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A LETTE 
 
 TO THE RIGHT REV. FATHER IN GOD, 
 
 RICHARD, LORD BISHOP OF OXFORD, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TENDENCY TO ROMANISM 
 
 IMPUTED TO 
 
 DOCTRINES HELD OF OLD, AS NOW, IN THE 
 ENGLISH CHURCH: 
 
 WITH A 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 BY THE REV. 
 
 V 
 
 E. B. PUSEY, D.D. 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE; 
 REGIUS PROFESSOR OF HEBREW, AND CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 OXFORD: 
 J. H. PARKER: 
 J. a. F. & J. RIVINGTON, LONDON. 
 1840. 
 
" To say that in nothing they may be followed which are of the Church of 
 ' Rome, were violent and extreme. Some things they do in that they are men, in 
 ' that they are wise men and Christian men some things, some things in that 
 ' they are men misled and blinded with error. As far as they follow reason and 
 ' truth, we fear not to tread the selfsame steps wherein they have gone, and 
 ' be their followers. Where Rome keepeth that which is ancienter and better, 
 ■ others whom we much more affect, leaving it for newer and changing it for 
 ' worse ; we had rather follow the perfections of them whom we like not, than 
 ' in defects resemble those whom we love." 
 
 Hooker, Book V. ch. xxviii. sect. 1. 
 
 " They which measure religion by dislike of the Church of Rome, think every 
 ' man so much the more sound, by how much he can make the corruptions 
 
 ' thereof to seem more large Wisdom therefore and skill is requisite to 
 
 ' know, what parts are sound in that Church and what corrupted. 
 
 " Neither is it to all men apparent which complain of unsound parts, with 
 ' what kind of unsoundness every such part is possessed. They can say, that 
 ' in doctrine, in discipline, in prayers, in sacraments, the Church of Rome hath 
 ' (as it hath indeed) very foul and gross corruptions ; the nature whereof, not- 
 " withstanding, because they have not for the most part exact skill and know- 
 ' ledge to discern, they think that amiss many times which is not ; and the salve 
 ' of reformation they mightily call for, but where and what the sores are which 
 ' need it, as they wot full little, so they think it not greatly material to search." 
 
 Hooker, Book IV. ch. viii. sect. 2. 
 
 GILBERT 8: RlVINQTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The interval of rather more than a year which has 
 elapsed since the first publication of this Letter has, 
 by God's mercy, had much effect in healing the 
 distractions of our Church. Rumours, which were 
 over-hastily believed, have died away ; testimony 
 has been borne by persons unconnected with the 
 individuals who were thought to be schismatics, that it 
 is no new doctrine which they teach 1 ; the very fact 
 that things remain as they were, has a tendency to 
 reassure men's minds; since it is ever the tendency of 
 novelty and schismatical teaching, to develope itself 
 further, and detach itself more from the doctrines of 
 the Church ; stationariness is a proof of adherence 
 to some fixed and definite standard. 
 
 They who hold these views have remained, on the 
 whole, where they were, though they have been 
 thoughtlessly branded with schismatical and party- 
 names; though cast off by a portion of their brethren, 
 and taught by the use of this separatist designation 
 to sever themselves, and account themselves a dis- 
 tinct body, they have still no doctrine or practice 
 
 1 See e. g. Quarterly Review. 
 
 A 2 * ' 
 
iv 
 
 peculiar to themselves ; others also keep fast and 
 feast, Ember days and Saints' days, Lent and Easter 
 season ; others increase weekly prayers and Commu- 
 nions, and are thankful for God's gift in holy Bap- 
 tism ; regard Confirmation and Ordination as means 
 of grace ; prize the privilege of being members of a 
 Church, and in her of the Communion of Saints ; ac- 
 knowledge or demand obedience to her ; regard the 
 Creeds as the deposits of the faith, and to be accepted 
 without questioning, on authority, antecedent to 
 proof; look to future judgment : the common, though 
 partially forgotten, truths, and practices, and princi- 
 ples, which they advocated, have been taken up by 
 others independently of them, nay, in some degree by 
 those who oppose them ; -or what was before more 
 timidly held, has been openly avowed ; and now after 
 the lapse of seven years, since the Tracts for the Times 
 made their first feeble appearance, there is less show 
 of any thing distinctive, less by which they can be de- 
 signated as a party, than there seemed to be at first. 
 Catholic truth cannot be fettered clown by party- 
 denominations, but bursts the bands with which the 
 enemy would bind it, by its intrinsic expansiveness. 
 Party-names will adhere to party-views, and attest 
 their human origin. Catholic truth may be miscalled 
 heresy ; but neither the infirmities of those who set 
 it forth, nor the misconception of others, will stamp 
 human superscription on that which is Divine. 
 
 Then, also, strife is no element for Christian life ; 
 and so some, having discharged what they deemed 
 
V 
 
 their duty in combating what they held to be errone- 
 ous, have been pleased, we trust, to withdraw from 
 conflict ; content to await the issue, "whether" of the 
 twain " God will prosper, whether this or that." 
 Readers have been wearied of controversy, and have 
 been glad to turn back into greener and more whole- 
 some pastures ; so that, although there is much in 
 the disunion still existing, to humble ourselves, much 
 in the condition and prospects of our Church to 
 mingle sorrow and humiliation with joy, yet is there 
 ground, in the restored prospect of peace, to ac- 
 knowledge the good hand of our God here, as else- 
 where, dealing mercifully with our Church, and 
 aiding her within, while He suffers the storms from 
 without to beat upon her, and attest, by her increased 
 stedfastness amid their assaults, that she is indeed 
 founded upon The Rock. 
 
 While, however, many subjects of suspicion have 
 been abated or removed, the misgivings felt have 
 perhaps concentrated themselves, the rather, in some 
 minds upon a single point, and that the more on 
 account of the difficulties which beset it, the doctrine 
 of justification. With some writers, indeed, (such is 
 the inherent tendency to forget, in the struggle, the 
 character of the things contended for) it seems to be 
 chiefly looked upon as the strong-hold in the system 
 whose scripturalness they contend for : they seem 
 to think that the apparent sense of the Articles and 
 Homilies on this point is with them, as they admit 
 the apparent meaning of the Liturgy to be with 
 
 9 
 
vi 
 
 those who hold baptismal regeneration. They seem 
 accordingly to adopt it, as the most favourable battle- 
 field in behalf of a system, of whose truth and im- 
 portance they are persuaded. But others there are, 
 of a less controversial and more practical spirit, who 
 may naturally be unsettled by doctrines aud views in- 
 consistent with the theory of justification which has of 
 late been popular ; such as baptismal regeneration, an 
 universal judgment, the necessity of continual repent- 
 ance, or that real holiness is to be sought for in this 
 life. Taught to think that a clear view of the doctrine 
 of justification is essential to being justified, they will 
 naturally be the more alarmed at any doubt thrown 
 over what they had been taught ; and while some 
 seem to fear for others, these may not unnaturally be 
 anxious for themselves, lest they should be robbed of a 
 doctrine which has been the stay of their conscience, 
 and their hope and pe^ce. 
 
 On both accounts, it may not be amiss then to 
 take this opportunity of assisting (if it may be) to 
 remove the misgivings thus raised, in the hope of 
 tending to restore peace to the Church or to indivi- 
 duals. And as the elaborate work, in connection 
 with or in the words of which the statements of this 
 Letter were originally made was written at the sug- 
 gestion of another, with the very object of removing 
 these perplexities, it seems the more appropriate to 
 connect what suggests itself, with its thoughtfulness. 
 
 The misgivings are not, indeed, connected with any 
 
 1 Mr. Newman's Lectures on Justification. 
 
vii 
 
 particular language, or theory, or statements of doc- 
 trine ; they are inherent in the subject itself, and the 
 relation of faith to works in our final acceptance. All, 
 indeed, are agreed on the one side, that the only in- 
 trinsically meritorious cause of our salvation is the 
 atoning death of our redeeming Lord, embraced by 
 faith ; all but the extreme Antinomian, that good 
 works are essential to salvation; all, that every thing 
 we are and have, our justification and sanctification, 
 are the free gifts of God, not for our worthiness, but 
 effacing our unworthiness ; all, that justification and 
 sanctification are inseparable in act, that none can 
 be justified without being sanctified, nor remain in a 
 state of justification any longer than he continues to 
 be sanctified ; all, that the sanctification even of 
 God's great saints continues to be imperfect in this 
 life, and that they have, even to the end, need of the 
 prayer which the Lord taught us, " Forgive us our 
 trespasses," as well for their actual and present daily 
 short-comings and infirmities, as for their past offences; 
 — and so, that, superadded to sanctification, purifying 
 us within, there is need of continual remission, cleans- 
 ing us from without; that, while God sanctifies the 
 living members of His Son, and makes them more and 
 more righteous, He also, by remitting sin, for Christ's 
 sake, accounts them righteous, in so far as they are 
 not so ; — all, that the best are but " unprofitable serv- 
 ants ;" all, that even God's best servants have need 
 of His merciful judgment ; all, that He will bestow 
 a different crown upon each in proportion to their 
 faithfulness ; all, that this crown is His gift, (grace 
 
viii 
 
 rewarding, upon grace sanctifying,) not their desert ; 
 all, that although sanctification be necessary for our 
 ultimate acceptance, yet to the end we may and 
 must look, over and above, to God's mercy in Christ; 
 that our hope of salvation rests not upon our sancti- 
 fication, without an accompanying act of God's mercy, 
 forgiving our trespasses. - 
 
 It would seem, then, that persons who indeed 
 realize the majesty of God's holiness, the manifold- 
 ness of their own infirmities, the awful sacredness of 
 His law, and the sinfulness of transgression, are 
 agreed in the simple statements of the truth. Per- 
 sons differ as to the formulae which they adopt, to 
 combine these truths, more than as to the truths 
 which they receive ; often, more than even as to the 
 relative importance in which they practically esti- 
 mate those truths, or the degree of depth with which 
 they hold them. It may be, indeed, that individuals 
 holding but imperfect views, choose the one or the 
 other formula, as more expressing that side of the 
 truth which they chiefly, or almost exclusively, hold ; 
 that, e. (j. " good works are a condition of salvation," 
 may have been a favourite formula with persons who 
 had in a degree rationalized Christianity, and held 
 indistinctly its leading doctrines ; or "justification by 
 faith only" may be urged by many, who have inade- 
 quate notions of the necessity of sanctification, or its 
 degree, or the zealousness, diligence, self-discipline, 
 watch fulness, necessary to " maintain good works." 
 It is also plain, that the exclusive or paramount 
 use of the one or the other formula will have the 
 
ix 
 
 tendency to narrow persons' perception of the truth, 
 and cast their minds into a contracted mould ; and 
 we ought to bear in mind not only the abstract 
 soundness of our statement, but its tendency ; not 
 only whether it may be justified, but the impression 
 which it would popularly produce. 
 
 Still it has been admitted by moderate theolo- 
 gians, even of the reformed school, that the sounder 
 writers in the Church of Rome itself, mean substan- 
 tially the same as themselves even while they use 
 expressions which more readily bear another mean- 
 ing ; and no one can have read the account of the 
 death-beds of pious Romanists, without perceiving 
 that they put their trust and hope, not in the works 
 which by God's grace they had performed, but in 
 His mercy in Christ, blotting out their sins, pardon- 
 ing their imperfections, accepting them in Him. 
 
 . Truth, then, as well as charity, require us to be 
 very careful how we cast suspicion on others in this 
 point, in which the Church Catholic has not authori- 
 tatively pronounced, lest we be found false witnesses 
 against our brethren. Formulae, also, which are very 
 valuable for opposing particular error, may not be 
 sufficient for inculcating the whole truth ; they may 
 express it upon one side only, they may require to 
 be filled up by other teaching. Since God, by His 
 Apostle St. James, gave us the way of speaking, "we 
 are justified by works, and not by faith only 2 ," to 
 cocrect the impression which we might derive from 
 
 1 Le Blanc, Theses Theol. do just, inhaer. ; see also Mr. New- 
 man, Justif. p. 413. 2 James ii. 24. 
 
X 
 
 that other way of speaking by St. Paul, " we are 
 justified by faith, without the deeds of the law '," it 
 were plainly a dangerous idolizing of a formula of 
 our own, so to set up the statement, " we are justi- 
 fied by faith only," as to make it the exclusive test 
 of all sound teaching, and not itself to be restrained 
 from error by the teaching of St. James, as well as 
 to restrain the error to which it was opposed. It 
 is obviously a safeguard against the Romanist, not 
 against the Antinomian or the fanatic ; it corrects 
 self-confidence, not indolence. And it may be (as 
 has been suggested) one end for which it pleases 
 God to permit this discrepancy of statements within 
 our Church, that, in the imperfect state in which we 
 now are, we may mutually furnish correctives to the 
 tendency of the other : and that as there are " divers- 
 ities of gifts," so one shall be a teacher of repent- 
 ance, diligence, earnestness, self-abasement ; another, 
 of lively hope : one, of faith chiefly as issuing in 
 works ; another, of works as proceeding from faith : 
 one, of trust in our Lord as pardoning our mis- 
 deeds ; another, as enabling us by His indwelling 
 Spirit to do deeds acceptable to Him ; and so on : 
 that so, each supplying prominently what in another 
 is less apparent, all may, by all together, be built up 
 into " a perfect man ;" all " may be convinced of all, 
 be judged of all." 
 
 It appears, then, to the writer, that some narrow- 
 ness of view has occasioned most of the misgivings 
 or objections raised, as though different doctrines, 
 1 Rom. iii. 28. 
 
xi 
 
 which have of late been more inculcated, were at 
 variance with the doctrine of justification by faith. 
 Thus, for some years, the doctrine of baptismal re- 
 generation was held up as at variance with " justifica- 
 tion by faith," and faith opposed to the " sacrament of 
 faith," as though justification might not, upon faith, 
 be imparted to us through the Sacrament. And to 
 this the writer chiefly addressed himself in his Letter ; 
 this having been the main difficulty which he had 
 met with. 
 
 Not less objection has been made of late to the 
 mention of works as connected with justification, 
 though Holy Scripture expressly sanctions the strong- 
 est formula which can be used, " we are justified by 
 works and not by faith only ;" or to " judgment ac- 
 cording to works," although Holy Scripture inculcates 
 it so fully and repeatedly, and in such variety of 
 ways ; and as if it were not our duty to receive de- 
 clarations of Holy Scripture, which we might not at 
 any time be able to reconcile, assured that they can- 
 not be contradictory, although they might appear so 
 to many, doubting not that we shall see hereafter, if 
 we will be content first to believe ; and presuming not 
 to square the statements of Holy Scripture by the 
 formula; which we have, however truly, derived from 
 it, but rather doubting of the accuracy of our own 
 understanding, than of the literal meaning of its 
 plain words. 
 
 The difficulties the writer has chiefly met with 
 are of two sorts, both of which require to be treated 
 
xii 
 
 with respect or tenderness. 1. A dread, (chiefly for 
 others,) lest the doctrine of the free grace of Al- 
 mighty God in man's salvation should be obscured. 
 2. In a more humble and timid sort of Christians, lest 
 a standard should be set up which they shall fall short 
 of ; lest, if certain doctrines be true, their own repent- 
 ance should not be of the right sort, their own right- 
 eousness be found wanting in the balance, and they 
 themselves " not stand in the judgment." Yet, while 
 we would speak of these especially, or any others 
 whose fears are real, with deference, it may not, in 
 a charitable faithfulness, be suppressed, that others 
 there are (without judging who they are) to whom 
 this is a strife of words ; who do not realize what 
 they are speaking of ; who have learnt the doctrine of 
 justification by faith without knowing what " faith" 
 is ; who shrink from the close blending of sanc- 
 tification with justification, because they are really 
 unsanctified ; who argue vehemently against judg- 
 ment by works, because they are conscious that 
 " their" own " deeds are evil ;" against self-denying 
 practices, because they are self-indulgent. It is for- 
 bidden to judge who these are, separately, one should 
 hope of every one that he were not such ; yet no 
 one can observe the dry, abstract, proud way in which 
 these doctrines are often maintained or impugned, 
 as it may be, (especially by anonymous or periodical 
 writers,) without fearing that there is much eager 
 disputing, where there is little appreciation of the 
 truth disputed about, that many are contending 
 
xiii 
 
 about the title-deeds of our inheritance without 
 caring to enter into it and take possession of it. 
 The same charity which requires that we should not 
 judge individually, demands that this should be said 
 generally, and that without casting a slur upon 
 bodies of men ; yet, as suggesting to many to ex- 
 amine the more their own work, and "judge" them- 
 selves that they " be not judged of the Lord." 
 Listlessness, indolence, lukewarmness, even sen- 
 suality, may be to be dreaded in connexion with ele- 
 vated and excited feelings, and profession of trust in 
 the merits of the Redeemer, as much as dependence 
 upon self in those who inculcate good works. Both 
 are contradictory, yet both may be, and have been, 
 found together. 
 
 Both the classes of difficulties above alluded to, 
 might be removed, the writer is persuaded, by a 
 careful study of the work before referred to : here 
 some hints may be given, which may aid to its 
 better understanding, as w r ell to the preliminary clear- 
 ing up of those misgivings. 
 
 1. With regard to those who dread lest sanctifi- 
 cation should be unduly mixed up with justification, 
 their difficulties appear to have arisen chiefly from 
 confounding the act of justification with the state of 
 justification, (or, as our Catechism expresses it, of 
 "salvation;") God's gracious act with our condition, 
 God's "justifying" with our "being justified;" and, 
 again, our condition upon our first entrance into that 
 state with our subsequent continuance. For these 
 
xiv 
 
 would obviously be distinct subjects of inquiry, and 
 would require different answers, wherein justification 
 consisted as God's act, (which is the remission of 
 our sins) and wherein our continuing to be justified 
 consists, which is in our being members of His Son, 
 which we do remain through His Spirit dwelling in us. 
 
 2. It is plain that difficult qualities are in part re- 
 quired in us, for the first acceptance of justification 
 and for continuance in it ; i. e. more is required of 
 us for the last than for the first. For the first, God 
 justifies us, being ungodly, and we have but to accept 
 the pardon which He offers, renouncing the past, 
 accepting the present, looking to the future ; it is 
 simple acceptance of a gift from without. Subse- 
 quently, we have equally nothing of our own (for all 
 is of God), but it must now be no longer some- 
 thing without, but within, us ; the power and the 
 will to use God's Gift, and the Gift itself, are from 
 God, not given to us once for all, but daily and 
 hourly, and at each moment, supplied for the needs 
 of the moment, day, and hour : but still, whether we 
 will use it or no, and the degree of our diligence, is 
 with ourselves ; we can refuse, neglect, bury it, or 
 we can stir it up and grow in it. " Hitherto," as 
 St. Chrysostom so often says, " it has been all God's 
 gift ; for the rest, thy own diligence is needed." It 
 is plain, then, since more is required on our part, 
 that Ave may remain justified, than for our first en- 
 trance into that state, "justification," if spoken of 
 as " the Mate of being justified," must include more 
 
XV 
 
 than when employed of the first "act of being- justi- 
 fied ;" in a word, sanctification, though distinct from 
 our original justification, and to be regarded either 
 as its effect, or as, together with it, one of the 
 blessed effects of our union with our Lord, becomes 
 blended with it, so as to be co-existent with it, and 
 separable in idea only. God's mercy in first justi- 
 fying us when ungodly, is enlarged, not diminished, 
 by His continuing to justify us, being by Him made, 
 and by making us, godly. Christians are on the 
 way from being accounted what they were not, holy, 
 to being what they were accounted. This shall be 
 realized in heaven, when, " God" being " all in all," 
 there shall no more remain in any what is alien 
 from, or contrary to, or without, God. We shall 
 then, so to say, be wholly justified, because wholly 
 sanctified. We shall be just and saints entirely. 
 But, meanwhile, as God's true servants allow His 
 Spirit to burn out what is impure within them, 
 though they have still need of daily forgiveness, 
 and feel that need the more, there is, actually, less to 
 be forgiven. God makes them acceptable to Him- 
 self, more by creating in them what is intrinsically 
 acceptable to Him, less by effacing what is displeas- 
 ing. And thus justification becomes more and more 
 identified with sanctification, although, since the 
 best to the end remain imperfect, there is still need 
 of His grace, justifying them as in part unholy, as 
 well as making them day by day more holy. And 
 so, in the sad reverse, when persons are gradually 
 
xvi 
 
 falling out of a justified state, their justification, so 
 long as they continue in it, consists more in the 
 remission of sin, through the long-suffering of God ; 
 less, in sanctification by His Spirit. 
 
 Either view, then, whether that which separates 
 too broadly sanctification from justification, or that 
 which too much identifies them, would seem to be 
 defective ; that which identifies them, seems not to 
 come up to St. Paul's strong statements, that we were 
 justified, being ungodly, nor again to the actual fact, 
 that justification is complete at first, sanctification gra- 
 dual and increasing ; the theory which separates them, 
 falls as much short of the declaration of St. James, 
 as also of St. Paul's or St. John's descriptions of the 
 new life of the Christian in his Lord. In our Articles, 
 on the other hand, while the merits of our Lord are 
 set forth in contrast to our own works or deservings 
 as the sole meritorious cause of our justification, and 
 are declared to be received " by faith," our state of 
 justification is spoken of 1 as identical with the infu- 
 sion " of the grace of Christ, and the inspiration [or 
 in-breathing] of His Spirit." In like way also is the 
 truth inculcated practically by the Ancient Church, 
 everywhere asserting the irrespective mercy of God 
 in Christ, first electing, ingrafling us, remitting sins, 
 re-creating us in Christ, justifying us freely ; every- 
 where insisting also on the righteousness of God, 
 through the preventing, assisting, perfecting grace of 
 
 1 Art. 13. 
 
X V 1 1 
 
 Christ, realized in us. These two, modern systems 
 have separated ; that of Rome, in fact, substituting 
 sanctification for justification ; that of ordinary Pro- 
 testantism detaching sanctification, and assigning to it 
 a subordinate place. These, as has been pointed out, 
 are re-united by the great Divines of our Church, 
 asserting against the Church of Rome, that sanctifi- 
 cation has no part in our primary justification, but 
 inculcating that it is by being made righteous that 
 we remain justified : — 
 
 " Such is the contrast," says Mr. Newman, " existing between 
 " the practical and exact senses of the word justification ; and it 
 " is remarkable that both the one and the other have been 
 " adopted by our standard writers, as has been already instanced 
 " from the Homilies. As controversialists they are Protestants, 
 " as pastoral teachers they are disciples of the Ancient Church. 
 " Who, for instance, is more clear than Bishop Bull in laying 
 "down that justification means- counting righteous? yet who 
 " more strenuous in maintaining that it consists in being righteous? 
 " What he is, such are Hammond, Taylor, Wilson, and a multi- 
 " tude of others ; who in this day are called inconsistent, as if 
 " holding two views, whereas those two views are rather proved 
 " to be one, because the same divines hold them." — Lectures on 
 Justification, p. 111. Ed. 1. 
 
 These views, it is, again, the tendency of a low self- 
 indulgent age to disunite ; and since error lies near at 
 hand to all truth, so a prevailing error among many 
 of the recent preachers of justification by faith, has 
 been, that they have so strongly insisted on the cor- 
 ruption remaining in the regenerate, and so coldly 
 on the strength bestowed upon them to overcome it, 
 so strongly upon the necessity of imputed, and so 
 
xviii 
 
 slightly and lifelessly upon imparted righteousness, as 
 much to discourage the very attempt after high and 
 devoted, entire and self-sacrificing obedience. 
 
 To re-unite these views has been (as far as another 
 may with humility speak of so thoughtful and com- 
 prehensive a work) one of the leading objects in the 
 " Lectures on Justification ;" and a careful study of 
 these would, it is conceived, remove the suspicions 
 which, both before and since its appearance, have 
 been cast on the views of justification held in con- 
 nection with baptismal regeneration. A main object 
 in those Lectures has been, after the pattern of our 
 great divines, to insist on the reality, however imper- 
 fect, of the righteousness of the Christian ; that 
 righteousness is not imputed only, but imparted, first 
 imputed, then imparted ; that God, in justifying us, 
 does indeed make us what we were not, but what 
 He therein declares us, righteous ; that over and 
 above "the change of the Divine Mind 1 " towards 
 us, there is something " really applied and commu- 
 nicated" to us. There is then, throughout these 
 Lectures, a marked contrast with views now popular ; 
 but it relates not to the Divine dealings, but to the 
 condition of man under, in, and through them ; not 
 to the source of justification, nor its meritorious 
 cause, nor the means whereby it is received, but to 
 its character when received, in the soul of the believer ; 
 it is, whether justification issue in real, though imper- 
 
 1 Lect. vi. p. 158. comp. p. 155. 
 
xix 
 
 feet, holiness, a holiness which, although imperfect, is 
 acceptable to God, or whether, even in a justified state, 
 man " cannot please God," but, remaining unholy, is 
 accounted only holy for Christ's sake. It relates to 
 the state of the soul of the individual, what it is 
 which in it God looks upon as acceptable. 
 
 " In asking, what is our righteousness, I do not mean what 
 " is its original source, for this is God's mercy ; nor what is 
 " its meritorious cause, for this is the life, and above all the 
 " death of Christ ; nor what is the instrument of it, for this (1 
 " would maintain) is Holy Baptism ; nor what is the entrance 
 " into it, for this is regeneration ; nor what the first privilege 
 " of it, for this is pardon ; nor what is the ultimate fruit, for 
 " this is everlasting life. I am not inquiring about any thing 
 " past, or any thing future, or any thing on God's part, but 
 " of something present and inward. We should not say that 
 " animal life consisted in being born, or in having parents, or 
 " in breathing, or in sensation, or in strength, or in a certain 
 " period of years, or in God's will, or in God's attributes, or in 
 " God's knowledge of us. We should feel that nothing past, or 
 " to come, or external, could be a fit account of that which we 
 " call animal life, and that all answers so framed were beside the 
 " mark. It would be intelligible, for instance, to say that life 
 " consisted in the presence of the soul ; but whether we said 
 " this or any thing else, in any case we should fix on something 
 " in us, not out of us. And in like manner, when I ask what is 
 " that, called righteousness, which God first clothes us with as with 
 " a robe, then looks upon and accepts, I do not ask why Gon so 
 " looks upon it, but what it is He looks upon."— Lect. vi. \46-7. 
 
 Before this question was proposed, the doctrine 
 of our Church, that justification, on God's part, is 
 " declaring us righteous, when we were not such," had 
 
 a 2 
 
XX 
 
 been maintained fully and at length 1 ; it is even 
 declared, that the recent formula is more scientifically 
 correct than the more general practical statements of 
 St. Augustine 2 ; the question relates not at all to 
 God's act of justifying, but to our continuance in the 
 state of justification ; not to what He doth, when He 
 justifieth us, or man's condition previous to justifica- 
 tion, or whether there be any thing acceptable in 
 him, which God in any measure considereth in justi- 
 fying him ; but, assuming as undoubted, that man, 
 being lost and utterly helpless and unable to please 
 God, and sin adhering to all his actions, is taken out 
 of this state by God's free mercy for the merits of 
 Christ alone, the further question is, In what doth 
 this result? What is it, which God, having first 
 given, looks upon as acceptable in those whom 
 He has thus justified? To this, two inadequate 
 answers had been given: (1) that of Ultra-Protestants, 
 that it is our faith ; (2) that of modern Rome, that it 
 is our inherent righteousness. Mr. Newman suggests 
 a third answer, combining both, and assigning the 
 ground of both, and this in conformity with Holy 
 Scripture and the Ancient Church, that it is our 
 being members of Christ, our being in Christ, and 
 this continued to us by virtue of — 
 
 " an inward divine presence, of which both faith and spiritual 
 " renovation are fruits. If such a presence be not vouchsafed, 
 
 1 Lect. iii. Primary Sense of the word Justification. 
 ' lb. p. OS. 
 
xx i 
 
 " then certainly faitli on the one hand, renovation on the other, 
 " are the ultimate elements to which our state of righteousness 
 " can be respectively referred in the two theologies. But if it be, 
 " neither Protestant nor Romanist ought to refuse to admit, and 
 " in admitting to agree with each other, that the presence of the 
 " Holy Ghost shed abroad in our hearts, the Author both of 
 " faith and of renewal, this is really that which makes us right- 
 " eous, and that our righteousness is the possession of that 
 " presence." — P. 151. 
 
 Again, it is not contended, that man, in this his 
 renewed state, can, even by the grace of God, fulfil 
 His law perfectly ; but, acknowledging the imperfec- 
 tion even of God's eminent saints, the question is, 
 whether, as before justification, man, although not 
 wholly evil, was yet, on account of the prevailing evil, 
 displeasing to God, so, after it, though not wholly 
 good, he be not, on account of the prevailing grace, 
 really well-pleasing unto God. 
 
 Man's state of unrighteousness, before justification, 
 is thus spoken of, adopting the strong words of the 
 Homilies, that we are since Adam's fall " corrupt 
 and naught," and " nothing else but a lump of sin '." 
 
 " These fearful, yet most true words, do not imply that our 
 " original nature i; pure evil, as the devil is, though even to the 
 " devil's nature, left to itself, it assuredly tends ; they are not 
 " inconsistent with an admission that the natural man may have 
 " many high thoughts and wishes, and may love and do what is 
 " noble, generous, beneficent, courageous, and wise. But the 
 " writer means that, whatever good principles, in whatever 
 
 P. 96, 7. 
 
xxii 
 
 " degree, remain to us since Adam's fall, they are, to use his own 
 " expression, ' altogether spotted and defiled,' thoroughly and 
 " hopelessly steeped in evil, saturated with evil, dissolved in 
 " evil. They do not exist by themselves in their unmixed 
 " nature, as if we could act on them and nothing but them, what- 
 " ever might be their worth if so exerted : but though good, 
 " viewed in themselves, they are, in fact and as found in us, of 
 " a sinful nature. All that we do, whether from better principles 
 " or from worse, whether of an indifferent nature or directly 
 " moral, whether spontaneously, or habitually, or accidentally, all 
 " is pervaded with a quality of evil so odious to Almighty God, 
 " as to convert even our best services into profanations ; or in the 
 " expressive words of St. Paul, 1 They that are in the flesh can- 
 " not please God.' " — pp. 96, 97. 
 
 And, as opposed to this state in which we were 
 " by nature unrighteous, or displeasing to God," it is 
 contended that we are, " in a state of grace, actually 
 righteous and pleasing to Him." 
 
 " Not that there is not abundant evil still remaining in us, but 
 " that justification coming to us in the power and ' inspiration of 
 " the Spirit,' so far dries up the fountain of bitterness and impurity, 
 " that we are forthwith released from God's wrath and damnation, 
 " and are enabled in our better deeds to please Him. It places 
 " us above the line in the same sense in which we were before 
 " below it. By nature we were not absolutely devilish, but had 
 " a curse within us which blighted and poisoned our most reli- 
 " gious offerings ; by grace we are gifted, not with perfection, 
 " but with a principle hallowing and sweetening all that we are, 
 " all that we do religiously, sustaining, hiding, and (in a sense) 
 " pleading for what remains of sin in us, ' making intercession for 
 " us, according to the will of God.' As by nature sin was sove- 
 " reign in us in spite of the remains of heaven, so now grace 
 " triumphs through righteousness in spite of the remains of sin." 
 —P. 99. 
 
xxiii 
 
 In a word, although " good works, which follow after 
 " justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure 
 " the severity of God's judgment, yet are" they not, 
 as our Article declares intrinsically " pleasing and 
 " acceptable to God in Christ?" This is the real 
 contrast between the two schools, (if they must so 
 be called) who claim to follow the teaching of our 
 Church, and who respectively expound her meaning 
 by reference, on the one hand, to continental Re- 
 formers, on the other, to the Ancient Church. It 
 is whether God's saints are, on the whole, righteous 
 or unrighteous, whether their righteousness be real 
 or reputed only ; whether the " infection of nature, 
 " which doth still remain in them that are regene- 
 " rate," or their renewed nature, be predominant ; 
 which of the two gives the character and com- 
 plexion to the whole man ; whether, notwithstanding 
 this infection, the whole man be, upon the whole, 
 regarded by God as holy, through the Spirit of 
 Christ, Which dwelleth in him, and he, being in 
 Christ ingraffed, be acceptable to God ; or whether, 
 notwithstanding this indwelling Spirit, the whole man 
 be, (on account of the remaining infection, against 
 which he daily struggles, and prevails, and for his 
 infirmities in his struggles seeks for pardon,) regarded 
 by God as unholy in himself, and only as holy 
 through the imputation of his Saviour's merits to 
 him, externally to himself. This then is the leading 
 
 1 Art. xii. 
 
xxiv 
 
 contrast throughout this work, between a real 1 and an 
 unreal righteousness of God's saints ; i. e. a righteous- 
 ness not realized in them, but ascribed to them, though 
 they have it not; between " a real 2 and actual com- 
 " munication to the soul, of the Atonement, through 
 " the ministration of the Spirit," avid an external 
 application of its merits; a real and a figurative 3 
 union with our Lord ; between " a nominal change 4 , 
 " a nominal righteousness, an external blessing," and 
 " one penetrating inwards into our heart and spirit, 
 " joints and marrow, pervading us with a real effi- 
 " cacy, and wrapping us round in its fulness;" between 
 " a change merely in God's dealings towards us," 
 and " the possession of Himself, of His substantial 
 " grace to touch and reach the root of the evil, the 
 " fountain of our misery, our bitter heart and its inbred 
 " corruption ;" it is between justification resulting in 
 righteousness 5 , and a " justification without inherent 
 righteousness," such as Luther makes the criterion of 
 a standing or falling Church 6 ; justification, as " an act 
 
 1 See Lect. v. throughout, e. g. p. 115. 122, 123. 125. 127- 129. 
 
 2 P. 160. 
 
 3 See p. 162. comp. p. 425. " In the foregoing Lectures a view 
 " has been taken substantially the same as this, but approaching 
 " more nearly in langunge to the Calvinists ; viz. that Christ 
 " indwelling is our righteousness ; only what is with them a 
 " matter of words I would wish to use in a real sense, as express- 
 " ing a sacred mystery; and therefore I have spoken of it in the 
 " language of Scripture, as the indwelling of Christ through the 
 " Spirit." 
 
 4 P. 36. « P. 159. * P. 125. 
 
XXV 
 
 external to us, continued on into an act within us," 
 and a justification which ever remains external to 
 us, accounting us what we never in this life become ; 
 it is between " acceptance 1 on God's part leading to 
 acceptableness on man's, imputation to participation," 
 and an acceptance without an inworked acceptable- 
 ness, an imputation without a participation of His 
 righteousness. 
 
 Again, the righteousness thus claimed as being 
 really inwrought, is not (one is ashamed to be com- 
 pelled to state it) the ground of the Christian's 
 acceptance ; the righteousness of the Christian, 
 inwrought by Christ, is not any thing out of 
 Christ, in Whom the Christian lives ; the gift is not 
 separate from the Giver; spiritual life is not, any 
 more than natural, independent of Him in Whom we 
 live and move and have our being ; rather He 
 Himself is our Life, pouring His life into us here, 
 to return to Him hereafter ; and as He Himself, no 
 gift even of His, is the " exceeding just reward " of 
 the faithful, so He Himself, not any gift of His, 
 detached from Him, is our life and our righteousness. 
 
 " A Christian's life is not only moral as opposed to vice and 
 " crime, not only religious as opposed to unbelief, not only 
 " renewed as opposed to the old Adam, but spiritual, loving, 
 " pleasing, acceptable, available, just, justifying; not, of course, 
 •• the origin or well-spring of our acceptableness, (God forbid !) 
 " but we believe this, — that He who, eighteen hundred years 
 '• since, purchased for us sinners the gift of life eternal, with His 
 
 P. 92. 
 
xxvi 
 
 " own blood, and at our baptism spoke over each of us the Word 
 " of acceptance, and admitted us at once to His presence, by the 
 " same Word forthwith proceeded to realize His gracious pur- 
 " pose ; that ' His word ran very swiftly,' as being ' living and 
 " powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword ;' that it 
 " reached even to our hearts, conveying its virtue into our 
 " nature, making us what the Almighty Father can delight in, 
 " and so returning to Him not ' void,' but laden with the 
 " triumphs of His grace, the fruits of righteousness in us as ' an 
 " odour of a sweet smell,' as ' spiritual sacrifices acceptable to 
 " God, by Jesus Christ.' He works out His justification towards 
 " us, in us, with us, through us, and from us, till He receives 
 " back in produce what He gave in seed." — pp. 101, 102. 
 
 The Christian's ground of confidence is not his 
 own righteousness, but his Lord ; the righteousness 
 worked in him is only an earnest to him that he is 
 yet united with His Lord ; it is a token to him of 
 his inward life, as the healthy functions of the body 
 are of the presence of the soul ; it is in him, but not 
 of him; and his confidence is not in himself, but in 
 Him of Whom it is. 
 
 " The charge [is] not unfounded as regards popular Romanism, 
 " that it views or tends to view the influences of grace, not as the 
 " operations of a Living God, but as a something to bargain about, 
 " and buy, and traffic with, as if religion were, not an approach to 
 " things above us, but a commerce with our equals concerning 
 " things we can master. And this is the cause of the suspicions 
 " entertained in many quarters against those who in any sense 
 " teach that obedience justifies, as if it implied we had some- 
 " thing in ourselves to rely upon ; whereas if, as I would main- 
 " tain, the Presence of Christ is our true righteousness, first 
 " conveyed into us in Baptism, then more sacredly and mys- 
 
xxvii 
 
 " teriously in the Eucharist, we have really no inherent right- 
 " eousness at all. What seems to be inherent, may be more 
 " properly called adherent, depending, as it does, wholly and 
 " absolutely upon the Divine Indwelling, not ours to keep, but 
 " as heat in a sickly person, sustained by means external to him- 
 " self. If the Presence of Christ were to leave us, our renovation 
 " would go with it, and to say we are justified by renovation, 
 " only means that we are interested in Him from whom it flows, 
 " that we dwell beneath the overshadowing power of Him who 
 " is our Justiner." — Lect. viii. Righteousness viewed as a Gift 
 and a Quality, p. 216—218. 
 
 Herein then this view differs both from the Romanist 
 and Ultra-Protestant ; from the Ultra-Protestant, in 
 that the righteousness is claimed as real ; from the 
 Romanist, in that not it, in itself, but He from 
 whom it flows is, from the beginning to the end, the 
 direct source of hope as of strength : engrafting when 
 wild ; when engrafted, the sap and nourishment ; and 
 accepting the fruit, not as perfected in itself, but as 
 the result of our being in Him, and admitting in 
 us of His richness. 
 
 " The inherent righteousness of a true Christian, viewed as 
 " distinct from Christ's inward presence, is something real, and 
 " doubtless far higher than that of a Jew ; but why should we 
 " so degrade ourselves, so disparage our own high privilege, as to 
 " view it separately, to disjoin it from Him through whom we do 
 " it, to linger in the thought of it instead of tracing it back to that 
 " which is its immediate source ; as if a man were to praise the 
 " daylight, yet forget the sun ? No, whatever might be the 
 " righteousness of the Jews, we certainly know what is ours ; 
 " and it is what they could not have had ; it Is * Christ,' our 
 " propitiation, 'within us ;' on it we rely, not on ourselves. It 
 " is our boast thus to retreat from the extreme manifestations of 
 
xxviii 
 
 " life, which is our sanctification, upon that Glory within us, 
 " which is its fount, and our true justification. It is our blessed- 
 " ness to have our own glory swallowed up in Christ's glory, 
 " and to consider our works and our holiness, to avail merely as 
 " securities for the continuance of that glory ; not as things to be 
 " dwelt upon and made much of for their own sake, but as a sort 
 " of sacramental rite addressed to Him, for the sake of which 
 " He may be pleased still to illuminate us, as tokens that His 
 " grace is not in vain. And after all, what we are, whatever it 
 " is, could not avail, were it tried in the balance, for more than 
 " this, to prove our earnestness and diligence. Even what is 
 " acceptable in us, is still so imperfect, that the blood of Christ 
 " is necessary to complete what His Spirit has begun ; and as 
 " His regenerating grace has infused sweetness into what was 
 " bitter, so must His mercifulness overlook the remaining bitter- 
 " ness in what He has infused of sweetness." — lb. p. 230, 1. 
 
 It is then, to me, difficult to see wherein the 
 objection of those who judge of this work, not by 
 hearsay or preconceived notions, or upon such ac- 
 quaintance as may be formed amid anxious duties, 
 but upon careful and competent study, (if any such 
 do object,) really lies. Yet is it better even to take 
 superfluous, and what to some may prove wearisome, 
 pains, if by any means it may remove difficulties out 
 of another's way. I would then draw out some propo- 
 sitions which persons, on whatever grounds, might 
 be anxious to see held, and subjoin some additional 
 passages in which they are substantially contained. 
 
 ]. Justification is, as a cause, antecedent to sanc- 
 tification, in which it issues. 
 
 " First, Justification is, properly speaking, a declaration of 
 
xxix 
 
 " righteousness ; secondly, it precedes renewal ; thirdly, it is the 
 " means, instrument, or cause of renewal. It is ' the Voice of 
 " the Lord' calling us, calling us what we are not when it calls 
 " us, calling us what we then begin to be." — p. 71. 
 
 " Our justification is Goo's announcement, concurrent with His 
 " own deed so announced ; yet in our case, preceding, not follow- 
 " ing His deed, because we are but made righteous, and not, as 
 " Christ, righteous from our birth." — p. 83. 
 
 " Our justification is not a mere declaration of a past fact, or a 
 " testimony to what is present, or an announcement of what is to 
 " come, but it is the cause of that being which before was not, and 
 " henceforth is." — p. 84. 
 
 " Imputed righteousness is the coming in of actual righteous- 
 " ness. They whom God's sovereign voice pronounces just, 
 " forthwith become just. He declares a fact, and makes it a fact 
 " by declaring it. He imputes, not a name, but a substantial 
 " Word, which, being ' ingrafted ' in our own hearts, ' is able to 
 " save our souls.' " — p. 8G. 
 
 " Justification is an announcement or fiat of Almighty God 
 " breaking upon the gloom of our natural state as the Creative 
 " Word upon chaos ; that it declares the soul righteous, and in 
 " that declaration, on the one hand, conveys pardon for its past 
 " sins, and on the other makes it actually righteous." — p. 90. 
 
 " That acceptableness, which He has ever had in the Father's 
 " sight, as being the reflection of the Father's perfections, He first 
 " imputes, then imparts to us." — p. 116. See also p. 127. 
 
 2. Justification is a free pardon of us when guilty, 
 from God's mercy alone, irrespective of any thing in 
 man. 
 
 " The doctrine of our justification not only implies, but derives 
 " its special force from our being by birth sinners and culprits. 
 " It supposes a judicial process, that is an accuser, a judgment-seat, 
 " and a prisoner. Such is our condition by nature ; the devil is our 
 
XXX 
 
 " accuser. Then, as St. Paul says, ' Every mouth is stopped, and 
 " all the world is guilty hefcre God.' Under these circumstances, 
 " when there is no health or hope in us, when we hide our faces and 
 " are speechless, the All-merciful God, as we are taught in the 
 " Gospel, for Christ's sake, freely pardons and justifies us." — 
 pp. 77, 78. 
 
 3. It is wholly from God. 
 
 " Justification is wholly the work of God ; it comes from God 
 " to us ; it is a power exerted on our souls by Him, as the heal- 
 
 " ing of the Israelites was a power exerted on their bodies 
 
 " Christ's Cross does not justify by being looked at, but by being 
 " applied ; not by being gazed at in faith, but by being actually 
 " set up within us, and that not by our act, but by God's invisi- 
 " ble grace. . . . Man cannot make the Saviour of the world his 
 " own ; the Cross must be brought home to us, not in word, but 
 " in power, and this is the work of the Spirit. This is justifica- 
 " tion ; but when imparted to the soul, it draws blood, it heals, 
 " it purifies, it glorifies." — p. 203. 
 
 4. Justification is perfect at once, renewal or sanc- 
 tification gradual. 
 
 " He sanctifies us gradually ; but justification is a perfect act, 
 " realizing at once what sanctification does but tend towards. 
 " In it, the whole course of sanctification is anticipated, reckoned, 
 " or imputed to us in its very beginning. Before man has done 
 " any thing as specimen, or paid any thing as instalment, he has 
 " the whole treasures of redemption put to his credit, as if he 
 " were and had done infinitely more than he ever can be or do. 
 
 " Thus justification is at first what renewal could be but 
 
 " at last ; and, therefore, is by no means a mere result or conse- 
 " quence of renewal, but an independent, though not a- distinct 
 " act of God's mercy." — p. 79. 
 
 9 
 
xxxi 
 
 5. Justification, meaning- thereby the Christian's 
 being made well-pleasing to God at all, does not vary ; 
 only, when used to denote the degree of that accep- 
 tableness, is it increased or diminished with holiness. 
 
 " We here see in what sense it is true that justification admits 
 " of increase, and in what, not. The fact that we are the Temple 
 " of God does not admit of more or less ; the words have no 
 " meaning when applied to it. Righteousness then, considered 
 " as the state of being God's temple, cannot be increased ; but, 
 " considered as the divine glory which that state implies, it can 
 " be increased, as the pillar of the cloud which guided the Israel- 
 " ites could become more or less bright," — p. 168. 
 
 6. Baptized infants are justified, as being made 
 members of Christ. 
 
 " This view of the subject enables us to understand how 
 " infants may be regenerate, though they give no indications of 
 " being so. For as God dwelt secretly in His material Temple, 
 " ever hallowing it, yet only in season giving sensible evidences 
 " of what was there, so may He be present with their souls, 
 " rescuing them from Satan, and imparting new powers, mani- 
 " festing new objects, and suggesting new thoughts and desires, 
 " without their being conscious or others witnesses of His work." 
 —p. 169. 
 
 7. Justification, although an act at first external to 
 ourselves, requires our subsequent concurrence. 
 
 " For these reasons, then, though justification, properly speak - 
 " ing, is a work external to us, it may be viewed as consisting in 
 " evangelical obedience ; first, because obedience is specially in- 
 " volved in God's imputation ; next, because He does vouchsafe to 
 " realize in part within us what He has provided in its fulness 
 
XXX11 
 
 " out of us ; and, lastly, because our concurrence in being justi- 
 " fied, is a necessary condition of His justifying." — p. 104. 
 
 8. Justification, though productive of renewal, is 
 distinct from it in idea. 
 
 " If the justifying Word be attended by the spiritual entrance 
 " of Christ into the soul, justification is perfectly distinct from 
 " renewal, with which Romanists identify it, yet directly pro- 
 " ductive of it, which strict Protestants deny. The latter say 
 " that renewal is a collateral result with justification from faith ; 
 " the former say that it precedes justification. Rather Christ's 
 " sacred presence, which shines forth in the heart straight upon 
 " the word of justification, creates a renewal there, as certainly as 
 " a light involves illumination, or fire heat. . . . The one cannot 
 " be separated from the other except in idea, unless the sun's 
 " rays can be separated from the sun, or the power of purifying 
 " from water."— p. 170, 171. 
 
 9. Justification does not consist in renewal or sanc- 
 tification, or any thing of our own. 
 
 " Thus an examination of the promises made us in Scripture, 
 " bears out the conclusion we had already drawn on other 
 " grounds, that the righteousness, on which we are called right- 
 " eous, or are justified, that in which justification results or con- 
 " sists, which conveys or applies the great gospel privileges, that 
 " this justifying principle, though within us, as it must be, if it 
 " is to separate us from the world, yet is not of us or in us, not 
 " any quality or act of our minds, not faith, not renovation, not 
 " obedience, not any thing cognizable by man, but a certain 
 " divine gift in which all these qualifications are included." — ■ 
 p. 159. See also p. 173; Lect. ii. "Obedience considered as 
 the formal cause of Justification ;" Lect. viii. " Righteousness 
 viewed as a Gift and as a Quality ;" and App. § 4. p. 395 — 397. 
 and below, on No. 1 I. 
 
xxxiii 
 
 10. Our justification consists in our being - members 
 of Christ. 
 
 " That our justification, or our being accounted righteous by 
 " Almighty God, consists in our being grafted into the Body, or 
 " made members of Christ, in God dwelling in us and our dwell- 
 " ing in God, and that the Holy Ghost is the gracious Agent in 
 " this wonderful work, — all this has been argued from Scripture 
 " in various ways." — p. 233. See also p. 167, quoted Letter, 
 p. 77. 
 
 1 1 . Christians please God through the character of 
 their obedience, not its perfectness. 
 
 " The justifying Word, then, conveys the Spirit, and the 
 " Spirit makes our works 'pleasing' and 'acceptable' to God, 
 " and acceptableness is righteousness ; so that the justified are 
 " just, really just, in degree indeed more or less, but really in 
 " this respect, — that their obedience has in it a gracious quality, 
 " which the obedience of unregenerate man has not." — p. 99. 
 
 " Christians, fulfil the Law, in the sense of pleasing God ; 
 " and 'pleasing' is a very significant word, when well weighed. 
 " Not that we are able to please Him simply and entirely, (for 
 " ' in many things we offend all ;' and ' if we say we have no sin, 
 " we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,') but that the 
 " presence of the Spirit is a sanctifying virtue in our hearts, 
 " changing the character of our services, making our obedience 
 " new in kind, not merely fuller in degree, and in this sense a 
 " satisfying obedience, rising up, answering to the kind of obe- 
 " dience which is due from us, to the nature of the claims which 
 " our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier has upon us." — p. 100. 
 
 12. Increase in sanctification does not diminish the 
 necessity of pardon, in order to a man's remaining 
 justified. 
 
 b 
 
xxxiv 
 
 " In justifying, God takes away what is past, by bringing in 
 " what is new. He takes us out of the fire, by lifting us in His 
 " everlasting hands, and enwrapping us in His own glory. 
 
 " Such is justification ; but is it not plain that in its beginnings 
 "it will consist of scarcely any thing but pardon? because all 
 " that we have hitherto done is sinful in its nature, and has to be 
 " pardoned, but to be renewed is a work of time ; whereas as 
 " time goes on, and we become more holy, it will consist more in 
 " renewal, if not less in pardon, and at least there is no original 
 " sin, as when it was first granted, to be forgiven. It takes us 
 " then at Baptism out of original sin, and leads us all through life 
 " towards the purity of Angels. Naturally, then, when the word 
 " is used to denote the beginning of a justified state, it only, or 
 " chiefly, means acceptance ; when the continuance, chiefly sanc- 
 " tification. Writers, then, of congenial sentiments, or the same 
 " writers on different occasions, will speak of it first as consisting 
 " in the remission of sins, with Calvin or Melanchthon, next with 
 " the Romanists, as consisting in renewal." — pp. 112, 113. add 
 p. 128. 
 
 And, in contrast with the Roman view, that the 
 inherent righteousness of Christians, after justifica- 
 tion, is that which constitutes their justified state. 
 
 " Such then is on the part of the extreme Romanists, the reso- 
 " lution of the question how inherent righteousness stands the 
 " scrutiny of divine holiness and constitutes our acceptance ; they 
 " answer that it consists in an inward divine gift, which has the 
 " power of applying, or springs from the application of Christ's 
 " merits, and so effects or presupposes the cleansing of all sin in 
 " us. Protestants, on the other hand, are accustomed to consider 
 " that the immediate antecedent to justification is an act of par- 
 " don from without upon the soul to be justified, which act, in 
 " consequence, is considered its formal cause. Now there are 
 " many difficulties attending this theory, but its strength in argu- 
 " ment with Romanists lies in the authorities which can be brought 
 
XXXV 
 
 " against them from among their own friends. Some of these 
 " shall be mentioned before we consider the theory itself. A 
 " remarkable testimony, for instance, of this kind is St. Austin's, 
 " who thus speaks in his De Civitate Dei : ' Our very righteous- 
 " ness, although it be real for the faith in Him who is really good 
 " to whom it is referred, yet reaches so far only in this life as 
 " rather to consist in the remission of sins, than in the perfection 
 " of virtues. Witness the prayer of the whole city of God, in its 
 " pilgrimage on the earth ; in that, in all its members, it crieth 
 " to God, Forgive us our trespasses.' — xix. 27. And St. Jerome : 
 " ' For then are we righteous, when we own ourselves sinners ; 
 " our righteousness consisteth not of our own merit, but of the 
 " mercy of God.' — contra Pelag. i. (torn. ii. p. 179.) Against 
 " such statements it seems hardly in point to urge passages from 
 " the Fathers on the other side which speak of inherent righteous- 
 " ness as justifying ; the sole question being whether, granting 
 " this, it justifies after being sprinkled with the blood of Christ, 
 " which passages such as the above seem clearly to imply. So 
 " again St. Ambrose : ' I will not glory that I am righteous, but 
 " that I am redeemed ; I will glory, not that I am free from sin, 
 " but that sins are remitted me ; not that I have profited, or that 
 " any one hath profited me, but that for me Christ is an Advocate 
 " with the Father, but that forme the Blood of Christ was shed.' 
 " de Jacob et vit. beat. i. 6. And Pope Gregory : ' Our Righteous 
 " Advocate will maintain us righteous in the judgment, because 
 " we both know and accuse ourselves as unrighteous. Trust we 
 " then not in our tears, not in our actions, but in the pleading of 
 " our Advocate.' — In Ezek. lib. i. horn. I.Jin. And so St. Ber- 
 " nard on his sick bed, as Hooker after him : ' I confess, I am 
 " not worthy, nor can I by my own merits obtain the kingdom 
 " of heaven ; but my Lord obtaining it by a double right, by 
 " inheritance, namely, from the Father, and the merit of His 
 " Passion, Himself content with the one, bestows on me the 
 " other, by whose gift claiming it, with good ground am I not 
 " confounded.' — Life of S. Bern. i. 12. col. 1084. These pas- 
 
 b 2 
 
xxxvi 
 
 " sages are not inconsistent indeed, still they differ in tone from 
 " the Roman view of the doctrine." — pp. 400, 401. 
 
 " In a word, they [many of the Roman doctors] do not consider 
 " our holiness or good works a cause in the way of nature, but in 
 " the mind and dealings of a gracious God ; at the same time, as 
 " is hardly necessary to add, the Roman doctors often use language 
 " most grating and revolting to our ears, and (as we cannot but 
 " think) very perilous to those who acquiesce in it." — p. 403. 
 
 " The question is, what is the formal cause of justification : — 
 " now let us grant that our divinely imparted sanctity and works 
 " are not the immediate antecedent to our receiving the sentence 
 " of justification ; that justification does not depend on, or con- 
 " sist in any thing we are or can do ; that Christ's merits must 
 " ever interpose, intercede between us and God, and so preclude 
 " our righteousness from being the formal cause ; the question 
 " recurs, what is the formal cause of our justification ? and on 
 " this question we shall find in the writings of Protestants great 
 " diversity of opinion and little satisfaction. Some say that faith 
 " is the formal cause, some forgiveness of sins, some the imputa- 
 " tion of Christ's righteousness, and some that there is no formal 
 " cause at all. 
 
 " Perhaps the best choice that can be made out of these 
 " answers, is to say it is faith. Such was the answer originally 
 " given by the Lutherans, but they retracted it. And such is the 
 " answer virtually given by Bishop Bull and many others of our 
 " divines who have chosen to express themselves in what may be 
 " called the calculus of Protestantism. By faith, according to 
 " Bishop Bull, is meant fides formata charitate et operibus, or the 
 " obedience which is of faith ; a view which one is glad to find 
 " was admitted in the deliberations of the Council of Trent, and 
 " differs from the view I have called properly Roman, in this, 
 " that by calling inherent righteousness by the name of faith, it 
 " implies that that righteousness can only be accepted in Christ, 
 " and is unable to stand God's judgment unless sprinkled with 
 " His Atoning grace." — p. 404. 
 
xxxvii 
 
 " To sum up what has been said : — the form into which we cast 
 " the original question was this, are our holiness and works done 
 " in Christ accepted or not without a fresh imputation upon them 
 " of Christ's merits ? do the persons of Christians or do Christ's 
 " merits come next upon the act of God justifying them ? The 
 " Romanist answers, Christians are justified in their holiness and 
 " works without any fresh pardon, and explains himself to mean, 
 " not that Christ's merits are not imputed, but that either they 
 " have been imputed once for all on the original justification, or 
 " that their continual imputation accompanies that inward gift of 
 " grace by which Christians are holy and do good works. The 
 " Protestant maintains that we are saved merely by that imputa- 
 " tion, because even granting our holiness and works were in 
 " themselves good, which both Lutherans and Calvinists deny 
 " altogether even of the fruit of the Spirit, yet that after all they 
 " would be but inchoate and incomplete. 
 
 " Now in the case of those who say that the fruit of the Spirit 
 " in us is in no degree good, and that we have no inherent right- 
 " eousness at all, this difference is not verbal ; the one party say 
 " that we are justified entirely by what is without us, because 
 " there is nothing within us which can justify ; the other by what 
 " God plants within us, completed by His merciful imputation. 
 " But those who even though admitting the infection of sin to 
 " remain in the regenerate, deny that it is a mortal matter, or 
 " ' deserves God's wrath and damnation ; ' or even if so, yet that 
 " it may be through God's grace subdued, seem to have no irre- 
 " concilable difference on this point with the Romanists. And 
 " this has ever been virtually and practically the prevalent doc- 
 " trine in the English Church ; nay, Le Blanc, in his Theses 
 " Tkcologiccc, maintains that Protestants generally have no dif- 
 " ference with Romanists on this subject. ' When they [the 
 " Roman doctors] explain their meaning more distinctly, they 
 " come to the same meaning as the Reformed Theologians.' — De 
 " Justit. inhaer. 27. But however this may be, at least English 
 " divines teach that our holiness and works done in the Spirit 
 
xxxvni 
 
 " are something towards salvation, but not enough ; or that we 
 " are justified by obedience under the Covenant of mercy, or by 
 " obedience sprinkled with or presented in the Atoning Sacrifice. 
 " According to them then we are saved in Christ's righteousness, 
 " yet not without our own ; or considering Christ's righteous- 
 " ness as a formal cause, by two contemporaneous formal causes, 
 " by a righteousness, meritorious on Christ's part, inchoate on 
 " ours."— pp. 412—414. 
 
 " Our divines, though of very different Schools, have, with a 
 " few exceptions, agreed in this, that justification is gained by 
 " obedience in the shape of faith, that is, an obedience which con- 
 " fesses it is not sufficient, and trusts solely in Christ's merits 
 " for acceptance ; which is in other words the doctrine of two 
 " righteousnesses, a perfect and imperfect ; not the Roman, that 
 " obedience justifies without a continual imputation of Christ's 
 " merits ; nor the Protestant, that imputation justifies distinct 
 " from obedience ; but a middle way, that obedience justifies in, 
 " or under Christ's Covenant, or sprinkled with Christ's meri- 
 " torious sacrifice. It would be easy to show this in the case of 
 " Bull, Taylor, Barrow, Tillotson, and Wake, who implies his 
 " agreement with Bossuet on this point, Expos. Art. 5. Nay, 
 " it is almost the opinion of the Calvinists, which is worth 
 " remarking. Davenant, for instance, grants the doctrine of 
 " justitia inchoata. He grants, it is true righteousness in the 
 " same sense in which a white wall, though not perfectly white, 
 " has whiteness, (vid. Extract, p. 91.) and he grants that inherent 
 " righteousness is justification in a passive sense, or what he calls 
 " justif action, c. 22; that is, in fact, we have two righteous- 
 " nesses, a perfect and an imperfect, Christ's and our own ; the 
 " point in which he differs being merely this, whether this inchoate 
 " righteousness can be said to tend towards justification, or to 
 " serve us in any stead in God's sight. And this would seem 
 " very much a question of words ; for if he means to deny it is 
 " such as we can trust to, Bucer confesses this distinctly ; but 
 " that there is something good in it, he surely cannot deny, unless 
 
xxxix 
 
 " he will contend there is no whiteness in a wall that is partially 
 " white. Nay, in one place he confesses as to a kindred point, 
 " ' We have then no dispute with the fathers, nor with these 
 " sounder Romanists, on the mere term merit, (although it is 
 " much better and safer to abstain from this word,) but we will 
 " contend against the modern Papists.' — De Just. Act. c. 53. 
 
 " To the same effect Hooker, whose view of justification is 
 " supposed to be adverse to Bucer's and Bull's ; ' I will not in 
 " this place dispute . . . whether truly it may not be said, that 
 " penitent both weeping and fasting are means to blot out sin, 
 " means whereby, through God's unspeakable and undeserved 
 " mercy, we obtain or procure to ourselves pardon ; which attain- 
 " ment unto any gracious benefit by Him bestowed, the phrase 
 " of Antiquity useth to express by the name of merit.' Eccl. 
 " Pol. v. Hooker then holds that God has not only made His 
 " Son Righteousness to us by imputation, but that He does for 
 " us still more ; He begins actually to make us in this life what 
 " Christ is, righteous. That doctrine surely is neither deroga- 
 " tory to God's grace nor an incentive to man's pride, which, 
 " while it adds a gift, does not tend to dispense with the utter 
 " necessity of Christ's merits for our justification. In like man- 
 " ner Chamier makes this curious confession : — ' We . . . deny 
 " not that our righteousness in some sort consists in inherent right- 
 " eousness, as we have often attested, namely, because we must 
 " needs die to sin and live to God. But still we place the begin. 
 " ning and end of righteousness in the remission of sins ; namely. 
 " because this makes us righteous before God, which the perfec- 
 " tion of virtues cannot. What is the difference then ? namely, 
 " that we distinguish two righteousnesses, as well as two formal 
 " causes, since it is absurd, that there should be two formal 
 " causes of one and the same thing ; — we, therefore, have entitled 
 " our righteousness, as far as it consists in remission of sins, justi- 
 " fication, with Paul, but that which consists in the perfection of 
 " virtues, sanctification.' . . . All this being considered, it does 
 " not seem rash to say with Grotius, that, so that we acknowledge 
 
 3 
 
xl 
 
 " that man does not procure remission of sins by any thing 
 " he can do, but yet is retained in God's favour by obedience, 
 " ' caetera quae disputantur,' theologically not practically, ' sunt 
 " Scholastica et Metaphysicalia.' — Animadv. in Rivet. 4." — pp. 
 420—422. 
 
