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CORRESPONDENCE ON CHURCH AND
RELIGION OF WILLIAM EWART
GLADSTONE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK • BOSTON ¦ CHICAGO
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO

patsitect in. 1893

CORRESPONDENCE ON
CHURCH AND RELIGION
OF WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE
SELECTED AND ARRANGED
BY D. C. LATHBURY
WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.

NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1910

Copyright, 1910,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

!Set up .and electrotyped. Published July, igio.

nH

%9

Wortoootr Press
J. 8. CuBhing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. OXFORD ELECTIONS I
n. THE CONTROVERSY WITH ROME 23
III. THE CONTROVERSY WITH UNBELIEF 75
IV. EDUCATION 125
V. LETTERS OF MR. GLADSTONE TO HIS CHILDREN 149
VI. PERSONAL - - 197
APPENDIX :
I. CHURCH AND STATE - - 343
II. THE OXFORD MOVEMENT - 364
III. OXFORD ELECTIONS 373
IV. CONTROVERSY WITH ROME 383
V. CONTROVERSY WITH UNBELIEF - 403
VI. CHILDREN - - 411
VII. PERSONAL - - 421
vm. ST. DEINIOL'S LIBRARY - - 451
INDEX - - 45 S

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II.
PACING PAGE
MR. GLADSTONE AT WORK IN THE ' TEMPLE OF PEACE '
(photogravure) - Frontispiece
From a picture by John M'Lure Hamilton.
THE ' TEMPLE OF PEACE,' HA WARDEN CASTLE - 190
INTERIOR OF ORIGINAL LIBRARY IN WHICH THE BOOKS
WERE PLACED BY MR. GLADSTONE'S OWN HANDS - 220
MR. GLADSTONE, 1897 - - - 254
From a photograph.
MR. AND MRS. GLADSTONE, CHATEAU THORENC, CANNES,
FEBRUARY, 1 898 - - 3O0
LYING-IN-STATE, WESTMINSTER HALL, MAY 26-28, 1898 - 341
FUNERAL PROCESSION FROM WESTMINSTER HALL TO THE
ABBEY, MAY 28, 1898 - 365
MEMORIAL TOMB AND CHAPEL IN HA WARDEN CHURCH - 42 1
ST. DEINIOL'S LIBRARY AND RESIDENCE, AND PARISH
CHURCH, HAWARDEN - - - 45 1

THE ECCLESIASTICAL AND
RELIGIOUS CORRESPONDENCE OF
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE

CHAPTER I
OXFORD ELECTIONS
1847-1865
The letters relating to the Oxford Elections show
the exceptional character of Mr. Gladstone's tenure of
the seat. Not for him was reserved the unbroken
series of uncontested returns which is commonly
associated with University representation. Between
him and many of his constituents ecclesiastical differ
ences at first, and political differences later, opened a
chasm not to be bridged by any considerations of
University etiquette. To be Member for Oxford was,
in his case, little more than a barren honour. More
than once it embarrassed his relations with the party
he was in the end to lead, while it never secured him
against the prospect of an electoral contest. One
condition, indeed, which Mr. Gladstone laid down
from the first was always satisfied. 'In my mind,'
he wrote to Phillimore in 1847, 'the whole question
of the propriety of my being a candidate has turned
upon the prior question whether I was to be made
such, and to be returned, if returned at all, by a
party only, or by a more general and legitimate
VOL. II — I

2 TWO KINDS OF PIETY [1847
expression of the feeling of the constituency. ... I
have constantly thought and said that the evils of my
being returned to Parliament in the former sense were
so manifest and great that success could afford no
compensation for them.' Upon this point he was
never left in doubt. In every contest — in 1865 as
much as in 1847 — he had supporters in both camps.
That Liberals should vote for the man who was
more and more marked out as their future leader was
only natural. But there were always Conservatives
who saw in his Church policy the one hope of recon
ciling the just claim of the Church to freedom of speech
and action in spiritual things with the equally just
claim of the State — -so long as the Church is established
— to control that freedom in temporal things. In each
successive contest, indeed, there were defections. Men
who at first had followed him hesitatingly, or with no
clear understanding of the end to which he was guiding
them, fell away when they realized that, in certain not
inconceivable circumstances, they might be asked to
vote for Disestablishment. The kind of piety which
would rather see the Church poor and free than rich
and in chains did not appeal to them. They had been
accustomed all their lives to identify ' Church Defence '
with an obstinate fight for every incident of Establish
ment. They were now warned that their commander
might one day call upon them to make a willing sur
render of one civil privilege after another in order to
make the spiritual society more secure against State
interference. For many of them the appeal proved
too severe. Sorrowfully or cheerfully, one elector
after another sought a representative whose demands
on his confidence were less exacting.
The success of 1847 was in part a victory of the

1847] A FALSE RELIGION 3
Masters of Arts over the Hebdomadal Board. Sixteen
Heads of Houses voted for his opponent; only four
voted for Mr. Gladstone. In part it marked the failure
of the last effort of a party which rightly saw in Mr.
Gladstone their most irreconcilable foe. His own
estimate of this party is given in a letter to his father,
written on the eve of the poll :
^ ' I have many sympathies with men in the Low
Church party, while I desire a more firm, a more
comprehensive, and a more vigorous and elevated
system than theirs, which I find in the laws and
institutions of the Church as a whole. But there is
one kind of religion, one kind of Protestantism, with
which I have no sympathy whatever, and which con
stitutes no small part of the force arrayed against me.
It is the Protestantism which grew into fashion during
the last century, and has not yet quite grown out of it:
that hated everything in religion which lived and
moved ; which lowered and almost paganized doctrine,
loosened and destroyed discipline, and much defaced,
in contempt of law, the decent and beautiful order of
the Church ; which neglected learning, coolly tolerated
vice, and, as it has been said, was never enthusiastic
except against enthusiasm; which heaped up abuses
mountain high in the shape of plurality, non-residence,
simony, and others more than I can tell, drove millions
into dissent, suffered millions more to grow up in vir
tual heathenism, and made the Church of England —
I say it with deliberate sorrow — instead of being the
glory, in many respects the shame of Christendom.
This kind of Protestantism has always been the plague
spot of Oxford, which, like every other human institu
tion, must have its weaknesses and faults: it is this
false and hollow system of religion, hating all who
have disturbed its leaden slumbers, which now unites
itself with an honest and vehement fanaticism to raise
a cry "No Popery," and under that cry denounces the
genuine spirit of the Church of England.'
The opposition to Mr. Gladstone in 1847 was
based in the main on his votes — in Parliament on the

4 MR. ROUND'S CLAIMS [1847
Dissenters' Chapels Bill and the Maynooth question ;
in the Oxford convocation on Mr. Ward's case. The
opposition candidate was a Mr. Round, a gentle
man whose best title to fame is that sixteen heads of
colleges thought him good enough to run against
Mr. Gladstone. His committee sent a circular to the
electors directly challenging Mr. Gladstone's action on
all these points, and Mr. Gladstone's committee saw in
this step — 'very unusual in a University contest — a
sufficient occasion for submitting the circular to the
candidate himself. As the material parts of his reply
to the three charges are given in the appendix,* there
is no need to say more of it here. As regards May
nooth, indeed, the case is put even better in a single
sentence of a letter to a constituent in doubt about
his vote. 'I have been one of those who clung the
longest and the latest to the exclusive policy in
questions of Church and State, but, having been
driven from it as a whole, I cannot be any party to
its partial and one-sided application.' A difference
going even deeper appears in a letter written to Hope
by Charles Wordsworth, the first Warden of Glen-
almond, — the college of which Mr. Gladstone had
been one of the founders — and afterwards Bishop of
St. Andrews* For many years Wordsworth had
looked upon Gladstone as a man who had a mission
from God to save the nation 'upon the principles of
the Constitution in Church and State.' Fascinated by
Sir Robert Peel, his hero had abandoned the only
foundation on which the union of the three kingdoms
can be built — uniformity in religion. In view of this
fall, Wordsworth could only vote for him on condition
that he became once more 'the wise philosopher and
* See Appendix.

1847] JEWS IN PARLIAMENT 5
devout divine' he formerly was. A candidate and a
voter divided by such a chasm as is here indicated
were plainly destined to remain apart. Wordsworth
was left in the fortress raised by his own imagination,
secure, had he but known it, in the fact that it would
never again be thought worthy of a serious attack.
In the election of 1852 the opposition had firmer
ground to go upon. Since his return in 1847 Mr.
Gladstone had dissociated himself from the convoca
tion of the University upon two grave questions — the
admission of Jews into Parliament, and the assumption
of territorial titles by the Roman Bishops. On neither
of these was there any room for compromise. The vote
in favour of the Jews lost him the support of Pusey.
The vote against the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was
held to dispose of his claim to represent a Protestant
University. Upon the former issue he had, however,
the full support of James Hope, Tory and High Church
man though he was. 'On the Jewish question,' he
writes to Gladstone, 'my bigotry makes me Liberal.
To symbolize the Christianity of the House of Commons
in its present form is to substitute a new Church and
Creed for the old Catholic one, and as this is a delusion,
I would do nothing to countenance it. Better have the
Legislature declared what it really is — not professedly
Christian — and then let the Church claim those rights
and that independence which nothing but the pretence
of Christianity can entitle the Legislature to withhold
from it. In this view the emancipation of the Jews
must tend to that of the Church.' Mr. Gladstone's
attitude towards the Ecclesiastical Titles Act stood in
less need of defence. The course which the agitation
in favour of that measure had taken had, by this time,
disillusioned its more reasonable supporters, and the

6 A SERVILE DOCTRINE [1847
reaction which, six months later, was to place the lead
ing opponent of the Act in office was nearly complete.
The nature of the difference between Mr. Gladstone
and a section of his early friends had been made plain
by his pamphlet on 'The functions of Laymen in the
Church.' In 185 1 he had already made his own the
conclusions which were to govern his whole eccle
siastical career. He had recognized the danger which
awaited the Church from 'the exercise of State in
fluence and of State power, not only by way of
due check and control over her movements, but
by way of assuming the privilege or function of
ultimately deciding both her doctrine and her dis
cipline.' He had welcomed full religious freedom
in the interests alike of common justice, of religious
peace, and of Divine truth. He had rejected for ever
'the servile doctrine' that religion cannot live but by
the aid of Parliament. That aid might be a greater
or lesser good according to circumstances, but under
certain supposable conditions it might be the greatest
of evils. A doctrine such as this naturally came as a
shock to men who had accepted the conclusions of ' The
State in its Relations with the Church' without taking
in the arguments on which those conclusions were
founded or realizing that in the modern world ' all
systems, whether religious or political, which rest on a
principle of absolutism, must of necessity be, not indeed
tyrannical, but feeble and ineffective systems.' When
in 1865 defeat at length came, Mr. Gladstone's regret
was more for the Church than for himself. 'Do not
conceal from yourself,' he writes to Bishop Wilber
force, 'that my hands are much weakened. It was
only representing Oxford that a man whose opinions
are disliked and suspected could expect, or could

1847] AN ABSTRACT PRINCIPLE 7
have a title, to be heard.' But the change affected
nothing but his opportunities. 'As far as my will,
my time, my thoughts, are concerned, they are where
they were.' 223. To R. J. Phillimore. Hagley,
February 15, 1847.
My dear Phillimore,
. . . I fear that my reply to your letter of the 13 th
may be the means of tearing out of your breast a
cherished thought; perhaps some special purpose,
unseen to us, has led you forward even beyond your
wonted speed to feel the way for me towards the
representation of our loved Oxford, in order that I
might know that the thought of years is ripe, and
might without though not against my will put it into
words. I think that recent changes have made resistless an
argument, a practical argument, which was previously
strong; and that it is now impossible to regulate the
connection between Church and State in this country
by reference to an abstract principle. I have stood
for that abstract principle as long as I could, and
longer, i.e., later, than (I believe) any other man in
Parliament: but when the principle as such is gone
I will be no party to applying it occasionally, by dint
of the aid of circumstances, against particular bodies —
I mean especially against the Roman Catholics of
Ireland. I still think, as firmly as ever, that the connection
between Church and State is worth maintaining, and
that it both can and should be maintained; but I
cannot pledge myself to uphold, under all circum
stances, all the civil and proprietary claims of the
Church, and this for two reasons, both weighty: the
one, that I think some of them may require to be
qualified in deference to the spirit and recognized
principles of our modern legislation; the other, that I
have too plainly seen them, with my own eyes,
hampering and obtruding the fair demands of the
Church upon the State for her own more essential
purposes.

8 DUTY TO CONSTITUENTS [1847
I do not think that any of these civil and proprietary
claims are likely to be brought into serious question
at a very early period ; but I think the University, and
therefore her members, have a right to know from
those whom they are invited to choose, all that they
can see, or believe they see, in the political future,
and as I am deeply and painfully sensible of the moral
evils attending any even apparent breach of pledge, or
any disappointment of fairly conceived and dearly
prized expectations, I am resolved, with the help of
God, not to expose myself to the danger of producing
them. I have no difficulty in stating the principle on which
I shall judge any public question of religion: but it is
far less easy to say aye or no to such a question itself,
especially if not yet before us. I have never seen my
way, as it is called, to the payment of the Irish Roman
Catholic clergy out of the revenues of the Church,
even in part. But I am not sure that it is for the true
interests of the Church (or that it is compatible, after
all we have done, with social justice) , for the Church to
insist, say for the remainder of our natural lives, upon
the possession of the whole of those revenues; there
fore I will give no pledge which might have the effect
of preventing my assent to what I might conscientiously
believe advantageous to her and to the country. I say
I can conceive such a case, while I must own that I
have never seen it in form, and cannot presume to say
how it is to take form. But I think either that will
come or what is worse.
We live in times which are especially times of
change, which lead, and sometimes even compel, both
those who are to give confidence to limit it, and those
who are to receive confidence to enlarge their demand
for it. But it is especially an object of high price in
my sight that the constituent should neither be deceived
nor, otherwise than by his own fault, misled. The
way to secure this is clear. It is, to speak boldly and
fearlessly, to risk all mistaken and exaggerated con
structions, all anticipations of possibility into fact:
and with cheerfulness to accept the consequence,
which in this case is clear enough. Only part with a
desired object for me as manfully as I am sure you
would do it for yourself, and your mind will be soon

1847] THE IRISH CHURCH 9
at rest. Oxford has plenty of choice among her sons,
and she can with character and with comfort select the
shade of political opinion nearest to her own. But
you would hurt your own character if you were to allow
private considerations to bias you in a matter of this
kind, and you might hurt public interests too.
I hope it is not necessary for me, in addressing you,
to say that the sentiments I entertain have no relation
to any sort of change in religious convictions, such as
those which we have seen in sorrowful abundance.
After the storms and trials of the last few years, I find
my mind, as to everything substantial, upon the ground
where it was before them, so that in this one essential
condition I humbly hope I might not have misrepre
sented the University.
I have written as freely as if my reply was for your
own breast alone; but I observe the purpose for which
it was sought, and I cannot possibly ask you to limit
the use you may make of it.
Believe me, with the warmest sense of your kindness
and friendship, Your sincerely attached
W. E. Gladstone.
224. To R. J. Phillimore. Hagley,
February 26, 1847.
My dear Phillimore,
... I not only see multitudes of objections to
any disappropriation of the possessions of the Church
in Ireland, but multitudes also of practical obstacles in
the way of it. But I am unwilling to lay down any
principle at the present time with respect to which I
can in my own mind entertain so much as a suspicion
that I may some years hence be forced to abandon it.
And as I think we are no longer in a condition to
occupy high and secure ground in arguing for the
integrity of the Irish Church temporalities, as I think
we shall find it difficult at once to vindicate our own
acts and to furnish grounds for a permanent adherence
to the present state of things, I feel that to hold the
high language with these sentiments and other pre
sentiments about me would be to march into the

10 OPINIONS RE PARTIES [1847
Caudine forks, from which there is no escape with
honour. Of two things I feel pretty certain — We shall not see
a simple redistribution of the Irish Church property
among those who hold it on the present conditions.
We shall not see a simple payment of the Roman
Catholic priesthood out of the Consolidated Fund.
Again, I fear that we may do as we have done before —
i.e., fritter away the ecclesiastical property of Ireland,
with scarcely a disguise, in order to enable ourselves
to blink the question by arguing that there is no
surplus. . . . Believe me always,
Your attached friend,
W. E. Gladstone.

