, declared (at least he is so reported in the Times of the 2nd of May) that " The assembly of representative clergy, formed in the particular manner as proposed by the Bishop of Exeter, seems to be entirely unknown to the laws of the church, and completely a device of his own." For my own part, I cannot hesitate to declare decidedly, but respectfully, that I consider the calling into existence such an Ecclesiastical Convention, affecting to represent this diocese, to be an arbitrary act, eversive of the supremacy of the Crown, contrary to the usages of the Church, and destructive of the privileges of the clergy. — I remain, — " in all things lawful and honest," — your Lordship's obedient servant, George Cornelius Gorham. To the Eight Reverend the Lord Bishop of Exeter. This year witnessed the submission of the Vicar of S. Saviour' s, Leeds, and three of his Curates, owing as much to the impracticability of the Bishop of Ripon, as the 258 deadly hostility of Dr. Hook. Mr. Minster, with his curates, was favoured with the following circular, evi- dencing the animosity of the Vicar of Leeds : — u Leeds, December 2nd, 1850. " My Dear Sir, "I am desired by the Rural Dean to inform you, that in compliance with the request of the Chapter Meeting, this day, a Special Meeting of the Clergy will be held on Monday next, at twelve o'clock, with reference to the following notice : — ' To consider and adopt such measures as appear to be necessary in reference to the doctrines and practices now prevalent at S. Saviour's Church.' 11 1 am, &c, "Edwaed Jackson, Secy." In a few days after, Messrs. Beckett and Rooke were inhibited. The Bishop of Ripon was completely opposed to the conduct of Mr. Minster and his curates, and they, on their side, acknowledged that they " fully believed him to be in the wrong." The Bishop also condemned Mr. Pollen for a sermon in which he taught that there were seven sacraments, and furthermore inhibited him for preaching, and censured him and the Leeds clergy for promulgating such doctrines as the following : — " 1. That it is a duty of each member of the Congregation to go to a Priest for Confession and Absolution before he receives the Holy Communion. 2. That the Communion Table is the Throne of God, and the Lord's Supper the Sacrifice of the Altar. 3. That no one can be considered a faithful Minister or member of the Church, who does not preach or practise praying for the souls of individuals departed, that Jesus might have mercy on them. 4. That the great misery of the sinner is losing the Interces- sion of the Saints, and the aid of the Sacrifice of the Altar. 5. That penance is the means of forgiveness of actual deadly sin. 6. That deadly sin after Baptism must end in spiritual GG 254 death, unless Penance be resorted to, and unless persons con- fess their sins to one of Christ's Physicians, by which is meant a Priest. 7. That after the consecration of the elements, the bread is no longer bread ; the wine no longer wine, but the Body and Blood of Christ,"* Mr. Dodsworth, in his pamphlet, says, " Who, that is at all competent to judge, can say, that the Church of England can be compared to the Catholic Church in its practical method of dealing with souls under the disease of sin — of leading them to compunction and administering the healing balm of the Gospel? Individuals may exist in the English Church, who are endowed with skill for these great ends. But in the Catholic Church it is part of the system. It exists everywhere. Again, can we say that the saintly life has been developed in the one in any due measure, or proportion, with the other? And, which is much to the point, wherever that saintly life has been most prominently developed in the English Church, it has been in such men as Andrewes, and Ken, and Wilson — men wTho in their life and writings have most symbolized with Rome, even while they said harsh things against her. In a word, compare the two systems, the prominent features in the Church of England seem to mark it as formed for this present world : decent, respectable, cor- rective of abuses which offend society, with enough of devotion to relieve the conscience ; but withal cold, unen- thusiastic, and dreading fanaticism far more than wordly mediocrity; it sustained its self appropriated title of the Via media. The Catholic religion, on the other hand, seems to be formed for Heaven ; braving the enmity of the world ; bearing her unceasing witness to things super- natural; more intent on training souls for Heaven than on ministering to their comfort on earth : bringing us evermore into union with our Divine Lord by Her Daily Sacrifice, giving us thereby an entrance into Heaven ; by * Pollen's Five years at S, Saviour's, Leeds. 255 the prominence of Her Sacramental system surrounding us with invisible realities ; and while tenderly nourishing the weakest of her children, encouraging in those who aim to reach it, the saintly life, the highest, the holiest, the most enthusiastic and unearthly devotion."* It having been asserted (and probably it is to this asser- tion of Mr. Fortescue, that Mr Walford the reviewer of the ' Tractarlan Movement,' in the ' Tablet/ to which we have already referred, founds his charge against us as un- worthy of credit,) by Mr. Fortescue, that Mr. S. B. Harper was not connected with S. Ninian, Perth, that that gen- tleman addressed the following letter to the Editor of the ' Glasgow Free Press ' shortly after his submission to the Church : — To the Editor of the " Glasgow Free Press." Blairgowrie, July 12, 1851. Sir, — In your last week's paper is a letter signed " Gr. B. Knottesford Fortescue, Dean of S. Ninian's Cathedral," in which occurs the following passage. ' I think it only just to state. — First, Mr. Harper was never in any way connected officially with the Cathedral, &c.' " Now, I do believe, that every mem- ber of the ' Congregation,' as well as the Clergy themselves, would be as astounded as I was on reading this marvellous as- sertion. It concerns me, however, but little to notice this paragraph, as I am now of God's undeserved mercies, safe in the bosom of the Catholic Church, and am consequently, far from being solicitous to substantiate claims of having been connected with any of the various forms of Protestantism ; but really I cannot for the mere sake of common truth, suffer so very curi- ous a statement to pass uncontradicted. The relation of a few facts will serve to put matters on their true bearing. Before the three Clergymen who, together with your correspondent, constituted the Clerical Staff of S.Ninian's — were at all acquainted with the Rev. Gr. B. Knottesford For- tescue, I was earnestly pressed by one of them to accompany him to Perth, for the purpose of joining in their proposed work, and before that gentleman was chosen for his present office, I * Anglicauian considered in its results, hv W. Dodsworth. 256 was solicited by the whole body to come down and connect myself with the Cathedral. I did so, and for nearly two months, to the best of my recollection, before the so called Dean of S. Ninian, made his appearance, I had been assisting the labo- rious Clergyman, who originated the mission, and had shared with him the services abont equally, and regularly every day of the week, as well as Sundays. Some of your readers may perhaps have met with a little Tract, entitled 6 A Few Words to the Free Congregation of Ferth" which was published during that period. It was written by me, and signed for the Clergymen, above referred to, and myself, "The Clergy in residence at S. Niuian, Perth." From the day that Mr. Fortescue arrived, until my voluntary retirement from any official connection with the Cathedral, I regularly occupied a fixed place in the choir, and performed a stated part of the services, at every one of which I chose to be present. jNTot only so, but a certain stipend was secured to me for my services, one of the contributors to which, was one of the chief benefactors of the institution. I have, moreover, in my pos- session, a letter from a ' layman, to whom the Cathedral is largely indebted, thanking me for such services as I was able to render, in terms of kindness, surpassing what they merited. Tour cor- respondent could scarce have been ignorant of all this. For at a meeting, or chapter, held soon after his arrival, he applied for information on the subject ; and his reply, when he had received it, was, 'then, of course, Mr. Harper must be considered as one of the body,' or words to that effect. Moreover, the Bishop of S. Andrew's was officially applied to, to license me to open a mission at Newburgh, in direct connexion with the institution. At a subsequent period, a Clergyman in the same Diocess, was anxious that I should establish a mission in a town in his district, and when I represented that I could not very well do so, in consequence of my engagement with the S. Ninian's people, the latter offered to guarantee all my expenses, if the Clergy- man alluded to would consent to my undertaking it as a S. Ninian's mission. And, lastly, to bring a most uninteresting subject to a close, I occupied as I have said, my stated place in the choir daily, at all the services at which it suited me to be present, and regularly performed the portion of the service al- lotted to me. It would be idle at present to enter into more 257 details, or to rehearse the motives which have induced me at much sacrifice, to withdraw from the Protestant, and to em- brace, with God's blessing, the Catholic, religion; but I sub- mit that these few unvarnished facts must serve to show how curious has been the statement of the Eev. G. B. Knottesford Fortescue. I have the honor to remain, Your most obedient servant, S. B. Harper, Late of S. Ninian's Cathedral. The Tablet, August 9, 1851, says of Sir John Talbot, "He had been educated in the Church of England, but he re- turned to the Faith of his ancestors on the Feast of the Assumption, 1849." Sir J. Simeon on his submission to the Church issued an address to his constituents, he being at the time M.P. for the Isle of Wight, in which he gave the following rea- sons for resigning his trust as their representative : — Gentlemen, — The events of the past year which have in a variety of ways, in which it is unnecessary for me to enter, so strangely complicated the position of the Established Church, forced upon my unwilling consideration an inquiry into the grounds upon which that Church claims the allegiance of her members. The result of that inquiry, honestly, and I trust, dispassionately conducted, has been the conviction that it is my duty to seek admission into the body of the One Catholic Church, from which England was severed at the Reformation. A change of views so entire and decided entails upon me as an honorable necessity, the duty of returning into your hands a trust which I am conscious I should never have received had I been a Catholic at the time of soliciting your suffrages. We have been favored by the Editor of the Hull Ad- vertiser with the following letter from Mr. T. Dykes, (now a Father of the Society of Jesus,) being his reasons for submitting to the Catholic Church. To the Editor of the Hull Advertiser. Sir, — It seems incumbent on every one holding a public office, on resigning that office to be able to assign some reason for 258 doing so. That I shall succeed in making any considerable portion of your readers appreciate my motives, is far beyond my expectations. Those who cannot enter into my views must ne- cessarily be at a loss to account for my conduct. Before I undertook the Curacy of Holy Trinity, I had, after five years careful study of the subject, adopted what are called High Church principles. A main point on which these differ from those of the Low Church school, is as follows : — The con- sistent Low Churchman believes that in all intercourse between God and man, man is dealt with as an isolated individual ; that grace is communicated from God to man, independently of all external media; that God, by the preaching of His word, makes the offer of an outward gift of righteousness to man, and that each individual who accepts that offer puts forth a certain power, inherent in his own mind — lays hold on and apprehends this gift— becomes possessed of it — applies it to himself — adorns his soul with it — and, thereby, without at all being so inwardly, is outwardly accounted righteous before God. His part is thenceforth among the just, and dying in that state, is un- doubtedly saved. The consistent High Churchman, on the other hand, believes that it is as the members of an outward and visible, though at the same time, spiritual and mystical Commu- nity, that man approaches God ; that life and grace flow down from Christ to every member of this community, as sensation from the head, or blood from the heart in the human body ; that this vital priuciple is conveyed by certain external media, called Sacraments, but that grace may produce the result which God requires, viz., — personal holiness, — the co-operation of the human will is required, that without the result man will never be admitted to the presence of God. He further believes that this body which is called the Church, constitutes a visible king- dom in this world, having its own laws, governors, and subjects : that with these, so far as they are purely spiritual, no earthly prince or temporal power can meddle, for it was to His Apostles and not to Caesar or Herod, that Christ entrusted the keys of this kingdom and committed the care of His sheep. This body is the keeper of the Faith, and by its exposition of the same, all its members are bound. Of these two theories it is sufficient to say that the first is most agreeable to human nature and man' 8 reason, the latter to the express teaching of the New Testa- ment, and the testimony and history of the Church itself. 259 Now from this brief summary it will be evident that it is a matter of little or no consequence to the Low Churchman to what body of Christians he belongs. In any community in which the Bible is freely circulated, he can hear of the offers of salvation — he can put forth his spiritual hand, and seize that outward garment which will conceal all his inward imperfec- tions— the imputed righteousness of Christ ; and clothing him- self with this, he can wait in quiet assurance for his summons out of this world. It is otherwise with the High Churchman ; with him it is of the most vital importance that the spiritual community to which he belongs be at least a part of that visible body, out of which, as far as he knows, there is no salvation. He watches anxiously therefore, all the actions of this body, he investigates the principles upon which it professes to be founded, and if these should be incompatible with such a supposition, his mind be- came at once a prey to the most distressing disquietude, and fears. At any rate the question must not rest there. Before he can have any peace of mind, his doubts must be resolved ; he must look again how far the body, to which he belongs, will bear the test of those notes, by which, Holy Scripture and the Fathers assure us, the true Church may be known. He must see how far the evils with which it contends are accidental, how far es- sential, how far they are the result of circumstances, how far the accessary development of principles. Now it is because I hold these views, because I cannot look upon the matter as a Low Churchman does, that I have been much troubled at events and disclosures which have recently taken place in the English Church. These have raised in my mind, as they have in the minds of many others, serious doubts, as to whether she is a true branch of Christ's Holy Catholic Church. Eecent events have shown that our civil rulers, not our spiritual ones are the "Lords over Grod's heritage," and exercise their power by "removing the old landmark," abolish- ing ancient bishoprics, founding new ones, and re-adjusting those already existing. That it is our Sovereign who holds in sol id ism that episcopate, of which each Bishop receives a part to be exercised only during her pleasure ; for the power that gave can also take away, as has been done before now in the cases of Grindal, Abbot, Sancroft, Ken, &c. We have seen a man 260 convicted of notorious heresy, put in trust of Christ's sheep, the highest ruler in the Church, confessing that he had no power to prevent it. We have seen the English Church committed, by the same civil power, to acts of most gross schism, thrusting an heretical intruder into the very see of S. James'. — And lastly, we have seen the doctrinal decision of the highest spiritual court in the Church, overruled by the Queen in Council and a committee of Lay Lords, exercising a power over the faith, to which neither Pope nor General Council ever laid claim, viz : — to reduce an Article in the Creed of the Church to mere ar- bitrary opinion. Nor is this all. Every Clergyman in the Church of England is pledged by a vow to teach the doctrine, not which he deduces from Holy Scripture, nor which he be- lieves may fairly be gathered from the words of the Prayer Book, but which the Church and State together agree to receive. " Will you minister the doctrine of Christ as this Church and Realm hath received the same ?" "I will." That the heretical judgment in the Gorham case, has been so received, there can be little doubt. It was delivered by the Supreme Head of both Church and Realm — it was adopted by the highest courts of the Church, and acted upon. It was accepted by the Bishops as a body, for, having met to consider it, they resolved not to put forth any united protest against it. It is thenceforth a doc- trine of the Church of England, and it must be taught by her ministers that no man is bound to believe in •* one baptism for the remission of sins." Erom what doctrines the Church of England may yet release us, God only knows. Rationalism now fearfully spreading, will make short work with the remains of a mutilated creed, that I should have doubts about the Catholicity of a body in which I thought I saw spiritual juris- diction centered in the crown of an earthly sovereign, and her faith at the mercy of a committee of privy councillors, is not much to be wondered at; and that these doubts have been many and painful, God and my own conscience can bear me witness. With the hope of removing the ground for them, I resolved to look into the subject more carefully. Meanwhile, so long as they were but doubts, and did not amount to convic- tions, I felt that I could conscientiously continue to minister in the Church of England. I might have my suspicions that all was not right, that might be well or ill founded ; at all events I 261 was not bound to publish them to the world ; I was not bound to cut myself off from retreat, and throw myself out of a sphere of usefulness for what, after all might turn out to be a mistake. I therefore kept those doubts to myself, or only mentioned them before those who were joined with me in office ; the only objec- tion was in the case of persons who were4 perplexed with the same doubts ; and asked my opinion on the subject. Of this two cases, I believe, only have occurred. "Words, however, spoken in the openness of confidential intercourse, have been taken advantage of, they have been added to and spread abroad. False reports were presently in circulation, and readily believed. I found myself charged with dishonestly using my position as a Minister to unsettle the minds and shake the faith of those who had no doubts about the Church of England of their own. I have already stated what ground there was for such a charge. I do declare it to be utterly false. But though I might be able to clear myself of dishonesty, I saw it would not be in my power to regain confidence ; unless I could deny that I had any serious doubts about the Church of England ; I could not make people believe that I was thoroughly to be trusted. These doubts might influence my teaching, even in spite of myself. One course only appeared left to me, and that was to resign a posi- tion in which I could be no longer useful, and in which 1 should be regarded as dangerous, if not dishonest. It is not without pain that I have resolved to adopt it. I have therefore tendered to the Vicar my resignation of the Curacy of Holy Trinity, until — if Grod so pleased it — my doubts are removed. Should I find, after giving the whole subject serious re-consideration, that there is no cause for alarm, I shall only be too glad to resume the office of ministering in that Church to which every earthly tie has bound me. Before I conclude, I take this opportunity, once for all, to give the most public and positive denial to a charge which was fabricated very shortly after I came into the town, and which has been calculated with an eagerness — I wish I could not say with a malice — which is really astonishing ; a charge for which — I say it with the utmost certainty — I have never given a shadow of foundation, and that is, in speaking of my beloved and venerable grandfather, I had been heard to say that he had taught error all his life, the effect of which I had come to undo. HH 262 That such a monstrous and unnatural charge should be believed for many months I believed impossible ; it is only after repeated assurances that it is believed, and believed widely, that I am compelled to submit to the disgrace of denying it. Never have I spoken of my grandfather but in terms of the highest venera- tion and affection — expressing, at the same time, my desire that I might even be as bold and uncompromising in support of what my conscience tells me is right, as he was. I have ever said, and I confidently say so still, that had I lived in the days of my grandfather, I should, by God's grace, have taken the same course as he did. Zeal, holiness, and truth in the Church of England .were at that time only to be found in their measure in that school to which he attached himself. Am I saying too much in stating my belief that, had he lived in the days in which I live, he might, perhaps, have been found taking somewhat the same course that I have taken ? One word only remains to be said, and that a painful one. It is to bid farewell to those who ever have been, and ever will be, in my heart and in my prayers — my late charge, and to request them, whatever may be my future course, to beg of God for me that I may have the grace to know His will, and the power to perform it. I remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, Thomas Dykes. 