 13. The source of our acceptance is our union witli 
 Christ, and the Father looks upon us as accept- 
 able, as being in Him. 
 
 " What in truth is the gift even in this our state of humili- 
 " ation, but a grafting invisibly into the Body of Christ ; a mys- 
 " terious union with Him, and a fellowship in all the grace and 
 " blessedness which is hidden in Him ? Thus it separates us 
 " from other children of Adam, is our badge and distinction in 
 " the presence of the unseen world, and is the earnest of greater 
 " good in store. It is an angelic glory which good spirits honour, 
 " which devils tremble at, and which we are bound reverently to 
 " cherish, with a careful abstinence from sin, and with the sacri- 
 " flee of good works. Well then may Prophets and Apostles 
 " exult in it as the great gift of Divine Mercy, as the rich garment 
 " of salvation, and the enjewelled robe of righteousness : as linen 
 " clean and white, or, as it is elsewhere expressed, as ' Christ in 
 " us,' and ' upon us,' and around us ; as if it were a light stream- 
 " ing from our hearts, pervading the whole man, enwrapping and 
 " hiding the lineaments and members of our fallen nature, circling 
 " round us, and returning inward to the centre from which it 
 " issues. The Almighty Father, looking on us, sees not us, but 
 " this Sacred Presence, even His dearly beloved Son spiritually 
 "manifested in us; with His blood upon our door-posts, in 
 " earnest of that final abolition of sin which is at length to be 
 " accomplished in us." — pp. 183, 184. 
 
 It would then be an unwarrantable misrepresenta- 
 tion, if any should continue to speak of the view of 
 
xli 
 
 justification here taken, as any ways trenching upon 
 the free mercy of God in Christ ; in Him it begins, 
 it ends in Him ; begins in Him as the source whence 
 it flows, the only meritorious cause of our accept- 
 ance ; by Him it is sustained, rendering well- 
 pleasing to Him, through His indwelling Spirit, those 
 whom He has made members of Himself ; in Him 
 it ends, pardoning, for the sake of the precious 
 blood-shedding, " the sins, which," notwithstanding 
 that sanctifying presence, " we by our frailty have 
 committed." There is then no question about the 
 meritorious cause of our acceptance, the Atoning 
 Blood ; none, whether we be not at first justified 
 without works ; none, about the source of all good 
 works, the indwelling grace of Christ, preventing, 
 helping, perfecting ; none, whether the works so 
 wrought can, in themselves, sustain the righteous 
 judgment of God ; none, whether to the end, there 
 be not need of the continual sprinkling of the Blood 
 of Christ, making acceptable our offerings, and 
 cleansing our pollutions; none, whether all sin de- 
 serve not God's wrath, and be not pardoned for the 
 sake of that Blood alone ; or, in whatever other way 
 it could be said, that in all things God is to us the 
 beginning and the end ; the First and the Last ; the 
 Author and Finisher of our faith. The question is 
 solely what is the state of those who have been 
 justified freely, for members of Satan made members 
 of Christ ; whether they have a righteousness, not 
 
of their own, not independent, not perfect, not the 
 ground of their acceptance, but still within them, 
 real, in its character well-pleasing to God, as result- 
 ing from their union with their Lord, and wrought 
 through the Spirit of holiness ? 
 
 But while there is an essential difference of view 
 between those who (chiefly without the Church) 
 hold man's abiding unholiness to be part of the true 
 doctrine of justification by faith, that " since 1 God 
 justifies those who are ungodly when justified, there- 
 fore they are unrighteous ever after, nay, not really 
 godly, but only accounted so," there is no intrinsic 
 difference between these views and any (however 
 expressed) which, maintaining that we are justified 
 freely, maintain also that the " elect people of God" 
 are in very deed and truth sanctified. The question 
 is not about the terms "justification" and "sanctifi- 
 cation," but about the substance. Whoever, with 
 Bishop Andrews 2 , holds " a righteousness accounted," 
 and " a righteousness done," "the one a quality of the 
 " party, the other an act of the Judge ; the one, ours 
 " by influence or infusion ; the other, by account or 
 " imputation," holds altogether the same as is here 
 
 1 Lect. 5. Discordant senses given to the word Righteous- 
 ness, p. 127. 
 
 2 Serm. on Jer. xxiii. 6. Bp. Andrews' Devotions so entirely 
 express the wants and desires of a mind trained in the teaching of 
 the ancient Church, that one feels the more confident as to the 
 sameness of his doctrine. 
 
xliii 
 
 contended for : or again, when Hooker 1 says, " We 
 " have already showed that there be two kinds of 
 " Christian righteousness ; the one without us, which 
 " we have by imputation ; the other within us, which 
 " consisteth of faith, hope, and charity, and other 
 " Christian virtues. — God giveth us both the one 
 " justice and the other ; the one by accepting us for 
 " righteous in Christ ; the other by working Christian 
 " righteousness in us ;" the doctrine is no other than 
 that so often expressed and vindicated in these lectures, 
 that righteousness is first imputed, then imparted. 
 Again, when Archbishop Bramhall 2 says, " Concern- 
 " ing Justification, we believe that all good Christians 
 " have true inherent justice, though not perfect, accord- 
 " ing to a perfection of degrees, as gold is true gold, 
 " though it be mixed with some dross. We believe 
 " that this inherent justice and sanctity doth make 
 " them truly just and holy. But if the word Justifi- 
 " cation be taken in sensu forensi, for the acquittal 
 " of a man from former guilt, to make an offender 
 " just in the eye of the law, as it is opposed to con- 
 " demnation, then it is not our inherent righteousness 
 " that justifieth us in this sense, but the free grace 
 " of God for the merits of Jesus Christ ;" — this con- 
 tains precisely the two points which Mr. Newman 
 throughout employs himself to establish : against 
 
 1 On Justification, § 21. 
 
 2 Answer to M. de la Militiere. 
 
xliv 
 
 the Lutheran theory that the true members of 
 Christ are truly, though imperfectly, just and holy ; 
 against the Romanists, that their inherent righteous- 
 ness does not justify them, in the sense of remission 
 of sins. 
 
 I have instanced these passages, because they have 
 been quoted as authorities against the view of 
 justification inculcated by Mr. Newman ; and with 
 regard both to these, and still more as to some others, 
 one can only feel surprised how any could have so 
 misconceived those views, as to think that they any 
 way militated against them. The question is not, (it 
 must be repeated,) about the names of justification 
 and sanctification, but about the connection of the 
 substance thereby designated; not whether it may 
 not be expedient to use them to designate different 
 sides of the same dispensation, although the one run 
 into the other, but about the " broad separation 1 " 
 of the gifts themselves, as if they were " two alto- 
 gether independent benefits 2 ;" whereas " Scripture 
 " itself blends them together as intimately as any 
 " system of theology can do." Whatever names be 
 used, or distinctions made, it is one view, which 
 insists on righteousness as being originally imputed 
 from without, then realized and real within, and 
 finally accepted for His merits who imparted it. And 
 this is the teaching of the body of our Divines. 
 
 1 Justification, Lect. ii. p. 44. 2 Ibid. p. 42. 
 
xlv 
 
 It may be well, however, to say something as to 
 the form into which this subject has been in part 
 cast in Mr. Newman's Lectures, the inquiry into 
 the formal cause of our justification, or " that in 
 which a justified state consists 1 ." The words only 
 are scholastic ; the inquiry itself very nearly con- 
 cerns all ; it is, what is that in us, wherein, as being 
 justified, we differ from those who are not justified ? 
 Mr. Newman answers, as the foundation of all other 
 differences, our being in Christ, which we are through 
 His indwelling, sanctifying Spirit, whereby He dwell- 
 eth in us and we in Him. It is superfluous to say, 
 how solemn and awful a character this casts over our 
 Christian existence, realizing what Scripture declares, 
 in its full sense, that we are temples of the Holy 
 Ghost, or what responsibility is thereby involved 
 towards the heavenly inmate. 
 
 Independently, also, of this, it might aid in no 
 slight degree to the restoration of peace in the 
 Church, if, by this view, others, which seem to be 
 opposed, might be united. And this was manifestly 
 the object with Mr. Newman, and indeed incident- 
 ally declared so to be. 
 
 " It must be carefully kept in view that the object proposed in 
 " these citations from divines of very various sentiments, is that of 
 " showing how they, one and all, converge and approximate to one 
 " main clear and consistent doctrine, if they could forget the 
 " language of their respective schools." — p. 91. 
 
 1 Note on Lect. vi. p. 172. 
 
xlvi 
 
 And, again, 
 
 " The point is this : that neither the imputed righteousness of 
 " Christ, nor imparted or inherent righteousness, is the consti- 
 " tuting or formal cause of justification, or that in which a justified 
 " state consists ; but a gift which includes both of these, and is 
 " greater than either, viz. the actual Presence, in a mysterious 
 " way, or Indwelling in the soul through the Spirit, of the Word 
 " Incarnate, in Whom is the Father." — Note on Lect. vi. p. 172. 
 
 Nor is the view novel. In our own Church, the 
 Homilies, though not in technical language, express 
 the same doctrine. The Homily on the Resurrection 
 explains St. Paul's words, " rose again for our justi- 
 fication," "rose again to send down His Holy Spirit 
 " to rule in our hearts, to endow us with perfect 
 " righteousness." " Thus," subjoins Mr. Newman 
 " a justifying righteousness, viz. that of which St. Paul 
 " speaks as gained by Christ's resurrection, is 
 " ascribed to the work of the Holy Spirit in our 
 " hearts :" and, again, on the words of the homily, 
 " Thou hast received Him, if in true faith and re- 
 " pentance of heart thou hast received Him ; if in 
 " purpose of amendment thou hast received Him for 
 " an everlasting gage, or pledge of thy salvation. 
 " Thou hast received His body which was once bro- 
 " ken, and His blood which was shed for the remission 
 " of thy sin. Thou hast received His body, to have 
 " within thee the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
 "for to dwell with thee, to endow thee with grace, to 
 
 1 1. c. See the whole Comment, pp. 172 — 175. 
 
xlvii 
 
 " strengthen thee against thine enemies, and to com- 
 " fort thee with Their presence. Thou hast received 
 " His body to endow thee with everlasting righteousness, 
 " to assure thee of everlasting bliss, and life of thy 
 " soul ;" Mr. Newman remarks, " Thus justification 
 " consists in ' righteousness,' and righteousness in 
 " the inward presence of God, in ' receiving' within 
 " us Christ's ' body' and ' blood which was shed for 
 " the remission of sins ;' which moreover communi- 
 " cates, ' to dwell in us,' the Father, the Son, and 
 " the Holy Ghost." 
 
 In the Ancient Church, Petavius asserts this to be 
 the general view of the fathers. To translate the 
 passages quoted by Mr Newman 1 ; " Thus then, 
 " when we read that the Holy Spirit is imparted 
 " and communicated to the faithful and righteous, it 
 " might seem that not Himself personally, but His 
 " efficacy is bestowed ; and such is the ordinary 
 " meaning of those who are less read in the ancient 
 " fathers. But whoso will attentively examine, will 
 " perceive, that continual mention is there made of 
 " a certain secret and unwonted mode of sending and 
 " communicating, whereby the Divine Spirit, intro- 
 " ducing Himself into the souls of the righteous, 
 " is united with them ; and that this is not acci- 
 " dental, so to speak, («. e. is not wrought only by 
 " that divine and heavenly quality which the same 
 
 1 App. p. 398. " Out of the many which might be quoted from 
 his De Trinitate, lib. viii." 
 
xlviii 
 
 " Spirit, the Author and Giver of heavenly gifts, 
 " sheds abroad in our hearts,) but essential, i. e. sub- 
 " stantial ; so that the very substance of the Holy 
 " Spirit is joined with us, and maketh us holy and 
 " righteous, and lastly, the sons of God." (4. $ 5.) " Al- 
 " together, then Didymus thought that the Holy 
 " Spirit justifieth men by a certain hidden infusion of 
 " His substance. The same you will read also in Pas- 
 " chasius and Bernard, of that participation of the 
 " substance of the Holy Spirit whereby we are made 
 " good or wise, i. e. righteous and holy." (ib. § 15.) "It 
 " is evident from their [the fathers'] decrees, that the 
 " state of righteousness and holiness is not wrought in 
 " m by any created thing or quality, but by the very 
 " substance of the Holy Spirit, as that which chiefly 
 " constituteth if \_principali forma.~] (5. $ 1.) "And 
 " this is very agreeable to the sentiments of Cyril and 
 " other fathers .... which set forth that the Holy 
 " Spirit is, as it were, a 7rotor»jc of Divinity, i. e. a 
 " form, which rendereth those in whom He dwelleth 
 " ttoiovq Tivag" [of a certain quality.] (Ib. § 15.) 
 " Let all the testimonies of ancient fathers above 
 " explained, be reviewed, and what is of more weight 
 " than they, those passages of Scripture which teach 
 " that either God simply, or especially the Son, is 
 " joined with the righteous, or dwelleth in them, we 
 " should find that most of them attest, that this 
 " taketh place through the Holy Spirit, as the proxi- 
 " mate, and, so to speak, formal cause." 
 
xlix 
 
 It is unnecessary, after these full statements, to 
 quote in detail the individuals pointed out by Mr. 
 Newman as holding more or less distinctly the 
 same view ; yet it is interesting to find this agree- 
 ment or approximation in minds of such different 
 moulds and schools as Lombard, St. Thomas, Caietan, 
 Conradus, Soto, Bonaventura ', Hooker 2 , Baxter 3 , 
 Luther 4 , Chamier 5 , Davenant, Calvin, Bucer 6 . 
 
 It is trusted that the statements thus brought 
 out will allay the fears of " those whom the Lobd 
 hath not made sad ;" persons of tender and timid 
 consciences, who have been taught that any men- 
 tion of works involves the being " debtors to keep 
 the whole law;" whose views of holiness are too 
 clear, and of their own unholiness too acute, not 
 to dread being cast on any degree of holiness 
 wrought in them, as the independent ground of 
 their hopes. No such doctrine has been taught. 
 But at the same time, it must again be said, that, 
 considering the way in which the doctrine of justi- 
 fication by faith has been tossed to and fro, and with 
 what roughness and irreverence it has oftentimes, of 
 late, been discussed or maintained, it seems too much 
 to be feared, that many eager disputants have never 
 thought what "faith" or "righteousness" are; that 
 
 1 App. p. 397. 2 lb. p. 423, 4. 3 P. 153, 4. 
 
 4 Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism, p. 28, ed. 1. p. 123, ed. 2. 
 4 See above (as translated from Mr. Newman) p. xxxix. 
 6 Justification, App. p. 426. 
 
 c 
 
I 
 
 with them the whole is a question of words and 
 theories, which they have taken up as the popular 
 teaching, without ever realizing them ; that they 
 seek to be "justified without works," rather than 
 " by faith ;" that they shrink from the thought of 
 the indwelling Spirit, because they have not in 
 themselves " the fruits of the Spirit ;" because the 
 thought of that Holy Being as actually indwelling, 
 would require greater strictness and watchfulness 
 over their actions, and a more awful care of, and 
 reverence for, themselves, as being His temples. 
 " Justification by faith" is to them an easy profes- 
 sion ; it leaves them free, unconstrained ; it makes 
 all right; the indwelling of the Spirit is a law 
 within (Rom. viii.), taking place of the law without 
 (Rom. vii.), but It is equally " a law," equally re- 
 quires obedience ; only that It will supply what It 
 requires. The obedience to the law is not repealed ; 
 but the power to perform it given. Christians are 
 not under a law, but have the law within them ; yet 
 so must they be the more actuated by the law, con- 
 trolled by the law; more than before, only from 
 within, as well as from without in Holy Scripture. 
 This some like not. It does away with the sup- 
 posed liberty of the Gospel. It leaves them as 
 much in constraint as before ; nay, they must needs 
 be more watchful, more timid of doing wrong, more 
 jealous over themselves, more careful of details ; as 
 one would tread reverently and lowlilyin God's House, 
 and touch with respectful care vessels sanctified by 
 
 3 
 
li 
 
 use in His service, so does the Christian's body and 
 soul acquire an awful character, if the whole man be 
 indeed " an habitation of God through the Spirit " 
 (Eph. ii. 22). The " vessel " of our bodies must 
 indeed be "possessed in honour" if it be conse- 
 crated with such a Presence ; " God " must indeed 
 be " glorified in " our " spirits and our bodies," if they 
 are in such sense " God's." This constraint some 
 misliking, condemn, as mysticism, the doctrine which 
 condemns themselves and their unheedful ways. 
 One would not even in thought imagine who these 
 may be ; individually, one would hope of all, one 
 by one, that they were not such ; but in an age of 
 so much profession, and so little practice, which 
 speaks so much of faith, and practises, so little, 
 good works, and " vaunts itself" so much, it is 
 much to be feared that there must be many, who 
 at present lie under the sentence of such as say, 
 " Lord, Lord, but do not the things which I say." 
 And this is said not to disparage any opinions or 
 views within or without the Church, but if by any 
 means it may tend to dispel the self-deceit of any ; 
 and God may give them repentance, to recover them 
 out of the snare of the devil, whatever that snare 
 be, or however hidden from them. 
 
 Other points dwelt upon in the Letter, it is, from 
 different causes, little necessary to do more than 
 name. The doctrine of " reserve in communicating 
 
 c 2 
 
lii 
 
 religious knowledge," in other words, " carefulness 
 in not obtruding religious truth upon minds unfitted 
 to receive it," had given rise to little controversy when 
 the Letter was first written ; it relates also to an 
 7/0oc, a moral principle, a natural instinct, Christian 
 wisdom and discretion, rather than to the class of 
 subjects upon which this Letter was employed ; and 
 now, all necessity of explaining or defending it, is 
 superseded by the further developement of the sub- 
 ject by the thoughtful writer himself. If they, who 
 seem perhaps most to need it, will not be benefited 
 by it, at least it may be hoped that it will be useful 
 to such, as having come to the knowledge of neg- 
 lected truths, might be disposed to advocate them in 
 a spirit of excitement, or without reference to times 
 and seasons. 
 
 On another subject, the distinction of " deadly sin," 
 which has been remarked upon, was used in no other 
 sense, than in that in which it is employed in our 
 Articles (Art. XVI 2 .) and Litany ; and while it is, of 
 course, felt that every sin needs to be washed away 
 by repentance, and effaced by the Blood of Christ, 
 and the greatest saints have been ever ready to con- 
 fess themselves, in true humility, the " chief of sin- 
 ners," and it was observed (Letter, p. 86) that Rome 
 had erred in the " refined distinctions which she made 
 in carrying out her divisions of mortal and venial 
 
 1 Tract No. 87. 
 
 a Referred to in the Letter itself, p. 83. 
 
liii 
 
 sins," yet it would be introducing Stoicism into the 
 Gospel, to contend that all sins were equal ; nor 
 would any one who never did repent, repent alike 
 deeply of all his sins, or think that all were alike to 
 be repented of. Conscience, when not bound down 
 by a system, would reject the notion that adultery 
 and some slight excess in eating were equal sins, 
 although, under a system, there have been who have 
 maintained it. Rather, while they who have been 
 saved from greater sins, acknowledge that it is of 
 God's mercy that they have been so preserved, by 
 which same mercy others have been led to repent- 
 ance of them ; let each repent of the sins into which 
 he has fallen, according to their magnitude and their 
 aggravations in himself ; listening to conscience, 
 and not to human theories, which will not avail in 
 the day of judgment ; that so humbling himself he 
 may be exalted. 
 
 Thus much having been said on the topics of the 
 Letter, there are two points as to the Letter itself, 
 upon which I would wish to explain myself. 
 
 The first relates to the extent to which I claimed 
 the benefit of the acquittal of the Bishop of Oxford 
 for the writers of the Tracts (Letter, p. 8, 9). I 
 desired, certainly, most scrupulously to adhere to the 
 very letter of his Lordship's words, altering them no 
 further than was necessary for the change of person, 
 in quoting to his Lordship his own words. The 
 Bishop of Oxford had been called upon by publica- 
 
liv 
 
 tions little inclined to recognize Episcopal authority, 
 and anonymously, to pass censure upon the Tracts ; 
 he did pronounce " The authors of the Tracts in 
 question have laid no such painful necessity [that of 
 " interfering"] upon me, nor have I to fear that they 
 ever will do so." I was myself addressing him as 
 one of those " authors ;" and it certainly never 
 occurred to me that in mentioning this acquittal 
 of his Lordship, I should be understood to claim it, 
 further than on the subjects upon which he had been 
 appealed to, upon which he had pronounced, and on 
 which I was "writing, — the charges made upon the 
 writers of the Tracts, for what they had therein ex- 
 pressed. One individual has, it seems, given my 
 words another meaning, as though I meant to claim 
 the protection of the Bishop's name for the various 
 other publications of the writers of the Tracts ; 
 I therefore would take this opportunity of saying, 
 that I meant to adhere rigidly to his Lordship's 
 words, and had no thought of any thing except 
 those Tracts. 
 
 2. I have understood that parts of my Letter have 
 given pain to some good men, as though their views 
 were unfairly represented in it. This would be a 
 subject of much regret in any case ; but especially 
 where one chief object was to conciliate and promote 
 peace, I should be the more sorry to give pain to 
 those with whom (in common with such whose views 
 of doctrine and practice I more closely share,) I 
 
Iv 
 
 wish to be at one ; or to misunderstand those by 
 whom we should wish to be understood. I spared 
 no pains certainly to understand the views to 
 which I alluded ; and the testimony borne by Mr. 
 Piatt's Letter (who is allowed to be well acquainted 
 with them,) seemed to me subsequently to attest 
 the correctness of my own. But, in truth, I had 
 no reference to individuals, (although every one's 
 impression must, in part, be collected from indi- 
 viduals,) but to a scheme of doctrine, itself of 
 foreign origin, the offspring of a distinct reformation, 
 represented most purely in this country by the 
 Dissenters, but elements of which were, in the last 
 century, taken up and mingled with the teaching of 
 the Church. Within the Church, that scheme has 
 ever been modified by her Liturgy and Offices ; and, 
 of late, the more, although insensibly, since this 
 meaning of those services has been more brought 
 out by those who have themselves been opposed : 
 some who have opposed the authors of the Tracts 
 for the Times, have themselves entered independ- 
 ently upon the examination of our common Li- 
 turgy, and so drawing from a common source, have 
 unknowingly approached nearer ; others have un- 
 consciously imbibed portions of views, which they 
 have heard frequently discussed ; and thus, in one 
 way or other, that large section of the Church, 
 which has chiefly declared against the views advo- 
 cated in the Tracts, has itself insensibly been modi- 
 
Ivi 
 
 fied, and is no longer what it was a few years past. 
 There must be also, and is among those who would 
 class themselves in that section, and whose friendships 
 and associations are chiefly or almost exclusively 
 within it, so great a variety of shades of opinion and 
 doctrine, that no one would attempt to speak of 
 it as a whole : some, a few years past, felt them- 
 selves drawn more nearly to Dissenters than to such 
 members or ministers of their Church as held high 
 Church views ; others seem now but very little 
 separated from High Churchmen (to use the term), 
 except by old association. It seems then a little 
 hard if these last will so identify themselves with 
 those who hold the most purely the Genevan doc- 
 trines and views, as to think themselves aggrieved, 
 when, — not those who hold them, but — these views 
 are spoken of with blame. 
 
 Not knowing well what the passages are which 
 have been thus interpreted, and learning incidentally 
 that one was so interpreted, (p. 88,) which relates, 
 in the strongest portions, to the Wesleyans, I can 
 only beg of them and other my brethren, to interpret 
 me as one who longs for unity within our Church, 
 that so she may promote unity in the whole Church 
 of Christ, and w 7 ho therefore meant not and mean not 
 any thing which could tend to aggravate or continue 
 our disunion, and would wish unsaid any thing which, 
 although not meant, might readily so be interpreted. 
 Much less would I be thought to speak harshly of 
 
Ivii 
 
 any bodies of men. Every system has its hangers-on, 
 who belong to it in name only ; and so if those who 
 have their name from the Gospel, number among 
 themselves such as know little of the practice of the 
 Gospel, it is but what our Lord foretold should be 
 the condition of the Church ; much more then of any 
 section in it. It may be said, then, that there seem to 
 be such \ I trust, without offence, or seeming to dis- 
 parage any class of men or of Ministers. They who 
 are pained by reading these things will, of them- 
 selves, judge how much more painful to say them. 
 They are said with real affection, humility, and re- 
 spect, towards all such, as answer, in life and con- 
 versation, to the title which that section of the 
 Church bears. The less one esteems the scheme of 
 doctrine which they have unconsciously imbibed 
 from a foreign Reformation, and confounded with 
 our own, the more must one respect the individuals 
 whose piety is sustained amid what, compared with 
 the ancient Church, are meagre pastures. 
 
 There are many signs, that God is mercifullv 
 healing the distractions of our Church. Doctrines 
 and practices, which had recently been cast into the 
 shade, could not be restored without contradiction or 
 misconception both of the things themselves and of 
 those who inculcated them ; but year by year seems 
 to be drawing nearer to each other those who on 
 
 1 Above, p. xii. and xlix. 
 
 d 
 
Iviii 
 
 either side are in earnest ; their differences lie con- 
 tinually in the mode of stating the truths they hold, 
 rather than in the truths themselves; and there is much 
 real agreement, where there is apparent dissimilarity ; 
 and this agreement is being consolidated, issuing, it is 
 to be hoped, not in the false unity attained by the 
 suppression of doctrine or the agreement to disagree, 
 but the unity of the one body through the One 
 Spirit. 
 
 A high office appears to be reserved for our 
 Church, when humbled for its disunion, and the 
 dereliction of duty during the past century which 
 immediately occasioned it, and her present neglects, 
 and so restored to " unity in herself," and clad again 
 in her full dowry of doctrine, discipline, devotion, and 
 holy deeds ; to this end the good hand of our God 
 seems to be leading her, and making all things tend ; 
 to this restoration we would all severally contribute ; 
 and if for the time we must labour separately, and 
 suffer reproach from those with whom we would be 
 fellow-labourers, at least we would not aggravate 
 these disorders, but rather wait with patience, until 
 we be acknowledged of those, who now cast out our 
 name as evil, and stigmatize with human names, 
 those who would bear no Name, but That which has 
 s been named upon them. Let it not be thought then 
 that we would wilfully alienate any ; let not what is 
 capable of two constructions be (as it has been) taken 
 in the harshest ; but let those who would themselves 
 
 3 
 
lix 
 
 be charitable, show their charity in this, that they 
 would believe us also to wish to be meek, humble, 
 and charitable, and to promote that love, which our 
 Lord left as the mark of His disciples, the first-fruit 
 of His Spirit, the condition of His indwelling, the 
 credentials of His Church to the world, the glory and 
 the means of its perfection ; the earnest of our 
 acceptance in the day of judgment '. 
 
 Feast of St. James, 
 1840. 
 
 1 John xiii. 35 ; Gal. v. 23 ; 1 John iv. 12 ; John xvii. 21—23 ; 
 1 John iv. 17. 
 
LETTER 
 
 TO THE RIGHT REV. FATHER IN GOD, 
 
 RICHARD, LORD BISHOP OF OXFORD. 
 
 B 
 
A 
 
 LETTER, 
 
 Sfc. 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 In ordinary times it is best and simplest to be silent 
 amidst misrepresentations, and to commit our inno- 
 cence to God, leaving it to Him to bring it out when 
 to Him seems good ; " As for me, I was like a deaf 
 " man and heard not, and as one that is dumb, who 
 " doth not open his mouth ; I became even as a man 
 " that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no re- 
 " proofs : for in Thee, O Lord, have I put my trust ; 
 "Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God 1 ." 
 Extensive good to the many must always be pur- 
 chased by the suffering of the few : it is a portion of 
 the Cross which our Lord has bequeathed as a pre- 
 cious gift to His disciples, and they must take it 
 humbly and thankfully ; glad if they may indeed 
 think that they have a portion of it, yet scarce ven- 
 turing to decide for themselves whether it be in 
 truth His Cross, or the chastisement of their own 
 
 1 Ps. xxxviii. 13 — 15. 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 infirmities, yet taking it at all events quietly and 
 joyously, that so, sanctified by that meritorious 
 Cross, it may turn to their joy and consolation ; and 
 to those, to whom it is indeed His Cross, to their 
 crown. 
 
 These, however, are not ordinary times ; the 
 waters, which stagnated during the last century, are 
 being stirred vehemently ; we trust, for the health 
 of those who shall be cast into them ; but amid the 
 first troubling, people seem to be tossed this way 
 and that, not knowing whither themselves shall be 
 borne, and more curious about the fate of others, 
 than anxious to secure their own. It is not among 
 the least strange circumstances of the times, that 
 tracts, written for a temporary purpose, by persons 
 unknown, or those who were known, but little known 
 beyond their own University, should within a few 
 years have been made, against the will of their 
 writers, into a sort of touchstone of opinion almost 
 throughout the land ; it is stranger yet, that the 
 greater part of those who make these tracts a test of 
 soundness or unsoundness of faith, should be ready 
 to confess not even to have seen them, but have 
 gleaned what little they know of them from the re- 
 port of one or two periodicals ; stranger yet, that 
 publications devoted to politics, should, at a time of 
 great political expectation, break off their specu- 
 lations, or books of gossip 1 " cut off their tale, to 
 
 1 " Travels in Town." 
 
5 
 
 talk of" deep and sacred subjects of theology, and 
 descant on the gifts of God in Baptism, or on the 
 succession of Bishops ; or a defence of the Establish- 
 ment 1 be changed into an " accuser of its brethren." 
 Amid this chaos, it is certainly not strange, that the 
 wildest misconceptions should be commonly circulated 
 and greedily received ; that tales about the writers in 
 the " Tracts for the Times " should take the place of 
 other novelties, and that those who live to " tell 
 or to hear some new thing,'"' should be more in- 
 terested in their novelty than their truth ; or that 
 truths which were handed down to us by our fore- 
 fathers, and which in the last century, and in the be- 
 ginning of the present, were held by the majority of 
 the Clergy, should be stigmatized as novelties, be- 
 cause new to such as have taken their opinions from 
 a modern school. 
 
 This ferment has already had its use; the names 
 of individuals have been branded, but the doctrines 
 or practices which they recommend have been at 
 least partially received. Many who opposed them, 
 were obliged to advance a certain way, in order to 
 take a position from which they might with ad- 
 vantage attack them : still more frequently, men were 
 thus constrained to consider subjects which they had 
 hitherto left out of sight, but which once brought 
 before them, demanded an audience, and thereon 
 found admittance, through their manifest coincidence 
 
 ' " Essays on the Church," originally, and still for the most 
 part, an useful exposure of the pseudo-voluntary system. 
 
6 
 
 with the teaching or the services of our Church. 
 Thus many observe the Ember weeks, acknow- 
 ledge in some degree the duty of fasting, keep some 
 of the festivals of the Church, acknowledge the pri- 
 vileges of their Ministry, are thankful for the gifts 
 of God in their Baptism, have truer views of re- 
 pentance, recognise the benefits of more frequent 
 Communions, not to speak now of a deeper know- 
 ledge of its blessedness, who perhaps little suspect 
 from what quarter they derived their present views. 
 Doubtless too some of those who now have " heresy" 
 upon their lips, have been awakened from their 
 apathy as to its dangers, ultimately, by those whom 
 they now accuse of it; and some have derived un- 
 consciously their value for the distinctive character 
 of their Apostolic Church from those, whom they 
 now too readily suppose to be alienated from, or but 
 lukewarm towards, her. Then also these discussions, 
 though often somewhat rudely and painfully carried 
 on, have spread wide the seed ; and so it has reached 
 and lodged in many a heart, which God has pre- 
 pared to receive it, and to which He has thus brought 
 it, and is taking root, and bringing forth fruit of self- 
 denial, self-discipline, increased devotion, and en- 
 larged charity. We can, in another respect, already, 
 hardly realize the state in which we were some few 
 years ago. The plans of reforming our Liturgy, then 
 so rife (each reformer having a scheme of his own, 
 and agreeing with his fellows only in curtailing 1 the 
 1 This, as so much besides, is inherited from the Puritans. See 
 
7 
 
 whole), have shrunk away, or sunk to rest; most 
 have discovered that one hour and an half in a week 
 is but very little to offer to Almighty God : the 
 murmurs against the Athanasian Creed and the im- 
 precatory Psalms, are no longer heard : and those 
 who retain their wishes for some alteration, are con- 
 tent to abandon it for the time as hopeless, and to 
 comfort themselves that if the Liturgy were more per- 
 fect, " the sort of idolatry now often offered to it 1 " 
 would be increased, and it might be " placed not only 
 on a level with the Bible, which indeed men often do 
 already, but even above it." Thus the Church has 
 gained a respite ; and persons, who love her, might 
 the more cheerfully go on with the task of studying 
 her character, and developing it, in their own practice, 
 and inculcating it on their flocks. 
 
 And with this we should have been contented, 
 had we ourselves, or our own character, alone been 
 concerned. Each year is changing or modifying the 
 opinions of numbers among those, who once regarded 
 as novelties the truths which we have put forth in 
 the name of our Church ; many now support them, 
 who once opposed them ; and of those who have been 
 too long trained in a different system to receive any 
 new impressions, many yet see thus much, that there 
 is nothing in these views inconsistent with piety ; 
 and so they are content to wait with Gamaliel, to see 
 
 Hooker's Defence of the length of the Church Service, Eccl. Pol. 
 V. xxxii. and notes, ed. Keble. 
 1 Essays on the Church, p. 270. 
 
8 
 
 whither this thing would grow, " for if this counsel 
 " or this work be of men, it will come to nought ; 
 " but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest 
 " haply ye be found to fight against God." 
 
 The case, however, is altered since your Lordship, 
 as our diocesan, has, in the discharge of your sacred 
 office 1 , pronounced upon the charges circulated 
 against us ; acquitting those among us who are paro- 
 chial ministers, of any " breach of discipline," and 
 bestowing a refreshing and paternal praise, which we 
 gratefully acknowledge at your Lordship's hands, for 
 our " desire to restore the discipline of the Church," 
 our " attempts to secure a stricter attention to the 
 Rubrical directions in the Book of Common Prayer, 
 and to restore the due observance of the fasts and 
 festivals of the Church:" and on other topics, although 
 your Lordship declines entering into questions, which 
 " might hereafter tend to controversial discussions," 
 (since your Lordship's office is to pronounce and 
 arbitrate, not to dispute with those over whom you 
 are placed in the Lord,) your Lordship has kindly 
 stated that " the authors of the Tracts have not laid 
 upon your Lordship the painful necessity of interfer- 
 ing, nor have you any fear that we shall ever do 
 so." And thus, while we thankfully acknowledge the 
 caution which your Lordship gives, especially to those 
 who have learnt of us, (since in times of excitement 
 
 1 Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Oxford, 
 1838, pp. 20, 21. Sec Preface to 4th Edition. 
 
9 
 
 there must always be reason to fear lest the truth 
 should be evil spoken of, through the exaggerations 
 of those who receive it,) we feel ourselves acquitted, 
 not of human infirmity, but of having put forth any 
 such doctrine, or in such spirit, as would call for the 
 admonitions of those who have authority in the 
 Lord's vineyard. 
 
 But this acquittal by your Lordship, calculated in 
 itself to inspire confidence in the members of the 
 Church, and to procure us peace, has proved only 
 contemporaneous, at least, with yet more violent and 
 more extended censure. Even your Lordship's name 
 and office has not been spared, simply for having ac- 
 quitted us 1 ; many seem to be perplexed, as if there 
 must be some evil about the thing, of which there is 
 so much evil spoken ; as the chief captain commanded 
 to examine St. Paul " with scourging, that he might 
 know wherefore they cried so against him." Acts 
 xxii. 24. 
 
 In reverence then to your Lordship's office, I would 
 endeavour at least to show those who will see, that 
 we were not undeserving of your Lordship's kind- 
 ness ; both lest your Lordship's holy office (for per- 
 sonally your Lordship would be unconcerned) should 
 in the eyes of any be compromised ; and in hopes of 
 restoring in some measure that spirit of concord, 
 which your Lordship would promote ; for which we 
 pray ; and which we very sensibly need, now that 
 
 ' Church of England Review, reprinted in The Times newspaper. 
 
10 
 
 Romanist and Ultra-Protestant are united in an unna- 
 tural league against our Church. And in so doing, I 
 would beg respectfully to be understood, not to claim 
 the sanction of your Lordship's authority in behalf of 
 all the views which I profess. In some indeed, and 
 in those affecting the most important questions, I feel 
 assured that I coincide with your Lordship, as having 
 learnt them from the same Mother, the Church of 
 England ; others, upon which she has not pronounced, 
 I would claim only to fall within the scope of your 
 Lordship's words : " There must always be allowable 
 " points of difference in the opinions of good men ; 
 " and it is only when such opinions are carried into 
 " extremes, or are mooted in a spirit which tends to 
 " schism, that the interference of those in authority 
 " in the Church is called for." 
 
 The charges brought against us are heavy ; dis- 
 affection to our own Church, unfaithfulness to her 
 teaching, 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." 
 
 The evidence for these charges is somewhat vague : 
 for ultra-Protestantism has in its own nature no 
 standard except each man's private judgment, and 
 so its notions of Popery vary according to each man's 
 individual views; and that becomes to every one 
 Popish, which in solemnity of observance is greater 
 than his own, or a doctrine, or rite of Antiquity which 
 he holds not. Time was, when the use of the sur- 
 plice, the cross in Baptism, the very use of the Lord's 
 
 12 
 
11 
 
 Prayer in the same part of the service which it occu- 
 pied in the ancient ritual, to bow at the name 
 of our Lord, to stand during the reading of the 
 Gospel, to administer confirmation, to " turn his face 
 " at any time from the people l , or before service 
 " ended, remove from the place where it was begun," 
 and the like, were accounted Popish by those of the 
 " extreme reformation," whose principle it was that 
 " in nothing they may be followed which are of the 
 " Church of Rome 2 ." Whither that principle leads, 
 our Church has once had but too unhappy expe- 
 rience. But the principle, although modified, is not 
 abandoned ; it is not now Popish to bow at the 
 name of our Lord in the Creed, but it is Popish to 
 do so at any other time ; the Cross in Baptism is not 
 Popish, but for any, privately, to retrace that mark 
 upon himself, though a practice of the early Church, is 
 Popish 3 ; to baptize infants is not Popish, but to hold 
 that all infants derive benefit from Baptism is alto- 
 gether Popery ; to bow to the Altar where such (as in 
 some cathedrals) is the received custom, is not Popish, 
 but to speak of it with respect is so ; the title " Altar" 
 is not Popish in the coronation service, because it is 
 part of the ritual of our Church ; but (though a scrip- 
 tural and primitive title) used by any private Clergy- 
 man, it is an indication of Popery 4 : to kneel towards 
 the east, is not Popish in a Cathedral, or in the Ordi- 
 
 1 Hooker, Eccl. Pol. V. xxx. beg. 
 s Hooker, E. P. V. xxviii. beg. 
 
 3 Essays on the Church, p. 290. Fraser's Answer to Dr. Hook's 
 Call to Union, p. 8. 4 Essays, p. 287. Eraser, p. 21. 
 
12 
 
 nation-service by a Bishop, but in a Priest (although 
 no innovation) it is so ; again, it was not so accounted 
 in Hooker's time, in the Church, bat that has become 
 Popish in the 19th century, which was not in the 17th; 
 it is not Popish, if any one, taking one alternative 
 offered him by his Church \ " all Priests and Deacons 
 " are to say daily the morning and evening Prayer, 
 " either privately, or openly, not being let by sickness 
 " or some other urgent cause," shall say them by him- 
 self in his own house ; but if any one, taking the 
 alternative enjoined to the Parochial Minister, unless 
 " reasonably hindered, say the same in the Parish 
 Church or Chapel, where he ministereth," and from 
 any cause none come " to pray with him," then to 
 pray by himself in the Church is Popish, and partakes 
 of the nature of " private masses." 
 
 Again, it implies a Papistical leaning to dislike 
 the term " Protestant 2 ." And yet this title, the 
 rejection of which is to argue a leaning to Ro- 
 manism, does not belong historically to our Church, 
 but to the Lutherans, and was still used exclusively 
 of them, in the memory of some of the younger 
 among us ; it has no where been adopted by our 
 Church in any formulary or document of her's ; nay, 
 it was in 1689 altogether repudiated by the re- 
 presentatives of the inferior Clergy at least, the 
 Lower House of Convocation 3 , who would not even 
 
 1 Directions " Concerning the Service of the Church," in Pre- 
 face to Common Prayer-book. 
 
 2 Essays on the Church, p. 284. 
 
 3 Birch's Life of Tillotson. See at length, Tracts, No. 71, p. 33. 
 
13 
 
 allow of the phrase, " The Protestant religion in 
 general, and the Church of England in particular," 
 lest they should thereby seem in any way to identify 
 themselves with the foreign Churches. Thus then, 
 again, that is to be Papistical in the beginning of 
 the 19th century, which was not at the close of the 
 17th; or the main body of our Clergy had then a 
 Papistical leaning. The adoption of a Lutheran title 
 might surely better prove those who use it, to identify 
 themselves with the Lutherans, than its rejection to 
 imply any lurking feeling for the Church of Rome. 
 The title, as simply negative, is ill-fitted to character- 
 ize the faith of any portion of the Christian Church ; 
 it speaks only of what we do not hold, not of what 
 we do hold, and is accordingly in some countries, as 
 Italy, adopted by those who intend thereby to deny, 
 not the errors only held by Rome, but the Faith 
 which she has retained : " which imagine the canker 
 " to have eaten so far into the very bones and mar- 
 " row of the Church of Rome, as if it had not so 
 " much as a sound belief, no, not concerning God 
 " Himself, but that the very belief of the Trinity were 
 " a part of Anti-Christian corruption 1 ." For the most 
 part, Protestant is there the title assumed by the 
 infidel. And this abuse of the title lies in its very 
 nature : it is always more real to describe ourselves by 
 what we are, than to state merely what we are not, lest 
 in time our faith should shrink into the mere denial 
 of error, instead of being a confession of the truth. 
 
 1 Hooker, E. P. IV. viii. 2. cd. Keble. 
 
14 
 
 It is Popery again, and disaffection to our Church, 
 to doubt whether the Pope is the Anti-christ, even 
 while asserting that there is much anti-Christian 1 
 in the system of Rome ; that as in St. John's time 
 there were " many Anti-christs," and the mystery 
 of iniquity had begun already to work in St. Paul's, 
 and his descriptions were in great degree realized by 
 the Gnostic heresies, so there is also anti-Christianism 
 in the system of Rome, though Anti-christ himself 
 be not yet revealed, nor may we yet know when or 
 among whom he will appear. 
 
 Again, to approve of any thing in the Roman 
 Breviary, which was not extracted thence by the 
 reformers of our Liturgy, betrays a longing, they say, 
 towards Rome, an argument somewhat singular in 
 their mouths, who speak against the " idolatry of the 
 Prayer-book," — as if our compilers had been not 
 only wisely governed, but infallibly directed, and so 
 could not have overlooked any thing, which, though 
 not essential, had yet been an additional beauty or 
 perfection, had it been retained. Why, when we 
 have an Easter hymn, should it be Papistical to think 
 Advent hymns, with which the Breviary abounds, 
 had been an accession to our service, realizing as they 
 do the coming and immediate presence of our Lord ? 
 or to term the Breviary and Missal, from which most 
 of our own Prayer-book is taken, " precious relics of 
 antiquity ?" 
 
 My Lord, I would not be misunderstood ; we do 
 
 i See Appendix, Nos. 38. 40, 41. 48. 72. and close of 
 " Earnest Remonstrance," prefixed to Tracts, vol. iii. 
 
15 
 
 not wish, we have never expressed a wish, to have 
 any alteration in the Liturgy of our Church ; as we 
 mistrust others in their way, so we mistrust ourselves 
 in our own ; they think that our Church erred in re- 
 taining too much, we think that she might have 
 retained more of what was ancient in the Breviary 
 and the Missal, without approximating in any Avay 
 to the corruptions of modern Rome: but there is 
 this difference in our principles, that they, not ac- 
 customed to any high views of Church discipline, 
 for the most part as soon as they have an end in view, 
 which they think good, think also that it is good to 
 realize it any how ; form societies, enter into com- 
 binations, prepare schemes for accomplishing it, take 
 the initiative in it, hoping that those " set over us 
 in the Lord," the Bishops of our Church, will in 
 time fall into it. They are, what they have up- 
 braided one of our friends for terming himself, " Ec- 
 clesiastical agitators 1 ;" only our friend meant by the 
 name " to rouse the Church from within to a sense 
 of her own privileges and gifts," they act upon it, as 
 referring to outward changes, whether in her Liturgy 
 or discipline, produced by the " agitation" of a portion 
 of her members. We have been taught to know 
 our own place in the Lord's vineyard ; that we are 
 " under authority ;" that our office is not to reform 
 our Church, to add or to take away from her, but to 
 obey her ; to study her character, to see how we may 
 more and more bring out and realize her teaching 
 and her principles. We have, further than this, said 
 1 Froude's Remains, t. i. p. 258. 
 
16 
 
 again and again (and I refer to this, because they who 
 blame us should at least know our principles), that 
 whatever is done for the Church must not be done 
 by a majority in her, that (to use the words of one 
 of us), " Whatever is done for the Church as a whole, 
 must be done by the Church as a whole 1 ." More 
 than this, the writer among us, who from his peculiar 
 mode of expressing himself, could least be judged of 
 by partial extracts, and so has been, perhaps, the 
 most extensively misunderstood, sums up in this 
 reverential way his arguments for not further short- 
 ening the Church services. It is manifest that his 
 own heart (one may speak of him, because he is at 
 rest) was with those ages, when " they complied with 
 " Scripture to the letter, praised God seven times a 
 " day, besides their morning and evening prayer." 
 Yet he thus sums up his account of the gradual con- 
 traction of them 2 . "This, it will be said, is an argu- 
 
 1 Pref. to St. Augustine's Confessions, p. ix. add. App. 
 No. 54. 
 
 2 Froude's Remains, t. ii. p. 382. Of the same kind is the 
 passage in which, while referring to the changes in our Communion 
 Service, through the foreign reformers, as " a judgment on the 
 Church," he thankfully acquiesces in our present service as 
 " crumbs from the Apostles' table." Better (if one might so ex- 
 pand his metaphor) in itself, to have the whole than the frag- 
 ments ; but better again to have the fragments than the whole, 
 when mingled with foreign ingredients, so that there is " death in 
 the pot," if not to individuals, yet to the Church generally ; nay, 
 better again, perhaps, for us, because more suited to us (such as 
 we now are) to be contented with " the crumbs," having again be- 
 come babes who have " need of milk not of strong meat :" and 
 
17 
 
 " ment not so mucli for retaining the present form 
 " of the Prayer-book" [for which he had been eon- 
 tending-] " as for resorting to what is older. To my 
 " own mind, it is an argument for something different 
 " from either, for diffidence. I very much doubt, 
 " whether in these days the spirit of true devotion is 
 " at all understood, and whether an attempt to go for- 
 " ward or backward, may not lead our innovations to 
 " the same rcsidt. If the blind lead the blind, shall 
 " they not both fall into the ditch ?" I at least, my 
 Lord, must own that I felt impressed and reproved 
 by this deep and self-restraining feeling of a young 
 and ardent mind, mingling self-abasement with aspi- 
 rations after something higher, and acknowledging 
 himself unworthy to " unloose " even " the shoe- 
 latchet" of that form of worship which in our own 
 devotions we so imperfectly realize. 
 
 The feeling of our friend in this passage, and our 
 own, is briefly this, we must have acted up more to 
 the theory of our Church as she is, before we attempt 
 to alter any ritual belonging to her. We must 
 amend ourselves before we amend any thing of her's. 
 When the body of our Clergy shall have acted up to 
 her injunctions, by performing for years, day by day, 
 her daily service, then may they be judges whether 
 any improvements may be introduced into that 
 service ; when our service shall have become daily 
 
 so also it is implied, they are " crumbs" which we are not worthy 
 to gather up. The expression is abasement of self, not deroga- 
 tion of our service, which is but too good for most of us. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 instead of weekly, then may we judge whether any 
 additions should be made to that of the Lord's day ; 
 when people, by the daily devotional use of the 
 Psalms, shall have come to learn some portion of 
 their depth, then they will see whether they are not 
 in truth Christian hymns, and how much more of 
 Christian truth they contain than the popular modern 
 hymns, now often in use among us ; when we have 
 learnt and taught our congregations the blessedness 
 of infant Baptism, and to be gladdened instead of 
 wearied by seeing our little ones, one by one, made 
 members of Christ, or have realized the blessings 
 of our own engrafting into Christ, then may they 
 perhaps judge of the language of the Baptismal 
 service ; when we have become alive to the im- 
 portance of a true confession of the Holy Trinity, 
 how much belongs to it, how manifold and subtle 
 the temptations to deviate from it, have jealously 
 observed our own inherent tendencies, and to what 
 heresies our own frame of mind was inclined, or from 
 which we have, perhaps, on the very road, been 
 snatched, then may men judge fitly whether " our 
 Church 1 " at this day " needeth" not, in the Athanasian 
 Creed, " those ancient preservatives, which ages be- 
 fore us were so glad to use;" or rather, when our 
 whole selves shall have been disciplined by her solemn 
 rounds of prayers, thanksgivings, fastings, festivals, 
 Communions, shall we be formed in her model and 
 
 1 Hooker, Eccl. Pol. V. xlii. 13. ed. Keble. 
 
19 
 
 so shall understand her, and may supply any thing 
 lacking to her. Till then, our only safe course is to 
 abide as we are, fitting - ourselves to receive any en- 
 largement of our treasures, by learning gratefully to 
 appreciate and to use those which we have. What 
 is good in itself might not be good to us, until we 
 are other than we are. 
 
 It is then, my Lord, by judging of us according 
 to their own habits of mind, and inferring that we 
 should feel, act, and think as they would, were they 
 in our stead, that they have come to these strange 
 notions about us. They, with the impatience of 
 modern habits, could not see a fancied defect, with- 
 out at once casting about how they might remove it ; 
 they cannot understand that men should think it their 
 duty to sit still, should not have a wish to remove it, 
 if they could ; should think that it had been better 
 otherwise, that hereafter what they think best in the 
 abstract, may be best for our Church ; may even speak 
 of these things in the hopes of preparing for their 
 ultimate restoration, if it may be, in the days of our 
 sons' sons ; but meanwhile would not, if they might, 
 restore them. I mean not in so saying to claim any 
 superiority for ourselves over others ; we are, each as 
 we have been trained to be ; the difference is in 
 the systems, wherein we have been formed ; I would 
 only account for the mistakes which must arise, if 
 those who act upon one set of principles are judged 
 upon by the other. Thus, we would freely express, 
 
 c 2 
 
as have many of the Bishops of our Church ', our 
 conviction that the revisers of our Liturgy did unad- 
 visedly in yielding- some more explicit statements of 
 doctrine to the suggestions of foreign reformers, 
 whose tone of mind was different from that of our 
 Church ; yet could we adopt the words of one, with 
 whose views probably we do not coincide; " Happy is 
 " it for the Church, that there has always been be- 
 " tween these opposite parties" [who would reform the 
 Prayer-book in opposite ways] " a much larger body 
 " of worshippers, who have used their book of Common 
 " Prayer with undisturbed devotion, offering thanks 
 " to God continually for His unspeakable gift 2 ." 
 
 These sentiments we have often expressed 3 : and 
 I may extract here a statement made in a period- 
 ical 4 , expressing for the most part our sentiments, 
 and which was quoted with pleasure at the time, as 
 a declaration of our practical views, by one 5 , whose 
 valued life was devoted to the maintenance of our 
 Church as she is, and the uniform opposer of what- 
 ever threatened her with organic change. 
 
 " If Anglo-Catholics did but understand their posi- 
 
 1 Such as Bp. Overall, Abp. Sancroft, and Sharp, Bp. Hickes 
 and Horsley. Tract No. 81. ed. 2. 
 
 2 Pref. to two books of Edward VI. compared. Oxford, 1838. 
 p. xxxv. 
 
 3 See Appendix, Nos. 24, 54. 
 
 4 British Critic, vol. xxiv. p. 69. 
 
 5 Rev. H. J. Rose, British Magazine, vol. xiv. p. 219, 20. 
 
21 
 
 M tion, it would be no despicable one. For ourselves, 
 " we find enough of satisfaction in it, not to be eager 
 " for any of those changes in the relation of Church 
 " to State, which late political events and constitu- 
 " tional reforms make abstractedly fitting. What 
 " may be the duty of persons in high stations in the 
 " Church, is another matter, or what might be the 
 " Church's duty if her members one and all were of 
 " one mind and one judgment in all things, or what 
 " may be the duty of individuals as a matter of con- 
 " science in the event of certain contingencies ; but 
 " at this moment, we conceive that Catholic truth 
 " will spread and flourish more satisfactorily under the 
 " existing state of things than on any alteration which 
 " could be devised. We feel no desire for the meet- 
 " ing of convocation; we are not even earnest in 
 " behalf of a repeal of the Statute of Praemunire, 
 " though it would certainly be becoming and just. 
 " We want changes of no kind, whether in the 
 " Prayer Book, or Articles, or Homilies, or Govern- 
 " ment, except anything can be shown to us in our 
 " present state to be literally and directly sinful. We 
 " are content to take things as we have received 
 " them, and are quite sure that that system which 
 " was sufficient for the expansive minds of Andrews or 
 " Laud, has not been so circumscribed by subsequent 
 " political events, but it will hold us pigmies, how- 
 " ever large we grow. We may like some parts of 
 " it less than others ; we may conceive that some 
 " parts might be more primitive, other parts more 
 
22 
 
 " finished ; but we are thankful to have, and content 
 " to use, what has come down to us ; and even where 
 " any thing has had an unsatisfactory origin, we will 
 " make the best of it, and receive it into, and assimi- 
 " late it to, the glorious deposit which we inherit 
 " from the Apostles." 
 
 But setting aside these vague suspicions, I would 
 now proceed to lay before your Lordship, in con- 
 nection with the Articles of our Church, what we 
 (following, as we are assured, those who have been 
 ever accounted the great lights of our Church) believe 
 to be her doctrine, on the points whereon we are 
 accused ; and that (wherever the case admits) in con- 
 trast with Romanism on the one hand, and Ultra- 
 Protestantism on the other. Thus it will appear, I 
 trust, that the " via media" along which we, with our 
 Church, would fain tread, though distinct from the bye 
 ways of Ultra-Protestantism, is a broad and tangible 
 line, not verging towards, or losing itself in Romanism. 
 Rather is it the " old path" of the Primitive Church, 
 after whose model our own was reformed, and which, 
 amid the entanglements of the modern deviations of 
 Rome, our reformers wished, I believe, to trace out. 
 
 On the first five articles of our Church, those which 
 relate to the Holy Trinity, happily no imputation has 
 been cast against us ; and on these, even the Church 
 of Rome is allowed to have transmitted faithfully the 
 doctrine of the primitive Church. Would, my Lord, 
 that there were no signs of unsoundness on any other 
 side ! But whereas a traditionary faith would be 
 
 9 
 
23 
 
 safe with regard to these essential articles, in that it 
 would depart neither to the right nor to the left from 
 that which the Universal Church had attested to be 
 the Apostolic and Scriptural creed, the greater, be- 
 cause unsuspected, danger will beset those who pro- 
 fess to draw their faith, unaided, from Holy Scripture. 
 If it overtake them not, it is because their faith is 
 better than the principles which they profess ; they 
 are sound and orthodox, not in consequence of their 
 principles, but in despite of their natural tendency. 
 The natural bias of what terms itself a " Scriptural 
 Theology" is to a naked Creed ; it would cast aside 
 all but Scriptural terms ; confine itself to Scriptural 
 phrases ; reject as " scholastic distinctions" the fuller 
 declarations, which have been committed to the 
 Church ; boasts of contenting itself with what it terms 
 practical truths, or what it decides to be such ; takes 
 further statements, first as simply negative, then 
 supersedes them as having been useful formerly, but 
 not needed now dwells not upon them, drops them 
 
 1 " The like may be said of the Gloria Patri and the Athana- 
 " sian Creed. It was first brought into the Church to the end 
 " that men thereby should make an open profession in the Church 
 " of the Divinity of the Son of God against the detestable opinion 
 " of Arius and his disciples, wherewith at that time marvellously 
 " swarmed almost the whole of Christendom. Now that it has 
 " pleased the Lord to quench that fire, there is no such cause 
 " why these things should be in the Church, at the least why 
 " that Gloria Patri should be so often repeated."- — Cartwright 
 ap. Hooker, E. P. V. xlii. 1. ed. Keble, and Hooker's answer, 
 especially § 1 1 sqq. 
 
24 
 
 from its Creed, takes an attitude of hostility against 
 them, generalizes its faith ; and then, since the mind 
 must think one way or other, whenever subjects are 
 brought before it in detail, falls an easy prey to the here- 
 sies, from which the Church would have rescued them. 
 All true Theology must of necessity be Scriptural ; 
 but that which terms itself a " Scriptural Theology," 
 has always been a stepping-stone to Socinianism or 
 Rationalism. It begins in an ungrateful spirit, setting 
 at nought the teaching of the Church, and " leaning 
 upon its own understanding ;" and it ends in being 
 left to its own understanding, and being " given over 
 to an undistinguishing mind." Such has been the 
 case with every Protestant body, except those con- 
 nected with our own Church, though not of it ; such 
 is the course which America, as far as it is not An- 
 glican or Romanist, is now taking ; and no one can 
 observe the way in which unsound 1 A merican publi- 
 cations are creeping into this country, by whom in- 
 troduced, with what apologies, in one instance, for 
 Socinianism ; without being convinced that the Ultra- 
 Protestaut sects in this country, so far as they do 
 not return to the Church or relapse into Romanism, 
 will take the same course. Those in our Church, who 
 have fraternized with them, are upheld by a tradi- 
 tionary instruction, of which they are unaware, in the 
 Nicene and Athanasian Creeds ; and while they de- 
 
 1 See Tracts for the Times, Vol. iii. No. 73. " On the intro- 
 duction of rationalistic principles into religion." 
 
25 
 
 claim against tradition, are probably upheld by tradi- 
 tion against heresies which destroy the soul. And so, 
 we trust, they will continue ; but though there is all 
 hope that they will be protected against the grosser 
 forms of heresy, the subtler form of Sabellianism 
 creeps over the mind almost unperceived ; and the 
 objections against the title Osotokoq, with which we 
 have been assailed, imply that some have sadly for- 
 gotten what was the origin of the Nestorian heresy 
 
 This instance may illustrate the danger of an over- 
 anxiety to recede from Rome, or of sacrificing truths 
 which that corrupt Church has abused ; it would lead 
 to too long and involved a discussion to point out, 
 article by article, wherein we, with our Church, differ 
 from that of Rome ; I will therefore trespass no 
 longer upon your Lordship's time than the occasion 
 requires, and will confine myself to those articles 
 upon which we have been rumoured to approach 
 nearer to Rome, than the limits of our Church allow. 
 In so doing, I must make many statements, which 
 to your Lordship are trite and familiar ; but my ob- 
 ject is to lay before your Lordship an explicit con- 
 
 1 "The Christian Knowledge Society has latterly erased from 
 " one of its publications the phrase, ' The mother of God,' rightly 
 "judging it to be Popish. The British Critic demands its re- 
 " instatement, observing, 'As to styling the Blessed Virgin the 
 " mother of God, did the Essex ministers ever chance to hear of 
 " the council of Ephesus ? ' " — Essays on the Church, p. 288 ; 
 also p. 304. Yet the State, by advice of our Church, acknow- 
 ledged that what the Council of Ephesus "ordered, judged, or 
 determined to be heresy," is such, 1 Eliz. 1. 36. 
 
26 
 
 fession, not to say anything new upon subjects so 
 often handled. 
 
 Art. VI. and XX. — On the sufficiency of the Holy 
 Scriptures for Salvation; and Of the authority of 
 the Church. 
 
 These two articles must necessarily be taken to- 
 gether, in order to understand fully the meaning of 
 our Church, on the relation of the authority of the 
 Church to that of Holy Scripture. In the first she 
 declares that " Holy Scripture contains all things ne- 
 " cessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read 
 " therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be 
 " required of any man to be believed as an article of 
 " the Faith ; or be thought requisite or necessary to 
 " salvation'' 1 The article is manifestly directed against 
 the Church of Rome, which has made new articles of 
 faith, and so does " require to be believed as necessary 
 to salvation," things which are not contained in Holy 
 Scripture. But the article, though it states, that 
 Holy Scripture " contains all things necessary to sal- 
 vation," does not say that it teaches them in such 
 wise, that every one may collect them thence for 
 himself : nor does it even say, that things may not 
 be believed or practised, which are not contained 
 in Holy Scripture (so that of course, they be not 
 contrary to it) ; but only that they must not be " re- 
 quired to be believed as necessary to salvation" It is 
 remarkable that this limitation, which is so singularly 
 
27 
 
 overlooked 1 by those who employ this article against 
 the right use of tradition, occurs, wherever the suffi- 
 ciency of Holy Scripture is mentioned ; so that the 
 compilers of this article must have just meant to ex- 
 clude the case to which people now so carelessly apply 
 it, of "things, not necessary to salvation." Thus, again, 
 in the engagement required at Ordination and Con- 
 secration, this limitation is inserted in each clause ; 
 " Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain 
 "sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity for 
 "eternal salvation through faith in Christ Jesus? and 
 " are you determined out of the said Scriptures to in- 
 " struct the people committed to your charge, and to 
 " teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salva- 
 " Hon, but that which you shall be persuaded, may be 
 "concluded and proved by Holy Scripture 2 ?" The 
 very word also, " required," shows that the Church 
 had in view some one in authority who had the 
 power to " require." In the preceding articles our 
 Church had embodied the doctrines of the Creeds, 
 which, and which only, are Articles of Faith, or " ne- 
 cessary to be believed in order to salvation." Those 
 
 1 Thus, one argues that the Apostolical succession is against 
 our Articles, because it cannot be proved by Scripture, and by 
 that Article nothing is to be held [omitting " as necessary to sal- 
 vation"] which cannot be so proved. There seems to be the same 
 sort of confusion in "Dr. Hook's Call to Union, answered," p. 9. 
 though the instances given are mostly Popish corruptions, and 
 so against " tradition" also. 
 