225. To the Right Hon. J. S. Wortley.
13, Carlton House Terrace,June 17, 1847.
My dear Wortley,
My wife tells me that you had more or le.ss
entertained the idea of writing to me on the subject of
my relation to parties in the Church, and had refrained
from it for fear of causing me embarrassment or com
promising me with some of those who will support me
in the Oxford Election. I have, however, no fear of
any such embarrassment, and while I am most thankful
for the delicacy which made you hesitate, I consider
the subject one on which there ought to be no reserve,
I do not say only from yourself, but from any member
of Convocation — and I hope my language upon it has
been uniform : I am sure it has not been intentionally
varied. I distinguish between holding opinions and belong
ing to a party. Some opinions every man must hold,
but it seems to me the duty of every Christian to dis
claim in word, and to avoid to the best of his power
in act, party connections, which imply something quite
distinct from even identity, much more from qualified
resemblance of opinion. They imply, I imagine, com
bination and concert in the pursuit of ends which are
peculiar and do not fully harmonize with the spirit
and laws of the Church: and they even imply, as in

1847] DUTY TO OXFORD II
politics, more or less of the compromise of opinion for
the sake of such concert. They imply the effort to
think and act in common with some persons who are
regarded as leaders, instead of individually or with
friends according to the tenor of private and personal
intercourse. In all these and all kindred senses I
think the recognition of party blamable on the part of
any man, but decidedly and by far most blamable on
the part of those who endeavour to realize to them
selves the idea of the Church as a living authority or
guide. I may perhaps be regarded as a party man either on
the ground of public acts in which I have shared, and
in which I have been accompanied for the most part
by persons who are so regarded, and, indeed, who
avow the fact, or else on the ground of my published
opinions. With respect to the former, such as the
vote on Ward, all I can say is that I have not done
any act of the kind without the belief (how far owing
to bias I am of course unable to judge) that it was re
quired by a principle of general justice as distinct
from any tie of party, and to this exclusively, as I after
wards explained. As to my published opinions, they
have been variously viewed. I should be very sorry
to propose to anyone that he should make himself
acquainted with them. There, however, they are, and
in a religious sense I stand by them, and I cannot
object in limine to any judgment founded upon them.
Moreover it is now, for the present purpose, too late
to argue upon or explain them.
So much for what I am in myself. I could not
dispense with the topic, however ungrateful, because
it is absurd to suppose there is no relation between a
man's private views and the character he proposes to
fill in Parliament. But though there is a connection
between them there is also a distinction. Some things,
which we may hold and even cherish dearly for our
selves, we may yet feel ought to stand apart from our
representative capacity. What the representative of
Oxford ought in these times to be, I do not doubt in
so far at least as this, that if he enters the House of
Commons possessed with any other idea than that of re
presenting her — such as she is in her members and in her
institutions taken at large artd as a whole — he can only

12 AN OBSTRUCTIVE POLICY [1847
sit there to her damage and dishonour. Even had I been
in the habit of recognizing in myself a party character,
which is the very reverse of the fact, I should still have
felt and said, what I have felt and said all along during
the present contest, that I could neither sit as the
representative of a party nor stand as its candidate,
and consequently that, if the complexion of my leading
supporters and the course of events was such as to
stamp that character upon me, I would at all hazards
and disadvantages withdraw. These would be danger
ous words for an advertisement, but you will readily
understand the sense in which I employ them.
I have troubled you with this letter, dismissing any
scruple on your account, because it requires no answer
— its only object is to give such information as the
case admits of — and I shall be glad to hear from you
only if you desire more, and more which it may be in
my power to render. 226. To R. J. Phillimore.
13, Carlton House Terrace,June 24, 1847.
My dear Phillimore,
I did not mean to go beyond a suggestion.
Even in my own mind it had not yet expanded into an
argument. It is an idea which I wish to separate
altogether from my own position, and to consider on
its own merits, not by comparison.
The members for the Universities are in an imper
fect sense, but still a true one, representatives of the
Church in the House of Commons, and though but
partially, yet they are exclusively her representatives.
This applies to the members for Oxford even in a
higher degree than to those for Cambridge.
We have come upon a time when a merely or mainly
obstructive policy will be fatal to the Church. It
means these three things: that she will lose all she
has; that she will be kept, and will keep the whole
country, in a fever, or even a fury, while she is fighting
to retain it; and that when it is gone she will find
herself left with nothing to replace it.
She is now in a condition in which her children may
and must desire that she should keep her national

1847] PARLIAMENT AND CHURCH 13
position and her civil and proprietary rights, and that
she should by degrees obtain the means of extending
and of strengthening herself, not only by covering a
greater space, but by a more vigorous organization.
Her attaining to this state of higher health depends in
no small degree upon progressive adaptations of her
state and her laws to her ever enlarging exigencies;
these depend upon the humour of the State, and the
State cannot and will not be in good humour with her,
if she insists on its being in bad humour with all other
communions. It seems to me, therefore, that while in substance we
should all strive to sustain her in her national position,
we shall do well on her behalf to follow these rules:
to part earlier, and more freely and cordially, than
heretofore with such of her privileges, here and there,
as may be more obnoxious than really valuable — and
some such she has — and further, not to presume too
much to give directions to the State as to its policy
with respect to other religious bodies.
Whatever good can be done for her in Parliament
must be done by influence and moral strength. If she
is content with a mere numerical representation, with
the votes of the members for the Universities, there
they are, 6 out of 656, enough to make divisions con
temptible enough, but ad infinitum in number. And
with what issue? Incessant quarrels, continual bad
blood, certain defeat: and not only this, but to adopt
a merely negative and obstructive policy is the
abandonment of her function, which requires her
indeed to check and control, but also to teach and
guide the country, to join herself, for the better
pursuit of her spiritual work, with the course of
external events, and so direct it as to obtain from it
the greatest good.
This is not political expediency as opposed to
religious principle. Nothing did so much damage to
religion as the obstinate adherence to this negative,
repressive, and coercive course. For a century and
more from the Revolution it brought us nothing but
outwardly animosities and inwardly lethargy. The
revival of a livelier sense of duty and of God is now
beginning to tell in the altered policy of the Church.
Hence the Bishops, who in 1836 would not have a new

14 TWO POLICIES [1847
bishopric because it would, they thought, be without
a seat in the House of Lords, are now happy to take
one on those terms. Hence they take grants for
education, which are avowedly given on principles of
religious equality and impartiality, or indifference,
whichever it may be called. Thus then, as her sense
of her spiritual work rises, she is becoming less eager
to assert her exclusive claim, leaving that to the State
as a matter for itself to decide; and she also begins to
forego more readily, but cautiously, some of her
external prerogatives.
This by her Bishops: but I do not think that a claim
which founds itself upon having opposed Maynooth,
opposed the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, opposed Mr.
Watson, opposed (right or wrong) everything which
went to qualify a single civil privilege of the Church,
or confer a single civil privilege on any other body,
will adequately support in the Commons that rule
upon which the Bishops begin to act in the Lords. If
it be replied that privileges shall be freely given to all
except Roman Catholics and Unitarians, the answer is,
that does not save truth, while it more grievously
violates social justice; besides which, such a system
cannot and will not stand. And the University, as the
organ of the Church in the Commons, should not
exhibit itself as always grasping, always resisting,
always trying to rule by strength and not through
good-will, and always failing in it.
This is a sad scrawl, and can be but of very little
use — but I thought it better than further delay.
Your attached friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
227. To the Rev. J. W. Warter.
13, Carlton House Terrace, July 21, 1847.
My dear Sir,
If you are content to abandon all hope of
obtaining through the medium of Parliament real
advantages for the Church in the improvement of her
law and organization, to continue to fight the miser
able battle (for under such circumstances it will be
miserable) of civil privileges under the now seductive

1847] NO POPERY

J5

flag of ' No surrender,' with constant irritation for your
present reward, and certain defeat for the final issue —
then continue also to be governed in your choice of
representatives in Parliament mainly by a regard to
simple aye or no upon the question (to me or any
other) 'Are you prepared to resist under all circum
stances any and every further concession to Roman
Catholics? ' But if you still think the State has a work
of whatever kind to do for the Church — as I do — then
beware how you allow a question affecting the conduct
of the State to other communions to become the
governing question for you. I tell you plainly there
is ruin in that course. If Churchmen, and the clergy
in particular, direct their energies, too feeble for their
own work, not to the doing of their own work, but
towards binding the State to a negative and repressive
policy as respects other bodies, they will not succeed.
But that is little in comparison with what remains —
they will feel the first, and full, and by far the worst,
pressure of that policy themselves.
Forgive me if I say that those who have sat many
years in Parliament, and have given their mind and
time to their task, and have under heavy responsi
bilities shared in working the laws, institutions, and
policy, of this great Empire at the fountain-head, have
not undergone that slavery (for such it may too truly
be called) absolutely for nothing, nor without acquiring
some opportunities of view into the political future.
Many things indeed are dark in it, but some are clear.
What I have now told you stands, believe me, in the
latter class. I tell you, however it may seem to you,
not what I think, but what I know, as well as I know
thatthenext Parliamentwill not convertour limited and
free monarchy into a despotism. If Oxford elects me,
she elects a man under very deep and fixed convictions
with regard to these matters — let me say under hitherto
unvarying convictions, for with whatever tacks I am
always making for the same point. If she is to raise
in the House of Commons what was known twenty
years ago, in very different times, as the No Popery
cry, I say fearlessly she may spare herself the trouble of
looking for other qualifications in her members, and
of ascertaining whether they have any positive views
of serving the Church or not, for it will make little

16 OXFORD AS A DRAG-CHAIN [1847
difference. She will have her ^ share of the repre
sentation, and she will have little more; she will be a
drag-chain more or less on a descending wheel, but
she will be as powerless as any drag-chain ever known
for progress in the direction in which she desires and
pants for it. The stern adherence to an exclusive policy
— the stern and inconsistent adherence to it, for con
sistent now such adherence is not in any single case,
and scarcely can be — is, I say, utterly fatal to any
further beneficial use of the principles of connection
between the Church and the State.
I give you full credit 'for having read arguments
pro and con,' but permit me to say that something
more is necessary. My firm belief is that, had you
seen and felt and lived what I have seen and felt and
lived, you would now be uttering these words, or the
same sentiments in better words, to me. I have
spoken of the contingency of my being elected. But
if I am rejected, to my latest hour it will be a consola
tion to me that, so far as my position would permit, I
have not kept back from men like you such truths as I
have gathered from experience, at the hour when it
was yet time (as we hope) to speak them.
I have spoken and written thus throughout the con
troversy. The debates and votes on the Manchester
Bishopric Bill greatly confirm and very little surprise
me. Can any man read those debates, estimate them
with all the circumstances, and fail to see that the
Church has to deal with other work, and nearer home,
than the endowment of Maynooth, and that she cannot
do her own work and other people's too? . . .
I am much indebted to you for the kind tone of your
letter, and I fervently trust I have said nothing in
consistent with a warm regard and a true respect
for you. . . . Sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
228. To the Rev. A. W. Haddan.
6, Carlton Gardens, May 18, 1852.
My dear Mr. Haddan,
... I can feel no surprise at your repugnance
to my vote on the Jew Bill. Assuming myself, as I

1852] REAL ENEMIES

17

must do, to be right, still, I can hardly expect others
from a different standing-point to take the same view.
All I ask of you or them is to believe that it is with me
a part, and believed by me to be a necessary part, of a
system of action, to which I came slowly and with
struggles, but have now long adhered, and of the ne
cessity of which, taken generally, I am glad indeed
to find that your conviction is as strong as my own.
Speaking to Churchmen, I would say I am quite willing
that system of action should be tried by them on the
single issue, not of its usefulness merely, but of its
necessity to the Church — setting aside every other
public interest and social principle.
I cannot affect to stand on the ground that this
general idea and course of action is merely permissible,
however thankful I may feel to those who are willing
to go so far while they have no convictions to carry
them farther. But with me it is not so. I see too
vividly in the working of our institutions, and in the
daily experience of my Parliamentary life, the sickening
extent and miserable effects of that worship of idols
and deification of impostures which still forms so large
a part of statecraft as regards its ecclesiastical relations.
It is not difficult, at least to me, to bear with any such
forms and symbols as, having been venerable or use
ful, are now simply neutral and without use ; but when
I see them set up against the substance, thrusting it
out and trampling it under foot, I cannot be indifferent
any longer. All this is too much in the form of ab
straction, but I could readily supply the application —
as, for instance, from the history of to-day, in which
I have received from the Colonial Secretary an intima
tion that he will oppose the second reading of my
Colonial Church Bill, after I had received repeated
assurances on the part of the Government that they
would support it. Imagine the order of ideas which
leads them to this conclusion, and then you have the
true and really dangerous enemies of the Church,
nestling, alas! nowadays in the bosoms of its 'friends.'
Hook agrees to serve on my Committee again. I
mention this only because I think that from him it is
an act of singular generosity. . . .
Most truly yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