1852. The principal converts fcr this year were : — Rev. T. Moyston, Yicar of Annaghdown (R.I. P.) Rev. T. A. "Watson, Yicar of Long Whatton. Rev. J. H. Coleridge. Rev. H. G. Brasnell, Curate of Brasted, Kent. Rev. F. Elwell, Sydne, . Rev. G. Norman, Curate of Wooton, Glo'ster. Rev. Lord H. Kerr, Yicar of Dittisham. Rev. J. H. Pollen. Rev. Lord C. Thynne, Yicar of Kingston Deverell. Rev. E. P. Wells. Rev. G. R. Belauey. Yicar of Arlingford. 263 AMERICA. Eev. P. J. Burckan. Eight Eev. J. S. Ives, Bishop of North Carolina. Eev. H. Cook. Eev. T. Thompson. Eev. S. Cooper. Eev. Hendel. Eev. Gr. Hoyt. Eev. E. Hassert. Eev. J. Keenan. J. G. Law, Esq. Lieut. Innis. John Stratford Kirwan, Esq., Trinity College, Dublin. Judge Jones. Thomas Eichardson, Esq. Edward Baddeley, Esq., Q.C. Major Erazer. A. J. de Castro, Esq. Prince Bou Maza. Pierce Blake, Esq. D. Potter, Esq., Tuam, (E.I.P.) Hon. F. Cavendish, (E.I.P.) Prince de Ingenheim. Cte. de Kilmansegge. F. E. AYegg Prosser, Esq. M.P. Comte de Pffiel. Lord Huntingtower. Mr. S. "W". Knutter, Scripture-reader to the Jews.* J. E. Hodges, Esq. X. Hodges, Esq. Lady Harris. Countess of Kemnare. Countess of Clanricarde, (E.I.P.) Duchesse de Dalmatie. * A doubt having been raised by the Rev. Mr. Darby of Manchester, respecting Mr. Knutter's Ordination, we have placed his name among the lay converts. 264 Lady C. Thymic Lady H. Kerr. Princess of Mecklenberg. Mrs. Harper. Mme. de Florirnond. Lady A. Kerr. Lady C. Kerr. Lord John Kerr, (E.I.P.) Capt. Johnson and his Crew. Miss Thynne. Dr. Ives, on his submission to the Church, issued the following address to the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocess of North Carolina : — Borne, Wednesday, Dec. 22nd, 1852. Dear Brethren, — Some of you, at least, are aware that for years doubts of the validity of my office as Bishop have at times harassed my mind, and greatly enfeebled my action. At other times, it is true, circumstances have arisen to overrule these doubts, and to bring to my mind temporary relief. But it has been* only temporary ; for, in spite of resolutions, to abandon the reading and the use of Catholic books ; in spite of earnest prayers and entreaties that God would protect my mind against the distressing influence of Catholic truth ; and in spite of public and private professions and declarations, which in times of suspended doubt I sincerely made to shield myself from sus- picion and win back the confidence of my Diocese, which had been well nigh lost — in spite of all this, and of many other con- siderations which would rise up before me, as the necessary consequence of suffering my mind to be carried forward in the direction in which my doubts pointed, these doubts would again return with increased and almost overwhelming vigor, goading me at times to the very borders of derangement. Under these doubts, I desired temporary relief from duties that had become so disquieting to me, and determined to ac-. company Mrs. Ives, whose health demanded a change of climate, in a short absence abroad. But absence has brought no relief to my mind. Indeed, the doubts that disturbed it have grown 265 into clear and settled convictions, so clear and settled that without a violation of conscience and honor, and every obliga- tion of duty to God and His Church, I can no longer remain in my position. I am called upon, therefore, to do an act of self-sacrifice, in view of which all other self-sacrificing acts of my life are less than nothing ; called upon to sever the ties which have been strengthened by long years of love and forbearance, which have bound my heart to many of you, as was David's to that of Jo- nathan, and makes my heart bleed as my hand traces the sen- tence which separates all Pastoral relation between us, and con- veys to you i/he knowledge that I hereby resign into your hands my office as Bishop of North Carolina ; and further, that I am determined to make my submission to the Catholic Church. In addition, my feelings will allow me only to say, as this act is earlier than any anticipation of my own, and antedates, by some months, the expiration of the time for which I asked leave of absence, and for which I so promptly received from members of your body an advance of salary, I hereby renounce all claim upon the same, and acknowledge myself bound, on an intima- tion of your wish, to return whatever you may have advanced to me beyond this 22nd day of December. With continued affection and esteem, I pray you to allow me still to subscribe myself, your faithful friend, &c, &c, L. Silliman Ives. Since the days of the eloquent eagle of Meau\ —the im- mortal Bossuet — a Protestant Prelate had not submitted to the Church, — then a Gordon had yielded to his convic- tion, and now an Ives bowed humbly his head, and, as a child, sought for admission within the pale of Holy Church. Thus does Dr. Ives describe his feelings ; and oh ! what convert on perusing them will not see pictured his own state of mind, previous to his taking the last step which brought him into the full light of the Gospel, and made him say with the aged Simeon, " Mine eyes have seen thy Salvation;" — and what convert will not testify his own experience in saying, that the result has been a matter of "deep and joyful thankfulness/' — Oh, better, yes, far 266 better is it to enjoy rest in the Church of God for one moment, than to be battling without for half-kept rubrics and antiquated observances without life ; — what mean the Piscina, the ambyre, the rood-loft, the Credence Table, the Sedilia, the offices, without the truth, without God's saving Truth, without the perfect conviction that you are within the Church — the Ark, — and that — Jesus does all in all for Her. If we have not this innate interior hope, our con- fidence is vain, our peace is false, and Ave are in the hands of the enemy. But to return to Dr. Ives: — When I seriously approached this question (what was the founda- tion of my hope of eternal salvation) it was terrible "to me. No man can well conceive the horror with which I first contemplated the possibility against my own claims, as the result ! My claims as a Bishop, a minister, a Christian, in any safe sense, and hence of my being compelled, as an honest man, to give up my position. A horror enhanced by the self-humiliation, with which I saw such a step must cover me, the absolute deprivation of all mere temporal support which it must occasion not only to myself, but to one whom I was bound ' to love and cherish until death.' The heart-rending distress and mortification in which it must involve, without their consent, a large circle of the dearest relatives and friends, the utter annihilation of all that confidence and hope which, under common struggles and common suffering for what we deemed the truth, had been reposed in me, as a sincere and trustworthy Bishop. But I forbear ; enough that the prospect, heightened, in its repulsiveness by the sad forebodings around me, at the re- newed symptoms of my wavering, was so confounded as actually to make me debate whether it were not better, and my duty, to stay and risk the salvation of my soul — as to make me supplicate in agony to be spared so bitter a chalice — to make me seize with the eagerness of a drown- ing man upon every possible pretext for relinquishing the enquiry. Could I not be sincere where I was? to work 267 with a quiet conscience where Providence had placed me ? Were not the Fathers of the Reformation, in case of my being in error, to be held responsible ? Would it not be presumption in me, a single Bishop, to consider other points long considered settled by a National Church? These, and more like questions would force themselves daily upon my mind, to deter my advance, and under thoir influence I actually went so far as to commit myself pub- licly to Protestantism, to make such advance the more dif- ficult. But God was merciful, and all this did not satisfy me ; 1 thought I saw in it clearly the temptation of Satan, an effort of my overburdened heart, to escape self-sacrifice. I felt that if for such reasons, I might be excused, so might Saul of Tarsus have been." * Dr. Ives is now a Professor in an American College. " Politically speaking (says Mr. Belaney) f the Esta- blishment was never stronger than at the present hour. Its revenues are now as cheerfully paid by the farmer, and its fees by the poor, as any common rent, — the natural consequence of the settlement of the tithe question, the minds of the majority of the nation, and these by far the wealthiest and most influential, are, though not all its warm supporters, still all so far attached to it that they would rather bear it than any other of the national sects in its place, rather it a thousand times than see the Catholic Church left free to regain her ancient position. If its friends are not, except in a few instances, ardent, they are at least sincere, believing, as many of them do, that its services in the cause of morality, of Protestant ascendancy and general civilization, have entitled it to their gratitude. Again, what is next best to having good friends, it lias cer- tainly no enemies in the political or literary world. In its presence infidelity is silent, if it is not extinct, her cham- pions have had no occasion to unsheathe their swords against any infidel assailant for these twenty or thirty * The Trials of a Mind, by J. S. Ives. f Martyrdom at the Cannes, in J 783, by G. Jl. Belaney. 268 years past. She has had time to restore what puritan frenzy had destroyed in a former generation, to increase the number of her churches and clergy by almost one-half since the last century began, to augment her livings, to raise the literary, if not the theological, character of her clergy, and to do many other things calculated to im- prove her condition. Meanwhile, notwithstanding all this, sects, whose aggregate number more than equalled her own in the reign of Elizabeth, have been creeping out of her at every part of her body for a succession of centuries, many of them, as the Wesleyans, Unitarians, and Irvingites, gaining in numerical strength and respectability every year. She has shown, what all heretical bodies show, that when her members are once lost to her, when once they have formed themselves into independent societies, they are lost to her for ever. They may dwindle out of one shallow creed into another yet more shallow, and she may see them gravitating downwards from one bad state of faith and morals into a worse, yet she feels she has no power to arrest their decaying career. To retrieve the lost, long experience has shown, is a power or capacity not possessed by her. In this respect she is only, however, what every other religious community out of the Catholic Church is. None of them can keep their members what they are at the outset. What between evaporation above and leakage below, the spirituous part of their tenets is continually making its escape. If lapsed members are ever recalled, they are recalled with a diminution of their orthodoxy, they are never reclaimed. "The followers of Luther in a very few years broke off from the Confession of Augsburgh; he tried in vain to retrieve them. He followed them up with the zeal of a London detective in pursuit of a Bank of England clerk who has made off with a bag of gold. The culprit is over- taken, caught, and brought back to the place from which he started to be identified, He is the same man, all but the pen behind his car, he was before, but he is minus the 269 treasure which made him worth the pursuit. So, by running and panting, the great founder of the Lutheran schism, and his other heretical associates, labored early and late in the pulpit and with the pen to keep their disciples within the enclosure they had drawn round them. But it was all to no purpose ! Away from them (ungrateful children !) they would go. Luther ran, Calvin ran, Me- lanchthon ran, Zuinglius ran, they all ran, and when by some evil accident any of them fell, helped to their feet by some kind friend who stood by, they ran again. A de- serter here and there was the prize. . . . The Catholic Church possesses the power, which these instances show no other body, pretending to exercise spiritual functions in the name of Christ, possesses. Evil agencies and evil passions succeed continually (such does God permit !) in drawing away her members. They may fly from her for a time — a year, a number of years, even up to the last hour of an abandoned life. But she does not give them up for lost. She keeps her maternal eye upon them. She fasts, and weeps, and prays, and warns with a mother's heart and a mo- ther's voice. Her pity wins them back. They die or live re- trieved from, as the case may be, a death of despair or a life of sin. She sees them brought back with the i joy which is felt by the angels of Heaven over one sinner that repenteth/ " We must not omit this year mentioning a circumstance which occasioned some little commotion at Chichester, where, as we are informed by a correspondent of the Church and State Gazette, the Rev. P. Freeman, the Prin- cipal of the Chichester Theological College, omitted on January 2, 1853, to give the cup to the lay communicants of the Chichester Infirmary. Mr. Freeman, on enquiry, pleaded that he forgot the wine. Miss Sellon (or, as she signs herself, " P. Lydia Sellon, ye M. Superior' ) was at this time called into painful no- toriety, as she herself states in the following address : " My Friends— The recent publications which have disturbed not only the tranquility of my private life, but also the repose II 270 of your own minds, have made it desirable that I should com- municate with you. I have now been for four years resident amongst you, and have during that time been joined by those who are now labouring amongst you, and who are, as you are aware, kind, wise, and able assistants in enabling me to carry out the plans I have projected for your benefit. These plans, as you know, consist in employing as many as we could, who were in need of employment, in educating children, in securing respectable homes to those who wished to live under our pro- tection, together with help to the sick and suffering. The Lord Jesus Christ has desired that as we are all brethren and sisters in Him, so we should love one another, and help one another, and try to lead each other to Him. For this cause I came to you, as I heard from your Bishop that you required help — for this cause others have joined me. I wish to assure you that no public annoyances will, I hope, shake the purpose for which I came among you, or make me less anxious for your prosperity, less desirous of assisting you. The false report of the world soon perishes, whether it is for good, or whether it is evil. The great and only true subject of anxiety in my mind is whether we ourselves, and you and your children, are being brought nearer to God — whether you are more earnestly seeking the salvation of your souls — whether you are growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, and loving Him more, and obeying him better — whether the waves of this troublesome world are indeed bearing us onward to the haven of eternal rest. I wish also to assure you that there is but one circumstance which would materially interfere with the endeavors both of the Sisters and myself to benefit you. That circumstance would be your own reception of the stories which are printed and circu- lated. I would not wish to vindicate myself at the expense of those whom I have received under my roof; I am satisfied with the affection of those who remain with me, and with the confidence manifested by yourselves. You will be comforted to know from myself that the accusations contained in all those publications are false, and that I wish you to judge by what you see and know yourselves, not by anything which is published or rumored abroad. Continue to do so, and then all which is false will presently be made manifest, our mutual confidence in 271 each other will remain unshaken, and our peace and tranquility will never be effectually disturbed. I say effectually, because it is probable that you and ourselves may have to suffer further disquiet, until by God's providence, and in His own good time, it is made manifest that we are under His protection, Who is the God of truth, and Who has taught us all false ways utterly to abhor. May God bless you, my friends, and may he knit our hearts together in His holy love and fear. From you I desire your continued prayers for this society and myself, while on my part I hope ever to remain your faithful and affectionate friend. Priscilla Ltdia. S ELLON. Plymouth, May 1, 1852." One of the charges brought against Miss Sellon, Mother Superior at Devenport, was, that she " did not forget the principle of holy obedience so far as to omit taking care of herself, for she has contrived to secure the disposal of all the fortunes or the incomes of the whole sisterhood ; and 2. She was charged with compelling the Sisters to confess to her. She acknowledges simply to hear their confessions, which looks rather like a desire to obtain power over the consciences and persons of the sister-* hood." So says Mr. Seymour's in his Lecture on Nunneries, — which he wished to deliver, in consequence of the treatment experienced by Miss D. Campbell, Lady Olivia Stratford, Miss Wall, and others, while subject to Miss Sellon's rule. According to Mr. Seymour some of the sisters gave him the following description of Miss Sellon's practical mimicry of Conventual life : — " It was no uncommon thing to be carrying at half-past five in the morning, a large dust barrel to the top of the court, a feat requiring almost their utmost strength. Later in the day, some sisters were engaged in sweeping out the house, cleaning the grates, making the fires, pumping the water, and other of the occupations of domestic servants. One would have occasion to 21'2 carry the dinner to the bakehouse, and to fetch beer from the public house. Xor was this all. Often had they to take a letter to the Post Office at half-past nine, or a parcel to the Railway Station. Once a sister was sent on the latter errand at mid-night. Another of the sisters reveals a further portion of the menage. She states, she (Miss Sellon) caused me to lie on the floor of an inner oratory for twenty minutes daily, flat on my face, with my arms stretched out in the form of a cross, and this for several months together. On one occasion she came into the Oratory while I was thus prostrate, and bade me remain there till she came out of Compline, and think a while of some fur- ther discipline to humble me, as I had been occasionally not quite so humble of late. The Mother returned, and seated her- self in the oak chair, enquired what I had thought of. I rose, and replied that I had not been able to think of anything that would do. She then said that I had not thought enough or pro- perly, and, at the same time, opening my mouth with her hands, she inquired whether that did not humble me. I replied, that it was very uncomfortable, but not humbling. She looked dis- pleased, fixed her eyes upon me, and sat gazing at me for some time in the most unaccountable manner, every now and then bending my arms, opening my mouth and lips, and putting her fingers in my mouth. Xot comprehending her conduct, and un- able to go away, I began to feel quite alarmed and anxious. She kept me thus, gazing at me and speaking at times incomprehen- sible words, as I thought, of the revelations to come."* In consequence of Mr. Spurrell, Mr. Colliss' and Miss Campbell's pamphlets, and the monster meeting at Ply- mouth, where a mortal sin, of a grievous nature, was styled a " babyish trick " by Mr. Hatchard, Commander Sellon wrote a letter to the Rev. J. Spurrell, demanding— 1. Bv what authority "he printed the detail of his daugh- ter's private life. 2. From whom had he her private letters, and how dared he to publish them, or worse, to publish garbled extracts from them. Mr. Spurrell's rejoinder e-icircd a defence from Capt. * Seymour'* Lectures on Nunneries. 273 Sellon, an answer from Miss Sellon, as also a letter of sympathy from Henry of Exeter, who cautioned her against the extravagance of her claim on the obedience of the sister- hood, being so "rigorous, a demand of the submission of the understanding, as well as the will of one human being to another, cannot, in my judgment, be enforced without se- rious danger to the spiritual conviction, both of her who governs and those who are governed." The following address in consequence of these charges was presented by the " Nuns to the Mother Superior : — " Our beloved and revered Superior and Mother. We, the Sisters of the Society of Devonport and Plymouth, which by your self-devotion and undaunted energy you have founded and preserved amidst difficulty and persecution, and in spite of what we daily witness, your own great bodily suffering : deeply sensible of what we owe to you, and justly indignant at the unprincipled attacks with which our Society has been as- sailed, and especially at the slanderous aspersions cast upon you as its head, entreat you to allow us to address a few words to you. "We earnestly desire to be permitted publicly and entirely to deny, as we now do, the untrue and calumnious charges made against you of cruelty and unkindness shown to ourselves. It is with pain and shame, though with sorrow and compassion, that we can think of the unworthy conduct of the two who have cast themselves off from us, and who have been the ori- ginators of these charges: long have we borne them in silence while our hearts burned within us, but we consider it an act of justice to the Society and to you, that such slanderous accusa- tions should not be permitted by us to remain abroad and to be believed in the world as truths. Once more, we positively and wholly deny them. We would express to you our deep grati- tude and unshaken confidence and affection towards yourself, — gratitude for the laws and government which you have formed for the Society : — unshaken confidence, — because you have preserved those laws unchanged, whilst the government by which you maintain them, is gentle and loving — in every dealing with regard to ourselves; both in what concerns our domestic and 274 interior life, as well as in the outward direction of our daily- work. We speak from an experience, in many of us, of nearly four years, during which we have ever found your principles and your government unchanged and unchangeable, and both have become more and more endeared to us. We would respectfully remind you that our laws and our go- vernment (as they thus originally stood and have remained, voluntarily accepted by us) are our heritage and right ; as Sisters of this Society we prize both them and our Superior as God's especial gifts to us, and as means by which He leads us nearer to Himself : and we earnestly intreat you, in justice to ourselves, that whatever alteration might take place in our work which must always be, as it always has been, dependent upon circum- stances, yet that you would never allow any alteration in our rule and government, which we have found so necessary for car- rying on our work for God, and for our soul's progress in the way to eternal life, for we would unanimously assure you that there is not one point which we desire changed in the slightest degree. We are grieved to the heart at the odium and abuse which has been heaped upon you as our Superior, for these things, but would remind you and those who have had a share in promoting this odium against you, that you are also a part, and that the most precious and dear to us of our heritage and right, and that in abusing you they have most deeply touched and wounded us. We, the Sisters of Devonport, have been and ever trust to re- main faithful to the Society and to you, and we have the fullest and most undoubting confidence that you will continue that which we have ever found you — the wise and inflexible guardian ef our laws, —our tender and loving Superior and Mother, — our guide and our leader, — our counsel and our help in difficulties, — our comfort in trouble, — our refreshment in toil, — the sharer of joys and sorrows, — our defence when attacked, — (yourself re- ceiving or warding off* the blows in our stead which have wounded your own heart so bitterly) — ever self sacrificing — ever self-forgetful. We speak as individuals, though we speak unanimously. Thanks be to God for his good gifts to us, especially in the daily blessings of our life and in your affection : our happiness in it has been doubted ; we can only say, that it is our constant 275 prayer that others, (and if it were His Will those we loved the best), might be brought to share with us in both, and be per- mitted to join in the blessed privilege of ministering to our Lord in the persons of the poor, and of attempting, however unworthily, to draw the souls to Him which are perishing for lack of knowledge. With the highest respect and affection, Believe us, Your grateful and deeply attached children. (Signed by all the Sisters.) 