 2 See further Mr. Keble's Postscript to 3rd ed. of the Sermon, 
 entitled " Primitive tradition recognized in Holy Scripture," p. 
 12. sqq. 
 
•2H 
 
 which follow, are Articles of Religion, which she did 
 not receive from the ancient Church, but which she 
 framed herself, not as essential to Communion (for 
 this she requires only the belief in the Articles of 
 the Apostles' Creed) but " for the avoiding of diver- 
 " sities of opinions, and for the establishing of con- 
 "sent touching true religion." Accordingly, at the 
 very outset of this new range of Articles, she draws 
 limits to her own powers and to those of the Church 
 Universal. She does not, like the Church of Rome, 
 increase the Creed, which no particular Church has 
 the right to do ; and she lays down within what 
 limits the Creed may be enlarged by the Church 
 Universal ; namely, only as to whatsoever is " read 
 in Holy Scripture, or may be proved thereby." She 
 lays down that Holy Scripture is the sole source of 
 "all things necessary to salvation ;" and that nothing 
 must be " required to be believed as necessary to 
 salvation," but what is drawn from that source; 
 but both at the beginning and the end she restrains 
 what she says, to " things necessary to salvation." So 
 then it is probable that our Church means that things 
 may be required to be believed, (provided it be not 
 upon peril of salvation,) which are not proved by Holy 
 Scripture : but certain, that according to her, things 
 not in Holy Scripture may be subjects of belief ; and 
 that there is a power, somewhere residing, which 
 may " require" to be " believed as necessary to salva- 
 tion," whatever can be proved by Holy Scripture. 
 For the limitation were absurd, that things not prove- 
 able by Holy Scripture, must not be required to be 
 
29 
 
 believed " as necessary to salvation" unless those which 
 can be so proved, might be required. This very article 
 then, in laying- down the " sufficiency of Holy Scrip- 
 ture as the source of all saving truth," at the same 
 time recognizes the existence of an authority which 
 may " require to be believed as essential to salvation," 
 what it " can prove thereby." And this authority, in 
 the 20th Article she declares, as in the 6th she im- 
 plies it, to be the Church ; for in the 20th Article 
 there recurs the same language, that, " as it must not 
 " decree any thing contrary to Holy Writ, so besides 
 " the same, ought it not to enforce any thing to be 
 "believed for necessity of salvation." Within this 
 same limit, however, drawn equally by the 6th, and 
 20th Articles, the 20th Article expressly states, 
 what the 6th implies ; " The Church has authority in 
 controversies of Faith." The Church is subject to 
 Holy Scripture, but set over individuals ; she may 
 not (1) "expound one place of Holy Scripture that 
 it be repugnant to another," nor may she (2) " de- 
 cree any thing- against Holy Writ," nor may she (3) 
 " besides the same, enforce any thing- to be believed 
 for necessity of salvation ;" but then the very fixing 
 of these limits of her power, shows that she has 
 power within these limits ; that she is the " expositor 
 of Holy Writ," provided she do " not expound one 
 place that it be repugnant to another ;" she may 
 " decree things," provided they be not " against Holy 
 Writ ;" she may " enforce things to be believed " 
 even "for necessity of salvation" provided they be 
 
30 
 
 neither " against, nor besides, Holy Scripture." But 
 the power of " expounding," " decreeing," " ordain- 
 ing," implies that her children are to receive her 
 expositions, and obey her decrees, and accept her 
 authority in controversies of faith : and the appeal 
 lies not to their " private judgment ;" they are not 
 the arbiters, whether she pronounce rightly or no ; 
 for what sort of decree or authority were that, of 
 which every one were first to judge, and then if his 
 judgment coincided with the law, to obey ? who 
 would not see the absurdity of this in matters of 
 human judgment? "If thou judge the law, thou 
 art not a doer of the law, but a judge." Jas. iv. 11. 
 " If I be a father, where is mine honour ? and if I 
 be a master, where is my fear?" Mai. i. 6. 
 
 But our Church in this article further and accu- 
 rately defines the n ture of her authority ; the Church 
 is a " keeper and witness of Holy Writ ;" she is its 
 guardian ; it is from her that we know of what 
 books the Canon of Scripture consists : she is the 
 " witness" to the truths which it contains ; not a 
 "judge" over it, not having to determine new truth, 
 or erect new articles of faith ; but a witness to the 
 doctrine which she herself received in continued suc- 
 cession from the primitive Church, as being con- 
 tained in Holy Scripture. 
 
 In brief, then, my Lord, the meaning of our 
 Church (as we conceive) in these Articles is, that the 
 Scripture is the sole authoritative source of the Faith, 
 i. e. of " things to be believed in order to salvation ;" 
 
3 J 
 
 the Church is the medium through which that know- 
 ledge is conveyed to individuals ; she, under her re- 
 sponsibility to God, and in subjection to His Scrip- 
 ture, and with the guidance of His Spirit, testifies to 
 her children, what truths are necessary to be believed 
 in order to salvation ; expounds Scripture to them ; 
 determines, when controversies arise ; and this, not 
 in the character of a judge, but as a " witness" to 
 what she herself received. 
 
 And in this view of the meaning of our Church, 
 we are further confirmed by the Canon of the Con- 
 vocation of 1571, to which we have of late often had 
 occasion to appeal ; the same Convocation which in- 
 forced subscription to the Articles. 
 
 " They [preachers] shall in the first place be care- 
 " ful never to teach any thing from the pulpit to be 
 " religiously held and believed by the people, but 
 " what is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old or 
 " New Testament, and collected out of that very Doc- 
 " trine by the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops." 
 
 So have we ever wished to teach, " what is 
 " agreeable to the Doctrine of the Old or New 
 " Testament," and as the test of its being thus agree- 
 able, we would take, not our own private and in- 
 dividual judgments, but that of the Universal Church, 
 as attested by the " Catholic Fathers and Ancient 
 Bishops." 
 
 This, my Lord, were perhaps sufficient ; nor need 
 we, we conceive, go into the private opinions of those 
 engaged in our Reformation; seeing that they, in many 
 
points, varied from each other, and some of them on 
 some points from themselves : and we have the in- 
 junction to take the Articles in their plain gram- 
 matical sense. Nor indeed have we our Articles from 
 them ; but Articles, in which their opinions have been 
 in some respects modified; we have not the 42 Arti- 
 cles of Edward VI., but the 39 of Q. Elizabeth ; and 
 these have their authority to us from the agreement 
 of our Church in 1562 and 1571. We are then in no 
 respects even guided to look to the private opinions of 
 any instruments of the Reformation, as interpreters 
 of the Articles ; since we are expressly referred, not 
 to them, but to the " literal and grammatical sense 1 " 
 of the Articles themselves. But we could go further; 
 and show that they who are of most note among 
 them wished to submit their own judgments to that 
 of Antiquity, and at all events, desired to hold no other 
 doctrine, than that which had been received by the 
 Primitive Church. They did not appeal to her, as 
 has been recently said, as an argumentum ad hominem, 
 merely to refute an adversary with his own weapons 2 . 
 Their very language shows that they were in earnest, 
 and speak with reverence. Abp. Cranmer, for in- 
 stance, appeals, at a solemn moment, to them, and 
 confesses 3 "in all my doctrine and preaching, both of 
 
 1 K. James's declaration prefixed to the Articles. 
 
 2 e. g. "Dr. Hook's Call to Union, answered," p. 11. 
 
 3 Works, vol. iv. pp. 126, 7- See further and other autho- 
 rities in Mr. Manning's Appendix to a Sermon on the Rule of 
 Faith, p. 6. sqq. 
 
33 
 
 " the Sacraments, and of other my doctrine, whatsoever 
 " it be, not only I mean and judge, as the Catholic 
 " Church and the most holy Fathers of old meant and 
 "judged, but also I would gladly use the same words 
 " that they used, and not use any other words ; but 
 " to set my hand to all and singular their speeches, 
 " phrases, ways and forms of speech, which they do 
 " use in their treatises upon the Sacraments, and to 
 " keep still their interpretation." 
 
 And hence our Divines fearlessly appeal to the 
 whole period when the Church was one, and spake 
 one language, and could speak as one : as Bishop 
 Jewell in his celebrated challenge 1 : " I said, perhaps 
 " boldly, as it might then seem to some men, but as 
 " I myself and the learned of our adversaries theni- 
 " selves do well know, sincerely and truly, that none 
 " of them all, that this day stand against us, are able 
 " or shall ever be able to prove against us any one 
 " of all those points, either by the Scriptures, or by 
 " example of the primitive Church, or by the old 
 " Doctors, or by the ancient general Councils. — 
 
 " The words that I then spake, as near as I can 
 " call them to mind, were these : If any learned man 
 " of all our adversaries, or if all the learned men 
 " that be alive, be able to bring any one sufficient 
 " sentence out of an old Catholic Doctor, or Father, 
 
 1 Sermon preached at Paul's Cross, (Works, pp. 57, 58.) ex- 
 tracted more at length in Tracts for the Times, No. 78. " Testi- 
 mony of writers in the latter English Church to the duty of main- 
 taining quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus tradilum est." 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 " or out of an old general Council, or out of the 
 " Holy Scriptures of God, or any one example of 
 " the primitive Church, whereby it may be clearly 
 " and plainly proved, that there was any private mass 
 " in the whole world at that time, for the space of 
 " six hundred years after Christ ; or that there was 
 " then any communion ministered unto the people 
 " under one kind ; or that the people had their 
 " common prayers then in a strange tongue, that 
 " they understood not : or that the Bishop of Rome 
 " was then called an universal Bishop, or the head of 
 "the universal Church, &c; if any man alive were 
 " able to prove any of these articles, by any one clear 
 " or plain cause or sentence, either of the Scriptures 
 " or of the old Doctors, or of any old general Council, 
 " or by any example of the primitive Church : I 
 " promised then that I would give over and subscribe 
 
 " unto him." 
 
 " Besides all that I have said already, I will say 
 " further, and yet nothing so much as might be said. 
 " If any one of all our adversaries be able clearly 
 " and plainly to prove, by such authority of the 
 " Scriptures, the old Doctors and Councils, as I said 
 " before, that it was then lawful for the Priest to 
 " pronounce the words of consecration closely and in 
 " silence to himself, &c. &c. — if any one of all our 
 " adversaries be able to vouch any one of all these 
 " articles, by any such sufficient authority of Scrip- 
 " tures, Doctors, or Councils, as I have required, as 
 " I said before, so say I now again, I am content to 
 
35 
 
 " yield unto him and to subscribe. But I am well 
 " assured that they shall never be able truly to allege 
 " one sentence. And because I know it, therefore 
 " I speak it lest ye haply should be deceived." 
 
 Nor do we in this, nor did they, approximate to 
 Romanism ; but rather they herein took the strongest 
 and the only unassailable position against it. Rome 
 and ourselves have alike appealed to the authority 
 of " the Church ;" but, in the mouth of a Romanist 
 the Church means, so much of the Church as is in 
 communion with herself, in other words, it means 
 herself ; with us, it means the Universal Church, to 
 which Rome, as a particular Church, is subject, and 
 ought to yield obedience. With Rome, it matters 
 not whether the decision be of the Apostolic times, or 
 of yesterday; whether against the teaching of the 
 early Church, or with it ; whether the whole Church 
 universal throughout the world agree in it, or only a 
 section, which holds communion with herself : she, 
 as well as Calvin, makes much of the authority of 
 the Fathers, when she thinks that they make for her; 
 but she, equal with the founder of the Ultra-Pro- 
 testants, sets at nought their authority, so soon as 
 they tell against her : she unscrupulously sets aside 
 the judgment of all the Ancient Doctors of the 
 Church, unhesitatingly dismisses the necessity of 
 agreement even of the whole Church at this day. 
 and proudly taking to herself the exclusive title of 
 Catholic, sits alone a Queen in the midst of the 
 earth, and dispenses her decrees from herself. No, 
 
 D 2 
 
30 
 
 my Lord ! they ill understand the character of Rome, 
 or their own strength, who think that she would 
 really commit herself, as Cranmer did, to Christian 
 Antiquity, or who would not gladly bring her to that 
 test ! What need has she of Antiquity, who is her- 
 self infallible, except to allure mankind to believe 
 her so ? " I, for my part," says one of no mean note 
 among them 1 , "to speak candidly, would rather credit 
 " one Pope, in matters touching the mysteries of 
 " the Faith, than a thousand Augustines, Jeromes, or 
 " Gregories. For I believe and know that the sove- 
 " reign Pontiff cannot err in things, which belong to 
 " the Faith, because the Church's power of determin- 
 " ing what relates to the Faith, resides in the Pontiff. 
 " So then the error of the Pontiff' would be the 
 " error of the Universal Church. But the Universal 
 " Church cannot err. Tell me not of a Council," &rc. 
 
 This is the very complaint, which our Divines 
 always brought against her controversialists. Thus 
 Bp. Jewell 2 : "But one thing especially much mis- 
 " liketh M. Harding above all the rest ; that, the 
 " better to disclose the deformities and weakness of 
 " his doctrine, I have alleged so many Canonists 
 " and school Doctors. For all those he weigheth no 
 " better now than Esop's fables. And therefore he 
 " saith, ' As for the gew-gaws of the schoolmen and 
 
 1 Corn. Mussus, Bp. of Bitonto, quoted by Mr. Newman, 
 Romanism and popular Protestantism, Lect. 2. " on Romanism 
 as neglectful of Antiquity," p. 98. 
 
 2 Preface to Defence of the Apology. 
 
37 
 
 " canonists, I despise them utterly.' Are all the 
 " school-doctors and canonists now become intcsta- 
 " biles, i. e. so far out of credit, so infamous and so 
 " vile, that they may not be allowed to bear witness? 
 " Whose then are they ? Are they not all M. 
 " Harding-' s own doctors ? Is he now ashamed of his 
 "own? — And yet will he suddenly condemn them 
 " all, every one, by one sentence, Abbots, Bishops, 
 " Archbishops, Decrees, Decretals, Cardinals, Saints, 
 " and Popes and all together ! But we must 
 " pardon M. Harding ; he dealeth indifferently 
 " and is nothing- partial. For even with the like 
 " reverence he useth all the ancient Doctors of 
 " the Church, and others of later time, that fight 
 " on his side, and are allied to him. ' Tertullian,' 
 " he saith, ' was an heretic, and wrote this or that 
 " in defence of his heresy.' ' St. Cyprian,' he saith, 
 " ' had an ill cause, and defended a falsehood, and 
 " was driven to the very same shifts whereunto all 
 " hereticks are driven.' ' It seemeth,' said he, ' St. 
 " Jerome was deceived by a rumour,' &c. &c. Thus, 
 " we see, M. Harding- has a commission to control 
 " all manner of Doctors whatsoever, Greeks, Latins, 
 " Old, New, his own and others, if they come not 
 " readily to his purpose. Nicolaus Cusanus 1 saith, 
 " ' Pope Eugenius tells us this thing is true, if he 
 " will have it true, and not otherwise.' " 
 
 The Anglican Divines, then, whom we follow as the 
 
 1 De Concorilaii. ii. c. 20. 
 
38 
 
 exj)ositors of the meaning of our Church, differ 
 from Rome in the following points. They appeal to 
 the authority of the Universal Church, as long as it 
 was one ; Rome, to the Church, ancient or modern, 
 in communion with herself : they, to the consent of 
 the Early Church, however it be ascertained ; Rome, 
 to the decision of Councils confirmed by the Bishop 
 of Rome : they rest on it as bearing testimony to 
 an Apostolic origin ; Rome, as the result of her own 
 infallibility : they hold that the Universal Church is 
 only a witness to the Catholic truth, and has no 
 power of forming new articles of faith ; Rome, that 
 even the Modern Church in communion with her- 
 self, has that power: they, that the Church is a 
 witness; Rome, that she is a judge: they, that the 
 more recent may not contradict the ancient ; Rome, 
 that she may, and may correct them : they, that the 
 meaning of Holy Scripture, of which the Church is 
 the interpreter, must always be one and the same, to 
 be collected from " the agreement of the Catholic 
 Fathers and ancient Bishops ;" Rome, that the 
 Church may, under different circumstances, affix dif- 
 ferent meanings, and that the meaning last affixed 
 supersedes the former 1 : they, in a word, seek for a 
 
 1 See the remarkable extract from Card. Cusa in Mr. Newman's 
 Romanism, &c. Lect. 2, " on Romanism as neglectful of Anti- 
 quity," p. 97, note. Here a few sentences may be extracted ; 
 his task is to defend the Council of Constance for refusing the cup 
 to the laity, contrary to our Lord's institution and the practice of 
 antiquity, as itself acknowledged. " Let it not disturb thee, that 
 " at different times, the rites of sacrifices and even of sacraments 
 
39 
 
 genuine Apostolic tradition, to be established by the 
 consent of all times, all Churches, and the great 
 Doctors of all those Churches; Rome (like Ultra- 
 Protestants) follows modern traditions, assumes them 
 to be Apostolic, simply because she holds them, and 
 she is infallible ; and so was the ancient Church, in 
 communion with Rome; and so she must have taught 
 then the same as Rome does now. And thus she 
 brings in her modern corruptions, against which the 
 appeal to Christian Antiquity is the surest safeguard. 
 Scriptural language she can (as did the enemy of man- 
 kind to whom she is partially in bondage,) plausibly 
 apply : many of her chief corruptions, she (in com- 
 mon with Ultra-Protestants) rests on the language 
 of Scripture, and (in common also with them) in 
 contradiction to the ancient Church ; but the appeal 
 to Antiquity she cannot elude. It is too full, too 
 
 " are found to differ, the truth abiding the same ; and that 
 " Scriptures are adapted to the limes, and variously understood, 
 " being explained at one time in conformity to the rite then 
 " universally prevalent, and again their meaning being changed 
 " when the rite is changed. For Christ, to whom the Father hath 
 " delivered the kingdom of heaven and earth, in both uses a sort of 
 " economy, and either by secret inspiration, or by a clearer expla- 
 " nation, suggests what suits each distinct period. Wherefore if 
 " the Church's interpretation of the same Gospel precept be 
 " different now from heretofore, yet this sense now current in the 
 " Church, being inspired for the use of the Church, as being suited 
 "for the times, is to be accepted as the way of salvation. It is 
 " therefore an absurd argument, to try to object to an universal 
 " rite of the [Roman] Church out of the writings of their pre- 
 " decessors." 
 
40 
 
 circumstantial. No, my Lord, they only who suspect 
 Antiquity, because it is opposed to modern and private 
 doctrines of their own, need fear committing them- 
 selves and their Church to it ; we have full confi- 
 dence in our Church, and know that she can stand 
 the test of primitive doctrine, and that Rome cannot. 
 Rome may entice the unwary by the name of Anti- 
 quity, but she dare not pledge herself to the reality : 
 if in name she seem to take the same ground as the 
 Anglican Divines, she must differ from them. Or to 
 look upon it in another way : Rome differs from us, 
 as to the authority which she ascribes to tradi- 
 tion ; she regards it as co-ordinate, our divines as sub- 
 ordinate : as to the way in which it is to be employed ; 
 she, as independent of Holy Scripture, our's as sub- 
 servient to, and blended with, it : as to its limits ; she 
 supposes that the Church of Rome has a power of 
 imposing new articles, necessary to be believed for 
 salvation ; our's, that all such articles were comprised 
 at first in the Creed, and that the Church has only 
 the power of clearing, defining, and expounding these 
 fixed articles : as to the office of the Church therein ; 
 Rome supposes that the Church may select of dif- 
 ferent opinions that which she judges right ; our's, 
 that she must take that which is attested by universal 
 consent : as to the power of the Church ; Rome sup- 
 poses that the Church may stamp that as certain, 
 which before was really uncertain ; our's, that she 
 only ascertains that to be certain which in fact was 
 so, but had not formally been pronounced to be so : 
 
41 
 
 as to the source of that poiver ; Rome places it in her 
 own assumed infallibility; our's, in the office of the 
 Church, as the depository of, and witness to, the tra- 
 ditions confided to her ; so then, beyond the name of 
 tradition, the Church of Rome and our Divines differ 
 in every thing besides. 
 
 It might yet be satisfactory to state two or three 
 points bearing upon this subject : — 
 
 1st, (lest the name of tradition should appear to 
 imply an indefinite body of truth,) as to the subjects 
 comprehended in the traditions acknowledged by 
 the Church. These, as drawn out by the learned 
 Dean Field 1 , are (1) the number and names of 
 the authors of books divine and canonical, (2) that 
 summary of the chief heads of Christian doctrine 
 contained in the Apostles' Creed, (3) " The form of 
 " Christian doctrine and explication of the several 
 " parts thereof, which the first Christians, receiving 
 " of the same Apostles that delivered to them the 
 " Scriptures, commended to posterities." [Whence 
 it was enabled to exj)and the Apostles' Creed into 
 the Nicene and Athanasian.] (4) " Rites not ex- 
 " pressly contained in Scripture, though the grounds, 
 " reasons, or causes of their necessity, or benefit are ; 
 " as Infant Baptism." (5) The particular application 
 of things generally ordained ; " of this sort, many 
 " think, the observation of the Lenten fast, the fast 
 " of the fourth and sixth days of the week, and 
 
 1 Of the Church, p. 375, extracted more fully in the Catena 
 above quoted, p. 12 — 15. 
 
42 
 
 " some others." Or, as Bp. Beveridge 1 states them 
 somewhat less rigidly. (1) The inspiration of Holy 
 Scripture. (2) Things " Avhicb, although they are 
 " not read in express and definite terms in the Holy 
 " Scriptures, are yet by the common consent of all 
 " Christians drawn out of these Scriptures (as the 
 " articles of the Creed). These and such like, al- 
 " though they are not, either in the Old or New 
 " Testament, declared in so many words or syllables, 
 " yet have they, as founded on both, ever been agreed 
 " on by all Christians, certain few heretics only 
 " excepted, of whom no more account is to be had 
 " in religion, than of monsters in nature." (3) Ob- 
 servances, " no where enjoined in Holy Scripture 
 " directly and by name, yet have they, during 1400 
 " years from the Apostles, been every where received 
 " into public use of the Church ; nor can there be 
 " found any Church during that period not agreeing 
 " thereto. So that there have been, as it were ? 
 " certain common notions from the beginning' im- 
 " planted in the minds of all Christians, not so much 
 " from any particular passages of Holy Scripture, as 
 " from all ; from the general scope and tenor of the 
 " whole Gospel ; from the very nature and p urpose 
 " of the religion therein established ; and, finally 
 " from the constant tradition of the Apostles, who 
 
 1 Preface to Codex Canonum Eccl. Prim, vindicatus et illustr. 
 translated at length, ib. p. 65 sqq. ; and prefixed to the transla- 
 tion of the valuable Commonitory of Vincentius recently published 
 at Oxford. 
 
43 
 
 " together with the faith, propagated ecclesiastical 
 " rites of this sort, and if I may so speak, general 
 " interpretations of the Gospel. For on any other 
 " supposition it would be incredible, or even impos- 
 " sible, that they should have been received with so 
 " unanimous a consent every where, always, and by 
 " all." In the second class of Bp. Beveridge may be 
 included (4) interpretations of specific passages of 
 Holy Scripture, upon which there is universal agree- 
 ment in the ancient Church. 
 
 (2) As to the power of the existing Church ; The 
 right of the existing Church is limited not by any 
 arbitrary line, but by facts. (1) As to matters ne- 
 cessary to salvation, the whole testimony of the 
 Church has been given, so that her office thus far of 
 necessity has ceased '. The Creeds have received their 
 completion, unless indeed some new heresy on its 
 Articles could arise, in which case the whole Church, 
 could it be assembled, might give witness against it. 
 (2) In cases not so fixed, her tradition has in many 
 cases been broken, so that she could no longer rest 
 her decision upon her present testimony, but must 
 collect it from those ages in which it was yet un- 
 broken. And hence it is, not from any abstract ideal 
 of the first ages, that our Divines appeal to the Church, 
 " anterior to the division of the East and West." 
 
 1 Hence the Council of Ephesus forbade any additional Creed, 
 beside that of Nice, being " presented to those converted from 
 Heathenism, Judaism, or any heresy." This is contravened by 
 Rome in the formation of Pope Pius' Creed. See Perceval on the 
 Roman Schism, p. 33. 
 
44 
 
 (3) The " Indefectibility of the Church" is very 
 different from the " Infallibility" assumed by Rome. 
 We believe that (although Councils, which have 
 been termed " General," or which Rome has claimed 
 to be so, have erred,) no real (Ecumenical Council 
 ever did ; i. e. no Council really representing the 
 Universal Church. Our Church of old formally 
 accepted the six (Ecumenical Councils 1 ; our great 
 Divines, who may be looked upon as speaking her 
 voice, appeal, generally, to the period comprehending 
 these six Councils 2 , as that which has authority in 
 matters of faith. And this they do, because the 
 Church was then one, and it was to His one Church, 
 and as being one, that our Lord's promise was made 3 . 
 And now, on that ground, her functions are, in this 
 respect, suspended ; she cannot meet, as one ; and 
 this coincidence of the errors of these later days, and 
 the interruption of her harmony, seem remarkably 
 to illustrate this fulfilment of our Lord's promise : 
 particular Churches have fallen into error, because the 
 Church has separated, and the Church is prevented 
 
 1 In the Council of Calchuythe, a.d. 785. (ap. Perceval on the 
 Roman Schism, p. 5.) Our Church shortly after, at the great 
 Council at Frankfort, rejected the Pseudo Synod of Nice, together 
 with the Bishops of Germany and France, (see Palmer on the 
 Church, ii. 200. sqq.) This has never been rescinded, and the 
 State recognizes four specifically, (of which the other two are sup- 
 plements,) and generally "others" without defending them (1 Eliz. 
 1. 36.) — See also, Field and Hammond, ap. Palmer, ii. 171, 2. 
 
 2 Newman on Romanism, Lect. 8. " Indefectibility of the 
 Church Catholic." p. 250. 
 
 5 See Newman, 1. c. p. 243. sqq. ed. 2. 
 
45 
 
 from meeting, that she may not, as a whole, fix any 
 of these errors. What further fulfilments our Lord's 
 promise may have hereafter, we know not ; or whether 
 the Church shall again be at one, and so be in a con- 
 dition to claim it in any enlarged degree. It might 
 be so ; for although we have broken our traditions, 
 yet might an appeal to those of the Church, when it 
 was yet one, set at rest what now agitates us. For 
 the present, sufficient for us, what has been bestowed 
 in the period of her unity ; the main articles of the 
 faith have been fixed and guarded by her, and we 
 possess them in her Creeds, and believe that the 
 Church shall, by virtue of her Saviour's promise, 
 preserve them to the end. With this, Rome is not 
 content ; we take the event, (as it is ever ruled to 
 be) as the interpreter of prophecy ; she would bind 
 her Lord to accomplish it in her own way ; will not 
 accept of any thing short of what seems good to her ; 
 settles that the unity essential to its acccomplishment, 
 concentrates in herself ; and in this way continues it 
 on to the present time, applies it to every thing, 
 great or small 1 ; and so gathers the promise around 
 and identifies it with herself, and makes it part of 
 her state and majesty. The indefectibility of the 
 Universal Church is to become the safeguard of the 
 one see of Rome, and to draw all other Churches to 
 
 1 " Our sentiment then is, that the Church absolutely cannot 
 " err, neither in things absolutely necessary, nor in others, which 
 " she proposes to us to be believed or done, whether they are con- 
 " tained in Scripture or no." — Bellarni. Controv. do Eccl. iii. 14. 
 
46 
 
 her footstool. This has been the irpCorov ^vSog of 
 Romanism, and her imposture, that she has claimed 
 to herself the promise, which belonged to the whole 
 Church. A high dignity belonged to her as the 
 Apostolic Church of the West ; and her traditions, as 
 long as she kept them faithfully, had, naturally, a 
 great estimation, when testimony was to be borne 
 to Catholic truth ; but she, instead of being " among 
 the first three," would be alone ; would have her 
 voice not only essential, but alone essential ; would 
 make at all events the infallibility of a Council to 
 depend upon the confirmation of her bishop ; teach- 
 ing oftentimes also that even particular Councils 
 approved by the Pope, became infallible, or that a 
 general Council, in itself fallible, acquired an ex post 
 facto infallibility through his approval And thus, 
 like him who was high among " the sons of God," 
 but would be higher than his Creator made him, she 
 
 1 " It is to be held, as of Catholic faith, that general Councils 
 " confirmed by the Sovereign Pontiff, cannot err, either in faith or 
 " morals." Bell. Ib. ii. 2. " The 2nd Prop. ' that particular 
 " Councils confirmed by the Sovereign Pontiff, cannot err in faith 
 " and morals,' is not equally certain, because that no Catholic 
 " denies, whereas this some do. But I only do not affirm that 
 " it is to be held as of Catholic Faith, because those who hold 
 " the contrary have not yet been condemned by the Church as 
 heretics." — Ib. c. 9. <: General Councils, before the confirma- 
 " tion of the Sovereign Pontiff, may err, unless the fathers in 
 " their definitions follow the instructions of the Pontiff." — Ib.c. ] 1. 
 It is enough to stamp the character of Rome, that such perverted 
 views should be favoured by her. 
 
 9 
 
47 
 
 fell. The promise, which was a blessing and a high 
 privilege to the Universal Church, became a snare to 
 her feet, who arrogantly claimed it to herself. When 
 our Lord lodged it, through His Spirit which dwell- 
 eth in her, it was safe ; she who would be wise above 
 that which was assigned her, has for the Spirit of 
 Truth received a lying spirit, too mighty for her to 
 control, and by him been goaded on, to prepare for 
 herself her own destruction. Her claim is the inven- 
 tion of man, not the promise of Christ; it bears upon 
 it the stamp of man's contrivance, in its lust of autho- 
 rity, furnishing the pretext for repudiating Canons 1 of 
 (Ecumenical Councils, from which Rome, for private 
 ends, withdrew its sanction, and making private synods 
 into (Ecumenical and infallible Councils, when its ends 
 are thereby served, setting herself in the place of the 
 Church universal throughout the world: it has the fruit 
 of man's contrivance, leading that unhappy Church 
 into presumptuous definitions of questions, against 
 the voice of Scripture and Antiquity, or to form 
 wrong conclusions from a partial use of either, taking 
 from either the first support of her existing system 
 which comes to hand, without examining carefully 
 whether it do support her or no, as resting in fact not 
 on Scripture or Antiquity, but on her own assumed 
 infallibility ; using unrighteous expedients, as one un- 
 accountable and beyond questioning ; rash and head- 
 strong in her own defence (as over-confident persons 
 
 1 E. g. The 28th Canon of the Council of Ephesus. 
 
48 
 
 are), not giving herself leisure to consider whether 
 she were in the right or no, but obstinately defend- 
 ing each point on which she was censured ; and 
 thus multiplying her own perplexities, her preca- 
 rious theories, and contradictions to Antiquity and 
 Scripture, on which she professes to rest. Thus 
 Satan has led her to the edge of a precipice, and 
 there, by her very claim of infallibility, holds her 
 fast ; rendering it humanly impossible for her to 
 retreat, ready to be cast down, unless God, by an 
 especial act of mercy, break the bond, " take 1 the 
 prey from the mighty," and bid the " lawful captive" 
 go free. Her vast system rests upon an assumed 
 infallibility ; she stands committed to every portion 
 of it ; and yet she cannot give account to those 
 whom she holds captive, how they are to know that 
 she is infallible, or in whom this infallibility resides 2 . 
 Nevertheless she stakes her existence on the belief. 
 The Churches under the Roman sway may purify 
 themselves, as did we ; Rome herself has no escape 
 (sorrowful as her doom is, which she has drawn upon 
 herself), except through such a confession as those, 
 who have committed themselves so deeply and so 
 presumptuously, very rarely it is to be feared, hum- 
 ble themselves to make. Roman infallibillity, then, 
 has no other relation to the doctrine of fndefectibility 
 of the Church, than that of the corruption to the 
 
 1 Isa. xlix. 24. 
 
 2 Newman, ib. lect. 4. " Doctrine of Infallibility politically 
 considered," p. 150, ed. 2. 
 
49 
 
 truth which it has corrupted ; the Romanist theory 
 is bound up with her doctrine of traditions, she limits 
 the doctrine on the one hand to the portion of the 
 Church in communion with her, and on the other 
 hand extends it to all subjects which that Church 
 may determine ; the Anglican view regards the pro- 
 mise as belonging to the Universal Church, but re- 
 strained to those Articles of the faith which were 
 delivered to her, and which in her real (Ecumenical 
 Councils she has defined ; one may add, the Ultra- 
 Protestant view narrows the promise, like the Church 
 of Rome, in extent, to a handful of believing Chris- 
 tians, and like Rome, also, changes the subjects of the 
 Faith, substituting a system of its own for Catholic 
 truth ; differing, as before, from Rome in this, that 
 what Rome claims to the Churches of her own com- 
 munion, it applies to individuals '. 
 
 The contrast between the Roman claim to infalli- 
 bility, and our Anglican acknowledgment of the 
 indefectibility of the Church, has been so clearly 
 pursued by Mr Newman 2 , that I must beg permis- 
 sion to insert it. 
 
 " Both we and Romanists hold that the Church 
 
 ' " When they interpret these promises, so full of exceeding 
 " consolation, 1 Lo, I am with you always,' and ' He shall guide 
 " you into all truth,' as given to the universal Church as a whole, 
 " not to individual Christians, what else do they than take away 
 " from all Christians the confidence, which ought to result thence 
 " for their encouragement?" — Calv. Institt. 4. 8. 11. 
 
 2 L. c. " Indefectibility of Church Catholic," p. 259. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 " Catholic is unerring in its declarations of faith for 
 " saving doctrine ; but we differ from each other as 
 " to what is the faith, and what is the Church Catholic. 
 " They maintain that faith depends on the Church, 
 " we that the Church is built on faith. Bv Church 
 " Catholic we mean the Church Universal, as de- 
 " scended from the Apostles ; they those branches 
 " of it which are in communion with Rome. They 
 " consider the See of St. Peter to have a promise of 
 " permanence, we the Church Catholic and Apostolic. 
 " Again, they understand by the Faith, whatever 
 " the Church at any time declares to be faith ; we 
 " what it has actually so declared from the beginning. 
 " We hold that the Church Catholic will never de- 
 " part from these outlines of doctrine which the 
 "Apostles formally published; they that she will 
 " never depart in any of her acts from that entire 
 " system, written and oral, public and private, ex- 
 " plicit and implicit, which they received and taught ; 
 " we that she has a gift of fidelity, they of dis- 
 " cretion." 
 
 " Again, both they and we anathematize those who 
 " deny the Faith ; but they extend the condemna- 
 " tion to all who question any decree of the Roman 
 " Church ; we apply it to those only who deny any 
 " article of the original Apostolical Creed. The creed 
 " of Romanism is ever subject to increase ; our's is 
 " fixed once for all. We confine our anathema to the 
 " Athanasian Creed ; Romanists extend it to Pope 
 " Pius's. They cut themselves off from the rest of 
 
51 
 
 " Christendom ; we cut ourselves off from no branch, 
 " not even from themselves. We are at peace with 
 " Rome as regards the essentials of faith ; but she 
 " tolerates us as little as any sect or heresy. We 
 " admit her Baptism and her Orders ; her custom is 
 " to rebaptize and reordain our members who chance 
 " to join her. 
 
 " These distinctions are sufficient for my present 
 " purpose, though they are only a few out of various 
 " differences which might be pointed out. They are 
 " surely portions of a real vieAv, which, while it re- 
 " lieves the mind of those burdens and perplexities 
 " which are the portion of the mere Protestant, is 
 " essentially distinct from Romanism." 
 
 (4) There yet remains one other fear which I 
 would wish to remove, namely, lest this appeal to 
 Christian Antiquity should abate of men's reverence 
 to their own Church. It is natural that they should 
 dread this, who have looked upon their own Church 
 as a modern Church. To them the authority of their 
 own and the ancient Church must seem to stand in 
 contrast ; to us the authority of either, though not 
 equally full, still goes in the same direction. We 
 wish not to add any thing to our Church, but to de- 
 velope what she has ; it is admitted by all, that many 
 points, being incidentally noticed in her formularies, 
 need expansion : a modern school would wish to have 
 this done exclusively by reference to the Reformers ; 
 we, thankfully acknowledging her to be a sound 
 member of the Church Catholic, from which her 
 
 e 2 
 
52 
 
 Liturgy is derived, would resort to the fountain 
 whence our stream is derived, not to the channels 
 through which it has lately passed. We would view 
 her in relation to the whole of which she is a part, 
 the Primitive and Apostolic Church, whence she is 
 descended, to which she belongs, " the rock out of 
 " which she was hewed, and the hole of the pit from 
 " which she was digged." This has ever been our 
 profession. " This 1 is the very chiefest advantage 
 " which the warmest recommenders of tradition in 
 " our Church expect from it, viz. that attention to it 
 " should very much elevate men's ideas of the exist- 
 " ing system, proving it divine in many points, where 
 " they now ignorantly suppose it human. This, and 
 " not the establishment of any mere theory, new or 
 " old, is the immediate object of those who have most 
 " earnestly urged, from time to time, the reverential 
 " study of Christian antiquity." 
 
 Our own Church is the immediate, the Church 
 universal the ultimate visible authority ; she is to us 
 the representative of the Universal Church, as the 
 Church Universal is of her Lord ; our own derives 
 her authority from the Universal Church, and cannot 
 claim any, contrary to her; we belong to her, be- 
 cause we were baptized in her, and she is the de- 
 scendant of the primitive Church in this land, and 
 her Bishops " the successors of the Apostles ;" we 
 receive as Articles of Faith, what she delivers to us 
 
 1 Keble, Postscript to 3rd edit, of Sermon on Tradition, p. 62. 
 See also Pref. to St. Augustine's Confessions, p. via, ix. 
 
53 
 
 as fixed by the Universal Church ; what she has by 
 her private judgment deduced from Holy Scripture, 
 we teach because we also think it to be so deducible; 
 if we did not so think, we should obey, must belong- 
 to her, but could not teach : her Sacraments we re- 
 ceive, because she has received the commission to 
 impart them ; her rites, because she has the power 
 to ordain or to change them. To our own Church 
 we owe submission ; to the decisions of the Church 
 universal, Faith. 
 
 This relation, in which we stand as members both 
 of a particular Church, and of the " Holy Church 
 Universal," is expressed with such pious humility by 
 Archbishop Bramhall, that I too cannot but beg to 
 express, in his language, what our wishes would be, 
 as far as any of us may, or are forced to, speak of 
 ourselves. " No 1 one can justly blame me for honour- 
 " ing my spiritual mother, the Church of England, in 
 " whose womb I was conceived, at whose breasts I 
 " was nourished, and in whose bosom I hope to die." 
 Yet though his love was to his immediate mother, 
 his allegiance was more especially to the " mother of 
 us all." He proceeds after a while : " Howsoever it 
 " be, I submit myself and my poor endeavours, first 
 " to the judgment of the Catholic Ecumenical essen- 
 " tial Church, which if some of late days have en- 
 " deavoured to hiss out of the Schools as a fancy, I 
 " cannot help it. From the beginning it was not so. 
 
 1 Works, p. 141, quoted more fully by Mr. Newman on 
 Romanism : Advertisement. 
 
54 
 
 " And if I should mistake the right Catholic Church 
 " out of human frailty or ignorance, (which for my 
 " part I have no reason in the world to suspect, yet 
 " it is not impossible when the Romanists themselves 
 " are divided into five or six several opinions, what 
 " this Catholic Church, or what their infallible Judge 
 " is,) I do implicitly and in the preparation of my 
 " mind submit myself to the True Catholic Church, 
 " the Spouse of Christ, the Mother of the saints, 
 " the Pillar of Truth. And seeing- my adherence is 
 " firmer to the Infallible Rule of Faith, that is, the 
 " Holy Scriptures interpreted by the Catholic Church, 
 " than to mine own private judgment or opinions ; 
 " although I should unwittingly fall into an error, yet 
 " this cordial submission is an implicit retractation 
 " thereof, and I am confident will be so accepted by 
 " the Father of Mercies, both from me and all others 
 " who seriously and sincerely do seek after peace and 
 " truth. 
 
 " Likewise I submit myself to the Representative 
 " Church, that is, a free general Council, or as general 
 " as can be procured ; and until then to the Church 
 " of England, wherein I was baptized, or to a national 
 " English Synod. To the determination of all which, 
 " and each of these respectively, according to the 
 " distinct degree of their authority, I yield a con- 
 " formity and compliance, or at the least and to the 
 " lowest of them an acquiescence" 
 
 I have dwelt the longer upon this subject, because 
 
55 
 
 upon it some of the most vehement charges of ap- 
 proximating to Rome have of late been founded ; it 
 were easier to draw a parallel (as has in part been 
 done) between the Romanist and Ultra-Protestant. 
 (1) Both agree in appealing to their own interpreta- 
 tion of Holy Scripture against the agreement of 
 Catholic antiquity '. (2) Both claim to this case 
 
 1 See Mr. Newman on Romanism, Lect. 7. — " Instances of 
 the abuse of private judgment," § 5, 6. where he shows that 
 Purgatory and the Pope's Supremacy came in through misappli- 
 cation of Scripture against tradition. In like way, the right to 
 administer the Holy Eucharist in one kind is rested on passages 
 of Scripture, Luke xxiv. 30. 35. Acts ii. 42. 46 ; xx. 7 ; xxvii. 35. 
 which would be very strong, were not all tradition of all Churches 
 for nearly thirteen centuries against it. Other instances of this 
 abuse of Scripture argument are quoted in Mr. Newman's work. 
 The same was observed by Bp. Jewell, who in his " Reply to Dr. 
 Cole," (Works, p. 43.) thus puts a number of them together. 
 " Howbeit, of such reasons ye have store enough, as I were able 
 to show you at large, if need so required. As where ye say : 
 Extra de Quae sunt potestates a Deo ordinatae sunt : The 
 Majoritate powers that be are ordered by God : 
 
 et obedi- Ergo, The Pope is above the Emperor, 
 entia. Spiritualis a nemine judicatur : The man that is 
 
 ruled by God's Spirit, is judged of no man r 
 Cap. unam Ergo, No man may judge the Pope. 
 Sanctam. Sancti estote, quoniam ego sanctus sum : Be ye 
 
 holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord : 
 Innocentius Ergo, No married man may be a Priest, 
 dist. 82 Pro- Christ said unto Peter, Solve pro me et te : Pay 
 posuisti : the tribute for me and thee : 
 
 Roffensis Ergo, The Pope is head of the Church. 
 
 Durandus 
 
56 
 
 the presence and infallible assistance of the Holy 
 Spirit, the Romanist as promised to the Church, 
 the Ultra-Protestant as promised to individuals 1 . 
 
 Durandus. Ecclesiasticus saith, In medio ecclesiae aperuit os 
 suum : He opened his mouth in the midst of the 
 congregation : 
 Ergo, The Priest must turn round at the midst 
 of the Altar. 
 
 Concilium Fecit Deus hominem ad imaginenvet similitudinem 
 Nicneum suam : God made man to the image and likeness 
 
 Secundum of Himself : 
 
 sub Iren. Ergo, There must be images in the Church. 
 Concilium Papa juratur in fidem Apostolicam : The Pope is 
 Basil, sub sworn to the Apostles' faith : 
 
 Eugenio. Ergo, The Church cannot err. 
 Concilium Non est discipulus supra magistrum : There is no 
 Rom. sub scholar above his master : 
 
 Silvestro. Ergo, No man may judge the Pope. 
 The Canon- Papa est dominus omnium beneficiorum : The 
 ists, Pope is Lord of all benefits : 
 
 Durandus. Ergo, He cannot commit simony, though he 
 would. 
 
 Eckius. Domini est terra et plenitudo ejus : The earth is 
 
 Dr. Cole the Lord's and the fulness thereof : 
 
 at Westmin- Ergo, The Communion cake must be made round, 
 ster. Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum : Let all spirits 
 
 praise the Lord : 
 Ergo, Ye must have organs in the Church. 
 Lac vobis potum dedi : or, Ignorantia est mater 
 pietatis : I gave you milk to drink ; or, Igno- 
 rance is the mother of devotion : 
 Ergo, The people must make their prayers in a 
 strange tongue." 
 1 E. g. Mr. Scott, " Force of Truth," (v. fin.) thus vindicates 
 
57 
 
 (3) Both appeal (though Ultra-Protestants less now 
 than formerly) to individual Fathers, when they make 
 for them, and set them aside when against them 
 
 (4) Both will take one Father who sides with them, 
 against the whole stream of Antiquity if against 
 them. (5) Both hold, that the Spirit had reserved 
 for these later times, what he denied to the earlier ; 
 that certain truth may now be arrived at, where 
 the Ancient Church was in doubt and error 2 ; only, 
 
 his absolute certainty of the truth of the Calvinistic system — 
 " Supposing this narration true, (for which the appeal is made to 
 " the heart- searching God,) and supposing the promises mentioned 
 " to be proposed to us, that we may embrace them, depend on them, 
 " and plead them in prayer, considering the glory of the Divine 
 " veracity as concerned in their accomplishment to every believer; 
 " let them try whether they can possibly evade one of these two 
 " conclusions — either that God hath failed of His promise, or that 
 " He hath in the main, and as far as is expressed, led the author 
 " by His Holy Spirit to the knowledge and belief of the truth." 
 In like way, " Essays on the Church," p. 304. 
 
 1 Thus Basnage (Hist, des Eglises Reformees, P. i. c. 6. § 4.) 
 appeals to Clemens . Romanus, in behalf of his view of justifica- 
 tion by faith, supposing the truth to have been obscured or lost 
 ever after in Christian Antiquity. 
 
 2 See Mr. Newman on " Romanism." So again Bp. Jewell, 
 1. c. " It is a world, to consider the reason ye use to prove your 
 " purpose withal. For ye say, the Church in Christ's and the Apos- 
 " ties' time was but an infant ; but now she is well-stricken in age, 
 " therefore she must be otherwise dieted now than she was then. 
 " This is not the handsomest comparison that I have heard of. 
 " For I never heard before now that Christ and His Apostles were 
 " called infants ; or that ever any man before now took upon 
 " him to set them to school. Esay saith, that Christ should be 
 " Pater futuri seculi ; that is, the Father of the world to come, 
 
58 
 
 again, the Romanist claims this enlarged illumination 
 or inspiration to the Church ; Ultra-Protestants to 
 Individuals. (6) Both prefer what is modern to what 
 is ancient, what is further from the source, to what 
 is nearer. (7) Both deeply disparage Christian anti- 
 quity. And this agreement is not accidental, but 
 arises from the same source in each, that each has to 
 support modern corruptions of doctrine, unknown to 
 Christian Antiquity, and therefore appeals against 
 her, and will not trust itself to her, as knowing 
 beforehand that they will be condemned by her. And 
 so it is scarcely uncharitable to suspect, that, beneath 
 this professed and conscious dread, lest an appeal to 
 tradition should give Rome an advantage, there 
 lurks also a secret and unconscious or half-conscious 
 dread for themselves : they have good reason to sus- 
 pect, if they do not absolutely know, that Christian 
 Antiquity is against them, and so they would antici- 
 pate the blow, by stifling it ; they fear that her voice 
 should be listened to, and so would drown it, by their 
 outcries against her ; and while they close the ear 
 
 " which is the time of the Gospel. And St. Hierom, in your 
 " own Decrees, calleth the Apostle's, Patres, that is, not infants, 
 " but the Fathers of the Church. And I believe, though ye 
 " would study and labour for it, yet would it be very hard for 
 " you, either to find out any good substantial reason, wherefore 
 " ye with your brethren ought to be called the Fathers of God's 
 " Church, or Christ and His Apostles ought to be called babes. 
 " O that ye would indifferently compare the one with the other ! 
 " ye should find, that as like as ye and your Bishops are to the 
 " Apostles, so like is your Church to the Apostles' Church." 
 
59 
 
 against her, as if she would give witness for Rome, 
 which she would not give, they hope to escape hear- 
 ing the testimony which she would give against the 
 Anti-sacramental system of Geneva. 
 
 But this is an alarming course, and the irreverential 
 spirit in which it is begun, bodes but ill of its termi- 
 nation. It were an ungrateful task, were any to set 
 themselves systematically to show that Christian Anti- 
 quity were not to be trusted ; yet this would require 
 patience and research ; but what must one think of 
 the piety and reverence, which would make sport 
 with the supposed defects of the Fathers of the 
 Church, and discover their father's shame ; which 
 would repeat from mouth to mouth the one or other 
 saying, which themselves had first misunderstood and 
 distorted, in order triumphantly to ask, what could 
 be thought of the judgment of men who could so 
 speak ? Truly, it seems like the Philistines making 
 sport with the mighty man whose eyes they had first 
 put out, and likely to meet with their end. It was 
 scarcely in so irreverential, but in the same sceptical 
 spirit, that Semler, the parent of German Neology, 
 began unravelling the belief of his country : but the 
 criticism of the Fathers mounted up to the criticism 
 of the Apostles ; and the criticism of the Apostles to 
 that of their Lord ; and the disbelief in their Lord 
 is in its last stage become a dethroning of God, and 
 a setting up of self, a Pantheism which worships God 
 as enshrined in self. 
 
 This subject, upon which I have detained your 
 
60 
 
 Lordship so long, may also, as the first instance of 
 the supposed Romanist tendency of some principles 
 of our great Divines, illustrate how mistaken is the 
 ground of these vague fears. Opposed errors will often 
 meet : truth will not approximate to either, though 
 if looked upon on either side, it will seem to be 
 nearer to the opposite than these are to each other. 
 The proverbial truth tells us " extremes meet," as in 
 this ease also is verified; whereas the mean which our 
 Church holds will never meet with either extreme ; 
 they parted off from it ; and however slight the ori- 
 ginal divergence, become more and more widely se- 
 parated from it, and never again join. To a careless 
 or superficial thinker, the mean seems likely to join 
 the extreme, because it has in it some quality which 
 is wanting to the other extreme ; but it is not so ; 
 it agrees with the extreme, not in essentials, but in 
 something incidental : the rash man appears to have 
 one quality in common w r ith the brave one, in that he 
 exposes himself to danger ; the brave man's caution 
 may readily appear like cowardice ; and so the rash 
 thinks the brave cowardly, and the coward holds him 
 to be rash ; whereas the exposing himself to danger 
 or no, is but an accident ; the principle on which he 
 does it, or refrains from it, is that which constitutes 
 his character ; he then will neither be rash nor 
 cowardly ; but the coward will be rash, and the rash 
 will be cowardly, if emergencies so determine. Prodi- 
 gality and avarice seem to be contraries ; yet are they 
 continually united, as in Catiline, " alieni appetens, 
 
01 
 
 sui profusus :" he who is simply liberal, will be 
 neither, though by either extreme he will be con- 
 founded with the other. " Extremes meet," because 
 they proceed on no settled principle, but on passion ; 
 they are guided by no internal rules, but are blown 
 about, this way or that, by the force of outward cir- 
 cumstances ; the mean goes on fixed principles, and 
 therefore holds on an even course, undeviating and 
 therefore never approximating to either extreme. 
 And so our English Church has by the Church of 
 Rome been confounded with Ultra-Protestants, and by 
 Ultra-Protestants has ever been thought to approx- 
 imate to Rome. In the present instance, it is but 
 accident that Rome appeals to Antiquity, or Ultra- 
 Protestantism to Scripture ; both have an ulterior 
 object, to maintain their own system : but Romanism 
 will found its errors on Scripture, or will disparage 
 Christian Antiquity with Ultra-Protestantism. And 
 Ultra-Protestantism, in its turn, will neglect the 
 plain meaning of Scripture, or appeal to Christian 
 Antiquity, to establish views formed independently 
 of Antiquity ; whereas the genuine English system, 
 being founded on Holy Scripture as interpreted by 
 Christian Antiquity, possesses a deep reverence for 
 Scripture as the source of the Faith, and for Anti- 
 quity as its witness and expositor ; and appealing to 
 both, for the office assigned to them by Him who 
 gave them, has only so much in common with either 
 extreme that it holds the truth which they have per- 
 verted, but approximates in no way to their errors. 
 
62 
 
 Art. XL Of the Justification of Man. 
 
 " Justification" having been lately the subject of a 
 very elaborate and meditative work by one 1 of those 
 accused of departing from the Articles 2 , it is the less 
 necessary to trouble your Lordship with .any length- 
 ened detail upon it. Had they who bring charges, 
 studied and mastered it, they might have been bene- 
 fitted by it, and these charges been spared. The 
 Xlth Article bears the appearance, on its very face, 
 of being a protest against Romish error ; it does not 
 pretend to embrace in a few lines the whole subject 
 of justification ; it contents itself with securing one 
 main point ; it puts in strong contrast the merits of 
 Christ and the merits of man, and says, that Ave are 
 justified solely for the sake of His merit, and not for 
 our own works and deservings ; and that merit, it 
 further says, is made available to us through faith. 
 " We are accounted righteous before God, only for 
 " the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by 
 " Faith, and not for our own works or deservings. 
 " Wherefore that we are justified by Faith only, is a 
 " most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, 
 " as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Jus- 
 " tification." The Article then, opposes the merit of 
 Christ to any thing which we have of our own, to 
 " our own works and deservings," as the meritorious 
 cause of salvation : and thus far, we believe, little is 
 
 1 Mr. Newman's Lectures on Justification. 
 
 2 See Preface, Edit. 4. 
 
63 
 
 imputed to us. It is so plain a truth, and has been 
 so often inculcated by us, that every sin of man 
 which is remitted, is remitted only for the sake of 
 His meritorious Cross and Passion, every good and 
 acceptable work is such through His power working 
 in us, that, little, I believe, has thus far been ob- 
 jected. The objections have been founded, not on 
 the Article, but on men's inferences from it. The 
 Article opposes " Faith" as the origin of our justifi- 
 cation, to works : it excludes works from being any 
 meritorious cause of justification ; " faith only" means 
 in its language "faith, not works." A modern school 
 has very strangely extended the reference of the 
 Article, and opposed man's faith to the Sacrament of 
 His Lord. They say, "faith only" means, that Faith, 
 — as opposed to every thing else, not works only, but 
 Baptism, — is the channel whereby the merits of 
 Christ are conveyed to the soul to its justification. 
 
 But, my Lord, such a contrast was plainly neither 
 in the minds of the writers of the Article, nor is it 
 in their words ; the whole subject of Baptism was 
 altogether foreign to that which is handled in this 
 whole series of articles on the relation of faith to 
 works, before and after justification ; (ix — xvii.) the 
 writers specify what they do mean ; they exclude 
 man's works ; they refer every thing to the merits of 
 Christ : " by faith only" excludes, then, man's works, 
 not any thing which is not man's. Whether He be 
 pleased to convey justification directly to the be- 
 liever's soul, or through His own ordinance of Bap- 
 
 9 
 
64 
 
 tisra, is wholly foreign to their subject. They say 
 nothing about it one way or other, as neither had 
 they any occasion, since the questions which have so 
 agitated us of late, as to the efficacy of Baptism, had 
 not then been raised in our Church. Neither again, 
 does the Article say any thing about the means 
 whereby man is retained in a justified state, nor 
 wherein our justification consists ; so that it may be 
 perfectly true, that we are "justified by faith only," 
 as the means whereby we receive it, and yet through 
 Baptism as the means or channel, through which 
 God conveys it ; or " by the Spirit" as the sanctify- 
 ing Presence which makes us acceptable in God's 
 sight ; or " by works," as St. James says, as that by 
 which the Justification is continued on in us ; or, as 
 it has lately been very concisely and clearly ex- 
 pressed " Justification comes through the Sacra- 
 " ments ; is received by faith, consists in God's inward 
 " Presence, and lives in obedience." 
 
 The same is in part expressed by one who was in 
 his day a pillar of our Church against heresy 2 . "The 
 " merits of Christ applied in Baptism by the Spirit, 
 " and received by a lively faith, complete our justifi- 
 " cation for the time being." As well then might it 
 be inferred that "justification by faith only" excluded 
 the indwelling of the Spirit, on its first imparting, 
 
 1 Newman on Justification, Lect. 12. " Faith viewed relatively 
 to rites and works," p. 318. 
 
 2 Waterland on Justification, quoted by Mr. Newman, p. 154, 
 note. 
 
65 
 
 or good works as necessary to its continuance, as that 
 it excludes Baptism as the channel whereby God be- 
 stows it. Whatever charge then is conceived to lie 
 against this view will equally hold against the earlier 
 Non-conformists ', who had not reduced Justification 
 to a mere imputation, but regarded it as resulting 
 from the indwelling of the Spirit. In Mr. Newman's 
 words 2 , on the relation of Justification by faith to 
 Justification by works, " If indeed I said that works 
 " justify in the same sense as faith only justifies, this 
 " would be a contradistinction in terms ; but faith 
 " only may justify in one sense, good works in another, 
 " and this is all that is here maintained. After all, 
 " does not Christ only justify ? How is it that the 
 " doctrine of faith justifying does not interfere with 
 " our Lord's being the sole justifier? It will of 
 " course be replied, that our Lord is the meritorious 
 " cause, and faith the means ; that faith justifies in 
 " a different and subordinate sense. As then Christ 
 " justifies in the sense in which He justifies, alone, 
 " yet faith also justifies in its own sense ; so works, 
 " whether moral or ritual, may justify us in their 
 " own respective senses, though in the sense in which 
 " faith justifies it only justifies. — Indeed, is not this 
 " argument, as has been suggested already, the very 
 " weapon of the Arians in their warfare against the 
 " Son of God ? They said, Christ is not God, be- 
 
 1 E. g. Baxter quoted by Mr. Newman, 1. c. 
 
 2 Lect. xii. " Faith viewed relatively to Rites and Works," 
 p. .316. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 " cause the Father is called the only God." And 
 again : " The instrumental power of Faith cannot 
 " interfere with the instrumental power of Baptism ; 
 " because Faith is the sole justifier, not in contrast 
 " to all means and agencies whatever (for it is not 
 " surely in contrast to our Lord's merits, or God's 
 " mercy), but to all other graces. When, then, 
 " Faith is called the sole instrument, this means the 
 " sole internal instrument, not the sole instrument of 
 e< any kind. 
 
 " There is nothing inconsistent, then, in Faith 
 " being the sole instrument of justification, and yet 
 " Baptism also the sole instrument, and that at the 
 " same time, because in distinct senses ; an inward 
 " instrument in no way interfering with an outward 
 " instrument '." 
 
 And this connection of Justification with Baptism, 
 so far from being at variance with the homily to 
 which the Article refers, and which men now quote 
 in behalf of a contrary view, is implied by its 
 very outset. For in the first words it lays down the 
 necessity man has of a justification out of himself, 
 which is what the Article requires. " Because all 
 " men be sinners and offenders against God, and 
 " breakers of His law and commandment, therefore 
 " can no man by his own acts, works, and deeds, 
 " (seem they never so good) be justified, and made 
 " righteous before God ; but every man of necessity 
 
 1 Lect. x. " Justification by Faith only," p. 259. 
 
07 
 
 " is constrained to seek for another righteousness or 
 "justification to be received at God's own hands, 
 " that is to say, the forgiveness of his sins and tres- 
 " passes, in such things as he hath offended." Then 
 it speaks of this justification as being bestowed by 
 God, and received by faith. " And this justification 
 " or righteousness which we so receive of God's 
 " mercy and Christ's merits, embraced by faith, is taken, 
 " accepted, and allowed of God, for our perfect and 
 " full justification." And then, having named the 
 Sacrifice of Christ as the meritorious cause of our 
 justification, the writer proceeds : " Insomuch that 
 " infants, being baptized and dying in their infancy, 
 " are by this Sacrifice washed from their sins, brought 
 " to God's favour, and made His children and in- 
 " heritors of His kingdom of heaven. And they 
 " which in act or deed do sin after their Baptism, 
 " when they turn again to God unfeignedly, they are 
 " likewise washed by this Sacrifice from their sins, in 
 " such sort that there remaineth not any spot of sin, 
 " that shall be imputed to their damnation." " Here," 
 observes Mr. Newman " is distinct mention of faith 
 " justifying after Baptism, but no mention of its jus- 
 " tifying before Baptism ; on the contrary, Baptism 
 " is expressly said to effect the first justification." 
 The writer proceeds : " This is that justification or 
 " righteousness which St. Paul speaks of, when he 
 " saith, ' No man is justified by the works of the 
 
 1 Lect. x. " Justification by Faith only," p. 2G3. 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 " Law, but freely by faitli in Jesus Christ.' So it 
 " seems that St. Paul too, when he speaks of justifi- 
 " cation through faith, speaks of faith as subordinate 
 " to Baptism, not as the immediate initiation into a 
 "justified state." 
 
 So again Dr. Heylin 1 sums up this same state- 
 ment of the homily : " There we find, that by God's 
 " mercy and the virtue of that Sacrifice which our 
 " High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the Son 
 " of God, once offered for us upon the Cross, we do 
 " obtain God's grace, and remission as well of our 
 " original sin in Baptism, as of all actual sin com- 
 " mitted by us after Baptism, if we truly repent and 
 " turn unfeignedly unto Him again. Which doctrine 
 " of the Church of England, as it is consonant to the 
 " word of God, in Holy Scripture, so is it also most 
 " agreeable to the common and received judgment 
 " of pure antiquity." 
 
 The doctrine of Justification through Baptism is 
 not opposed then to Justification by Faith only, in the 
 sense of the Article, although it is to the theory 
 which some have constructed upon it. " The neces- 
 " sity of Baptism," says Bishop Bull 2 , " and of those 
 " things which prepare for Baptism, in order to 
 " obtain remission of sins, which is set forth in 
 " sundry places of Scripture, and occurs in almost 
 
 1 On the Apostles' Creed, Art. x. c. vi. quoted in Catena 
 Patrum, No. ii. Tracts, No. 76. " Testimony of writers in the later 
 English Church to the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration," p. 20. 
 