VOL. II. — 2

18 NO CHANGE IN PRINCIPLES [1852

229. To the Rev. C. Marriott.
6, Carlton Gardens, May 31, 1852.
My dear Mr. Marriott,
. . . Though I had no right to presume on
Dr. Pusey's support, yet I thought it possible that
prudential motives might have kept his name back,
as you inform me is the case. But I could not reckon
on him, for I knew the extreme strength of his feeling
about the admission of the Jews to Parliament. Only
this morning Phillimore (for one) had a positive refusal
from the Bishop of Glasgow on that ground. He adds
that he voted against me in 1847, because he saw that I
should, on the principles I then laid down, necessarily
vote for their admission.
On the subject of change my conscience is sound.
Not that I can say or wish I am in every point and
particular what I was in 1847: to say that would be
to plead guilty to having learned in five busy years
absolutely nothing. Butas to principles, civil, religious,
or mixed, I feel conscious that I am what I was, as to
everything of ground and substance: and this being
so, I also feel that therefore the struggle now going
on is the affair of the University in the first place,
and mine in the second. But I am not the less grati
fied at, and grateful for, the very energetic support
which is now given me.
I remain, Most sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
230. To the Rev R. Greswell. Downing Street,
January 11, 1853.
My dear Mr. Greswell,
I thank you for your letter, and will reply to the
last part of it, which alone requires an answer.
I presume that the issue of the present contest is no
longer doubtful, and that the University will again
place the trust of representing her, or rather the moiety
of it, in my hands.

i8s3l OPPOSITION FALSEHOODS 19
I am convinced that the spirit which is abroad
towards me, which raised the contest at the poll last
July, after the sense of the University had been made
clear to demonstration, and which has now not scrupled
at the most disgraceful falsehoods in order to gain its
end — I speak no doubt only of the dregs of my present
opponents, but I observe that from these men the rest
of them do not feel it necessary to dissociate themselves
— can never be appeased, and will always proceed to
punish me when I exercise an independent judgment
in opposition to what the party think right.
But of the punishment so inflicted, a great part, the
main part, falls upon my friends.
If wounded and hurt by the opposition offered me,
by its quality much more than its quantity, on the
other hand the support, confidence, and sympathy,
exhibited towards me are as remarkable and signal.
I think the University ought, for its own honour, in
some manner to declare its sense of the falsehoods —
I shall never use a weaker word — • of Dr. Lempriere
and certain as yet invisible coadjutors. But that is
a matter of opinion, and I cannot say I will not serve
the University now or hereafter because she does not
adopt my views on that subject.
The upshot of the whole is this : my own inclination
is to adopt your conclusion — to say, when the trust
now given me shall have been discharged, I shall not
ask its renewal; for I feel that, even if it were in
my power to render any services to the University
I love so much, they would be purchased far too
dearly by these incessant and bitter contests, by the
pain, anxiety, toil, and charge, which they entail, above
all by their ruinous effect on the dignity and value that
have hitherto belonged to the representation of Oxford.
But I cannot settle this matter for myself. The
part so bravely taken by my friends gives them an
absolute claim upon me. If they, upon calm and full
consideration, think fit to release me, I will gladly go.
If they say, 'No, you must remain, then, please God,
I will unhesitatingly remain, and will shrink from no
part of that share of the burden which falls upon me so
long as the power of bearing it is continued to me.
I hope, therefore, that they will feel that the whole
decision rests with them, and that its importance to

20

A WEAPON LOST [1865

Oxford, whichever way it be, is not to be measured by
the insignificance of the individual whom it seems
primarily to affect.
For the moment I have no doubt you will use this
letter with reserve. Sir S. Northcote knows me so
well that, whoever else sees it, he should.
With renewed and warm thanks,
I remain, etc.,
W. E. Gladstone.
231. To Sir R. Phillimore.
Hawarden,
July 17, 1865.
My dear Phillimore,
I received your telegram, or 'The Chairman's,'
to-night soon after nine, and I now enclose my fare
well address.* Please to publish it immediately after
the close of the poll, and after consulting Bernard and
any others, and unless it is disapproved by you and
them. But I do not propose to be bound by the mere
etiquette of the case. . . .
But these wise men have taken a weapon out of my
hands in a sense they little dream of. These last
words to yourself. Affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
232. To Sir William Heathcote, Bart.
Hawarden,
July 21, 1865.
My dear Heathcote,
I did not doubt of your feelings in this crisis,
but the expression of them is very pleasant to me, and
most thankful to you I am. As to my own, I can hardly
yet tell what they are. I know a vital cord is snapped,
I know nothing else, except it be that to the indict
ment under which I have been condemned I plead
not guilty. Beyond the region of knowledge I have
enough of gloomy surmises. It is a question between
gold and faith : and the gold always carries it against
the faith. Hence the present disasters and present
* See Appendix.

i86s] HIS RIGHT SUCCESSOR 21
perils of the Church of England, and from the same
source, I fear, those of the future are to flow. It is
absolutely necessary that some people should be ready
to be (from their point of view) sacrificed in the en
deavour to open minds and eyes which will not read
the signs of the times.
This will all appear to you strange and one-sided,
but you see that both Keble and Pusey write very
much in the same sense; and as for you, were I more
vigorous and more free, I should never rest in the en
deavour to gain so priceless a proselyte. I know I
have a friend, I would almost say a witness, in your
breast. I know that, like me, you mournfully compare
the efforts which are made so gallantly to win a triumph
like that of Tuesday, with the manner in which questions
are fought when nothing is imperilled, nothing put in
issue, but only the Christian Faith.
Do not, however, my dear friend, ever let either
of us recognize that we are one inch more distant from
each other on account of my defeat at Oxford. You
know I have always held that we were much nearer
than you would allow — that is, than you could bring
yourself to believe. I still hold by the same cheerful
text, and will do, please God, to the end of the chapter.
I rejoice that you are able to begin, with bettered
prospects of health, another series of sessions. And
it is, you well know, from no ill-nature to Mr. Hardy
if I close with saying, I wish it could have been
Northcote. . . .
W. E. Gladstone.
233. To Sir S. Northcote, Bart. Hawarden,
July 21, 1865.
My dear Northcote,
I cannot withhold myself from writing a line to
assure you it is not my fault, but my misfortune, that
you are not my successor at Oxford.
My desire or impulse has for a good while, not un
naturally, been to escape from the Oxford seat; not
because I grudged the anxieties of it, but because I
found the load, added to other loads, too great. Could
I have seen my way to this proceeding, had the advice

22 WHAT OXFORD HAS DONE [1865
or had the conduct of my friends warranted it, you
would have had such notice of it as effectually to pre
clude your being anticipated. I mean no disrespect to
Mr. Hardy, but it has been a great pain to me to see in
all the circulars a name different from the name that
should have stood there, and that would have stood
there, but for your personal feelings.
I am aware that nothing is more flat and lame in
these matters than the potential mood, and dwelling
on contingencies that have not taken effect, but, so
far as I am concerned, they have not, only because
they could not. My regret with respect to you is
enhanced by what is in other respects a compensation,
namely, that Mr. Hardy is not likely to be disturbed,
and the seat for the University has a prospect of re
gaining through permanence its primitive and peculiar,
and by no means unimportant, kind of value, which it
lost in the time of its late ill-starred member.
Pray bear in mind that this letter expects no reply.
W. E. Gladstone.
234. To Lord Richard Cavendish.
Carlton House Terrace,
July 27, 1865.
My dear Cavendish,
Your warm friendship prompts the language in
which you describe the late contest at Oxford, and it
is a painful business. But the incidental consolations
in every kind of expression of feeling have been great,
and I believe there is a purpose in it which will work
for good. In myself, I have many titles to the mis
trust of the Liberal party, at present the governing
party of this country. But these wise gentlemen at
Oxford seemed determined to force me into possession
of its confidence, and have done their very best for
that end. All this, please God, we may talk over
hereafter. ... W. E. Gladstone.

CHAPTER II
THE CONTROVERSY WITH ROME
1850-1891
The unending controversy between the Roman and
Anglican Churches appealed to Mr. Gladstone under
three aspects. First of all, there was the effect it had
on the minds of many of his friends. How were they
to be made to share the undoubting conviction with
which he argued the Anglican case that to them seemed
so full of uncertainty? Following upon this comes
the long correspondence with Manning which grew
out of the relations between the Papacy and the new
Italian Kingdom. This in its turn gives place to the
pamphlet warfare which followed upon the Vatican
Council. The reader of this part of the letters will do
well to bear in mind a fact which has already been
mentioned. The very strength of Mr. Gladstone's
confidence in the Anglican position made him an in
effective defender of it to some minds. The book
which had done most to fix his own convictions was
Palmer's 'History of the Church,' and throughout his
life he went on advising everybody to read it. But to
some of those who were disturbed by the absence of a
living authority in the Church of England, Palmer's
reasoning seemed better fitted for the pupils of a con
veyancing counsel than for men and women living in
the world. His demonstration that the laws of a local
23

24 TASTE OR CONVICTION [1850
church provide all the guidance that her children can
require did not meet the complaint that the Church of
England had ceased to make laws. This was not a cir
cumstance that greatly troubled Mr. Gladstone. He
did not deny that for the time the Church of England
was unable to speak with the authority he would have
liked her to exercise; he only pleaded that the changes
actually in progress would in the end give her back the
power she had for the time lost.
The two arguments on which he most relied when
trying to prevent secessions were in themselves unan
swerable. The question to which Church a man
ought to belong was not to be treated as a matter of
personal taste. No one could be justified in abandon
ing the Church of England because he preferred Roman
services, or thought that he 'got more good' from
Roman teaching. This was merely a variant of the
reasoning which Nonconformists had found so sue- '
cessful in parishes where the clergy were careless or
inefficient. Nor, whatever his ultimate decision might
be, had a man any right to leave the Church of Eng
land until he had studied the arguments on both sides
with at least equal care. In many cases, Mr. Glad
stone thought, this condition had not been satisfied.
The seceder had listened to the case put forward on
behalf of the Roman Catholic Church, but he had
never inquired whether the case on the Anglican side
was not as strong or stronger. There were instances,
however, to which neither of these criticisms applied —
instances in which there had been no question of any
thing but fundamental principles, and the doubter of
to-day had himself perhaps furnished the most con
vincing statement of the Anglican claims — and here
Mr. Gladstone's controversial success was not equal

i8so] RELIANCE ON PALMER

25

to his strength of conviction. His reliance on Palmer
led him to rest his argument too exclusively on the
local identity of the Church of England before and
after the Reformation. He did not appreciate the
force of the retort that, though the body might re
main, the spirit had fled. Palmer's contention gives
the modern reader a feeling that he has proved almost
too much. The Anglican argument, as he presents
it, is over-conclusive for a world in which men have
constantly to put up with demonstrations that stop
short of completeness because they have learnt that the
alternatives offered them are in this respect quite as
defective. There was another feature in Mr. Glad
stone's method of carrying on the controversy, which,
though admirable in itself, may sometimes have helped
to defeat his purpose. Down to 1870, at all events,
the strong words which he used in reference to par
ticular Roman doctrines, his passionate descriptions
of the impassable gulf which a friend's secession had
opened between them, did not hinder him from say
ing — sometimes in the same letter — that the dif
ferences between Rome and England did not touch
a single essential point. The people to whom he was
writing may sometimes have asked themselves how,
if on every vital issue there was so complete an identity
between the two Churches, the act of leaving one for
the other in obedience to what the seceder held to be a
call of conscience could make so tremendous a change.
Mr. Gladstone would have been a worse theologian
and a worse Christian if he had treated Rome as an
heretical communion; but he might at times have
proved a better controversialist. It is to be feared
that the Roman apologist who magnified every dif
ference between the two Churches occasionally found

26 NO VITAL DIFFERENCES [1850
that, though his treatment of the subject might have
less charity, it had more success.
235. To Archdeacon Manning.
6, Carlton Gardens, June 1, 1850.
My dear Manning,
... If I were obliged to make an answer to a
person putting to me what appears to be the essential
point in this letter — that the Church of England must
be understood really to deny that the Church of Rome
is a true Church, because they differ 'on essential
points,' I should answer that I know of no such points.
On the point of Transubstantiation, accepting from
and with the Church of England the truth and reality
of the visible elements in the Holy Eucharist, I have
not the misery of thinking that the Church of Rome,
in her denial of that reality, within the limits to which
she has confined it, constitutes a difference on an es
sential point. We have with us, I fear, those who do
hot believe that 'whole and entire Christ' is received
in that sacred ordinance by the faithful; and they
have those, I likewise fear, who pay worship to that
which they see, and who, if judged severely in the
abstract (as God will not judge them), do evacuate and
destroy the realness of a sacrament. But I do not
think it lawful to hold either the one or the other [Church]
fully responsible for error that has crept into and kept
a place within its borders: and I have always remem
bered with much comfort a passage quoted by New
man, in his former self, from Bishop Van Mildert,
setting forth the outlines of that one faith which always
has been and now is professed by the Church. Much
less am I aware that as to Penance any essential dif
ference, upon matter of faith, is alleged, much less
can be proved, to exist between the Churches.
The rejection from the fellowship of the Christian
covenant of all who do not receive the authority of the
See of Rome is to me an awful innovation on the faith,
and a dark sign of the future for the large part of Chris
tendom which is in communion with that see, and with
which we have so deep a common interest in the main
tenance of the Faith.

i8SSl A NOBLE WORK

27

I will not refer to any other point; the details to
some of which she refers are details upon which you
doubtless will give this lady to understand that the
matter does not and cannot turn.
But, independently of my own inability duly to
handle those details, I must own there never was a
time when I should have felt so much disposed to strive
earnestly to draw off a disturbed and unsettled mind
from their contemplation, and to fix it on the great and
noble work which God has now given to the children
of the Church in England amid trouble, suspense, and
it may be agony, to perform. I do not believe that
a more arduous, a more exalted, or a more exalting
task ever was committed to men. They are called
and charged to do battle for the Faith in the very point
now plainly selected for the great battlefield of modern
infidelity, and with the consolation of being sustained
by declarations of the local Church, not sufficient only,
but redundant, and not clear only, but of overpowering
clearness. I hope you will induce this interesting
pupil to take her part in this battle and her share of
the prize. . . . Your affectionate friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
236. To the Hon. Maud Stanley. Hawarden,
November 27, 1855.
My dear Miss Stanley,
. . . When we met upon this subject last year,
it struck me that your mind was in a different state
from that of others whom I had seen when they were
meditating a similar course — that in general the argu
ments, on the strength of which it is designed so to
act, are sufficient to warrant the conclusion, if only
they were true, but that your arguments, even if they
were true, yet did not warrant your conclusion.
And it is remarkable that I find the very same char
acter in the letter you have now addressed to me, where
you say that you have heard no argument to shake
your ' increasing belief that the Roman Catholic Church
in point of unity and holiness comes nearest to the
Scriptural definition of the Church of Christ.'