24 th June, 1852. THE EEPLY OF Y* MOTHER SUPERIOR. " My Dearest Children in Christ, I could not without deep feeling receive the affectionate and dutiful address you have sent to me. I hope to continue to do what you desire, viz., to preserve your rule and customs in their original simplicity. I am con- vinced with you, that it is by a steadfast adherence to those things which we have found useful and good, that we may hope by the blessing of God to persevere, to grow in grace, and to be free from the fatal evils which a spirit of change and relaxation will inevitably bring upon us. I am rejoiced to find you all of one mind, as you have ever been. I am rejoiced that the violent outward shocks which our Society has sustained, have not created any spirit of unrest amongst yourselves. May He, in Whom is strength and wis- dom, preserve you unto the end. As a community, you have always shunned any interior change. Continue to do so : con- tinue to assist every future Superior in shunning such. I am now employed to this end in writing down for you all the oral rules which you have practised, and through practice have valued as conducive to harmony, tranquility, order, and discipline, through these four years past. I deeply sorrow with you over the scandals which have alien- ated for a time the love of our Christian friends, by making them half suspicious of us, and which had caused the great enemy of souls to triumph by hindering our work. I am willing and glad that you should make this one unanimous 276 attempt to prove that they are not true ; but if you do not succeed, rest in peace and trust in God; trusting that He, Who sends this trial, will teach us how to bear it, and to profit by it. And for myself, my beloved children, you know that, living or dying, in sorrow and in joy, through good report and evil report, I am, yours in Cheist Jesus, P. Ltdia, Superior.* Bristol, July 1, 1852. Having omitted during the Annals of last year (1851), to refer to a curious correspondence between Miss Sellon and Lord Campbell, we beg to present it to our readers, as also one between tliat lady and the Rev. J. H. Johnson, Vicar of Tilshead, near Devizes. The Orphan Home, Plymouth, March 19. My Lord, — It is with a pain, the intensity of which, amidst such apparent gratitude, that in writing to express my deep sense of your kindness in consenting to aid the work at Davenport, I have now to request the withdrawal of a name, which, noble and honored as it is, is connected most painfully with a decision which, for the present, brands the Church of England with uncatholic teaclrng. As a most unworthy yet faithful daughter of the Church, I have, as your Lordship may perceive, no choice left me in working for her, but to withdraw from one who has as- sisted in a judgment which I am bound to believe is so con- trary to her fundamental principles as to be fatal to her, unless absolutely refuted. It is useless to multiply words of sorrow. Your Lord- * One of Miss Sellon's novices at Plymouth, till very lately, was a child of three years old, who was once whipped for not giving an orthodox reply on the subject of Original Sin 11 ! This poor infant was clothed in the Nun's habit, and compelled to keep the rule of silence ! ! ! Oh ! Tractarianism, how truly art thou the Simia Dei! 277 ship will know and feel that such a letter as the present ought not and could not be written without much grief and embarrassment. Entreating your forgiveness, and praying that all blessing may attend you and yours, I am, Your Lordship's humble and grateful servant, Priscilla Lydia Sellon, Ye Mother Superior. Midland Circuit, Warwick, March, 31, 1850. Madam, — Having a most sincere respect for your feel- ing and benevolence, I would beg you to re-consider your request that my name may be withdrawn from the list of those who are desirous of assisting you in the truly Chris- tian objects to which your life is devoted. . . . I assure you that we have given no opinion contrary to yours upon the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. We had no juris- diction to decide any doctrinal question, and we shew ours by abstaining from doing so. We were only called upon to construe the articles and formularies of the Church, and to say whether they be so framed as to condemn certain opinions expressed by Mr. Gorham. . . . Recollect that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York entirely approved of what we did, and that they are as much answerable for it ,as if they had been members of the Court instead of being only our advisers. Reflect then, whether it be for the good of the Church, to which you are so affectionately attached, to pronounce excommunication against all who approve of the decision which you censure. Perhaps you may find that a large majority of the pious sons and daughters of the Church of England think that the decision is sound, and that it may heal the wounds from which she has lately suffered. At any rate, 1 do hope that, upon re-consideration, you will allow me to have the gratification of being upon your Committee. If you remain inflexible, I must submit to your determination, KK 278 but I shall continue to pray that Heaven may enlighten your understanding, and further your labors with its ut- most blessings, and I have the honour to be, Madam, Your most obedient faithful servant, Campbell. The Orphan's Home, April 8. My Lord, — I found your letter on my return from a short absence from home. Now I say that the kindness of its contents only made me the more bitterly murmur over the unhappy cause which separates me from such a benevolent and noble heart, — separates me, as I still hope, only for a term, for how can I believe but that your Lord- ship will, in time, perceive what is involved in your deci- sion, and will lament as deeply as any one of us, that it should have endangered the Church by the apparent ad- mission of heretical teaching. You tell me, on the contrary, that it will help to heal her wounds ? Alas ! my Lord, that you should say so ! How can it heal her wounds to tell us that her Articles admit of a heresy whieh her Creed rejects ? I may not believe it, although such words are admitted by the two Archbishops. My Lord, I do not believe it. It would be to question the truth of the Church of England, to believe that it were a matter of allowed indifference whether an Article of the Creed were contradicted or not. It is not being faithful to her to doubt until her own voice condemn her, which may God forbid ! But many hearts, since the decision, do fail. They believe that your decision is just ; they do not believe that the Church of England is a witness to, and a holder of the truth of God, — they turn from her as not being " a light set on a hill, which cannot be hid ! " Their faith is utterly shaken. I speak from a little knowledge of facts. I see her forsaken by those who have loved her. And you, my Lord, do you also believe that the Church of England has been untrue to herself — that her formularies are so constituted that she contradicts her own Belief— 279 that she will not maintain the Faith of her Creeds — that she will admit Priests to teach her children that which has been condemned as a heresy ? Pray forgive me, my Lord, for writing thus to you I thank you very earnestly for your promise of remembering me in your prayers. I am not worthy to pray for you, and yet, if a God of all goodness will hear the supplication of a loving aud deeply sorrowing heart, He will bring you to grieve for the injury done to the Church, and will help you to re- pair it, and give you all blessing in time and in eternity. Your's very humbly and affectionately, P. Lydia Sellon. Strathclen House, April 10. Madam, — I deeply grieve that (although in very courte- ous language) you adhere to the stern resolution of ex- cluding me from the gratification of being upon the list of your Committee, and of contributing my mite to the ex- cellent charities which you so laudably superintend. . . I cannot think that I am called on to answer your obser- vations respecting the merits of the decision, or I could easily show you that you try the question entirely by as- suming that the doctrine to which you object has been condemned by her Articles and formularies as a heresy; and I might demonstrate that, whether the decision be wrong or right, it can afford no plausible pretext for leav- ing the Church, as it must be a very slight reproach to her if she has omitted to denounce one false doctrine as here- tical, considering that no Christian Church has professed to settle dogmatically all points of doctrine, and that the Church in which those who complain most bitterly seem disposed to take refuge, has studiously left open various questions, considered by the members of that Church to be of high importance. I have now only to submit to your sentence. Though expelled from your Committee, and forbidden to have any communication with you in your charitable deeds, I may 280 perhaps be allowed in parting, to remind yon of the peril you incur by complicitly giving way to a religious impulse. " Some of the darkest and most dangerous prejudices of men. (said Lord Erskine.) arise from the most honorable principles. When prejudices are caught up from bad passions, the worst men feel intervals of remorse to soften and disperse them; but when they arise from a generous though mistaken source, they are hugged closer to the bosom, and the kindest and most compassionate natures feel a pleasure in fostering a blind and unjust resent- ment." If at any time hereafter you should be induced to re- lent, I shall joyfully avail myself of the opportunity of again trying to further your benevolent schemes, and in the meantime, I have the honor to remain, with the highest respect, Madam, your most obedient servant, Campbell. Miss Sellon. The Orphan s Home, St. Peter's, Plymouth. My Lord, — I am very much surprised and pained to hear that my letters to you have been published. If your Lordship had thought it advisable that any public state- ment should have been made regarding the subject on which they were written, this could easily have been done in another form, but these letters were addressed simply to your heart, and, coming from the fulness of mine, were such as I should not have shown to others. They were a sacred matter, between your conscience and my own, and our God, and are, I need scarcely observe, singularly un- fitted for the columns of a newspaper. It is not the first time that I have had cause to remonstrate at the way in which my private words have been made public by others ; I would, my Lord, that you, and all to whom I write, would recollect that my letters are only written for those to whom they are addressed, and that I claim the courtesy most especially due to a woman in requiring that they 281 should not be published without my knowledge and con- sent. I own, my Lord, that I am rather indignant with you, but I am still yours humbly and affectionately, P. Lydia. The Mother Supr. of the Sisters of Mercy. Miss Sellon to Rev. J. H. Johnson. Rev. Sir, — The Lady Superior desires me to reply to your letter of last month. Her continued ill health obliges her to use the hand of another in corresponding with our kind friends. She regrets that you should have been so misinformed concerning this Society, the fact which you mention being a simple untruth. Our work is open as the day. Our object being to do good, as best we can to the poor. Would that you could see their misery here ! You would not wonder that every heart and hand should be strained to the utmost to alleviate their sufferings, and bring their souls back to their God and Saviour. We earnestly recommend them and ourselves to your prayers. The Lady Superior pays her regards, and believe me, Rev. Sir, yours very faithfully, Catherine S. M. St. Peter's, Devonport. Vicarage, Tilshead, Devizes, Dec. 24, 1850. Madam, — Your reply to my letter, I am sorry to inform you, does not at all meet my objection to your Society. "I gave two reasons " for refusing to render you pecuniary assistance, — viz., that you were accused of spreading the doctrine of Popery, under the mask of the Church of England, and that you required a pledge (or oath) of secrecy from the inmates of your establishment. You are completely silent on the first charge, so that T am left to form my own opinion from public rumor. You do not seem to deny the second. Your ' work 1 outside your walls may be " as open as the day," for any thing that I know to the contrary, but this is not the question, what I said had reference to the interior of your house. To form 282 a religious community for the instruction of the ignorant or for the relief of the poor and needy, it is surely not necessary to bind the e Sisters ' by vows of any kind ; still less that the ladies should be pledged to conceal from their friends the discipline of our house, and the nature of the treatment they receive therein. The greatest abuses of the Conventional system, of which yours appears to be a copy, arose from the secrecy enforced by the Superiors ; and you need not be surprised that suspicion should attach to your proceeding so long as the public believe that vows of secrecy are required by you. Had you de- nied that such was the case, I should have felt it my duty, however disagreeable to myself, to have furnished you with the name of the ' Sister ' living under your roof, by whom a written statement to that effect was made to her friend. If you think that your object, which I admit to be ex- cellent in itself, can be best accomplished, by approaching as nearly as possible to the principles and practices of the Papal Church in its convents, and the title you have as- sumed as 'Lady Superior/ appears to imply it, neither I nor any other person have a right to complain. But I do think it is your duty, when you apply to the benevolent to contribute to your funds, to inform the public without re- serve, what are the rules and regulations of your Society, and what doctrines you believe and teach ; and then and then only, can you expect to be supported in your design in proportion to the degree which your opinions, and those of the party to whom application is made, coincide. Believe me that I ardently pray both for you and my- self that we may each be led into all truth, and be enabled in our several vocations to act with simplicity and godly sincerity in our endeavors to promote the salvation of souls, and the glory of the Lord. I remain, Madam, Yours faithfully, J. H. Johnson. 283 The Lady Superior of the Sisters of Mercy. Rev. Sir, — I had requested one of the Sisters to answer your first letter for me. I can now only say in reply to your second, that the whole statement is wholly false. I think it very probable that, as you have misunderstood her letter and thought it a subterfuge, you will disbelieve my words, being as I am, an entire stranger to you. I do not write to you to ask you to subscribe. I could have wished you to believe that what I say is true, and that I should consider it wicked to act in the way that your note says that I do act. I should consider it wicked to pretend to belong to the Church of England when I was not in heart and practice, belonging to her. I should consider it wicked and foolish to require a premium, a vow, an oath of secrecy from one concerning the exterior or the interior of this So- ciety, or any thing belonging to it. No sister has ever left this Society; four persons have left me; they came and went away before they were admitted as sisters. As I have an affectionate interest for each one of them, though knowing two of them but little personally, I should be sorry to be made acquainted with the name of the indivi- dual to whom you allude. I should be sorry to think that the confidence with which they were received as entire strangers had been returned by falsehood and calumny. I therefore do not wish to know the person's name, but vou are at liberty to show her this letter. You will pardon me for saying that I could wish our cor- respondence to drop here. It is naturally painful to be disbelieved; and where there is no confidence words are of no avail — they are only misunderstood and thought to be a subterfuge or equivocation. I have the honor to be, Your obedient servant, P. Lydia Sellon, Ye Superior. St. Peters, Devonport. I hope you will forgive the abruptness of my liberty of 284 writing. May all the blessings of this happy season be richly given ! The Bishop of Exeter, after instituting an inquiry into the charges brought against Miss Sellon by Lady O. Strat- ford, Miss Campbell, and Rev. Mr. Hatchard, wrote the following letter to her : — " Bishopstoiue, March 29, 1852. My dear Miss Sellon— Not only your own letter of Saturday last, but intelligence which has reached me from another quarter, makes me apprehend that the intention with which I wrote my published letter to you has been greatly misunderstood. In an- nouncing to you my withdrawing from the office of visitor of your community I stated my reasons to be, first, that the course of your operation had carried you beyond the limits within which I deemed it prudent to confine my own official connexion with you, and, secondly, that I could hardly continue that con- nexion without incurring the responsibility of seeming to sanc- tion practices which, without having a right to condemn, I nevertheless might not approve. At any rate the inquiries and explanations, which were likely to become necessary, must in- terfere with the discharge of my own special duties of this ex- tensive Diocese. But although I cease to be your visitor I should be more grieved than I need express, if on this account you should cease to carry on your blessed work at Plymouth. No ! let me again thank you as your Bishop for having proved by that work that the Church of England is not so cramped and stinted in its Christian action as not to admit Sisterhoods of Mercy within its borders. Let me, moreover, say that if, in the exercise of that liberty, which our Church allows alike to you, and to those who may differ most widely from you, some things may have been done to which I decline to give my sanction, yet I am fully confident in your entire faithfulness to that Church. Would that all they, who are among the loudest in condemning you, were as really animated by its spirit as you have proved yourself to be — as earnestly practised its precepts, aye, and as truly understood its doctrines ! Go on, then, I beseech you, in your labor of love amongst us. And may He, who hath given to you and to those who labor 285 with you, the desire and will thus to devote your time, your substance, your faculties of body and mind — your whole selves - to His service, accept and bless the offering ! May he continue to cheer you with the sight of His work prospering in your hands ! And, in his own good time, crown you with everlasting glory in that kingdom where all is peace, and joy, and love ! — Farewell ! and believe me always affectionately yours, H. Exeter." In consequence of Mr. Prynne, who was Miss Sellon's ' guide ' in spiritual matters, (we will not say ' director ' as Dr. Pusey objects, and most naturally, to the more Catholic phrase,) being charged with hearing confessions, and " making a lady, young and beautiful, and full of religion and enthusiasm, degrade herself at his feet, and with her tongue to make the sign of the cross upon the floor ; " — an inquiry was held. Mr. Prynne having first assured his Lordship that, "confession is not a part of the regular discipline of the house — but that those who desired con- fession were free to use it." At the termination of the in- quiry, which ended in Mr. Prynne's acquittal, the fol- lowing correspondence ensued between Dr. Philpott's and Mr. Prynne, wherein the Bishop asserts that " the Church seemed to discourage the practice of habitual confes- sion/' Bishopstowe, ith Oct, 1852. Dear Sir, — When I acknowledged the receipt from you of the 1 West of England Conservative,'' of last week, containing a copy of your " case " appended to a report of the recent inquiry, I told you that I had been unable to give it more than a cursory reading — on which reading I added that I was pleased with it. I have now read it again, and with more attention. On the second reading, while I do not withdraw my approba- tion of it in general, I find one passage, on which I think it ne- cessary to remark. It