 2 Apol. pro Harmon. S. 4. § 9. 
 
69 
 
 " every page of the Ancients, is alone a sufficient 
 " argument to overthrow that solifklianism, which 
 " many have attempted to build up out of Holy 
 " Scripture and the testimonies of the Fathers ; as 
 " our most learned and pious Thorndike, of blessed 
 " memory, has evinced in different places of his writ- 
 " ings. For it appears hence, that Faith by itself 
 " does not suffice to obtain justification ; but that 
 " outward Baptism is required besides, when it may 
 " be had ; but that at all events that promise of 
 " a new life, which is wont to be made at Baptism, 
 " is of necessity required ;" and, again " In the 
 " New Testament, John Baptist is said to have been 
 " sent by God, ' to preach the baptism of repentance 
 " for the remission of sins,' where are set down 
 " together the end and the means leading thereto : 
 " the end is remission of sins or justification ; the 
 " means our Baptism and repentance." 
 
 There is, however, another wide difference between 
 the views which we have inherited from, " to say the 
 least, the greater number of English Divines," and 
 those now held by a large portion of the Church, 
 resulting from our different views of the connection 
 of justification with Baptism. The view prevalent 
 with this class appears to have been borrowed from 
 Luther, and so to be nearly that condemned by the 
 Council of Trent, that " Justifying 2 faith is nothing 
 
 1 lb. S. 3. § 12. 
 
 s Sess. 6. can. 12. 
 
70 
 
 " else than a reliance (fiducia) on the Divine mercy 
 " remitting sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this 
 " reliance alone whereby we are justified." The Tri- 
 dentine doctrine on the contrary is, that " Justifica- 
 " tion is not merely the remission of sins, but also 
 " the sanctification and renewal of the inward man 
 " by his voluntary reception of grace and gifts. 
 " Whence a man becomes righteous for unrighteous, 
 " a friend [of God] for an enemy, so as to be an heir 
 " according to the hope of eternal life, and the com- 
 " munication of the merits of the Passion of our 
 " Lord Jesus Christ. This takes place in the very 
 " act of the justification of the ungodly, in that, 
 " through the merit of His most Holy Passion, the 
 " love of God is through the Holy Spirit shed abroad 
 " in the hearts of those who are justified, and becomes 
 " inherent in them, whence in the very act of justi- 
 " fication, man, together with the remission of sins, 
 " receives infused into him, through Jesus Christ, in 
 " Whom he is engrafted, faith, hope, and charity." 
 The Anglican doctrine or that which we conceive to 
 have been the teaching of the majority of our Church, 
 differs from both these ; from the Roman, in that it 
 excludes sanctification from having any place in our 
 justification ; from the Lutheran, in that it conceives 
 justification to be not imputation merely, but the act 
 of God imparting His Divine Presence to the soul, 
 through Baptism, and so making us temples of the 
 
 1 Sess. 6. can. 7. 
 
71 
 
 Holy Ghost, " the 1 habitation in us of God the 
 44 Father, and the Word incarnate, through the Holy 
 " Ghost :" or to quote a fuller passage 2 , " It may 
 " be remarked that whatever blessings in detail 
 " we ascribe to justification, are ascribed in Scrip- 
 " ture to this sacred indwelling. For instance, is 
 "justification remission of sins? the Gift of the 
 " Spirit conveys it, as is evident from the Scripture 
 " doctrine about Baptism ; ' One Baptism for the 
 " remission of sins.' Is justification adoption into the 
 " family of God ? in like manner the Spirit is ex- 
 " pressly called the Spirit of adoption, ' the Spirit 
 " whereby we cry, Abba, Father.' Is justification 
 " reconciliation with God ? St. Paul says, ' Jesus Christ 
 " is in you, unless ye be reprobates.' Is justification 
 " life? the same Apostle says, ' Christ liveth in me.' 
 " Is justification given to faith ? he also prays ' that 
 " Christ may dwell in' Christians' ' hearts by faith.' 
 " Does justification lead to holy obedience? Our Lord 
 " assures us that ' he that abideth in Him and He in 
 " him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.' Is it 
 " through justification that we rejoice in hope of the 
 " glory of God ? in like manner ' Christ in us' is said 
 " to be ' the hope of glory.' " 
 
 The three views of doctrine part widely in their 
 practical effects ; the Lutheran 3 view, especially as 
 
 1 Newman on Justif. Lect. vi. " On the gift of Righteous- 
 ness," p. 160. 
 
 2 lb. p. 166, 7. 
 
 3 The Council of Trent condemns those who hold " that it is 
 
72 
 
 developed in the Wesleyans and a section of our 
 Church, leads men to look to their own feelings, as 
 that by which their reliance on Christ may be ascer- 
 tained, to analyze them, operate upon them, work 
 them up, rely at last with satisfaction upon them, 
 as tests of their love for Christ. They have been 
 taught that justification is not the gift of God 
 through His Sacraments, but the result of a certain 
 frame of mind, of a going forth of themselves, and 
 resting themselves upon their Saviour; this is the 
 act whereby they think themselves to have been 
 justified ; and so, as another would revert to his 
 Baptism, and his engraffing into Christ, and his 
 thus being in Christ, so they do to this act whereby 
 they were justified ; they cherish their then feelings, 
 not to act upon them, but for their own sakes ; 
 mourn over their fading 1 ; endeavour to reproduce 
 them; make their Christian life to concentrate in 
 them ; and lose out of sight, as carnal and legal, its 
 ordinary, hourly duties. These tendencies, doubt- 
 less, are checked in individuals; but whatever checks 
 
 " necessary to every man to obtain remission of sins, that he 
 " should believe assuredly and without any doubt, that the sins 
 " of his own infirmity and indisposition are remitted to him," and 
 " that a man is thereby absolved from sins and justified, that he 
 " believes assuredly that he is absolved and justified, and that no 
 " one is truly justified, unless he believes that he is justified, and 
 " ihatby this faith alone absolution and justification are perfected." 
 (Sess. 6. Can. 13, 14.) which is just the Wesleyan doctrine. 
 
 1 This feeling is encouraged in popular hymns, irregularly 
 admitted into our Churches, as in that, in other respects very 
 
73 
 
 there are, are the result of past duty, of an implanted 
 integrity, of God's law within them, and in our own 
 Church, of the practical character impressed by her 
 Liturgy, in despite of their system. Their tendency 
 is to act upon a theory, not upon Scripture ; to sup- 
 pose that if the feelings be right, the acts will, as a 
 matter of course, be right ; and so to neglect that 
 about which Scripture bids them be diligent. To take 
 the most systematic development of this theory ; the 
 first thought which occurs to the mind of a Wesleyan, 
 in speaking of his spiritual state, is, not what tempta- 
 tions he has surmounted, or failed in, what duties he 
 has neglected, or performed, but what were his feel- 
 ings. His " experience" concentrates in these. 
 " True faith," observes Mr. Newman " is what 
 
 impressive one, " Oh for a closer walk with God." What a strong- 
 contrast with the peace resulting from continued growth in grace 
 are such lines as : 
 
 Where is the happiness I knew 
 When first I knew the Lord ; 
 And felt the heart-reviving view 
 
 Of Jesus and His word ? 
 What peaceful hours I then enjoyed ! 
 
 How sweet their memory still ! 
 But now 1 feel a painful void 
 No human joys can fill. 
 
 Such lines would describe truly a backsliding Christian, or a 
 dejected one, who had been taught to make his feelings the test 
 of his state ; but they are too likely to make one think himself 
 backsliding, because his feelings are not what they were. The 
 more practical view is giver in Mr. Newman's Sermons, vol. i. 
 " On the use of excited feelings in religion." 
 
 1 On Justification, Lect.xiii. "On preaching theGospel,"p. 385. 
 
74 
 
 " may be called colourless, like air or water; it is 
 " but the medium through which the soul sees 
 " Christ ; and the soul as little really rests upon it 
 " and contemplates it, as the eye can see the air. 
 " When, then, men are bent on holding it (as it 
 " were) in their hands, curiously inspecting, analyz- 
 " ing, and so aiming at it, they are obliged to colour 
 " and thicken it, that it may be seen and touched. 
 " That is, they substitute for it, something or other, 
 " a feeling, notion, sentiment, conviction, or act of 
 " reason, which they may hang over and dote upon. 
 " They rather aim at experiences (as they are called) 
 " within them, than at Him that is without them. 
 " They are led to enlarge upon the signs of conver- 
 " sion, the variations of their feelings, their aspira- 
 " tions and longings, and to tell all this to others ; — 
 " to tell others how they fear, and hope, and sin, 
 " and rejoice, and renounce themselves, and rest in 
 " Christ only ; how conscious they are that they are 
 " but ' filthy rags,' and all is of grace, till in fact they 
 " have little time left them to guard against what 
 " they are condemning, and to exercise what they 
 " seem to themselves to be so full of. Now men in 
 " a battle are brief-spoken ; they realize their situa- 
 
 " tion and are intent upon it By-standers 
 
 " see our minds ; but our minds, if healthy, see but 
 " the objects which possess them. As God's grace 
 " elicits our faith, so His holiness stirs our fear, and 
 " His glory kindles our love. Others may say of 
 " us 'here is faith' and 'there is conscientiousness' 
 
 9 
 
75 
 
 " and ' there is love,' but we can only say, ' this is 
 " God's grace,' and ' that is His holiness,' and ' that 
 " is His glory.' " 
 
 Just the reverse of this is the Romanist. His 
 theory leads men as naturally to look chiefly to their 
 works, and as it has a Pelagian tendency (although 
 it has been held together with high Augustinian 
 doctrine) so may it readily lead them to look to their 
 own works as their own ; to weigh them, balance 
 them, evil against good, make the one compensate 
 for the other, settle their several values ; at last, 
 hold the Almighty their debtor, as if the more 
 eminent saints had a supererogation of merits. " It 
 " makes," to use Mr. Newman's 1 words, " its hea- 
 " venly grace a matter of purchase and trade." 
 " Romanism," as he again says 2 , " by its pretence 
 " of Infallibility, lowers the standard and quality of 
 " Gospel obedience, as well as impairs its mysterious 
 "and sacred character; and this in various ways. 
 " When religion is reduced in all its parts to a 
 " system, there is hazard of something earthly being 
 " made the chief object of our contemplation instead 
 " of our Maker. Now Romanism classifies our duties 
 " and their rewards, the things to do, the modes 
 " of pleasing God, the penalties and the remedies of 
 " sin, with such exactness that an individual knows 
 
 1 On Justification, Lect. viii. " Righteousness viewed as a gift 
 and as a quality," p. 221. 
 
 2 On Romanism, &c. Lect. iii. " Doctrine of Infallibility 
 morally considered," p. 125. 
 
76 
 
 " (so to speak) just where he is upon his journey 
 " heavenward, how far he is got, how much he 
 " has to pass, and his duties become a matter of 
 " calculation. It provides us with a sort of graduated 
 " scale of devotion and obedience, and engrosses our 
 " thoughts with the details of a mere system, to a 
 " comparative forgetfulness of its professed Author. 
 " But it is evident that the purest religious services 
 " are those which are done, not by constraint, but 
 " voluntarily, as a free offering to Almighty God. — 
 " True faith does not like to realize to itself what 
 " it does ; it throws off the thought of it ; it is 
 " carried on and reaches forward towards perfection, 
 " not counting- the steps it has ascended, but keep- 
 " ing the end steadily in its eye, knowing- only that 
 " it is advancing, and glorying- in each sacrifice or 
 " service which it is allowed to offer, as it occurs, 
 " not remembering it afterwards. But in Romanism 
 " there would seem to be little room for this uncon- 
 " scious devotion. Each deed has its price, every 
 " quarter of the land of promise is laid down and 
 " described. Roads are carefully marked out, and 
 " such as would attain to perfection, are constrained 
 " to move in certain lines, as if there were a science 
 " of gaining heaven. Thus the Saints are cut off 
 " from the Christian multitude by certain fixed 
 " duties, not rising out of it by the continuous 
 " growth and flowing forth of services which in their 
 " substance pertain to all men. And Christian holi- 
 " ness in consequence, loses its freshness, vigour, and 
 
77 
 
 " comeliness, being frozen (as it were) into certain 
 " attitudes, which are not graceful except when uii- 
 " studied. 
 
 " The injury resulting to the multitude from the 
 " same circumstance, is of a different but not less 
 " serious nature. While, of those who aim at the 
 " more perfect obedience, many are made self-satis- 
 " fled, and still more formal, the mass of Christians are 
 " either discouraged from attempting or countenanced 
 " in neglecting it. If, indeed, there is one offence 
 " more than the rest characteristic of Romanism, it 
 " is this, its indulging the carnal tastes of the mul- 
 " titude of men, setting a limit to their necessary 
 " obedience, and absolving them from the duty of 
 " sacrificing their whole lives to God." 
 
 The Anglican doctrine directs men to look neither 
 to their faith nor their works, but to Christ alone, 
 " the Author and Finisher of their faith," not stay- 
 ing to analyze their feelings, nor weighing their 
 works in a balance, as if claiming Heaven either by 
 faith or works, but looking simply to Him, striving 
 to follow Him, to do as He bids ; to act as He 
 guides ; to look off from things behind, to press for- 
 ward to things before, as having Him ever before 
 our eyes, Whose Goodness and Greatness and Holi- 
 ness and Glory are immeasurable, yet Who bade us 
 follow in His steps, and " in Whom instrengthening" 
 (ivSwafiovvTi), because indwelling, St. Paul " could 
 do all things ;" " Who 1 is our Righteousness, by 
 
 Newman on Justif. Lect. vi. " On the gift of Righteousness,'' 
 p. 167. 
 
78 
 
 " dwelling in us by the Spirit ; justifies us by entering 
 <; into us ; continues to justify us by remaining in us. 
 " This is really and truly our justification, not faith, 
 " not holiness, [with the Romanist] not (much less) 
 " a mere imputation [with the Lutheran], but through 
 " God's mercy, the very Presence of Christ." 
 
 I would not be understood to rest the defence of 
 any doctrine, in any degree, upon its apparent tend- 
 encies ; we are not judges of them ; and might readily 
 mistake them ; and certainly should, if we would 
 on any such a priori grounds decide doctrines to be 
 scriptural or unscriptural ; yet, being persuaded that 
 this doctrine is both Scriptural and Catholic, we may 
 speak of its tendencies, with a view to abate a pre- 
 judice against it. And in this view the writer so 
 often quoted contrasts it with those of Romanism 
 and Ultra-Protestantism. 
 
 " I say 1 the view of justification taken by Roman- 
 " ists and by a school of divines among ourselves, 
 " tends to fix the mind on self, not on Christ, whereas 
 " that which I have advocated as Scriptural and 
 " Catholic, buries self in the absorbing vision of a 
 " present, an indwelling God. And as so doing, it 
 " is a more awakening and fearful doctrine even than 
 " that mode of teaching which insists mainly and di- 
 " rectly on our responsibilities and duties. For to 
 " what does it point as the great and immediate con- 
 " dition of justification ? to faith and holiness of our 
 
 1 Lect. viii. " Righteousness viewed as a gift and a quality," 
 p. 220. 
 
79 
 
 " own ? or, on the other hand, to the mere title of 
 " righteousness, which cannot he literally approached 
 " or profaned by us ? no, — but to the glorious She- 
 " kinah of the Word Incarnate, as to the true wed- 
 " ding garment in which the soul must be dressed. 
 " Does not such a view far increase, instead of di- 
 " minishing our responsibilities, does it not make us 
 " more watchful and more obedient, while it comforts 
 " and transports us? Surely it takes our minds off 
 " ourselves in order to fill us with triumph, awe, and 
 " godly fear at what we are and what we hold within 
 " us. When are we the more likely to dread sinning, 
 " when we know merely we ought to dread it, or 
 " when we see the exceeding peril of it ? When are 
 " we the more likely to keep awake and be sober, 
 " when we have a present treasure now to lose, or a 
 " distant reward to gain ? Is it not more dreadful, 
 " when evil thoughts assail us, more elevating and 
 " ennobling in affliction, more kindling in danger 
 " and hardship, to reflect (if the words may be said), 
 " that we bear God within us, as the Martyr Ignatius 
 " expresses it, that He is grieved by us or suffers 
 " with us according as we carry or renounce His 
 " Cross, — I say, has not this thought more of per- 
 " suasiveness in it to do and suffer for Him than the 
 " views of doctrine which have spread among us ? Is 
 " it not more constraining than that which considers 
 " that the Gospel comes to us in name, not in power ; 
 " deeper, and more sacred than a second, which 
 " makes its heavenly grace a matter of purchase and 
 
80 
 
 " trade ; more glowing than a third, which depresses 
 " it almost to the chill temperature of natural re- 
 " ligion ?" 
 
 I cannot refrain from adding one more passage, 
 in which he winds up his glowing rehearsal of the 
 devotions of the early Christians, whose life was faith, 
 and their faith, not a speculation, but their life : 
 
 " They 1 had Christ before them ; His thought in 
 " their minds, His emblems in their eye, His Name 
 " in their mouths, His service in their postures, mag- 
 " nifying Him, and calling on all that lives to magnify 
 " Him, joining with angels in heaven and saints in pa- 
 " radise to bless and praise Him for ever and ever. O 
 " great and noble system, not of the Jews who rested 
 " in their rites and privileges, not of Christians who 
 " are taken up with their own feelings, and who de- 
 " scribe what they should exhibit, but of the true 
 " Saints of God, the undefiled and virgin souls who 
 " follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth ? Such 
 " is the difference between those whom Christ praises 
 " and those whom He condemns or warns. The Pha- 
 " risee recounted the signs of God's mercy upon and 
 " in him ; the Publican simply looked to God. The 
 " young Ruler boasted of his correct life, but the 
 " penitent woman anointed Jesus' feet and kissed 
 " them ; nay, holy Martha herself spoke of her 
 " ' much service ;' while Mary waited on Him for 
 " the ' one thing needful.' The one thought of them- 
 
 1 Lect. xiii. " On Preaching the Gospel," p. 388. 
 
81 
 
 " selves ; the others thought of Christ. To look at 
 " Christ is to be justified by faith ; to think of being 
 " justified by faith is to look from Christ and to fall 
 " from grace. He who worships Christ and works 
 " for Him is acting that doctrine which another does 
 " but enunciate ; his worship and his works are acts 
 " of faith, and avail to his salvation, because he does 
 " not do them as availing." 
 
 Art. XVI. Of sin after Baptism. 
 
 From this difference in the view of Justification, 
 it could not be, but that there should be a material 
 difference as to the view of sin after Baptism. And 
 the charges on this subject relate simply to myself. 
 Some, I believe, have gone so far as to imply that I 
 contravene the Article, although I prefaced what 
 I said with a statement in its very words ; others al- 
 lege only that my statements interfere, according to 
 their view, with the doctrine of justification by faith. 
 And this could not be otherwise. For in that they 
 sever Justification from Baptism, and make it to 
 consist in the "act of reliance upon the merits of 
 Christ only," sin, according to them, is forgiven, at 
 once, upon each renewal of this act : and in that they 
 thus virtually substitute this act for Baptism, a man 
 has thereupon no more to do with his past sins, than, 
 according to the doctrine of the Church, he has with 
 those remitted by Baptism. Since, moreover, they 
 identify this act with Justification, then a man's jus- 
 tification is renewed, so often as this act is renewed : 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 and if any one denies that a man is forthwith, 
 completely justified, it is, with them, all one with 
 denying that he is "justified by faith only." I say 
 this, by way of explaining- how one who takes this 
 view of justification must, if he judge another by his 
 principles, do him injustice unintentionally ; he cannot 
 understand how our own merits and deservings are 
 not introduced into the act of justification. On the 
 other hand, according to our Church, we are by 
 Baptism brought into a state of salvation, or justi- 
 fication (for the words are thus far equivalent), a state 
 into which we were brought of God's free mercy 
 alone, without works, but in which having been 
 placed, we are to " work out our own salvation with 
 fear and trembling," through the indwelling Spirit of 
 " God, working in us to will and to do of His good 
 " pleasure ;" a state admitting of degrees, according to 
 the degree of sanctification ; (although the first act, 
 whereby we were brought into it, did not) a state 
 admitting of relapses and recoveries, but which is 
 weakened by every relapse ; injured by lesser, de- 
 stroyed for the time by grievous sin 1 ; and after such 
 sin recovered with difficulty, in proportion to the 
 greatness of the sin, and the degree of its wilfulness, 
 and of the grace withstood. 
 
 Now all this does not lie within the scope of the 
 Article ; the Article expressly condemns persons 
 holding two opposite errors, " those which say they 
 can no more sin as long as they live here," and 
 
 1 See Preface, Edit. 4. 
 
83 
 
 " those wlio deny the place of forgiveness to such as 
 truly repent." But who " truly repent ;" what are 
 helps towards true repentance ; when a man, who has 
 been guilty of " deadly sin wilfully committed after 
 Baptism," may be satisfied that he is truly repentant 
 for it ; whether and to what degree he should, all his 
 life after, continue his repentance for it ; whether he 
 be altogether pardoned, or whether only so long 
 as he continue in a state of penitence ; wherein his 
 penitence should consist ; whether continued re- 
 pentance would efface the traces of his sin in him- 
 self ; whether he might ever in this life look upon 
 himself as restored to the state in which he had been, 
 had he not committed it ; whether it affect the de- 
 gree of his future bliss, or its effects be effaced by 
 his repentance, but their extinction depend upon the 
 continued greatness of his repentance ; whether ces- 
 sation of his active repentance may not bring back 
 degrees of the sin upon him ; whether it shall appear 
 again in the day of judgment : these and the like, 
 are questions upon which the Article does not speak, 
 but upon which a modern popular theology has 
 decided very peremptorily, and will have no inter- 
 ference with its decrees. According to it, the whole 
 office of repentance is to bring men to Christ, the 
 terrors of the law are to drive men to dread the 
 punishment due to their sins, to renounce them, to 
 seek for reconciliation through the free mercy of 
 Christ ; and so far is, of course, true ; but when 
 men have thus been brought to " lay hold of His 
 
 g 2 
 
84 
 
 saving merits," then, according to them, their sins 
 are done away ; they " are covered 1 ;" they can ap- 
 pear no more ; " the handwriting is blotted out ;" a 
 man has no more to do with them than to thank 
 Christ that he has been delivered from them. This 
 " apprehension of Christ's merits" is to them instead 
 of Baptism, a full remission of sins, completely 
 effacing them ; and so often as any man embraces 
 those merits, so often, according to them, are his sins 
 effaced. To revert to past sin, is to doubt of Christ's 
 mercy ; to bear a painful recollection of it, is to be 
 under the bondage of the law ; to seek to efface it 
 by repentance, is weakness of faith ; to do acts of 
 mercy, or self-denial, or self-abasement, or to fast, 
 with reference to it, is to interfere with the " free- 
 ness and fulness of the Gospel ;" to insist upon them, 
 is "to place repentance instead of Christ." This 
 system has but two topics, " repent, and believe the 
 Gospel ;" and so far right ; but these two so narrowed, 
 that repentance is to precede faith, faith to supersede 
 repentance. Other offices of repentance, it scarcely 
 entertains in thought, except to denounce, or to 
 scoff at 2 . 
 
 It was against this system, my Lord, that I spoke : 
 this abuse of the doctrine of justification by faith, 
 is searing men's consciences now, as much as the 
 " indulgences" of the Romish system did before. 
 
 1 Ps. xxxii. 2. 
 
 2 E. g. in the way in which certain acts of self-discipline in- 
 stanced from Bp. Taylor, in Tract G(>, p. 8, have heen jeered at. 
 
85 
 
 It used to be said that the " Romish was an easy 
 religion to die in ;" but even the Romish, in its cor- 
 ruptions, scarcely offered terms so easy, at all events 
 made not a boast of the easiness of its terms ; if it 
 had but the dre^s of the svstem of the ancient 
 Church, stale and unprofitable as these often were> 
 they had yet something of the strength or the bitter- 
 ness of the ancient medicine ; they, at least, testified 
 to a system, when men made sacrifices for the good 
 of their souls, humbled themselves in dust and ashes ; 
 practised self-discipline ; " accused 1 and condemned 
 " themselves, that so they might find mercy at their 
 " heavenly Father's hand for Christ's sake, and not 
 " be accused and condemned in that fearful judg- 
 " ment ;" felt " the remembrance" of their past sins 
 to be " grievous 2 unto" them, " the burthen" to be 
 " intolerable ;" " were grieved and Wearied with the 
 burthen of their sins ;" " turned 3 to God in weeping, 
 fasting, and praying ;" " bewailed 3 and lamented their 
 " sinful life, acknowledged and confessed their of- 
 " fences, and sought to bring forth worthy fruits of 
 " penance ;" and in cases of notorious sin, were " put 3 
 " to open penance, and punished in this world, that 
 " their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord." 
 -The sun of the ancient Church was setting, sadly ob- 
 scured by the mists and vapours of earth which had 
 gathered round it ; yet it did occasionally gleam 
 through on the eye, which watched constantly for it 
 
 1 Visitation of the Sick. 2 Communion Service. 
 
 3 Commination Service. 
 
86 
 
 behind these mists ; and even to these clouds which 
 half hid it, it imparted oftentimes its own, though a 
 melancholy lustre. Romanism was, in practice as 
 well as in doctrine, decayed ; yet to those who 
 " loved the stones and pitied the dust" of the 
 ancient city of God, its very ruins marked the out- 
 line, which they might trace out for themselves : 
 treasures were buried there for those, who would 
 clear away the heaps, which decay accumulated over 
 them. To the many, her's was a debasing system, 
 yet there might be, and was often, reality in it, to 
 those who would find it. 
 
 The refined distinctions, which she made in carrying- 
 out her divisions of mortal and venial sins ; her ac- 
 curate allotment of punishments (as if she could 
 measure out the degree of guilt contracted by each 
 offence against God) ; her inventions of attrition and 
 contrition ; the assumption of an absolute power to 
 remit altogether venial, and the eternal consequences 
 of mortal sins ; not to speak now of the sale 1 of indul- 
 gences or the commutation of penance for money ; 
 these favoured the corruptions of carnal men 2 , stifled 
 
 1 The sale of indulgences was prohibited by the Council of 
 Trent (Sess. xxi. c. 9, de reformat.) " that all might at length 
 truly understand that these heavenly treasures of the Church were 
 employed not for gain but for piety," and the extent of grievous 
 corruptions admitted ; their use, as a means of power, is con- 
 tinued. See quotations in Mr. Newman, on Romanism, Lect. iv. 
 " Doctrine of Infallibility politically considered," p. 145. ed. 2. 
 
 2 See more fully Newman on Romanism, Lect. iii. " Doctrine 
 of Infallibility morally considered," p. 113, sqq. ed. 2. 
 
S7 
 
 the misgivings which might awaken them from their 
 security, lowered the tone and standard, whereat they 
 were to aim, and threw them on the Church, to whom 
 the dispensation of those treasures of mercy were 
 committed, rather than on Him, in whose name she 
 dispensed them. She took upon herself the office of 
 the Judge, anticipated His sentence, and stood in 
 His place. Such were the effects of her portion of 
 it, its corruptions ; but insomuch as she retained from 
 Antiquity, the system bore witness to the holiness 
 of God ; the grievousness of offending Him ; the 
 " earnestness, indignation, fear, vehement longing, 
 zeal, revenge," which the Apostle 1 says " godly sor- 
 row worketh ;" it spoke of holier times and holier 
 practices than it realized or encouraged, to those 
 who had ears to hear. But this modern system, 
 whose very boast it is to make works of no account 2 ; 
 which teaches people on their death-bed, after a life 
 of profligacy and infamy, servants of sin and Satan, 
 destroying, as far as in them lay, the souls of others, 
 to put away all painful remembrance of past sin, and 
 to exult and triumph in having cast away " their 
 righteousness" (which they had not) " like filthy rags," 
 
 1 2 Cor. vii. 10, 1 1. 
 
 2 Thus a very popular and in inany respects valuable account 
 of the destruction of a vessel, speaking of the apparent conversion 
 of some, under the immediate prospect of sudden death, appealed 
 strongly to this proof of the value of faith without works. 
 " What," it said, " would they have done, who make salvation 
 depend in any degree upon works in such a case, when there was 
 no time to perforin them ?" 
 
88 
 
 and to joy as though they had " fought the good fight," 
 and been approved soldiers ; which would make it 
 practically easier, and safer almost, to be saved with- 
 out works than with them, speaking often of the 
 danger of relying upon works, and but little of the 
 danger of being lost for want of them ; which stifles 
 continually the strong emotions of terror and amaze- 
 ment which God has wrought upon the soul, and 
 " healing slightly the wound" which he has made, 
 makes it often incurable ; which makes peace rather 
 than holiness, the end of its ministrations, and by 
 an artificial wrought-up peace, checks the deep and 
 searching agony, whereby God, as in a furnace of 
 fire, was purifying the whole man, " by the Spirit of 
 judgment, and by the Spirit of burning" — this is al- 
 together a spurious system, misapplying the promises 
 of the Gospel, usurping the privileges of Baptism, * 
 which it has not to confer, giving peace which it has 
 not to bestow, and going counter to the whole tenor 
 of Scripture, " that every man shall be judged ac- 
 cording to his works." 
 
 This system, however it differs from Romanism 
 in the means, agrees with it in the end, in lulling 
 the conscience, ridding man (as he craves to be,) of 
 all anxieties as to his past life, permitting him to 
 forget his past sins ; and that without exercising 
 the self-discipline, which Romanism, when not alto- 
 gether corrupt, still encourages. 
 
 Our Church, my Lord, here as elsewhere, appears 
 to me to hold a distinct line, however she has not 
 
89 
 
 been able as yet to revive the "godly discipline" 
 which she feelingly deplores. Romanism, as well as 
 Ultra-Protestantism, practically frees a man from his 
 past sins; our Church bids him confess that he is "tied 1 
 and bound with the chain" of them, and to pray Him 
 that " the pitifulness of His great mercy may loose 
 us ;" she teaches us, in her daily service, to have our 
 " sins ever before us," that so God may " hide His face 
 from our sins, and blot out all our iniquities ;" she 
 bids us come day by day with " broken and contrite 
 hearts" which God "will not despise;" to "rend our 
 hearts" that "God may repent him of the evil;" to 
 seek of God "correction," though "with judgment, not 
 in His anger ;" to go daily to our Father, and say unto 
 Him that we are " no more worthy to be called His 
 sons." She teaches us dailv to confess all the sins of 
 our past life ; all our past " erring and straying," our 
 having " offended against His holy laws," having " left 
 " undone what we ought to have done, and done what 
 " we ought not to have done ;" three times a week 
 she teaches us to pray to be delivered "from His wrath 
 and from everlasting damnation," and " in the day of 
 judgment ;" that He would give us "true repentance, 
 forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances." 
 And in her most solemn service, she would have us 
 approach with " true penitent hearts ;" still gathering 
 before our eyes, all the sins of our past lives, that 
 
 1 This prayer was objected to by the Puritans, and consistently 
 with their system. Their objection shows the more how much of 
 doctrine is contained in our ancient prayers, that they do breathe 
 a different moral spirit. 
 
90 
 
 " the remembrance of them" being "grievous unto us, 
 and the burthen of them intolerable," we may bring 
 them all before Him, pray Him, " for Jesus Christ's 
 sake to forgive us all that is past." 
 
 In the solemn service, again, with which this sea- 
 son has just begun, she " admonishes us of the great 
 indignation of God against sinners," that " we may 
 the rather be moved to earnest and true repentance ;" 
 and then, after most deep confession of sins, gives us 
 not peace herself, but prays, in the Avords which He 
 placed in the mouths of His priests to bless, " the 
 Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon 
 us and give us peace." She guides us from herself, 
 either preaching or blessing, to Him who is " the 
 merciful receiver of all true penitent sinners," and 
 to His untold, unfathomable, mercies in Christ 
 Jesus ; she would have us continually lean on His 
 mercy, not as confident that our sins were already 
 blotted out, but rather as beholding ourselves " full 
 of " all " the sores " which by our past sins we 
 had inflicted upon our souls, yet trusting that His 
 mercy will yet be greater than our sins; striving 
 to cleanse ourselves, yet awaiting to the end His 
 gracious sentence, whereby He shall say, " I will, 
 be thou clean," and " deliver us from the extreme 
 " malediction which shall light upon them that shall 
 " be set on the left hand, and set us on His right 
 " hand, and give us the gracious benediction of His 
 " Father, commanding us to take possession of His 
 " glorious kingdom." And so she continues even to 
 the end : she exhorts us all twice every day, after her 
 
91 
 
 Absolution, to beseech God to "grant us true re- 
 pentance" — a truer and deeper repentance than we 
 have ; — prays for it in the Litany, in connexion with 
 our past " sins, negligences, and ignorances ;" prays 
 again throughout Lent that (what a modern system 
 looks upon as taking place once only in life) " God 
 " would create and make in us new and contrite 
 " [broken] hearts; that we worthily lamenting our 
 " sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness," ccc. and 
 thus, to the verge of the grave, or whenever sickness 
 brings death and judgment in nearer sight, she not 
 only exhorts all " truly to repent," but prays for 
 them that " the sense of their weakness may add 
 " strength to their faith, and seriousness to their re- 
 " pentance." She would have both deepened in us 
 to our last breath, that we may in penitent trust 
 close our eyes and approach the Judge of all — with 
 the words of that great example of humble repent- 
 ance and exceeding faith, " Lord, remember me when 
 " Thou comest into Thy kingdom." The very titles 
 \\ itli which she accompanies the name of repentance 
 show how deep and earnest her views of repentance 
 are ; she never names it without some word to ex- 
 press its reality. Thus she speaks again and again of 
 " true repentance 1 ;" "and scrmisness to repentance 2 ;" 
 " unfeigned repentance 2 ;" "earnest and true repent- 
 
 1 Twice in the Daily Absolution, in Visitation of the Sick 
 (where it occurs three times, being omitted in the prayers for per- 
 sons troubled in mind or in conscience); Litany; Commination 
 Service, twice. 2 Visitation of the Sick. 
 
92 
 
 auce 1 ;" "with all contrition 1 ;" "faithful repentance 1 ;" 
 and in her service of most solemn joy, the Commu- 
 nion of her Lord, she comes most broken-hearted ; 
 she has there her deepest confession of guilt, and 
 there she most accumulates these titles. Its unspeak- 
 able blessings she sets forth, having first said, "if with 
 " a true penitent heart — we receive that Holy Sacra- 
 " ment: for then," &c; then she exhorts us, "repent 
 " you truly of your sins past — so shall ye be made 
 " partakers," &c; then placing that confession in our 
 mouths, she invites us with the words, " Ye that do 
 truly and earnestly repent you of your sins ;" then pro- 
 nounces her absolution upon us, as such as " with 
 hearty repentance turn unto Him :" so that her 
 address, " Hear what comfortable words our Saviour 
 " Christ saith unto all that truly turn to Him : 4 Come 
 " unto Me, all ye that travail, and are heavy laden, 
 " and I will refresh you,' " sounds indeed most com- 
 fortably. Her sense of the awful privileges of the 
 Communion, and her own manifold unworthiness, and 
 deep expressions of repentance 2 , harmonize truly 
 together : modern systems would have had neither. 
 
 This appears to me then the characteristic differ- 
 ence of the three systems ; Romanism as well as 
 Ultra-Protestantism would consult readily for man's 
 
 1 Commination Service. 
 
 2 Much instruction on the repentant character of our Liturgy, 
 will be found in a Tract now being published, No. 86. " On the 
 Indications of a Superintending Providence in the preservation of 
 the Liturgy, and the changes which it has undergone." 
 
93 
 
 feverish anxiety to be altogether at ease ; our 
 Church sets him in the way in which God's peace may 
 descend upon him, but forestalls not His sentence. 
 She has no second Baptism to give, and so she 
 cannot pronounce him altogether free from his past 
 sins. There are but two periods of absolute cleansing, 
 Baptism and the day of judgment. She therefore 
 teaches him continually to repent, that so his sins 
 may be blotted out, though she has no commission to 
 tell him absolutely that they are ; she repeats to him 
 his Lord's words, "Come unto me, all ye that labour 
 and are heavy-laden, and / will give you rest," and so 
 sends him to her Lord, that he may " find rest for 
 his soul," but does not anticipate His gracious act ; 
 she absolves him, " if he earnestly and heartily desire 
 it," " by His authority committed unto" her, and 
 then (even while holding out her most solemn form 
 of Absolution, as a means of relieving the troubled 
 conscience,) she confesses the incompleteness of her 
 own act, in that she subjoins a prayer for pardon of 
 those sins, from which she had just absolved him ; 
 " O most merciful God, who dost so put away the 
 " sins of those who truly repent, that Thou remem- 
 " berest them no more ; Open Thine eye of mercy 
 " upon this Thy servant, who most earnestly desireth 
 " pardon and forgiveness ; impute not unto him his 
 " former sins." The very renewal of her Eucharistic 
 absolution, "pardon and deliver you from all your sins," 
 attests that she does not hold them to have been all 
 absolutely remitted ; but thus she sets him in a way 
 
 9 
 
m 
 
 whereby he may obtain peace ; she bids him repent, 
 sorrow, sue for pardon, not forget his repentance, 
 come to Him who can and will give rest, pronounces 
 over him His Absolution, invites him where " his 
 " sinful body may be made clean by His Body, and 
 " his soul washed through His most precious Blood," 
 blesses him with His blessing, " the Peace of God 
 which passeth all understanding," and so dismisses 
 him, bearing with him, as she hopes, His peace, 
 Who alone is " the Author of Peace," Whose alone 
 it is to bestow it. And this is altogether in accord- 
 ance with Scripture, which uniformly speaks of 
 " peace" as the direct gift of God. " Grace be unto 
 " you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord 
 " Jesus Christ," is the standing 1 Apostolic salutation 
 to the Church ; and thence is the Church's bless- 
 ing 2 , "The Peace of God which passeth all under- 
 standing, keep your hearts and minds ;" so again 3 , 
 
 1 It is used by St. Paul, with a very slight variation, in all his 
 Epistles ; in Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 3 ; 2 Cor. i. 2 ; Eph. i. 2 ; 
 Phil. i. 2 ; Col. i. 2 ; 1 Thess. i. 1 ; 2 Thess. i. 2 ; Phil. 3 ; 
 " Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ;" in Gal. i. 3. it is "from God the Father," &c. ; 
 in 1 Tim. i. 2. " Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father ;" 
 2 Tim. i. 2. " the Father ;" Tit. i. 3. " the Lord Jesus Christ 
 the Saviour :" St. Peter uses a similar salutation, 2 Pet. i. 2. 
 " Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge 
 of God and of Jesus our Lord :" and St. John, writing to an in- 
 dividual, (2 Epist. 3 ) the same as that of St. Paul to Timothy 
 and Titus, but adding " the Son of the Father in truth and 
 love." 
 
 2 Phil. iv. 7. :l 2 Thess. iii. 10. 
 
95 
 
 " the Lord of peace give you peace always ;" " My 1 
 peace I give unto you ;" " the God 2 of hope fill you 
 with all peace and joy in believing ;" " The fruit 3 of 
 the Spirit is love, joy, peace ;" God is the " God of 
 Peace," our Lord " is our peace 4 :" nor is peace 
 spoken of any where as coming from any other source 
 but directly from Him. 
 
 The difference then between the views in question 
 is not, as to the hope of pardon to the penitent, not 
 even as to the prospect of peace in this world ; but 
 as to what is penitence, and how that peace is 
 to be obtained ; whether from men's declarations, 
 or directly from God ; whether at first or at last 
 whenever it pleases God to send it ; whether amid 
 forgetfulness of past sin, or while recalling it in bit- 
 terness of recollection and praying God for His Son's 
 sake to pardon it ; whether amid continual humilia- 
 tion, which saith, " God be merciful to me a sinner," 
 or amid exultation at being free from self-righteous- 
 ness. As repentance is God's gift, and God's work 
 in a man's soul, so is there obviously great danger in 
 interfering with it ; " He woundeth" and He must 
 " heal ;" He " killeth " and He must " make alive ;" 
 He " bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up." 
 They must have had but little acquaintance with 
 wounded consciences, who know not how terribly 
 He does " chasten man for sin, making his beauty 
 to consume away," how " He writeth bitter things 
 
 1 John xiv. 27. 2 Rom. xv. 13. 3 Gal. v. 22. 4 Eph. ii. 14. 
 
96 
 
 against him, and maketh him to possess his former 
 iniquities ;" and in this awfulness of His chastise- 
 ments, which we very often cannot mitigate, though 
 we would, He bids us beware how we interfere with 
 His work in the soul, or apply lenitives, when He is 
 probing the diseased and ulcerous part " to the very 
 dividing of the soul and body." These false kind- 
 nesses, (which in one body of Christians, now daily 
 parting more from the Church, is become systematic,) 
 are continually marring the work, which God had with 
 a healthful severity begun. The penitent, untimely 
 delivered from his distress, loses the energy of 
 repentance, and the hatred of sin, which God was 
 annealing into his soul, and becomes a common-place 
 and a sickly Christian. What I would urge then, is 
 to hold out the prospect of peace, but as God's gift 
 through the deepening of repentance; not to cut short 
 His work, whether by the Sacrament of penance, or 
 inward persuasions, or misapplied promises of the 
 Gospel ; but to direct to His mercies in Cheist ; 
 and He, who " knoweth whereof we are made, and 
 remembereth that we are but dust," will have pity on 
 them, " as a father pitieth his own children," when 
 they have learnt to " fear Him." Not peace, but 
 salvation is our end ; but peace also He, the God of 
 peace, will bestow, as He sees most healthful for 
 them, according to the evenness and consistency of 
 their course; clouding it, if they are remiss or halting; 
 renewing it, when they humble themselves and press 
 onward; and in all cases bestowing upon us more 
 than we deserve, for His sake " Who is our Peace." 
 
97 
 
 Art. XXV. On the Sacraments. 
 
 On the Sacraments, two sets of charges are brought; 
 one, that we unduly exalt the Sacraments of our 
 Lord ; the other, that we are not disinclined to 
 ascribe a sacramental character to other rites which 
 the Church of Rome has defined to be Sacraments 
 in the same sense as Baptism and the Holy Eucha- 
 rist. And these two charges have naturally gone 
 together; for in the school of Calvin and Zuingli, 
 the two great Sacraments have been so lowered, that 
 they who have learned therein, would speak of them 
 in language scarcely so high as we should of rites, 
 which are not " Sacraments of the Gospel." We 
 must then to them appear both to ascribe to these 
 rites, the character of Sacraments, as they conceive 
 of Sacraments, and to exalt the true Sacraments to 
 something higher. 
 
 To speak first of that portion of that charge, which 
 relates to Sacraments generally. The caution of our 
 Church on this subject is very remarkable; she no 
 where denies that there are more than two Sacra- 
 ments, in some sense of the word ; nay, in the Arti- 
 cles, Catechism, and Homilies alike, she implies or 
 asserts that there are more ; in the Articles she 
 denies only that " those five commonly called Sacra- 
 " ments — are to be counted for Sacraments of the 
 " Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the 
 " corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states 
 " of life allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have not the 
 
 n 
 
98 
 
 " like nature of Sacraments with Baptism and the 
 " Lord's Supper:" for in that she says, that they 
 " have not the like nature of Sacraments " with the 
 two great Sacraments, she rather implies that some 
 of them have some sacramental character, though not 
 " like" to those two. In like manner, when in her 
 Catechism she teaches her children, that there are 
 two Sacraments, only, ordained by Christ in His 
 " Church, generally, [i. e. universally,] necessary to 
 " salvation," she implies that there are other rites 
 which might have the name, though not of this high 
 dignity, nor " universally necessary," nor " ordained 
 by Christ Himself." And precisely this distinction is 
 made in the Homilies, which recognize several " sacra- 
 ments" in that larger sense, at the very time that, and 
 in the same language as the Articles, they distinguish 
 between them and the two great Sacraments. " As 1 
 " for the number of them [the Sacraments], if they 
 " should be considered according to the exact signi- 
 " fication of a Sacrament, namely for visible signs, ex- 
 " pressly commanded in the New Testament, where- 
 " unto is annexed the promise of free forgiveness of 
 " sins, and of our holiness and joining in Christ, there 
 " be but two ; namely Baptism and the Supper of 
 " the Lord. For although Absolution hath the pro- 
 " mise of forgiveness of sins, yet by the express word 
 " of the New Testament, it hath not this promise 
 " annexed and tied to the visible sign, which is imposi- 
 
 1 Of Common Prayer and Sacraments. 
 
99 
 
 " tion of hands. For this visible sign (I mean laying 
 " on of hands,) is not expressly commanded in the 
 " New Testament to be used in Absolution, as the 
 " visible signs in Baptism and the Lord's Supper 
 " are ; and therefore Absolution is no such Sacrament 
 " as Baptism and the Lord's Supper are, and though 
 " the ordering of ministers hath this visible sign and 
 " promise, yet it lacks the promise of remission of 
 " sin, as all other Sacraments besides the above named 
 " do. Therefore neither it, nor any other Sacrament 
 " else, be such Sacraments as Baptism and the Com- 
 " munion are. But in a general acception, the name 
 " of a Sacrament may be attributed to any thing ; 
 " whereby an holy thing is signified. In which un- 
 " derstanding of the word, the ancient writers have 
 " given this name not only to the other five, com- 
 " monly of late years taken and used for supplying 
 " the number of the seven Sacraments, but also to 
 " divers and sundry other ceremonies, as to oil, 
 " washing of feet, and such like; not meaning thereby 
 " to repute them as Sacraments, in the same significa- 
 " tion that the two fore-named Sacraments are. And 
 " therefore St. Augustine, weighing the true signifi- 
 " cation and exact meaning of the word, writing to 
 " Januarius, and also in the third book of Christian 
 " doctrine, affirmeth that the ' Sacraments of Chris- 
 " tians, as they are most excellent in signification, so 
 " are they most few in number ;' and in both places 
 " maketh mention expressly of two, the Sacrament 
 
 h 2 
 
100 
 
 " of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. And 
 " although there are retained by the order of the 
 " Church of England, besides these two, certain 
 " other rites and ceremonies about the institution of 
 " ministers in the Church, Matrimony, Confirmation, 
 of children by examining them of their knowledge 
 " of the articles of faith, and joining thereto the 
 " prayers of the Church for them, and likewise for 
 " the Visitation of the sick ; yet no man ought to 
 " take these for Sacraments, in such signification and 
 " meaning as the Sacraments of Baptism and the 
 " Lord's Supper are ; but either for godly states of 
 " life, necessary in Christ's Church, and therefore 
 " worthy to be set forth by public action and so- 
 " lemnity, by the ministry of the Church, or else 
 " judged to be such ordinances, as may make for the 
 " instruction, comfort, and edification, of Christ's 
 " Church." 
 
 This passage is very remarkable for the principles 
 which it contains, and the caution with which it is 
 expressed ; and that, the more, since the object of 
 the writer, as well as of the Article, was to guard 
 against an over-, rather than an under- value of these 
 secondary Sacraments, or Sacramentals 1 : he had then 
 
 1 The word " Sacramentals" is used by Beza, (quoted Hooker, 
 E. P. IV. i. 4. ed. Keble) to designate " any ceremony importing 
 signification of Spiritual things;" the introduction of any such into 
 the Church of God, he declares to be a" right grievous sin ;" yet, 
 remarkably enough, as Hooker observes, the title " as sacraments' 
 
101 
 
 to protest against Romanist error, not against a pro- 
 fane indifference to sacred rites ; and yet he not only 
 altogether shrinks from denying that sacred rites may 
 be termed " sacraments," but expressly calls them 
 so, only laying down that they are " not such Sacra- 
 ments as Baptism and the Communion are," agreeing 
 herein altogether with the Fathers. The modern 
 school may apologize for, or elude the passage, but 
 they clearly would not themselves have so written. 
 (2) He does not even deny that some of those which 
 are not, in the highest sense, " sacraments," have a 
 spiritual gift conveyed in connexion with them. On 
 the contrary, of Absolution he expressly says, that 
 " it hath the promise of forgiveness of sins," only 
 " not annexed to the visible sign," and is thereby 
 distinguished from the great Sacraments. So, again, 
 Orders he allows to have both " the visible sign and 
 promise, i. e. of spiritual grace ; but not " remission 
 of sins," and thus it also is distinguished from the 
 proper Sacraments. And this coincides with our 
 Ordination Service ; for the words, " Receive the 
 Holy Ghost," had been a manifest impiety, unless the 
 act of Ordination were, to those worthily receiving it, 
 accompanied with the gift of the Holy Spirit ; as in- 
 deed it is expressly affirmed by Holy Scripture, that 
 an inward "gift" was bestowed upon Timothy through 
 his ordination, " Stir up the gift of God which is in 
 
 which Hooker adopts (1. c.) is used by the same writers, who 
 entitle " the Apostles' imposition of hands" "a sign, or as it were 
 sacrament." 
 
J 02 
 
 " thee by the putting on of my hands, with the laying 
 " on of the hands of the presbytery V So further, 
 he says in general of " other sacraments," that they 
 " all lack the promise of remission of sins;" implying 
 at the same time, that there are others, which he 
 would call sacraments (as Matrimony is expressly 
 termed in another homily 2 ), and that what at once 
 distinguished them from the great Sacraments was, 
 that they conveyed no " remission of sins ;" whereby 
 he virtually allows that they did convey spiritual 
 grace. And so, probably, he meant that such rites, 
 as did not " grow of the corrupt following of the 
 Apostles," (Art. XXV.) had such spiritual grace ; nor 
 indeed does it appear how a sacred action, which is 
 really a type or image of a sacred thing (which is his 
 definition) should be destitute of spiritual influences. 
 Such is also the teaching of later Divines of chief 
 note in the Church. Thus Hooker vindicates against 
 the Puritans, the spiritual graces of Confirmation, 
 with an appeal to the universal teaching of the ancient 
 Church. " The Fathers every where impute unto 
 " it that gift or grace of the Holy Ghost, not which 
 " maketh us Christian men, but, when we are made 
 " such, assisteth us in all virtue, armeth us against 
 " temptation and sin." — "The Fathers therefore, being 
 " thus persuaded, held confirmation as an ordinance 
 
 1 2 Tim. i.e. 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 2 Sermon on Swearing, pt.i. See other authorities among later 
 English Divines in Palmer on the Church, pt. 6. c. 8. t. 2. 
 p. 442. 
 
J 03 
 
 " Apostolic, always profitable in God's Church, al- 
 " though not always accompanied with equal large- 
 " ness of those external effects, which gave it coun- 
 " tenance at the first." — " By which answer [of St. 
 " Jerome] it appeareth that his opinion was, that 
 " the Holy Ghost is received in Baptism : that con- 
 " firmation is only a sacramental complement." " Now 
 " what effect their imposition of hands hath, either 
 " after Baptism administered by heretics, or other- 
 " wise, St. Jerome in that place hath made no men- 
 " tion, because all men understood that in converts 
 " it tendeth to the fruits of repentance, and craveth 
 " in behalf of the penitent such grace as David after 
 " his fall desired at the hands of God ; in others, the 
 " fruit and benefit is that which hath been before 
 " shewn." — " Whereunto [to the fatherly encourage- 
 " ment and exhortation of the Bishops] imposition 
 " of hands and prayer being added, our warrant for 
 " the great good effect thereof is the same which 
 " Patriarchs, Prophets, Priests, Apostles, Fathers, 
 " and men of God, have had for such their particular 
 " invocations, and benedictions, as no man, I suppose, 
 " professing truth of religion will easily think to have 
 " been without fruit '." 
 
 Not less remarkable, on the other side, is the 
 light which this comparison throws upon the views 
 of the writer of the Homily, as to the two great 
 Sacraments. He does not indeed rest the question 
 of the number of proper sacraments, solely on the 
 1 Eccl. Pol. V. 66. § 4. 6. 7. 
 
104 
 
 external distinctions, but goes also to the good ground 
 of Christian Antiquity ; and asserts them to be dis- 
 tinct, because the Ancient Church ever so distin- 
 guished them. But besides this ground, he also, in 
 the same way as the Articles and Catechism, alleges 
 the peculiar dignity cast around the two proper 
 Sacraments, in that in them nothing was left to be 
 supplied by man; every thing in them was ordained 
 by our Lord Himself; the visible sign, as well as 
 the promise of the invisible grace, and the promised 
 connexion between the two : so that although the 
 one or other rite come near to have the character of 
 a Sacrament, yet it falls short in that it is not equally 
 guarded. Thus he points out that Absolution "hath 
 the promise of forgiveness of sins," but not the con- 
 nexion with the visible sign ; Ordination hath a pro- 
 mise and the visible sign, but not the promise which 
 the others have. And this distinctive promise is, 
 union with our Lord, and consequent justification 
 and sanctification ; for so he expressly says, the 
 " exact " definition of a sacrament is a visible sign, 
 expressly commanded in the New Testament, where- 
 unto is "annexed the promise of forgiveness of our sins 
 and of our holiness and joining in Christ." Other rites 
 may be and are means of grace, but no other than 
 the Sacraments of our Lord are means of direct union 
 with Him. And this union, justification, sanctifica- 
 tion, are, according to this clear and distinct writer, 
 not merely concomitants, accompanying the right use 
 of the Sacrament, but they are (he uses the very 
 
 9 
 
105 
 
 phrase to which the Ultra-Protestant theories from 
 his day to our's most object) " annexed and tied to the 
 visible sign ;" for the absence of such annexation he 
 alleges as the ground why Absolution is not to be 
 regarded as a Sacrament ; again, coinciding with the 
 language of the Catechism, that they are the means, 
 " whereby we receive the inward and spiritual grace;" 
 they are not only pledges to assure our faith ; much 
 less mere outward signs of what is worked inwardly, 
 but means and channels whereby God conveys it. 
 
 Thus then this passage of the Homily conveys 
 throughout precisely the view as to the distinction 
 between the true, proper Sacraments, and those rites 
 which in some respects approximate to Sacraments, 
 and the grounds of that distinction, which are now- 
 stigmatized as Papistical. I need only adduce one 
 passage, in which this distinction has of late been 
 very clearly stated '. 
 
 " If justification be the inward application of the 
 " Atonement, we are furnished at once with a suffi- 
 " cient definition of a sacrament for the use of our 
 " Church. The Romanist considers that there are 
 " seven ; we do not strictly determine the number. 
 " We define the word generally to be an ' outward 
 " sign of an inward grace,' without saying to how 
 " many ordinances this applies. However, what we 
 " do determine is, that Christ has ordained two spe- 
 " cial Sacraments, as generally necessary to salvation. 
 
 1 Newman on Justification, Lect. G. " On the gilt of Righteous- 
 ness," v. fin. p. 169, 70. 
 
106 
 
 " This, then, is the characteristic mark of those two, 
 " separating them from all other whatever ; and what 
 " is this but saying in other words, that they are the 
 " only justifying rites, or instruments of communi- 
 " eating the atonement, which is the one thing 
 " necessary to us? Ordination, for instance, gives 
 " power, yet without making the soul acceptable to 
 " God ; Confirmation gives light and strength, yet is 
 " the mere completion of Baptism ; and Absolution 
 " is a negative ordinance, removing the barrier which 
 " sin has raised between us and that grace, which by 
 " inheritance is our's. But the two Sacraments ' of 
 ' ; the Gospel,' are the instruments of inward life, 
 " according to our Lord's declaration, that Baptism 
 " is a new birth, and that in the Eucharist we eat the 
 " living Bread." 
 
 Now this distinction, which, with the Homily, we 
 have made, the Romanist will not make ; for it 
 would be conceding the whole question, were he to 
 allow that two of his seven Sacraments were com- 
 pletely mi generis, so as wholly to be above, and 
 removed from, the other five. The rest would be a 
 question of words and names only. On the contrary, 
 the Council of Trent, where it anathematizes any 
 who should say, that, " these 1 seven Sacraments 
 " are in such wise equal among themselves, that one 
 " is in no respect superior to the other," meant, as 
 Card. Bellarmine 2 explains it, to condemn those 
 
 Sess. 7. can. 3. 
 
 2 De Sacram. L. 2. c. 28. 
 
107 
 
 who ascribe to Baptism the same dignity as the 
 Eucharist ; and he is very indignant with those im- 
 pugners of the Council, who said that they observed 
 this Canon, in that they did separate Baptism and 
 the Eucharist from the rest, regarding the former as 
 the institutions of Christ, the rest, as the inventions 
 of men. " This," he says, " is to blink the question," 
 for that first, the Council assumed that all seven are 
 Sacraments of the New Law; secondly, that the object 
 was to condemn a further error of the Lutherans, 
 who regarded Baptism as of equal dignity with the 
 Eucharist ; thirdly, " the Council itself asserted the 
 " Eucharist to excel all the other Sacraments but 
 " did not make this comparison as to the others." 
 Further it is part of the Romanist system to incul- 
 cate that each of their Sacraments has not only 
 something peculiar, but some superiority over the 
 rest ; that so there should result a sort of balance of 
 dignity between them, and none, except the Eucha- 
 rist, should be placed above the rest, so as to intro- 
 duce any essential or practical disparity between 
 them. And thus they guard their number seven : 
 since though they cannot but admit that Baptism 
 has some especial prerogatives over other of their 
 Sacraments, so, they contend, have others ; so that 
 this is to be no sufficient ground for distinguishing 
 them. Thus Card. Bellarmine alleges, that " Baptism 2 
 excels " as to the effect of remitting sin, in that it 
 
 1 Sess. 12. cap. 3. 
 
108 
 
 " remits original sin, and actual sins with all the 
 " punishment clue to them, which other Sacraments 
 " do not ; Confirmation excels as to the effect of grace 
 " toward good-doing, for it presupposes the effect of 
 " Baptism, and superadds more abundant grace ; the 
 " Eucharist excels all, as to the substance of the 
 " Sacrament — as having not only an operative power, 
 " but containing truly Christ Himself, the Author of 
 " that power ; Penance excels all in necessity, except 
 " Baptism, with which it has this excellence in com- 
 " mon; Extreme Unction in a manner excels Penance, 
 " as to the effect of grace, like as Confirmation 
 " excels Baptism, for it presupposes the whole effect 
 " of Penance, and adds more abundant grace, which 
 " can not only wipe away all sins, if present, but 
 " remove the very traces of sin ; Orders excels all, 
 " except Confirmation, as to the minister, in that it 
 " can be conferred by a Bishop only ; nay, herein 
 " it seems to excel Confirmation ; since Confirmation, 
 " sometimes by dispensation, may be conferred by a 
 " mere priest — also it excels the rest, in that it places 
 " man in a higher grade than other Christians ; 
 " lastly, Matrimony excels in signification ; for it 
 " signifies the union of Christ with the Church, 
 " whence it is called by the Apostle a ' great Sacra- 
 " ment.' " No one can fail to see the object of these 
 ingenious and fine-drawn distinctions, (which were 
 held generally in the council of Trent itself 1 ,) nor 
 
 ' " All agree that if you regard the necessity and utility of the 
 " Sacraments, Baptism ought to have the preference ; but Mar- 
 
109 
 
 how presumptuously and wantonly Rome sacrifices 
 the intrinsic greatness of one at least of the two great 
 sacraments ; nor the total difference of character 
 between her distinctions, and those of the Homily 
 and ourselves. 
 
 So then, this distinction between the " proper 
 " Sacraments " and " offices of the Church, to which 
 " there is allied a Sacramental efficacy," so far from 
 being one connected with Romanism, was of old 
 adopted in our Church against Romanism ; and when 
 Romanists would distinguish between the efficacy of 
 their Sacraments, they do it altogether in a different 
 way ; for a different end ; and assuming that they 
 are all in one respect equal, as being all "proper 
 " Sacraments." 
 
 Baptism. 
 
 A late Lutheran writer 1 admits that " as to the 
 " Sacrament of Baptism there is no controversy of 
 " much moment between the twoChurches" [Lutheran 
 and Romish]. It is then hardly worth while to enter 
 into the question, what the Romish Church means by 
 the " Character " impressed upon the baptized, and 
 whether this may have a sound sense or no. There 
 remains, of course, one great difference between the 
 two Churches, not peculiar to Baptism, but affecting 
 
 " riage, if you regard what it signifies ; Confirmation, if you look 
 " to the dignity of the minister ; and the Eucharist, if to the 
 " veneration due to it." P. Sarpi, 1. ii. c. 85. 
 1 Marheineke Institt. Symhol. § 36. 
 
110 
 
 much men's comfort and security, in receiving either 
 Sacrament, that the " intention of the Priest to do 
 what the Church does," is, according to Rome, re- 
 quisite to make the Sacrament valid. A well-known 
 instance in the late history of France of one who 
 confessed on his death-bed, that he for years admi- 
 nistered the Sacraments, meaning expressly " not to do 
 what the Church did," illustrates at once the danger 
 of such definitions, and the insecurity which this 
 tenet, secured as it is by an anathema, must cast over 
 those of the Romish Communion, whether they have 
 indeed the Sacraments or no. " If any one say," are 
 the words of Catharin, Bp. of Minori, in the Council 
 of Trent \ " that these cases [of meaning to make the 
 
 i " Sarpi, Hist, du Concile de Trente, 1. ii. c. 86. He was 
 arguing that" the intention of the minister" required by the Council 
 of Florence for the validity of a Sacrament, should be restrained 
 to the " outward intention, whatever the inward purpose of the 
 officiator might be;" in other words, that all which should be 
 necessary to the validity of a Sacrament on the part of the Priest, 
 should be an outward conformity with the rites of the Church. 
 He urged, " supposing an internal intention necessary, then, if a 
 " Priest having the care of four or five thousand souls should be 
 " an unbeliever yet a great hypocrite, who, whether in the Bap- 
 " tism of infants, or the absolution of penitents, or the consecra- 
 " tion of the Eucharist, had the intention of not doing what the 
 " Church does, then it must be said that all the children were 
 " damned, the penitents unabsolved, and that none of the com- 
 " municants had derived any benefit." " He insisted much," con- 
 tinues the historian, "on the affliction which an affectionate father 
 " would feel, if, seeing his child dying, he doubted the intention 
 " of the Priest who had baptized it ; or, the disquiet of one who 
 
1 1 1 
 
 " administration of the Sacraments a jest] are rare, 
 " would to God that in this corrupt age there were 
 <; not reason to think that they are very frequent !" 
 The very belief that there was a power to invalidate 
 the Sacraments would be used by Satan as a tempta- 
 tion to make men essay to do so. Ultra-Protestants, 
 strangely enough, come round to the same result of 
 casting uncertainty on the efficacy of Baptism, in that 
 they make it, in infants, to depend upon the faith of 
 the parents, sponsors, congregation, or Ministers, not 
 on " Christ's institution and promises, although they 
 be ministered by evil men." Art. XXVI. And 
 whereas they would call it " popish " to believe that 
 an infant is, through the faith of the Church, which 
 
 " received Baptism in an imperfect frame of mind, should he have 
 " reason to suspect that the Priest who had baptized him, was a 
 " false Christian, and that instead of intending to baptize or to 
 " confess him, or to give him the Eucharist, he had meant only 
 " to wash him in jest, and to make a sport of all the rest," on 
 which follow the terrible words quoted in the text. The decree of 
 the Council finally was, " if any one say that in ministers, when 
 " they make and confer the Sacraments, there is not required at 
 " least the intention of doing what the Church does, let him be 
 " anathema." Courayer says, that the mode in which Catharin 
 explained the Council of Florence, was insensibly adopted in the 
 schools as the explanation of that of Trent, though opposed in 
 the Council itself, and though the Council seemed to require an 
 internal intention on the part of the Minister. As far as it is 
 adopted, it is a manifest evasion of the decree, " on account," as 
 Courayer says, " of the inconvenience resulting from its obvious 
 sense." 
 