28 ROME BEST AND WORST [1855
I confess it seems to me that this is a question which
neither of us is very competent to decide. My fixed
conviction has long been that the Roman Church re
markably unites within itself the opposite extremes — -
that it has much of the very best, and a great deal of
the very worst, of Christianity. But I feel that this is
a matter of private and personal opinion, and that for
me to make the little shreds and fragments of experi
ence, which I can gather within my own atomic
sphere, the ground of my hold upon the Faith, and
titles to the reality of membership in Christ, is a
sad error both in itself and in its consequences
to me.
If it was the ordinance of God that each Christian
was to institute a search, and to discover for himself,
which of the various Christian communities came
nearest in unity and holiness to the Scriptural repre
sentation of the Body of Christ, it seems to me that
the whole design of the historical, visible, and tradi-
tive character of the Church is overthrown.
Where has God promised that in all parts of the
Apostles' fellowship the light should burn with equal
purity and brightness? Even at the first, the Church
of Sardis was not equal in ' unity and holiness ' to the
Church of Ephesus, nor the Church of Ephesus to the
Church of Smyrna. But St. John did not command
the Christians of Sardis to join the communion of
Ephesus, nor both to leave their own and go into that
of Smyrna ; he bid them through their rulers to amend
their ways and become more like their Lord.
I avoid and eschew that question which Church is
most holy — alas ! it is too sadly easy to make a case
against all — but I earnestly assure you, from the evi
dence your letter gives me, that you are bound in duty
to seek to have a sound mind as well as an upright heart,
and that, upright as I am certain your heart is, your
mind is not upon the line which leads to true
conclusions and indicates the path of just and safe
action. Believe me, I neither doubt nor make light of your
sufferings ; I trust they may be lightened, but especially
that, when they are lightened, they may be lightened
once for all, and that you will find the true solution
of your present dilemma in a more just and searching

1856] OPEN QUESTIONS 29
examination of the whole grounds on which such a
question should be handled.
I will not apologize for the manner in which I write,
but I trust to your indulgence, and I remain,
Always most sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
237. To the Hon. Maud Stanley.
4, Carlton House Terrace,
January 27, 1856.
My dear Miss Stanley,
It will be quite as much as I can write, or as
you can read with patience, if I explain upon one sen
tence of your last letter, in which you say that 'you
understood me to bring forward the Arian heresy as a
proof that open questions existed in the Primitive
Church of equal importance with those which have
been the pride of the Church of England since the
Reformation.' You did not mean to impute to me
this language, but how my language could be such
as to lead you into such a statement I am at a loss to
conjecture. It makes me a calumniator of the Primi
tive Church, and you the utterer of (in my opinion)
a precipitate and untrue charge against the Church
of England.
You think that I said the Arian hypothesis was an
open question because I said it remained long and
struggled long in the Church before the final victory
of the truth.
What I have said (I speak from memory only)
amounts, I believe, to this : Place yourself as an ortho
dox believer in the Church of the Fourth Century, and
I will show you that there were times when, even as
regarded the vital doctrine of the Godhead, the voice
of authority was liable to the charge of a doubtful
utterance, so far that the private Christian might not
unreasonably doubt in what path it bid him walk.
You seem to me (forgive me) not to have considered
the nature of the Church, but rather in regard to it, as
it exists in England, to have rested in a creed or scheme
of opinion that in other respects you have repudiated ;
you likewise seem to me not to have examined into the
nature of the provision made by Almighty God in the

30 SETTLEMENT OF 1662 [1856
Church for the establishment of the truth, and when
I refer to a great case in which the horizon was long
clouded, and for a time it seemed doubtful which creed
would gain the mastery, you think I say it was
an open question.
An open question I take to be a question which the
authority ruling the Church has either by speech or
general and long-continued silence, or by its falling
plainly within some general rule, declared to be open —
i.e., indifferent. Two men wrestle for a prize; till
one wins, the question is contested. Two men agree
not to wrestle for it at all, the question is open. Have
I made myself clear?
Bishop Butler is not controversial; but his works
are more fruitful in sound principles applicable to the
mode of Providential government in the Church as
well as in the world than almost any others.
Now for the Church of England. A glance at her
history, in my opinion, shows the injustice of your
charge and (I cannot but add) its precipitancy. The
legal settlement of the Church of England dates from
1662. She has never retraced, never qualified any part
of that settlement. Was that settlement founded on
the notion of open questions? Why then did 2,000
ministers quit their benefices? The principle on which
that settlement was founded was, it seems to me, the
Divine Constitution of the Church; at any rate,
plainly enough, it was founded upon a principle in
dogma and in polity, as were the decrees of Trent.
Both left open questions, but both closed some ques
tions — the questions which they thought to be
essential. What you have to show in order to make good your
charge is that the Church has left open any question
which involves matter of faith properly so called.
This you will find very difficult. As respects the case
of Baptism which you quoted, I ask in what sense is it
open? You will hardly say the language of the formu
laries is not clear. You will perhaps say Mr. A. and
Mr. B. who deny it are unpunished. I answer Pope
Liberius was unpunished when he had renounced
the orthodox communion, Pope Honorius remained
unpunished until after his death. If a Pope, then why
not any man lesser than a Pope? I hope the day will

1856] TREATMENT OF DOUBTS 31
come when you will regard these questions in their
true light as trials of your faith.
I must not let my letter go without referring to your
words, 'my first questions, to which I have received
no definite answer.' I ask you plainly whether I was
not justified — nay, bound — to interpose my prelim
inary condition? What can be the use of my answer
ing questions until I get you to admit the principle on
which we are to proceed, and the responsibility under
which you have placed yourself by desiring me to
enter on these subjects; for I need not say we are [as]
responsible for using the light of a farthing candle
when we have called for it, as we should be were it
the sun.
My position is this: you are bound by duty and
allegiance to the Church of England. If you have
doubts in regard to her authority, you are bound (as
one in the Church of Rome would be bound in the
converse case) to bring those doubts to a fair trial. To
do this you ought to state them, and to say : These and
these questions being answered properly (of course
without prejudice to future lights), my mind will be
satisfied. But question after question, charge after
charge, without any specification to yourself or me of
the whole of what you want, is just the course which
a person would take whose wounded feelings had
made him determined not to be satisfied ; it is a course
into which you may unknowingly be entrapped, but
into which I shall not by my conduct help to entrap
you. Some day I may ask you to let me look at these let
ters again. You, I know, forgive their haste, and will
not make me an offender for a word.
Most sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
In the letters written while the Kingdom of Italy
was being built up Mr. Gladstone is seen to greater
advantage. The Pope, he argued, had no moral right
to treat the interests of the Roman people as a matter
of infinite unimportance by the side of the interests of
the Roman Church. The two belonged to different

32 THE TEMPORAL POWER [1856
regions. The one was temporal, the other was spiritual ;
and to sacrifice either to the other was to confound
things that had nothing in common. Upon one point
Mr. Gladstone felt as strongly as Manning himself.
In spiritual things the Pope's action must not be con
trolled by the Italian or any other Government. This
was a matter which concerned in varying degrees
every State that had Roman Catholic subj ects. Where
Manning and he parted company was on the means
by which this independence could be secured. Man
ning would hear but of one — the maintenance of
the Temporal Power. Mr. Gladstone would have
conceded even this, if the Pope had been strong enough
to defend his throne without foreign aid. But when
this condition was flagrantly unsatisfied, when the
'Pope King' had ceased to have any authority in his
own capital except what he derived from its occupa
tion by French troops, the Temporal Power had be
come valueless for the very purpose for which Manning
was insisting on its retention. When Mr. Gladstone
was asked what better means he could suggest, he had
a plan of his own ready. Unlike most of the oppo
nents of the Temporal Power, he saw that the end
which must be kept in view was beyond the reach of
the Italian Government acting alone. No matter
how satisfactory the conditions might be to the Pope
at starting, what was to prevent a change of mind
on the part of the Parliament which had agreed to
them? The best-drawn statute can have no greater
permanence than the purpose of the legislature which
has voted it. What was wanted to secure the Pope
in the enjoyment of his spiritual freedom was the sanc
tion of a European guarantee. Mr. Gladstone seems
to have thought that if this plan had been seriously

iS62j THE PONTIFICAL STATES

33

put forward by the Roman Curia, it would have been
accepted by the Italian Government. Whether he
was right in thus thinking is not a matter of much in
terest, because there never was a moment in which
the Curia were disposed to make advances of this kind.
To the Pope and his advisers the Temporal Power
seemed the one thing that was worth fighting for, and
so long as they felt this the Roman question admitted
of no compromise. Till 1870, what was left of the
Pontifical States remained French — for what other
term can be applied to a territory in which public order
is only maintained by the presence of French soldiers?
Then it became Italian, with the singular result that
the Pope's independence as a spiritual ruler has been
as absolute since the loss of the Temporal Power as
at any period in ecclesiastical history. Under no
concordat with the Italian Government, by no
arrangement between the European Powers, could
this end have been so well secured as by the ex
traordinary series of events which has made the
'Prisoner of the Vatican' the most active spiritual
force in Christendom. 238. To Dr. Dollinger.
11, Carlton House Terrace,June 22, 1862.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
... I come to that which, though the smaller,
is the more vital part of [your work]: namely, the
later part, in which you discuss the nature and condi
tions of the Papal Government. I cannot but regard
this as highly important and highly beneficial. In a
calm, clear, and truthful narrative, you have exhibited
the gradual departure of the Government in the States
of the Church from all those conditions which made it
tolerable to the sense and reason of mankind, and have,
I think, completely justified, in principle if not in all the
VOL. II. — 3

34 THE POPE'S REAL ENEMIES [1862
facts, the conduct of those who have determined to do
away with it.
In the autumn of 1859, I think the British Cabinet
would have been very glad to use any influence it pos
sessed for the purpose of securing to the Pope the Suze
rainty of all his States, with competent revenue, and
European guarantees for his independence, and
with the King of Italy exercising, as his permanent
and hereditary vicegerent, the ordinary functions of
Government. But it is now, I apprehend, too late for
such a measure.
We have in this country, as, I suppose, in all Protes
tant and indeed in almost all European countries, a
number of people who may be called enemies of the
Roman Church — who wish to see her, not improved
(as we may all with much reason wish for ourselves) ,
but destroyed, and the Papal Supremacy, not reformed,
but rejected. All these are in a state of great delight
at what is going on. For them it has been a great
triumph, and a source of exulting hope, to see the Roman
See and Court deliberately take its stand upon the
propositions that the civil rights of the Roman people
must be held secondary to the interests of the Church ,
and that without a temporal Sovereignty for its sup
port the spiritual power of the Pope cannot be main
tained. Yet more must they be delighted when they
find the astonishing licence of vituperation and foul
language which has marked the recent proceedings
taken at Rome under cover of the canonization of the
Japanese martyrs.
I confess that I view such things very differently, and
that I deeply lament the scandal and real damage to
religion which must result from these proceedings.
On behalf of every Christian communion without
exception, I wish heartily that all its best tendencies
may be fully developed, and all its worse ones neu
tralized; most of all must I cherish this desire in re
gard to the greatest of them all, and one which must
clearly have in the counsels of Providence its own
special work to perform.
The persevering annexation of unlawful to lawful
claims must at some time, in the loss of the former,
entail heavy detriment upon the latter.
I am far from presuming to identify your view with

1864] INTELLIGIBLE HOSTILITY

35

my own, but I confess I think that, notwithstanding
all the qualifications you interpose, they are sub
stantially akin to one another; and in any case I am
desirous to show that it is in no spirit of religious con
troversy that I for one fervently desire the extinc
tion of the temporal power properly so called. In
truth, as to religious controversy, my appetite for it
has never been keen, and I am more and more con
vinced, with the lengthening of life, that, except for
those who are sentinels at posts of special dangers,
the wise course is to endeavour, each in his sphere,
however humble, to strengthen the foundations of
belief, to ascertain and widen all real grounds of
concord, and to revere and make the most of the
elements of Divine truth whatever they may be
found. . . . Sincerely and respectfully yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
239. To the Very Rev. H. E. Manning, D.D.
Worsley Hall,
October 15, 1864.
My dear Manning,
. . . You will smile when I tell you that, in my
sincere and sad conviction, it is you, and not I, who
are helping on the ' Anticatholic ' movement in Italy. I
told General Garibaldi that if the Italian people lost
the Christian Faith it would be a misfortune admitting
of no compensation, to which declaration he seemed
to assent. And in speaking of the Christian Faith, I
mean the Christian Faith even with its accompaniments
of a religious kind such as they now are. It is with
no Protestant, no Anglican eye, that I look upon the
present condition of Italy. I profoundly desire that
that people may be kept in the position of Christian
believers ; and I am as profoundly convinced that the
exercise of the Temporal Power in its present condi
tions is working powerfully to thrust them out of that
position: from this point of view, my hostility to it is,
I hope, intelligible, provided you give me credit (no
small credit, I admit, in these times) for knowing what
I mean and meaning what I say. I much dread the
effect of the provocation and encouragement which, as

36 THE BASEST SERVITUDE [1864
I think, you are giving (most involuntarily) to the
unbelieving power in Italy and elsewhere. Some years
ago I earnestly desired, in common, I think, with my
colleagues, that the question of the Temporal Power
could have been settled by placing it on the basis of a
Suzerainty over the whole States of the Church.
Perhaps, on a more restricted basis, if some such plan
could be devised, it might be for the permanent interest
of all parties to accept it. But Time is fighting against
you, and he is a mighty foe.
To those proceedings of English religionists in Italy
which you mention I have never given, and could not
give, the smallest encouragement.
240. To the Very Rev. H. E. Manning, D.D.
Hawarden,
December 26, 1864.
My dear Manning,
. . . Now about the Italian question one word.
In speech and letter I have tried to offer you sugges
tions in the hope of being useful, but forgive me if I
say I have had nothing from you except in negatives —
or in generals. But really neither of them help in the
least. It is wholly vain to attempt to work out an
understanding with those who will not contribute.
What will do? That is the question.
My position is that Rome is inhabited by human
beings, and that these human beings ought not to be
taken out of the ordinary categories of human right to
serve the theories of ecclesiastical power. But they
are taken out of those categories, established by the
Almighty, if, while other peoples are parties entitled
to have something to say in the choice of their Gov
ernors, they are to be permanently held down in the
basest of all servitudes, that imposed by foreign
arms. I have never said, and do not say, the Italian king
dom is entitled to put down the Papal Sovereignty:
and I am well content with this treaty because it will
open a clearer and more indisputable way to learning
their real sentiments than there has yet been.
If on the one hand you are determined to fight in
the name of religion against natural right and justice,