occurs in the second paragraph of the second column in the last page, where you deal with Mr. Nantes' objection to your assertion, that the Church of England does not discourage the general habit of confession. LL 286 You say, " It is surely for him to show that the Church of England does discourage this practice by some authoritative statement, in some of her authorized documents." This would, doubtless, avail you in answer to the charge, if it were made a part of a criminal proceeding against you. But in discussing it on the broad grounds of propriety, the answer seems to me by no means satisfactory. Our Church, as far as I recollect, no- where says anything expressly, which requires such a practise, whether to encourage or to discourage it. But on the other hand, in the exhortation to be used in giving warning of Com- munion, it assumes that persons in general may be expected to satisfy themselves of the sincerity and fulness of their repent- ance, by ' examining their lives and conversations by the rule of God's commandments,' and, it is only 1 if there be any who can- not, by this means, quiet his own conscience herein, but require further counsel and advise " that the Church recommends special confession to a Priest.. In short, the Church earnestly impresses on the party fha duty of doing all that he can himself in the way of self-exam_ ^'Mon, self-judgment, self-conviction, in order to attain unto " repentance not to be repented of, and it is only when he has himself done all he can towards quieting his own conscience in vain, that he is instructed to have recourse to private confession and private absolution. In my opinion, that is, virtually to discourage the general habit, for such general habit would seem to show, either that the party adopting it did never honestly and earnestly strive to do all that he can for himself — or that having once received private absolution, he is so unstable, so light-minded, so utterly incapable of all self-control, that, after such absolution, he is continually relapsing into sin, and sin of such malignity that he cannot of himself attain (by the ordinary grace of God) to due repentance. Surely we must believe that such cases, if there be any such, are very rare. I say, therefore, now, as I have more than once publicly said before, as well as privately told my candidates for Holy Orders, that the Church of England appears to me to ' discourage con- fession as a general habit.' Yoxx state (at the end of your next paragraph but one)— 'I have invited our people to have recourse to this ministration of our Lord's most merciful authority, whenever the spiritual ne- cessities of any of them shall need it, in accordance with the 287 advice contained in your Lordship's Pastoral Letter of last year" when you thus referred very correctly to my advice, as your au- thority iu one particular, I must express my regret that you did not, at the same time, give equal weight to the authority of that same pastoral letter, in the very passage from which you were quoting, where it "condemned the habit of going to confession as a part of the ordinary discipline of a Christian life." I even stated in the same place, " that I had warned a clergyman, who had himself incited a party to have recourse to confession be- fore him, not being either of the two cases, where it is pre- scribed in the Book of Common Prayer." I had, I say, "warned this Clergyman to abstain from a course which seems ill-ac- cordant with the mind and teaching of our Church." In con- clusion, I there said, " Let me add, that I presume not to inter- fere with the conscience of any who (to use the words of our first Reformed Liturgy) think needful, or convenient, for the quieting of their consciences, particularly to open their sins to the Priest at any time. What I deprecate is, that this should be made a regular observance— still more, that any Priest should (ulvise it as such. If you have kept within the plain meaning of this my counsel you have a right to claim the authority of your Bishop for what you have done— if you have extended it, you have not only exceeded but run counter to it. I shall send a copy of this letter to Mr. Nantes, giving to him as I give to you, full permission to use it in any way which he may think fit. I am, He v. Sir, Yours sincerety, H. Exeter. S. Peters, Plymouth, Oct. 6, 1852. My Lord, — I beg to acknowledge your Lordship's letter of 4th inst. I believe I may safely say that there has been nothing in my practice respecting private confession, which is opposed to the opinion expressed in your Lordship's letter. I conceive my ansAver to Mr. Nantes was a sufficient one to give to a per- son bringing a charge against me. If Mr. Nantes objected to any statement made by me he was bound to show grounds of that objection beyond his own private opinion, and it seemed to 288 me that no grounds short of an authoritative statement in the authorized documents of the Church herself, would have been sufficient for this purpose. I went on to say — " I can find no such declaration of her mind — all I can find serves to show me that she leave her children entirely at liberty to use these means of grace whenever their spiritual necessities require it. There is no prohibition, or shadow of a prohibition, that I know of to pre- vent their doing so, and again at the end of the paragraph, in short, my Lord, I have only meant to assert for the members of the Church of England, general and absolute freedom of being allowed to unburden their minds to their Minister when- ever they desire it for their soul's good. Such a freedom I do believe to be most in accordance with her spirit." In this passage, my Lord, I intended to say that the Church of England does not prohibit or authoritatively exclude the general habit of confession. I expressly guarded myself by saying that I did not mean to assert that the Church of England recom- mends confession ordinarily, but was silent about it, and left it to the consciences of individuals." And such has been my practice, I have not taught it as a duty, I have not brought or trained persons to look at it as a regular observance, or a part of the ordinary discipline of a Christian's life;" but on the other hand I am not aware of any statement of the Church of England which would justify me, as one of her ministers, in re- fusing to receive persons, who desire of their own accord, or I may add, by the advice of their parents or guardians to come to me regularly for this purpose. I repeat, my Lord, I have not en- forced or taught this practice as a part of my ordinary teaching, but I have also not felt myself at liberty to reject those who did not think they found it useful as an habitual practice and de- nied it on that account to use it as such. I venture respectfully to put this case to your Lordship, (which I may add is not an imaginary one) — supposing a person to come to me, at his own particular request, several times in the course of the year, for confession — have I any authority from the Church of England to refuse to receive that person ? I will further suppose that I fully press upon the person the necessity of private self-examination and repentance, but that he still urges that he finds confession a great help and means of grace, and presses on me my obligation to receive him. Is it 289 your Lordship's opinion that I should be authorized by the Church of England (whatever my own private opinion might be) to reject such a person ? In submitting this case for your Lordship's consideration, I would humbly venture to remind your Lordship, that there are many persons in the Church of England who deeply value private confessions as a means of grace, and who use it regularly as such, and that it would be a great shock to their minds to be deprived of it. For my own part, I would not dare to do so unless I had some most indisputable authority to bear me out in so doing. I would also venture to suggest that the con- sciences of those who use private confession, and are in the habit of that self-examination which it involves, become more alive to the fact of sin, and that, even if they do not relapse at times into their old sins, they get worse on other minor sins as of a serious nature. There are, my Lord, persons, who from a constant habit of self-examination and self-accusation find that very frequently their conscience is hardened with weighty matters, which bring them under the class specified in the ex- hortation to Communion. Does the Church of England require of her ministers to refuse to this class of persons (and it con- tains many of her most earnest and spiritual children) what they esteem as so great a means of grace to their souls ? "With reference to your Lordship's remarks on my quotations from your Lordship's Pastoral Letter of last year, I would humbly beg to observe, that had I in quoting your Lordship's sentiments as bearing on the subject of private confessions, ge- nerally, I should certainly have thought it my duty fully to have expressed those sentiments, but I was only quoting in support of my argument of the entire liberty which the Church of England gives her children to use the means of grace whenever their spiritual necessities required it. On this point, I trust, I was not unfairly claiming your Lordship's support. I have the honor to be, Your Lordship's faithful and obedient servant, Gr. E. Prtnne. Bishopstoive, Oth Oct. 1852. Eev Sir, — As I do not think that the Church of England prohibits your receiving to confession those who seek it as an habitual practice, I do not presume to prohibit your doing so. 290 The Church seems to me to discourage such a practice ; there- fore I should endeavour to dissuade one who come to me in pursuance of the practice from persisting to desire it. If I had sufficient reason to believe that he had not endeavoured honestly or earnestly to quiet Ms oion conscience by self-examination and other acts of repentance, I should not myself admit him. More than this I must decline saying. Yours sincerely, H. Exeter. Mr. Bennett of S. Paul's, Knightsb ridge, having been nominated by the Marchioness of Bath to the Vicarage of Frome, published a Pastoral letter to his parishioners in reply to a certain Protest from some of his brother clergy against his appointment. In this Pastoral, Mr. Bennett speaks of his great tenacity in clinging to the rigging of the stranded Church of England. " The greater danger there is, the more I see the ship rock to and fro, and al- most helpless, — the more I see evil spirits all around the ship, some weakening her by putting bad pilots on board to guide her wrongly, and rejoicing to think that she must soon go to pieces : the more, I say, that all this happens, and just in consequence of its happening, and as long as two planks hold together, the more it is the duty of brave men to stand by her and to counteract the evil ; to pray the longer and the stronger to Almighty God to save her." Mr. Bennett thus reprimanded those who had left the stranded wreck of Anglicanism, who, perceiving that she was completely water-logged and unable to right her- self, had gained the shore and rejoiced in their escape from inevitable destruction; for " Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto," " Some (says Mr. Bennett) have said we have a right to think for ourselves, the Church of England is heretical, and we, think so ; it is time to leave her, and we think so ; we, as private Priests and individuals think so; and so they have become members of the Roman Communion, whereas, by simply saying, as I think they should, we are not judges of that, let us leave it to higher powers, let us 291 leave it to the Church herself and her Bishops, we have no right to form an opinion about it."* Well, some have done so, and yet they have embraced the Church of God ; they have left the Establishment, simply because her Bishops are not united, and the soi-disant Bishops, nomi- nated by Queen Victoria, are pastors of discord and dis- union. We would again refer to the controversy raised by Mr. Gawthorn. The Bishop of Exeter, and one of his clergy, who still cling to the riggings of the stranded Establish- ment, and imagine her to be "a Church," published letters on the necessity of Episcopal ordination, in reply to Mr. Goode and Dr. Sumner. Dr. Phillpots, after ac- cusing the Church of Rome of having " audaciously mu- tilated one of the Sacraments of the Church of Christ," ac- knowledges that Anglicans accept Episcopal orders from a most corrupt church : but Dr. Philpotts, in his zeal to define the orders of the Anglican body, confesses that its "Mission" "is not so plainly expressed in the English Articles," and herein " the necessity of defending it publicly in the face of the Church " — but, alas ! for the Bishop and his friends. We would wish to know who gave " Christ's commission to Parker/' for most true is it that " they who can confer Christ's Commission must first have SPECIAL POWER GIVEN TO THEM- SELVES BY CHRIST FOR THAT PURPOSE!" But no where does this Prelate attempt to prove that Parker was actually consecrated. Dr. Phillpotts allows that a great laxity prevailed in the Establishment, and cites the cases of Whittingham,f Morrison, J and Travers,§ but * Bennett's Pastoral letter to the Parishioners of Frome. t Whittingham was Dean of Durham for many teaks before Sandy's attempt to oust him for not having orders. J Morrison, though knowingly licensed by Grindal to a lecturer's place in the Diocess of Canterbury, had only received Presbyterian ordination in Scotland. § Travers had been educated at Antwerp, but was removed by Whitgift, more on account of his opposition to Hooker than for want of orders. 292 simply regards it as a " lax usage of the Church," and ex- horts his foreign brethren who had assembled like the happy family,* to return to those Primitive and Apostolic Orders, which their forefathers were, it may be, com- pelled to relinquish, but which we would tender to them in all earnestness. Mr. Flower defends his Diocesan with much zeal, but if he has occasion to exclaim while commenting on Mr. Goode's skill as a logomacheter — how much rather should we repeat these words when we find Morini and the Greek Liturgy quoted in defence of Dr. Phillpotts. To one acquainted with the actual want of orders in the Establishment, it is astonishing to find Mr. Flower contending that the "Anglican orders are from God," and that the Church of England professes to "confer a commission from God in His Name.0 In vain will Mr. Flower contend for the Apostolicity of Anglican Orders, in vain will he quote the Roman and Greek or- dinals, for so long as the Church of God bears her testi- mony to the truth, so long will he and his brethren be re- garded as laymen, endeavouring to subvert the Kirgdom of God. The Countess Ida Hahn-Hahn, a well-known German author, whose writings are distinguished by a peculiar grace and beauty, submitted to the Church. She says — '* As my soul awakened, she found herself a Catholic, for that which Protestantism teaches she had never been able to comprehend, nor receive nor derive her sustenance from. * The following account of the " happy family " is taken from the Report of the Societe Centrale Protestante d 'Evangelisation, where we learn from M. K. Pasteur Grandpiere, D.D., that in Paris, after all the different Pro- testant Societies had held their annual meetings, the members of the different sects all agreed to take the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper together as a poetical exemplification to the world of their unity of heart and attachment. The consequence was, that a Calvinist minister was seen serving one table, a Lutheran serving another, a Wesletan minister an- other, an Independant another, and so with all the other de- nominations. 293 No echo reverberated to the voice of Protestantism, no note responded, not a chord was touched; not a single connecting link could I discover in it, to which I could attach any inherent sense either in my youth or after years. How many are there even among our readers who will acknowledge this truth. Our souls were either dead or wandering ' through dark labyrinthine paths,' seeking for truth and unable to find it — seeking for peace, and not knowing to whom to go — knowing that God is the author of peace and not of confusion, and yet unable to see Him in His own Church." We are and were bid to look to Dr. Blomfield, or Dr. Alexander, or Dr. Whately, or Dr. Stanley, or Dr. Philpotts as our guides, but we were sure to find them either administering to the wants of their wives and families, or giving uncertain advice. With Ida Hahn-Hahn, the soul, in an inquiring state, thinks not of such men, but of S. Augustin, S. Charles Borromeo, S. Pius V., Bossuet, Fenelon, the martyred AfFre, or our own Plunkett of Armagh. A Bishop should be our ideal : lc but what have the Anglican Bishops to do with the ideal? They may be very conscientious and honorable men, and lead a most respectable life, but they have not raised themselves above the sphere of common life — they have not conquered the world and themselves like S. Augustin. The same may be applied to the Protestant missionaries, those gentlemen in black coats with wife and children. How can they preach to the Heathen to forsake all and follow the Cross? What have they forsaken? what have they sacrificed ? And how can one be inspired with love for a thing for which he has made no sacrifice ? That cannot surely be denominated sacrifice which is no more than the undertaking of a few laborious exercises, such toils as every journey must bring with it, or the dedication of a few hours in the day to the holy cause, after which the earthly comforts are diligently sought. No, the poor Franciscan Monks in their cowls and with their beggars' rags, who inhabit the poor convents that are strewed M M 294 throughout Syria from Ramala to Damascus, are another race of men ! They have made their sacrifice, the greatest that man can make, themselves ! and he who can do that — who can sacrifice the mighty I — can venture to exact it of others. They can ask it with a good conscience, and he who asks it without this can expect no result. Well and truly does the Countess Ida Hahn-Hahn say, " I am dis- gusted with the Evangelical church, which is the fashion just now. No ! a church — if there must be a church — can only be the Catholic Church." How clearly did this truth flash on our mind while yet wandering in the labyrinthine maze of Protestantism. " Where then is your faith (asks Mr. Crawley in his Letter to his late Parishioners, at S. Saviour, Leeds) ? You have none. For faith is the receiving all that God has revealed upon the authority of His Church. But you do not know what to believe and what not, because you are in doubt about the teacher. Therefore, though you may have a strong opinion that this is true, or that is true, you have no faith, for faith and doubt cannot go together. You cannot have a doubt about a truth, and have faith in it too. But without faith you cannot be saved. If then there be any pillar and ground of the truth at all it cannot be the Church of England, and it must be the Roman Catholic Church. For the choice lies between these two." The Rev. Dr. Hasert, Pastor of Bunzlau, addressed the following letter to the 'Bunzlau Journal] on announcing his submission to the Church : — Sir, — I shall soon be a member of the Catholic Church. Two years have sufficed to cause this resolution to rise and ripen within me. I have just declared it openly to all my honorable brethren, assembled in General Synod, at Breslau, in express- ing to them very cordially, my farewell. In presence of all that passes ; — people say : — " He will end in becoming a Catholic ! " Yes, O my God ! mayest Thou accord this grace to many others. It is what I wish for everybody, though leaving to each indivi- dual the right of being what it is given to him to be, for every 295 thing depends on grace. All that I ask of my honorable fellow- citizens, of my brethren in Jesus Christ, is not to refuse to follow the'attrait, not in a half-and-half way, but altogether. Let them not attribute my return to folly or to superstition ; let them not judge before the coming of the Lord, who will one day manifest hearts, whilst men only see what come before their eyes. As for me, I am ready to give at every time an amicable explanation to all those who have the same sentiments. Hasert. Up to the present time a Protestant Minister. Bimzlau, Feast 8. Hedwigis, 1852. We submit the following reasons of Lord Charles Thynne, as being too valuable to be lost, in extenso : — My dear Friends, — When you were first committed to my charge some years ago, I little thought that anything short of death itself could ever separate me from you ; there were many ties, associations, and interests prevailing to make our con- nexion secure ; and, as in after years we began to know and understand each other, as I learnt the nature of your wants, and the difficulties of your condition, a far deeper interest took possession of me, and separation seemed to be still more impos- sible. I had learnt to share your sorrows and your joys, and I was thankful to you for the confidence placed in me, and for the way in which you allowed me to become acquainted with circum- stances which were your trial, and with thoughts whicli oc- cupied your minds. I hoped that as it was my duty to do all in my power to lead you to Grod I might be permitted to spend my life in your service — that my life might wear itself out among you in offices of love. But I will not speak of what my hopes once were. After an intimate acquaintance of fifteen years it cannot be necessary for me to say that nothing but the strongest sense of duty could have induced me to sever the con- nexion which has existed between us. You will at least believe me when I say that the strong affection I have, and must ever have, for you, has made the duty of leaving you one of no ordi- nary trial. It was not my intention to have alluded to this sub- ject, I intended to have remained perfectly silent; and had others acted generously by me this intention would not have 296 been departed from ; but I understand that at the opening of your church the Bishop of Salisbury thought it his duty to speak publicly against me in his sermon, and I find that some of you have been distressed to hear one, whom you have re- garded with affection for so many years, thus publicly censured. I am not surprised that the Bishop of Salisbury thinks me wrong ; were it otherwise he would, of course, have acted as I have done, the fact of his not taking the same step is proof that