112 
 
 brings it unto Christ, accepted by Him, and regene- 
 rated by His Spirit, whatever be the character of the 
 immediate human agents, they themselves coincide 
 with the Romish error just stated l . The principle 
 of St. Augustine, on the contrary, that children 
 being able to put no bar of an opposite will, God's 
 goodness flows unrestrained towards them, is, in our 
 own Church, thus beautifully expressed by Hooker 2 ; 
 " He which with imposition of hands and prayer did 
 " so great works of mercy for restoration of bodily 
 " health, was worthily judged as able to effect the 
 " infusion of heavenly grace into them whose age 
 " was not yet depraved with that malice which might 
 
 1 " Why leave two or three expressions in the Baptismal Ser- 
 " vice and her Catechism, so unguarded by explanation, as to 
 " induce many to imagine that every child is really regenerated 
 " in that ordinance, and made a true and living member of Christ, 
 " by a certain form of words, however, and by whomsoever (being 
 " a priest) pronounced, and even in spite of the unbelief or care- 
 " lessness of all the parties concerned." — Essays on the Church, 
 p. 269. Another ushers in, with an apology, a hypothetic case 
 of a foxhunting clergyman, in illustration of the same point, 
 (Fraser, p. 18). So with regard to the other Sacrament, it is used 
 as part of an argument ex absurdo ; " in infidel and debased 
 " Spain and Italy, our Lord's Body and Blood is constantly offered 
 " to the people, inasmuch as the priests who there officiate — unbe- 
 " lievers as most of them are — are yet the right line of Apostolic 
 " succession ! " — Essays, p. 312. Yet what has the unbelief of 
 the Priest to do with the privileges of the people ? " does their 
 unbelief make void the righteousness of God 1" 
 
 2 Eccl. Pol. V. 66. 1. cd. Keble. 
 
113 
 
 " be supposed a bar to the goodness of God towards 
 " them. They brought Him therefore young children 
 " to put his hands upon them and pray." 
 
 In the same way again Archbishop Bramhall 1 : 
 " Secondly, we distinguish between the visible sign, 
 " and the invisible grace ; between the external sacra- 
 " mental ablution, and the grace of the Sacrament, 
 " that is, interior regeneration. We believe that 
 •• whosoever hath the former, hath the latter also, so 
 ~ that he do not put a bar against the efficacy of the 
 " Sacrament hy his infidelity or hypocrisy, of which a 
 " child is not capable, and therefore our very Liturgy 
 " doth teach that a child baptized, dying before the 
 " commission of actual sin, is undoubtedly saved." 
 And more recently, Waterland 2 : " The second is 
 " the case of infants. Their innocence and incapacity 
 " are to them instead of repentance, which they do 
 " not need, and of actual faith, which they cannot 
 " have. They are capable of being savingly born of 
 " water and the Spirit, and of being adopted into 
 • sonship with what depends thereupon ; because 
 L ' though they bring no virtues with them, no positive 
 " righteousness, yet they bring no obstacle, no impedi- 
 " ment" 
 
 The modern school, which denies as " Popish" this 
 
 1 Of persons dying without Baptism, Works, p. 979, quoted 
 in Tracts, No. 76. Catena Patrum, No. 2. " Testimony of writers 
 in the later English Church to the doctrine of Baptismal regene- 
 ration," p. 20. 
 
 2 On Regeneration, 2, quoted ib. p. 46. 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 doctrine (and it is upon it that the question of the 
 baptismal regeneration of all infants in fact turns), 
 have apparently yet to learn that Christian Baptism 
 is not that of the servant, but of the Lord ; that in 
 the language of the Ancient Church " it is not man, 
 but Christ, who baptizeth." 
 
 The chief charge against Rome as to the Sacra- 
 ment of Baptism is, not that she has unduly exalted 
 it, but, on the very contrary, that she has depreciated 
 it. She insists indeed on its necessity, and there 
 leaves it. This is the very coldest way, in which it 
 could have been spoken of ; she enlarges not on the 
 gifts bestowed through it, on the Presence of our 
 Lord thereat ; on His communicating Himself to 
 the soul, or His applying His own most precious 
 Blood, thereby ; or on the sacred Presence of the 
 Holy Ghost the Comforter, and His thenceforth 
 making the baptized His temple unless He be 
 grieved away. These blessed truths she rather casts 
 into the shade, though she would not deny them : 
 in her anxiety to secure a peculiar Presence of 
 our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, she rather conceals, 
 and is unwilling to dwell on, His Sacred Presence 
 in this Sacrament, whereby He makes us members of 
 Himself : in her wish to vindicate the equality and 
 dignity of her other Sacraments, as Sacraments, she 
 is obliged to disguise that which constitutes the 
 peculiar greatness of the two proper Sacraments, — 
 the union with and Presence of our Lord, — and vindi- 
 cates it to one only in a carnal way. The dignity also 
 
115 
 
 which she ascribes to her Sacraments of Confirma- 
 tion and Penance, leads her members the more away 
 from looking to their Baptism : for Confirmation 
 presupposes, as Bellarmine says, the gifts of Baptism, 
 and adds more abundant grace, and so, " excels it as 
 to the effect of grace for good-doing ;" and when one 
 sins among them, he is to look, not to God's mercies 
 in Christ pledged to him in Baptism, and all the un- 
 defined and overflowing favour and loving-kindness 
 involved in being made a member of the ever-Blessed 
 Son, but to a distinct Sacrament of Penance. Thus, in 
 both ways, her members are taught to look upon Bap- 
 tism as a mere preliminary act, in the back-ground as 
 it were, of the Christian life ; the fore-ground, upon 
 which their eye is fixed, being taken up by their 
 Sacrament of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. It 
 is, indeed, a remarkable instance of the effect of her 
 whole system, even upon parts where she has not in- 
 troduced error : it illustrates also mournfully the 
 cancerous nature of error in any portion of revealed 
 truth, how it spreads and preys upon the parts yet 
 sound. As to Holy Baptism, Rome innovated not, 
 and yet she has doubly lowered it ; by a carnal glory 
 which she would shed around the Holy Eucharist, and 
 by the obstinacy, wherewith she would maintain the 
 number of her seven Sacraments, and the human 
 theories she had to resort to in order to uphold them. 
 This indeed was the charge, brought by our early 
 Controversialists against Rome, — that she depreciated 
 the Sacrament of Baptism, to make way for her theory 
 
 i 2 
 
1 16 
 
 respecting that of the Holy Eucharist ; and so they 
 would remedy her error on the latter, not in the 
 modern way, by lowering both Sacraments, but by 
 showing that Baptism had the same glorious privi- 
 leges belonging to it, on which Rome would build up 
 its carnal explanation of our Lord's presence in the 
 Holy Eucharist. Thus Bp. Jewell l , " Are we not par- 
 " takers of the same Divine Substance in the Sacrament 
 " of Baptism ? St. Augustine saith, ' By Baptism 
 " we are incorporate into Christ, and are made one 
 " Body with His Body.' Leo saith, ' The Body of 
 " him that is new born in Baptism, is made the flesh 
 " of Christ crucified,' that is to say, ' Flesh of His 
 " Flesh, and Bone of His Bone.' Yet nevertheless, 
 " the very substance of water remaineth still. Even 
 " so, notwithstanding we be made partakers of the 
 " Divine Substance of Christ, in the receiving of the 
 " holy Mysteries, yet the substance of bread therein 
 " remaineth still. And forasmuch as ye would prove 
 " by these words of St. Ambrose, that Christ is pre- 
 " sent in the Sacraments, the same St. Ambrose also 
 " saith, that Christ is likewise present in the water 
 " of Baptism. Thus he saith, &c." And in an- 
 other place he explicitly brings this charge against 
 the Romanists, " Forasmuch 2 as these two Sacra- 
 " ments being both of force alike, these men [the 
 
 1 Defence of Apologie, p. 22. See also Replie to Harding, 
 285, and further references in " Scriptural Views of Holy Bap- 
 tism," p. 179. sqq. ed. 1. 
 
 8 Reply, p. 249, 50. quoted more at length. Ibid. 
 
117 
 
 " Romanists] to advance their fantasies in the one, 
 " by comparison so much abase the other, I think 
 " it good, briefly and by the way, somewhat to touch 
 " what the old Catholic Fathers have written of 
 " God's invisible workings in the Sacrament of Bap- 
 " tism. The Fathers in the Council of Nice say 
 " thus :" 
 
 So then this school, while they think they have 
 been opposing Romanist tendencies, have abandoned 
 the strongest argument against them, and the most 
 likely' to recover them from their errors as to the 
 Holy Eucharist. 
 
 But although in reality Rome has not, as to this 
 Sacrament, admitted any positive statement, (at least 
 none of any greater moment,) un-Catholic and un- 
 Primitive, great and main points there are in the doc- 
 trine of Baptism, which by those who have followed 
 an " extreme reformation," have ever been accounted 
 part of the corruptions of Popery. It was one of the 
 objections of the Non-Conformists to our Liturgy, at 
 the Savoy-Conference, and held to be " sinful," that 
 the Minister was " obliged to pronounce all baptized 
 infants regenerate ;" and modern Dissenters con- 
 tinue the charge '. Those, however, in our Church, 
 who in this and other doctrinal points, have followed 
 the teaching of the Non-Conformists, (since they 
 cannot, as Ministers of the Church, blame the Li- 
 turgy,) throw the blame upon those who understand 
 
 1 Sec Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism, p. 17<>, ed. 1. 
 
118 
 
 it as the Non-Conformists out of the Church, and the 
 Bishops within it, at that time equally did. It is, 
 indeed, not one of the least strange phenomena of 
 the day, that a truth should be by newspapers and 
 periodicals branded in members of the Church as a 
 modern " heresy," which eighty years past, it is ac- 
 knowledged, was held by almost every minister of the 
 Church \ which is still held probably, at all events 
 by all her Bishops ; nay, that it should have been 
 (until of late when the field has been widened) deno- 
 minated as " the Oxford heresy," and placed as the 
 head and front of our offending. 
 
 I own, my Lord, I have myself shrunk from stating 
 fully the degree of evidence which there is, that Bap- 
 tismal regeneration is the doctrine of the Church of 
 England, lest in these days, when men hold so laxly 
 by their Church, and are ready to quit her upon any 
 ground of difference, — ready to suspect her, and very 
 slow to suspect themselves, — the result of proving 
 that Baptismal regeneration is the doctrine of our 
 Church, would be that men would rather forsake 
 their Church than embrace her doctrine. It seems 
 to be looked upon as a first principle, that the duty 
 of a Minister is to preach what he thinks the Gospel 
 any how ; and so if one discovers that he cannot 
 consistently preach in the Church, he forthwith in- 
 creases some old schism, or forms a new one instead 
 
 1 " Romaine states, that among the whole of the clergy, about 
 10,000 in number, of his time, there were not seven that preached 
 the Gospel of Christ." — Travels in Town, t. ii. p. 105. 
 
119 
 
 of remaining - still, until he should see his way more 
 clearly. Our schisms already threaten to make us a 
 bye-word and a reproach, throughout the whole 
 world ; we carry our disgrace with us wherever we 
 go ; and are in danger of becoming a plague-spot to 
 the Christian name, instead of being (as we might 
 have been) one of the largest Communions, and the 
 most flourishing of all collective Churches. The 
 English nation is in the way to become the very type 
 of schism. Rent as we are, I would not willingly con- 
 tribute to make the rent worse. Those who wish to 
 pursue the subject calmly, might be amply satisfied 
 by the very clear and full statement in the valuable 
 work of Bp. Bethell 1 ; for myself, I had rather con- 
 tinue to be termed " heretic" by those who know me 
 not, than give occasion to any to become a " schis- 
 matic." It was the fault of the Church, in the 
 last century, or rather of those who had the mastery 
 over the Church, that her Ministers, by preaching 
 her doctrines negatively or coldly, gave occasion to 
 many whose spirit God had stirred, to seek instruc- 
 tion rather in the writings of those not of her Com- 
 munion — the old Non-Conformists — than within her- 
 self. They were reproached in their day, as their 
 successors now in turn reproach those who would build 
 up the ancient doctrine. Their forefathers' was the 
 happier lot. As however it has been sown, so must 
 we reap ; the true leaven will, we hope, in time 
 
 ' General View of the Doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, 
 c. 6. ed. 2. 
 
120 
 
 leaven the whole lump, not by expelling any particles 
 of it, but by converting them into itself; Moses' rod 
 will swallow up the rest ; meanwhile, while it is our 
 duty to teach our own people that sound doctrine, one 
 would rather endeavour to gain access in some other 
 way to those whom we are not obliged to instruct, 
 and not, upon a topic on which they are least inclined 
 to be patient, urge upon them the words of a mother, 
 whom they reverence not enough to obey against 
 their own views, and whom possibly they might for- 
 sake. Others may do it, who could do it with less 
 invidiousness. Not as if I entertained any doubt, my 
 Lord, that we speak with our Church in this point, 
 and that every syllable of her teaching in her services 
 for Baptism, Confirmation, and the Catechism goes 
 the same way ; and that her Articles imply the same ; 
 (many who held otherwise, have seen this, when they 
 came to study their Church's services dispassionately ;) 
 but that it seems useless and ungracious for us to press 
 upon them, that their Church holds the doctrine, 
 until their prejudices against it shall first be, as those 
 of many are being, somewhat softened. And then 
 the teaching of their Church will be plain to them. 
 We would wish to gain, not to exasperate them. 
 And in turn we might perhaps claim so much courtesy 
 that the name of " heretic" or " heresy" should not 
 be so freely used of doctrines, which, themselves con- 
 fess, certain expressions 1 in the services of the Church 
 
 1 See above, p. 112. " This one ordinance, Baptism, is made 
 with many the point on which every thing turns. This probably 
 
1:21 
 
 seem at first sight to favour. It seems hard mea- 
 sure to hestow 011 us the title "heretic" for taking 
 literally those words of our Church, which they de- 
 fend hy supposing them to be spoken " in the judg- 
 ment of charity," thereby allowing that our's is the 
 plain and grammatical meaning, only that on other 
 grounds it is to be taken with some allowance. And 
 this courtesy we would claim rather for their own 
 sakes than for our's. 
 
 And to this reconciliation it may perhaps the ra- 
 ther tend, if I add that we do not wish to enforce any 
 technical view of Baptismal regeneration : for myself, 
 I should be fully content with any view, which ac- 
 knowledged in the simple sense the words which our 
 Church teaches every child to say of itself, " wherein 
 " I was made a child of God, a member of* Christ, and 
 " an inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven ;" (meaning 
 of course, really what is there said, a real child of 
 God, and a real member of Christ, not simply an 
 " outward member of an outward body of people 
 " called Christians.") The same truth may be va- 
 riously viewed ; contemplated on different sides ; nay, 
 it must be according to our moral character, dif- 
 ferently appreciated ; and so it may be that persons 
 holding different language may in fact be expressing 
 different parts of the same truth, and speaking of it 
 in different relations, but still hold it. The Western 
 
 arises from a feeling that their main strength lies in this direction. 
 We admit that the Church is more open to misconstruction on 
 this point than on most others." — Fraser, p. 16. 
 
122 
 
 Church after St. Augustine, chiefly spoke of the bless- 
 ings of Baptism as the remission of sins ; the Eastern 
 as the introduction of a new principle of life ; but 
 both as flowing from our engrafting into Christ. To 
 us, engrafting into, or being made a member of Christ, 
 appears the fullest, as it is the most exalted expression 
 of that doctrine, and yet in harmony also with what we 
 see of the corruption of the actual Christian world, in 
 that, though all have been made branches of the true 
 Vine once, they only, which bear fruit, abide in Christ; 
 the rest are " cast forth as a branch and withered." 
 Yet though we would be thankful to be made the in- 
 struments of raising men's sense of the privileges of 
 their Baptism, and cannot but see that, when it was 
 held in its fulness, it cast a reality over other 
 doctrine, and was a high spring to Christian action, 
 we wish not to restrain the liberty of others. There 
 is unquestionably in Christian Antiquity a tone about 
 this and other connected truths, with which our pre- 
 sent language and feelings and habits stand in me- 
 lancholy contrast ; but the whole must rise together; 
 a higher doctrine of the Sacraments will increase men's 
 sense of their Christian responsibilities ; and more ele- 
 vated Christian action (and by God's mercy Christian 
 action is rising, we trust, towards a higher standard 
 amongst us,) will fit men to receive higher notions 
 of the Sacraments, and enable them to hold them 
 safely. But to this there are many approximations ; 
 and those who are sensible of their own infirmities, 
 will hail every approximation with joy, not measur- 
 
123 
 
 ing rigidly how far it seems from their ideal, but re- 
 joicing that, with themselves, it is approaching to it. 
 
 As tending to this end of peace, which your Lord- 
 ship would so gladly promote, I may be permitted to 
 adduce a statement by another hand, in which the 
 writer assigns the bounds, within which Baptismal 
 regeneration has been held by the chief Divines of 
 our later Church, and separates off other questions 
 in themselves important, yet still not essentially af- 
 fecting the main question. In these detached ques- 
 tions many will find that their difficulties lie ; and 
 although a man's views of Baptismal regeneration 
 will be affected by the way in which he settles these 
 questions, yet are different views on them consistent 
 with holding the main doctrine, and some may per- 
 haps thereby be enabled to employ the Liturgy of 
 their Church more literally than they at present do. 
 It will happen also not unseldom on these points 
 also, that people using nearly the same language, 
 employ it in a lower or higher sense ; as, one by ad- 
 mission into the Christian covenant will understand 
 only an outward, another a mystical, though unde- 
 fined, change of condition. 
 
 The writer then thus explains wherein he conceives 
 the great body of our Divines to be agreed as to this 
 doctrine, and what may be termed open questions 
 among them. 
 
 " By 1 this doctrine is meant, first, that the Sa- 
 
 1 Preface to Catena Patrum, No. 2. (Tracts, No. 76'.) " Tes- 
 timony of writers in the later English Church to the doctrine of 
 Baptismal regeneration." 
 
124 
 
 " crament of Baptism is not a mere sicpi or promise, 
 " but actually a means of grace, an instrument by 
 " which, -when rightly received, the soul is admitted 
 " to the benefits of Christ's atonement, such as the 
 " forgiveness of sin, original and actual, reconcilia- 
 " tion to God, a new nature, adoption, citizenship in 
 " Christ's kingdom, and the inheritance of heaven, — 
 " in a word, Regeneration. And next, Baptism is 
 " considered to be rightly received, when there is no 
 " positive obstacle or hindrance to the reception in 
 " the recipient, such as impenitence or unbelief 
 " would be in the case of an adult ; so that infants 
 " are necessarily right recipients of it, as not being 
 " yet capable of actual sin '. 
 
 " There is a variety of questions connected with 
 " the subject beyond the two positions above set 
 " down, on which the writers under review differ 
 " more or less from each other, but not so as in the 
 " slightest degree to interfere with their clear and 
 " deliberate maintenance of these. Such, for in- 
 " stance, as the following : — Whether grace be given 
 " in and through the water, or only contempora- 
 " neously with it. Again, whether Baptism, strictly 
 " speaking, conveys the blessings annexed to it, or 
 " simply admits into a state gifted with those bless- 
 " ings, as being the initiatory rite of the covenant of 
 " mercy. Or, again, whether or not Baptism, be- 
 " sides washing away past sin, admits into a state in 
 " which, for sins henceforth committed, Repentance 
 " stands in place of a Sacrament, so as to ensure 
 
 1 See above, p. 112, 113. 
 
1-25 
 
 " forgiveness without specific ordinance ; or whether 
 " the Holy Eucharist is that ordinance ; or whether 
 " the full and explicit absolution of sin after Baptism 
 " is altogether put off till the day of judgment. Or, 
 " again, there may be difference of opinion as to 
 " the state of infants dying unbaptized. Or, again, 
 " whether Regeneration is an instantaneous work 
 " completed in Baptism, or admits of degrees and 
 " growth. Or, again, whether or not the Holy Spirit 
 " can utterly desert a soul once inhabited by Him, 
 " except to quit it for ever. Or, whether the change 
 " in the soul made by Baptism is indelible, for good 
 " or for evil ; or may be undone, as if it had never 
 " been. Or, how far the enjoyment of the grace 
 " attached to it is suspended on the condition of our 
 " doing our part in the covenant. All these are 
 " questions, far from unimportant, but which do not 
 " at present come into consideration ; the one point, 
 " maintained in the following extracts, being, that 
 " infants are by and at Baptism unconditionally 
 " translated from a state of wrath into a state of 
 " grace and acceptance for Christ's sake." 
 
 Art. XXVIII. Of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 On the other great Sacrament, the distinction be- 
 tween the doctrine of our Church, and that of Rome 
 on the one hand, and Ultra-Protestantism on the 
 other, is in reality so broad and distinct, that there 
 is the less difficulty. Nor is it, like Baptismal rege- 
 
1-2G 
 
 neration, the point of divergence of two systems; 
 and so it may be considered with less view to its con- 
 sequences as to other portions of truth. And one 
 result of this has been, that many who, from being 
 entangled in a modern system, have parted more or 
 less from our Church's teaching upon Baptism, hold 
 much higher and truer views of this Sacrament. Then 
 also, as recurring in their actual Christian life, they 
 could the less look upon it in an abstract way, or as a 
 theory ; their devotion and love for their Redeemer 
 has sustained their doctrinal views; and the teachino- 
 of their Church has found a more ready entrance, 
 when received apart from controversy, amid the 
 most solemn part of the devotions of the Christian 
 man. This teaching, which we receive in its plain 
 sense, contains, we are persuaded, the full Catholic 
 truth ; we wish neither to add to it, nor to take 
 from it. I would state it in connexion with, or 
 in the words of our Formularies. It is, that the 
 " Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed 
 " taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's 
 " Supper 1 ;" that they are conveyed by means of the 
 elements, in that the article 2 says that "the Body of 
 " Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, 
 " only after an heavenly and spiritual manner ;" for 
 the word "given," as opposed to "taken and received,'' 
 implies as has been remarked 3 , that It accompa- 
 
 1 Church Catechism. 2 Art. XXVIII. 
 
 3 Knox on the use and import of the Eucharistic Symbols. 
 Remains, t. i. p. 170. 
 
 9 
 
nies in some mysterious way, the distribution of the 
 elements, in that It is "given" by the Priest, and 
 "taken and received" by the Communicants; and 
 another article 1 says that the Sacraments " are effectual 
 " signs of grace by the which He doth work invisibly 
 " in us." Further, we really, though " spiritually eat 
 " the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood 2 ;" and, as 
 the fruit of this, " we dwell in Christ and Christ in 
 " us ; we are one with Christ and Christ with us ;" 
 and of this real indwelling the further fruit, as the 
 Homily 3 said, is our justification and sanctification, 
 " that our sinful 4 bodies are made clean by His Body, 
 " and our Souls washed through His most precious 
 " Blood ;" and a continued fitness for Him to dwell 
 therein, " that we may evermore dwell in Him, and 
 He in us :" further, we do not simply " feed on," as 
 if it were an act of our faith only, but we are by God 
 fed " with 5 the Spiritual food of the most precious 
 
 1 Only one out of nine " Reformed" Confessions, i. e. such as 
 express the Zuingli-Calvinist doctrines as to the Sacraments, has 
 the word " efficacia," effectual, and that one in a different sense ; 
 and two only use the word " through," or " by," and they ex- 
 plain it away. See Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism, note L, 
 p. 238. ed. 1. 
 
 2 Exhortation at the Communion. 
 
 3 The homily defined this to be the characteristic of the true 
 Sacraments. See above, p. 98. sqq. 
 
 4 Prayer just before the Consecration. 
 
 5 " We most heartily thank Thee, for that Thou dost vouchsafe 
 to feed us, who have duly received these holy Mysteries, with," 
 &c. — Thanksgiving after the Communion. 
 
128 
 
 " Body and Blood of His dear Son," yea " He 1 hath 
 " given His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to be our 
 " Spiritual food and sustenance in that holy Sacra- 
 " ment ;" and if we join hereto the lesson which one 
 of the writers of the homilies bids us "take 2 of Emis- 
 " senus, a godly father, when we go up to the reve- 
 " rend communion, to be satisfied with Spiritual 
 " meats, we look up with faith upon the holy Body and 
 " Blood of our God ; we marvel with reverence ; we 
 " touch it with our mind ; we receive it with the hand 
 " of our heart; we take it fully with our inward man." 
 
 On this combined teaching of our Articles, Cate- 
 chism and Liturgy, we believe the doctrine of our 
 Church to be, that in the Communion, there is a true, 
 real 3 , actual, though Spiritual, (or rather the more 
 real, because Spiritual) Communication of the Body 
 and Blood of Christ to the believer through the Holy 
 Elements; that there is a true, real, spiritual, Pre- 
 sence of Christ at the Holy Supper ; more real than if 
 we could, with Thomas, feel Him with our hands, or 
 thrust our hands into His side ; that this is bestowed 
 upon faith, and received by faith, as is every other Spi- 
 ritual gift, but that our faith is but a receiver of God's 
 real, mysterious, precious, Gift ; that faith opens our 
 eyes to see what is really there, and our hearts to re- 
 ceive it; but that It is there independently of our faith. 
 
 1 Exhortation. 
 
 2 First part of homily of the worthy receiving and reverent 
 esteeming of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, end. 
 
 3 " Verilv and indeed." — Church Catechism. 
 
129 
 
 And this real, spiritual Presence it is, which makes 
 it so awful a thing to approach unworthily. It is the 
 Presence of the Holy Ghost within us, imparted by 
 Baptism, and hallowing our bodies as His temple, 
 which makes the profanation of the bodies of the 
 baptized so terrible a sin ; it is " the dignity of that 
 holy Mystery" which causes " the great peril of the 
 unworthy receiving thereof ;" its being " a Divine 
 thing to those who receive It worthily," which 
 makes It " so dangerous to them that will presume 
 to receive It unworthily." On no theory, whereby 
 the sacred elements should be mere representations, 
 or signs, or pledges, or tokens, of an absent thing, 
 or means to kindle our faith, would the unworthy 
 reception of the Holy Eucharist be so much more 
 dreadful, than profane conduct in Church, where 
 also Christ is "in the midst of" us. All which 
 Scripture says of this case, " not discerning the Lord's 
 Body," " guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord," 
 implies an immediate, unseen, Presence of that Body, 
 which the wicked discern not, cannot partake of, but 
 offend against, and so, " eat and drink judgment to 
 themselves" in " that they eat and drink the Sacra- 
 ment of so great a thing." 
 
 We do not then yield to the Romanists, as to the 
 greatness of our privileges ; we do not think that our 
 Lord is less really and spiritually present than they; 
 that He communicates Himself less by His Sacra- 
 ments than they ; that we less receive His Body and 
 Blood, that our sinful bodies are less cleansed by His 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 glorious Body : that it is less " the 1 salve of immor- 
 " tality and sovereign preservative against death ; a 
 " deifical communion ; the sweet dainties of our Sa- 
 " viour ; the pledge of eternal health ; the defence of 
 " faith ; the hope of the Resurrection ; the food of 
 " immortality ; the healthful grace ; the conservatory 
 " to everlasting life ;" we do not believe "This is My 
 Body" less than they ; we blame them, not as exceed- 
 ing as to the greatness of the spiritual gift contained 
 in that Sacrament (all human language and thoughts 
 must fall short,) but for their carnal conceptions of 
 it ; for attempting to explain to man's senses the 
 mode of his Saviour's Presence ; for trying to solve 
 the apparent contradiction that the elements are still 
 what they were, but are, over and above, to us the 
 Body and Blood of our Lord ; for longing, with the 
 weak faith of Nicodemus, to know the how of things 
 Divine and Spiritual, and so for debasing them, and 
 by their explanations leading, at least their Priest- 
 hood, to pride, and then to unbelief. 
 
 We would not then, my Lord, insist upon words, 
 
 1 " Sayings of the Fathers, quoted in the 1st part of the 
 " homily of the worthy receiving and reverent esteeming of the 
 " Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ," as " sayings of 
 " godly men," " the ancient Catholic Fathers," " truly attributed 
 " to this celestial banquet and feast," of which it says, together 
 with some of Holy Scripture, " if we would often call to mind, 
 " O how would they influence our hearts to desire the partici- 
 " patioTi of these mysteries, and -oftentimes to covet after this 
 " bread, continually to thirst for this food." 
 
131 
 
 if others will acknowledge the realities ; we are con- 
 tent ourselves to receive the words " The Body of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee," &c. as 
 they were used in the ancient Church from which our 
 own preserved and restored them, not as denoting 
 something absent, but as implying the spiritual un- 
 seen Presence of that Blessed Body and Blood, con- 
 veyed to us through the unchanged though conse- 
 crated elements, unchanged in material substance, 
 changed in their use, their efficacy, their dignity, 
 mystically and spiritually. We see not why we need 
 avoid language used by the Fathers, as well as by 
 the ancient Liturgies, and quoted with approbation 
 by great Divines of our Church, that " the bread and 
 wine is made the Body and Blood of Christ seeing 
 that its being spiritually the Body and Blood of 
 Christ, interferes not with its being still corporeally 
 what the Apostle calls it, " the bread and wine," nor 
 with the nature of a Sacrament, but rather the better 
 
 1 " To whom Christ hath imparted power both over that mys- 
 " deal body which is the society of souls, and over that natural 
 " which is Himself, for the knitting of both in one ; a work, 
 " which Antiquity doth call the making of Christ's Body." — 
 Hooker, E. P. V. lxxvii. 2. ed. Keble. " We are not ignorant 
 " that the ancient Fathers generally teach, that the bread and 
 " wine in the Eucharist by and upon the consecration of them do 
 " become, and are made the Body and Blood of Christ. But we 
 " know also, that though they do not all explain themselves the 
 " same way, yet they do all declare their sense to be very dissonant 
 " from the doctrine of tran substantiation." Bp. Bull, Corruptions 
 of the Church of Rome, iii. 2. Works, t. ii. p. 255. ed. Burton. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 agrees thereto. We would not insist on these words; 
 only we fear that when men object to them they 
 object not to the words but to the realities, not to 
 the terms, but to the truth they convey. 
 
 For deeply as Rome has erred, and much error as 
 she has thereby given occasion to in others, we fear 
 that others have erred still more deeply. Not 
 Zuingli alone, but Calvin, have, in their way, so 
 explained the mode of Christ's presence, as virtually 
 to explain it away. With the fear of a weak faith, 
 that would fain guard in a way of their own against 
 man's giving God's glory to the outward elements, 
 they transferred the presence of Christ simply to the 
 believer's soul, and thus, on their side, destroyed 
 " the nature of a Sacrament," depriving it of its 
 inward fulness, as the Romanists, by the doctrine of 
 Transubstantiation, had removed the outward sign. 
 Their theory can hardly be better characterized than 
 by words used by one of a very different school from 
 ourselves, that " the faith of the believer" is not 
 only (which all acknowledge, and as our Article 
 states,) " the mean whereby the Body of Christ is 
 "received and eaten in the Supper," but, is " the true 
 " consecrating principle — that which brings down 
 " Christ to the heart of each individual." The 
 Zuingli-Calvinist theory, however it might disguise 
 itself, (often from itself) in words, came to this ; 
 that the outward elements were not channels or in- 
 struments of grace, but that their only office was 
 to kindle the faith of the individual, to set Christ 
 
133 
 
 before his eyes, that so he might in mind ascend into 
 heaven, where Christ sittetli at the right hand of God, 
 feed on Him there by faith, appropriate His merits, 
 and thereby become united with Him. And these 
 things they often speak of eloquently, but the Sacra- 
 ments themselves had no more share in even this 
 elevation of the Christian's soul, than the hearing of 
 God's word, upon which, according to them, their 
 efficacy depended. 
 
 We would maintain then, my Lord, that here also 
 our Church holds the Catholic truth distinct from the 
 modern novelties, whether of Rome, or Zurich, or 
 Geneva; that she holds a real, spiritual, presence of 
 our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, that He really and 
 truly therein and thereby imparts Himself, His Body, 
 and His Blood, to the believer; and that through 
 this gift bestowed by Him, and received through faith, 
 Christ dwelleth in us and we in Him : we maintain, 
 on the other side, that Rome has grievously erred by 
 explaining in a carnal way the mode of this Presence, 
 and requiring this her carnal exposition to be re- 
 ceived as an article of Faith. She anathematizes 1 us, 
 in our Church, for holding that " in the most holy 
 " Sacrament of the Eucharist there remains the 
 " substance of bread and wine," and " denying that 
 " wonderful and remarkable conversion of the whole 
 " substance of bread into the Body, and of the whole 
 " substance of wine into the Blood, so that there re- 
 
 ' Scss. 12. can. 2. 
 
134 
 
 " main only the appearances of bread and wine," 
 " which," it proceeds, " the [Roman] Catholic Church 
 " most aptly terms Transubstantiation." We suppose, 
 also, that they meant it in a carnal and erroneous 
 sense, that they say, " that the Body and Blood of 
 " Christ is" not only " really," but " substantially pre- 
 " sent in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist ;" for 
 " substantially" they explain to be not simply equi- 
 valent to " really," but " corporeally '," that " the 
 " Body of the Lord is sensibly 2 touched by the hands, 
 " broken and bruised by the teeth." Further, we 
 think it presumptuous to define, as they do 3 , that 
 " Christ is wholly contained under each species," 
 whereby they would excuse their modern innovation 
 of denying the cup to the laity, and would persuade 
 them by a self-in vented and unauthorized theory of 
 modern days, that -they receive no detriment thereby. 
 Again, we hold it rash to define peremptorily, " that . 4 
 " the Body and Blood of Christ remain in the con- 
 " secrated elements, which are not consumed, or are 
 " reserved after the Communion," (meaning thereby 
 that they so remain, independently of any subsequent 
 participation, as of the sick, or by the communi- 
 cants) although doubtless they are not common bread 
 and wine, but hallowed. Then, also, we reject 
 what Rome maintains under an anathema, " that 5 
 " in the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ 
 
 1 E. g. Bellarm. Controv. de Sacr. Euch. L. 1. c. 11. 
 
 2 Id. Ib. L. 3. c. 24. 3 L. c. cap. 3, and Can. 3. 
 4 Can. 4. J Can. 6. 
 
135 
 
 " the Only-begotten Son of God, is to be adored 
 " with the outward adoration of Divine worship, and 
 " to be set forth publicly to the people, in order to 
 " be adored," nay, " that this most holy Sacrament 
 " rightly received the same Divine worship as is due 
 " to the true God : and that it was not therefore the 
 " less to be adored, because instituted by Christ the 
 " Lord to be received. For that the same Eternal 
 " God was present in it, Whom, when the Eternal 
 " Father brought into the world, He said, And let 
 " all the angels of God worship Him." Lastly, as 
 connected with and dependent upon transubstan- 
 tiation, we cannot but hold that the " Sacrifice of 
 " masses, in the which it was commonly said that the 
 " Priest did offer Christ for the quick and dead, to 
 " have remission of pain and guilt, were blasphem- 
 " ous fables and dangerous deceits," and interfere 
 " with the offering of Christ once made" upon the 
 Cross. 
 
 These are the modern corruptions of Rome, which 
 our Church, in her Articles, condemns ; and against 
 these, which all spring from the one invention of the 
 doctrine of Tran substantiation, we have repeatedly and 
 often strongly spoken 1 . We have specified the refusal of 
 the cup to the laity, as one of the practical grievances 
 of the Church of Rome, which should alone, without 
 further disputing, restrain any from joining himself 
 
 1 See Appendix, Nos. 14. 25. 31, 32, 33. 35. 49. 78. and re- 
 print of Bp. Cosin, ib. Nos. 10, 11. 
 
136 
 
 to her Communion 1 . How it may be with those, who 
 have access to no other, we have no right to deter- 
 mine, though one cannot doubt but that they sustain 
 herein a grievous loss ; and the miserable state of 
 Roman Catholic countries in general, may be, in part, 
 owing to this loss : but, for any voluntarily to cast 
 himself out of a Communion, as our own, in the 
 which he may receive it, and to join himself to that 
 in which it is denied him, is such a wanton trifling 
 with privileges, and casting away of God's gifts, 
 and tempting of Him, that I should think this ground 
 alone (which any plain man can understand) reason 
 enough why no member of our Church should join 
 her. It was felt at the time of the Reformation, to 
 be a very great practical cruelty ; so much so, that 
 observers of no mean note have not doubted, that it 
 was the chief ground why the religious so earnestly 
 sought for a Reformation, and that, had Rome con- 
 ceded this point, the Reformation would never have 
 taken place in the way in which it did. Rome ad- 
 mitted that her modern practice was contrary to the 
 institution of our Lord, and contrary also to the 
 mode in which the Church Universal, for nearly 
 thirteen centuries of her existence, had interpreted 
 that Institution 2 ; but in that wantonnesss of authority, 
 
 1 lb. Nos. 14. 22. 
 
 3 " This present holy general Council determines — that al- 
 " though Christ instituted the venerable Sacrament after supper, 
 " and administered it to His disciples under both kinds of bread 
 " and wine, yet, notwithstanding, the laudable authority of the 
 
137 
 
 into which her assumed infallibility betrayed her, 
 she preferred contravening Antiquity, and risking 
 division, rather than abandon any practice which 
 she had established, even though not, as she professes, 
 
 " sacred Canons and the approved custom of the Church has and 
 " does observe, that this Sacrament ought not to be consecrated 
 " after supper, nor received by the faithful except fasting, except 
 " in case of sickness, &c. and in like way, that although this 
 " Sacrament was in the Primitive Church received by the faithful 
 " under both kinds, yet to avoid any perils and scandals, the 
 " custom has with reason been introduced, that it be received by 
 " the officiating priests in both kinds, and by lay people, under 
 " the kind of bread only." Council of Constance, sess. 13. Vas- 
 quez (quoted by Bp. Hall, ' The Old Religion,' c. 8.) says, " We 
 " cannot deny that in the Latin Church there was the use of 
 " both kinds, and that it so continued until the days of St. Tho- 
 " mas, which was about the year of God, 1260." " Thus it 
 " was," adds Bp. Hall, " in the Roman Church ; but as for the 
 " Greek, the world knows it never did communicate but under 
 " both kinds. These open confessions spare us the labour of 
 " quoting the several testimonies of later ages." 
 
 This instance illustrates the difference between the mode in which 
 Anglo and Roman-Catholics view the relation of the Church to 
 Holy Scripture ; Anglo- Catholics take the two facts, that the 
 Church never did consecrate after supper, but always did adminis- 
 ter in two kinds, as an authoritative interpretation of our Lord's 
 will, and supposes that He willed what He did to be followed in 
 the one case, not in the other : the Romish Church regards the 
 former only as a proof of the dispensing power of the Church, and 
 so proceeds to dispense in the other, contrary to primitive practice. 
 Thus, Anglo-Catholics take the Primitive Church in both cases 
 as a witness ; Romanists make her a judge, and as establishing a 
 precedent only, which the existing Church may follow out at her 
 own discretion. 
 
138 
 
 matter of faith. Yet she would not depart from 
 her existing customs, or the tradition of two cen- 
 turies; and so being unable to justify herself on 
 Scripture, as explained by Antiquity, she had re- 
 course to ci priori grounds, " that 1 it is most firmly 
 " to be believed, and no wise to be doubted, that the 
 " whole Body and Blood of Christ is truly contained 
 " as well under the form of bread as under the form 
 " of wine." Miserable and rationalistic arguments 
 in Divine Mysteries ! as if, where all is subject of 
 Faith, there were any safe rule but to adhere as 
 closely as possible to what seems to be the Divine 
 Ordinance. It seems strange that that misguided 
 Church should not have felt the risk of declaring 
 what the Church Universal had of old esteemed 
 part of the Divine Institution, to be superfluous, and 
 did not dread thus tempting God to withdraw His 
 grace altogether, which they thus presumptuously 
 argued about. This rationalistic argument was met 
 in its own way, that if additional grace were 
 not bestowed through the communion of the Cup, 
 then, " the 2 administering Priest received no bene- 
 " fit from it, and (painful as it is to state it) it was 
 " wholly useless and indifferent." Thus a feigned 
 reverence, (lest haply some accident should befall 
 the consecrated element,) covered a real irreverence ; 
 
 1 Council of Constance, 1. c. 
 
 2 By many Theologians even of the Council of Trent. Sarpi, 
 L. G. c. 30. where several other arguments are given. 
 
lay 
 
 and real unbelief as to the Virtue of the Sacramental 
 Blood was veiled by a scrupulous care for Its protec- 
 tion. So it ever is, when men forget that " to obey 
 is better than Sacrifice," and would be more jea- 
 lous for the honour of holy things, than God who 
 gave them. The honour of the Eucharist was alleged; 
 the honour of man was the secret motive, lest by con- 
 cession of the Cup to the laity, the dignity of the 
 Priesthood should be levelled But thus Rome, 
 rashly binding itself to the hasty and presumptuous 
 decision of the Council of Constance, has inflicted a 
 grievous privation upon her own members, and placed 
 a mark upon herself, which must ever be a hindrance 
 to her own power, and prevent her recovering her un- 
 due sway over our Church. An instinctive devotion 
 will guide and protect the religious members of our 
 Church, who might otherwise have been just the 
 most alive to the splendour of many of her pretensions. 
 They might not be able to disentangle their way amid 
 abstract arguments; but they will feel that it would be 
 a loss to be deprived of their Saviour's Blood. Those 
 who engage unprepared in abstract controversies may 
 relapse ; the devout Communicant will be safe, who 
 argues not, but obeys. All which Rome could give 
 them, they have already in the Church wherein they 
 were baptized ; and they have more. Not here to 
 mention the risk of forfeiture which might be in- 
 
 1 Tridentine Theologians, ap. Sarpi, 1. c. especially the Spanish, 
 ib. c. 81. 
 
HO 
 
 volved in joining what is here a Schismatic Commu- 
 nion, our Church, though she rightly reject the Sacrifice 
 of Masses, has ever been acknowledged to have that 
 whereof it is the corruption, the true commemorative 
 Sacrifice, representing to God the Death and Passion 
 of his Son, and so acceptable to Him, such as the 
 Church Catholic ever held it 1 ; she has the true com- 
 munion of the Body and Blood of Christ, administered 
 by those ordained by the successors of the Apostles, 
 and that, unimpaired by any "will-worship or voluntary 
 humility," which pretending a self-invented respect, 
 would deprive the laity of a portion of their in- 
 heritance and of God's gift. We need not now j>ut 
 ourselves in the position that Rome would concede 
 this, and retain her other corruptions 2 ; to concede it, 
 Rome must be other than she now is; a strong ground 
 for refusing it was, lest other demands should be made 
 of her 3 . Why then distract ourselves with such gra- 
 tuitous hypotheses that Rome would concede, what 
 
 1 See Catena, No. 4. Tracts, No. 81, " Testimony of writers of 
 " the later English Church to the doctrine of the Eucharistic 
 " Sacrifice, with an historical account of the changes made in the 
 " Liturgy as to the expression of that doctrine." Courayer, De- 
 fense de la Dissert, sur la Validite des Ordinations Anglaises, 
 1. 4. c. G. 
 
 2 Essays on the Church, p. 292. 
 
 3 This was urged by the Spanish Bishops, and those depend- 
 ent upon Spain, who were the chief opposers of the concession of 
 the Cup at the Council of Trent, Sarpi, 1. 6. c. 31. and in- 
 fluenced the legates to resist the united applications of the Im- 
 perial and French Ambassadors, ib. c. 35. 
 
141 
 
 for above four centuries she has not conceded ? Why 
 suppose that what she refused, when pressed by 
 people and emperors ', when she might thereby 
 have retaiued whole Churches in her Communion, 
 she would now grant in the hope of recovering a 
 few individuals, and thereby own herself doubly in 
 error ? Why embarrass ourselves with imagining 
 that what she refused at Trent because she had 
 refused it at Constance, she should now concede, 
 although she has sanctioned by an anathema 2 the 
 a priori ground upon which she refused it ? She can 
 concede it only on the supposition that the urgent 
 
 1 The Ambassadors of the Emperor and of Bavaria were espe- 
 cially urgent at the Council of Trent, for the restoration of the 
 Cup; they were joined by those of France, Sarpi, 1. vi. c. 35. 
 The Imperial ambassadors urged that there " were Catholics in 
 " Hungary, Austria, Moravia, Silesia, Carinthia, Carniola, Styria, 
 " Bavaria, Suabia, and other parts of Germany, who ardently de- 
 " sired the cup ;" in Hungary they went so far, as to " oblige the 
 " Priests, by depriving them of their goods, and threatening of 
 " their life, to administer the cup to them." The Imperial and 
 Bavarian ambassadors continued to urge the Council and the 
 Pope, both during its Session and after its close. Sarpi, ib. c. 
 53 ; vii. 47 ; viii. 88. Cassander (ap. Bp. Hall, 1. c.) says, 
 " Wherefore not without cause are most of the best Catholics, and 
 " most conversant in the reading of Ecclesiastical writers, in- 
 " flamed with an earnest desire of obtaining the cup of the Lord ; 
 " that the Sacrament may be brought back to that ancient custom 
 " and use, which hath been for many ages perpetuated in the 
 " Universal Church." " We need," adds Bp. Hall, " no other 
 " advocate." 
 
 1 Sess. 21. can. 3. 
 
142 
 
 demand of it is reasonable ; but she has anathe- 
 matized those " who deny that Jesus Christ, the 
 " Author and Source of all grace, is received 
 " wholly and entirely under one species," and so 
 has cut herself off from thinking the demand rea- 
 sonable ; and yet, by the strange destiny annexed 
 to these presumptuous reasonings, she has else- 
 where awakened the suspicion of loss attached to 
 the denial of the Cup, which she would here allay. 
 For since many members of the Synod of Trent did 
 think it a loss she was constrained elsewhere simply 
 to state, " that 2 the faithful who receive under the 
 " one species of bread, are not deprived of any grace 
 " necessary to salvation" and so, as was at the time 
 remarked 3 , she " in a manner avowed that they are 
 " deprived of some grace, though not absolutely 
 " necessary. Whereupon they asked, has any human 
 " authority the power to hinder the super-abundant 
 " and non-necessary grace of God ? and if so, does 
 " charity admit of thus placing hindrances in the way 
 " of good ?" Thus she has placed herself in the posi- 
 tion of making unauthorized distinctions as to the 
 grace necessary for us in working out our salvation, 
 and exhibits herself as an unnatural mother, who 
 half-recognizes that what she withholds is a blessing, 
 and yet refuses it. 
 
 But, so closely do faithful adherence to Apostolic 
 
 1 Visconti ap. Courayer, notes to Sarpi, 1. 6. c. 39. 
 
 2 Sess. 21. cap. 3. 
 
 3 Remarks on the Decree recorded by Sarpi, I. c. 
 
143 
 
 doctrine and to Apostolic practice accompany each 
 other, it is plain, my Lord, that it is only upon the 
 high Catholic doctrine of the Holy Communion, that 
 the denial of the Cup is a privation. They who 
 receive the holy elements faithfully, acknowledge, as 
 they receive each consecrated element, that they are 
 receiving respectively, " the Body of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ which was given for" them, and His Blood 
 which was for them shed. They reason not, how His 
 Body is separate from His Blood, or what additional 
 blessing the Communion of His Blood bestows upon 
 them. Instinctive reverence, the fruit of reverent 
 Communion, forbids them to inquire or to risk a 
 forfeiture. They pray, " that their sinful bodies may 
 " be made clean by His Body, and their souls washed 
 " by His most precious Blood ;" they hear, severally, 
 the ancient and hallowed words of the Universal 
 Church, " The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ," .... 
 " The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" and with an 
 unreasoning piety, which has a mightier hold than any 
 subtilty of Romanist distinction, they would dread to 
 forfeit either portion of the Gift bestowed upon them. 
 But upon any Ultra-Protestant theory, which regards 
 the consecrated elements as " visible symbols of His 
 absent Body and Blood," as representations, means of 
 kindling our faith, and the like, the privation of the 
 Cup were no loss. Whosoever having embraced 
 this theory, should continue to regard it as such, must 
 do so by virtue of a piety which his theory had not 
 mastered. It is the reality of the Communication of 
 
 9 
 
144 
 
 His blood by means of those forms which He has 
 instituted to convey It, which makes " the Cup which 
 we bless" a blessing, its loss a privation. They who 
 think of the Holy Symbols, as outward only, may 
 retain them as an act of obedience, (and so far is 
 well,) but cannot feel it an essential Blessing. And 
 thus, my Lord, it again appears how a jealous ad- 
 herence to the high Catholic Doctrines of Antiquity 
 is at the same time a safeguard to retain the affec- 
 tions of our people. Such is not our end ; but it is 
 a reward annexed to faithfulness. Whether those 
 who blame us for insisting so much upon this prac- 
 tical cruelty of the Church of Rome, would them- 
 selves feel it as a cruelty, or adequately appreciate 
 the blessings which they enjoy through the restoration 
 of Primitive practice in our Church, is for them to 
 determine. 
 
 On the other hand, our Church, as holding the 
 original Catholic truth, of which the corruptions 
 of Rome are the debasement, appears to me yet 
 further removed from those modern traditions, the 
 inventions of men who deny that truth. Rome, 
 in this respect, has the truth, though mingled with 
 error, and clouded and injured by it ; the Zuingli- 
 Calvinist School have forfeited it. In a word, our 
 Church holds with Rome the reality of the Commu- 
 nication of the Body and Blood of Christ through 
 the Holy Eucharist, but denies her carnal way of 
 explaining it, and protests against the corruptions 
 thereby entailed ; but in what Rome retains in truth 
 
145 
 
 she must needs hold with her against those who, 
 explaining to human reason Divine mysteries, cannot 
 but explain away what is mysterious, and resolve 
 the hidden gifts of the Sacrament into aids of con- 
 templation, outward attestations of God's gifts, ex- 
 hibitions to our outward senses, mere remembrances 
 of His death. 
 
 I would only observe, in conclusion of this topic, 
 that I wish not to ascribe to our accusers the whole 
 extent of Zuinglian doctrine, however I must think 
 that they fall short of the doctrines of our Church. 
 Happily, the faith of individuals is so sustained by 
 the Liturgy of our Church, that few carry out the 
 erroneous notions of a foreign school, even while 
 they form their minds in it, or embrace detached 
 views out of it. I wish not to speak of individuals, 
 but of systems ; individuals, I doubt not, are better 
 than their systems, and far other than their system 
 would be, if developed without restraint ; the devo- 
 tions of our Church have influenced such of her 
 members far more than they are probably themselves 
 aware, and have conveyed to them truth, which they 
 are afraid to express in words, lest it should tend to 
 the exaltation of what seems to them outward ; 
 we would not blame them ; we would only wish to 
 exhibit to them the system which they have partially 
 embraced, that they might extricate themselves 
 wholly from it. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 Art. XXIII. Of ministering in the Congregation. 
 
 We have no objection to admit that the Articles 
 of Edward VI., from which our present are, with 
 some modifications, derived, were formed upon a 
 plan of comprehension ; it is an historical 1 fact that, 
 although the scheme failed, they were intended as a 
 general basis of union of Protestants in one Episcopal 
 body. Nor does there seem any necessity that a 
 Church, whose ministers are episcopally ordained, 
 should put forth any formal statement that they 
 must of necessity be so. We, therefore acquiesce 
 very readily in the indefiniteness of our Article on 
 this head, which states that we ought " to judge 
 " those lawfully called and sent, which be chosen 
 " and called to this work by men, who have public 
 " authority given unto them in the Congregation to 
 " call and send Ministers into the Lord's vineyard," 
 without defining who are invested with this autho- 
 rity. For if any one be willing himself to receive 
 Ordination at the hands of a Bishop, surely, my 
 Lord, nothing further is gained by requiring him to 
 confess that this is the only lawful Ordination. But 
 comprehensive Articles are not at the same time 
 exclusive. Our Articles surely are not in such wise 
 a rule of belief, that we are to hold nothing for true 
 which is not contained in them ; Ave are not bound 
 to have no opinion beside them, provided we hold 
 
 1 See Authorities, Tract 81. p. 21. note. 
 
14? 
 
 none against them. Yet this is what these charges 
 come to. The compilers of the Articles, intending 
 them for subscription, required no more definite 
 opinion upon the subject ; therefore, say these, they 
 forbade it. But the Articles are not the only, often 
 not the fullest, statements of the doctrines or tenets 
 of our Church. They are often to be interpreted or 
 to be filled up out of her other documents. Thus as, 
 on the Sacraments, the teaching of the Articles is 
 materially cleared and filled up by the Catechism and 
 the Services, so, on Ordination, a consistent Church- 
 man would naturally, have recourse to those services 
 to which in her Articles (Art. XXXVI.) she refers. 
 The Preface then to " the Form and Manner of 
 " making, ordaining, and consecrating of Bishops, 
 " Priests, and Deacons," thus speaks : 
 
 " It is evident unto all men diligently reading the 
 " Holy Scriptures and ancient Authors, that from the 
 " Apostles' time, there have been these Orders of 
 " Ministers in Christ's Church — Bishops, Priests, and 
 " Deacons. — And therefore to the intent that these 
 " Orders may be continued, and reverently used and 
 " esteemed, in the united Church of England and 
 " Ireland, no man shall be accounted and taken to 
 " be a lawful Bishop, Priest, or Deacon in the united 
 " Church of England and Ireland, or suffered to ex- 
 " ecute any of the said functions, except he be called, 
 " tried, examined, and admitted thereunto, according 
 " to the form hereafter following, or hath had for- 
 ■' merly Episcopal Consecration or Ordination." 
 
 l 2 
 
148 
 
 For herself, then, clearly, our Church regards none 
 to be lawfully consecrated or ordained except those 
 who have received Episcopal Consecration or Ordi- 
 nation ; and, in her practice, conformably to this 
 rule, she admits a Romish Priest, who relinquishes 
 his errors, to exercise his functions without re- 
 ordination, but not one who has received Presby- 
 terian Ordination. The principles, however, of this 
 Preface go further ; for Episcopacy is stated to be an 
 Apostolic Ordinance, and if Apostolic, then Divine. 
 And this view I need not say has been held by 
 the great stream of our Divines 1 ; nor, having an 
 Apostolic Ordinance, have men, until lately, been 
 ashamed to avow it. 
 
 It would then be altogether inexplicable how the 
 avowal of what is commonly entitled " Apostolical 
 succession" should have been received with so much 
 tumult, had one not reason to believe, that many of 
 the anonymous writers, who have been for some years 
 raising it, belong to bodies which have forfeited that 
 Ordinance. 
 
 Leaving these, however, I might take this occasion 
 to remove some of the misconceptions which have 
 been raised about it. The objection is ordinarily thus 
 couched : " If the Sacraments are necessary to salva- 
 " tion, and can only be administered by one Episco- 
 " pally ordained, then among Presbyterian bodies 
 " there are no Sacraments, and consequently no sal- 
 
 1 See Catena Patrum, No. 1. Tracts, No. 74. 
 
149 
 
 " vation, or at least they are left to the uncovenanted 
 " mercies of God." 
 
 Yet to make deductions from a doctrine, is not the 
 safest way of understanding it. Men in these days 
 are not apt to infer, that because there is no salvation 
 except through the name of Jesus Christ, therefore 
 all the Heathen must be condemned ; nay, though 
 our Articles say, that they are to be " held accursed 
 " that presume to say that every one shall be saved 
 " by the law or sect which he professeth, so that he 
 " be diligent to frame his life according to that law 
 " and the light of nature," (Art. XVIII.) people are 
 content to stop short, resting in the positive revealed 
 truth, that salvation is through Christ alone ; but 
 not inquiring " who then shall be saved ?" 
 
 And within these same bounds we have confined 
 ourselves. Episcopacy and Presbyterianism (as ex- 
 cluding -Episcopacy) cannot be true together, any 
 more than any other two opposites. If Episcopacy be 
 Apostolic and an ordinance of God, Presbyterianism 
 is not ; if Presbyterianism is, then Episcopacy is not ; 
 and this was ever so held until these modern days, 
 when men have consented to merge their differences 
 in a common indifference ; and is probably still held 
 by the Dissenters from our Church. For they felt 
 that to justify their schism, it Mas necessary to 
 show that our Church required things unlawful, and 
 Episcopacy was accordingly counted among the signs 
 that our Church was a portion of Antichrist. Episco- 
 pacy was denounced as Antichristian 1 . 
 
 1 See e.g. Archbishop Bramhall quoted below, p. \G3. Beza 
 
150 
 
 Without imitating their harshness, we, in our 
 turn, would say, since Episcopacy is an Ordinance of 
 God, to abandon it is sin ; the degree of that sin, or 
 its effects, we are not called upon to pronounce on, 
 nor would we. Only, as watchmen, we are bound to 
 warn against this, as against every other sin ; and 
 the more against this, because men are now so care- 
 less about it. Even Calvin spoke very differently 
 when he said, " they are worthy of any Anathema, 
 who ! , when they can have Bishops, have them not." 
 So neither then would we take upon ourselves to 
 say any thing as to the efficacy of the Sacraments 
 administered by those whom we cannot hold to have 
 been rightly ordained. We hold only that they have 
 not duly received the Commission to administer them. 
 And this will be plain to any Presbyter, if he make 
 the case his own. As Presbyters, we received no Com- 
 mission, either alone, or in conjunction with others, 
 to ordain others to dispense the word of God, and 
 His holy Sacraments ; and what we have not received, 
 we cannot give. That word and those Sacraments 
 
 divides Episcopacy into Divine, human, and Satanic. Divine, 
 according to him, is the ministry generally ; human, is the 
 placing one Presbyter above the rest with limited authority ; 
 Satanic, is where the Episcopacy is entirely separate from the 
 Presbytery, and has exclusive authority. This is repeated by 
 the Puritan writers in their answers of the English Church, e.g. 
 Calderwood, Altare Damascenum, c. 4 ; yet Beza himself said of 
 our Bishops, " Let her enjoy this singular bounty of God, which 
 " I wish she may hold for ever." (Quoted by Bp. Hall, Episcopacy 
 by Divine Right, p. i. c. 4.) 
 
 1 See Bp. Hall, Episcopacy by Divine Right, p. i. c.2. 
 
151 
 
 we do administer, because we have been commis- 
 sioned so to do ; we do not pretend to empower 
 others, because, not being commissioned, we have not 
 been empowered. In like manner, neither Luther 
 nor Wesley, (any more than Calvin, who was himself 
 never ordained,) had any commission, by themselves, 
 or with Other Presbyters, to ordain others ; and so 
 those ordained by them have received no commission 
 to administer the Sacraments. Mere length of time 
 cannot mend the original invalidity. And this ori- 
 ginal difficulty seems to have been felt alike by 
 Luther and Wesley. It is well known that Wesley 
 reluctantly took the step of ordaining at all ; that he 
 meant those whom he ordained, to be subordinate 
 auxiliaries to the ministry ; and that, to the last, 
 he refused, in the strongest terms, his consent that 
 those thus ordained should take upon them to admi- 
 nister the Sacraments 1 ; he felt that it exceeded his 
 powers, and so inhibited it, however it might diminish 
 the numbers of the society he had framed. In like 
 manner Luther, as has been observed 2 , gave to those 
 ordained by him, new titles; not venturing to attribute 
 
 1 He was consulted how to proceed with a society, who threat- 
 ened to leave the Connexion, unless permitted to have the Sacra- 
 ments administered by their own preachers. His answer was, 
 " Modern laziness has jumbled together the two distinct offices of 
 " preaching and administering the Sacraments. But, be that as 
 " it may, I will rather lose twenty societies than separate from 
 " the Church." This was only about three years before his 
 death. The letter was first published in the Brit. Mag. vol. vi. 
 p. 297. 
 
 2 Palmer on the Church, part i. c. 12. sect. 4. t. i. p. 387. 
 
152 
 
 to them those belonging to the offices conferred bv 
 the regular ordination. But irregular practice is the 
 parent of irregular principles ; and the wider devia- 
 tion incident to that practice begets a new train of 
 principles. Man must justify himself in his own 
 sight ; if then he conform not his practice to his 
 principles, his practice will bend his principles. The 
 legality of even Presbyterian Ordination, the theory, 
 that the right of Ordination resides "in the body 
 corporate of the Church 1 " (to be of any use in this 
 argument it must be " in any section of the Church"), 
 these and the like are so many after-thoughts to 
 justify what was done in the first instance on Saul's 
 plea of " necessity ;" " 1 2 forced myself therefore, 
 and offered a burnt-offering." 
 
 But while maintaining that they only are com- 
 missioned to administer the Sacraments, who have 
 received that commission from those appointed in 
 succession to bestow it, we have never denied that 
 God may make His own Sacraments efficacious, even 
 when irregularly administered ; we should trust it 
 might be so : some of us are bound up by ties of 
 affection to those very Protestant bodies which it is 
 supposed we should so harshly and wantonly cut off 
 from the Church of Christ. The very same affection 
 for them which would make us long to see them 
 safely restored to the full privileges of the Church, 
 makes us trust that the Father of mercies has not 
 
 1 Episcopacy, Tradition, and the Sacraments, considered in 
 reference to the Oxford Tracts, p. 21. 
 3 1 Sam. xiii. 12. 
 
153 
 
 " one blessing" only, but has " a blessing for them 
 also, even for them." 
 