1866] ROME AND NAPLES 37
you will not only set your teeth upon a file, but vitally
hurt that which you dream of upholding. If on the
other hand what you think necessary for the Head of
your Church is security and dignity, defined by your
selves, depend upon it there are more effectual modes
of securing them than clinging to the present state
of things, which in truth not only gives neither, but
brings the one into question, and I will make bold to
say totally destroys the other.
241. To Archbishop Manning. Wilton House,
September, 1866.
My dear Archbishop,
... I wish to revert to the position of the
Roman See with reference to its temporal power. No
one who has to do in any capacity with the course of
affairs in Europe or in Christendom can exclude such
a subject from his mind. I have no mission in regard
to it. It seems to be imagined that I am to repeat in
Rome the step I took at Naples; I have no such in
tention, and I think the circumstances are wholly
different. What stirred me in that case was a state
of illegality armed with supreme power. The present
question involves nothing of the kind, but offers to
view a problem at once the most arduous and the most
delicate. It has, however, probably been forgotten
what my proceeding in the Neapolitan case really
was. It was an appeal to the Neapolitan Government
through the Court of Vienna and Lord Aberdeen. I
resorted to the Press only on the failure of that appeal.
In the Roman question I made certain assumptions
which I presume are common to us both. That the
Italian Government has not, as such, a title to the
possession of Rome; that an ample provision, under
the best guarantees which the European Order can
afford, for the dignity, safety, independence, and be
coming sustentation, of the Papal Court is an indis
pensable condition of any plan which ought to be en
tertained for averting any future or removing any
present difficulties (in my view of such a plan it should
contemplate the Pope's residence in Rome — nothing
could be wholly satisfactory which should impair his

38 POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS [1866
freedom of choice in that respect) ; that the present
political position of the Sovereign of Rome is such
as to make it not less suitable for friends than adver
saries to entertain the subject, and even to take the
initiative if need were (in this proposition I refer es
pecially to finance, which involves the independence
and still more the dignity of the Roman See) ; that
this political position is likely in one way or other to
present aggravated difficulties after the withdrawal
of the French force.
To these propositions I should add one of consider
able breadth, in which, I fear, you would not give me
countenance. I mean this, that it cannot be for the
interests of religion to contravene the established
principles of civil right by forcing a Government on
the inhabitants of the Roman States through the em
ployment, actual or impending and expected, of foreign
arms. This I should call, in the Political Order, a
peccatum contra naturam. I import this last propo
sition into the case because, in my opinion, if the Roman
people are content to submit to civil government by a
clergy, no one else has a title to interfere. But some
think they will not be content, and others, who assert
their contentedness, assert also that by smart prac
tices they will be made to act as if discontented, so
that on the whole, I suppose, there is ground enough
common to us both for inquiring without impertinence
whether any plan can be suggested which should at
once place in the hands of the population, or of a Gov
ernment accepted by them, the management de facto
of civil affairs, and yet satisfy the conditions above
laid down with regard to the dignity, safety, indepen
dence, and becoming sustentation, of the Pope and of
the Roman Court. I look, then, for an answer to this
question: and will seek it on either of two supposi
tions — the first, that of a local autonomy; the second,
that of a transfer of the civil government to the hands
of the King of Italy. A gift or delegation by the Pope
himself, like a lease made perpetual if only the covenant
be performed, guaranteed by the Powers of Europe
and clothed in either of these two forms, might evi
dently be made effective for satisfying the popular and
civil claims of justice, as I should like to call it, or the
political and prudential exigency of the case, as it

1866] POPE MUST BE FREE 39
might be termed by others (whose language, I
may add, would suffice for the purpose of my
argument) .
As between these two forms I rather suppose that
the transfer to the King of Italy would be the better
one for the interests of the Roman See. For not only
could an ample source of revenue then be provided,
but the gift or delegation might extend to the whole
of the provinces recently subject to the sceptre of the
Pope; and, what is more, a body so small as
would be formed of the Pope's present subjects
would have little sense of security, and foreign inter
ference in the concerns of such a body might not only
be used in the interest of the Church, but as a covert
means of interference with the independence of the
Supreme Pontiff.
Now, in looking over the four conditions, it seems
to me as though there could be no difficulty in securing,
under such an arrangement with such guarantees, the
dignity, safety, and opulence, of the Pope and his
Court. But the knot of the question lies in indepen
dence. What is demanded is that the free exercise of
the spiritual power shall not be liable to be controlled
by the action of the civil power in the country where
the Pope resides. It was on this great subject that
our conversation mainly turned. It is evidently diffi
cult, but I cannot see that it is hopeless — provided,
however, that each party will only ask what is required
for its avowed aim and purpose. In this sense I shall
try to treat of the points that were raised between us.
I shall honestly endeavour to do as I would be done by,
and to look at these points from your point of view
at least as much as from my own. And what I un
derstand you to mean is this: 'Not that the exer
cise of some temporal power is per se necessary for
the Popedom, since then, indeed, "My kingdom is
of this world," but that in or dine ad spiritualia it is
necessary, if a perfect freedom and immunity in her
exercise of the spiritual office cannot be main
tained without it.'
Now, the first point you raised was that, if the tem
poral power were abandoned, the ecclesiastical cor
porations could not be maintained under the present
law of Italy.

40 CIVIL MARRIAGE [1866
On this point I would submit that it is plainly not a
question which would justify rupture on either side.
To abolish the legal character of these corporations,
even to confiscate their property, is different (as I
apprehend) from the suppression of a religious Order,
and is a matter of civil concern. It has been done in
other countries compatibly with retaining communion
with the Roman See; and consequently it might be
done in the Roman State without essentially inverting
any prerogative inherent in the Church. But on the
other hand I cannot suppose that, if it were part of a
great settlement otherwise satisfactory, the Italian Gov
ernment would hesitate to recognize and maintain these
corporations within the present Roman States just as
the British Government recognize and maintain them
in Canada.
The second point raised by you was, I think, the
double one of civil marriage and divorce.
As regards the first I see no difficulty. Civil mar
riage, prevailing already in other countries of the
Roman obedience, might prevail throughout Italy
without raising any new question of difficulty. The
Church ought, of course, to be allowed to take its own
course in refusing to recognize such marriages as suffi
cient for religious purposes. With regard to di
vorce, I was not aware that it had received the
sanction of the Italian Legislature. But if it has, it
seems to fall under the same observations as the topic
of civil marriage. It is not essential to the office of the
Church that the State should prohibit divorce, though
it is a violation of liberty and conscience if the State
undertakes to give orders respecting the religious
position of divorced persons. The independence of
the Roman See is not impaired by the permission of
remarriage in other countries where Roman Catholics
dwell and exercise their religion: neither would it be
so if the case (which, for one, I do not wish to
see) should arise in Italy and in the States of the
Church. The third head mentioned by you as a difficulty
was, I thought, of a more critical character. You
stated that the Pope must have an absolute uncon
trolled freedom of utterance on all matters appertain
ing to his office. I replied that I presumed his personal

1866] FREEDOM OF UTTERANCE 41
immunity would be a first condition of any arrange
ment, and that there could be no difficulty in guaran
teeing freedom of utterance, if we reserve the right of
the civil magistrate to maintain public tranquillity.
To this you rejoined, Who is to be the judge whether
any particular utterance of the Pope is dangerous to
public tranquillity or not? The Pope, you urged,
must have some one spot of ground where he shall be
sovereignly free to prophesy as he may think meet,
and where he shall not be gagged by any superior or
rival authority. We referred to the case of France;
and you contended that the inhibition recently issued
by the Emperor with respect to a document proceeding
from St. Peter's Chair was only tolerable in France
because there was another place where no such inhi
bition could take effect, videlicet, the Roman territory,
thus illustrating what was said, I believe, by Montalem
bert, that Church and State were capable of being
separated everywhere else by virtue of their being iden
tified in Rome.
In this one point of the case I admit that the claims
on either side are such as may be viewed by the re
spective advocates in a manner that makes them diffi
cult to bring together. Nevertheless I am convinced
that neither is this a case in which rupture would be
warranted. Against you I should argue as follows.
The Civil Government, responsible for life [and?]
property, cannot allow things to be done under the
name of religion which assail public order. Words,
not only of treason, but of sedition, must be repressed,
by whomsoever they may be said. On the other hand,
you need have no fear that the Pope will be unable to
convey to the world whatever he may desire to make
known to it. To what did Louis Napoleon's inhibi
tion amount? Simply to a protest. It did not and
could not limit the absolute publicity of any declara
tion which either the Pope or persons of infinitely less
influence or consequence might desire to utter. It
resembled a course often taken by our Government
when we refuse to produce to Parliament some docu
ment which has already been in all the newspapers;
because we do not wish to be made parties to the pub
lication. Free utterance is essential, but it would
not be in the least impaired by the retention of the

42 POPE'S INFLUENCE [1866
right of the civil magistrate to put down whatever
menaces the public peace. And a further practical
answer is that it is not to be supposed, and never would
happen, that the Pope would utter words of such a char
acter. But if those whose main purpose it is to secure
Papal independence were dissatisfied with the argu
ment on that side, I should then turn to the other, and
say that, however exceptionable it may be in the ab
stract for the civil power to abridge any of its essen
tial prerogatives, this is a case in which an exception
might be made. In delegating the power of Civil
Government, and retaining only suzerainty or suprem
acy of dignity, of course any special reservation might
be introduced. The right and power of the Pope
might be kept entire to publish within the limits, say,
of the city of Rome whatever he should think fit, with
out any limitation as to its political tendency. This
would be his ttovo-tSi from whence by moral leverage
to move the world : this the Delos where Latona might
find refuge for the coming childbirth. Of course there
must be a multitude of questions arising at the meet
ing-points of the secular and the spiritual spheres,
which would have to be dealt with in detail. But all
these, as far as I can yet imagine, are of the same char
acter as have formed, from time to time, the subject-
matter of Concordats between the See of Rome and
the various States of Europe. And they would be
dealt with for the local territory now under the Papal
sway with no difficulty in kind different from those
which have already in so many instances been en
countered and overcome by the skill of negotiators
like Gonsator.
The character of this letter is defensive. I have
only noticed the points as to which it may primd facie
be contended that the surrender of the powers of Civil
Government would apparently tend to weaken or dis
parage the Roman See. It would perhaps be imper
tinent in me were I to open the other side of the ques
tion, and consider the points in which such a change
would go to secure and to enlarge the freedom and
independence of the spiritual power. But I cannot
do less than express my own conviction — enter
tained ever since, at the time I translated Farini, I
began to think much and earnestly on this great subject

1866] INCREASED BY CHANGE 43
— that even at the very worst, even without the special
guarantees which I fully admit should, at the instance
of the Holy See, be given with every circumstance of
solemnity, the general effect of the change would be
to untie the hands of the Pope, and to leave him much
more free to exercise his great and real powers than
he is now, or than he can be while he remains in the
ordinary and secular meaning of the term a Prince:
and as a Prince subject to be dealt with as other
Princes. My feeling has ever been that those who are not in
communion with the Latin Church, but who might be
called upon from other causes to take any part, great
or small, in this question, should not, and without gross
breach of duty could not, even if they were polemically
keen enemies of the Papacy, seek to destroy or diminish
its spiritual powers under false pretences of civil right
or justice. Nor, on the other hand, if they see that the
civil change we have now in view would contribute to
fortify the spiritual power of the Holy See, would they
be justified on such a ground in forbearing to promote
that change. In principle I feel myself entirely pre
cluded from allowing any calculation of the effects of
the change on the vast spiritual influence and power
of the Roman See to govern my wishes or opinion
respecting the change itself. But, in fact, I came to
the conclusion that an increase rather than a diminu
tion of such influence and power is to be expected as
its result. To me the day when this necessary and
beneficial mutation should be by consent accomplished
would recall that verse of the psalm: 'Mercy and
Truth are met together; Righteousness and Peace
have kissed each other.'
It would be like a solemn reconciliation between the
kingdoms of Providence and of Grace, between the
two systems of kindred laws — the one which governs
the structure of society, the other that which provides
in so great a part of Christendom for the discipline of
the soul.
I will only add one word. I think that provision of
the treaty of September which prevents Rome from
becoming, against the Pope's will, the seat of the Ital
ian Government was a very wise and useful provi
sion. And now I have done, forbearing to weary

44 ENGLAND AND THE VATICAN [1869
you with apologies which would make yet longer what
is too long already. Believe me,
Affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
Mr. Gladstone's estimate of the importance of the
Vatican Council was not exaggerated. When the
Pope was declared infallible, the conciliar system,
under which the Church had — in theory at all events
— been governed since the third century, came to an
end. The Latin Episcopate had cast their mitres at
the feet of Pius IX. It would be a mere idle ceremony
to call them together again when all that an (Ecumen
ical Council had ever claimed to do could be done in
future by the Pope in the exercise of his personal infal
libility. The last trace of constitutionalism in eccle
siastical government had disappeared. From being
an aristocracy the Roman Church had become an ab
solute monarchy. The letters that follow show how
eagerly Mr. Gladstone watched for any opportunity of
pressing upon the Curia the consequences of the step
they were contemplating. It was hard, however, for a
Protestant Power to take action when the Catholic
Powers sat still, and the difficulty was the greater
because England was unrepresented at the Vatican.
But this unlucky circumstance only compelled her to
'fall into the rear'; it did not necessitate her remain
ing silent. It was specially important that we should
not discourage other more happily-placed governments
who might be meditating some combined action. One
mode of such action might, he writes to Lord Clarendon
in May, 1869, be to press the Curia to submit to the
governments of Christendom a statement of such of
the subjects intended to be brought before the Council