he does not approve that step, or at least he does not see the necessity for taking it. But I am surprised that when there were so many subjects upon which he might have addressed you at such a time, he should have brought me before your notice, and should have encouraged you to pass a censure upon me. I was prepared for such blame, but was hardly prepared to find myself thus held up to the scorn of those among whom I have labored for so many years by one who has himself said that I could pursue no other course than that which I have pursued and to whom I was ever ready to submit at every cost, so long as I believed him to have a lawful jurisdiction over me. My surprise is increased when I consider the time and place which the Bishop selected for censure. Under these circumstances I feel that I have a duty to perform, which compels me to break the silence which I had imposed upon myself. What the words of censure may have been I know not, but this I know that the censure has been made, and that it has pained those who have a regard for me ; and for their sake, for my own sake, and, above all, for the sake of the cause which I have con- scientiously made my own, I must say a few words to you. I conclude that I am blamed, — 1st — For leaving you at all. 2nd. For entertaining opinions which have made it neces- sary that I should leave you and the Established church. ihejirst point may be dismissed in a very few words. I did not leave you for the sake of any worldly advantages, but I left you because I could not honestly hold the position in which I had been placed. By this I mean that I did not consider it to be the act of an honest mind to believe one thing and to teach another. I will give you some instances of this. I believe that in order to obtain the remission of our sins by Absolution, it was necessary to confess them to some one pos- 297 sessed of authority to receive confessions, and to give absolution. I believe this to be necessary for all who have fallen into sin after Baptism. But when I had recourse to the only means within my reach, when I was a member of the Church of England, I was pained by the very secret stealthy way in which alone my necessities could be met, showing that so far as the Church of Etigland was concerned there was something unreal and unauthorised in the act ; and after a fuller inquiry into the matter, it appeared to me, both from the practice of the Church of England, as well as from the testimony of the Bishops, that it did not sanction confessions, except in extreme cases, and as a kind of religious luxury for the dying. I men- tioned this to the Bishop of Salisbury, and asked his opinion upon the subject. He very candidlv told me that, as a minister of the Established Church of England, I could not enforce the necessity of penance, which is a Sacrament in the Catholic Church of Christ, and of which confession forms one important part. Conceive, then, my distress of mind. The very peace which I felt to be so necessary, I could neither obtain for my- self, nor lawfully apply to others equally in need ; nay more, I could not even encourage them to seek it, so long as they con- tinued to be members of the Church of England. That blessed fountain for the remission of sins has been closed against the people of England for three hundred years. Ever since the Re- formation successive generations have passed away unabsolved ; and it seems to be the intention of the Church of England (so long as it shall remain) that future generations shall pass away in the same uncomforted, unhopeful state. Again, I had always maintained that all who dissented from the Established Church were, by the very fact of their separation, excluded from the graces and the certainty of salvation, which are inseparable from the true Church of Christ. I, at that time, held that absurd notion, that it was possible that separate national churches, distinct from each other, and anathematising each other, could make up the one Church of Christ, and on this ground I pressed upon Dissenters the necessity of union with the Established Church. But here a difficulty soon presented itself to my mind. The Church of Rome, as the centre of all unity, claims jurisdiction over all baptized Christians. The Church of England denies this claim, and yet at the same time 298 asserts a similar claim over all Christians in England, affirming that she represents to them the Catholic Church, though she is herself divided from the rest of Christendom. In endeavoring to maintain this, I was led to admit the claim of the Church of Rome, for I found that in admitting the argument by which the Church of England justifies her separation from the Church of Eome, I, in fact, admitted at the same time the argument by which Dissenters defend their separation from the Church of England ; for the Dissenter justifies his separation from the Church of England upon grounds very similar to those upon which the Established Church justifies her separation from the Catholic Church of Christ, whose circumference is the world and whose centre is Rome. Step by step, I became convinced that union with Rome is as necessary to the vitality of a Church, as the union of a branch with the trunk is necessary to the vitality of the branch. How, then, could I honestly maintain my posi- tion, holding as I did the necessity of unity, while division is the principle of the Church of England. Again, I had believed that the Established Church main- tained, as its exclusive teaching, the doctrines of Baptismal Regeneration, and of the Real Presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. But I soon found that these doctrines were, at least, as frequently denied as they were tanght by the ministers of the Established Church ; and that even the Bishops of that Church are so little agreed upon the true doctrine of Holy Baptism that when it was denied, they could not agree to vindi- cate it. How, then, could I remain where I had no authority for my teaching, or where at least the same authority for my teaching, was equally claimed for the denial, as for the assertion, of the true doctrines of Christ's Catholic Church ? How could I remain amongst you, and remain true to Grod, to my own conscience, and to you? This, then, is the reason why I left you, because I believed more than I dared to teach, and because for my teaching I had no other, no higher au- thority to fall back upon than the authority either of indi- vidual men, or of my own mind ; and, professing to be a mes- senger from Christ, I could not rest upon less than a Divine authority, and this the Established Church does not possess, and therefore cannot give. The other point, on account of which I may have been blamed, 299 ia, that I have allowed these opinions to have any place in my mind. Now I think that you will admit that if these opinions are of God it would be very sinful to attempt to resist them ; if they are of God they cannot be overthrown — if they are of Satan they will soon show that they are his, and will fade away. The advice of Gamaliel is applicable here, and should be followed lest men be found lighting against God. Yet seeing how much of the happiness of others would be involved in my act, I con- sulted the most learned, and even endeavored by an act of the will to crush the thoughts which were continually rising up in my mind. For this I must ever humble myself in deep peni- tence before God, that in my blindness I once strove against Him, when He would in mercy call me to Himself. But the stirrings of God's grace are mightier than any human efforts, and, thanks be to His holy name, He did not leave me till He had blessed me ; He did not forsake me, but has guided me to His holy hill, where I hope and pray to dwell in safety for ever. But perhaps you will say to me, " Why did you not go on struggling against these doubts, you might have succeeded in overcoming them at last ? " My dear friends, I will tell you why I did not do so. 1st. Because I did not dare. I believed that God's grace was at work, and I dared no longer resist it. 2dly. I remember that the principle of the Church of England, of which I was then a minister, was that each man should satisfy his own mind by examining every doctrine for himself, and should not be re- quired to accept anything as true until he had satisfied his own mind upon it. I, therefore, searched the Scriptures, and by the exercise of the right of private judgment, which the Church of England affirms to be the right of all her members, I was con- vinced that my plain and obvious duty was to submit myself to the one true Church of Christ — the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church — which is governed by Bishops united under one visible head — the Bishop of Borne. It would weary you if I were to go through the several points which presented them- selves to my mind, and have led me to take the step which I have taken. Therefore I will speak as briefly as I can of those points which I have already mentioned. 1. The unity of the Church. 2. The Sacraments of the Church. 300 1st. — I read in the Bible that unity is the mark which God has set upon all His works. When the world was sunk in guilt, and Almighty God overthrew it, He saved one family, the family of Noah. Afterwards He called and blessed one family, the family of Abraham. Then he chose out one nation, and then established one Church. Afterwards He sent His son into the world, the visible manifestation of God in the flesh, to save the world ; and when Jesus Christ came fulfilling the law, He was not the author of confusion, for He still maintained the same principle of unity. He founded the one Church, He laid her foundations upon one rock ; He called her the one fold of the one Shepherd — tke one vine — the one kingdom ; He in- stituted one baptism and one Eucharist. As the Jewish Church was the shadow of that more perfect Church which was to come, and was one, so the substance which cast forth the shadow, the great reality which had been prefigured, is one also. So we find the Apostles afterwards speaking only of one Church — of one Society of Christ — of one body, one house, and of Christian unity as the abiding in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship. The Church is the one dove, the one ark of safety, the one faith ; she is the visible presence of our divine Lord's mystical body upon earth, and like the eternal Godhead, one. Her object is to preserve Christianity, or the revelation of God, by which salva- tion has been, and is continually announced to man ; and as Christianity or revelation is one, so the Church, the keeper of that revelation, is one also. It is therefore, impossible to admit the theory of independent national Churches — of Churches bounded by territory and se- parated from all others. The principle of particular churches is a dissolution of unity, and destroys Catholicity. "As the sun is one and the same throughout the universe so the preach- ing of the truth shines everywhere and enlightens all men who wish to come to a knowledge of the truth." Holy Scripture has taught me the value of this unity. — Holy Scripture has taught me to believe unity to be a mark of Christ's Church. Does the Established Church possess this mark ? Is it one with the rest of Christendom ? Nay, is it one ' with itself ? Is it not the house divided against itself? Three hundred years ago it lost this mark of a true Church, and cannot recover it but by returning as a penitent to the 301 centre of unity, from which at that sad period it broke loose. 2nd — And now let me speak of the Sacraments. First, the Established Church has mutilated them as to their number. Throughout Catholic Christendom there are seven Sacraments — Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The Church of England ac- knowledges but two — Baptism and the Supper of the Lord ; and in her rejection of the other five she is condemned by Holy Scripture, by antiquity, and by the great majority of Christians. Even the Greek Church, though it has broken away from the unity of the Catholic Church, yet retains seven Sacraments. This fact in itself condemns the Established Church of England for her rejection of Jive out of the seven. 2so one can deny that the agreement between the Catholic Church and the Greek Church affords a very strong testimony in favor of those points on which they agree ; testifying, as it does that such must have been the doctrine or practice (as the case may be) of the Catholic Church previous to the Eastern schism — that she teaches now what she has always taught. What, then, can the Established Church of England say in her defence for having thus tampered with the great verities of the Catholic Church ? How can she justify her isolated position having, in her pride, broken up and (so far as she is concerned) destroyed that sacramental system which our Blessed Lord es- tablished for the consolation of His children. How great a loss she has sustained by this rejection of the Sacraments which are, and ever were, the strength, support, and consolation of saints and penitents in the Catholic Church, it is impossible to form a just estimate. Yet the continual contention and fret against every- thing like Church authority, and the jealousy existing between the laity and the clergy, prove how great a blow has been in- flicted by the denial of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, while the carelessness and immorality with which matrimony is generallv approached by the English people, and the little acquaintance of the clergy with the spiritual condition of individual souls com- mitted to their charge, prove how ruinous has been the effect of the Church of England's rejection of the Sacrament of Penance, and of her degradation of the Sacrament of Matrimony. Secondly— The Church of England has mutilated the force N N 302 and meaning of the only two Sacraments which she has kept. Upon Holy Baptism she allows two contrary doctrines. In this article of her faith she at least connives at heresy. In the service for the holy communion she denies the Real Presence of our Lord. To prove this I need but refer you to the Rubric at the end of the communion service, though there are parts in the service itself which sufficiently prove it. I might also bring forward the general practice of the clergy with regard to the consecrated elements, which is a forcible com- mentary upon the service itself, and confirms the Church of England's denial of the Catholic doctrine of our Lord's Pre- sence in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. And here I would remark but one of two doctrines can be held upon this article of faith, either a Real Presence or a Real Absence, and of these but one is the truth ; I know of nothing between the two. The Catholic Church of Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has ever maintained the Real Presence. The Church of England seems to prefer the Real Absence. But it is painful to have to write upon these subjects, for I cannot forget that I was very lately a minister of that Church which I, in my conscience, believe to be in schism and in error. There are some, I know, who lament the position of the Church of England, and who profess to desire to bring about the restoration of unity, and hope to do so by remaining to fight on. But for what do they fight, and against what do they fight ? They fight for a Church (if it be one) which for three hun- dred years has been in a state of wilful schism — has at least doubtful orders — has mutilated the Sacraments — has no living voice, no definite teaching, has surrendered its highest trust to the Crown, which is now its head, and the judge of its doctrine. In a word, they fight for a shadow. They fight against a Church of unbroken succession — of un- doubted unity — herself the centre of all unity — possessing all the Sacraments — the Mother and Guide of souls — distinct and clear in her teaching — whose voice can be heard above the tumult of the wrorld — whose visible Head upon earth is the suc- cessor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles — which has lasted for more than 1800 years, in spite of all the trials and adversities which would have overthrown any human kingdom, but which cannot hurt or prevail against her, for she is founded 303 on the rock. The Almighty dwelleth in her; she is the king- dom of God and of his Christ ; the ohb Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. My dear friends, this is my defence. I have acted honestly by you and myself. My only repentance (and it is one which I must carry with me to my grave) is, that I did not obey the call at once when I first heard it ; but I knew not that it was the Lord who called me. I have sought for the pearl of great price, and, God be praised, have found it ; and you, my dear friends, must not quarrel with me, if in stretching forward to seize upon that pearl, and to make it my own, I have severed the tie which bound us. Do you yet ask to what Church I belong ? I will tell you. I belong to that Church which Jesus Christ Himself and His Apostles guided — in which the great saints and learned men of old were nurtured — which built those beautiful cathedrals and ancient parish churches which are scattered up and down through the length and breadth of this land, and which are even now the boast and glory of our country — which founded our Universities, and all the noblest institutions we have. Day by day do I now hear the same services which were heard in your old Church when it was first built, and con- secrated, as your village tradition says, by S. Thomas of Can- terbury, otherwise called Thomas a Beckett, and I have no doubt that, if he were to come amongst us again, he would weep over the deserted altar of your Church, and would with sorrow, tell you that you are wrong — that you have lost Catholic truth in rejecting Catholic unity and Catholic practice — that the way in which I now worship God is the same as the way in which he, and the whole company of saints and martyrs before him, wor- shipped the God of our fathers. Farewell, my dear friends. May God ever bless you, and watch over you, and may it please him to restore to our country her lost inheritance. Always your affectionate friend, Charles Thtnne. Clifton, Feast of the Purification of the B. V. Mary— 1853. A complaint having been laid against the proceedings of the Rev. A. D. Wagner, of St. Paul's, Brighton, before; the Bishop of Chichester, Dr. Gilbert considered it his 304 duty to protest most vehemently against Mr. Wagner giving to his parishioners ' pictorial crucifixes, in height four and one-eighth inches, by two and five eighth, and weigh- ing two ounces/ and " well adapted either to be suspended in the closet or worn upon the person, or to be kept be- fore the eyes on the table, in short, to be in either con- stant or occasional use,' and therefore in a way to lead to a superstitious use of them." Mr. Wagner, however, has persevered in his ' Tractarianism,' by simply concealing bis ultra views from the gaze of Mr. Paul Foskett, and the Brighton Protestant Defence Association, who have re- peatedly memorialized Dr. Gilbert. The ( Times/ having with its wouted love of truth cir- culated a report that Mr. Manning had returned to the Church of England, — the late Archdeacon of Chichester addressed the following pithy letter to the ' Times' To the Editor of the ' Times.' Sir, — On my arrival from Rome on Saturday last, my atten- tion was called to a paragraph in " The Times" of the day be- fore, stating that my return to the Church of England was ex- pected. To those with whom I have been in communication, either personally or by letter during my absence from this country, the report must appear simply absurd. But to others who can have no such means of knowing the truth, the currency given to any rumour by the authority of " The Times" might appear to render it probable. I therefore request you to oblige me by publishing this prompt and direct contradiction of every portion and particular of the paragraph in question. 1 have found in the Catholic Church all that I sought, and more than, while without its pale, I had ever been able to con- ceive. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, Henry E. Manning. Charhs Street, Berkeley Square, 12th June, 1852. 305 1S53. The principal converts this year are : — Rev. S. H. Neligan' Curate of Cashel. Rev. W. Pope. Curate of Lever Bridge. Rev. S. R. Bailey. Rev. N. Houghton. Rev. — Luttrell. Rev. L. Kynaston. AMERICA. Rev. X. C. Stoughton. Rev. D. Lynam. Rev. J. L.' Barrett. Rev. W. Pollard. Rev. C. E. Foote. DISSECT. Rev. P. Pritchard, D.D. Stuart Monteith, Esq. Lieut. Bastard. Lord R. Kerr. S. Church, Esq. (R.I.P.) Prince L'Arendt. Duke of Meeklenberg. Lieut. A. Bathurst, R.X. Lieut. Browne, U.S.X. Lieut. Bayard, U.S.X. Professor Blum. Princess Yasa. Marchioness of Lothian. Mrs. George M'Donald, Kilcleagh, WeBtmeath. John Pope. Esq. Miss Pope. 306 Miss Louisa Pope. Miss E. Pope. Mdlle. Boul anger. Mdlle. De Pau. Miss E. De Pau. Miss F. Bowden. Mrs. B Wilson. Mrs. S. Monteith. Mr. William Pope says, " Unless we have some rule to enable us to determine what the faith of the early Church really was, even though we were able to study the writers of that Church, we should only arise from their perusal perplexed. For how could we determine what works of the Fathers apply to all times; which are occasional, which are historical, and which doctrinal : what opinions are private, what are authoritative, what they only seem to hold, what they ought to hold, what are fundamental, what ornamental. English High Church- men have felt this difficulty strongly, and a well-known writer of that School has advised the study of the Great Anglican Divines before plunging into the sea of Patristic Theology — in other words, that we should learn of the Anglican Divines what the belief of the Primitive Church really was. But why of them? Why should they be better able to inform us about the Early Church than their contemporaries of the Roman Communion ? Why should they be right any more than modern Divines? If we may not take our Faith from Dr. Pusey — if we may not trust those who in the present day tell us that the Ante-Nicene Fathers did not believe in the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, or of Original Sin, why should we trust Hooker, for in- stance, who held that the Greek Fathers were involved by implication in the heresy of Pelagius, or Andrewes, who did not believe in the necessity of Episcopacy, or Jeremy Taylor, who was heterodox on the subject of Original Sin, and who much lamented the Nicene Council itself, and calls the question at issue between Arius and the Catholics, 307 ' the product of idle brains, a matter so nice, so obscure, so intricate, that it was neither to be explicated by the clergy nor understood by the people, a dispute of words which concerned not the worship of God, nor any chief commandment of Scripture, but was vain and a toy in re- spect of the excellent blessings of charity ; 9 or lastly, Bramhall, who vindicates as orthodox, the Nestorian and Eutychian Heresies of the present day. It is idle there- fore (may Mr. Pope well and truly conclude) to talk of appealing to the Church of the Fathers, unless we have the means of ascertaining what the belief of that Church rerlly was."