 Still every one would apprehend risk in certain 
 cases of irregularity : few, for instance, would think 
 themselves safe in receiving the Lord's Supper from 
 a layman or from a woman ; and the greater the 
 irregularity, and the less excuse for it, the greater 
 would be esteemed the risk. Thus dissenters would 
 obviously run greater risk of having the efficacy of the 
 Sacraments diminished, than the present Presbyterians 
 of Scotland; and these perhaps more than the German 
 bodies, whose forefathers did not wilfully renounce 
 the privilege of Episcopacy, and have not a pure 
 Apostolic Church with which they might unite, nor 
 have had before their eyes the instructive example 
 of her patient and suffering piety. Nor, again, are 
 we called upon to think what mitigating effect in- 
 veterate prejudice may have ; the present Protestants 
 have been brought into their state not by their own 
 deed, but by the acts of former generations. Their 
 continuance in that state may be an evil and a loss 
 of privileges, entailed upon them by the act of their 
 forefathers, which they have not cut off ; but not the 
 same to individuals as if they had been the authors 
 of it. On the other hand, it is for them to consider 
 that they have not the same plea of necessity which 
 their forefathers urged ; that they may readily repair 
 the irregularity for the future ; that such an act 
 Mould doubtless be pleasing to God, as evincing an 
 anxiety to conform themselves altogether to His 
 will, and so might bring down a blessing on them- 
 
154 
 
 selves, as well as contribute to the ultimate restora- 
 tion of unity in the whole Church. 
 
 But our immediate practical question is at home. 
 And what Churchman would venture to say that 
 none of the dissenters, that no shade of them, run 
 any risk? that people were equally safe as to the 
 Lord's Supper, however administered ? that if admi- 
 nistered by the congregation to each other, that if a 
 family were to administer it among- themselves, they 
 would be quite secure f And if there is risk in dis- 
 pensing with a Minister altogether, why should men 
 be quite certain that there is none in dispensing with 
 one Apostolically ordained ? why should we think it 
 an unreasonable thing, that risk should be involved 
 in neglecting an Ordinance of God ? The Church 
 of old held that the efficacy of the Sacraments, even 
 when administered by ordained but schismatic mi- 
 nisters, was, at the least, suspended, so long as persons 
 remained in schism. This is the ground which we 
 have taken, not involving- ourselves and others need- 
 lessly in questions as to God's dealings with others, 
 but providing, as far as in us lay, for the safety of our 
 own people. We have told them, that, at the least, 
 they are safer if they abide in the Church. I might 
 cite to this end, one of the earliest tracts 1 in this 
 
 1 Tract. 4. p. 3. The question, " Do you then unchurch all the 
 Presbyterians ?" was also there answered, p. 5, and many hard 
 words might have been saved, had persons read what is said in the 
 Tracts, instead of making inferences from them, unread. The 
 kirk of Scotland was also kindly spoken of, in the very poem, so 
 often cited in proof of want of charity towards it ; " Samaria." 
 
155 
 
 scries, when the Apostolic succession, being so lost 
 out of sight, was more continually put forward than 
 there is, happily, now any occasion to do. " Jesus 
 " Christ's own commission is the best external secu- 
 " rity I can have, that in receiving this bread and 
 " wine, I verily receive His Body and Blood. Either 
 " the Bishops have that commission, or there is no 
 " such thing in the world. For, at least, Bishops 
 " have it with as much evidence as Presbyters with- 
 " out them. In proportion, then, to my Christian 
 " anxiety for keeping as near my Saviour as I can, I 
 " shall of course be very unwilling to separate myself 
 " from Episcopal communion. And in proportion to 
 
 There is certainly an analogy between the proceedings of Jeroboam 
 and those of John Knox. The making of the calves, although 
 eminently " the sin wherewith Jeroboam made Israel to sin," was 
 not his only sin : it is added, " he made priests out of all the people, 
 " which were not of the sons of Levi," (the Hebrew word means 
 rather, "out of the people indiscriminately," than as in the E. V. 
 " of the lowest of the people,") and these were to offer not to the 
 calves, but " on the high places," where the true God was wor- 
 shipped, though not as He had appointed. This sin then was a 
 self-chosen ordination. And this Scotland likewise committed, 
 in rejecting Episcopacy, which she already had in a pure Church. 
 As God, however, left not Samaria without seers, so also 
 has He raised up gifted men for Scotland, and has doubtless 
 among those, who have forsaken the Apostolic Church, His 7000, 
 who have not been involved in any of the further consequences of 
 that first sin. Tract 47 (on the " Visible Church," No. 4) con- 
 tains a warm statement how the sense of the superior privileges of 
 our Church is compatible with charity, and tends to individual 
 humility. 
 
 9 
 
156 
 
 " my charitable care for others, will be my industry 
 " to preserve and extend the like consolation and 
 " security to them." And again "Why should we 
 " talk so much of an 4 establishment,' and so little of 
 " an ' Apostolical Succession ? ' Why should we not 
 " seriously endeavour to impress our people with this 
 " plain truth — that by separating themselves from our 
 " communion, they separate themselves not only from 
 " a decent, orderly, useful society, but from the only 
 " Church in this realm which has a rigid to be quite 
 " sure that she has the Lord's Body to give to the 
 " people." 
 
 And this language does not at all go beyond the 
 glowing words of Hooker, in vindicating the Divine 
 commission which must necessarily belong to " the 
 ministry in things divine." And he too, however 
 he might make allowances for cases of apparent ne- 
 cessity (which was the more natural in those times, 
 when the tendency of Ultra-Protestantism had not 
 been developed), held that the Episcopal Ordination 
 was the only authorized transmission of that autho- 
 rity 2 . He says then 3 ..." In that they are Christ's 
 " ambassadors and His labourers, who shall give them 
 " their commission, but He Whose most inward 
 " affairs they manage ? Is not God alone the Father 
 
 1 Tract 4. p. 5. 
 
 2 See Mr. Keble's Preface to Hooker, p lxv — lxx. 
 
 3 Eccl. Pol. V. Ixxvii. 1, 2. 7. ed. Keble, quoted Tracts, 
 No. 74. Catena, No. 1. "Testimony of writers in the later 
 English Church to the doctrine of the Apostolical succession." 
 
157 
 
 " of spirits ? Are not souls the purchase of Jesus 
 " Christ? What angel in heaven could have said 
 " to man, as our Lord did unto Peter, ' Feed My 
 " sheep, — preach — baptize — do this in remembrance 
 " of Me. Whose sins ye retain, they are retained ; 
 " and their offences in heaven pardoned, whose 
 " faults you shall on earth forgive V What think 
 " we? Are these terrestrial sounds, or else are 
 " they voices uttered out of the clouds above ? The 
 " power of the ministry of God translateth out of 
 " darkness into glory ; it raiseth man from the 
 " earth and bringeth God Himself from heaven ; by 
 " blessing visible elements it makcth them invisible 
 " graces ; it giveth daily the Holy Ghost ; it hath to 
 " dispose of that flesh which ivas given for the life of 
 " the world, and the Blood which ivas poured out to 
 " redeemed soids ; when it poureth malediction upon 
 " the heads of the wicked, they perish ; when it re- 
 " voketh the same, they revive. O wretched blind- 
 " ness, if we admire not so great power ; more 
 " wretched if we consider it aright, and notwith- 
 " standing, imagine that any but God can bestow it 
 " To whom Christ hath imparted power, both over 
 " that mystical body which is the society of souls, 
 " and over that natural which is Himself, for the 
 " knitting of both in one (a work which Antiquity 
 " doth call the making of Christ's Body), the same 
 " power is in such not amiss both termed a kind of 
 " mark or character, and acknowledged to be indeli- 
 " ble ' Receive the Holy Ghost ; whose sins 
 
158 
 
 " soever ye remit, they are remitted ; whose sins ye 
 " retain, they are retained.' Whereas, therefore, the 
 " other Evangelists had set down, that Christ did, 
 " before His suffering, promise to give His Apostles 
 " the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and being risen 
 " from the dead, promised moreover at that time a 
 " miraculous power of the Holy Ghost, St. John 
 " addeth, that He also invested them even then 
 " with the power of the Holy Ghost for castigation 
 " and relaxation of sin, wherein was fully accom- 
 " plished that which the promise of the keys did im- 
 " port. Seeing, therefore, that the same power is 
 " now given, why should the same form of words 
 " expressing it be thought foolish ?" 
 
 We would speak then, my Lord, as we have 
 spoken, positively ; we would point out to those who 
 are of our Communion, this security in remaining in 
 her, to those who, or their forefathers, have deserted 
 her, the superior safety in returning to her. The 
 argument, that they only can lawfully administer in 
 Divine things, who have been called thereto, is so 
 plain, and so impressed upon men's minds by natural 
 reverence, that such as have had no outward call, 
 have ever rested their claim upon an inward call ; 
 and so acknowledge the principle : but however men 
 have in this way persuaded themselves that they 
 were called to preach the word, no one, I believe, 
 ever yet imagined himself so called to administer 
 the Sacraments. Indeed the general tendency of 
 this class has been to neglect the Sacraments, and 
 
151) 
 
 substitute preaching for them, following that to which 
 they conceived themselves called, and magnifying it 
 to the derogation of the Ordinances, to administer 
 which they had no call. The administration of the 
 Sacraments, when it has been ventured upon, has 
 generally been, as in the case of the Wesleyans, a 
 subsequent expedient, to round a system, and make 
 it independent of the Church. We doubt not, then, 
 but that, by God's blessing, the more courageous 
 avowal of the undoubted privileges of our Apostolic 
 Church would regain many of her lost children to 
 her, and save her from having to deplore the loss of 
 others, would check the growth of schism, and tend 
 to heal her breaches. And the vehemence with which 
 this principle has been attacked by Dissenters, might 
 show men that its importance has been felt by those 
 without also ; they would not trouble themselves 
 about the maintenance of an abstract principle, un- 
 less they saw its tendency (which has already to some 
 extent been realized), to strengthen the Church, and 
 to diminish the several secessions from it. To these, 
 our own Church's erring children, is our first duty. 
 Yet may it perhaps not be too much to hope, that 
 the more complete development of the principles of 
 our Church, may influence also those religious bodies, 
 the foreign Protestants, about which persons profess so 
 much concern. And thus the time may be hastened, 
 when we may be all " one fold under One Shepherd." 
 Certainly, if we have been intrusted with privileges, 
 which other reformed bodies lost, it was not, that 
 they should be " put under a bushel, but on a candle- 
 
160 
 
 " stick, that" our " candle which our God hath 
 " lighted for us may give light to all them that are in 
 " the house." It were ungrateful to Almighty God, 
 Who, amid so many perils, some common to the 
 general " breaking up of the fountains of the great 
 deep" whereby the previous corruptions were cleansed, 
 others peculiar to our own land, still provided that 
 our Ark should be borne safe above the waters ; it 
 were real unkindness to other bodies of Christians, 
 to dissemble our privileges, and not rather to glory 
 in them and in Him who gave them, that others may 
 be kindled with a godly zeal, and behold, and partake 
 of them. 
 
 Although, however, we have been careful not to 
 go beyond our measure, and have not needlessly 
 spoken of other bodies, yet may it be useful to allude 
 to one remarkable fact bearing on this question. 
 The doctrine of Apostolical succession and that of 
 the Sacraments, viewed in the abstract, would to 
 most, probably, not seem at first sight to be so con- 
 nected together, that a false view of the one would 
 involve error upon the other ; much less, that the 
 denial of the one should entail a fundamental change 
 in the other. Yet so it has been. It seems as 
 though people had been deterred by an instinctive 
 dread from taking upon themselves the office of ad- 
 ministering the Holy Eucharist, with the full con- 
 sciousness of its mysteriousness. It is too awful for 
 man to undertake unbidden ; he cannot invest him- 
 self with the belief that, in Hooker's words, " in bless- 
 ing visible elements" he has the power to " make 
 
Kil 
 
 them invisible grace," any more than he can give 
 himself the commission so to do : man's belief in this 
 awful privilege, so surpassing human thought, must 
 come from above ; he can only believe it, when he 
 has solemnly been invested with it. Accordingly, 
 where people have acted without this commission, 
 there they have unconsciously lowered the doctrine. 
 In the thoughts of many Wesleyans, at least, " means 
 of grace" will signify — not the Holy Eucharist, but 
 their own peculiar discipline, their " class-meetings" 
 or their "love-feasts." They have often lost even 
 the abstract belief, that the Holy Communion is any 
 way more solemn, or attended with more mysterious 
 blessing. With a ministry " not of the sons of Levi 1 ," 
 they have " ordained a feast " also " like unto the 
 feast which is in Judah," and have come to think 
 their own feast, which they had " devised of their 
 own heart," to be as acceptable to God, and as rich 
 in blessing to them as that " ordained by Christ 
 Himself." And so likewise as to other bodies ; the 
 further any have departed from the doctrine of the 
 Apostolic succession, so much the lower has their 
 doctrine of the Sacraments become ; as at the very 
 outset, the system of Luther, (himself a Priest,) though 
 in part erroneous, was higher than that of Calvin and 
 Zuingli, who were laymen. And yet now after the 
 lapse of three centuries, even the peculiar doctrine 
 of Lutheranism is well nigh extinct ; those who 
 
 ' I Kings xii. 31— 33. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 maintain it are, in one large country of the reforma- 
 tion, a proscribed sect. Mostly, it has amalgamated 
 itself with the Calvinistic doctrine. Shrinking then 
 from saying any thing as to God's dealings with 
 individuals, it would yet seem that, upon their own 
 scheme of doctrine, the Holy Eucharist must be, to 
 many bodies, at least, other than it is to us. For 
 what we believe it to be, that they reject. They do 
 not believe that it conveys really, though spiritually, 
 the Body and Blood of Christ ; painful as it is to 
 say, they repudiate, as Popish, the real, invisible, 
 Presence of Christ ; they resolve into a figure the 
 real actual Indwelling of Christ thereby. Since 
 then faith is the means whereby we become partakers 
 of the gifts already stored up for us, what would 
 there be harsh or unkind in thinking that they had 
 not, what they deny themselves to have ? especially 
 when our object is to persuade them to return where 
 they may believe and may have it? It is the sub- 
 stance of their own statement, when one says, in 
 a passage 1 singled out for blame, " In the judg- 
 " ment of the Church, the Eucharist administered 
 " without Apostolical commission, may to pious 
 " minds be a very edifying ceremony, but it is not 
 " that blessed thing which our Saviour graciously 
 " meant it to be ; it is not ' verily and indeed taking 
 " and receiving' the Body and Blood of Him, our 
 M Incarnate Lord." For they themselves so speak of 
 
 1 Tract 6C. p. 7. 
 
163 
 
 it, as an outward means to kindle faith ; they place 
 the very essence of Sacraments in their instructive- 
 ness 1 ; what injury then is done them, if any say 
 that they have not, what they refuse ? or why may 
 we not claim to our own Church, what she professes 
 to receive from God's all-gracious hand ? What they 
 claim, is not denied them ; we trust that the " edify- 
 ing rite" which they hold the Communion to be, may 
 be, by God's mercy, beneficial to them ; why should 
 they grudge us its being to us " that blessed thing 
 " which we believe our Saviour graciously meant it 
 " to be." If they will not " enter in themselves," why 
 should they " hinder those who are entering ?" 
 
 This view of the case, whereby we are enabled 
 to maintain uncompromisingly the truth, and yet to 
 entertain kindly, and charitable, and sympathetic feel- 
 ings for those who have lost some of the privileges 
 of our Church, is so fully and so tenderly put by the 
 great Bramhall, that I would again extract his w r ords ; 
 and our previous selection of them might have shown 
 people our sentiments, would they have read before 
 they blametl. 
 
 " But 2 because I esteem them Churches not com- 
 " pletely formed, do I, therefore, exclude them from 
 
 1 See Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism, p. 122-4. 245. ed. 1. 
 
 2 Vindication of the Church of England, disc. 3. quoted more 
 fully Tracts, No. 74. Catena on the " Apostolical succession," 
 p. 12, 13. It appears from Abp. Bramhall, that the charge of 
 want of charity for maintaining the Apostolical succession was 
 then brought by the Romanists. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 " all hopes of salvation ? or esteem thern aliens from 
 " the commonwealth of Israel ? or account them 
 " formal schismatics ? No such thing. First, I know 
 " there are many learned persons among them who 
 " do passionately affect Episcopacy ; some of which 
 " have acknowledged it to myself, that their Church 
 " would never be rightly settled, until it was new 
 " moulded '. Baptism is a Sacrament, the door of 
 " Christianity, a matriculation into the Church of 
 " Christ : yet the very desire of it in case of neces- 
 " sity, is sufficient to excuse from the want of actual 
 " Baptism. And is not the desire of Episcopacy 
 " sufficient to excuse from the actual want of Episco- 
 " pacy, in like case of necessity ? or should I censure 
 " these as schismatics ? 
 
 " Secondly, there are others, who, though they do 
 " not long so much for Episcopacy, yet they approve 
 " it, and want it only out of invincible necessity. 
 " In some places the sovereign is of another com- 
 " munion; the Episcopal chairs are filled with Roman 
 " Bishops. If they should petition for Bishops of 
 " their own, it would not be granted. In other 
 " places the magistrates have taken away Bishops ; 
 " whether out of policy, because they thought that 
 
 1 It were difficult to point out the difference between this 
 admission of the " Reformed" themselves, and a saying of Mr. 
 Froude's selected for censure, as referring to the " Reformation, 
 " every where but in England." (Essays, p. 285.) " The Reforma- 
 *' tion was a limb badly set — it must be broken again in order to 
 " be righted." Remains, vol. i. p. 433. 
 
165 
 
 " the regiment not so proper for their republics, or 
 " because they were ashamed to take away the 
 " revenues, and preserve the order, or out of a blind 
 " zeal, they have given an account to God : they 
 " owe none to me. Should I condemn all these as 
 " schismatics for want of Episcopacy, who want it 
 " out of invincible necessity ? 
 
 " Thirdly, there are others who have neither the 
 " same desires, nor the same esteem of Episcopacy, 
 " but condemn it as an Antichristian innovation, and 
 " a rag of Popery. I conceive this to be most gross 
 " schism materially. It is ten times more schisma- 
 " tical to desert, nay, to take away (so much as lies 
 " in them) the whole order of Bishops, than to sub- 
 " tract obedience from one lawful Bishop. All that 
 " can be said to mitigate this fault is, that they do it 
 " ignorantly, as they have been mistaught and mis- 
 " informed. And I hope that many of them are free 
 " from obstinacy, and hold the truth implicitly in the 
 " preparation of their minds, being ready to receive 
 " it when God shall reveal it to them. How far this 
 " may excuse (not the crime but) their persons from 
 " formal schism, either a toto, or a tanto, I determine 
 " not, but leave them to stand or fall to their own 
 " Master." 
 
 And again, in answer to the same charge whereto 
 we are subjected, of having " a design to bring the 
 " Pope into England," in that they " unchurch either 
 " all or most of the Protestant Churches, and maintain 
 " the Roman Church and not theirs to be true :" 
 
166 
 
 " His 1 assumption is wanting, which should be 
 " this : but a considerable party of Episcopal divines 
 " in England do unchurch all or most of the Protes- 
 " tant Churches, and maintain the Roman Church to 
 " be a true Church, and these to be no Churches. I 
 " can assent to neither of his propositions, nor to 
 " any part of them, as true, sub modo, as they are 
 " alleged by him. 
 
 " First, I cannot assent to his major proposition, 
 " that all those who make an ordinary personal iin- 
 " interrupted succession of Pastors, to be of the 
 " integrity of a true Church, (which is the ground of 
 " his exception,) have therefore an intentiou, or 
 " can justly be suspected thereupon to have any 
 " intention, to introduce the Pope. The Eastern, 
 " Southern, and Northern Churches are all of them 
 " for such a personal succession, and yet all of them 
 " utter enemies to the Pope. Secondly, I cannot 
 " assent to his minor proposition, that either all or 
 " any considerable part of the Episcopal divines in 
 " England, do unchurch either all or most part of the 
 " Protestant Churches. No man is hurt but by him- 
 " self. They unchurch none at all, but leave them 
 " to stand or fall to their own Master. They do not 
 " unchurch the Swedish, Danish, Bohemian Churches, 
 " and many other Churches in Polonia, Hungaria, 
 " and those parts of the world, who have an ordinary 
 " uninterrupted succession of Pastors, some by the 
 
 1 Vindication of Grotius, disc. 3. quoted ib. p 14 & 16. 
 
167 
 
 " name of Bishops, others under the name of Seniors, 
 " unto this day ; (I meddle not with the Socinians :) 
 " they unchurch not the Lutheran Churches in Ger- 
 " many, who both assert Episcopacy in their confes- 
 " sions, and have actual superintendents in their 
 " practice, and would have Bishops, name and thing, 
 " if it were in their power. Let him not mistake 
 " himself : those Churches which he is so tender of, 
 " though they be better known to us by reason of 
 " their vicinity, are so far from being ' all or most 
 " part of the Protestant Churches,' that being all put 
 " together, they amount not to so great a proportion 
 " as the Britannick Churches alone. And if one 
 " excluded out of them all those who want an ordi- 
 " nary succession without their own faults, out of 
 " invincible ignorance or necessity, and all those who 
 " desire to have an ordinary succession either ex- 
 " plicitly or implicitly, they will be reduced to a 
 " little flock indeed. 
 
 " But let him set his heart at rest. I will remove 
 " this scruple out of his mind, that he may sleep 
 " securely upon both ears. Episcopal divines do not 
 " deny those Churches to be true churches, wherein 
 " salvation may be had. We advise them, as it is 
 " our duty, to be circumspect for themselves, and 
 " not to put it to more question, -whether they have 
 " ordination or not, or desert the general practice of 
 " the universal Church for nothing, when they may 
 " clear it if they please. Their case is not the same 
 " with those who labour under invincible necessity. 
 
168 
 
 " What mine own sense is of it, I have declared 
 " many years since to the world in print ; and in the 
 " same way received thanks, and a public acknow- 
 " ledgment of my moderation from a French divine. 
 " And yet more particularly in my reply to the 
 " Bishop of Chalcedon, Pres. p. 144. and cap. 1. p. 
 " 164. Episcopal divines will readily subscribe to 
 " the determination of the learned Bishop of Win- 
 " Chester, in his answer to the Second Epistle of 
 " Molineus. ' Nevertheless, if our form (of Episco- 
 " pacy) be of divine right, it doth not follow from 
 " thence, that there is no salvation without it, or 
 " that a Church cannot consist without it. He is 
 " blind who does not see Churches consisting without 
 " it : he is hard-hearted who denieth them salvation. 
 " We are none of those hard-hearted persons, we put 
 " a great difference between these things. There 
 " may be something absent in the exterior regiment, 
 " which is of divine right, and yet salvation to be 
 " had.' This mistake proceedeth, from not distin- 
 " guishing between the true nature and essence of a 
 " Church, which w r e do readily grant them, and the 
 " integrity or perfection of a Church, which we can- 
 " not grant them, without swerving from the judg- 
 " ment of the Catholic Church." 
 
 Exactly the same line is taken by the mild and 
 moderate Bishop Hall, as all know, a tender lover of 
 peace, and whose natural prejudices, through his 
 education by a Puritan mother, ran the other way ; 
 yet these were his matured thoughts. It is well also 
 
169 
 
 to hear the solemn feelings with which he commenced 
 his " Episcopacy by Divine Right." " For me, I am 
 " now breathing towards the end of my race, the 
 " goal is already in my eyes — I that am now setting 
 " foot over the threshold of the house of my age, 
 " what aim can I have but the issue of my last 
 " account, whereto I am ready to be summoned 
 " before the Judge of quick and dead ? Setting, 
 " therefore, that awful Tribunal, to which we shall 
 " shortly be presented, before our eyes, let us reason 
 " the case with a modest earnestness;" This frame 
 of mind of the aged and pious man, who thought 
 the defence of Episcopacy, as a " Divine institu- 
 tion," an acceptable employment of his latter days, 
 when " the time of his departure was at hand," is 
 surely somewhat different from those of the younger 
 men now, who adduce anxiety about the Apostolic 
 succession as a foremost testimony, that we " pay 1 
 " greater attention to the form and vehicle in which 
 " the divine mercy is conveyed to us, than to the 
 " truth and power of the blessing itself." Bishop Hall 
 then proceeds to distinguish between the case of the 
 Scottish Bishop, with whom he was expostulating 
 for having renounced his Episcopal function, and that 
 of the foreign Protestant bodies; " know 2 , their case 
 " and your's is far enough different ; they plead to be 
 " by a kind of necessity cast upon that condition, 
 
 1 Essays on the Church, p. '300, ]0. 
 
 2 Episcopacy by Divine Right, p. 1. § 2. 
 
170 
 
 " which you have willingly chosen ; they were not, 
 " they could not be, what you were, and still might 
 " have been. Did any of them forsake and ab- 
 "jure that function of Episcopacy, which he might 
 " freely have enjoyed with the full liberty of pro- 
 " fessing the reformed religion ?" It is then on this 
 same plea of necessity, that Bishop Hall excused the 
 German reformers: — because 1 they were Milling to 
 " maintain and establish Episcopal government, de- 
 " sirous to restore it, troubled that they might not 
 " continue it : might they have enjoyed the Gospel, 
 " they would have enjoyed Episcopacy ;" " all the 
 " world sees the Apologist professeth for them, [the 
 " German reformers,] that they greatly desired to 
 " conserve the government of Bishops, that they were 
 " altogether unwillingly driven from it ; that it was 
 " utterly against their heart, that it should have been 
 " impaired or weakened ; that it was only the per- 
 " sonal cruelty and violence of their Romish perse- 
 " cutors which was then excepted against;" he excuses 
 it, because 2 " they took up this equality of govern- 
 " ment only provisionally ;" because " they meant not 
 " to traverse the state of the Clergy, or to submit it to 
 " their orders, whensoever the Clergy or whole state 
 " of France should happen to admit the Reformation ;" 
 because " they were by the iniquity of their times in 
 " a manner forcibly driven (at least as they imagined) 
 
 1 Episcopacy by Divine Right, p. i. § 3. 
 ! lb. § 5. 
 
171 
 
 " upon this form, and necessarily put to their choice 
 " whether they would still submit to Popery, or no 
 " longer submit to Episcopal Administration, which 
 " there was only managed by Popish hands." He 
 likens the abandonment of Episcopacy in such a case, 
 to a " mariner casting out his goods in a storm," 
 " cutting off a limb to prevent the deadly malignity 
 " of a gangrene," " pulling down the next roof when 
 " an house is on fire in the City ;" and yet though 
 he would not take upon himself to judge others, yet 
 we see that he himself would have waited, with a 
 more constant faith, " until the tyranny were over- 
 past," rather than throw over with his own hands the 
 deposit committed to him. " Fear not, thou bearest 
 Caesar" was thought assurance enough when the 
 storm lay vehemently upon his vessel ; much more 
 then to us, " Fear not, thou bearest an Ordinance of 
 " thy Lord's ; it is thy Lord Himself ' asleep in the 
 " hinder part of the ship.' " For in the midst of this 
 palliation of their case, Bishop Hall cannot but express 
 his own doubts, whether any plea of necessity should 
 have been admitted in such a case : " Though also," 
 he adds, " it is very considerable, whether the condition 
 " they were in, doth altogether absolutely warrant such a 
 " proceeding ; for was it not so with us, after Reforma- 
 " tion was stept in, during those fiery times of Queen 
 " Mary ? Was it not so with you, when those holy 
 " men, Patrick Hamilton, and George Wischart, 
 " sowed the first seeds of Reformation among you 
 " in their own blood? With that spirit the Holy 
 
 9 
 
172 
 
 " Ghost indued them, of patience and constancy 
 " crowned with martyrdom, not of tumult and oppo- 
 " sition, to the disquiet of the state and hazard of the 
 " reformation itself ; or to the abjuring and blasphem- 
 " ing of an holy Order in the Church, and dis- 
 " honouring of Almighty God, while they pretended to 
 " seek His honour." Moreover Bishop Hall only ex- 
 cuses, in a degree, those who did this upon necessity, 
 as they thought, in order the more strongly to con- 
 trast their case with that of those who did the same 
 without necessity. " This was their case; but what 
 " is this to your's? Your [the Scotch] Church was 
 " happily gone out of Babylon ; your and our most 
 " gracious and religious sovereign sincerely professeth, 
 " maintaineth, encourageth, the blessedly- reformed 
 " religion ; his Bishops preach for it, write for it, and 
 " profess themselves ready, after the example of their 
 " predecessors, to bleed for it. And how can you 
 " now think of paralleling your condition with the 
 " foreign ?" The loss of Episcopacy, when it seemed 
 for the time that it could not be had, Bishop Hall 
 looks upon with " pity 1 ;" its voluntary rejection he 
 entitles, " to 2 cast mire in the faces of the blessed 
 " Apostles, who received it from their God and Sa- 
 " viour, and, by the guidance of His Spirit, ordained 
 "it:" those who had abandoned it he "beseeches 3 
 " and adjures by that love they profess to bear to 
 ." the truth of God, by that tender respect they bear 
 
 1 Epistle dedicatory. 
 
 2 P. 1. § 1. 
 
 P. 3. § 3. 
 
173 
 
 " to the peace of His Zion, by their zeal to the Gospel 
 " of Christ, by their main care of their happy account 
 " one day before the tribunal of the most righteous 
 " Judge of the quick and dead ; to lay all this that 
 " he had said, seriously together," and " for God's 
 " sake and his own, not upon groundless suggestion 
 " to abandon God's truth and ordinance, and adore 
 " an idol made of the ear-rings of the people, and 
 " fashioned out with the graving-tool of a supposed 
 " skilful Aaron ;" " and for you," he adds " my 
 " dearly beloved brethren at home, for Christ's sake, 
 " for the Church's sake, for your souls' sake, be ex- 
 " horted to hold fast to this holy Institution of your 
 " Blessed Saviour, and His unerring Apostles, and 
 " bless God for Episcopacy." 
 
 So might an aged saint write, when our evils were 
 yet fresh, and our wounds green ; but now that they 
 are thought past healing, it is to be held that they 
 are not wounds, but natural functions of the body. 
 Truth is to be held one thing in England, another 
 across the Tweed. Alas for the change, when " the 
 holy Institution of our blessed Saviour" is held to 
 be a thing wholly outward, and anxiety for it a sign 
 of formalism ! 
 
 But the doctrine of the Apostolic succession, 
 rightly put forward, does not protect our people 
 against dissent, or Ultra-Protestantism only; it is 
 equally a protection against Rome. And hence have 
 
 '§9. 
 
174 
 
 the agents of that Church " sought" many " false 
 witnesses," in order to invalidate our succession and 
 our orders ; and when she has " found none" has 
 resorted to so many frivolous pretences. For since 
 there cannot be in the same place two successors of 
 the Apostles, the admission that we have the Apos- 
 tolical succession, must, on principles which they 
 cannot but acknowledge, altogether exclude them. 
 Hence it has been observed " The objections against 
 " the validity of the English ordinations have been 
 " almost exclusively devised and employed by the 
 " Romanists of England and Ireland ; who having 
 " revolted from their own Churches, resorted to every 
 " imaginable expedient to establish their new com- 
 " munity, per fas et nefas, on the ruins of the Church 
 " of Christ. The Churches of the Roman communion 
 " were in part deceived by the artifices and falsehoods 
 " of these men ; but notwithstanding the errors and 
 " prejudice which they created, many theologians of 
 " that communion were fully persuaded that our 
 " ordinations were valid." 
 
 Hence also the great displeasure, which was ex- 
 cited by Courayer's writing his able defence of our 
 orders. It was objected to him at the time, "it 2 
 " interposed an obstacle to the conversion of many 
 " English." 
 
 The Apostolical succession then is not an abstract 
 argument, but a tangible fact, the value of which 
 
 1 Palmer on the Church, pt. vi. c. 10. t. ii. p. 452. 
 
 2 Le Quien ap. Palmer, 1. c. p. 451. 
 
175 
 
 any plain man can feel. Any one can understand 
 that our Lord promised to be with the Apostles and 
 with their successors to the end of the world ; nor 
 do any other even claim to be the successors of the 
 original Bishops of our Church, who were ordained 
 by Apostles or Apostolic men, except those who 
 now fill those sees, the B'shops of the Anglo-Catholic 
 Church. The Romanist Bishops were but of yesterday, 
 nor do they even pretend to be Bishops of our sees : 
 they assume only to be Bishops inpartibus infidelium; 
 among us they are only the delegates of the Bishop 
 of Rome. And thus they acknowledge themselves 
 schismatics : the Romish communion in this country 
 has, as well as the dissenters, separated itself from 
 those who have received their Commission from the 
 Head of the Church. To quote again the tranquil 
 and learned writer just cited l . " The Romish party 
 " in these countries committed schism in separating 
 " from the communion of the Church, and the obe- 
 " dience of their legitimate pastors, in the reign of 
 " Elizabeth. It is certain, that during the reigns of 
 " Henry VIII. and his successors, until the eleventh 
 " year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, there were not 
 " two separate communions and worships in England. 
 " All the people were subject to the same pastors, 
 " attended the same churches, and received the same 
 " sacraments. It was only about 1570 that the 
 " Romish party, at the instigation of foreign emis- 
 " saries, separated itself and fell from the Catholic 
 1 Palmer, pt. ii. c. (i. §11. " The Romish Sect schismatic." 
 
176 
 
 " Church of England." — " A society formed in this 
 " manner, by voluntary separation from a Church of 
 " Christ, was totally cut off from the unity of the 
 " Catholic Church ; nor is it to be alleged in reply, 
 " that the new community was recognized by the 
 " Roman Bishops and some of the Western Churches ; 
 " for this only proves that the Roman Bishops en- 
 " couraged schism, and the other Churches were mis- 
 " led by their excessive veneration for the Roman See, 
 " and by the misrepresentations of the enemies of the 
 " Church of England ; therefore their sanction to the 
 " new community, being given on erroneous informa- 
 " tion, could not afford any justification of it. 
 
 " It is evident, then, that the whole separation or 
 " schism was originated and effected by the Roman 
 " pontiffs and their adherents, not by the Churches 
 " among us. I repeat it, as a fact which ought never 
 " to be forgotten, that we did not go out from 
 " them, but, as the Apostle says, they went out 
 " from us, thus bearing what is, as Bossuet well 
 " observes, the invariable mark of schism and heresy 
 " in every age : ' Non enim nos ab i 1 lis, sed illi a 
 " nobis recesserunt.' 
 
 " Hence it follows that the Romish communities 
 " in England are not Churches of Christ ; and we 
 " have an additional proof of this in the fact, that 
 " they were unable to show any succession of the 
 " episcopacy in their conventicles. The Pope indeed 
 " sent a titular bishop to them in 1625, whose suc- 
 " cessor went to France in 16*29, and returned no 
 
177 
 
 " more ; and up to the present time the Romish 
 " community has not had any bishops, for although 
 " the vicars-apostolic (as they call themselves) pre- 
 " tend to the episcopal character, this character is by 
 " no means essential to their office ; their successors 
 " may be priests or monks, and they have no ordi- 
 " nary power over the English Romanists, being 
 " merely deputies of the Roman Pontiff, who may 
 " revoke their commissions, without any trial, at his 
 " own will and pleasure. Consequently as vicars- 
 " apostolic they have no episcopal jurisdiction in 
 " England ; and as titular bishops, ' in partibus infi- 
 " delium,' they have no jurisdiction any where. There- 
 " fore they are not, properly speaking, bishops ; and 
 " the Romanists of England are devoid of any apos- 
 " tolical succession of bishops, not to speak of some 
 " serious difficulties which affect the validity of their 
 " orders 1 in these countries, and which will be con- 
 " sidered elsewhere." 
 
 " The singularity of one pastor in each place, de- 
 " scended from the Apostles and their scholars by a 
 " perpetual succession," to use Bp. Bilson's words, 
 has been uniformly recognized by all Churches in 
 the world. The only exception allowed has been 
 where the nations speaking different languages are 
 united in the same city, in which case each was 
 allowed to have the blessing of a Bishop, whose 
 
 1 The consecrations of their earlier Bishops by one Bishop, 
 which many among themselves account invalid. Ib. pt. vi. 
 c. xi. 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 language they could understand K Otherwise it was 
 a principle acknowledged by the universal Church, 
 and formally ratified by the Council at Nice, that in 
 one place there could be but one Bishop. "One 
 God, One Christ, One Bishop 2 ," was the excla- 
 mation of the Roman people, when the Emperor 
 proposed to them to have two Bishops to govern the 
 Church in common. " We are not ignorant," says 
 Cornelius 3 to St. Cyprian, that " as there is One 
 " God, One Christ the Lord, Whom we have con- 
 " fessed, One Holy Spirit, so there ought to be One 
 " Bishop in a Catholic Church." There can be but 
 one representative of the Chief Shepherd in one 
 place. " There 4 can be but one Bishop in a Church 
 " at a time, and one Judge as Vicegerent of Christ." 
 " Since 3 there can be no second after the first, who- 
 ever is made after him who ought to be alone, is 
 " not a second Bishop, but is none." Whence the 
 Martyr St. Cyprian designates such an appointment 
 as " setting 6 up a profane altar, erecting an adulterous 
 " chair, offering sacrilegious sacrifices against the 
 " true Priest." 
 
 Again then, my Lord, the doctrine of the Apos- 
 tolic succession, so far from having any connexion 
 
 1 This justifies the appointment of an English Bishop in Paris. 
 
 2 Theodoret, v. 3. quoted by Bingham, ii. 13. 6. 
 
 3 Ep. 46. al. 49. quoted ib. 
 
 4 Cyprian, ep. 55. al. 59. ad Cornel, quoted ib. 
 
 5 Td. ep. 52. al. 55. ad Antonian, ib. 
 
 6 Ep. 67. al. 68. ad Steph. ib. 
 
179 
 
 with Romanism, is a bulwark against it. The Ro- 
 manists account the promises to St. Peter to be 
 confined to their single see ; the Anglo-Catholics, 
 with the Primitive Church, that they are inherited 
 by the Bishops universally; Rome has in her corrupt 
 days ever essayed to intrench on the independent 
 authority of Bishops as of Churches ; she would have 
 them derive their authority mediately through her 
 existing Bishop, not, together with her Bishop, from 
 the One Bishop. The doctrine of the Apostolic suc- 
 cession involves our independence from the undue 
 authority of Rome. Whatever priority of dignity 
 there may be, the Bishop of the smallest city is as 
 much the representative of the Chief Bishop as the 
 Patriarch of the greatest. 
 
 But, besides this, the argument which the Ro- 
 manists so frequently urge, to take " the safer side," 
 is thus found to be on the side of our own Church. 
 It is indeed the bounden duty of any man, in 
 dubious cases, to take the safer side, i. e. that which 
 seems more likely to have the favour of God ; but 
 the " safer side" is not with those who deny him the 
 " Blood" of Christ, " which is shed for many for the 
 remission of sins ;" the " safer side" is not with those 
 who forsake those whom He has appointed to succeed 
 His Apostles in this Church, and with whom He has 
 promised to be ; the " safest side" is not with those 
 who " form divisions among us," and whom the Apos- 
 tle has given us this mark " to avoid." The " safest 
 side" is that so feelingly urged by the good Bishop 
 
 n 2 
 
180 
 
 Hall " Let me therefore confidently shut up all 
 " with that resolute word of that blessed Martyr and 
 " Saint, Ignatius — ' Let all things be done to the 
 "honour of God; give respect to your bishop, as 
 " you would God should respect you. My soul for 
 " their's, who obey their bishop, presbyter, and dea- 
 " cons ; God grant that my portion may be the same 
 " with their's.' " " And let my soul," adds the pious 
 Bishop, " have the same share with the blessed 
 " Martyr that said so." 
 
 No, my Lord ! they again little know where our 
 Church's "great strength lies," who would have us 
 ungratefully give up our Apostolic origin; it is a 
 portion of God's truth ; the birthright which He gave 
 us ; and whoso is ashamed of any portion of God's 
 truth, of him will God be ashamed ; our Church, if 
 she profanely despise her birthright, may afterwards 
 " find no place for repentance, though she seek 
 it carefully with tears." Rome comes to us with 
 high pretensions ; true that many of them are but 
 " art and man's device," many but the corruptions 
 of the truth ; seen by the side of the truth, the 
 counterfeit will be evident ; but if we withdraw the 
 truth committed to us, it will pass for gold. There 
 is much in the system of Rome to engage imagina- 
 tive and ardent minds; and if the corresponding 
 truth which we have, is hidden from sight, they will 
 embrace it, although painfully feeling the error 
 
 1 Episcopacy by Divine Right, conclusion. 
 
181 
 
 wherewith in that Church it is mingled. We must 
 set in array our union with the Ancient Primitive 
 Church against their greater extent of actual Commu- 
 nion ; the Catholicity of descent against the Pseudo- 
 Catholicity of usurped and corrupted dominion ; the 
 Catholicity of agreement with quod semper, quod 
 ab omnibus, quod ubique traditum est, against the 
 Pseudo-Catholicity of modern corruptions ; Apostolic 
 succession against the claim of one universal Epis- 
 copacy; our union through continued succession with 
 our Invisible Head, against the union with the one 
 supposed visible head : we must show our people 
 that all which they would seek for in Rome, they 
 may find in the Church wherein they were baptized, 
 if they will but study her character and avail them- 
 selves of their privileges ; that it be not said of us, 
 when too late, "felices nimium sua si bona norint !" 
 " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy 
 day, the things which belong unto thy peace." Else 
 will they search in the schismatic communion of 
 Rome among us, and think that they will there find, 
 what they had in their own Church and knew it not. 
 
 To close this subject in the words of Bishop 
 Stillingfleet 1 : — " Three ways, Bishop Sanderson ob- 
 " serves, our dissenting brethren, though not in- 
 " tentionally and purposely, yet really and event- 
 " ually, have been the great promoters of the Roman 
 "interest among us; (1) by putting-to their helping 
 " hand to the pulling down of Episcopacy 
 
 ' Unreasonableness of Separation; Pref. quoted Catena, No. 1. 
 Tracts, No. 74. p. 26. 
 
182 
 
 " (2) by opposing the interest of Rome with more 
 " violence than reason ; (3) by frequently mistaking 
 " the question, but especially through the necessity 
 " of some false principle or other, which having once 
 " imbibed, they think themselves bound to maintain, 
 " whatever becomes of the common cause of our 
 " Reformation." 
 
 I have now, my Lord, gone through all the sub- 
 jects expressly treated upon in the " Tracts," which 
 have been regarded by those of an ultra-Protestant 
 school, as approximating to Popery ; and I have 
 shown, I trust, that we, together with our Church, 
 hold a distinct and tangible line, removed from mo- 
 dern novelties, whether of Rome or Ultra-Protest- 
 antism. In the main outlines, the views which we 
 have put forth as those of our Church, will be fami- 
 liar to your Lordship, as those of the standard Divines 
 of our Church : we wish to set forth no new doc- 
 trines ; we would only revive what circumstances 
 connected with the sin of 1688 have thrown into a 
 partial oblivion ; we appeal to the formularies of our 
 Church as interpreted by our standard Divines, and 
 agreeing with the best and purest ages. These, as 
 the very titles of our Tracts convey, have been the 
 main topics, upon which we dwelt 1 : we wished to 
 
 1 Thus the two first volumes were divided into (1) Liturgical, 
 (2) on Ordinances, (3) on the Apostolic Succession, (4) on the 
 Doctrine of the Church, (5) on the History of the Church, (6) 
 Records of the Church, to which, in the first, were added some 
 tracts explaining, (7) the Argument for the Church. 
 
183 
 
 put forth no system of Divinity ; what we wrote were 
 " Tracts for the Times," i. e. on such topics as the 
 times seemed to stand in especial need of ; thev 
 were to fill up the lacuna? of a popular system, to 
 recall to men's minds forgotten or depreciated truth <, 
 to invite them to enlarge, or correct, or modify 
 their systems by the consideration of points upon 
 which they had not hitherto dwelt, — " the Holy 
 Catholic Church," (our belief of which we daily con- 
 fess,) and the Ordinances of her Lord, committed to 
 her keeping, whether His Sacraments, or rites, prac- 
 tices, and observances, (such as fasting, Ember days,) 
 which she has ever observed, and which are essen- 
 tial to her well-being ; her apostolic succession ; her 
 public prayer ; her holy days and seasons ; or the 
 character of the Liturgy, in which so much of her 
 doctrine is embodied. Occasionally, other topics have 
 been dwelt upon, and defects have been pointed out 
 either in the great rival system of Rome \ or in the 
 popular way of treating our own 2 . But the great 
 object which runs through the whole was to bring up 
 
 1 No. 27, 28. Bishop Cosin's History of Popish Transubstan- 
 tiation ; 71. on the Controversy with the Romanists ; 72. Arch- 
 bishop Usher's prayers for the dead, not connected with Purgatory ; 
 79. on Purgatory. 
 
 2 No. 73. " On the Introduction of rationalistic principles into 
 religion," (against explaining the mysteries of the Faith, through 
 viewing them simply as they operate upon man). No. 80. " On 
 reserve in communicating Religious Knowledge" (against indis- 
 criminately obtruding religious knowledge on minds unfit to 
 receive it, " casting pearls before swine"). 
 
184 
 
 men's practice to the standard of their Church, as it 
 is ; to remove ill-founded objections to it 1 , to develope 
 to them points, which they had not apparently con- 
 sidered ; to realize more the system, in which we 
 actually live, to live up to what we have. 
 
 Such was our object ; and such topics (as any will 
 have seen who has watched the nature of the attacks 
 upon us,) have been, until very lately, the exclusive 
 subjects of censure. The " heresy " of Baptismal 
 regeneration, its supposed connexion with the " opus 
 operatum " of Rome, or its variance from their view 
 of justification ; the supposed austerity of the repent- 
 ance insisted on ; imagined asceticism, confounded 
 with the penance of the Church of Rome ; the un- 
 charitableness of maintaining Apostolic succession or 
 its formality ; or the high sense of the mysteriousness 
 and sacredness of the Holy Eucharist ; these were 
 the exclusive topics of controversy. 
 
 The topics above dwelt upon are parts of the 
 entire Catholic system ; none of them stand in- 
 sulated ; they run into each other, and modify our 
 faith or practice ; " the Holy Catholic Church," and 
 " the forgiveness of sins," or the " One Baptism for 
 the remission of sins," enter among the few articles 
 of the Creed It is obvious from the very character 
 of the controversy which was raised, that the mode 
 of man's justification before God, the character and 
 
 i As in No. 13. Principle of selection of Sunday Lessons ; 3. 
 on Alterations in the Liturgy ; 9. and 43. on Shortening it ; 22. 
 on the Athanasian Creed, &c. 
 
185 
 
 importance of the works done by and in him, repent- 
 ance, future judgment, the mode of man's union with 
 Christ, and His indwelling in man ; the fruits of the 
 mystery of our Blessed Lord's Incarnation ; the Com- 
 munion of Saints ; man's relation to His Redeemer, 
 not as an isolated being, but as a member of " the 
 Church, which is His Body ; " the universality of 
 Divine grace : or, to take another class, the character' 
 of Schism ; the duty of submission, or independence 
 of individual Christians ; the mode of extending the 
 influence of the Gospel ; the duty of receiving articles 
 of faith, without perceiving their bearing upon prac- 
 tice : these and many more are affected by the way in 
 which the subjects thus dwelt upon are determined. 
 
 Of late, however, as the conflict has thickened, 
 other ground has been occupied and other weapons 
 been employed ; and on these subjects also I must 
 offer some explanation to your Lordship, premising 
 only that these on the contrary were topics, insulated 
 in themselves, and in no case insisted upon, or incul- 
 cated by us, but, at most, simply introduced in the 
 course of treating upon other subjects. The two 
 subjects to which I refer are " prayers for God's 
 departed saints," and " celibacy." With the former 
 of these has strangely been united, that of Invocation 
 of the Saints, contrary to the express and careful 
 teaching of the Tracts. 
 
186 
 
 Prayers for those departed in the faith and fear of God 
 
 I have said that this subject was mentioned by us 
 incidentally ; I would add, that in whatever degree it 
 has been brought into notice, has been through the 
 diligence of those who blame us, not by ourselves. 
 " Prayers for God's departed saints," as I have already 
 'stated more at length, were, in the first instance, 
 simply noticed historically ', as one of the points, in 
 which all the ancient Liturgies agreed, as also that 
 they did in others, such as the " Kiss of Peace," and 
 the hymn " Therefore with Angels and Archangels," 
 &c. No stress was laid upon the fact ; no observa- 
 tion made, except that such prayers had been "ex- 
 cluded from the English ritual ;" (others which had 
 just been named having been retained ;) the subject 
 of the tract in which this mention of it occurred 
 was wholly different, on the consecration and obla- 
 tion of the Holy Eucharist : there was no hint of 
 regret at its exclusion ; much less any desire of its 
 restoration. It was, apparently, only mentioned, 
 because from the nature of the argument it could 
 not be avoided. 
 
 I have said this, my Lord, because I freely confess 
 that I should myself think it inexpedient to bring 
 forward such a topic in public discussion ; it is a 
 matter of sacred consolation to those who feel them- 
 selves justified in entertaining it ; a solemn privilege 
 
 1 Tracts, No. 63. 
 
187 
 
 to the mourner ; but not, after that (in consequence 
 of abuses connected with it in the Romish system,) it 
 had been withdrawn from our Church, to be rashly 
 and indiscriminately revived. Those, who acknow- 
 ledge it as in itself justified by primitive practice, are 
 content that our Church has placed no restriction 
 upon its private use by her sons ; she has no where 
 blamed it ; though those once in authority in her 
 withdrew it, (against their earlier judgment, and as 
 matter of practical wisdom only,) from her public 
 services. It must from its very nature be of too 
 solemn a character, and too connected with feelings 
 of sacred sorrow, to be gratuitously brought out of 
 its resting-place, the hearts of those, whose friends 
 are lost out of sight. 
 
 An opponent \ two years past, to serve a tempo- 
 rary and local purpose, drew it out of the obscurity 
 in which it lay, and, on that occasion, I showed 2 that 
 it was neither connected with the doctrine of purga- 
 tory, nor new in the later English Church, having 
 been justified, or employed by such Divines, as 
 Bishop Andrews, Bull, Collier, Dean Field, (I might 
 have added, Archbishop Usher, Bishop Taylor, and 
 Barrow,) as well as by a living writer, who could not 
 be accused of any Romanist tendency ; that it was 
 disconnected from Purgatory even by Bucer and 
 
 1 The author of the " Pastoral Epistle from the Pope, to some 
 members of the University of Oxford." 
 
 2 Earnest Remonstrance to the author of the Pope's Pastoral 
 Letter, &c. p. 18, sqq. 
 
188 
 
 Calvin, when objecting to it, as it stood in our 
 first reformed Liturgy. Since that time, neither 
 in tracts, nor sermons, orally, or in writing, have 
 we any way inculcated it ; and the late pub- 
 licity, which the topic has acquired, has been in- 
 dependent of us. We are aware that our Church 
 does not encourage it ; we are satisfied that she does 
 not discourage it ; she discourages only such prayers, 
 as the Romanists use, which are connected with the 
 modern doctrine of Purgatory, not those of the 
 Primitive Church, which, as have been shown by 
 Archbishop Usher and others, are opposed to that 
 doctrine. 
 
 Here also, my Lord, we would contend that our 
 Church keeps her " via media ;" both Romanist and 
 Ultra-Protestant dogmatize about the state of de- 
 parted souls ; the Romanist, following a natural 
 instinct of human nature, decides that almost all 
 souls undergo a painful purification after death, by 
 which " Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni V 
 The Ultra-Protestant, supposing all sins to be abso- 
 lutely hidden and covered by the imputation of 
 Christ's righteousness, decides as peremptorily that 
 the departed saints are already in full possession of 
 the joys of heaven ; he conceives of them as already 
 "like the angels of God in heaven;" he speaks of 
 the " joys of Heaven " as already bestowed upon 
 them : consistently with his theory, he leaves out of 
 
 1 Mn. vi. 742. 
 
189 
 
 sight, "judgment to come" as well as the "resurrec- 
 tion of the body." The world, now as in Homer's 
 time, thinks of them as a/xtvr)va Ka^va, compas- 
 sionates them as inactive, and withdrawn from 
 their world, despises or forgets them. Our Church, 
 in contrast to all these, cherishes their memory ; 
 blesses God for them ', thinks of them as " resting 
 in Christ 2 ," and of their " spirits" as " living with 
 God in joy and felicity 2 ," yet desires " their's and 
 " our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body 
 " and soul, in His eternal and everlasting glory 2 ." 
 She holds "al! who depart hence in the Lord," to be 
 " in peace and at rest," and this was held by the 
 Ancient Church also, and, as being inconsistent with 
 Purgatory, is the very point of divergence from Rome 3 , 
 she regards them as in a state of, as yet, imperfect 
 happiness, and so differs from the Ultra-Protestant ; 
 and in both, her view coincides with the prayers of 
 the Ancient Church, which speak of those departed 
 as at rest, yet pray " that God would show them 
 " mercy, and hasten the resurrection, and give a 
 " blessed sentence in the great day." So that 
 although, for the safety of her children, she relin- 
 quished the practice, her doctrine is in accordance 
 with it. And certainly, it is of much importance 
 that this should be rightly understood, for as Arch- 
 bishop Usher observed, "Our Romanists do com- 
 
 1 Prayer for the Church Militant. 2 Burial Service. 
 
 * Bishop Taylor, Dissuasive from Popery, c. 1. sect. 4. Arch- 
 bishop Usher, Answer to a Jesuit, c. 7. § 2. &c. Bishop Bull, 
 Serm. 3. and Corruptions of the Church of Rome, t. ii. p. 260. 
 
190 
 
 " monly take it for granted, that purgatory and 
 " prayer for the dead be so closely linked together, 
 " that the one doth necessarily imply the other." It 
 is the wisdom of their controversialists 1 so to bind 
 up the ancient practice with the modern corruption, 
 that they should seem to be really blended together ; 
 it is our's to show them to be distinct ;' else are we 
 enlisting man's natural and dutiful veneration for 
 Antiquity on the side of Rome, and ourselves mis- 
 leading them, and tempting them to abandon us. 
 Those who condemn all prayers for Christ's departed 
 servants, as Popish, are doing Rome an honour which 
 she little deserves, and making her out in this respect 
 to be primitive, instead of the corrupter of primitive 
 practice. 
 
 In another point of view — if " to pray for the dead 
 was the dictate of human nature 2 ," as well as the 
 practice of the Primitive Church — and no one, pro- 
 bably, who has observed himself, will doubt this — 
 it is surely putting the members of our Church in a 
 needlessly disadvantageous position, to teach them 
 that our Church proscribes such prayer, that it is not 
 to be had but in Romanism. 
 
 Why narrow thus what our Church has left unde- 
 fined ? why, if when our Church prays that God would 
 
 1 In a recent popular book, by Dr. Rock, pipfessing to illus- 
 trate the Romanist doctrines from monuments of ancient art, is a 
 chapter on Purgatory ; yet there is not an approximation to the 
 doctrine of Purgatory in any one inscription cited ; nothing be- 
 yond the primitive character of prayer for the departed saints. 
 
 2 Dr. Short's Hist, of English Church, §. 15. 
 
191 
 
 " give us grace so to follow their good examples, that 
 " with them, we may be partakers of His heavenly 
 " kingdom," any think that she longs for their " final 
 " consummation in bliss" also, should any one seek to 
 hinder it ? or if any, understanding in a primitive 
 sense a primitive prayer, "most humbly beseeching 
 " Thee to grant that by the merits and Passion of Thy 
 " Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His Blood, 
 " we and all Thy whole Church may obtain remission 
 " of our sins, and all other benefits of His Passion" 
 should think that those emphatic words, " all Thy 
 whole Church" were not to be restrained to the 
 Church militant, but includetT that portion of the 
 Church also, which is at rest, and prayed that they 
 also might enjoy such " benefits of His Passion," as 
 belonged to their state of rest, why should he be 
 hindered 1 ? Surely, both wisdom and charity require 
 that we should not narrow our pale, nor proscribe a 
 practice of the primitive Church, even though wisdom 
 and charity prevent its formal restoration. A formal 
 restoration would, in the corrupt state of modern 
 manners, probably lower still further the standard of 
 holiness; men would probably abuse these prayers 
 as a ground of carnal security, and, by a worse cor- 
 ruption than that of Rome, look to them as available 
 for those not " departed hence in the faith and fear of 
 God." In order to have with impunity all primitive 
 
 i So again in the Burial Service, " that we with all those that 
 are departed in the true faith of Thy holy Name, may have our 
 perfect consummation," &c. 
 
 3 
 
192 
 
 ordinances, we must have also primitive purity and 
 primitive discipline. To restore privileges before we 
 restore strictness of life, were to begin at the wrong- 
 end. But our Church, as has recently been in a 
 very elaborate sentence decided condemns not such 
 prayers, and why should we take upon ourselves to 
 pronounce, where she has thought it most becoming 
 to be silent, or restrain the liberty, which she has 
 left unfettered ? 
 
 Invocation of Saints. 
 There is however another subject ordinarily con- 
 nected with this (though in truth not very naturally) 
 upon which our Church has not been silent, " Invo- 
 cation of the departed saints," and it is not without 
 some amazement, even with continued experience of 
 the carelessness of controversy, that I find it supposed 
 that we have on this point contravened the direct 
 teaching of our Church. I can scarcely adequately 
 represent to your Lordship how much care was taken 
 to prevent any mistakes upon the subject, or how 
 strange the mis-statements which have been made. 
 In brief, they consist, in representing us as approving 
 that which was in the Tracts directly condemned. The 
 case was this : on several grounds it was thought use- 
 ful to translate a portion of the Breviary ; such were 
 the following 2 , " to claim whatever is good and true 
 " in those devotions for the Church Catholic in oppo- 
 
 1 The office of the Judge promoted in Breeks v. Woolfrey, given 
 fully in the Brit. Mag. vol. xv. p. 91. 
 
 2 Tracts, No. 75. p. 1, 2. 
 
1}):} 
 
 " sition to the Roman Church, wl\ose only real claim 
 " above other Churches is that of having adopted into 
 " the service certain additions and novelties, ascer- 
 " tamable to be such in history, as well as being cor- 
 " ruptions doctrinally." (2) To illustrate our own 
 Prayer-book as being taken from it ; (3) to suggest 
 matter for our private devotions ; (4) to " impress a 
 " truer sense of the excellence and profitableness of 
 " the Psalms, than it is the fashion of this age to 
 " entertain ;" (5) by showing the corruptions to be of 
 a later date, to add one more " fact, discriminating 
 " and separating off the Roman from the Primitive 
 " Church." It was observed again that " these 1 por- 
 " tions of the Breviary" [the invocations to the Virgin 
 and other Saints] " carry with them their own plain 
 " condemnation in the judgment of an English Christ- 
 " ian ; no commendation of the general structure and 
 " matter of the Breviary itself will have any tendency 
 " to reconcile him to them ; and it has been the 
 " strong feeling that this is really the case, that has 
 " led the writer of these pages fearlessly and se- 
 " curely to admit the real excellencies, and to dwell 
 " upon the antiquity of the Roman ritual. He has 
 " felt, that since the Romanists required an unquali- 
 " fied assent to the whole of the Breviary, and that 
 " there were passages, which no Anglican could 
 " ever admit, praise the true Catholic portion of it as 
 " much as he might, he did not in the slightest de- 
 
 1 lb. p. 8. 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 " gree approximate to a recommendation of Roman- 
 " ism." This however was not all ; for after distin- 
 guishing the different parts of these corrupt additions, 
 it was said that even those least objectionable, "now 
 " do but sanction and encourage that direct worship of 
 " the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, which is the great 
 " practical offence of the Latin Church, and so are a 
 " serious evil" Then it was pointed out that the oldest 
 of these forms were the least objectionable, and were 
 of a different kind from those now common in the 
 Roman Church ; still though " more could be said 
 " towards their justification than for those other ad- 
 " dresses," they "are now" it was said, " a serious evil;" 
 it was not said that they could be justified, much less 
 were they recommended ; it was only said that more 
 could be said towards it ; but that they were " a se- 
 rious evil." Having, as it would seem, thus guarded 
 against all possibility of mistake, the writer of this 
 Tract proceeded to translate whole portions of the 
 Breviary, as it stands, exhibiting together both the 
 true Catholic portion and the Romanist additions, 
 but referring back in almost every case to the pages 
 of the preface in which these had been thus decidedly 
 condemned. Now it will scarcely seem credible, my 
 Lord, that the sole foundation for the allegation, that 
 we " advocate prayers to the saints," are those very 
 extracts from the Breviary in which they are so mani- 
 foldly condemned ; that because we would " reappro- 
 " priate to the Catholic Church, in opposition to the 
 " Roman Church," " the true Catholic portion" of the 
 
 3 
 
195 
 
 Breviary, (which the Romanists have never en- 
 trusted their people with in their own tongue,) there- 
 fore it is asserted that we would inappropriate those 
 very prayers which we distinguish from it : that when 
 we speak of the least of these corruptions as a " se- 
 rious evil," we would wish to " reappropriate " the 
 greatest as a " treasure 1 ." But neither is this the 
 whole extent of the misrepresentation ; for in another 
 Tract in the same volume, to which the attention 
 could not but be called, as it was expressly " on the 
 
 1 " The 75th number of the Tracts for the Times is composed 
 " of selections from the Romish Breviary, prepared and recom- 
 " mended for Protestant use ; in the preface to which the editor 
 " says, ' our adversaries have in this, as in many other instances, 
 " appropriated to themselves a treasure' [viz. ' the true Catholic 
 " portion,' see above, p. 193] which was our's as much as their's. 
 " The publication then of these selections is, as it were, an act of 
 " ' reappropriation.' And among these prayers thus reappropriated 
 " to Protestant use, we find the following," [whereon follows one of 
 the class, p. 61. 'which had been expressly designated as "a serious 
 evil," and two others, which fell under the same class.] " Prayers 
 "for the dead, and prayers to the Saints are both advocated" 
 [whereon follows a hymn, of which it is yet noted in the very 
 margin, " It is remarkable, that this hymn, which is the only one 
 " of those here translated, which savours of Romanism, is the only 
 " one, except one other, which is not known to be ancient ;" so 
 that the translator again remarks the coincidence of Romish cor- 
 ruption and absence of proof of antiquity], Essays, p. 289. Another 
 writer says, " the whole is declared in the preface, to be a ' rea'ppro- 
 " priation of a treasure, which had long been lost.' " Fraser, p. 
 23 ; and yet this same writer in the next page refers to the Tract 
 in which "invocation of the saints" is mentioned among the "chief 
 points to be urged in controversy with Rome." 
 
 o 2 
 
IDG 
 
 Controversy with the Romanists," " the invocation of 
 saints" is mentioned among "the 1 practical grievances 
 " to which Christians are subjected in the Roman 
 " Communion, and which should be put in the fore- 
 " ground, in this controversy." The grounds also 
 taken in that Tract are so decided, that it may be 
 satisfactory to transcribe what is said on this head 2 . 
 