1869] MIXED MATTER

45

as bore upon civil rights or the relations of Church and
State. 'Such a representation would be reasonable,
might act as a salutary check, and is such as even we
in case of need might join in or support.' In this way
we might help 'to do what the Reformation in many
things did to save the Pope and the Roman Church
from themselves.' In another letter he describes the
Council as 'a pure piece of ultra-sacerdotalism. The
pretence for the exclusion of the lay element is a piece
of effrontery. There never was a Council which
dealt so much with matter mixed as between re
ligious and temporal interests.' Somewhat later
he tells Mr. Odo Russell that 'the child yet unborn
will rue the calling of this Council. For even if
the best result arrive in the triumph of the Fallibili-
tarians, will not even this be a considerable shock
to the credit and working efficiency of the Papal
system?' This last sentence is a testimony to Mr. Gladstone's
genuine desire to see the Roman Catholic religion
retain its influence in Europe, provided that this in
fluence could be exercised on the old lines and through
the old methods. Non-Latin, as well as Latin, powers
were affected by these 'insane proceedings,' and he
explains this view, as regards England, by his fear
that the action of the Council may present ' augmented
obstacles to political and social justice' in the Eng
lish Parliament, even if it does not lead to 'a repeti
tion of the fury of 1850-51.' In a letter to Dollinger
he laments the existence of a feeling very widely spread
and in strong contrast with his own. Tt is the feeling
which first identifies the whole Latin Church with
the Court of Rome and the Pope (and for this iden
tification or solidarity present proceedings afford but

46 EFFECTS OF COUNCIL [1870
too strong a plea), and then, treating this body as a sort
of Incarnation of an evil principle, assumes that the
worse it behaves, the greater will be the reaction and
recoil of mankind, which reaction and recoil they
treat as so much of accession on the side of good and
truth. The whole of this theory, I need not say, I re
gard as radically false, but it prevails, and widely.'
A very few days after this letter was written he had
practical proof that his fears were well founded. On
April 3, 1870, he writes to Mr. Odo Russell: 'We
maturely considered in Cabinet yesterday whether
we should try to reverse or alter the vote on Con
ventual Institutions. [Mr. Newdigate's motion for
the inspection of convents, which had been carried
against the Government.] We decided that we could
not attempt it. . . . On Friday, Mr. Fawcett pro
posed a motion respecting Trinity College, Dublin,
the real effect of which would have been to prevent
anyone educated in a Roman Catholic College
from proceeding to any Irish University Degree.
It was only] by making this question a question of
confidence outright (and the use of such a weapon
must needs be very rare) that we were enabled to
defeat it.'
It is to be regretted that the Vatican Council coin
cided with the most engrossing period of Mr. Glad
stone's political life. But for this, ' The Vatican Decrees
in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance: a Political Ex
postulation' would have been written in 1870. As it
was, the appearance of the pamphlet was delayed until
four years after the Council had pronounced the mem
orable decree which declared it to be ' a dogma divinely
revealed that when the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathe
dra — that is, when in discharge of the office of Pastor

1874] COUNCIL AND PAMPHLET 47
and Teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme
Apostolic authority he defines that a doctrine regard
ing faith or morals is to be held by the Universal Church,
he enjoys, by the Divine assistance promised to him
in blessed Peter, that infallibility with which the Di
vine Redeemer willed His Church to be endowed in
defining a doctrine regarding faith or morals; and
that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff
are irreformable of themselves, and not from the con
sent of the Church.' But by 1874, when the 'Expos
tulation' appeared, the question had in a great meas
ure passed out of men's minds. The material changes
effected by the Franco-German War, though in reality
of far less importance than the changes in the region of
thought and opinion which can be traced to the Coun
cil, had for the time driven it into the background.
The Old Catholics were already preparing a haven for
those for whom submission was an impossibility, while
those who were better versed in the art of reducing
definitions put forth by a supreme authority to their
smallest significance were already finding relief in
the rarity of the occasions on which the Papal
pronouncements satisfied all the conditions set out
in the Vatican Constitution. On the appearance
of Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet, the storm broke
out with far greater violence than at first. In
1870 its publication might have served the cause he
had most at heart; in 1874 it was more likely to injure
it. In 1870 it might have encouraged moderate Ro
man Catholics who accepted the decree to minimize a
dogma which had furnished occasion for so tremen
dous an indictment; in 1874 it only gave the Roman
authorities an excuse for associating all who sought to
reconcile the conclusions of the Council with history

48 THE POPE AND THE LAITY [1874
in a common condemnation with Mr. Gladstone. To
attach the worst possible meaning to the decree would
have seemed only natural at the moment when it first
startled the world. To do it after a four years' interval
seemed like ignoring the obvious fact that English
Roman Catholics, at all events, had not the smallest
intention of placing their ' civil loyalty and duty at the
mercy of another,' even if that other were the Pope.
At all times and in all countries the Roman Catholic
laity have found ways of ignoring the Pope's com
mands when they go against their civil convictions.
The proclamation of infallibility had not called forth
a single effective remonstrance against the new order
of things in Italy. To make his own spiritual sub
jects consistent in their acceptance of the new dogma,
where politics came in, was as much beyond the power
of Pius IX. after 1870 as it had been before that date.
Not many years afterwards Mr. Gladstone was him
self to discover this when, in the country in which
above all others the Pope is reverenced, not a particle
of attention was paid to the Pontifical condemnation
of the Plan of Campaign.
Mr. Gladstone does not seem to have foreseen —
perhaps no one in 1874 could have foreseen — the
effects of the Vatican Council in another direction.
The civil danger was imaginary; the spiritual danger
was real — though how real was not to be fully under
stood until the temper and purpose of the Vatican
Decree were revealed in Part III. of the Encyclical
Pascendi Gregis. It is impossible not to wish that
Mr. Gladstone's thoughts had turned in this direction
rather than in that which they actually took. No man
would have been better fitted to essay the tremendous
task of reconciling the conflicting claims of authority

1869] AUTHORITY AND REASON 49
and freedom. He saw the need of both. He saw
that a revealed religion implies authority somewhere;
he saw also that in these days the acceptance of author
ity must come from a convinced reason, not merely
from a recognition that resistance is useless. There
are things in Modernism that Mr. Gladstone would
have disliked as heartily as Pius X. But he would
equally have disliked the steps by which Pius X. has
laboured to make his hostility effectual. 'A Theo
logical Expostulation' founded on such a forecast as
this would have been a permanent contribution to a
controversy of which, in its present form, Mr. Glad
stone was to see only the beginning.
242. To Lord Acton. Hawarden,
December 1, 1869.
My dear Lord Acton,
I thank you for your most interesting letter.
It is a very sad one. I feel as deep and real an interest
in the affairs of other Christian communions as in my
own, and most of all in the case of the most famous
of them all, and the one within which the largest num
ber of Christian souls find their spiritual food.
I habitually attach very great weight to information
received from you. On this account I cannot wholly
put aside, though I cannot fully accept, your belief that
my opinion may be cited and turned to account in
Rome. Therefore, from the great interest attaching
to the subject, I have at once requested Lord Claren
don to telegraph to Mr. Odo Russell in cipher to-morrow
as follows:
'Please tell Lord Acton he may use the strongest
language he thinks fit respecting my opinion on the
subject about which he desires it should be known.
I will write by the earliest opportunity.'
That subject I take to be the effect in this country
of 'Ultramontane' doctrines and proceedings upon
legislation, policy, and feeling, with respect to Ireland,

SO ULTRAMONTANISM [1869
and to the Roman Catholic subjects of the Crown
generally. That effect is, in my opinion, most unfavourable.
Comparing this moment with thirty or forty years
back, the number of Roman Catholics in England is
increased, persons of extraordinary talent and piety
have joined the Latin Church ; but the bulk of think
ing, conscientious, and religious people are, so far as I
can judge, much farther removed from, or at any rate
very much more actively and sharply adverse to, the
Church of Rome than they were at the former period.
There is one question of first-rate national impor
tance coming on, with respect to which I regret that
this effect of Ultramontanism will be conspicuously
exhibited: it is the question of popular education in
the three countries. Indeed, we have already had a
taste of it in the powerful opposition which was raised
against the very moderate measure of justice which
we attempted to carry in 1866 with respect to the Irish
colleges and the Roman Catholic University, and
the storm will rise again when we come back, as we
must before long, to the subject of the higher education
in Ireland.
The specific form of the influence will be this — it
will promote the advancement of secularism. Ultra
montanism and secularism are enemies in theory and
intention, but the result of the former will be to in
crease the force and better the chances of the latter.
Notwithstanding my general faith in any anticipation
of yours, I cannot think it possible that Archbishop
Manning will represent my opinions at Rome in any
light different from this, and for the simple reason
that he is a man of honour. He is, from our old friend
ship, thoroughly aware of my general leanings on
these matters, and he has had particular reason to
know them with reference to the present function.
For recently he wrote to me about an interview, and
in replying (it was to be just before his departure) I
used expressions which I would cite textually if I had
them at hand. But the purport was this: 'How sad
it is for us both, considering our personal relations,
that we should now be in this predicament, that the
things which the one looks to as the salvation of Faith
and Church, the other regards as their destruction!'

1870] AN ANTISOCIAL POWER 51
There has since been a very amicable correspondence
between us, in which this idea has been canvassed and
developed, but not in any measure qualified. Of course
the terms used would have admitted of qualifications,
had I not been desirous that my words should be strong
and definite with respect to the present crisis, and plain
speaking is our invariable rule. I shall send this letter
to the Foreign Office, to go by the earliest safe oppor
tunity for Rome. And much as I should like to have
you here, I am glad you are there. It is also a great
pleasure to me to address you by your new title, not
as a mere decoration, which you would want less than
any other man, but because I trust it opens to you a
sphere of influence and action. We are in the thickest
of the difficulties of Irish land tenures.

W. E. G.

243. To Lord Acton.

Hawarden,
January 8, 1870.
My dear Lord Acton,
I take the opportunity of a messenger from the
Foreign Office to write a few lines.
My answer to your appeal was written on the in
stant, and I stated that which first occurred to me —
namely, the additional difficulties which the ram-
pancy of Ultramontanism would put in the way of our
passing measures of public education which should be
equitable, and not otherwise than favourable to religion.
But in truth this was only a specimen. There is the
Land Bill to be settled, and there are the wings of the
Church Bill: one the measure relating to loans for
building, the other having reference to the Ecclesias
tical Titles Act. Even the first will be further poisoned,
and either or both of the two last may become the sub
ject of fierce and distracting controversy, so as to im
pede our winding up the great chapter of account be
tween the State and — not the Roman Church or
Priesthood — but the people of Ireland.
The truth is that Ultramontanism is an antisocial
power, and never has it more undisguisedly assumed
that character than in the Syllabus.
Of all the prelates at Rome, none have a finer oppor
tunity, to none is a more crucial test now applied than

52 WILL THERE BE A MINORITY? [1870
to those of the United States. For if there, where
there is nothing of covenant, of restraint, or of equiva
lents between the Church and the State, the proposi
tions of the Syllabus are still to have the countenance
of the Episcopate, it becomes really a little difficult to
maintain in argument the civil right of such persons
to toleration, however conclusive be the argument of
policy in favour of granting it.
I can hardly bring myself to speculate or care on
what particular day the foregone conclusion is to be
finally adopted. My grief is sincere and deep, but it
is at the whole thing, so ruinous in its consequences
as they concern faith.
In my view, the size of the minority, though im
portant, is not nearly so important as the question
whether there will be a minority at all. Whatever its
numbers, if formed of good men, it will be a nucleus
for the future, and will have an immense moral force
even at the present moment — a moral force sufficient,
perhaps, to avert much of the mischief which the acts
of the majority would naturally entail. For this I shall
watch with intense interest. Believe me,
Most sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
244. To Archbishop Manning.
Hawarden,
April 16, 1870.
My dear Archbishop Manning,
Your letter of the 7th has only reached me to-
1 day. In answering it I must draw a clear distinction
between my personal opinions and the action of the
Government, which represents, and ought to represent,
something much weightier. My feelings and convic
tions are, as you well know, decidedly with your 'op
position,' which I believe to be contending for the
religious and civil interests of mankind against influ
ences highly disastrous and menacing to both. But
the prevailing opinion is that it is better to let those
influences take their course, and work out the damage
which they will naturally and surely entail upon the
See of Rome and upon what is bound to it. Conse-

1870] NO INTERFERENCE 53
quently there has been here a great indisposition to
forward even that kind of interference which alone
could have been dreamt of — namely, a warning, in
terms of due kindness and respect, as to the ulterior
consequence likely to follow upon the interference of
the Pope and Council in the affairs of the civil sphere.
If asked, we cannot withhold, perhaps, the expression
of our conviction, but we have not been promoters:
nor do I consider that any undue weight would be
given even to the most reasonable warnings by the
authorities at Rome.
But there is a more limited aspect of these affairs in
which I have spoken to you and to others, and that
without the smallest idea of anything that can be
called interference. From the commencement of the
Council I have feared the consequences of (what we
consider) extreme proceedings upon the progress of
just legislation here. My anticipations have been, I
regret to say, much more than realized. An attempt
was made to force our hands on the subject of the higher
education in Ireland, and practically to bind the House
of Commons to an absolute negation of the principle
which we laid down in 1865 and 1866. This attempt,
premature, I think, even from the point of view held
by its friends, we were only able to defeat by staking
our existence as a Government upon the issue. Then
came Newdegate's motion on inspection of religious
establishments. Not only was this carried entirely
against our expectations, but the definitive reports
since made to me of the state of feeling in the House
are to the effect that it cannot be reversed, even by
the exercise of the whole influence of the Government.
These facts are striking enough. But I seem to my
self to trace the influence of the same bitter aversion
to the Roman policy in a matter, to me at least, of the
most profound and absorbing interest — I mean the
Irish Land Bill. Perhaps Bishop Furlong's extra
ordinary letter, and the manner in which it seems to
exhibit his ideas of the mode of discriminating between
things secular and things spiritual, have helped to
establish in the minds of men an association they might
not otherwise have conceived. Be that as it may, the
tone and atmosphere of Parliament have changed
about the Land Bill : again for the second time within

54 COUNCIL AND IRELAND [1870
a fortnight I have been obliged to resort to something
like menace, the strain thus far has been extreme, and
I regret to say it is not yet over. I apprehend that
these ill effects will be felt in other matters which
impend, in two especially which are close at hand —
ecclesiastical titles and national education. What I
have described is no matter of speculation: I know it
by actual and daily touch. I am glad you have moved
me to state it in some detail. It is to me matter of
profound grief, especially as regards land in Ireland.
For I feel as if the happiness of some millions of God's
creatures were immediately committed to us, so far as
the things of this life (and their influence on the other)
are concerned, and until it is disposed of, it seems to
engross and swallow up my whole personal existence.
When it is settled I shall begin to detach my hopes and
interests, if I may, from the political future. Quite
apart from what I have said, the question of national
education is passing, I fear, into great complications;
and crude opinion of all kinds is working blindly
about like hot and cold, moist and dry, in Ovid's
Chaos. . . .