* The secession of Mr. Pope and the other members of his family led to the following letter from the Provost of Beverley, (Very Rev. Joseph Render), to the Protestant Incumbent of Holy Trinity Church, York, (Mr. W. Beck- with) who, we are led to believe from Mr. Render's letter, Avas one of the chief instigators of certain harsh proceed- ings on the part of Mrs. Pope to her children : — To the Rev. W. Beckwith, incumbent of holy trinity, MICKLEG ATE. Rev. Sir, — Professing yourself to be a minister of Christ, you cannot but rejoice in the opportunity which I am about to offer you of performing, within the precincts of your own parish, one of those charitable works to which Christ attached a special blessing when he said, ' Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God.' I, therefore, respectfully invite you to join with me in a combined effort to establish peace, and to accomplish, if possible, a cordial and lasting re- conciliation between one of your parishioners, a Protestant parent and five of her own children, two sons and three daugh- ters, who have lately seceded from the Protestant church and embraced the creed of their Catholic forefathers. If you can induce the Protestant parent to grant liberty of conscience to her Catholic children, they, I can assure you, will give to her their prompt and cheerful obedience in all other * England, Greece, or Rome, by a Convert. 308 respects. They will love her also, and within their own breasts they will cherish for her all that ardent and devoted affection which good and dutiful children have ever felt for a beloved parent. Under these given circumstances, on what plea can you, Rev. Sir, withhold your charitable interposition in behalf of the Catholic children? or, on what grounds, let me ask, can the Protestant mother refuse to be reconciled with them ? The resolution which they have formed to adhere to the Catholic Church, and to worship Grod according to the dictates of their own conscience, is the only crime, I contend, which can be laid to their charge. But, in the first place, and while their minds were yet in quest of truth, was it a crime, or was it not their right and their sacred duty also, to search, to examine, and to select for themselves, and in accordance with the con- scientious convictions of their own minds ? At the present day, and in the midst of our present enlightenment, will any Pro- testant parent venture to deny to children of mature age and well-informed minds, this right of free and independent examina- tion in matters of religion ? How then could the Protestant parent be justified, in the present instance, in her attempts to compel her then Protestant children to live and to die in total ignorance of the principles and system of that church which per- vades the universe, and which professes to be divinely com- missioned to teach all truth to all the nations of the earth ? From their infancy their own Protestantism had taught them to rejoice in their possession of liberty of conscience, and to boast of those rights of private judgment which it had conferred upon them and proferred to all men. • But afterwards, and when they have advanced in age and ripened in judgment, can this same Protestantism be allowed to turn round upon them, and tell them that it is a crime to exercise the rights which it had given them, and forbid them to examine the principles of the universal church, and command them to believe in blind obedience to its own word, — that Popery, that the religion of the vast majority of the Christian people, really is neither more nor less than that horrible thing which its avowed accusers have represented it to be ? By your own adhesion to Protestantism, and by the value which you attach to the principles, I solemnly call upon yo.u to inform their 309 Protestant parent that free inquiry is the very basis of her own religious system, and that it would be cruelly unjust on her part to punish her children for having acted on the principles which her own Protestantim has infused into their minds. Her sons and daughters had a right, you must admit, to in- vestigate the system and to examine the principles of the uni- versal church, but they had no right, you will contend, to sacri- fice the independence of their own private judgment to the in- fluence or authority of the priest. This is a reproach which you are no doubt prepared to urge against them — but you are labor- ing under a very serious mistake. They did not sacrifice their right of judgment to the authority of the priest — they did not make the sacrifice, neither was it required at their hands. It was neither the opinion, nor the authority, nor the influence of the priest — but it was the deliberate, free, and independent exercise of their own private judgment that led them into the bosom of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolical Church. Their solemn adhesion to the Catholic Church was a free and most deliberate act of their own minds, and to fit their private judg- ment for that solemn act, and to free themselves from that undue influence which a desire of worldly advantages on the one side, or an excessive fear of reproaches and humiliations on the other hand, might produce upon them, they lifted up their minds from earth to Heaven, and often prayed to God in the words of the Psalmist — " Give me understanding and I will search thy laiv, and I will keep it with my whole heart." While they were thus devoutly asking for light to know, and grace to embrace, all the truths of divine revelation, the whole system of the Catholic Church was developed before them, and in it they recognised all the essential features of Christ's Church, and they both inwardly believed and outwardly confessed it to be that Church which He had commanded them to hear. In all these proceedings they made a real and lawful use of all the rights of their own private judgment. Neither did their ad- mission into the Catholic Church deprive them of any of those lawful rights of reason or private judgment which God has con- ferred upon them. They soon found that the Church of their own free choice does not condemn the rightful use, but the un- lawful abuse, of the rights and powers of their own minds. They now feel and believe that they are using those powers most oo 310 freely, and that they are acting most wisely in submitting their own minds to the teaching of that Church which God Himself has established, and commissioned and commanded to teach them all things requisite for their salvation. Protestantism may contend that they erred in matters of faith, but it must admit that they used their own reasoning powers, and that they employed good and worthy means to fit and enable their own private judgment to form a right decision, and that they held themselves accountable before God for the judgment which they had to form. But finally and for a moment, let it be supposed that they fell into error — on that supposition will Protestantism openly avow in the presence of astonished Europe that their error wras criminal, and that external punishments ought to be inflicted on persons who are found guilty of such crimes ? But in another respect, vou may imagine that you can impeach their conduct on safer ground and with more satisfaction to yourself. They turned away from the Bible, and on entering into the Catholic Church, the sacred volume became to them a sealed and forbidden book ! ! Even on that supposition would your Protestantism think itself justified in visiting them with pains and external penalties ? or will it affirm that such a crime on the part of children would be sufficiently ample to free their parents from their duties, and from all the sacred obliga- tions which God and nature have imposed upon them ? But their minds were not turned away from the sacred Scriptures ; neither has the Bible been closed against them. Reference wras constantly made to its inspired pages during the whole course of their investigations. In the present instance, religious con- troversy is out of place, and being uncalled for, I am not so rude as to obtrude it upon your attention. My present object is to state facts in support of my claims to your charitable in- terposition for peace and reconciliation between a Protestant parent and her Catholic children. I must not therefore attempt to convince you of the fact that they had recourse to the Bible, by placing before you all the passages that were drawn from it in support of Catholic doctrine. But they and I can affirm in the most solemn manner, and you will be glad to learn, that the Bible then was, and still remains, open to their inspection. From the church to which they belong, they know that their Bible is the inspired word of God, and they find that the word, 311 caught up by the eye from the inspired page, is the very same word that has been preached to their ears by the living and ever teaching voice of God's Church. By this means they now rejoice to think that they can read their Bible, and freely inves- tigate its meaning, without exposing themselves to the danger of wresting it to their own destruction. Having freed their conduct from reproach in this, as well as in all other respects, I have sustained, I imagine, my claims to your interposition in their behalf. When you speak to the parent, reason calmly and gently with her, for her sons and her daughters know that her maternal heart shrinks from the humiliation to which they have been ex- posed, but reproach and rebuke her bigoted and intolerant advisers. They, it has been reported to me, are the real authors of all the sufferings which the Catholic children have been com- pelled to endure, and if you find that report well founded, you cannot lash their intolerance with too much severity. By en- couraging persecution for conscience sake, they have given the lie to all their own liberal and hypocritical professions ; they have converted their boasted liberty of conscience into a mockery and a snare. They robbed these children, while yet Pro- testants, of the rights of private judgment, 'and they have robbed them, since their conversion to the Catholic Church, of their mother's affection. If report can speak the truth, they have done more than this — by their teasing misrepresentations they have impelled their beloved parent to treat them as aliens to her own family, to expel them from her bosom, and to banish them from their home. By moderating the severity of the parent, and by reprobating the conduct of her intolerant advisers, vincl tte your religion, I beseech you from this scandal, and your Protestantism from this reproach. I remain, Bev. Sir. yours truly, Joseph" Bender. Another controversy burst forth this year, threatening a renewal of the Gorham affair, on the only remaining Sacra- ment supposed to be held by the Establishment — the Holy Eucharist : our readers will remember that in 1843, Dr. Pusey had been condemned by the " Six Doctors,' ' 312 whose fame is now world-wide, for a sermon on this Sa- crament ; since then it had been held and taught sub silentio by the Tractarian party. Mr. Denison, the Arch- deacon of Taunton, in the discharge of his duty as Examin- ing Chaplain to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, had refused to present Mr. Fisher in consequence of his not assenting to a doctrine not openly preached in our Church since the days of the Marian persecution. Mr. Fisher complained to Dr. Spencer, the representative of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who in reply to his letter says, "I am aware that the last five martyrs who sealed, with their blood, their testimony to the pure faith as it is in Christ Jesus — died the horrible, but ever glorious, death at the stake at Canterbury, for believing " that a ivicked man doth not re- ceive Christ in the Sacrament." Dr. Spencer furthermore assured Mr. Fisher that the " teaching of our Church, most unquestionably, is that Christ is really, though only spi- ritually, present, to all faithful people in the Holy Com- munion;" and to Archdeacon Denison he wrote, "As I am convinced such is not the teaching of the Church of England, (i.e., the doctrine laid down by Mr. Denison,) I could not continue to hold my present commission, in a Diocese where such a doctrine is imposed upon the candi- dates for orders/' To this Mr. Denison replied in the fol- lowing letter : — East Brent, April 25, 1853. My dear Lord, — On reading your letter again I am afraid that there must have been an apparent — for you will no more than myself suppose that it could be — a real want of considera- tion and respect for yourself and your office in my manner of making a statement of doctrine, and of my resolve in respect of it on the occasion to which you refer. If this was so, I can only express my deep and sincere and heartfelt regret. I should be much concerned and vexed with myself to have been so forgetful of propriety and duty in any case, but there are rea- sons which in your case would add largely to my regret. I will now pass on to the substance of the question between us. I atn unwilling to enter at any length in a private letter upon a 313 matter which, unless it rest where it is, must become public, and in all likelihood largely affect the Church. From the view conveyed in your letter of your own responsibilities of ordaining at Wells — a view which I am bound to state to you is not my own — it seems clear that unless you become satisfied, which now you are not, that I hold the doctrine of the Church of England in respect of the ' Eeal Presence,' either you will not ordain or I shall not present. The causes leading to either issue cannot be kept private. The whole matter must be laid first, before the Bishop of the diocess, secondly, before the Church, with a view to a formal and authoritative decision. I have held my office of examining chaplain nearly eight years. I have been Archdeacon a year and a half, and have been' in both capacities singly and solely responsible for the presentation of candidates for Holy Orders, according, as I must ever think, to the letter and the spirit of the Ordination office. My un- derstanding of the doctrine of the Sacraments, as held by the Church of England, has been long publicly before the Church, and has been applied by me throughout in my examination of candidates for Holy Orders. The papers of questions are always printed, and may receive any circulation that any one may choose to give them. You now call in question my under- standing of the doctrine of the Sacraments, as held by the Church of England. I do not feel that in strict justice to, and consideration for, myself and my position and office, I am called upon to tender any explanation. I have nothing to retract or to explain, but to you, as to a kind friend and a Bishop of the Church, I am ready to state that I hold the doc- trine of the 'Beal Presence,' as declared and taught by the Church of England to be this : — 1. Negatively — That there is not a corporal presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacramental Bread and Wine ; that the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their very natural substances, and there- fore may not be adored. 2ndly. Affirmatively — That there is a Eeal Presence of the Body and Blood of CHBIST in the Sa- cramental Bread and Wine in a manner which, as Holy Scrip- ture has not explained, the Church has not defined. That the Body and Blood of CHBIST, being really present in the Sacra- mental Bread and Wine, are given in, and by, the outward sign to all, and are received by all. That whether the Bodv and 314 Blood of CHRIST be given and received i unto life ' or ' unto death,' this depends upon the state of heart and mind of the receiver ; in other words, that the Body and Blood of CHRIST are present to all objectively ;— subjectively that they are present to the faithful only. I might quote many passages from the Articles and Liturgy and Catechism, to prove that what I have here stated is the doctrine of the Church of England; I cannot admit that there is one passage in the Articles, Liturgy, or Catechism, which, when taken in its just and necessary de- pendence and connexion, teaches any other doctrine, or makes the Church appear to speak ' with an uncertain sound.' I wil- lingly quote one passage — £ Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye that mind to come to the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, must consider how S. Paul exhorted all persons diligently to try and examine themselves before they PRESUME to EAT of THAT BREAD and DRINK of THAT CLTP, for as the benefit is great if, with a true penitent heart and lively faith, we receive that Holt SACRAMENT — (for then we spiritually eat the Elesh of Christ and drink His Blood, then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us, we are one with Christ and Christ with us) — so is the danger great, if we receive the SAME unworthily, for then we are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ (eVo^os rod othfjtaro*; icai a'/fiaro? rou Kvplov), we eat and drink our own damnation, not considering the Lord's body (urj cuiKpivwv ro aw/xa rod Kvptov), not discerning between the Lord's Body and ordinary bread, i. e., it is the Lord's Body, but he who receives it unworthily deals with it as though it were ordinary bread. I have no recollection of hav- ing used the words in which you convey what appears to you to be my understanding of my doctrine, and I think it is hardly likely that I should have stated it in this manner. The contrast between ' faithful ' and ' faithless ' is quite new to me as a way of expression, which convinces me that I could not have used the words. Neither could I, I think, have applied ' verily and indeed' as you appear to think I applied them, because I consi- der those words to apply solely to the subjective presence, and to mark the difference between it and the objective presence. And now, so far as any private correspondence is concerned, I must request permission to take leave of this matter. Indeed I must reserve to myself the right, if need be, of publishing our 315 correspondence, though I sincerely trust the need will not arise. I go to Wells to-day to proceed with the examination to morrow. I will hope that what I have stated will be sufficient to show that you have sadly misconceived me, but if not, let us clearly understand one another — I must either admit or reject all candidates for Holy Orders on my own exclusive responsibility, or I must cease to hold my office as Examin- ing Chaplain even with reference to this ordination, for I can present no candidate who is subjected to any examination ex- cept and other than my own. And I should decline to present any of the candidates if my office, in respect of any one of them, be interfered with in any essential particular. I trust earnestly that in endeavouring to write plainly and definitely, I have not written improperly or unkindly. — Believe me, my dear Lord, Yours always most faithfully and affectionately, Geoege A. Denison." Mr. Denison also preached two Sermons at Wells Ca- thedral, on the Real Presence, thereby exciting the ire of Mr. Ditcher, who laid a presentment before the Bishop of Bath and Wells, praying for a prima facie inquiry which was granted, and a rumor was further circulated that it was also intended to prosecute the Venerable Archdeacon Wilberforce for his work on the Eucharist, but as these matters refer to 1854, we would beg to call the attention of our readers to the following ' Protest ' forwarded by Messrs. Keale and friends to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, against the conduct of Dr. Gobat, who had succeeded Dr. Alexander in the See of Jerusalem, having been appointed thereto by the Court of Prussia. To the Most Holy Lord An- thimus, Archbishop of Con- stantinople, New Rome, and (Ecumenical Patriarch : — and To the Most Holy Lord Hie- rotheuSj Pope and Patriarch /uaKapiujT('niv Kvp/iv Kvpctv *A.v9lfiw 'Apxie7rta,c°7riyKwi'- araprivov7ro\€ios, veas 'Vivfirjv, Ken Oikov/ligvikw Harptapxrj, Kdt Tic paicapiivTaiy Kvpi'tv Kvp/tv 'lepoOeij) Ylf'nry Kai Tiarpi- 316 of Alexandria, and (Ecume- nical Judge : — and To the Most Holy Lord .... Patriarch of Antioch, and of All the East :— and To the Most Holy Lord Cyril, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and of All Palestine : — and To the Most Holy Governing Synod of all the Eussias : — and To the Holy Synod of the Kingdom of Greece : The Undersigned Bishops, Priests, and Deacons of the Catholic Church in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and others in their Communion, greeting in the Lord : The Unity of the Faith, Most Holy Fathers in Christ, which binds together in one the different Branches of the Holy Catholic Church, renders it also necessary that, as the Apostle says, " If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." But the suffering, when brother gives occasion of scandal to brother, becomes much more grievous. And such is our case at the present time. For although you ig- nore the Church which is in England, yet this does not prevent us from sympathising apX7! TVS fie^aXovdXews 'A\- egavfipeia? Kal OIkOV/J€VIKU> Kptrij, Kal Ttp /xaKapiivrdrio Kvpi'iv Kvpi'tv Tlarpiap^rj rrj0' y/iwv fiaXXo/nei>oi, f&aXXov tt lis "KptaTiavot Te Krai KuOuXikoI At? ovv to av/u^efSrjKora ev (Hpii^ei civuKecfraXmouv, iva to o~Kavba\ov cnrXojepov o^oXcy- ou i/rev, Kai Trjv IjjuLe-rspav avaniav nvoCpalvivuev. (cai 7t)v a7ro\o^iau y/iiwu evica7a/naOr]707c'pau ttoiu- f.iei>. Haw -/dp ftapeivs a/xap7avet O 70 V -yjLTCoVa 70 V "XpiffTOU 70V uppa(pov o"x_il£(vv. 