 " 6. The Invocation of Saints. Here again the 
 " practice should be considered, not the theory. Scrip- 
 " ture speaks clearly and solemnly about Christ as 
 " the sole Mediator. When prayer to the Saints is 
 " recommended at all times and places, as ever present 
 " guardians, and their good works pleaded in God's 
 " sight, is not this such an infringement upon the 
 " plain word of God, such a violation of our allegiance 
 " to our only Saviour, as must needs be an insult to 
 " Him ? His honour He will not give to another. 
 " Can we with a safe conscience do it ? Should we act 
 " thus in a parallel case even with an earthly friend ? 
 " Does not St. John's example warn us against falling 
 " down before angels ? Does not St. Paul warn us 
 " against a voluntary humility and worshipping of 
 " angels ? And are not these texts indications of 
 " God's will, which ought to guide our conduct ? Is 
 " it not safest not to pay them this extraordinary 
 " honour ? As an illustration of what I mean, I will 
 " quote the blessing pronounced by the Pope on the 
 " assembled people at Easter : — 
 
 No. 71. p. 9. 
 
 2 Tb. p. 13, 14. 
 
197 
 
 " The holy Apostles Peter and Paul, from whom has been 
 " derived our power and authority, themselves intercede for lis 
 " to the Lord. Amen. 
 
 " For the prayers and righteous deeds of the blessed Mary, 
 " ever Virgin, of the blessed Michael the Archangel, of the blessed 
 '■' John the Baptist, of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of 
 " all the saints, Almighty God have mercy upon you, and Jesus 
 " Christ absolve you from all your sins, and bring you to life 
 " everlasting. Amen. 
 
 " The Almighty and merciful Lord grant to you pardon, abso- 
 " lution, and remission of all your sins, time for true and fruitful 
 " penitence, an ever penitent heart, an amendment of life, the 
 " grace and comfort of the Holy Ghost, and final perseverance in 
 " good works. Amen. 
 
 " And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and 
 " the Holy Ghost, come down upon you and remain with you 
 " always. Amen." 
 
 Thus then, my Lord, invocations of the very kind, 
 which the authors of the Tracts are said to recom- 
 mend, are instanced among the chief " practical 
 grievances" to which Christians in the Roman com- 
 munion are subjected. 
 
 All which can be said in answer is, that though 
 all has been condemned, a distinction has been made 
 between the older and the more recent, between a 
 confession "in the presence of all saints" as well as 
 of the congregation present, and a beseeching of the 
 prayers of the " blessed Michael Archangel" and " all 
 saints" together with the congregation present, and 
 direct, exclusive prayers to them. None are counte- 
 nanced, but it is said that the older stand on different 
 ground. And do they not ? 
 
198 
 
 For since St. Paul " charged Timothy, before God 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect Angels? 
 would it be safe to pronounce a confession " in the 
 presence of holy angels," anti-scriptural, especially 
 when we know that " there is joy in the presence of 
 the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth?" 
 Sin " gives occasion to the enemies of God to blas- 
 pheme ;" why should not a person, in confessing his 
 sins, wish to take shame to himself, and to repent of 
 and disown them, in the sight of all the holy beings 
 whom he has shocked by them, as well as of men ? 
 Bishop Taylor, in his Golden Grove, has the follow- 
 ing form : " Whatsoever they [my sins] are, &c. &c. 
 " I call the whole court of heaven to witness that I 
 " do sadly repent of them all, &c. ' Lord, be Thou 
 " merciful to me a sinner.' " And, " I have this day 
 " in thy sight, and in the presence of all the holy 
 " angels that attend Thee in the conversion of a sin- 
 " ner, made my firm resolution," &c. and " Rejoice 
 " over me, O ye holy angels, a great part of whose 
 " ministry it is to rejoice at the conversion of a 
 " sinner." 
 
 So, again, with regard to the request of their prayers 
 together with those of the congregation, it is obviously 
 of a different character from prayers exclusively ad- 
 dressed to them. For the exclusive address of unseen 
 beings has an obvious tendency, at once to fall into 
 a sort of worship ; it is too like the mode in which 
 we address Almighty God, to be any way safe ; the 
 exclusive request of their intercessions is likely at 
 
199 
 
 once to constitute them intercessors, in a way dif- 
 ferent from God's servants on earth, and (which is 
 the great practical evil of these prayers in the Roman 
 Church,) to interfere with the Office of the Great 
 Intercessor. The union of members of the Church 
 who are yet in the body with those unseen, is a check 
 upon both these dangers ; it brings down the applica- 
 tion from the character of worship ; it shows that both 
 seen and unseen saints are applied to in the same way ; 
 it lays a restraint upon the mind and checks feelings, 
 which might betray it into giving to the creature the 
 honour due to the Creator alone. There is then surely 
 a difference between the request, " therefore I be- 
 " seech thee, blessed Mary, Ever Virgin, the blessed 
 " Michael Archangel, the blessed John Baptist, the 
 " holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all saints and you 
 " my brethren to pray the Lord our God for me," and 
 such a prayer as " Holy Mary, succour the wretched, 
 " help the weak-hearted, comfort the mourners, pray 
 " for the people, interpose for the clergy, intercede 
 " for the devoted women ; let all feel thy help whoso 
 " celebrate thy holy commemoration," or " Holy 
 " Mary, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of 
 " death," which were distinguished from it. And is 
 not good done, by showing that the more corrupt 
 forms came in later ? So at least thought Bishop 
 Hall \ who makes just the same distinctions between 
 
 1 The Old Religion, c. 14. "The newness of the Romish 
 Invocation of Saints." 
 
200 
 
 ancient and modern as were here made : " Of all 
 " those errors which we reject in the Church of 
 " Rome, there is none that can plead so much show 
 " of antiquity, as this of Invocation of Saints : which 
 " yet, as it hath been practised and defended in the 
 " latter times, should in vain seek either example or 
 " patronage amongst the ancients ; however there might 
 " be some grounds of this devotion secretly muttered, 
 " and at last expressed in panegyrick forms, yet until 
 " almost 500 years after Christ, it was not in any 
 " sort admitted into the public service. It will be 
 " easily granted that the blessed Virgin is the prime 
 " of all saints ; neither could itb e other than injuri- 
 " ous, that any other of that heavenly society should 
 " have the precedence of her. Now the first that 
 " brought her name into the public devotions of the 
 " Greek Church, is noted by Nicephorus, to be Petrus 
 " Gnapheus, or Fullo, a Presbyter of Bithynia, after- 
 " wards the Usurper of the See of Antioch, much 
 " about 470 years after Christ ; who (though a branded 
 " heretick) found out four things (saith he) very use- 
 " ful and beneficial to the Catholic Church ; whereof 
 " the last was, (Ut in omni precatione, &c.) that in 
 " every prayer the Mother of God should be named, 
 " and her divine name called upon. — And as for the 
 " Latin Church, we hear no news of this Invocation, 
 " in the public Litanies, till Gregory's time, about 
 " some 130 years after the former. — And in the 
 " mean time some Fathers speak of it fearfully and 
 " doubtfully. Others of the Fathers have let fall 
 
201 
 
 " speeches directly bent against this Invocation. — 
 " And those of the Ancients, that seem to speak for 
 " it, lay grounds that overthrow it : hoivever it be, all 
 " holy Antiquity would have both blushed and spit at 
 " those forms of Invocation, ivhich the late Clients of 
 " Rome have broached to the world ; if perhaps they 
 " speak to the Saints tanquam deprecatores, (vel 
 " potius comprecatores) as Spalatensis yields ; mov- 
 " ing them to be competitioners with us to the throne 
 " of grace, not properly, but improperly, as Altissio- 
 " dore construes it : how would they have digested 
 " that blasphemous Psalter of our Lady, imputed to 
 " Bonaventure, and those styles of mere Deification 
 " which are given to her : and the division of all 
 " offices of piety to mankind, betwixt the Mother 
 " and the Son ? How had their ears glowed to hear, 
 " Christus oravit, Franciscus exoravit, Christ prayed, 
 " Francis prevailed ? How would they have brooked 
 " that which Ludovicus Vives freely confesses, Multi 
 " Christiani, &c. Many Christians worship (divos 
 " divasque) the Saints of both sexes, no otherwise 
 " than God Himself? Or that which Spalatensis 
 " professes to have observed, that the ignorant multi- 
 " tude are carried with more entire religious affection 
 " to the blessed Virgin, or some other Saint, than to 
 " Christ their Saviour ? These foul superstitions are 
 " not more heinous than new, and such, as wherein 
 " we have justly abhorred to take part with the prac- 
 " tisers of them." 
 
 But there is probably here also not mere miscon- 
 
202 
 
 ception, but a real difference of habit of mind and 
 feeling between the three views. Romanist and Ultra- 
 Protestant are alike rigorous in opposite ways. The 
 Romanist is not content with the persuasion that 
 Christ's departed servants, being admitted near the 
 Presence, and under the shadow of the throne of 
 glory, and by the heavenly Altar continue the inter- 
 cessions for the Church here below, which they offered 
 while in the body ; he will not rest satisfied in the 
 assurance of God's good will to us herein ; he must 
 fain obtain to himself a personal interest in their in- 
 tercessions, appropriate them to himself, make them 
 personally his friends, and so he steps beyond Anti- 
 quity, and asks them directly to intercede for him, 
 prays to them, makes them his Intercessors, ap- 
 proaches to God and Christ through them, instead 
 of casting himself directly upon God's mercy in 
 Christ ; at last, in practice, substitutes them as In- 
 tercessors for the One Intercessor. He begins by 
 laying down that it is " good 2 and useful suppliantly 
 " to invoke them, and to flee to their prayers, aid, and 
 " help to obtain benefits from God through His Son 
 " Jesus Christ our Lord, Who Alone is our Redeemer 
 " and Saviour," and condemns as " impious, those who 
 " deny that they are to be invoked, or assert that 
 " the invocation of them to pray for each of us in~ 
 " dividually, is idolatry ;" he ends by making them his 
 
 1 Rev. vi. 9. 
 
 2 Cone. Trid. Sess. 25, de invocat. venerat. et reliquiis Sancto- 
 rum et sacris imagiuibus. 
 
203 
 
 mediators, as beings more like himself, whom he can 
 approach with less of awe, with less earnest resolu- 
 tions of holiness, less anxiety about his sins, in his 
 own words, as " meek and mild and not as a " con- 
 suming fire." The Ultra-Protestant, revolted at 
 this abuse, will not hear of their interceding at all, 
 proscribes all thought of it, cuts himself off — not from 
 their communion and fellowship, but from all sense 
 of it and its blessedness ; will be thankful for the 
 prayers of weak sinners like himself, but will not feel 
 the privilege of their prayers who are " delivered from 
 " the burden of the flesh, and the miseries of this sin- 
 " ful world," and in the abodes of love, love us more 
 holily ; is jealous of every mention of them, and so 
 forgets them ; and either restrains the doctrine of the 
 " Communion of Saints" to the charities of this life, 
 or makes it a mere abstract statement that all the 
 redeemed belong to one body. Our Church, between 
 
 1 " Only we shall recite a few words of Antoninus, their great 
 " Divine and Archbishop of Florence ; ' it is necessary that they, 
 " to whom she converts her eyes, being an advocate for them, 
 " shall be justified and saved.' And whereas it may be objected 
 " out of John that the Apostle says, ' If any man sin, we have an 
 " Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,' he an- 
 " swers ' that Christ is not our Advocate alone but our Judge ; 
 " and since the just is scarce secure, how shall a sinner go to Him 
 " as to an Advocate ? Therefore God hath provided us an advo • 
 " catess, who is gentle and sweet, in whom nothing that is sharp 
 " is to be found.' " Bp. Taylor, Dissuasive from Popery, c. 2. 
 sect. 8 ; compare Mr. Froude's observations founded on their 
 actual practice, Remains, t. i p. 294. quoted Appendix, No. 91. 
 
204 
 
 both, recognizes with the ancient church, the actual- 
 ness of the Communion of Saints ; that " God 1 has 
 " knit together His elect in one communion and fel- 
 " lowship, in the mystical body of His Son, Christ 
 " our Lord ;" it rejoices in God's assurance 2 , that 
 through "the due receiving of the holy mysteries," 
 " we are very members incorporate in the mystical 
 " body of His Son, which is the blessed company of 
 " all faithful people," and prays, that we may " con- 
 tinue in that holy fellowship ;" weekly " blesses 3 His 
 " Holy Name for all His servants departed this life 
 " in His faith and fear ;" accompanies their departure 
 from this life, with " hearty 4 thanks that it hath 
 " pleased Him to deliver them out of the miseries of 
 " this sinful world ;" prays God that His " holy An- 
 " gels 5 may, by His appointment, succour and de- 
 " fend us on earth ;" but there stops short, is content 
 to feel the blessedness of that mystical union, and 
 with the assurance that it must be a blessing, with- 
 out intruding into that holy fellowship with selfish 
 and unauthorized prayers to them to intercede for 
 us individually, or approaching them with language 
 which if they hear it, must be shocking to them, as 
 belonging rather to their Lord. 
 
 We may then have a vivid and thankful sense of 
 
 1 Collect for All Saints' Day. 
 
 2 Thanksgiving after Communion. 
 
 3 Prayer for the Church Militant. 
 
 4 Burial Service. 
 
 5 Collect for St. Michael and All Angels. 
 
20;5 
 
 our privilege of belonging to a body, part of whom 
 have passed through our trials, tribulations, and in- 
 firmities, and " have been brought out of great tribu- 
 " lation, and washed their robes in the Blood of the 
 " Lamb ;" we may take comfort that they, together 
 with their Lord, sympathize with the imperfect 
 members of His body, and intercede for us before 
 Him, with greater purity than our earthly friends ; we 
 might think of it with respectful affection and grati- 
 tude ; we might thank God for it ; we might even 
 pray Him, that they might intercede as for us, with- 
 out even approximating to the errors of the Church 
 of Rome. In a word, we might be thankful that they 
 do intercede for us, without making them our inter- 
 cessors or praying them so to do. In Origen's beauti- 
 ful language " nor doth the High Priest alone pray 
 " with those who pray truly, but the ' angels' also ' in 
 " heaven' who ' rejoice over one sinner that repenteth 
 " more than over ninety and nine just persons, who 
 " need no repentance,' and the souls of the saints who 
 " fell asleep before us : — For whereas in this life 
 " knowledge is manifested to those accounted worthy, 
 " ' through a glass, darkly,' but then revealed ' face to 
 " face,' it were inconsistent if the like were not 
 " to be the case as to other excellencies, especially 
 " since what is laid up beforehand in this life is then 
 " really perfected. But one of the chiefest excellen- 
 " cies, according to the divine word, is love of our 
 " neighbour, which the saints, who have fallen asleep 
 1 De Orat. § 11. t. i. p. 213, 14. ed. de la Rue. 
 
'206 
 
 " before us, must necessarily be supposed to have 
 " much more exceedingly towards those who are yet 
 " engaged in the strife of this life, than those who are 
 " yet beset with human infirmity, and but helping the 
 " weaker in a common strife. Not here alone does 
 " brotherly love fulfil that saying, ' if one member suf- 
 " fer, all the members suffer with it, and if one mem- 
 " ber be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.' 
 " For it beseemeth well the love of those who have 
 " departed this present life, to say ' the care of all 
 " the Churches ; — who is weak, and I am not weak ? 
 " who is offended, and I burn not?' and the more, 
 " when Christ professeth that He is sick in each of 
 " the sick saints ; and in like way, that He is in 
 " prison also, and naked, and both a stranger and 
 " hungered and a-thirst ; for who of those who read 
 " the Gospel knoweth not that Christ, ascribing to 
 " Himself the things which befal believers, account- 
 " eth them as His own sufferings ? And if the angels 
 " of God, coming to Jesus, minister to Him, and it 
 " were not fitting to conceive of this ministry of the 
 " angels about Jesus, as restricted to the brief period 
 " of his bodily sojourn among men, when He was 
 " among believers, ' not as he that sitteth at meat, 
 " but as he that serveth,' how many angels, think 
 " you, minister to Jesus, Who willeth to bring toge- 
 " ther the children of Israel one by one, and collect 
 " them from the dispersion, and saveth those who fear 
 " and call upon Him ! — for not in vain do 'the angels 
 " of God ascend and descend upon the Son of man,' 
 
207 
 
 " being seen by the eyes enlightened by the light of 
 " true knowledge ; yea, the angel of each, even of 
 " the ' little ones' in the Church, ' always beholding 
 " the face of the Father Who is in heaven,' and con- 
 " templating the divinity of Him who created us, 
 " prayeth together with us, and worketh together in 
 " such things which we pray for, as admit thereof." 
 
 I have dwelt upon this topic, because some of the 
 more ancient forms which have been objected to, 
 may express nothing more than this consciousness, 
 that the saints at rest do pray for us, and so help us 
 by their prayers. The words " intercedentibus omnibus 
 Sanctis," need mean no more than this ; nor need the 
 words " whose 1 deeds of grace working together with 
 our prayers," mean more than St. Paul means, 
 when he says 2 , " I fill up that which is behind of 
 " the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for His body's 
 " sake which is the Church." Practically, what was 
 said more than excluded the use of any of these 
 forms ; they were spoken of as, practically, " a serious 
 evil ;" yet it is wise, as well as charitable, not to 
 interpret what may be innocent, by later usages which 
 are not so, nor to do Rome the service of carrying up 
 her corruptions into ages which knew not of them, 
 by putting the same glosses upon their words which 
 she would. The liability of their being misunder- 
 stood should preclude our using them ; yet ought 
 we not ourselves to misunderstand or misinterpret 
 them. 
 
 1 Essays, p. 289. 
 
 2 Col. i. 24. 
 
208 
 Celibacy. 
 
 There yet remains one specific charge, which is to 
 prove an inclination towards the Romanist system, 
 the praise of celibacy. It is urged as an objection, 
 that we do not put forward " the celibacy of the 
 clergy," among " the chief grounds of difference 
 between ourselves and the Church of Rome," and 
 that " Monasticism and celibacy are counselled and 
 recommended in some passages." At the same time 
 it is admitted that these passages cannot be alto- 
 gether adduced as speaking our sentiments, inasmuch 
 as " several of" us " are married clergymen 1 ." 
 
 And first, I may state to your Lordship, that no 
 where in the Tracts have there been put forth any 
 recommendations whether of celibacy in general, or 
 that of the Clergy in particular. It has not been 
 inculcated, nor even been named in the Tracts ; and 
 what has been elsewhere said by any who have 
 written in the Tracts, has been dropped incidentally ; 
 there has been nothing of systematic promotion of 
 this state. Then, also, when mentioned, it has been 
 with reference to specific cases, to provide for especial 
 needs 2 , such as where St. Paul says " on account of 
 
 1 Essays, p. 291, 2. 
 
 2 The passages quoted are Brit. Mag. vol. ix. p. 366. " You 
 " must have dissent or monachism in a Christian country : so make 
 " your choice." Ib. p. 368. " Great towns will never be evange- 
 " lized merely by the parochial system ; they are beyond the sphere 
 " of the parish priest, burdened as he is with the endearments and 
 " anxieties of a family." Froude's Remains, t. i. p. 322. " It has 
 
209 
 
 the present distress;" or as a way more excellent 
 in itself, as one of the triumphs of Faith, not as be- 
 ing generally expedient or desirable, even among the 
 clergy. And herein, at once a distinction is made 
 between the teaching of these writers and that of 
 the Church of Rome, which absolutely requires it of 
 her priests ; and it appears also how far they are from 
 advocating views in a proselytizing, or party spirit. 
 
 With regard to the subject itself, I may perhaps 
 the less scruple to speak, as belonging to that class, 
 who, it is admitted, from the circumstances of their 
 own life, cannot be disposed either to underrate the 
 blessings of marriage, or unduly to exalt the celibate. 
 I own then, my Lord, I cannot read such passages, as, 
 " There be eunuchs, which have made themselves 
 " eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake ; he that 
 " is able to receive it, let him receive it." " Verily, 
 " I say unto you, that there is no man who hath left 
 " father or mother, or wife or children for My Name's 
 " sake, but he shall receive manifold more in this 
 " present life, and in the world to come life everlast- 
 " ino-." " He that standeth steadfast in his heart, 
 " having no necessity, but hath power over his own 
 
 " lately come into my head that the present stale of things in Eng- 
 " land makes an opening for reviving the monastic system." He 
 continued ; " I think of putting the view forward under the title 
 " of Project for reviving religion in great towns.' Certainly, 
 " colleges of unmarried priests, (who might of course retire to a 
 " living, when they could, and liked) would be the cheapest possible 
 " way of providing for the spiritual wants of a large population." 
 
 P 
 
'210 
 
 " will, and hath so decreed in his heart, that he will 
 " keep his virgin, doeth well ; so then he that giveth 
 " her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her 
 " not in marriage doeth better." — I cannot read these 
 and others without acknowledging, that, though mar- 
 riage is not permitted only, but " honourable," yea, 
 our Lord honoured the marriage rite by His Presence 
 and by His beginning of miracles, and has consecrated 
 it into a mystery and an image of the Church's union 
 with Him, still " a more excellent way " is pointed 
 out to " those, to whom it is given." Marriage has 
 not only safety, but honour. Changed as its cha- 
 racter is by the fall, in that it now gives birth to a 
 tainted offspring, yet, that men might not despise it, 
 and thence make a snare to themselves, God has 
 restored it to a portion of the dignity which it had 
 from His institution in Paradise, dignified it in the 
 Patriarchs, set forth an example of it in " Abraham 
 His friend," and in the pure blessings of Isaac, made 
 its mutual love a similitude of that which He bears 
 to His Church, and of her reverence to Him, her 
 Head and Saviour ; hallowed it yet more, in that His 
 Son was born of the seed of David, according to the 
 flesh, though not after the flesh, and His Ever- Virgin 
 Mother was betrothed, when He " abhorred not the 
 Virgin's womb," and He appointed that mothers 
 should be " saved by the Childbearing ;" He takes us 
 by the hand, and hallows our union by the blessing 
 of His Church ; so that what man might have feared 
 to approach, is, when " enterprised reverently, dis- 
 
 3 
 
•J II 
 
 creetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God," 
 a continual image and representation of things holy 
 and Divine. 
 
 But it is the very character of the Faith, that, 
 while it ennobles the use of God's permitted bless- 
 ing, it points out to those who can receive it, a higher 
 way, by foregoing them. Thus, it declares " every 
 " creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, 
 " if it be received with thanksgiving," and it con- 
 secrates it to our use " by the word of God and by 
 Prayer," yet it shows " a more excellent way" by 
 fasting, which " He who seeth in secret, shall reward 
 " openly:" it teaches that " our lands are in our own 
 " power ;" yet it promises " manifold more to those 
 " who forsake houses and lands for His Name's sake 
 " and the Gospel's :" it teaches to " lie down in 
 " peace and sleep in Him, Who maketh us to dwell 
 " in safety," yet those who are able, it invites to be 
 like their Lord, and " watch unto prayer," to " prevent 
 " the night watches," or even to " spend the night in 
 " prayer to God:" it teaches to "use this world with- 
 " out abusing it," yet is St. Paul's example higher, who 
 lived " crucified with his Saviour to the world and the 
 world to him :" it sheds a grace and beauty around 
 life's innocent enjoyments, and teaches us a Christian 
 mirthfulness, yet it points, as the higher and nobler, to 
 " take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessi- 
 " ties, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake'," 
 
 1 2 Cor. xii. 10. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 in St. Paul's eight-fold " perils ;" " in weariness and 
 " painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and naked- 
 " ness 1 ;" it invests with a sacred awe " magistrates 
 and those who are in authority," yet bids those " who 
 would be chief among" us, "to be as the servants 
 of all ;" it sanctifies marriage, but it places above it 
 those who forego wives for His sake. 
 
 But what has this, my Lord, in common with Rome 
 and Romanism ? The preference of celibacy, as the 
 higher state, is Scriptural, and as being such, is Primi- 
 tive. The corruption of Rome was not its preference, 
 but its tyrannical and ensnaring and avaricious en- 
 forcement; it was in forcing (in the middle ages) the 
 Clergy to separate from their wives, and, against the 
 law of God, " putting those asunder, whom God had 
 joined ;" and this for her own aggrandizement, to 
 make the Clergy more dependent upon herself; it 
 was in conniving with the pride of parents, and en- 
 tangling the reluctant daughters of the great with 
 vows of celibacy, in order to obtain their dowry for 
 her convents ; it is in enforcing a rigid rule of single- 
 ness upon all her clergy, and drawing them into it be- 
 fore they know their own strength or weakness ; it is 
 in preferring the risk of their salvation to the risk 
 of her own power, and casting them ruthlessly into 
 temptation, without regard to the weak, rather than 
 abandon a rule, which binds them all, though with an 
 iron band, to herself. And thus that corrupt Church 
 
 1 2 Cor. xi. 26, 27. 
 
•213 
 
 has, in the minds of the undistinguishing, cast a 
 reproach over that which Scripture points out as the 
 more excellent, and tainted it with her pride, and 
 avarice, and lust of power. 
 
 But why should men thus in their haste leap over to 
 the contrary side, and exercise a tyranny over men's 
 consciences in the opposite way? Why thus decry 
 and revile as Popish what is Primitive ? Why should 
 not celibacy be used by those to whom it is given, to 
 bind men's affections the more firmly to their Lord, 
 instead of to Rome ? Scripture says ', " He that is 
 " unmarried careth for the things that belong unto 
 " the Lord, how he may please the Lord ; but he 
 " that is married careth for the things of the world, 
 " how he may please his wife." Why then cut 
 off the aspirings of those more ardent minds, who 
 hope thus to wait upon their Lord without dis- 
 traction ? Why not be thankful for our own bless- 
 ings, without grudging to those who have foregone 
 them for their Lord's sake, the blessing annexed to 
 self-denial, that they might " give themselves," the 
 rather, " wholly to these things," and to the service 
 of their Lord? Why not content ourselves to be 
 among those who have 
 
 " Love's supporting force 
 To cheat the toil and cheer the way ;" 
 
 1 1 Cor. vii. 32, 33. 
 
214 
 
 without envying others 
 
 " in their lonely course, 
 (Lonely not forlorn '.)" — 
 
 Why, as Rome has tried, and in vain, to stretch out 
 the limbs of her clergy to one uniform standard, 
 should people among us use the other half of the 
 ancient tyrant's cruelty, and setting up a lower 
 standard, amputate all, which exceeds it ? This forced 
 mediocrity of attainment is unsafe as it is cruel ; it 
 provides no vent for those, who can find no rest in 
 the ordinary and even paths of life; it drives such 
 into Romanism, or makes them founders of fresh 
 schisms among ourselves. A more generous course, 
 which would have interposed, when necessary, the 
 guidance of authority, and led but not inhibited, might 
 have made Wesley and Whitfield useful members 
 of the Church, instead of leaving them to plunge 
 thousands into schism, and to train off into a delusive 
 doctrine many of the best members of our Church. 
 I am not advocating celibacy, my Lord, as the gene- 
 ral rule of the Church, nor imposing upon others 
 " a yoke, which I touch not with one of my fingers:" 
 nor have any of us so done. But surely there is room 
 for all ; and while the peaceful duties of the country- 
 pastor, can often be even better discharged, perhaps, 
 by a married priest, " ruling 2 well his own house, 
 
 1 Christian Year, Feast of St. John the Evangelist. 
 
 2 Marriage Service. 
 
215 
 
 and having his children in subjection in all gravity 
 a pattern of domestic charities, there are surely duties 
 enough in the Church, where celibacy may have its 
 proper place, and where there is much room for 
 the exhibition of the sterner grace of self-denial, 
 foregoing all the highest earthly joys, which cheer 
 us on our pilgrimage, passing alone and isolated 
 through the world, and visibly living only for his 
 Master's work, and to gather in his Master's scat- 
 tered sheep. If the degraded population of many of 
 our great towns are to be recovered from the state 
 of Heathenism in which they are sunk, it must be by 
 such preaching of the cross, wherein it shall be forced 
 upon man's dull senses, that they who preach it have 
 forsaken all, to take it up and bear it after their 
 Lord. They must, like St. Paul, "bear about in 
 their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus," the prints 
 of His nails, and the piercing of His side. The 
 preacher of repentance did not go forth " in soft 
 clothing," or " living delicately," or encompassed with 
 the joys of life ; and if we, as we much need, are to 
 have men " in the spirit and power of Elias, before 
 the great and terrible day of the Lord," the very 
 circumstances of their lives must correspond with 
 and declare the earnestness of their message, and 
 that they have left all to bear it. There is need and 
 room for soldiers of all sorts in the Lord's " willing 
 army ;" why cut off any one kind ? why require that 
 
 1 1 Tim. iii. 4. 
 
216 
 
 all His warriors should " cumber themselves with the 
 concerns of this life?" why should not some under- 
 take a harder, so that it be, which in the Church of 
 Rome it is not, a "willing service?" Why again 
 should the daughters of our land be in a manner 
 forced into marriage, as in the former days of 
 Romanism they were into celibacy, and the days of 
 the Old Testament be brought back upon us, and 
 our maidens marry, in order to " take away their 
 reproach among men," now that He who was looked 
 for is come, and they can serve Him, not by be- 
 coming mothers of the holy line whereof He was 
 born, but by ministering to His members in a sanc- 
 tified Virgin-estate ? Why should we not also, 
 instead of our desultory visiting-Societies, have our 
 Soeurs de la Charite, whose spotless and religious 
 purity might be their passport amid the scenes of 
 misery and loathsomeness, carrying that awe about 
 them, which even sin feels towards undefiledness, 
 and impressing a healthful sense of shame upon guilt 
 by their very presence ? Why should marriage alone 
 have its duties among the daughters of our great, 
 and the single estate be condemned to an unwill- 
 ing listlessness, or left to seek undirected, and un- 
 authorized, and unsanctified, ways of usefulness of 
 its own ? 
 
 Here, also, again, our Church, my Lord, preserves 
 her equable moderation, not enforcing celibacy, with 
 the Romanist, nor despising it, with the world, nor 
 dishonouring it, with the Ultra-Protestant, as having 
 
217 
 
 no acceptableness nor excellency, but holding it forth 
 as the result of a "gift" of God, to be observed and 
 retained by those upon whom He has bestowed it, as 
 being His gift, but not, of necessity, to be imposed 
 upon or required of any. Only in this, as in other 
 actions of life, she would not have us act, as alto- 
 gether our own masters, but as having to give 
 account of the gifts which we have received ; she 
 does not recommend her Clergy to marry, but only 
 holds it " lawful" for them " as for all other Christian 
 men ;" nor regards it as a matter of course (as is the 
 case now-a-days), but as a matter of earnest conside- 
 ration ; to be done or abstained from, " at their own 
 discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to 
 godliness V 
 
 Such, my Lord, are all the topics 2 , which an 
 anxious, though not, I must think, an enlightened 
 jealousy for the purity of our Church has collected 
 together, whereon to found its warning against what 
 it, from its point of view, must consider as an approx- 
 imation to Romanism. There has indeed been not a 
 little carelessness in these charges even among those 
 who appear to have taken most pains 3 , partly from a 
 natural inability to understand a system, which was 
 new to them, partly from an impatience not unna- 
 tural, at being disturbed in the quiet possession of 
 one, which had become extensively popular, which 
 they had accustomed themselves to consider as a 
 1 Art. xxxii. 2 See Preface, Edit. 4. 3 Essays on the Church. 
 
218 
 
 proof of the greater spirituality and enlightenment of 
 the present age, and to contrast with the darkness 
 of early times. They had, too, been wont to declaim 
 in a popular way against Popery, without giving 
 themselves much pains to understand its true cha- 
 racter, or whether their own ground were tenable 
 against it ; their disappointment at the abandonment 
 of any such positions is much the same as was felt by 
 the Romanists at Courayer's defence of our orders ; it 
 takes out of their hands a convenient weapon, and 
 they feel that they must look out for another, or at 
 least their grasp of this seems less secure than before. 
 Then, also, they do not understand the relation which 
 our Church really holds to that of Rome ; there 
 seems to lurk at the bottom some suspicion that we 
 set up a new Church at the Reformation, instead of 
 merely purifying our ancient one ; that we separated 
 ourselves from Rome, instead of simply denying the 
 undue authority of her bishop over us ; that we "went 
 out from" her, and are responsible for so doing, that 
 we must have reasons, to show why we do not re- 
 turn to her. Not holding the doctrine of the Apos- 
 tolical succession, they do not realize to themselves 
 our position as an independent Church, that even 
 independently of the question of our relative purity, 
 we have no more occasion to go over to them than 
 they to us ; that individuals among us are bound to re- 
 main in the Church, through whose ministry they have 
 been made members of Christ. They have not been 
 accustomed to apply the argument to dissent, much 
 
219 
 
 less can they to Romanism, which comes with so 
 much more of system ; nay, they have in many cases 
 disabled themselves from so doing by acting on a con- 
 trary principle towards other Churches ; they have not 
 been taught that affectionateness to their own Mother, 
 which should instinctively hold them by her side; 
 they have not learned to regard their Bishops as the 
 representatives of the Apostles, and to cleave to them 
 as the centres of unity ; and so they must needs have 
 some strong, hard arguments to satisfy themselves. 
 Any diminution of these unsettles them, as having 
 built on no solid foundation, except a general and 
 sometimes exaggerated notion of the corruptions 
 which Rome has actually and formerly sanctioned. 
 Hence one who cannot see that Rome is the Anti- 
 christ, seems to them to betray them into its hands. 
 
 And not only so, but even the very selection of 
 certain topics for our controversy with Rome, has 
 been thought to involve the abandonment of the rest. 
 It so happened that the same writer, in two distinct 
 places, recommended to take practical grounds, leav- 
 ing abstract arguments, or subjects which (as Tran- 
 substantiation) cannot be discussed without pain. 
 Two independent opponents fell in, the one with the 
 one essay in which seven such subjects were named, 
 the other, writing against the Tracts, had not read 
 this Tract, though expressly " on the controversy 
 " with Rome ;" but another in which four only were 
 selected for illustration ; both, however, came to the 
 same conclusion, that because only four or seven 
 
happened to be put forward, therefore on all other 
 points we hold with Rome. The argument certainly 
 proves too much, unless seven and four are the same ; 
 and it is somewhat characteristic of this hasty pro- 
 ceeding, that one of the Tracts 1 of the first year took 
 up the same fourteen points, upon which Bishop Hall 
 insists in " The Old Religion," as " some of our irre- 
 " concileable differences with Rome as she is," and 
 having so done, adds, " I might add other points in 
 " which also I protest against the Church of Rome, 
 " but I think it enough to make my confession in 
 " Hall's order, and so leave it." 
 
 On the same ground, any concession that Rome is 
 a true Church, is to them equivalent to saying that 
 we should return under her shadow, forgetting what 
 Bishop Hall states as the common sentiment of 
 Divines, though in his days also it brought much 
 declamation against him from Ultra-Protestants. 
 " That which Rome holds with us, makes it a Church : 
 " That which it obtrudes upon us, makes it heretical ; 
 " the truth of principles makes it one, the error and 
 " impiety of additions makes it irreconcileable, &c. 
 " Look on the face therefore of the Roman Church, 
 " she is ours, she is God's. Look on her back, she 
 " is quite contrary, Antichristian : More plainly, 
 " Rome doth both hold the foundation, and destroy 
 " it ; she holds it directly, destroys it by consequent ; 
 " In that she holds it she is a true Church, howsoever 
 
 1 No. 38. p. 11. The passage is given in the Appendix, No. 14. 
 
2-21 
 
 " impured ; In that she destroys it, (what semblance 
 " soever she makes) she is a Church of malignants. 
 " If she did not altogether hold it, she should be 
 " either no Church, or devilish, but now that she 
 " professes to hold those things directly which by 
 " inferences she closely overthrows, she is a truly 
 " visible Church, but an unsound one '." 
 
 When the time of trial shall come, it will be seen 
 which principles most favour Rome, the Catholic or 
 the Ultra-Protestant 2 . We have seen those in our 
 own Church, who having held extreme Ultra-Protest- 
 ant notions, have become converts to Rome, of whom 
 she has much boasted. " Excuse me," says Arch- 
 bishop Bramhall 3 , "for telling the truth plainly ; many 
 " who have had their education among Sectaries and 
 " Non-conformists have apostated to Rome, but few 
 " or no right Episcopal Divines. Hot water frcezeth 
 " the soonest" " Unthinking people," says Bishop San- 
 derson 4 , . . . . " are carried away with mere noise and 
 " pretences, and hope these will secure them against 
 " the fears of Popery, who talk with most passion, 
 
 1 Advertisement prefixed to the Reconciler : an Epistle paci- 
 ficatory of the seeming differences of opinion concerning the true- 
 ness and visibility of the Roman Church. 
 
 2 In Scotland no member of the Church has fallen off to Ro- 
 manism or any of the heresies which have distracted it ; in Edin- 
 burgh alone, the Romanists boast of 100 converts from Presby- 
 terianism yearly. 
 
 3 Vindication of Grotius, Disc. 3, quoted Catena. Tracts, 
 lxxiv. p. 14. 
 
 4 Unreasonableness of Separation, Pref. quoted ib. p. 25. 
 
" and with least understanding against it ; whereas 
 " no persons do really give them greater advantages 
 " than these do. For, where they meet only with 
 " intemperate railings, and gross misunderstandings 
 " of the state of the controversies between them and 
 " us (which commonly go together), the most subtle 
 " priests let such alone to spend their rage and fury ; 
 " and when the heat is over, they will calmly en- 
 " deavour to let them see how- grossly they have 
 " been deceived in some things, and so will more 
 " easily make them believe, they are as much de- 
 " ceived in all the rest. And thus the East and 
 " West may meet at last, and the most furious 
 " antagonists may become some of the easiest con- 
 " verts. This I do really fear will be the case of 
 " many thousands among us, who now pass for most 
 " zealous Protestants ; if ever, which God forbid, that 
 " religion should come to be uppermost in England. 
 " It is, therefore, of mighty consequence for prevent- 
 " ing the return of Popery, that men rightly under- 
 " stand what it is. For, when they are as much 
 " afraid of an innocent ceremony as of real idolatry, 
 " and think they can worship images and adore the 
 " Host on the same grounds that they may use the 
 " sign of the Cross, or kneel at the Communion, 
 " when they are brought to see their mistake in one 
 " case, they will suspect themselves deceived in the 
 
 " other also When they find undoubted practices 
 
 " of the Ancient Church condemned as Popish and 
 " Antichristian by their teachers, they must conclude 
 
223 
 
 " Popery to be of much greater antiquity than really 
 " it is ; and when they can trace it so very near the 
 " Apostles' times, they will soon believe it settled by 
 " the Apostles themselves. For it will be very bard 
 " to persuade any considering men, that the Christian 
 " Church should degenerate so soon, so unanimously, 
 " so universally, as it must do, if Episcopal govern- 
 " ment, and the use of some significant ceremonies, 
 " were any parts of that apostacy." 
 
 I have now, I trust, said enough, my Lord, to allay 
 in some degree the strange alarms, which seem to 
 have almost scared people " from their propriety." 
 In this alarm it is not strange that their fears should 
 have been increased by the compliments bestowed by 
 Romanists upon what we have put forth as the Angli- 
 can system. . In some Romanists, this may have been 
 sincere, for if they can find Romanism in Antiquity, 
 as easily of course may they find it in the Anglican 
 system, which wishes to be a faithful representative 
 of Antiquity ; or if Ultra-Protestants think what we 
 are persuaded is the system of our Church an ap- 
 proximation to Romanism, so may the Romanists, as 
 contrasted with Ultra-Protestantism ; and those who 
 accuse us of a Romanist tendency, are, of course, ani- 
 mating them to more vigorous efforts against our 
 Church, by holding out these delusive prospects of co- 
 operation within her own camp. These may be sincere, 
 for not many years past, when on the establishment 
 of the new university at Bonn, a place of worship 
 was set apart for the Lutherans, some Romanists 
 
•224 
 
 expressed to an eminent Lutheran theologian, their 
 joy, that they were returning to the bosom of the true 
 Church. The ground of this hope was that they had 
 regular, though not daily, service, which they had not 
 before. The Romanist regards all Church-order as 
 belonging to him, disorder to those not in commu- 
 nion with his Church ; and so, any increase of order 
 seems to him a return to his Church ; as in truth, a 
 Church which has daily service, and weekly Commu- 
 nions, has something in common with his Church, 
 which a body that neglects these has not ; but only 
 so far in common, as she agrees with Antiquity ; for 
 our Church, if she realize her weekly communions, 
 has a privilege which, in that of Rome, the laity have 
 not, nor a daily service in a language which they 
 understand. 
 
 But though some, especially the Romanist Laity, 
 may be really misled, charity cannot suppose that 
 those who are versed in the controversy between 
 their Church and our's, are sincere in their congra- 
 tulations on this revival of Catholic truth, which 
 had slept among us. They know too well who are 
 their true foes ; they even, now and then let some 
 signs of annoyance escape them, in the very midst 
 of their assumed ease and joy, like the Spartan boy, 
 whose entrails the stolen fox was gnawing ; they feel 
 that their own game is being spoiled ; they had hoped 
 to come upon us unprepared, or armed with Ultra- Pro- 
 
 1 In the Dublin Review. 
 
225 
 
 testant weapons, which had never been proved in any 
 real conflict ; and they are mortified at seeing us don- 
 ning the ancient armour, which has stood proof against 
 them in many a conflict, and which they have never 
 been able to pierce. They had hoped, by aid of what 
 is really ancient in their system, to bring back among 
 us their own modern corruptions ; by aid of what is 
 Catholic to introduce what is peculiar to Rome : they 
 are annoyed at finding the posts pre-occupied, that 
 members of our Church are conscious of her position, 
 that she possesses stored up for her children every 
 thing which they could hold out as an inducement to 
 them to fall away to Rome. And so they have resorted 
 to the corrupt policy which they practised of old 
 against our Church, and would make men suspicious of 
 the truth, as independent of their corruptions, know- 
 ing that if the truth be removed, men must fall sooner 
 or later to their errors. If they can but bring our peo- 
 ple out of the straight path, they doubt not that they 
 must fall into their nets; if they but set them against 
 the pure truth, they must receive it drugged with 
 other ingredients. Rome has enough of truth to pre- 
 vail every where, except against Catholic truth itself ; 
 it has been gaining upon the bodies which have 
 severed themselves from our Church ; it knows well 
 what are weak defences and what are strong ; it would 
 draw us out of our strong-holds, and taunt us to 
 abandon them and make us suspicious of them, as if 
 they belonged to her. " It 1 is a matter of history, 
 1 Crosthwaite, Sermons on the Christian Ministry and the 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 " that some of the first and most active promoters of 
 " Puritanism, and afterwards of Non-conformity, were 
 " Roman Catholic priests, who received orders, or pre- 
 " tended to receive orders in our Church, that in the 
 " disguise of friends they might more effectually dis- 
 " turb and smite it. These men did not dare to broach 
 " the peculiar tenets of their Church, but they endea- 
 " voured to disunite and decompose the fabric of our 
 " unity by infusing doubts and scruples ; by decrying 
 " the Ecclesiastical discipline of our Church as an in- 
 " fringement of Christian liberty ; by objecting to our 
 " Liturgy and Cathedral service as formal and popish ; 
 " by making their hearers to join in more spiritual and 
 " exciting devotions ; and thus they gradually paved 
 " the way for actual separation and dissent, and for all 
 " the calamities which fell upon our country, and from 
 " which we have never yet recovered. There is also 
 " positive proof, that for a very considerable period, 
 " Jesuits were regularly educated on the continent, 
 " and sent over to these countries to enter into the 
 " ministry, not only of our Church, but of every sect 
 " in the nation." — Rome is unchanged; only her task 
 has become easier, since she then had to set people 
 against what were the acknowledged tenets of the 
 Church, and to stir up men's minds to disaffection 
 against their Church ; now our Church is divided 
 
 Establishment of Christianity, p. 124. In the Appendix, NoteB. 
 p. 143 sqq. is much curious evidence carefully brought together 
 on the part which disguised Romanists took in preaching up 
 Puritanism and declaiming against the Church as Popish. 
 
227 
 
 against herself, and a large portion of her sons and 
 ministers have unlearnt in some respects the teach- 
 ing of their Church, and are ready to disown it. But 
 the line taken by Rome is the same. As her emissa- 
 ries then declaimed against the use of the cross, 
 " the service of the Church," " the communion table 
 placed altar-ways" as Popish, so now would she create 
 a suspicion against those who vindicate the ancient 
 meaning of that service, and who speak of the "altar" 
 or the "cross," as if such belonged to her ; and they 
 who have much in their mouths the craftiness and 
 subtlety of Rome, are simple enough to suppose that 
 she would thus lay open her own movements, and set 
 people on their guard against those who were pre- 
 paring the way for her. No, my Lord ! those who 
 are really doing her work, she allows to work on in 
 peace; and by aid of the daily press, labours to spread 
 their opinions, and to identify them with the system 
 of our Church ; so shall she, she well knows, gain 
 an easy victory ! She can afford to have Rome evil 
 spoken of, if but the true Anglican system be dis- 
 paraged also. It is but the exchange of the fable, the 
 wolf-cubs for the shepherd-dogs. 
 
 " It 3 was again replied, yourselves have preached 
 " so much against Rome and his holiness, that Rome 
 " and her Romanists will be little the better for that 
 " change ; but it was answered, you shall have mass 
 " sufficient for 100,000 in a short space, and the 
 
 1 Romanist Consultations, in letter of Archbishop Branihall, 
 ib. p. 156. 
 
 Q 2 
 
•228 
 
 " governors never the wiser." Let Rome but under- 
 mine the credit of the English doctrines as papistical, 
 and she would have no difficulty in erecting her own 
 upon the ruins. For the mind yearns toward the 
 truth, and cannot wander about for ever, not know- 
 ing where to rest the sole of its foot ; if she misses a 
 " sure resting-place," she will afterwards take up with 
 whatever seems least likely to betray her footing; 
 if she miss of truth in its purest and most awful form, 
 she will afterwards be too glad to embrace it, amid 
 whatever corruptions she may find it. 
 
 But we feel confident that it will not be so among 
 us ; the cloud of suspicion that now lowers about us 
 will, with a little patience, disperse ; it is a good 
 omen that we are attacked by the same who are 
 joined in an unnatural union against our Church, 
 Romanist and Dissenter and Latitudinarian ; and if 
 to these are, for the present, added many well- 
 meaning members of our own Church, yet this has 
 its origin in some natural misconception only, and 
 will subside of itself, when they see our meaning 
 more fully. Their prejudice lies not against the 
 truths which we hold, but against certain conse- 
 quences thought to be derived from them, or a 
 negative way, in which they were in the last century 
 held by many ; or they see not how to reconcile them 
 with other truths which are indisputable, or with 
 tenets which they have been taught to think so ; or 
 they fear their effects on holiness of life; or they 
 know not how to distinguish them from Romish cor- 
 
229 
 
 ruptions of them ; or they may be deterred by what 
 of human infirmity may have cleaved to our state- 
 ments. These and the like take time to remove. 
 
 But their fears will subside, and that the sooner, I 
 doubt not, for the very extravagance of this tempo- 
 rary panic; and they who have been the most alarmed 
 at the picture which periodicals have drawn of the 
 principles put forward by us in the name of ourChurch, 
 will embrace them the most fully when they learn 
 their real character. They fear not our principles or 
 practices, but principles or practices which we also 
 should fear as well as they, and which have been 
 given out for our's ; they dread not the effects of our 
 principles, but effects, which they have been led to 
 associate with them, and which we should deprecate 
 as truly ; and when they see that veneration for 
 Antiquity can be combined with thankfulness for the 
 purity of our own Church that our views on Justi- 
 fication lead men of themselves to cast them on their 
 Redeemer, justifying them freely, and keeping them 
 justified by His Spirit, forgiving them freely, and 
 crowning freely His own gifts in them ; that our 
 statements of sin after Baptism lead them the rather 
 to His fulness of mercy, and amid acts of self-abase- 
 ment, or self-chastening, or charity, to look not to 
 these acts but to Him, to seek for their peace at His 
 hand, whether directly or through the Ordinances of 
 the Church, not from themselves, or from their works ; 
 
 1 See Index to Appendix, v. Anglo-Catholics, and Tract, 
 No. 80. 
 
230 
 
 that our views on the Sacraments tend to humble 
 the Priest while they exalt the Priestly Office, and 
 teach men not to rest on any opus operatum, but to 
 guard and keep themselves the more diligently, be- 
 cause God has deigned so to sanctify them ; that the 
 doctrine of the Apostolical succession tends to order 
 and submissiveness within, and promotes charity and 
 compassion for those without ; — they will, we doubt 
 not, examine the teaching of their Church more dis- 
 passionately than hitherto, and find it, in the main 
 outline, to be what we have declared it. 
 
 Already an earnest of this has been given ; and 
 
 1 The Confessions of the Priests in the ancient Liturgies, pre- 
 vious to the celebration of Divine Offices, imply very deep humi- 
 liation. It is only the corruptions of the Church of Home, which 
 tend to infuse spiritual pride into the priesthood ; the true doc- 
 trine humbles him. The following is the beginning of a con- 
 fession in the Euchologion, to be said by the Priest for himself in 
 the Baptismal Service. (Assem. Cod. Lit. t. ii. p. 133, 4.) 
 
 " O compassionate and merciful God, who searchest the heart 
 " and reins, and Alone knowest the secrets of men, there is 
 " nothing hidden from Thee, but all things are naked and open to 
 " Thine eyes. Thou who knowest all of me, cast me not away, nor 
 " turn Thy face from me, but overlook my offences at this hour, 
 " Thou that overlookest the sins of men on repentance. Wash 
 " away the filth of my body and the defilement of my soul, and 
 " sanctify me wholly and entirely with Thy invisible power and 
 " spiritual right hand, lest announcing freedom to others, and im- 
 " parting it through the faith of Thy unspeakable love for men, 
 " I myself should be a castaway as the servant of sin. Nay, O 
 " Lord, who only art Good and compassionate, let me not be 
 " turned away ashamed, but send forth to me power from on high, 
 " and strengthen me to this ministry." 
 
231 
 
 the almost electric rapidity with which these prin- 
 ciples are confessedly passing from one breast to 
 another, from one end of England to the other, the 
 sympathy, which they find in the sister or daughter 
 Churches of Scotland and America, might well make 
 men suspect that there is more than human agency at 
 work ; this indeed has been acknowledged ; and they 
 who have not seen God's hand in it, have attributed 
 it to Satan 1 ; yet will they too in time, we trust, see 
 its fruits to be good, and acknowledge that Satan is 
 not "divided against himself;" and now also they at- 
 tribute to him, we hope, not the actual workings, but 
 rather those which they apprehend. A note has been 
 struck (I may speak, my Lord, on this subject, as not 
 speaking boastfully, since it was not I who thought of 
 striking it,) which was vibrated through every part of 
 the frame of our Church, attesting at once the unity 
 of the body, which so responded, and that itself had 
 been attuned to it by a higher unseen Hand. They 
 who struck the note were but as the bow in the hand 
 of Him, who blends into harmony men's discordant 
 wills, and out of their varying affections brings forth 
 one concordant whole. Others have assayed to do it 
 before and as faithfully, and under circumstances 
 which seemed more favourable, yet none answered ; 
 " they piped, but none danced ; they mourned, but 
 " none wept :" and now that some of the doctrines 
 had seemed to be gradually expiring, and those who 
 
 1 Essays, p. 278, seqq. 
 
232 
 
 had banded them down amid a forgetful generation, 
 were drawing toward the close of their labours, the 
 closed ear has been unsealed, and the sleeping sym- 
 pathy been awakened ; showing in both cases Whose 
 it is to "waken 1 the ear to hear as the learned;" per- 
 haps, as the prelude of a time, when, more than 
 hitherto, " the eyes 2 of the blind shall be opened, and 
 the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." For all 
 things seem to be drawing one way. The simulta- 
 neous tendency towards a more Church-feeling among 
 ourselves, among bodies separated from us, or again 
 in Germany and Denmark feeling after it, (although 
 in the absence of a Church-system which has been 
 preserved to us, not knowing where to find it,) the 
 increased energy of Romanism itself, (at least in 
 France and America where it exists in its least cor- 
 rupted form,) all point to some further coming of 
 the Redeemer's kingdom, when what is done shall 
 be done in His Name, not in man's ; by His Church, 
 and by individuals as members of it, not in themselves. 
 The watch-word for our re-union is that, wherein God 
 had made us one in Himself, His Church ; not as an 
 establishment, or as unestablished, — these are but 
 accidents in her existence, and to be dealt with ac- 
 cording to the Apostolic rule, " wherein any have 
 been called, therein let him remain with God," in 
 England let us not seek to be unestablished, nor in the 
 United States to be established — not as an instrument 
 
 Is. 1. 4. 
 
 2 lb. xxxv. 5. 
 
233 
 
 of temporal or spiritual power, but as a well-ordered 
 society, invested with spiritual gifts, and having a 
 spiritual existence, and united with its Invisible 
 Head, the channel of His graces to us, and wherein 
 we are in Him, wherein " God hath set first, 
 " Apostles" (and as their successors, the Bishops), "se- 
 " condarily prophets, thirdly teachers," " for the per- 
 " fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
 " the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come, 
 " in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of 
 " the Son of God unto [one] perfect man, unto the 
 " measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ V 
 Disunion has been the bane of the Church, ever 
 since suspicion and separation fell upon the Eastern 
 and Western Churches ; attempts outwardly to ce- 
 ment what has been so severed have ever failed : so 
 an inanimate body may be cemented, not a living 
 and spiritual body : but now that men's spirits in 
 different countries seem to be drawn — not directly 
 together or to compass unions of Churches by man's 
 arrangement or human wisdom, but to converge — 
 towards One common Centre, wherein all shall find 
 themselves united ; when men severally mourn over 
 the decay in which the City of God lies, and " pity 3 
 the dust thereof," then may we hope that " the hea- 
 " then shall fear the Name of the Lord, and all the 
 " kings of the earth His glory," then " the Lord shall 
 build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory ;" and 
 
 1 1 Cor. xii. 28. 2 Eph. ii. 12. 1 Ps. cii. 13— 10. 
 
234 
 
 our " night of heaviness" shall be past, and "joy 
 come" in the " dawning of the morning" which the 
 Christian Church has so long " watched for." When 
 we feel the miseries of our disunion, and humble our- 
 selves for our share of it, then may we hope that He 
 " will bind up the breaches," and the " One shep- 
 herd" will restore the fences of our " one fold," when 
 we have learnt to long for it. 
 
 To you, my Lord, in whatever degree we might 
 hope that we were in this our portion of the Vine- 
 yard but the lowest and meanest labourers towards 
 this glorious restoration, we owe much real thanks, 
 as well for the fatherly encouragement which you 
 have given us, as for the warning which you have 
 conveyed to those especially, who have learned of us. 
 It has been a singular mercy of God to us hitherto, 
 that no extravagance has connected itself with the 
 doctrines to which we have claimed attention. Such 
 had perhaps never been the case at any former re- 
 storation of forgotten doctrine. It is a familiar argu- 
 ment in such cases, that " the abuse is no argument 
 against the use," and the very frequency of the 
 maxim shows how closely the abuse attends upon the 
 use. When a system now very popular was com- 
 menced, it had often to apologize for the extrava- 
 gancies of those to whom it was a passage to dissent ; 
 and even of late years, it has not been unfrequent 
 that even ministers of this class have fallen off into 
 schism : to us, they have been able at present to 
 object only what they deem a tendency towards Ro- 
 
235 
 
 manism, but have not shown any case in which that 
 tendency has been followed out. And this, as we 
 thankfully acknowledge it to have been a great mercy 
 of God, so has He doubtless in part thereby brought 
 it about, that these doctrines have in the first instance 
 mainly taken root in the University, which nurtured 
 ourselves. For the solid, and real, and self-denying 
 training and discipline which has made this University 
 what it is, has prepared the minds of those committed 
 to her, to receive simply, and solidly, and practically, 
 the Catholic system, when they became acquainted 
 with it. Catholic truth is indeed so intrinsically 
 practical, that it is less exposed than any human 
 system, however apparently spiritual, to be received 
 as a mere theory. Even where it has been embraced 
 without any consciousness of sacrifices involved, it 
 has in well-prepared minds gradually drawn toward 
 the shore those whom it had inclosed in its net ; they 
 contentedly found their liberty circumscribed ; the 
 submission to rightful authority characteristic of the 
 true Catholic system repressed too individual ten- 
 dencies ; it wound itself around them ; encircled 
 them with its solemn rounds of duties and devotions 
 and abstinences, thwarting the natural will, and 
 subduing self, calming the passions and elevating the 
 affections ; not acting turbidly, but rather unloosing 
 limb by limb from their enthralments, and gently 
 moulding and fashioning them to perform the fuller 
 measures of the duties of the Gospel. It is of the 
 very nature of Catholic truth to merge self, and with 
 
 3 
 
236 
 
 it the extravagancies of self, in the sense of being a 
 member of Christ in the Communion of His glorious 
 Saints ; to suppress thoughts, as if any were doing 
 great things, by the sense of doing them under au- 
 thority and guidance. One has begun probably by 
 one portion of the system, another by another, as 
 Providence guided his disposition or his circum- 
 stances ; yet as he took up, one by one, increasing 
 duties, he found himself but filling up voids in him- 
 self ; his unevenness or inequalities softened ; incon- 
 sistencies subdued, and himself by each such ap- 
 proximation, only rendered less out of harmony with 
 the system in which he was placed ; not thinking 
 himself " some great one," but rather " an unprofita- 
 ble servant," who was slowly learning to " do that 
 which it was his duty to do." 
 
 But although such, by the mercy of God, has been 
 the course of things hitherto, and one may appeal with 
 confidence to the general character of our younger 
 members, who, whether consciously or unconsciously, 
 have been absorbed into the system, that this change 
 has, as a whole, manifested itself in a subdued and 
 chastened spirit, we cannot expect that if the purify- 
 ing obloquy, under which we now lie, should be with- 
 drawn, there will not be found those who will embrace 
 that system intellectually only, or take the shadow 
 for the substance, and so bring evil repute upon it. 
 Satan has ever sown tares among the wheat ; and the 
 parable seems by its frequent fulfilment to have the 
 nature of a prophecy, that it should ever be so. If the 
 
•237 
 
 Church be that great instrument of blessing, which 
 Scripture implies, and which we in our Creeds profess, 
 one must expect that Satan will in varying ways endea- 
 vour to seduce men from realizing it, and to continue 
 their depreciation of it. It were too bold to hope that 
 the truths now anew recognized, will not be overcast 
 by some clouds, which the god of this world may be 
 permitted to interpose. Enough, if their general in- 
 fluence be to warm and kindle. Even of Divine 
 Grace it has been said, that " like the sun, whom it 
 does not soften, it hardens ;" much more then of any 
 form of Divine Truth. 
 
 It were then nothing, whereat to be dismayed, were 
 Satan allowed in some cases, to pervert these doc- 
 trines, and mislead into Popery some who had par- 
 tially embraced them. There was a Simon Magus 
 among the first baptized Christians ; the Anabaptists 
 and the Socinians were a produce of the reformation. 
 We are conscious also, that the press is but a rude 
 way of disseminating truth ; it conveys it on the 
 whole, but unadapted to particular cases ; and so it 
 often happens, as in the case of human medicines, that 
 persons will misapply them, those who need them 
 will neglect them, others use them wrongly, or employ 
 them, while continuing in habits of life, which neutral- 
 ize them, or make them pernicious. In a sounder 
 state of the Church, where all the members of our 
 flocks would have spiritual advisers, and the ad- 
 visers themselves be more carefully trained, this evil 
 
238 
 
 would be much mitigated ; meanwhile, the system 
 will bear the blame of what it would provide against, 
 would men but adopt it completely. 
 
 This is said only for fear " offences should come," 
 and some be scandalized at them ; for the present, 
 the influence of these truths has been rather exer- 
 cised in the contrary and their rightful direction ; 
 furnishing a resting-place from Romanism to some 
 who were wandering thither, and recovering others 
 from it to the bosom of our English branch of the 
 Church : meanwhile we commit cheerfully our way 
 unto Him who has thus far prospered His truth ; 
 trusting, not in the Church-system, but in Him who 
 ordered it : not in the force of truth only, but in Him 
 Who is the Truth ; not in the Church, but in Him 
 Who is " its Saviour," and " Who gave Himself for 
 " it, that He might cleanse it by the washing of 
 " water in the word, and present it to Himself a 
 " glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any 
 " such thing, but that it might be holy and without 
 " blemish." That your Lordship's endeavours for the 
 good of that portion of the Church committed unto 
 you, may be prospered, is our daily prayer : to obey 
 your godly admonitions, and to follow your guidance, 
 is our earnest desire. May He, who has called you 
 to this high office, make it hereafter your crown 
 and joy, and requite you, as well for your labours and 
 anxieties, as for your kindness to those who labour 
 under you in the Vineyard. 
 