245. To Dr. Guthrie. December 11, 1870.
Excited, as it appears, by part of my letter to Mr.
Dease which was recently published, and in which
I state, on the part of the Government, that they con
sider what relates to the dignified support, freedom,
and independence of the Pope to be legitimate matter
for their notice, Mr. Matheson states that we 'do not
charge ourselves with any responsibility in regard to
the spiritual functions of the Moderator of the free
Church or any other Dissenting body.' On this al
legation of fact I join issue, and I say distinctly that
we do charge ourselves with responsibility in the same
sense as that in which I have said the Pope's condition
is matter for our notice, and to a much greater extent.
In the case of the Moderator of the Free Church we
take care by law to maintain his independence, and
to prevent its being interfered with. This independ
ence, in the case of the Pope, we 'notice'; that is, we

1870] REASONABLE CLAIMS 55
think it a fit subject for friendly representations against
civil interference, in case of need, and so long as the
Pope confines himself to spiritual functions. It is
true we also speak of due support [for] the Pope. Now
consider. He is a Sovereign, who was in lawful posses
sion of large revenues, and who had charged himself
with the support of a body of Cardinals, Ministers,
Nuncios, servants, and guards, out of those revenues.
He has been dispossessed, not for any fault of his
own, but because clerical dominion was deemed
intolerable. In the maintenance of the Pope
and his Court followers and agents, six millions
of our fellow-subjects, or thereabouts, are deeply
interested; and they are making demands upon
us which we are forced to decline. But I should,
for one, be ashamed to deny that there are the
strongest equitable claims upon the Italian Gov
ernment growing out of the past state of things;
that in these equitable claims the six millions
I speak of have a real interest and share: and
as the matter is international, and they have no
locus standi with the Italian Government, it is our
part so far to plead their cause if need be. I hope
Mr. Matheson will consider what has been the state of
things in Rome from 1849 to 1870. If he desires to
prevent its return, I think the best way of estopping
the unreasonable claims of the Roman Catholics and
the Pope is freely to recognize those which are
reasonable. . . .

246. To Lord Acton.

Hawarden,
August 22, 1872.

... I am struck with what seems to me something
like an essentially false position in the case of the Italian
Government. From the formation of the Italian King
dom, or at any rate for a good many years, the Italian
Government has refused to take any cognizance of
the state of parties in the Roman Church. 'Tros
Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine habetur.' There is
a party there which is at war with liberty and civiliza-

56 ROMAN PARTIES [1872
tion. There is another party which holds principles
favourable to both. The first party is strong, the
other weak. The Italian Government has done noth
ing to uphold the weak and nothing to discountenance
the strong, and now, with the Papal election in view,
it desires to find means of averting the mischiefs which
are too likely to follow from an election conducted by
the dominant or Papal party. Its arguments, over
tures, and wishes, seem to me to be in hopeless con
tradiction with its own conduct. Were it indeed
possible to treat the question as purely religious, their
attitude might be justified by logic. They might
say Governments do not interfere in theological ques
tions. We want our Ultramontanes to be good citi
zens, and such they may be however extravagant
their merely ecclesiastical or theological opinions. Do
they, then, hope to convert and pacify Ultramontan
ism in the civil sphere by letting it alone in the religious
sphere? That may be possible, although I do not
think it free from doubt, in England. But it is utterly
and evidently impossible in Italy until the idea
of restoring the temporal power shall have been
utterly abandoned. Meantime temporal means, the
powerful engine of starvation, are freely used by the
ecclesiastical power against any priest who makes
peace with the Kingdom of Italy. And nothing (as
I believe) is done to sustain such priests in their un
equal conflict. If this is so, how can the Italian Gov
ernment wonder that its deadly and irreconcilable
enemies should act towards it in conformity with
the policy which it allows them to enforce against
its own loyal subjects? The German Governments (I
do not speak of the law against the Jesuits, on which
I am ill able to give an opinion) are surely far nearer the
mark, for they give some kind of support and coun
tenance to what may be called the rational party in
the Church. I feel deeply the reasonableness of
the views of the Italian Government about the
new election, but I also feel that it lies with it
self to take the first step towards causing such views
to prevail by giving countenance within its own sphere
to loyal and right-minded priests. ...

1874] THE BONN MEETING 57
247. To Dr. Dollinger. Cologne,
September 23-24, 1874.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
I will not leave Cologne for London and
Hawarden (Chester, England) without writing to you
a few lines on the subject which we last mentioned
at Munich. But first I will mention the article agreed
on at Bonn with regard to the Immaculate Conception :
for I see that even the better newspapers in England,
like the Spectator, are in a state of puzzle as to the scope
of the propositions. The Spectator says every man
who believes in the Immaculate Conception is to be
shut out of the Bonn Concordia. This I take to be
an error. You have not, if I am right, been fix
ing terms of communion among lay Christians, but
considering of the terms on which theological contro
versy may be adjusted or narrowed in accordance
with Scripture and Christian history. The measures
of the two things are, I apprehend, totally distinct,
and until corrected I shall rest with confidence
in my own construction of the remarkable meeting
at Bonn. . . .
There is another subject on which I have been re
flecting since I saw you, and on which I should be very
glad to know your judgment. It concerns the posi
tion of those members of the Roman community who
are resolved not to submit to the doctrine of Infallibil
ity. I speak, of course, only of such as have a call and
opportunity to inform themselves fully on the sub
ject. Now, I do not see how such persons can be jus
tified in point of consistency. They acknowledge the
authority of the Pope by remaining in his communion,
and yet they claim the title to repudiate what he, now
backed by his Episcopate with scarcely an exception,
declares to be an article of the Christian faith. It
strikes me that it is in principle far less anarchical
to seek for Christian ordinances at the hand of a pro
visional but orthodox organization such as the alt-
Catholische than to claim the title at once to be within
the pale and privileges of a certain communion, and
to exercise the power of annulling by private judg-

58 WORK OF CONCILIATION [1874
ment its solemn and formal ordinances of faith. I
do not speak of any case except that in which faith is
involved, and in which there can be no doubt or ques
tion that the living voice of the particular Church
has actually spoken. Nor do I speak of the duty of
to-day or to-morrow, but of the deliberate adoption
of this or that position after sufficient time; for I sup
pose there can be no matter of greater difficulty, none
in which conduct ought to be judged with more indul
gence, than the decision by each individual on the
precise time at which he is to move for his own defence
and welfare, at a period when the scheme and system,
under which he has lived, is itself shifting around him,
and vitally altering its own character.
These considerations, again, can only apply, if I am
right, to the case in which the false steps taken by
authority are not only in subject-matter vital, but also
in their character and expression final, so that no place
or hope remains of the retrieval of the error through
the normal action of the body.
Now I pass to my third and, I think, last subject
(except the personal one). I understood distinctly
that the work of theological conciliation begun at
Bonn is to be continued in the future. I venture to ask
whether it would not be well if each of those who co
operated in the late Conference were, in the interval
before another one, to employ such opportunities as he
may possess in obtaining the adhesions of weighty
and competent men within his own circle to what has
been done? I am led to offer this suggestion from the
belief that in England, at least, much might be effected
in this way. My idea would be the submission of the
propositions to those likely to agree (on the very same
principle as that of the Bonn Conference itself), not
to those likely to differ, as the time for wide and gen
eral discussion cannot have arrived until further
progress has been made. Of course this is not as a
substitute for, but as an addition to, your design of
preparing further adjustments on the points which have
not yet been dealt with. . . .
W. E. Gladstone.

1874] 'CIVIL LOYALTY' 59
248. To Dr. Dollinger. Hawarden,
November 1, 1874.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
This paper on Ritualism has attracted an at
tention that I did not expect from the general public.
. . . Independently of its general aspect, it con
tains a sharp passage against the actual Roman
Church. This passage has excited great wrath in the
klerikale partei. There has been plenty of private
remonstrance, and from the Papal Press some public
indignation. A sentence in which I say that a convert
joining the Roman Church 'places his civil loyalty and
duty at the mercy of another' has told most. Now,
in respect to this passage I hold that they are the
aggressors. I feel it necessary to make good my
words, and I have accordingly written, and am sending
to press, a tract which will be entitled 'The Vatican
Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance: a
Political Expostulation.'
In this pamphlet I offer a friendly challenge to my
Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen, inviting them to
exculpate the decrees, or, if they cannot do that, to
renounce and repudiate the civil consequences.
Had the facts been before me when I was in Munich,
I should have desired to consult you largely. As it is,
I feel the step to be one of some importance, and I
have not taken it without anxious deliberation, and
a great hope and desire to do my duty. I have to beg
of you that you will read it as soon as you conveniently
can: for it has an undoubted, though indirect, bearing
on your position. I do not ask criticisms on the proof,
nor shall I wait for them; but I much wish to know
what you may think of it in its European aspect, if
I may say without presumption that it has one. I can
only add that, if you think its translation desirable,
I hope you will either at once let me know, or even
order it to be done. The sheets as struck off will be
sent you, but I have been over them so many times
that they can hardly differ much from the proofs.
All this may be a ludicrous over-estimate of the
affair. But even the little passage has already been
designated in a Romish periodical 'Mr. G.'s Durham

6o BISHOP CLIFFORD [1874
letter,' and it is necessary or well to be prepared for
all alternatives. . . .
Respectfully and affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
249. To Dr. Dollinger.
Hawarden,
December 8, 1874.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
. . . If [in his advertised reply] Manning goes
back to his favourite thesis — that the Papal Church
only asserts an independence which other communions
also demand — I think it not difficult to answer him.
The differences, I think, are these: 1. The foreign
headship. 2. The Infallible Executive. 3. The claim
to the absolute obedience of members. 4. The Roman
Church alone, not content with liberty of judgment
as a mental operation, claims it as a judicial power.
(Thus the Pope declares to be null and void, not merely
culpable, laws which he disapproves. I dare say you
could give me instances where he has done this outside
the States of the Church.) 5. In the case of the
Roman Church these claims must be read in the light
of her peculiar history.
An old antagonist of mine declares that, in my
pamphlet, I do not show myself to be a Protestant
(which he says I am not) . This is true, and the nature
of my book required that I should not attack the
admitted religion of those to whom I was making what
I declared to be a friendly appeal. For this, and for
other reasons, I shall endeavour to hold this ground,
and be deaf to whatever people may say on a subject
which is really irrelevant.
Bishop Clifford has replied in the tone of a gentle
man and a Christian. I think his argument fails
entirely. ... 250. To Professor Mayor. Hawarden,
December 9, 1874.
I agree, I can hardly say how strongly, with all the
leading propositions of the letter of Bishop Reinkens.

1874] IMPORTED STRENGTH 61
Between 1788 and 1829 the English Roman Catholics
had slid all the way from rejection of Papal Infallibility
to alleging merely that they were not bound to believe
it. Between 1829 and 1874 the large majority of their
laity have gone over, I fear, to what was in 1829 mainly
a clerical belief among them. Unless some action is
taken on behalf of conscience, another half-century will
reduce the whole to a dead level of Manningism.
And what else? At the present day the Papal
Communion in England is strong with a strength
wholly factitious and unnatural, the imported strength
of a most remarkable body of seceders. The strength
of these men conceals the hollowness of the system,
and keeps it in a certain amount of relation to human
thought and culture, though from the purely national
life it is totally estranged. But it will be impossible
for these men to rear up within the present Anglo-
Roman Communion successors equal to themselves.
Ultramontane as they are, they are essentially hybrid,
and there can be no propagation, so that in the next
generation, according to all likelihood, not only will
all be Ultramontanes, but the intellectual level of
English Ultramontanism itself will have sunk enor
mously. As to a renewal of strength by immigration,
that is beyond all reasonable likelihood. It supposes
the repetition of Dr. Newman's genius and Dr. New
man's eccentric movement, due probably to a character
not equal in force to his genius. And those who wish
to anticipate the future in this respect may be aided by
considering that some twenty years (or thereabouts)
have now elapsed since any man of mental strength,
in the theological sphere, surrendered himself from
without to the Church of Rome.
For myself I lament all this deeply. It is impossible
not to feel, objectively and historically, a strong interest
in the old Anglo-Roman body. Suffering from pro
scription, and in close contact everywhere with an
antagonistic system, it refused all extremes, and re
mained loyal in its adhesion, devout in religious duty,
moderate and rational in its theological colour. All
this is gone, and replaced by what Tennyson might
call its 'loathsome opposite.'
I should be quite ready to join in any well-digested
plan for making Altkatholicismus better known in

62 BISHOP REINKENS [1875
England through the medium of its recognized pub
lications. But when I look to the final appeal of Bishop
Reinkens, my mind replies at once, 'Yes, it ought to
be done,' but also I certainly am not the man to do
it. Bishop Reinkens perceives that the political dis
cussion has opened the way for the great theological
and perhaps yet greater moral question. But were
I at present even to open the second argument, I
should simply with my own hand bar the access for
the first to the mind of every Roman Catholic. To
have a hope of getting a part, I must forbear to ask
the whole. 251. To Dr. Dollinger.
Hawarden,
August 29, 1875.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
I have read with the best attention I could give
the reports in the Guardian of your meeting at Bonn —
and a half-sheet kindly sent me by Mr. MacColl, in
which your whole result, as I understand it, on the
great subject of the Filioque is presented.
I write under the impression that the four proposi
tions drafted by you, and the six in which the doctrine
of St. John Damascene is expressed, have not received
a formal, but a moral assent, that they will be sub
mitted shortly to the judgment of the Eastern Churches,
that the Orientals of the Conference look confidently
to an approval (query, whether any scruple may arise
on the 6th?), that, if so approved, they would come
before you at Bonn again next year, for a formal
acceptance.
If that acceptance is obtained, a great practical ques
tion then seems to arise, Will the Eastern Church
thereupon be prepared to join in the consecration of an
Old Catholic Bishop, supposing another such Bishop
to be needed? Or what further steps, if any, will be
required before this joint consecration can take place,
which would, I apprehend, be a full consummation of
ecclesiastical communion?
This question, which interest in the subject prompts
me to raise, is perhaps premature. I will therefore

1875] THE 'FILIOQUE' 63
turn from it to two or three remarks which you will
take as made by an outside spectator.
1 . You have happily found a basis which recognizes
the Oriental form, and yet saves the Western one
from condemnation on the merits. Do not suppose I
am suggesting any further concession in this respect
when I say the impression left on my mind is that the
Easterns have proceeded in that spirit of love which
the Swiss pastor so awkwardly recommended, and
have admitted all they could. Does not this charge
seem to lie against the Filioque, on the showing of both
parties: viz., that the word proceed must, in order to
obtain a warranty, be construed in two different senses,
one as to the Procession from the Father, the other as
to the Procession from the Son? Can this be denied?
If it cannot, then can there be imagined a graver fault,
short of heresy and theological falsehood, than to in
troduce into the great symbol of faith an equivocal term,
which is made at the same time and in the same prop
osition, to assist two things in different senses? Is
there any other example of such a thing in the Creeds?
I remember being startled by an inscription on a
tombstone in Rome, which commended somebody for
Religio in Deum et in Sanctos. To justify this, the
term Religio must be split into two senses: but then
this was not in a Creed. Forgive me for presenting
this to your mind.
2. It seems to me that your Conference has gone far
towards the attainment of a purpose never (so far as I
see) named in the debates, but yet of the utmost im
portance to your general design: viz., that of estab
lishing the voice of the undivided Church as the
legitimate traditional authority. . . .