'Ey Ttp 67€i ovi> atcfxd eBoge 7iv fiaKapiu)7a7U) Kvpi'iy VvXieXfiw ■nys try/as 'Eka. A 9070:9 rjys Kav- Tovapt'a? rore Mr)7po7ro\i77} xat TTtlOT) 9 77j 5 ' A 77X /a 9 'E gdpX f ,' E 777 - gkottov 7iva €i, o£s Kai civtos ev to?9 7rpb TUJ O p- 7U)V 'Ek/cX^/ovW % \va7o\i- tcubv rd^fiaTi KaOeartL-at, paXXov be Trapixeiv VfUP rrju irpoor]KOV- aav Tiprjv Kat QepaireioVj Kat TrpoOvjxov e7vat irdv707e Kat ttuvti rpoTTtv airovcd^etv 7a eh 0/Aa£eA- (piav Ka\ avvrjOelav Kat opovoiav (pepovra. UcTrelapeGa /xei> irepl rovTOV 70v a£e\(j)ov 7J/JLU)l/ 071 e/c Ovfiov Kat Bid cvvelhvxaiv 7av7a t« cv7e7a\peva t»0' yfiwv 7rto~7ws a£e\0oi/ te- yeaOat av7bv, Kat ■xpeiav av7iv eirUatpov TTapiyeiv. Ylc7roi0ap,ev, aSe\(poi, o7i t) 7ravLepo77^ vfiwv 7y]V i7T(O70\r)i> 7av7r\v (j)i\o(ppo- vw* tc^7ai, tl>? fxap7Vpovauv 7TjP 7jfie7epav eh Vfxas aefiaoiv kcii (f)tXadc\(piav, Kat 7i)u iv rjptu e7ri7ro0rjaiv 70v avaveovaOat tocs rfj K\rjo-ia<}, ex 7to\\wv rjdrj ^evetbv diaXiTTOVffTis;- rji dvaveovfievrpt Ka7n (3ov\rjaiv Kat X"Plv 0eo"« TreTrolOapev Ia6r]aea9ai av ra rrx'0'/AaTa» t'1' ™v Betvo7a7a waOev 7j 70V Xpt07ov 'EiacXrjo-i'a" 319 The Bishop who is at the present time entrusted with that authority, entirely neg- lecting the commands of our late Metropolitan, and trans- gressing the injunctions which limit his authority, is harassing to such an extent the orthodox Eastern Church, as to receive Proselytes from her and con- gregate them into certain schis- matical congregations. Whence it has come to pass that the Anglican Church is reasonably brought into sus- picion with your Holinesses, as if she were waging war against the ancient Eaith, and daring to bring in secretly other new dogmas. We therefore, whose names are undersigned, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons of the Catholic Church, make this declaration as follows : — We altogether protest against all such acts done or now doing by that Bishop, as proceeding from himself alone, and re- ceiving no sanction from our Church ; we would especially repudiate his proselytizing practices, as being repugnant to the Compact (ratified a.d. 1841,) and as being direct in- fractions of the Canons of the Church. We therefore pray your Holinesses not to impute these scandals to us and our Church. And we trust that 'O [lev ovv 4v rev Trapovti rrjv e^ovatav ravrrju Trapadega/Lievov e777W07T0S, 7U)V V7TO 70U MrjTpO- 7ro\lTOV 70V fXClKapiTOV el/T6Ta\- fievwv Travv KctTacfipovrjaas, teat 7rapaf$a<} 7rjv Ta? hiaKOVias avTod 7repi*ipa /cXrjffcav e/? loaovtov hiaKiparrei, ware ical 7rpoarjXv70V5 ig avrip VTroceyjeoOat, ^al eU- ay^ta/maTiKd^ 7ivas avva^w^as ciOpoi^etv. 'E£ wv ov/Afie(5i]icev ras Vfie7e- pas YlaviepojijTa^ 7i]v eV 'A-yy\/a 'JLiacKrjrttav ehXo^tvs vttotttov eyjc.iv ive7at * YiTtiokottoi oVrev ical Upeafivrepot koi Aiaicovoi T/79 KaOoXacrjs 'Ek/cXt/oVus ovtws di'icr- yypi<£ofxc6a. To?9 H.GV 0V71VS V7TO 70V70V 70V 'YiTTLOKOTTOV TTpayGelat 7€ KOI Trpaaao/xevoi^ iravv inro7aoao- p.e0a, u)? ef eav70v, teal jut) inrb 7tj$ ev9a.de 'Etf/cA/tyoVas TrpayQe7ai% /uaXio~7a £e 70V 7rpoaijXv7ia/ubv a(fioo-iovpeGa, w' 70vto to acavhaXov fnipe rjfiiv pr,7e rij Trap* y/utv'Eic- KXr)(Jiq ava,7i'9evai. Y\i Tijv cnroXo^tnv 320 this explanation may be re- ceived in a friendly spirit ; and that your prayers may ever ascend for the well-being of the Holy Churches of God and the Union of all. We have set our hands to this iu the month of August, A.V., 1853. This Protest was condemned in the following terms by the Archbishops of England and Ireland : — "Whereas certain Clergymen have addressed a memorial to the Oriental Patriarchs and Synods in which the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem is accused of having exceeded the proper objects of his mission, and of introducing schism into the Eastern Churches : " And whereas some of the names affixed to the said docu- ment are the names of persons who hold official stations in the United Church of England and Ireland, and it might be sup- posed, at least in foreign parts, that a censure of the Bishop, as having acted without due authority from his Church, would not be made by persons who were themselves acting without such authority : " Therefore we, the Metropolitans of the United Church of England and Ireland, deem it expedient to make this public de- claration that the said Memorial does not in any manner emanate from the said Church, or from persons authorized by that Church to pronounce decisions. " We are induced to take this step, first, iu order to guard against the danger which might arise to our own Church from the example of the irregular and unauthorized proceedings of the memorialists ; and further, because we sympathize with our brother, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, in his arduous posi- tion, and feel assured that his conduct, under the circum- stances in which he is placed, will be guided by sound judg- ment and discretion. "Nov. 1. 1853." Ci J. B. Cant r a r. " T. Ebok. . " John G. Armagh. " Richard Dublin 321 Upon which the Committee framed the following reply : — "We, the Committee engaged in procuring subscription to an address to the Oriental Patriarchs on recent proselytizing proceedings in the East, having before us the declaration issued by the most Reverend the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, Armagh, and Dublin, concerning that address, do now, on behalf of the subscribers, most solemnly and earnestly protest before the Church, that we do not presume in the said address to speak authoritatively in the name of the Church of which we are members, but simply to clear our own consciences, and, as far as our individual subscriptions extend, to help towards the clearing of our own Church, also of what we feel to be a most grievous scandal pressing upon all. Should we be considered over anxious in hastening forward an object so urgent, we de- sire to submit ourselves, iu this and all other matters, to the authoritative and formal judgment of the Church. And we would very respectfully represent that to receive proselytes from a Church to which friendly professions, never cancelled, were made by the late Primate, and this with no other justifica- tion than that some of the persons so received had already left that Church, and professed before Mahometan magistrates their renunciation of their former confession of faith, and their preference of a nondescript Christianity, without any speciality of doctrine or discipline, is a proceeding at variance with Holy Scripture and with the canons of the Church, and, if persisted in and avowed and sanctioned, destructive of the character of our Church itself, as being, what we maintain it to be, a true portion of the One Holy Catholic Church of the Redeemer. We cannot but hope also from the concluding sentence of the Archbishops' Declaration, that the degree in which such pro- ceedings have been pursued and avowed before the world, had scarcely been brought under their Graces' knowledge and animadversion. And should it be judged that we have done wrong in not having presented the scandal to the legitimate au- thorities of our own Church before entering into communication with others on the subject, we trust that such presumed error will not be attributed to any disrespect for those authorities ; nor can we persuade ourselves that, on account of what may be 322 deemed irregularity on our part, the Archbishops, in conjunc- tion with their brethren, will abstain from doing what in them lies to remove our cause of complaint. If our proceeding be irregular, we trust that it may be considered but as one of many irregularities inseparable from the present position of the Church of England, in which the clergy, deprived of the legiti- mate mode of expressing their complaint afforded by the Con- vocations of the two Provinces, are compelled to clear their con- sciences in such way as is open to them, not being contrary to the Canons. Signed on behalf of the Committee, W. H. Mill, Chairman. Mr. Mason Neale had been inhibited in 1847, by the Bishop of Chichester, for certain supposed Popish tenden- cies, viz. : a wooden cross on the rood screen, an Altar with Cross and candlesticks, a Roman Breviary, and a Vulgate edition of the Scriptures ; the matter was carried into the Court of Arches, and Sir H. J. Fust decided that " Mr. Neale was liable to Ecclesiastical censure, but the Court would be satisfied with admonishing him to abstain from officiating in future without due authority, that au- thority being the Licence of the Bishop."* In conse- quence of the Bishop's continued refusal to license Mr. Neale, the following petitions were presented by the inmates of Sackville College to the Bishop of Chichester and the Patron of the Institution, the Earl De Le Warr. TJic Memorial of the Pensioners and Inmates af Sackville College, to the Lord Bishop of Chichester. "May it please your Lordship,— We, the undersigned, in- mates of Sackville College, humbly implore your Lordship's pardon for presuming to address you, but we cannot forbear representing to your Lordship the great hardship which we suffer, in consequence of your having seen fit to forbid our Minister to officiate in the Chapel. We do not doubt that your Lordship knows best what is right — better than we do : * Appendix CC. 323 but if your Lordship will condescend to make inquiries, we are quite sure you would find Mr. Neale an excellent Minister, as well as most kind to his people, and very much beloved by them. And if your Lordship would give him leave to read the Service in Chapel as he should do, we should be very much comforted, and very grateful to your Lordship, and pray that your Lordship may long live in health and happiness here below ; and finally, after this life, attain everlasting joy, shall be the prayer of your Lordship's humble servants. Sarah Andrews Elizabeth Hooker Elizabeth Alcock Jane Beard Mary Wren Sarah Leith Mary Anne Leith Sarah West Anne Hoare Sarah Ougley Elizabeth Ougley Arabella Swaysland Elizabeth Bish William Everest\ George Taylor Sister Richard Jenner Pensioners. William Wren Edward Martin Elizabeth Histed Mary Jenks Lucy Grayland Charlotte Skeates Abigail Martin Emily Wells Benjamin Chapman John Trice." Brother Pensioners. The Pensioners and Inmates of Sackville College to the Earl De La Warr. " To the Eight Honorable Earl De La Warr. "My Lord, — We, the undersigned Pensioners of Sackville College, feeling ourselves disappointed, and our condition in no ways bettered, by the answer of the Bishop to our Petition that he would let Mr. Neale read in the Chapel as he ought to do, — we now pray your Lordship, as our patron, to settle to us that we may not any longer suffer this wrong, but, according to the ordering of the Statutes, we may have the Warden to read prayers in Chapel, which are now only read by one of ourselves, and all because (as we suppose) of the Bishop's dislike to Mr. Neale. " We all heard the Bishop's letter read in the Hall, and it did in no ways satisfy us, as we are all willing to swear that Mr. Xeale has taught us no new doctrines, or perplexed our minds with any vain shows, as the Bishop says. That he should say 324 this puzzled us, and made us determine to ask your Lordship to get Mr Neale righted, for it was a good day that brought him to the College, and we do all look upon him as our Clergyman, and want that he should have the cure of our souls, which he is so fit and so willing to have, and which nobody else has, as we see " "If your Lordship choose to show this Letter to the Bishop, we don't mind his seeing of it ; only we know he has no calling in the College, and it does seem so vindictive-hke to punish Mr. Neale all this four years, and so keep us out of our rights, which was our reason for writing to him instead of your Lord- ship, whereas some say, Parliament would be the best friend, as we stand by an Act of Parliament. We, pensioners on your Lordship's bounty, are most of us old and infirm, and don t like the end of our days to be troubled as we have been; and so we pray God would bless your Lordship and my Lady, and every branch of that ancient and honorable family, with long life and great prosperity. (Signed bv the Pensioners as before) "We the undersigned Inmates of Sackville College, are wholly of the same mind with the Pensioners, and pray your Lordship to receive this our Petition." (Signed by the Inmates as before.) The Lord Bishop of Chichester to the Pensioners and Inmates of Sackville College. « To the Inmates of Sackville College, East Grinstead, who signed an Address to me, dated 22nd mst. "Dear Christian Priends,-I have read your address several times since I received it-each time with a renewal of pain and sorrow. I know not what I can do to help yon. I am sure those who designated Mr. Neale to the office of Warden m your College, with the intention that he should minister to you in holy things, believed they were acting for your good. I cannot, however, approve of the way in which he conducted those ministrations, departing, as he did, from the simplicity of our ordinary Church services, and perplexing your minds for such cannot be the result, with new and strange shows and ob- servances, different to all you have been accustomed to from your youth. The knowledge of these proceedings grieved me, 325 and obliged me to consider what it was in my power to do, to relieve yon from the ill effects on your religious views which I apprehended from them. " The institution of which you are members has no Chaplain properly belonging to it. The "Warden is appointed to be taken from among yourselves, and to read prayers and lessons, the Collegians being assembled in the Chapel. It is right that the inmates of such a house as yours should daily offer prayer to GrOD in social worship, and provision was thus made for their fulfilling that duty; but they were in no degree withdrawn from the full spiritual superintendence of the Incumbent of the parish, or of the Bishop of the diocese. " Disapproving then, as I said, of what I heard and saw of Mr. Neale's proceedings among you, I had to choose between appearing to countenance them, by abstaining from interfering, or manifesting for your benefit, and that of all who observed what was going on, my disapprobation, by the adoption of some step, which would be considered, I hoped, as a warning and a caution against the views and practices he was introducing among you. " I need not extend my letter further. It remains only that I should say that I have no reason for supposing that, if I were to remove the restriction I felt it my duty to lay upon Mr. Xeale, his views are so altered as that I might hope you would be safe from injurious influences from them. I must deplore your situation ; but I cannot bring myself to be a party in placing you under the guidance of Mr. Neale. " You have your Bibles and the Prayer Book of your Church in your hands. Bead diligently in that precious Book of God's AVord, with humble prayer to Him, that He will be pleased to incline your hearts and to open your understandings, that you may profit thereby. Attend the public worship of your Church as often as age and infirmities will permit you. And may Gron of His mercy, give you support, patience, and consolation in the trial He is pleased to lay upon you, in your being made the subjects of an unhappy difference, whereas we ought to be all of one heart and of one mind before Him. " I remain your faithful Pastor, " A. T. Cicesti;. " Palace, Chiclester, 27th December, 1851." 326 " The Earl De La Warr to the Pensioners and Inmates of Sackville College. " To the Pensioners of, and other Inmates, in Sackville College, East Grinstead. " I have read with lively interest, but with great pain, the memorial which you have addressed to me, as one of the patrons and visitors of Sackville College. I can well understand how deeply you must be affected by the Episcopal interdict, which has now for a lengthened period deprived you of those minis- terial services in the Chapel of the College which your ex- cellent Warden might and — to use your own forcible expres- sion— ought to perform. Into the causes which have led to the present state of things — hitherto unheard of in any col- legiate establishment — and to the severe ecclesiastical penalty continued in force against the Eev. Mr. Neale, it is not neces- sary for me now to enter, even if it were possible to find any causes existing in a tangible shape. " All, therefore, that I can now say in reply to the prayer of the petition is, that I will spare no effort in my power to obtain for you a restoration of those spiritual advantages to which you are entitled, as members of an institution founded to the honor and glory of Gron : with fervent prayers to Whom for your welfare, temporal and eternal, in which I am most cordially joined by Lady De La Warr and my family, I remain, "Your affectionate friend, and .one of your patrons and visitors, " De La Warr. " Buchliurst, January 27, 1852." 1854. The principal Converts this year were : — Eev. G. J. Hill, Bath. Rev. A. T. Morton, Curate of Devizes Eev. W. H. Scott, Curate of Emanuel Church, BoJton. Eev. W. Hamilton. Eev. Gr. J. M'Leod, Curate of St. Matthew's Stoke Newington. Eev. J. A. Pope, Incumbent of St. Matthew's, Stoke Newington. 327 Rev. H. N. Felgate, (R.I.P.J Fellow of Trinity Coll., Cambridge. Veil. E. I. Wilberforce, Eector of Burton Agnes, York, (R.I.P.) Rev. Gr. de la Feld, Rector of Tortington, Sussex. Rev. B. Wilson, Vicar of Fordham, Cambridgeshire. GERMANY. Rev. — Meinholdt. Rev. — Mosheim. Rev. P. Oertel. Rev. — de Soharet. AMERICA. Rev. H. Parsons. Rev. O. A. Shane. Rev. D. M'Leod. Lord Monteith. Baron Ward, (Milan.) Sir R. Crown. Dowager Lady Castlestuart. Digby Boycott, Esq. Hon. J. R. Chanter. Prince Galitzkin. Viscount Castlestuart, (R.I.P.) Lieut. Bastard. Charles Voegel. Gr. Wincklemann Hon. F. Cavendish, (R.I.P.) Prince of Hesse Darmstadt. Dr. Eiseubach. Lady Floyd. Lady*Monteith. Lady de Trafford, (R.I.P.) Princess Navroki. Baronne D'Ordred. Ctss. Zulo. Mrs. Hill. Mrs. Scott. 328 Miss Monteith. Princess C. Vasa. Miss Floyd. Miss Stanley. Mrs. Sandys. England was startled with rumors of hostility against Messrs. Denison, Phipps, Morton, and Robert Wilberforce, which ended in the resignation of the Curate of Devizes, and his ultimate submission to the Church ; thus termina- ting a quarrel, as far as he was concerned, which would have dragged the most evident proof of our Lord's love before the public, before an infidel and unbelieving race of men who sneer at God's truth, and thereby increase their own damnation ; for though the Establishment does not, and cannot possess him who dwells in our tabernacles, the God of Love and Peace, yet the very fact of certain of its (so called) ministers holding the doctrine of the Real Pre- sence, might tend to blaspheme Him Whose Holy Name should be treated with reverence and veneration. And yet, dear reader, is it possible to believe that those who are still left behind in the meshes of Anglicanism " enjoy peace in the ivay of duty, and rest in obedience ? " They believe in the Real Presence, and yet persist in up- holding a Church, which refuses to adore, and they have peace (we are told) in the way of duty. They believe in the efficacy of the Mass, as the one Sacrifice for the living and the departed, and yet persist in upholding a Church, whose language denounces that office as a blasphemous and dangerous deceit, and yet they say they have peace in the way of duty. They believe that they who reject Christ's lawful ministers reject Him, and on Dr. Pusey's assurance, that they need not examine who those Ministers are, they reject those whom the See of S. Peter and the Catholic world send and acknowledge as the only lawful ministers of Christ, and yet (we are assured) they have peace in the way of duty. And from whom, but from 329 themselves, has Dr. Pusey derived this most singular au- thority over them? Trusting, however, to his assurance, they reject the warnings, disobey the commands, and dis- regard the excommunications of the acknowledged suc- cessors of S. Peter, and they have rest in obedience — TO WHOM?'" Mr. Robert Wilberforce, previous to bis secession, hav- ing first resigned his preferment in the Establishment,* published a work on the Principles of Church Authority, in which he proves that "private judgment has (since the Reformation, been the real system that prevailed in En- gland/' Well and truly does Mr. Wilberforce sum up the argument of his work in the following words, "It has been shown by the testimony of those who lived before us, that our Lord not only taught doctrines, but founded a Church. To this Church He was pleased to commit the especial function of interpreting that system which He de- livered to mankind. He qualified it for such an office, by rendering It the habitation of that Divine Spirit, which had dwelt without measure in the temple of his own Hu- manity, and was pleased to take up His perpetual abode in His Body Mystical, the Church. Such is the statement of those who have delivered to us an account of our Lord's nature and actions, and unless this capacity of judgment had been possessed by the Church, we could have no evidence of the inspiration of that Sacred Volume, which contains the records of our faith. For it was the Church's judgment, which stamped it with authority, and in its turn it confirms that which Antiquity had previously witnessed, respecting the authority of the Church. The Church's authority then depends on that presence of the Spirit which gives it life. This authority had resided first in its completeness in the Person of our Lord, when He was manifest in the flesh. He was pleased to bestow it in a plenary manner on the College of His Apostles; from them it has descended to their successors, the Bishops * Appendix DO. 330 throughout the world. But to preserve the unity of this wide-spread commission, our Lord was pleased to give an especial promise to one of His Apostles, and to bestow upon him, a name and office derived from Himself. And as the Episcopal College at large succeeded to the Apostles, so was there one Bishop, whom the. Universal Church believed from the first to be the successor of S. Peter. Hence was he spoken of in ancient time, as discharging that function among the rulers of the Church Catholic, which was discharged among his brethren by the chief Apostle. The successor of S. Peter is declared by those General Councils which are admitted by all Catholics to be the representative of Him Who was the bond of unity and Rock of the Church. And hence, as the circle of Christendom grew wider, and its unity could not be main- tained without a stronger principle of confraternation, it was through this principle that the Oneness of the Catholic Body was perpetuated, and the Primacy of S. Peter ripened into the Supremacy of the Pope. But now comes a change. There arises a powerful Monarch in a remote land, who resolves to separate the Church of his nation from the unity of Christendom. He effects his purpose by force or fraud, and bids it recognise a new principle of unity in himself. He passes to his account, and his chil- dren rule after him. But this new princip'e of unity is found in time to be insufficient. No sooner is the grasp of the civil ruler relaxed, than a host of parties divide the land ; the very thought of unity and hope of concord is gradually lost. The National Church is surrounded by sects, and torn by dissensions. Intra muros peccatur et extra. And can it be doubted what advice would be given to its children by that great Saint, who looked forth upon a somewhat similar spectacle in his native land, and whose life was expended in winning back his brethren one by one to the unity of Christendom ? He did not think that the national energy of Africa was any pledge of safety to the Donatists, or that the number and succession of their 331 Bishops entitled them to respect. — 'Come, brethren, if you wish to be inserted in the Vine ; for we grieve when we see you lie thus cut off from it. Number the Bishops from the very seat of Peter, and in that list of Fathers, see what has been the succession; this is the rock against which the proud gates of Hell do not prevail/ "* The conversion of Hon. F. Cavendish is thus referred to by the very Rev. F. Rinolfi : — " The Missioners had also the great satisfaction of receiving into the Church before leav- ing Castlebar, the Hon. F. Cavendish. This gentleman had alw ays been a most upright and liberal man, advocat- ing Catholic interests for years merely on the score of truth and of justice, not anticipating that he should ever be a Catholic himself. It was during this Mission, which he attended as often as his old age and infirmity allowed him, that his natural honesty and justice done to his abused and insulted Catholic neighbours were repaid by Almighty God, by granting deep conviction to his mind and firm resolve to his heart to embrace the Catholic faith. It was a spectacle moving to tears to see that grey-haired and infirm nobleman, with his eyes bathed in tears, submit, with the simplicity of a child, his venerable head to the re- generating waters of Baptism, and then declare his utter unworthiness of such a grace, and his incapacity to express his feelings of gratitude to Almighty God and His Mis- sioners. " The Protestant churchwarden of S. Paul s, Knights - bridge, elated by the success of his canvass and the resigna- tion of Mr. Bennett of excommunication notoriety, ad- dressed a letter to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, in which he complains of the Romish practices of Mr. Bennett's successor, the Hon. and Rev. R. Liddell, who was governed by Mr. Nugee, one of his curates. Mr. Westerton thus describes the 11 o'clock service at S. Paul's, and proceeds to mention other discrepancies be- tween the conduct of Messrs. Liddell, Nugee, Parry, and * Wilberforce's Principles of Church Authority. 