239 
 
 With true respect for your sacred character, and 
 (if it be not too bold) affectionate acknowledgment of 
 your Lordship's unvarying kindness, 
 
 T have the honour to remain, 
 
 Your Lordship's faithful servant, 
 
 E. B. PUSEY. 
 
 Christ Church, 
 Feast of St. Matthias, 1839. 
 
PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS OF THE ABOVE LETTER. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Art. VI. and XX. — On the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures 
 
 for Salvation ; and Of the authority of the Church 26 
 
 Art. XI. — Of the justification of Man 62 
 
 Art. XVI.— Of sin after Baptism 81 
 
 Art. XXV. — On the Sacraments 97 
 
 Baptism 109 
 
 Art. XXVIII.— Of the Lord's Supper 125 
 
 Art. XXIII. — Of ministering in the Congregation 146 
 
 Prayers for those departed in the faith and fear of God. . . . 186 
 
 Invocation of Saints 192 
 
 Celibacy 208 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 TRACTS FOR THE TIMES, 
 
 THE 
 
 LYRA APOSTOLICA, 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER PUBLICATIONS; 
 
 SHOWING THAT 
 
 TO OPPOSE ULTRA-PROTESTANTISM 
 IS NOT 
 TO FAVOUR POPERY. 
 
E X TRAC T S , 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE TRACTS FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 1. "It is certain that the Bishops and Clergy in England and 
 Ireland remained the same as before the separation ; and that it was 
 these, with the aid of the civil power, who delivered the Church of 
 those kingdoms from the yoke of Papal tyranny and usurpation ; 
 while at the same time they gradually removed from the minds of 
 the people various superstitious opinions and practices which had 
 grown up during the middle ages." — No. 15. p. 4. 
 
 2. " That there is not a word in Scripture about our duty to obey 
 the Pope, is quite clear. The Papists, indeed, say that he is the succes- 
 sor of St. Peter ; and that, therefore, he is head of all Bishops, because 
 St. Peter bore rule over the other Apostles. But though the Bishops 
 of Rome were often called the successors of St. Peter in the early 
 Church, yet every other Bishop had the same title. And though it be 
 true that St. Peter was the foremost of the Apostles, that does not 
 prove that he had any dominion over them. . . . And so Rome 
 has ever had what is called the primacy of the Christian Churches, 
 but it has not, therefore, any right to interfere in their internal 
 administration." — Ibid. p. 5. 
 
 3. " But it may be said, that we have really no valid orders, as 
 having received them from an heretical Churcb. True, Rome may 
 be so considered now ; but she was not heretical in the primitive 
 ages." — Ibid. p. 10. 
 
 4. " It may be said, that we threw blame on Luther, and others 
 of the foreign Reformers, who did act without the authority of their 
 Bishops. But we reply, that it has been always agreeable to the 
 principles of the Church, that, if a Bishop taught and upheld what 
 was contrary to the orthodox faith, the clergy and people were not 
 bound to submit, but were obliged to maintain the true religion." — 
 Ibid. p. 11. 
 
 5. " While they [the writer and others] consider that the revival 
 of this portion of truth is especially adapted to break up existing 
 parties in the Church, and to form instead a bond of union among all 
 who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; they believe that 
 nothing but these neglected doctrines, faithfully preached, will repress 
 that extension of Popery, for which the ever-multiplying divisions of 
 the religious world are too clearly preparing the way." — Advertise- 
 ment to Vol. i. p. 5. 
 
 r 2 
 
4 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 6. "You have some misgivings, it seems, lest the doctrine I have 
 heen advocating ' should lead to Popery.' I will not, by way of 
 answer, say, that the question is not whether it will lead to Popery, 
 but whether it is in the Bible ; because it would bring the Bible and 
 Popery into one sentence, and seem to imply the possibility of a ' com- 
 munion ' between * light and darkness.' No ; it is the very enmity 
 I feel against the Papistical corruptions of the Gospel, which leads 
 me to press upon you a doctrine of Scripture, which we are sinfully 
 surrendering, and the Church of Rome has faithfully retained. 
 
 " How comes it that a system so unscriptural as the Popish makes 
 converts ? Because it has in it an element of truth and comfort amid 
 its falsehoods. And the true way of opposing it is not to give up to 
 them that element, which God's providence has preserved to us 
 also, thus basely surrendering ' the inheritance of our fathers,' but 
 to claim it as our own." — No. 20. p. I. 
 
 7. " Truly when one surveys the grandeur of their system, a sigh 
 arises in the thoughtful mind, to think that we should be separate 
 from them : Cum talis sis, utinam noster esses ! — But, alas ! an 
 union is impossible 1 . Their communion is infected with hetero- 
 doxy ; we are bound to flee it as a pestilence. They have esta- 
 blished a lie in the place of Goo's truth ; and by their claim of im- 
 mutability in doctrine, cannot undo the sin they have committed. 
 They cannot repent. Popery must be destroyed ; it cannot be 
 reformed." — Ibid. p. 3. 
 
 8. " He has wonderfully preserved our Church as a true branch 
 of the Church Universal, yet withal preserved it free from doctrinal 
 heresy. It is Catholic and Apostolic, yet not Papistical. . . . Depend 
 upon it, to insist on the doctrine of the visible Church is not to favour 
 the Papists, it is to do them the most serious injury. It is to deprive 
 them of their only strength." — Ibid. p. 4. 
 
 9. " — Though it may please God that we should suffer for a 
 while — as we suffered, together with good King Charles, at the 
 hands of the dissenters ; as we suffered in the days of bloody Queen 
 Mary, at the hands of the Roman Catholics ; as we suffered during 
 the first three hundred years after Christ, at the hands of the 
 Heathens and the Jews, yet — eventually, triumph will await us." — 
 No. 23. p. 3. 
 
 10. " As to the manner of the presence of the body and blood of 
 our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we that are Protestant and 
 Reformed, according to the ancient Catholic Church, do not search 
 into the manner of it with perplexing inquiries. . . . Had the 
 Romish maintainers of Transubstantiation done the same, they would 
 not have determined and decreed, and then imposed as an article of 
 faith absolutely necessary to salvation, a manner of presence, newly 
 by them invented, under pain of the most direful curse ; and there 
 would have been in the Church less wrangling, and more peace and 
 
 > Vid. infr. Extract 50. 
 
TRACTS FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 unity than now is." — No. 27. p. 2. — Bishop Cosin on Transubstantia- 
 tion. 
 
 11. "It is in vain that they bring Scripture to defend this their 
 stupendous doctrine [transubstantiation] ; and it is not true, what 
 they so often and so confidently affirm, that the Universal Church 
 hath always constantly owned it : being it was not so much as heard 
 of in the Church for many ages, and hath been but lately approved 
 by the Pope's authority in the Councils of Lateran and Trent." — 
 Ibid. p. 16. 
 
 12. "The history of the Papists is this. Many centuries ago, 
 strange and corrupt notions and practices prevailed in many of the 
 Churches in Europe. Among others, people thought the Pope 
 or Bishop of Rome was gifted with authority from Heaven to control 
 all the branches of the Church on earth, and that his word was to 
 be of more weight than even the Holy Scriptures themselves. But 
 about three hundred years ago, the Bishops of the Church of Eng- 
 land saw these errors in their true light." — No. 30. p. 5. 
 
 13. " Cleriais. Say more definitely what the charge against me is. 
 Laicus. That your religious system, which I have heard some 
 
 persons style the Apostolical, and which I so name by way of 
 designation, is like that against which our forefathers protested at 
 the Reformation. 
 
 C. I will admit it, i. e., if I may reverse your statement, and say 
 that the Popish system resembles it. Indeed, how could it be other- 
 wise, seeing that all corruptions of the truth must be like the truth 
 which they corrupt, else they would not persuade mankind to take 
 them instead of it ?" — No. 38. p. 1. 
 
 14. " Be assured of this, — no party will be more opposed to 
 our doctrine, if it ever prospers and makes noise, than the Roman 
 party. This has been proved before now. In the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, the theology of the divines of the English Church was 
 substantially the same as ours is ; and it experienced the full hosti- 
 lity of the Papacy. It was the true Via Media : Rome sought to 
 block up that way, as fiercely as the Puritans. History tells us this. 
 In a few words, then, before we separate, I will state some of my 
 irreconcileable differences with Rome as she is ; and in stating her 
 errors, I will closely follow the order observed by Bishop Hall in 
 his treatise on The Old Religion, whose Protestantism is unques- 
 tionable. 
 
 I consider that it is unscriptural to say with the Church of Rome, 
 that ' we are justified by inherent righteousness.' 
 
 That it is unscriptural that ' the good works of a man justified do 
 truly merit eternal life.' 
 
 That the doctrine of transubstantiation, as not being revealed, but 
 a theory of man's devising, is profane and impious. 
 
 That the denial of the cup to the laity, is a bold and unwarranted 
 encroachment on their privileges as Christ's people. 
 
 That the sacrifice of masses, as it has been practised in the Roman 
 
G 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 Church, is without foundation in Scripture or antiquity, and therefore 
 blasphemous and dangerous. 
 
 That the honour paid to images is very full of peril, in the case of 
 the uneducated, that is, of the great part of Christians. 
 
 That indulgences, as in use, are a gross and monstrous invention 
 of later times. 
 
 That the received doctrine of purgatory is at variance with Scrip- 
 ture, cruel to the better sort of Christians, and administering deceit- 
 ful comfort to the irreligious. 
 
 That the practice of celebrating divine service in an unknown 
 tongue is a great corruption. 
 
 That forced confession is an unauthorized and dangerous practice. 
 
 That the direct invocation of saints is a dangerous practice, as 
 tending to give, often actually giving, to creatures the honour and 
 reliance due to the Creator alone. 
 
 That there are not seven sacraments. 
 
 That the Roman doctrine of Tradition is unscriptural. 
 
 That the claim of the Pope to be universal bishop is against 
 Scripture and antiquity. 
 
 I might add other points in which also I protest against the Church 
 of Rome, but I think it enough to make my confession in Hall's 
 order, and so leave it." — Ibid. p. 11. 
 
 15. " Rome has to confess her Papal corruptions, and her cruelty 
 towards those who refuse to accept them." — No. 8. p. 4. 
 
 16. "The Church has in a measure forgotten its own principles, 
 as declared in the sixteenth century ; nay, under stranger circum- 
 stances, as far as I know, than have attended any of the errors and 
 corruptions of the Papists. Grievous as are their declensions from 
 primitive usage, I never heard in any case of their practice directly 
 contradicting their services ; whereas we go on lamenting once a 
 year the absence of discipline in our Church, yet do not even dream 
 of taking any one step towards its restoration." — No. 41. p. 1. 
 
 17. " Do you not suppose that there are multitudes both among 
 clergy and laity, at the present day, who disparage not indeed 
 Christ's merits, but the sacraments He has appointed ? and if so, is 
 not their error so far the same in kind as that of the Romish church — 
 the prefei'ring Abana and Pharpar to the waters of Jordan ! . . . Hap- 
 pily we are not as yet so corrupted as at the era of the Reforma - 
 tion ; . . . yet is not the mode of viewing the subject I refer to, a grow- 
 ing one, and how does it differ from the presumption of the Papists ? 
 In both cases the power of Christ's sacraments is denied ; in the one 
 case by the unbelief of restlessness and fear, in the other by the 
 unbelief of profaneness." — Ibid. p. 2. 
 
 18. "Our Reformers in the sixteenth century did not touch the 
 existing documents of doctrine ; there was no occasion ; they kept 
 the creeds as they were ; but they added protests against the cor- 
 ruptions of faith, worship, and discipline, which had grown up round 
 them." — Ibid. p. 3. 
 
TRACTS FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 7 
 
 19. " While Dissenters are exclusive on the one hand, Papists are 
 so on the other. The council of Trent converted certain theological 
 opinions into (what they maintained to be) Catholic verities. This 
 was wrong, whoever did it ; but it is some comfort to find, that 
 the body that thus became uncatholic, was not the Church Catholic 
 itself."— No. 61. p. 3. 
 
 20. " This case [departure from antiquity] had been instanced 
 even before Vincentius's time, in the history of the Arians. In our 
 own day it is fulfilled in the case of the Church of Rome, which in- 
 deed has not erred vitally, as the Arians did, nor has infected with 
 its errors the whole Church, yet has to answer for very serious cor- 
 ruptions, which it has not merely attempted, but managed to esta- 
 blish in a great part of the Churches of Christendom. Here then 
 apply Vincentius's test — Antiquity ; and the Church of Rome is con- 
 victed of unsoundness, as fully as those other sects among us which 
 have already been submitted to the trial." — Records of the Church, 
 No. XXIV. p. 3. 
 
 21. " How miserably contrasted are we with the One Holy Apos- 
 tolic Church of old, which ' serving with one consent,' spoke ' a 
 pure language !' And now that Rome has added, and we have 
 omitted in the catalogue of sacred doctrines, what is left to us but to 
 turn our eyes sorrowfully and reverently to those ancient times, and, 
 with Bishop Ken, make it our profession to live and ' die in the faith 
 of the Catholic Church before the division of the East and West ? ' " 
 —Ibid. No. XXV. p. 11. 
 
 22. " The following are selected by way of specimen of those 
 practical grievances to which Christians are subjected in the Roman 
 communion : — 1. The denial of the cup to the laity. 2. The neces- 
 sity of the priest's intention to the validity of the sacraments. 3. The 
 necessity of confession. 4. The unwarranted anathemas of the Ro- 
 man Church. 5. Purgatory. 6. Invocation of saints. 7. Images." 
 — No. 71. p. 9, et seq. 
 
 23. " We cannot consent to confine ourselves to a mere reference 
 to the text of the Tridentine decrees, as Romanists would have us, 
 apart from the teaching of their doctors, and the practice of the 
 Church, which are surely the legitimate comment upon them. ... The 
 conduct of the Catholics during the troubles of Arianism affords us 
 a parallel case. They interpreted the language of the Creeds by the 
 professed opinions of their framers. They would not allow error to 
 be introduced into the Church by an artifice. ...Apply this to the case 
 of Romanism. We are not indeed allowed to take at random the 
 accidental doctrine or practice of this or that age, as an explanation 
 of the decrees of the Latin Church ; but when we see clearly that cer- 
 tain of these decrees have a natural tendency to produce certain evils, 
 when we see those evils actually existing far and wide in that Church, 
 in different nations and ages, existing especially where the system 
 is allowed to act most freely — under such circumstances surely it 
 is not unfair to consider our case parallel to that of the Catholics 
 
8 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 during the ascendancy of Arianism — and to apprehend that, did we 
 express our assent to the creed of Pope Pius, we should find our- 
 selves bound hand and foot — to the corruptions of those who profess 
 it." — Ibid. p. 15, et seq. 
 
 24. " Should it be inquired whether this admission of incomplete- 
 ness in our own system does not lead to projects of change and re- 
 form, on the part of individuals, it must be answered plainly in the 
 negative. Such an admission has but reference to the question of 
 abstract perfection ; as a practical matter, it will be our wisdom as 
 individuals to enjoy what God's good providence has left us, lest, 
 striving to obtain more, we lose what we still possess." — Ibid. p. 35. 
 
 25. " One great unfairness practised by Roman controversialists 
 has been to adduce in behalf of their own peculiarities, doctrines or 
 customs of the primitive Church, which resembling them in appear- 
 ance are really of a different character. Thus because the early 
 Fathers spoke of the Holy Communion in such reverent and glowing 
 terms, as became those who understood its real nature and virtue, 
 they have tried to make it appear that they believed in their own 
 theory of transubst;mtiation. Whereas they spoke of it as a com- 
 memorative sacrifice, they have thence taken occasion to make it a 
 real and proper sacrifice. The doctrine of ecclesiastical penances 
 they have converted into the theory of satisfactions to Almighty 
 God for sins committed. The existence of Apostolical tradition in 
 the early Church, in behalf of the doctrines of the Trinity, Incar- 
 nation, and the like, has been made a pretence for introducing 
 so-called Apostolical traditions concerning various unfounded opin- 
 ions in faith and practice." — No. 72. p. 1. 
 
 26. " Of course there is no reason why the Church might not, in 
 the use of her discretion, limit as well as select the portions of the 
 inspired volume which were to be introduced into her devotions ; 
 but there were serious reasons why she should not defraud her chil- 
 dren of ' their portion of meat in due season ;' and it would seem 
 as if the eleventh, or at least the twelfth century, a time fertile in 
 other false steps in religion, must be charged also, as far as concerns 
 Rome and its more intimate dependencies, with the partial removal 
 of the light of the written word from the sanctuarv." — No. 75. 
 p. 7. 
 
 27. " Haymo's edition, which was introduced into the Roman 
 Church by Nicholas III. a. d. 1278, is memorable for another and 
 still more serious fault. Graver and sounder matter being excluded, 
 apocryphal legends of saints were used to stimulate and occupy the 
 popular mind ; and a way was made for the use of those invocations 
 to the Virgin and other saints, which heretofore were unknown in 
 public worship. The addresses to the Blessed Mary in the Breviary, 
 as it is at present constituted, are such as the following : the Ave 
 Mary, before commencing every office through the day, and at the end 
 of compline ; at the end of Lauds and Vespers, an Antiphon invocatory 
 of the Virgin ; the Officium B. Marise on the Sabbath or Saturday, 
 
 3 
 
TRACTS FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 9 
 
 and sundry other offices, containing hymns and antiphons in her 
 honour. These portions of the Breviary carry with them their own 
 plain condemnation, in the judgment of an English Christian ; no 
 commendation of the general structure and matter of the Breviary 
 itself will have any tendency to reconcile him to them, &c. . . . 
 These usages [Invocations] certainly now do but sanction and en- 
 courage that direct worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, 
 which is the great practical offence of the Latin Church." — Ibid. 
 p. 9. 
 
 28. " They [the Invocations] are here given in order to show 
 clearly, as a simple inspection of them will suffice to do, the utter 
 contrariety between the Roman system, as actually existing, and 
 our own ; which, however similar in certain respects, are in others 
 so at variance, as to make any attempt to reconcile them together 
 in their present state, perfectly nugatory. Till Rome moves towards 
 us, it is quite impossible that we should move towards Rome ; how- 
 ever closely we may approximate to her in particular doctrines, 
 principles, or views." — Ibid. p. 23. 
 
 29. " And further still, as regards the doctrine of purgatorial 
 suffering, there have been for many ages in the Roman Church gross 
 corruptions of its own doctrine, untenable as that doctrine is even 
 by itself. The decree of the Council of Trent acknowledges the fact. 
 Now we believe that those corruptions still continue ; that Rome has 
 never really set herself in earnest to eradicate them. The pictures of 
 Purgatory so commonly seen in countries in communion with Rome, 
 the existence of Purgatorian societies, the means of subsistence 
 accruing to the clergy from belief in it, afford a strange contrast to 
 the simple wording and apparent innocence of the decree by which it 
 is made an article of faith. It is the contrast between poison in 
 its lifeless seed, and the same developed, thriving, and rankly luxu- 
 riant in the actual plant." — No. 79. p. 3. 
 
 30. [As to the tendency to substitute the Virgin as the object of 
 religious worship.] " The great Catholic doctrine of the Trinity being 
 so strongly established among them [the Romanists] by entering into 
 all their devotional forms and creeds, that it could not be shaken ; 
 human depravity has sought out an opening for itself under another 
 shape. It is by this means the natural heart lowers the object of its 
 worship to its own frailty." — No. 80. p. 80. 
 
 31. " The Romish Church corrupted and marred the Apostolic 
 doctrine in two ways — first, by the error of Transubstantiation, 
 secondly, by that of Purgatory ; and in both there occurs that pe- 
 culiar corruption of the administrators of the Romish Church, that 
 they countenance so much more of profitable error than in their 
 abstract system they acknowledge." — No. 81. On the Eucharistic 
 Sacrifice, p. 7. 
 
 32. "These false notions in themselves aggrandized the character 
 of the priesthood : and as such, it was part of the unhappy policy 
 
10 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 of Rome to countenance them ; and while (to take the mildest view) 
 she narrowly observed the erroneous tendencies, which were almost 
 unavoidably mixed up in the minds of individuals with the reformed 
 doctrine, she had no sense for her own. She thought no deeds 
 cruel, which would remove the motes that threatened to darken her 
 sister's eye, but perceived not the beam in her own. While repress- 
 ing, even by the shedding of blood, the slightest approximation to 
 the reformed doctrine, she rebuked not errors which entrenched on 
 the authority of our Lord." — Ibid. p. 8. 
 
 33. " The language of the Council (of Trent) on the Sacrifice is in 
 itself capable of a good interpretation, were it not that terms employed 
 in it must be explained with reference to that Church's acknowledged 
 doctrines of Transubstantiation and Purgatory. And the doctrine 
 op the Sacrifice cannot be the same, where Transubstantia- 
 tion is held, and where it is not." — Ibid. p. 47. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM " LYRA APOSTOLICA." 
 
 34. " Once, as I brooded o'er my guilty state, 
 
 A fever seized me, duties to devise 
 
 To buy me interest in my Saviour's eyes ; 
 Not that His love I would extenuate, 
 But scourge and penance, and perverse self-hate, 
 
 Or gift of cost, served by an artifice 
 
 To quell my restless thoughts, &c. . . . 
 Thus as I tossed, He said : ' Even holiest deeds 
 Shroud not the soul from God, nor soothe its needs,' " &c. 
 
 Lyra Apostolica, (Ed. 2.) 9. 
 
 35. "I will not say with these, that bread and wine 
 
 Have vanished at the consecration prayer," &c. 
 
 Ibid. 33. 
 
 36. " Ah, Saviour, Lord! with Thee my heart 
 
 Angel nor Saint shall share ; 
 To Thee 'tis known, for man Thou art, 
 To soothe each tumult there." — Ibid. 51. 
 
 37. " They are at rest : 
 
 We may not stir the heaven of their repose 
 By rude invoking voice, or prayer addrest 
 
 In waywardness to those, 
 Who in the mountain grots of Eden lie," &c. — Ibid. 52. 
 
 38. " Mark how each Creed stands in that Test reveal'd, 
 
 Romish and Swiss and Lutheran novelties ! 
 
 As in the light of Spenser's magic shield, 
 
 Falsehood lets fall her poisoned cup and flies, 
 
 Rome's seven-headed monster sees and dies!" — Ibid. 97. 
 
 39. " O Lord and Christ, Thy Churches of the South 
 
 So shudder, when they see 
 
LYRA APOSTOLICA. 
 
 I I 
 
 The two-edged sword sharp-issuing from Thy mouth, 
 
 As to fall hack from Thee, 
 And seek to charms of man, or saints above, 
 To aid them against Thee, Thou Fount of grace and love ! 
 
 But I before Thine awful eyes will go, 
 
 And firmly fix me there, 
 In my full shame;" &c. — Ibid. 105. 
 
 40. " The flood-gates on me open wide, 
 
 And headlong rushes in the turbulent tide 
 
 Of lusts and heresies ! a motley troop they come ; 
 
 And old imperial Rome 
 
 Looks up, and lifts again half-dead 
 
 Her seven-horned head;" &c- — Ibid. 111. 
 
 41 . " How shall I name thee, Light of the wide West, 
 
 Or heinous error- seat ? 
 O Mother erst, close tracing Jesus' feet ! 
 
 Do not thy titles glow 
 In those stern judgment fires, which shall complete 
 Earth's strife with Heaven, and ope the eternal woe ?" 
 
 Ibid. 170. 
 
 42. " O Mother Church of Rome ! why has thy heart 
 
 Beat so untrulv towards thy northern child ? 
 
 Why give a gift, nor give it undefiled, 
 Drugging thy blessing with a stepdame's art ? &c. 
 
 . . . And now thou sendest foes 
 Bred from thy womb, lost Church ! to mock the throes 
 Of thy free child, thou cruel-natured Rome ! " — Ibid. 171. 
 
 43. " 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."— Ibid. 172. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF DR. PUSEY. 
 
 44. " In different ways man would forestall the sentence of his 
 judge ; the Romanist by the sacrament of penance ; a modern class 
 of divines by the appropriation of the merits and righteousness of 
 our blessed Redeemer ; the Methodists by sensible experience ; our 
 own, with the ancient Church, preserves a reverent silence, not 
 cutting off hope, and yet not nurturing an untimely confidence, or 
 a presumptuous security." — Pusey on Baptism, p. xiv. 
 
 44. (b) " Lastly, I would beseech those, for whom these tracts 
 are mainly intended, our younger labourers in the Lord's vineyard, 
 for their own sakes, as well as of those, of whose souls they must 
 give account, neither here, nor in any other portion of these tracts, 
 to be deterred by any vague fear of an approximation (as they may 
 
12 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 be led to think) to any doctrines or practices of the corrupt Church 
 of Rome ; not to allow themselves to fall in with any of those 
 charges, which ignorant men are wont to make, of ' the early 
 corruptions of Christianity,' and which are the bulwark of Socinian- 
 ism, and of every other heresy. Since the Swiss reformers set aside 
 primitive antiquity, and took a new model of their own, Antiquity, 
 if tried by the standard of Zuinglianism or Calvinism, must, of 
 course, appear to approximate to the modern Church of Rome ; for 
 that Church has retained, in a corrupted form, doctrines and rites, 
 which the Swiss reformation rejected. Hence, the Lutheran (see 
 p. 104), the Bohemian (p. 233), and our own Church, have, by the 
 admirers of that reformation, ever been looked upon as Papistical ; 
 as they, in their turn, have, by the ' extreme reformation of the 
 Socinians' (p. 198-9), been held, and rightly, to have stopped short 
 of the results of their own principles, and have been represented, 
 though wrongly, as retainers of Alexandrian ' corruptions of Christ- 
 ianity.' Hooker's defence of our Church is but one instance of this 
 wide difference between ours and the Zuinglian reformation. Our 
 Church (blessed be God,) never took Luther, or Calvin, or any 
 modern name for its teacher or its model, but primitive antiquity : 
 and by the Holy Scripture alone, and the universal consent of Primi- 
 tive Antiquity, as the depository of its doctrines, and the witness of 
 its teaching, would she be judged '. In these principles of our dear 
 mother, the Church of England, have we been trained, and in these 
 old ways we would humbly tread." — Ibid. p. xvii. 
 
 45. " We cannot sufficiently admire the lovingkindness of Al- 
 mighty God, who allowed the seeds indeed of Reformation to be 
 sown among us by Wickliffe ; yet then, notwithstanding the power- 
 ful human aid which he had, and his great popularity, caused them 
 to lie, as it were, in the earth, until those which were less sound 
 should, by length of time, decay ; and again, that He placed so 
 many impediments in the way of our final Reformation (for what 
 man does rapidly he does rashly), and held back our steps by the 
 arbitrariness of Henry ; and, when we were again going down the 
 stream of the times too readily, checked us at once by the unex- 
 pected death of Edward, and proved us by the fire of the Marian 
 persecution, and took away, by a martyr's death, those in whom we 
 most trusted ; and then finally employed a number of labourers, in 
 the restoration of His Temple, of whom none should yet be so con- 
 spicuous, that the edifice should seem to be his design, or that he 
 should be tempted to restore the decayed parts according to any 
 theory of his own, but rather that all things should be made ac- 
 cording to the pattern which He had shown us in the Church pri- 
 mitive. Had our reform taken place at first, we had been Wick- 
 liffites ; under Edward, we had been a branch of the Reformed 
 
 1 There are some brief, but valuable notices of the peculiarity of the Church 
 of England in the late Bishop Jebb's Pastoral Instructions, and some striking 
 quotations from ancient divines, domestic and foreign, who have remarked it, as 
 an excellence ; so also in Bp. Bull's Apologia pro Hannonia, sect. 1. § 4. ed. 
 Burton. 
 
DR. PUSEY'S WRITINGS. 
 
 13 
 
 Zuinglian or the Calvinist Church : now we bear no human name ; 
 we look to no human founder ; we have no one reformer to set up as 
 an idol ; we are neither of Paul nor of Apollos ; nor have we any 
 human maxims or theories as the basis of our system ; but we have 
 been led back at once to the distant fountains, where the waters of 
 life, fresh from their source, flowed most purely." — Ibid. pp. 105, 106. 
 
 46. " In this, as in many other cases, we must distinguish be- 
 tween the practical corruptions of the Church of Rome and her 
 theoretical errors. For it often happens that she leads her members 
 into error, and countenances corruption in them, when her state- 
 ments in themselves are not very unsound ; teaching us how much 
 evil what seems a little departure from the truth may create." — Ibid. 
 p. 192. 
 
 47. " In justice then to ourselves, as well as to the Romanists, 
 we must bear in mind that the unhappy and fatal canons of the 
 Council of Trent were directed, in part, against actual error, such 
 as had mixed itself with the then, as well as with former, attempts 
 at reformation. And we should do well to recollect that, though 
 bound to thank God for all those, through whom the light of the 
 Gospel shone more clearly, we always were regarded by them as a 
 distinct and peculiar Church, and are not to identify ourselves with 
 them." — Ibid. p. 1 94. 
 
 48. " Alexandria, the bulwark of the faith in the Holy Trinity, 
 and North Africa, of the unmeritedness of God's free grace, a 
 desolation ! Rome, once characterized for steady practical adher- 
 ence to sound doctrine, a seat of Anti-Christ. Geneva, once pro- 
 posed as the model of all reformed Churches, and of influence well 
 nigh unbounded, and yet immediately the food of Socinianism, and 
 now a prey to the heresy which came forth, but was for the time 
 ejected, also from its bosom." — Ibid. p. 201. 
 
 49. " We can see how a person's whole views of Sanctification 
 by the Holy Ghost will be affected by Hoadly's low notions of the 
 Lord's Supper; or how the error of Transubstantiation has modified 
 other true doctrine, so as to cast into the shade the one oblation 
 once offered upon the Cross ; or how the addition of the single 
 practice of ' soliciting the saints to pray for men,' has in the Romish 
 Church obscured the primary articles of Justification and of the In- 
 tercession of our Blessed Lord." — Ibid. 2nd Ed. p. 6. 
 
 50. " Having adopted the fiction of a letter from the Pope to 
 certain members of your Church, as being his emissaries, it became 
 necessary, by disguise, or omission, or perversion, to conceal what- 
 ever would have disturbed the unity of the drama. For instance, 
 you play not unfrequently upon the words which one of these 
 writers addresses to the Church of Rome — ' Cum talis sis, utinam 
 noster esses !' and who would not echo the wish . . . that she, as our- 
 selves have been, might be restored to her primeval purity, when she 
 was once the guardian of Christian truth ; that God would ' break 
 the yoke of her burden, the staff on her shoulder, and the rod of her 
 
14 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 oppressor ?' Taken then in their ohvious sense, the words are the 
 expression of every Christian heart. Your fiction, however, required 
 that they should express a desire for union with Rome as she is ; 
 and in this sense accordingly you quote them. The very next words 
 of the writer contradict this. He proceeds (and to prevent the pos- 
 sibility of a mistake, he has printed these words in capitals) : ' But, 
 alas ! an union is impossible.' Honesty required the insertion of 
 those words ; but they would have spoiled the jest, and so they are 
 omitted." — Pusey's Earnest Remonstrance to the Author of the Pope's 
 Letter {vide Vol. iii. of the Tracts,) p. 8. 
 
 51. "The ground taken by the Church of Rome is, that all her 
 present traditions are to be received as of equal validity with the 
 written word, because she holds them ; our ground, that they are not 
 to be so received, because they cannot be proved to be apostolic, and 
 some are corrupt and vainly invented. Our controversy then with Rome 
 is not an a priori question on the value of tradition in itself .... but 
 is one purely historical, that the Romanist traditions not being such, 
 but on the contrary repugnant to Scripture, are not to be received. . . . 
 Nor does our accepting the traditions of the Universal Church in their 
 day, involve our accepting those of the particular Church of Rome, 
 after so many centuries of corruption, in the present."— Ibid. p. 13. 
 
 52. " One not versed in history will be liable perpetually to con- 
 found the earlier truth, or unobjectionable custom, with the later 
 corruption, especially if he has no very clear idea of Christian theo- 
 logy." — Ibid. p. 18. 
 
 53. " Now to this prayer (for the dead, in the first prayer-book,) 
 neither Calvin nor Bucer objected that it was Papistical. On the con- 
 trary, Calvin says in his letter to the Protector, (Epp. p. 39. fol.) ' I 
 hear that in the celebration of the Supper there is repeated a prayer 
 for the departed, and I well knoiv that this cannot be construed into an 
 approbation of the Papistical Purgatory.' " — Ibid. p. 20. 
 
 54. " We never have, nor do we wish for any alteration in the 
 liturgy of our Church ; we bless God that our lot has fallen in her 
 bosom, — that He has preserved in her the essentials of primitive doc- 
 trine and a liturgy so holy ; and, although I cannot but think its first 
 form preferable, alteration is out of the question : there cannot be 
 real alteration without a schism ; and as we claim to have our 
 own consciences respected, so, even if we had the power of change, 
 would we respect the consciences of others. . . . The whole course of 
 the Tracts has, as you know, and yourself reproach us with, been 
 against innovation." — Ibid. p. 28. 
 
 55. " You know that these authors had written also against 
 Popery, and republished older writings against it : their very tracts 
 are known by the name of ' Tracts against Popery and Dissent ;' 
 although, when they were commenced, dissent was everywhere a 
 pressing evil, Popery had scarcely begun to bestir itself." — Ibid. p. 32. 
 
 56. " No one clergyman in or near Oxford has done anyone thing 
 as 'being justified by primitive antiquity ;' but . . . whatever has 
 
DR. PUSEY'S WRITINGS. 
 
 15 
 
 been done, has been done in obedience to the rubrics, or to carry 
 them out into practice. ... In no one church or chapel has any 
 ' needJess bowing' been introduced : clergymen, indeed, here al- 
 ways bow at the name of our Blessed Lord, wherever it occurs. . . 
 In the cathedral the dean and canons have from time immemorial, 
 on leaving the choir, bowed to the altar. No cross has been added 
 to the surplice ; only one clergyman, who was at the time at Oxford, 
 but not connected with any parish church, thinking this to be en- 
 joined by the rubric prefixed to the Morning Prayers, ' wore in the 
 train of his ministration such ornaments as were in this Church of 
 England, by authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign 
 of King Edward VI.' The scarf had then, it is said, two small 
 black crosses, one at each end. . . Whether the dress were that of 
 Edward VI. I cannot say ; it is enough for the principle that it was 
 adopted as being sanctioned by the Church ; and besides, one in- 
 stance does not imply a system. Of ' unusual attitudes of devotion,' 
 I know of none." — Pusey's Letter to Townsend {British Mag. vol. xii. 
 p. 368.) 
 
 57. " Now let me first recapitulate what it is which has been 
 thus blazoned about and exaggerated : — one clergyman has worn a 
 cross on his scarf, in compliance, as he thought, with our rubric ; 
 two clergymen have in new congregations knelt towards the East, 
 in conformity with the ancient, and recent, and still-existing practice 
 of our Church ; two have used a table, where the rubric implies that 
 the elements must be placed somewhere, but says not how. Strong 
 party- spirit has taken up these reports, not for their own sake (else 
 why do they pass unnoticed irregular innovations in the mode of 
 administering the Communion or Baptism ?) but because it was easier 
 so to cast a slur upon a body of men, and, through them, upon sound 
 principles, than to refute them." — Ibid. p. 642. 
 
 58. " From the time that the Church of Rome began to forsake 
 the principles of the Church Catholic, and grasp after human means, 
 she began also to take evil means for good ends, and incurring the 
 apostolic curse on those who ' do evil that good may come,' took at 
 last evil means for evil ends. She, the Apostolic Church of the 
 West, consecrated by Apostolic blood, showed herself rather the 
 descendant of them who slew the Apostles, and ' thought that they 
 did God service,' stained herself with the blood of the saints, that 
 on her might come all the righteous blood which was shed within 
 her : even of the very Apostles, who had shed blood for her. There 
 is not an enormity which has been practised against people or kings 
 by miscreants in the name of God, but the divines of that unhappy 
 Church have abetted or justified." — Pusey's Sermon on the Fifth of 
 November, p. 29. 
 
 59. " The principle of the Romish Church was expediency ; it 
 was a plotting, scheming, worldly spirit, having at first God's glory 
 for its end, but seeking it by secular means, and at last, in punish- 
 ment, left to seek its own glory, and to set itself up in the place of 
 God."— Ibid. p. 31. 
 
16 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 60. " It is not, God knoweth, in any spirit of boast against these 
 branches, some of which were grafted in before us, but still in en- 
 couragement and warning, that I would notice, that herein also our 
 Church followed the principles of the Church Catholic, and with her 
 had been portioned. She alone of all the reformed Churches was 
 purified in the fire, and purged by the blood of martyrs, and had the 
 evidence of affliction that she was a beloved child, and no bastard." 
 — Ibid. p. 32. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF MR. NEWMAN. 
 
 61 . '* Various notions have led theological writers to implicate 
 this celebrated Church [the Alexandrian] in the charge of heresy. 
 .... The Romanists have thought . ... to exalt the Aposto- 
 lical purity of their own Church by the contrast of unfaithfulness in 
 its early rival ; and (what is of greater importance) to insinuate 
 the necessity of an infallible authority, by exaggerating the errors 
 and contrarieties of the ante-Nicene fathers, and the fact of its exist- 
 ence by throwing us upon the decisions of the later councils for the 
 unequivocal statement of orthodox doctrine." — Newman on Arianism, 
 p. 44. 
 
 62. " We agree with the Romanist in appealing to antiquity as 
 our great teacher, but we deny that his doctrines are to be found in 
 antiquity ; and we maintain that his professed tradition is not really 
 such, that it is a tradition of men, that it stops short of the Apostles, 
 that the history of its introduction is known. On both accounts 
 then his doctrines are innovations ; because they run counter to the 
 doctrine of antiquity, and becaifse they rest upon what is historically 
 an upstart tradition. — Newman on Romanism, p. 47, 48. 
 
 63. " How hopeless then is it to contend with Romanists, as if 
 thev practically agreed with us as to the foundation of faith, however 
 much they pretend it ! Ours is antiquity, theirs the existing Church. 
 Its infallibility is their first principle ; belief in it is a deep prejudice, 
 quite beyond the reach of any thing external. It is quite clear that 
 the combined testimonies of all the Fathers, supposing such a case, 
 would not have a feather's weight against the decision of a Pope in 
 Council." — Ibid. p. 86. 
 
 64. " We must take and deal with things as they are, not as they 
 pretend to be. If we are induced to believe the professions of Rome, 
 and make advances towards her as if a sister or a mother Church, 
 which in theory she is, we shall find too late that we are in the arms 
 of a pitiless and unnatural relation, who will but triumph in the arts 
 which have inveigled us within her reach. No ; dismissing the dreams 
 which the romance of early Church history, and the high doctrines of 
 Catholicism will raise in the inexperienced mind, let us be sure that 
 she is our enemy, and will do us a mischief if she can. For in truth 
 she is a Church beside herself, abounding in noble gifts and rightful 
 titles, but unable to use them religiously ; crafty, obstinate, wilful, 
 malicious, cruel, unnatural, as madmen are, or rather, she may be 
 
MR. NEWMAN'S WRITINGS. 
 
 said to resemble a demoniac, . . . ruled within by an inexorable 
 spirit."— Ibid. p. 102, 103. 
 
 65. " My next instance shall be the Roman doctrine of Purgatory. 
 All Protestants are sufficiently alive to the seriousness of this error. 
 Now I think it may be shown that its existence is owing to a like 
 indulgence of human reason, and of private judgment upon Scripture, 
 in default of Catholic tradition." — Ibid. p. 212. 
 
 66. " Whether we be right or wrong, our theory of religion has a 
 meaning, and that really distinct from Romanism. They maintain 
 that faith depends upon the Church ; we, that the Church is built upon 
 the faith. By Church Catholic we mean the Church Universal ; they 
 those branches of it which are in Communion with Rome. Again, 
 they understand by the faith, whatever the Church at any time 
 declares to be faith ; we, what it has actually so declared from the 
 beginning. Both they and we anathematize those who deny the 
 faith ; but they extend the condemnation to all who question any 
 decree of the Roman Church ; we apply it to those only who deny 
 any article of the original Apostolic creed." — Ibid. p. 259. 
 
 67. " The Thirty-nine Articles then are instruments of teaching, 
 of Catholic teaching, being, as far as they go, heads, as it were, of 
 important chapters in revealed truth. And it is as thus viewing 
 them that we put them before the young . They are quite consistent 
 with the prerogative accorded, as we have seen, by antiquity to the 
 Apostolic Creed, quite distinct from the tyrannical enforcement of 
 the Tridentine articles on the part of Rome." — Ibid. p. 290. 
 
 68. "This statement ('that Holy Scripture containeth all things 
 necessary to salvation,' Art. VI.) is very plain and clear except in 
 one point, viz., who is to be the judge what is and what is not 
 contained in Scripture. Our Church is silent on this point — very 
 emphatically so. This is worth observing ; in truth, she does not 
 admit, strictly speaking, of any judge at all, in the sense in which 
 Romanists and Protestants contend for one ; and in this point, as in 
 others, holds a middle course between extreme theories. Romanism, 
 as we all know, maintains the existence of a judge of controversies ; 
 nay, an infallible one, that is, the Church Catholic. Again the mul- 
 titude of Protestants consider every man his own judge ; they hold 
 that every man may or must read Scripture for himself ; and judge 
 about its meaning, and make up his mind for himself. We neither 
 hold that the Catholic Church is an infallible judge of Scripture, nor 
 that each individual may judge for himself ; but that the Church has 
 authority, and that individuals may judge for themselves outside the 
 range of that authority. The Church is not a judge of the sense of 
 Scripture in the common sense of the word, but a witness — a keeper 
 and witness of Catholic tradition. She bears witness to a fact that 
 such and such a doctrine, or such a sense of Scripture, has ever been 
 received, and came from the Apostles." — Ibid. p. 327, et seq. 
 
 69. " Nor let any one be startled at all this discordance of 
 opinion among our divines, in their mode of proving one of the 
 
 s 
 
18 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 great principles of Protestantism [Scripture the rule of faith] , as if it 
 reflected upon the wisdom or soundness of the principle itself. Above 
 all, let not Romanists venture to take advantage of it, lest we retort 
 upon them the vacillations, absurdities, intrigues, and jealousies 
 displayed in the deliberations of divines attendant on their general 
 councils." — Ibid. p. 346. 
 
 70. " If this line of argument can be maintained, there will be 
 this especial force in it as addressed to Romanists. They are accus- 
 tomed to taunt us with inconsistency, as if we used the tradition 
 
 of the Church only when and as far as we could not avoid it 
 
 We do not discard the tradition of the Fathers ; we accept it ; we 
 accept it entirely ; we accept its witness concerning itself and 
 against itself. It witnesses to its own inferiority to Scripture." — 
 Ibid. p. 349. 
 
 71. " Nothing I think is plainer from these extracts [some quoted 
 from the Fathers] than that the authors of them looked upon Scrip- 
 ture as the public standard of proof, the tribunal of appeal in con- 
 troversy." — Ibid. p. 399. 
 
 72. " Time went on, and he [Satan] devised a second idol of the 
 true Christ, and it remained in the temple of God for many a year. 
 The age was rude and fierce. Satan took the darker side of the 
 Gospel. . . . The religion of the world was then a fearful religion. 
 Superstitions abounded, and cruelties. The noble firmness, the 
 graceful austerity of the true Christian, were superseded by forbid- 
 ding spectres, harsh of eye, and haughty of brow ; and these were 
 the patterns or the tyrants of a beguiled people." — Newman's Ser- 
 mons, vol. i. p. 359. 
 
 73. " Satan could not hinder, he could but corrupt the kingdom 
 promised to the saints. He could but seduce them to trust in an arm 
 of flesh. He could but sow the seeds of decay among them by allur- 
 ing them to bow down to ' Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, 
 and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites,' and to make a king 
 over them like the nations, ' when the Lord was their king.' Had 
 it not been for this falling away in divers times and places, surely 
 Christendom would not be in its present miserable state of disunion 
 and weakness." — Newman's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 282. 
 
 74. '* There have been ages of the world, in which men have 
 thought too much of angels, and paid them excessive honour : 
 honoured them so perversely as to forget the supreme worship 
 due to Almighty God. This is the sin of a dark age." — Ibid. 
 p. 400. 
 
 75. " It is too evident how grievously the Church of Rome has 
 erred in this part of Christian duty [zeal]. Let her doctrines be as 
 pure as her defenders maintain, still she has undisputably made the 
 Church an instrument of worldly politics by a ' zeal not according to 
 knowledge.' Let us grant that her doctrine was not fatally cor- 
 rupted till the sixteenth century ; nevertheless, from the eleventh at 
 least she has made Christ's kingdom of this world. I will not in- 
 
MR. NEWMAN'S WRITINGS. 
 
 19 
 
 quire whether she committed the additional most miserable sin of 
 rebellion against Caesar ; though from what we see around us at this 
 day there is great reason to fear that from the beginning of her 
 power she has been tainted with it." — Ibid. p. 436. 
 
 76. " He will but observe that, if Popery be a perversion or cor- 
 ruption of the truth, as we believe, it must, by the mere force of the 
 terms, be like that truth which it counterfeits ; and, therefore, the 
 fact of a resemblance, as far as it is borne out, is no proof of any 
 essential approximation in his opinions to Popery as such. Rather, 
 it would be a serious argument against their primitive character, if 
 to superficial observers they bore no likeness to it. Ultra- Protest- 
 antism could never have been silently corrupted into Popery." — 
 Ibid. vol. iii. Advertisement. 
 
 77. " A great part of the Christian world, as is well known, 
 believes that after this life the souls of Christians ordinarily go into 
 a prison called Purgatory, where they are kept in fire or other tor- 
 ment, till, their sins being burned away, they are at length fitted for 
 that glorious kingdom into which nothing defiled can enter. Now, 
 if there were any good reason for this belief, we should certainly 
 have a verv sad and depressing prospect before us. . . . But, in 
 fact, Christ has mercifully interposed expressly to assure us that 
 our friends are better provided for than this doctrine would make it 
 appear. He assures us that they ' rest from their labours, and their 
 works do follow them.' " — Ibid. p. 408. 
 
 78. " It is ' Jesus Christ, before our eyes evidently set forth, 
 crucified among us.' Not before our bodily eyes ; so far, every 
 thing remains at the end of that heavenly communion as it did at 
 the beginning. What was bread remains bread, and what was wine 
 remains wine. We need no carnal, earthly, visible miracle to con- 
 vince us of the presence of the Lord incarnate."- — Ibid. vol. iv. p. 167. 
 
 79. " While we think thus of the invisible Church, we are re- 
 strained by many reasons from such invocations of her separate mem- 
 bers as are unhappily so common in other Christian countries. First, 
 because the practice was not primitive, but an addition, which the 
 world had poured into the Church ; next, because we are told to 
 pray to God only, and invocation may easily be corrupted into prayer, 
 and then becomes idolatrous. And further, it must be considered 
 that though the Church is represented in Scripture as a channel of 
 God's gifts to us, yet it is only as a body, and sacramentally, not 
 as an agent, nor in her members one by one. St. Paul does not 
 say that we are brought near to this saint or that saint, but to all 
 together; to the spirits of just men made perfect." — Ibid. p. 207. 
 
 80. " Hence the charge, not unfounded as regards Romanism, 
 that it views, or tends to view, the influences of grace, not as the 
 operations of a living God, but as a something to bargain about, and 
 buy, and traffic with, as if religion were, not an approach to things 
 above us, but a commerce with our equals concerning things we can 
 master." — Newman on Justification, p. 316. 
 
 s 2 
 
20 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 81. "The view of justification taken by Romanists and by a 
 school of divines among ourselves, tends to fix the mind on self, not 
 on Christ ; whereas that which I have advocated as Scriptural and 
 Catholic, buries itself in the vision of a present, an in-dwelling God." 
 — Ibid. p. 220. 
 
 82. " So much space has been given to Bucer's doctrine, because 
 he is in a small degree connected with our own Reformation ; and such 
 as his has been the current doctrine of the English Church. Our 
 divines, though of very different schools, have, with few exceptions, 
 agreed in this, that justification is gained by obedience in the shape 
 of faith ; that is, an obedience which confesses it is not sufficient, 
 and trusts solely in Christ's merits for acceptance — not the Roman, 
 that the obedience justifies without a continual imputation of Christ's 
 merits ; nor the Protestant, that the imputation justifies distinct 
 from obedience." — Ibid. p. 420. 
 
 83. " The Council of Trent did, as regards Roman errors, what, 
 for all we know, though God forbid, some future Synod of the 
 English Church may do as regards Protestant errors, take them into 
 her system, make them forms of communion, bind upon her hitherto 
 favoured sons their grievous chain ; and what that unhappy Council 
 actually did for Rome, that does every one in his place and accord- 
 ing to his power, who by declaiming against and denouncing those 
 who dare to treat the Protestant errors as unestablished, gives a 
 helping hand towards their establishment." — Newman's Letter to 
 Faussett, p. 15. 
 
 84. " Who defends such things as these [worship of the Blessed 
 Virgin] ? who says the Church of Rome was free from them 
 before Trent ? . . . Why are the Tracts to be censured for stating a 
 plain historical fact, that the Roman Church did not, till Trent, 
 embody in her creed the mass of her present tenets, while they do 
 not deny but expressly acknowledge her great corruptions before 
 that era ; while they give the history of Transubstantiation prior to 
 Trent, (Nos. 27, 28.) of the breviary worship of the Blessed Virgin 
 prior to Trent, (No. 79.) while they formally draw up points in 
 which they feel agreement with Romanism to be hopeless, (Nos. 38. 
 71.) and while they declare, (in large letters to draw attention) that, 
 while Rome is what it is, ' union ' with it ' is impossible ' (No. 
 20.) ? All that can be said against them is, that in discussing the 
 Roman tenets, they use guarded language ; and this I will say, that 
 the more we have personal experience of the arduous controversy in 
 question, the more shall we understand the absolute necessity, if 
 we are to make any way, of weighing our words and keeping from 
 declamation." — Ibid. p. 18. 
 
 85. " It is idolatry to bow down to any emblem or symbol as 
 divine which God Himself has not appointed ; and since He has not 
 
 appointed the worship of images, such worship is idolatrous 
 
 It is impossible for any religious man, having a crucifix, not to treat 
 it with reverence . . . but ... I more than doubt whether a crucifix, 
 carved to represent life, as such memorials commonly are, be not 
 
FROUDE'S REMAINS. 
 
 2.1 
 
 too true to be reverent, and too distressing for familiar contemplation. 
 ... So much I know, that the use of the crucifix is in this place no 
 badge of persons whose mode of thinking you would condemn. How 
 many crucifixes could be counted up in Oxford I know not ; but you 
 will find them in the possession of those who are no special friends 
 or followers of Mr. Froude, and perhaps cordial admirers, except 
 of course on this one point, of the tenor of your publication." — 
 Ibid. p. 25. In a Note — " I know or have heard of the names of 
 four persons altogether ; one of the four I have forgotten, and 
 another I cannot be sure I heard." 
 
 86. " O that we had the courage and the generous faith to aim at 
 perfection, to demand the attention, to claim the submission of the 
 world ! Thousands of hungry souls in all classes of life stand 
 around us ; we do not give them 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 rumour of plots, and disputes, and denunciations, but 
 by 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." — Ibid. p. 98. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM FROUDE'S REMAINS. 
 
 87. " The Romanists [are not schismatics in England and 
 Catholics abroad, but they] are wretched Tridentines every where." 
 — Froude's Remains, vol. i. p. 434. 
 
 88. " I never could be a Romanist ; I never could think all those 
 things in Pope Pius' Creed necessary to salvation." — Ibid. 
 
 89. " We found to our horror, that the doctrine of the infallibility 
 of the Church made the acts of each successive Council obligatory 
 for ever ; that what had been once decided could not be meddled 
 with again : in fact, that they were committed finally and irre- 
 vocably, and could not advance one step to meet us, even though the 
 Church of England should again become what it was, in Laud's time, 
 or indeed what it may have been up to the atrocious Council [of 
 
 Trent] ; for M. admitted that many things, e. g. the doctrine 
 
 of mass, which were fixed then, had been indeterminate before. So 
 much for the Council of Trent, for which Christendom has to thank 
 
 Luther and the Reformers I own it has altogether changed 
 
 my notions of the Roman Catholics, and made me wish for a total 
 overthrow of their system." — Ibid. pp. 307, 308. 
 
 90. " I remember you told me that I should come back a better 
 Englishman than I went away ; better satisfied not only that our 
 Church is nearest in theory right, but also that practically, in spite 
 of its abuses, it works better ; and, to own the truth, your prophecy 
 is already nearly realized. Certainly I have as yet only seen the 
 surface of things ; but what I have seen does not come up to mv 
 
22 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 notions of propriety. These Catholic countries seem in an especial 
 manner Kari\tiv rf/v aXrfdttay kv dSiKiy [" to hold the truth in un- 
 righteousness."] And the priesthood are themselves so sensible 
 of the hollow basis upon which their power rests, that they dare 
 not resist the most atrocious encroachments of the State upon 
 their privileges. . . I have seen priests laughing when at the 
 Confessional ; and indeed it is plain, that unless they habitually 
 made light of very gross immorality, three -fourths of the popu- 
 lation [of Naples] would be excommunicated The Church 
 
 of England has fallen low, and will probably be worse before it is 
 better ; but let the Whigs do their worst, they cannot sink us so 
 deep as these people have allowed themselves to fall while retaining 
 all the superficial of a religious country." — Ibid. p. 293, 294. 
 
 91. " Since I have been out here, I have got a worse notion of 
 the Roman Catholics than 1 had. I really do think them idolaters, 
 though I cannot be quite confident of my information as it affects 
 the character of the priests. . . . What I mean by calling these 
 people idolaters is, that I believe they look upon the Saints and 
 Virgin as good-natured people that will try to get them let off easier 
 than the Eible declares, and that, as they don't intend to comply 
 with the conditions on which God promises to answer prayers, they 
 pray to them as a come-off. But this is a generalization for which 
 I have not sufficient data." — Ibid, vide Preface, p. xiii. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF MR. KEBLE. 
 
 92. " The deep and sincere dread with which Hooker regarded 
 the errors and aggressions of Rome is apparent in every part of his 
 writings ; and so much the more instructive will it prove, should 
 we find him of his own accord embracing those Catholic opinions 
 and practices, which some in their zeal for popery may have too 
 lightly parted with, but which, as Rome alone could not give them, 
 so neither should we allow her indirectly to take them away." — 
 From the Pre/ace to Hooker, p. iv. 
 
 93. " King James II. it is well known, ascribed to Hooker, more 
 than to any other writer, his own ill-starred conversion to Romanism : 
 against which, nevertheless, if he had thought a little more im- 
 partially, he might have perceived that Hooker's works every where 
 inculcate that which is the only sufficient antidote, respect for the 
 true Church of the Fathers, as subsidiary to Scripture and a witness 
 of its true meaning." — Ibid. p. cv. 
 
 94. " The Freedom of the Anglican Church may be vindicated 
 against the exorbitant claims of Rome, and yet no disparagement 
 ensue of the authority inherent in the Catholic Apostolical Church." 
 — From the Sermon on Primitive Tradition, p. 6. 
 
 95. " We are naturally, if not reasonably, jealous of the word 
 Tradition, associated as it is in our minds with the undue claims and 
 pernicious errors of Rome." — Ibid. p. 20. 
 
 96. " The genuine Canons of the Primitive Councils, and the 
 
 3 
 
MR. KEBLE'S WRITINGS. 
 
 23 
 
 genuine fragments of the Primitive Liturgies, are reducible into a 
 small space ; even although we go so low down in both as the 
 division of the Eastern and Western Churches, including the six first 
 councils general, and excluding image-worship, and similar corrup- 
 tions by authority." — Ibid. p. 40. 
 
 97. " The reverence of the Latin Church for tradition, being 
 applied unscrupulously, and without the necessary check from 
 Scripture, to opinions and practices of a date comparatively recent, 
 has led a large portion of Christendom to disuse and contempt, not 
 of Scripture only, but of that real and sure tradition, which they 
 ought to have religiously depended upon." — Ibid. p. 45. 
 
 98. " Had this rule (the exclusion of novelty,) been faithfully 
 kept, it would have preserved the Church just as effectually from 
 Transubstantiation on the one hand, as from the denial of Christ's 
 real Presence on the other hand. The two errors in the original are 
 but Rationalism in different forms ^endeavours to explain away, 
 and bring nearer to the human intellect, that which had been left 
 thoroughly mysterious both by Scripture and Tradition." — Ibid. p. 47. 
 
 99. " Many men . . have argued against an imaginary case, instead 
 of addressing themselves to the realities of Church History ; and 
 have thus given an advantage to Romanists on one side, and Ration- 
 alists on the other, of which neither party has been slow to avail 
 itself. Such is not the way of the English Church ; she does not so 
 violently sever the different parts of the constitution of the Kingdom 
 of Heaven ; but acknowledging Scripture as her written charter, and 
 Tradition as the common law whereby both the validity and practical 
 meaning of that charter is ascertained, venerates both as inseparable 
 members of one great providential system : without confounding 
 their provinces, or opposing them to each other, in the manner of 
 modern Rome. Why should it be thought a thing incredible, that 
 persons should be found among her members and ministers, desirous 
 to follow, as God shall give them grace, in so plain, so reasonable, 
 so moderate, so safe a way ? Because they call attention to the fact, 
 that " Primitive Tradition is recognized in Holy Scripture." as being, 
 at that time, of paramount authority ; why should they be presently 
 suspected of having a system of their own in reserve, — a theory, like 
 some parts of Romanism, still independent of Holy Scripture, and to 
 be supported by modern traditions ?" — Ibid. p. 74. 
 
 100. " Because the Romanists make bold with the word Tradition 
 on very different matters from this — mere instructions of a part of the 
 present Church, in no wise able to stand the test of Vincentius, 
 even supposing them uncontradicted in Scripture : — are we therefore 
 to throw aside or depreciate a Tradition, established as we see the 
 Nicene Creed is ?" — Ibid. p. 147. 
 
 101. " Of course, if so it had pleased Almighty God, the Scriptures 
 might have been all clear of themselves ; or their meaning might 
 have been clearly revealed to individuals, at a certain stage of their 
 progress in the Christian life ; or there might be somewhere in the 
 present Church an unerring court of appeal to fix their interpretation. 
 
24 EXTRACTS FROM MR. KEBLE'S WRITINGS. 
 
 Men may go on imagining the advantages of such a dispensation, 
 until they have persuaded themselves that things are really so 
 ordered. But theories of that kind, after all that can be said in their 
 favour, must they not incur the censure of true wisdom, as partaking 
 of ' that idle and not very innocent employment of forming imagi- 
 nary models of a new world, and schemes of governing it ?' How 
 much better, humbly to acquiesce in God's dispensations as we find 
 them ! How much more dutiful, with all seriousness to use our pri- 
 vilege of belonging to a Church, which, on the one hand, refers us to 
 Scripture as the standard and treasure of all necessary doctrine, on 
 the other hand, ' ties her doctors, as much as the Council of Trent 
 does, to expound Scripture according to the consent of the ancient 
 Fathers 1 .' "—Ibid. p. 149. 
 
 J Bp. Taylor's Works, x. 322. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Additions, Roman, 21. 62 
 
 Anathemas, 10. 22. 83 
 
 Angel worship, 36. 74 
 
 Anglo-Catholics, contented, 24. 44 b . 54. 
 101 ; not innovators in discipline, 56. 
 57 ; highly-favoured in their Re- 
 formation, 45 ; persecuted, 9. 45. 60 ; 
 opposed to Romanism. 5. 6. 55. 03 ; 
 successful in opposition, 86 ; always 
 accounted Papistical by those who 
 went further, 44 b 
 
 Catholic doctrine and practices not 
 derived from Rome, 92 
 
 Confession, forced, 14. 22 
 
 Corruptions, Roman, 6. 12. 13. 15. 16. 
 18. 20. 23. 26. 29. 31. 32. 38. 42. 43. 
 51. 52. 73. 75. 76 
 
 Corrupt state of Italian Churches, 90 
 
 Council of Trent, 23. 67- 83. 87- 89 
 
 Councils, General, 69 
 
 Dark ages, 26. 72. 74 
 Denial of Cup, 14. 22 
 
 Fathers subsidiary to Scripture, 93 
 Idolaters, Italian Romanists, 91 
 Idolatry, 85 
 Image-worship, 14. 22 
 Indulgences, 14 
 
 Infallibility, 12. 61. 63. 68. 89 101 
 Intention in Sacraments, 22 
 Invocation of Saints, 14. 22. 27- 37. 
 
 49. 79 
 Justification, 14. 81. 82 
 Legends, 27 
 
 Masses, usage of, 14. 25. 33 
 Mediators, human, 39 
 Merits, 14. 34. 80 
 
 Penance, 25. 34. 44 
 Perversions, Roman, 23. 25. 46. 76 
 Popery, incurable, 1 ; a falling off, 73; 
 pestilential, 7: malicious and cruel, 
 15. 64 ; rebellious, 75 ; tyrannical, 
 1. 67. 72; an insanity, 64 ; an evil 
 spirit, ibid. ; heretical, 3. 7- 6. 20 ; 
 exclusive, 19 ; an apology for Lu- 
 ther, 4 ; caused by Luther, 89 ; irre- 
 concileably different from us, 7- 14. 
 28. 50. 66. 84. 88 ; unscriptural, 6 ; 
 presumptuous, 17 ; persecuting, 9. 
 
 32. 58 ; political, 58. 59. 75 ; ration- 
 alizes, 98 ; an Antichrist, 38. 40. 41. 
 48. 72. 
 
 Prayer for the dead in Christ, 53 
 Purgatory, 14, 22. 29. 31. 65. 77 
 
 Rome, its strength, 8 ; a demoniac, 64 ; 
 its claims exorbitant, 94 
 
 Saint-worship, 30. 36. 84 
 Scripture, 70. 71 
 Supremacy, Roman, 2. 12. 14 
 Superstitions, Roman, 1. 72 
 
 Traditions, 25. 51. 62. 70. 95. 96. 97- 
 99. 100 
 
 Transubstantiation, 10. 11. 14. 25. 31. 
 
 33. 35. 49. 78. 84. 98 
 
 Unknown tongue, Service in, 14 
 
 Gilbert & Rivingiw, Printers, St. John's Square, London.