332 Lowder — "While tlie Clergy bell* is ringing, the cho- risters, boys and men, issue from the clerk s vestry in pro- cession, followed by one of the curates, cap in hand ; when they have taken their places, Mr. Liddell and two other curates, with occasionally volunteer clergymen, walk in procession from the vestry, each bearing one or more of the vessels to be used at the Communion. As they ap- proach the ' Altar,' f on which stands a large cross, Mr. Liddell bows to it reverently, and deposits on the cre- dence-table by its side the vessel he has brought. Mr. Nugee, also bowing, reverently approaches it, and giving up what he has brought to be put there, takes his post on the south side of it, followed by the others, who having imitated his example, take their places behind them." Mr. Westerton further compares with The Rubric, from the Book of Common Prayer. 1 . 'At the beginning of Morning Prayer, the Minister shall read with a loud voice some one or more of these sen- tences of the Scriptures that follow, and then he shall say that which is written after the said sentence. The manner in ivhich the direc- tions of the Rubric are fol- lowed at S. Paul's. • 1. The Minister does not read or say, hut intones % them, and that so quickly that the effect intended to be produced by them, is altogether lost on the congregation. * Mr. Westerton has not explained this mystical phrase, and we have in vain searched Hook and Riddell for the meaning of this Anglican, and, to us, certainly novel term. + An Altar is defined to be " a sort of table which the old heathens made use of to offer sacrifice to their gods. Among the Jews there was a great variety of Altars, and also in the Primitive Christian Church ; and even to tli is day in the Roman Catholic Church ; but. the Church of England and all the Reformed Churches discontinue the name and have abolished the doctrine that supported the use" Dyche's Eng. Dictionary. % To intone is to " make a slow protracted noise," as Pope — " So swells each windpipe ; ass intones to ass, Harmonick twang." 333 2. A general confession to be said of the whole congrega- tion, after the Minister. 3. The absolution is to be pronounced by the Priests. 4. The people shall answer, here, and at the end of all other prayers, Amen. 5. Then the Minister shall kneel, and say the Lord's Prayer, with an audible voice, the people repeating it. 0*. Then likewise he shall say ;— 7. Here all standing up shall say, Glory, &c. 8. Then shall be said or sung the Psalm following. 9. Then shall follow the Psalms in order. 10. Then shall be sung or said the Apostles' Creed by the Minister and people stand- ing, except only such days as the Creed, of S. Athanasius is appointed to be read. ####*# 20. The table at the commu- nion time haviug a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the Chancel, where morn- ing and evening prayers are appointed to be said, &c. RR 2. Chanted. 3. It is intoned. 4. It is chanted by the choir. 5. The Minister does not say, but intones it, the cho- risters the same for the people. 6. He chants it, and the an- swers are chanted by the choir. 7. He chants it as often as it occurs with this addition — Mr. Liddell, folding his hands across his breast, bows his head toward the Altar, con- tinuing bent till it is ended. Mr. Nugee does the same. 8 Chanted. 9. Chanted. 10. The Apostles' Creed is sung accompanied by the Or- gan, but while doing so the choristers and Clergy turn their faces to the ' Altar ' and their backs to the Congregation. ###### 20. No table is provided, but instead of it an elaborately carved oaken Altar precisely like those used in Roman Ca- tholic Cathedrals and Chapels, and like them covered with rich velvet ' xlntependia ' or 8;u 25. Then shall follow the Sermon, or one of the Homi- lies already set forth or here- after to be set forth by autho- rity. 26. Then shall the Priest re- turn to the Lord's table, &c. *' Altar ' cloths of colors vary- ing with the season, em- broidered with monograms, neurs de lis, and other devices in silver and gold. #####* 25. Mr. Liddell then leaves the Altar to put on his gown and preach the Sermon, the Curates remaining hidden from the congregation in the sedilia by the side of the Altar, like Mouks and Roman Catholic Priests. 26. The Sermon ended, all the congregation depart ex- cept those who stay to the com- munion. Another procession of the Curates from the 1 Altar ' to the Vestry, and with Mr. Liddell from the Vestry to the ' Altar ' having taken place, the choristers resume their places, and the two Churchwardens approach the railing in front of the ' Altar,' one on the north, and the other on the south 3ide ; here each finds two golden dishes, placed for him with a piece of red cloth with em- broidered border, and the mo- nogram I.H.S. inside them, they turn round and come down to the foot of the steps leading to the chancel, where the Clerk is waiting on the north, and the Verger on the south side, for their plate or bason, and during the intoning of the sentences previously al- 335 # # * * * 42. After the Divine Ser- vice is ended, the money given at the Offertory shall be dis- posed of to such pious and charitable uses as the Minister and Churchwardens shall think fit. "Wherein, if they disagree, it shall be disposed of as the Ordinary shall appoint." luded to, the Offertory money is collected, and each takes up his plate to one of the Curates, who, with the large alms dish before him, is waiting to receive and place them therein ; when this is done it is handed to Mr. Liddell, who reverently places it on the 'Altar' before the Cross. 42. Until very recently, Mr Liddell took possession of the whole of the Offertory money, amounting annually to an un- usually large sum, which he disposed of at his own will and pleasure — the Churchwardens not having a voice in the dis- tribution of a single shilling to the poor, nor have they so now." This letter having produced no reply from the " Bishop " of London, though Mr. Liddell discontinued the " proces- sion " and the bowing to the Altar, yet as some Popish practices were still continued, a remonstrance was ad- dressed to Mr. Liddell by his Protestant churchwarden, wherein he thus refers to the credence-table : — "I have to complain of the introduction and use of the 'Credentia' or c Diminutive Preparatory Altar/ or, as it is sometimes called, the 1 side board ' or ' Credence Table/ which has been set up in the said Church of S. Paul, as I affirm, without any lawful authority. I protest against the use of the said credence-table as furniture or ornament utterly unknown to ecclesiastical uses in the Protestant Reformed Church of England at any time since the Reformation, and I insist that the same is a mere 336 Popish utensil; and I do accordingly protest against the use of the same as a thing so utterly foreign and unknown in the Protestant Church, that it has no English word or eqivalent phrase to express its Roman name; an utensil, moreover, only mentioned in the Missals or Romish cere- monials, declared unlawful by the Statute 3 and 4 Ed- ward VI. c. 10." After a lengthened series of protests and remonstrances, the period of the election for churchwardens approached, and after no little manoeuvring, unusual even in any contest for a Parliamentary seat, Mr. Westerton was returned on 16th of June, by a majority of 327. The state of the Poll was — . Westerton, 651. Davidson, 328 During the first election a circumstance occurred which deserves a place in our "Annals," as showing the partiality of Protestants, whether Soupers or Tractarians, to figure in the Police Court ; we refer to the enquiry into the com- plaint of John Ledwich against the Rev. Charles F. Lowder, for inciting certain lads in Cherry- street, to attack him with eggs and stones. Mr. Lowder apologized, and as a salve to the egg-pelted bill carrier, gave him £2. We insert the trial in the Appendix, as also a most amusing letter from a Parishioner of S. Paul's describing the zeal of " certain ladies " (reminding us, by the way, of our Souper ladies in Ireland), who rushing into the shops would take the place of the little tradesman, and dispense " lolly-pops" and red herrings, while the proprietor was hurried into a cab to vote against "that Westerton."* Well may we smile when we hear of S. Barnabas pelting S. Paul with rotten eggs S ! Of a truth Mr. Lowder deserves our best thanks for this farcical and ludicrous interlude in a Trac- tarian hand-to-hand contest. When will Mr. Lowder again interfere and think it a " capital joke," as no doubt it was, to pelt a poor " board man " with rotten eggs and * Appendix EE. 337 stones? would that we knew, for that we should like to see the fun, from a window at least, and purchase a penorth of lolly-pops from one of the titled dames of Belgravia, and be present at one of the " High Teas " of S. Barnabas. Mr. Westerton, finding himself supported by so large a majority of the Protestant parishioners of Belgravia, pub- lished a Reply to the Adjudication of the Bishop of London, proving by the Injunction of Edward VI. (1547) that pro- cessions were never recognized or used by the Protestant Church — that "bowing to the altar" was only peculiar to Popery, that intonation was forbidden by Edward and Elizabeth, and by the 13 and 14 Charles II., cap. 4, sect. 2 ; that " Altars," high or diminutive, are wholly and solely Popish, and we are informed by Mr. Westerton, on the authority of Cave, that "Primitive Christian had no other Altar in their churches than decent tables of wood." The churchwarden reminds Dr. Blomfield that an altar is an altar though it be " not fixed " but " moveable," as fixedness was never an essential element or characteristic of the structure called an Altar, and as a proof of this cites Lucan — " Erexit subitas congestu cespitis aras Vota qui thuri cremos non irrita fudit in ignes ; " and Virgil — " Campum ad certamen, magnae sub moenibus urbis, Dimensi Eutulique viri Teucrique parabant : In medioque focis, et Diis commimibus aras Gramineas ;" and further quotes Facciolati to show the difference be- tween the "Alta ara" (i. e., altare) and the "ara quse humilior est," or the Altare prothesis— " Altare, (says Facciolati) locus ad sacrificandum aptus, in quo adoletur victima; quare differt ab ara, quae humilior est, et turn Inferis, turn Superis, diis convenit. Prscterea in ara aut sujyplicatur, aut libatur tantum in Altari victima adoletur" 338 — that Altars by the injunction of Edward VI. ad- dressed to Ridley, "were to be taken down in every church and chapel " — that " Sir John Gates went down with letters to see the Bishop of London's injunctions per- formed, which touched plucking down of superaltars, Altars, and such like ceremonies and abuses " — that in 1564 an order was issued for " the Parishe to provide a decente table," and that " Altar stones were to be defaced and bestowed to some common use " — that candlesticks are " purely and essentially Romish " — that the decking the " Altar with flowers is a corruption of the Roman Church first imitated from the Pagans, as — " Ridet argento domus : ara castis Vincta Verbenis avet imraolati Spargier agno ; " and Virgil — " Effer aquam, et molli cinge hsec altaria vitta Verbenasque adole pingues et mascula thura." To this memorial the Bishop's secretary thus replied : — Demi's Yard, Westminster, 17th August, 1854. " Sir, — The Bishop of London desires me to say, that he has received your letter of the 9th instant, and that he sees no reason to alter the decision which he made known to you in his letter of March last. " I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, Christopher Hodgson, Sec." And here we purpose for a while bidding adieu to Messrs. Westerton, Liddell, Lowder, and Co. The Archdeacon of Taunton, on being apprised by the Archbishop of Canterbury that the Rev. Mr. Ditcher had brought the two following charges against him, viz : — 1. "That the Act of Consecration causes the Bread and Wine, though remaining in their natural substances, to have the Body and Blood of Christ really, though spi- 339 ritually, joined to them, so that to receive the one is to receive the other." 2. " That the wicked and unbelieving eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper just as much as ever/'— and that it was His Grace's "intention after the expiration of fourteen days, to nominate five Clergy of the Diocess to inquire into the justice of this charge in accordance with the provision of the Act of the 3r, and 4th, of Victoria, cap. 86, and to ascertain whether there be prima facie ground for further proceedings," determined to fight out the battle on technical grounds, leaving it to his adversary to prove the publication of the Sermons, &c. ; the Archdeacon accordingly presented a formal protest against the proposed court as null and illegal, but, however, the Commissioners, viz. :-- the Right Rev. Bishop Carr, Bath, the Rev. C. Langdon, Vicar of Queen's Camel, the Rev. C. Pole, Rector of Yeovelton, the Rev. R. C. Phelps, Rector of Cucklington, and the Rev. CO. Mayne, Vicar of Midsomer Norton, who proceeded, regardless of the Arch- deacon's protest, to ascertain whether there were prima facie grounds for further proceedings pursuant to an 'Act for better enforcing Church discipline,' "and held their sitting at Clevedon : and after several days declared their unanimous opinion to be ; 1 . " That as respects the preaching and publishing (or making known or public) the above Sermons, by the Venerable the Archdeacon of Taunton, within the Diocess of Bath and Wells, there is sufficient prima facie ground for instituting further proceeding." 2. " The Commissioners having carefully examined the aforesaid Sermons and charges specified in the Commission, declare their unanimous opinion that ' the proposition ' of the Venerable the Archdeacon of Taunton, ' That to all who come to the Lord s table, to those who eat and drink worthily, and to those who eat and drink unworthily the Body and Blood of Christ are given, and that by all who 340 come to the Lord's table, by those who eat and drink un- worthily the Body and Blood of Christ are received/ is directly contrary or repugnant to the doctrine of the Church of England, and especially to the Articles of Re- ligion, and that the doctrine as set forth in the aforesaid Sermons with reference to the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist are unsupported by the Articles taken in their literal and grammatical sense, are contrary to the doctrines and teaching of the Church of England, and have a very dangerous tendency. The Commissioners are therefore of opinion, secondly, that there is sufficient prima facie ground for instituting further proceedings. The Com- missioners at the same time think it due to the Venerable the Archdeacon to state that in the Sermons under con- sideration, he has expressed his full assent and consent to the Articles of Religion, and that he has ex animo con- demned the doctrines of the Church of Rome, and parti- cularly the Roman doctrine of Transubstantiation." In consequence of this decision certain criminal ar- ticles— twenty-five in all, were filed by John Bird, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, at the voluntary promotion of the Rev. Joseph Ditcher, against the Venerable George Anthony Denison, Archdeacon of Taunton. The cause celebre of Ditcher v. Denison, will be again brought before our reader, during the following year. 1855. The principal converts were — Rev. C. E. Parry, Curate of S. Paul's Knight' s-bridge, London. Rev. E. S. Efoulkes, Tutor of Jesus College, Oxford. Rev. W. Palmer, Eellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Rev. E. B. Deane, Rector of Lewknor, Oxford. Rev. T. P. Wright, Eellow of King's College, London. Rev. E. Lascelles, Vicar of Mere vale, Warwickshire. Rev. T. S. Cocks, Rector of Sheviock. Ml Rev. W. Wheeler, Vicar of Shoreham.* Rev. G. Rose, P. C, Earl's Heaton, Yorkshire. Rev. L. Kynaston. Rev. H. I. Nash. Rev. — Chestnutt. Rev. — Moody. RUSSIA. Rev. — Djunvowsky. AMERICA. Rev. H. Wheaton. Rev. W. B. Whitcher. Rev. W. Markoo. Rev. E. H. Doane. Rev. W. Forest. Mrs. G. Talbot. Colonel Wood. Gemschid Rasched Bey Hon. J. Vandyke. (America.) M. David Richard. M. J. Marguet. Earl of Divnraven. Mr. Reid. F. Gosberry, Esq, C. R. Bailey, Esq. Miss Lawfield.f * " Since the retirement of Archdeacon Manning from the Establishment," (says the Brighton Examiner,) " there has been nothing in this part of the country which has created half the sensation as the secession of Mr. Wheeler, and everyone must see that it affects all those large establish- ments which have been formed at Shoreham, Hurst, and Lancing, and which now involves to a considerable extent Magdalen College Oxford." t The Guardian's Constantinople correspondent says : — '; The case of Miss Lawfleld, one of the English Church nurses who has joined the Roman Catholic Church, will, doubtless excite a considerable degree of attention in England. Her change of mind cannot be justly attributed to the influence of the Catholic Priests here. I believe that one cause of her turning her back on her old faith is this : thera is a religious indifference amounting to a practical infidelity amongst most of our military men. The large majority SS 342 Miss Featherstone. Mrs. Spurgeou. Miss Spurgeon. Lady Bourke. Marble Hall, Co. Galway. Duchess of Buccleuch Capt. Boteler. Mr. Parry says, "Certainly there is one hindrance to our submitting to the Catholic Church, independent of ar- gument, false notions, and prejudices. It is dread. The dread of leaving for ever one idea of Christianity for another, so strangely different, so hateful to the natural man, so unbending, as that of the Church of Rome. High Anglican theories excited our imaginations, and separated us in thought from the rest of our Protestant brethren, but Rome divides us for ever from all such theories, as well as from Protestantism in general. She will be believed en- tirely or not at all ; she is the whole truth or none ; she is alone Christ's Church or 'Antichrist ; a gigantic delusion, or the true messenger from Heaven. These Anglican Theories may lead you gallantly to her threshold, but once there, you must retrace your steps, or leave those theories as you pass within her pale. Many when they see this sicken at the sight, and shrink from the sacrifice. Let us count then the cost, for the sacrifice -of the past must be full and entire. The English Establishment is utterly wrong, notwithstanding its ancient creeds and re- spect for past times, or Rome is a lie. Better remain where you are than take your Protestant fancies into the Roman Communion. She must be exclusive, for the Gospel is so. The Gospel is indeed open to all, both bad and good, and so also are the Church's doors, and all na- tions and people are pressed to come in, but as every Christian creed necessarily excludes more than 500,000,000 of the Protestant officers and medical men do not make any recognition of religion. The common soldiers are generally sunk in apathy. The specta- cle of a dead faith among her fellow-Christians being daily presented to her seems to have shaken her attachment to the Church of her birth and of her country. 343 of human beings from the present grace of the Gospel, so the creed of Rome excludes from the unity of the True Church, all Protestants and Greek schismatics too. If nothing would persuade you that the latter creed can be right in its exclusion, nothing ought to convince you that the Gospel can be true at the expense of so many other re- ligious systems in the world. " * As regards Mr. Ffoulkes, we feel it incumbent on us to refer to a work published by him in 1853, entitled, The Problem ' What is the Church J ' solved, oce^L? ir^pl rod ri l)v elvcu -r/ys E/tvc\ry