252. To Archbishop Ly cur gus of Syr a and Tenos.
Hawarden,
October, 1875.
Most Reverend and dear Archbishop,
The great pleasure which I derived from your
Grace's letter of September 3 is almost lost in my
sense of its weight and importance. Together with
the other accounts I have received of the Conference

64 THE EASTERN POSITION [1875
of 1875 at Bonn, it fully satisfies me of the reality of
the progress that has been made; for I do not doubt
that I may take your own language and spirit, and the
proceedings of the Orientals at Bonn, as trustworthy
indications of the general sense of the Eastern Churches.
I look at the great question of the Filioque with none
of the pretensions of a theologian or of a widely
instructed historical student, but yet I am a layman
whose habit it has been through life to observe, so far
as he was able, the course of questions of this kind,
and to gather in an irregular way all he could in
respect to them. So regarding it, I have ever felt
strongly the claims of the Eastern position, upon such
grounds as these : that, when the Creed had once been
(both) formulated and fully accepted by the Church,
no addition could be made to it except by the fullest
and most unequivocal force of authority that the con
stitution of the Church supplies; that the principle of
authority was most deeply wounded in this case by an
addition, which came into conflict with an injunction
not to add ; that in so high a matter, where the human
understanding and language entirely fail, the simplest
expressions, and those closest to Holy Scripture, are
the best; that it was difficult to plead for this new
definition the usual and valid reason that it was needed
in order to exclude some new and threatening error;
that rather, on the contrary, the Western form, though
free from heretical or false intention, was not without
danger of misleading the uninstructed ; and, finally, I
see not how to deny that the word 'proceed,' in the
Western formula, is equivocal, since it means one
thing in reference to procession from the Father, and
another in reference to procession from the Son.
Alike, then, as an individual, and on large and general
grounds, do I rejoice to think that by efforts, to which
your Grace has so importantly contributed, a solid
ground of concord, scanned in a spirit of love and cau
tion by most acute and instructed minds, has been
reached, and measured out in theological language.
This, then, seems to be in your Grace's view a foun
dation laid, and the next question at once arises,
What is to be built upon it? Now I have supposed,
I hope not wrongly, that the proceedings at Bonn will
be laid before the ruling authorities of the Eastern

1875] EAST AND WEST 65
Churches, and means taken in due time to ascertain
whether those proceedings are approved. If they be
approved, then we seem at once to find ourselves at
the door of action; for will not the next question be,
In what way can the Old Catholics of Germany obtain,
upon the basis already defined, the participation of
duly delegated Eastern prelates in the consecration of
their Bishops? When a satisfactory answer to that
question shall have been attained, what an enormous
progress will have been made! A great controversy,
obstinate for 1,000 years, will have found its practical
solution. An exceedingly important dogmatic act
will have been performed, which will excite very wide
sympathies in the West, even among those not, perhaps,
immediately included in its effects — I mean among all
believing Protestants, not to speak of Anglicans, or of
moderate men in the Roman Church — and that op
position to Curialism, of which the Old Catholics of
Germany are the foremost representatives, will have
hardened into a form such as immensely to strengthen
its promise both of durability and of influence. It will
also have sealed, by a formal act, the principle on
which it has necessarily fallen back, namely, adhesion
in all matters defide to the rule of the undivided Church.
For myself as a mere unit, or I might say atom, in the
Christian world, I can only say that I regard the pro
motion of a work such as I have here faintly sketched,
in the light of the Crusades of history, but which
escapes what in them there was of danger, and utterly
shuts out that vein of ambition and self-seeking which,
I fear, had much to do at times with the Papal action in
regard to them.
At a period when the extraneous action of the
Eastern Churches has been so beneficial to Christen
dom, I naturally feel an enhanced interest in their
inward state and reciprocal relations. I trust that the
Bulgarian Schism may have been less mischievous
than seemed probable, and that means may speedily
be found of healing it. With regard to the great ethni
cal division of Sclavonic and Hellenic Christians, only
misconduct or political scheming on one side or
both can make it dangerous, because the principle of
local circumscription, faithfully maintained by the
Eastern Churches against the overreaching supremacy
VOL. II — S

66 THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES [1875
asserted by Rome, will provide for each country and
people according to its own rights, duties, and neces
sities. I should much rejoice to hear that the outrageous
invasion by the Papal See of the rights [of] the Americans
was likely to bring about their union with the Eastern
Church. And now I turn to matters nearer home. I read with
very great interest and pleasure your Grace's report of
your visit to England, which of itself constitutes no
inconsiderable event in ecclesiastical history. I pass
by your little-merited notice of me with my cordial
thanks only, for I am coming to what is more impor
tant, namely, your description of the Thirty-nine
Articles of the Church of England as its *
. Your Grace will not be
sorry if, by a perfectly impartial statement, I can
satisfy you that this description is not historically
accurate. A confession of faith is, I apprehend, in
the strictest sense binding upon all members of a
Church. But the Thirty-nine Articles are in no sense
binding upon the laity of the Church of England : they
touch only the clergy. For more than 200 years they
were subscribed by lay members of the University
of Oxford, but this was by an obligation not ecclesias
tical, it was purely exceptional, and it has ceased to
exist. There is a law which forbids a layman to 'deprave,'
which I suppose means violently to assail or deny
what is in the Book of Common Prayer ; but even this
law, I believe, does not touch the Articles. But neither
as respects the clergy can it be said that the Articles
have a greater binding force than the Prayer-Book.
They do not profess to be a confession of faith, and
they contain some things which have nothing to do
with faith. They are prefaced by a title quite distinct
from that of a Creed, and the Church of England at
the Reformation added nothing whatever to these
Creeds accepted by the West. The clergy are bound
to the Articles in the same manner and terms as to
the Book of Common Prayer. In legal authority they
are conjoined together. But in practice there is this
* Blank in original.

i87s] WHAT THEY CONDEMN 67
difference, that the Book of Common Prayer supplies
the subject-matter of religious worship, and this most
vitally enters into the spiritual food of the people, and,
in fact, gives them in a very high degree their specific
religious tone.
In a practical point of view, the Prayer-Book repre
sents the Catholic and historic aspect of the Church of
England, the Articles the particular phase brought out
by the events of the sixteenth century. I speak of
both in the main: for some of the most Catholic
declarations are in the Articles, and one or two of
ths most Protestant are in the Prayer-Book. Lord
Chatham said the Liturgy, or Prayer-Book, was
Popish, the Articles Calvinistic. No doubt their
colour is distinct, but I do not think that, rationally
and comprehensively understood, they are in contra
diction. Our divines would say generally that they
integrate one another, but would assign the greater
moral weight in importance to the Prayer-Book.
Much depends upon a careful consideration of the
date of the Articles, and of their precise language. In
some important points, when the Council of Trent has
been moderate and guarded in its statements — for
instance, the doctrine of Purgatory — the Articles
preceded the Council, and what they condemn is
the current or popular doctrine, of which there was
so terrible a specimen in Tetzel. With rubrics the
Articles have no concern. Their vague definition of
the Church determines little or nothing, and bears the
stamp of accommodation to the difficulties of the times
out of which they grew. When Queen Elizabeth came
to the throne, all the parochial clergy except less than
a hundred conformed, and it was necessary to have
some rule or standard of preaching, but the Queen did
not then allow the Articles to become a law of the
land; and this she only acceded to when the violence
of Pope Pius V. led him to excommunicate and depose
her, and she was compelled to consolidate her means
of resistance. Excuse this long explanation, for the
matter is of some consequence.
Allow me to subscribe myself, with profound
respect, Your most faithful and humble servant,
W. E. Gladstone.

68 WHAT IS PERSECUTION [1880

253. To the Rev. T. G. Law. Hawarden,
October 24, 1880.
... I will answer your question by relating a con
versation which took place between Dr. Dollinger and
myself when I first knew (and greatly admired) him in
the year 1845.
I opened this question, and said I understood that it
had not been proved that anyone was put to death in
the reign of Elizabeth who was willing to abjure the
deposing doctrine.
He rejoined that he believed this was so, but ob
served that they were required to abjure it inter alia
as heretical, and that this was a technical term with a
special definition, under which the deposing doctrine
did not fall.
I was struck with the answer, and reserved it for
reflection. When I reflected on it, I thought the reply
after all insufficient, because it did not appear that the
refusal to abjure had ever turned upon this rather nice
though not unreal point; nor does anyone, so far as I
know, suppose that the Government sought to catch
people in a trap like this.
I understand by persecution proceedings taken for
opinions in religion which do not involve consequences
dangerous to the existing order. . . .
254. To the Rev. R. R. Suffield.
Hawarden,
December 31, 1882.
... I pray you to join in the representation which
I have more than once pressed upon Mr. Law, that he,
a highly qualified person, would in the interest of
historic truth deal thoroughly and once for all with
the really important question whether and how far
religious persecution, properly so called, was used by
the Government of Queen Elizabeth against the Papal
party: a question which as yet I do not believe to
have found its public solution. His knowledge makes
him formidable, but I am sure he would not execute
the work in the spirit of a partisan. . . .

1891] DOLLINGER AND TRENT 69
255. To Lord Acton. St. Leonards,
March 26, 1891.
. . . Your account of Dr. Dollinger is intensely
interesting. With my inferior faculty and means of
observation, I have long adopted your main proposi
tion. His attitude of mind was more historical than
theological. When I first knew him in 1845, and he
honoured me with very long and interesting conversa
tions, they turned very much upon theology, and I
derived from him what I thought very valuable and
steadying knowledge. Again in 1874, during a long
walk, when we spoke of the shocks and agitation of our
time, he told me how the Vatican decrees had required
him to reperuse and retry the whole circle of his thought.
He did not make known to me any general result,
but he had by that time found himself wholly de
tached from the Council of Trent, which was indeed
a logical necessity from his preceding action. The
Bonn Conference appeared to show him nearly at the
standing-point of Anglican theology.
I thought him more liberal as a theologian than as a
politician. On the point of Church Establishment he
was as impenetrable as if he had been a Newdigate.
He would not see that there were two sides to the
question. I long earnestly to know what progress he had made
at the last towards redeeming the pledge given in one
of his letters to me, that the evening of his life was to
be devoted to a great theological construction.
I once proposed to him the idea of republishing in
series the works of (so to call them) the Henotic
writers. He entered into it warmly. I then pro
pounded it to Dr. Mozley, the Regius Professor, who
did the like. I wanted it done by the Oxford Faculty.
But Dr. Bright took some sideways objection which
blocked it, and Mozley's life was unhappily soon
cut off. . . .
I should have called Dr. Dollinger an anti-Jesuit, but
in no other sense, that is in no sense, a Jansenist. I
never saw the least sign of leaning in that direc
tion. . . .

70 MEANING OF PROTESTANT [1892
He was surely built upon quite other lines. Jan
senism was too narrow for such a profound and com
prehensive historic mind.

256. To the Lord Chancellor (Herschell) .
London,
November g, 1892.
Is it quite certain that the following points have been
fully considered (re Princess Marie's descendants) :
1 . Is there a general definition in law of a Protestant?
2. Or in usage?
3. If it be said a Protestant is a Western Christian
who disagrees with, and is separated defacto from, the
Church of Rome, this definition would cover (1) the
Old Catholics, (2) the Church of Utrecht, neither of
which would, I believe, accept the name of Protestant.
What, then, is the true legal definition?
4. It seems to me as an outside ignoramus that the
two Acts of 1 William and Mary — (1) for establishing
the coronation oath; (2) for settling the succession to
the Crown — are oddly but substantially related. This
Act of Settlement is wholly penal, negative, and anti-
Roman. It enacts that the Sovereign shall be Pro
testant, but, without defining the word, it ascer
tains the fact by the stringent declaration from
30 Charles II. Is that declaration still imposed upon
the Sovereign at coronation? If it is, it is amply and
directly sufficient of itself to exclude not only Roman
but Orthodox (this, not by its condemning Transub
stantiation, but by its condemning invocation) . In this
case cadit qucestio.
5. Besides this [the] Act for maintaining, the coro
nation oath requires the Sovereign to maintain the
Protestant reformed Religion established by law, but
it points to no Protestantism other than that of the
Established Church, and even of this it does not require
the profession.
So that thus far, the intention manifestly being to
have a Protestant throne, Protestantism had only a
negative definition by renunciation.
6. But when we come to 12 and 13 William III.
we find a more complete arrangement. Nothing is

i8gs] LEFT UNDEFINED 71
done to derogate from the affirmative provision already
established for the succession, but a new affirmative
provision appears. The Sovereign must join in com
munion with the Church. May it not be said that,
for the purposes of the Act, this provides a statutory
definition of Protestantism? and that it attempts no
other? and that it might be hard to exclude a person
complying with this condition by virtue of the enact
ment that the Sovereign is to be Protestant? What
right would there be to interpret the law penally against
a person fulfilling its only defined positive condi
tion, by virtue of a form to which the legislature
has not thought fit to annex any other definition?
7. It being borne in mind that if dissent from the
Pope be the popular idea of Protestantism, the Ortho
dox dissent from him rather more strongly than we
do — i.e., on the Nicene Creed itself.
A curious question arises whether a Stundist could
succeed. They believe rather less than a Quaker; so
that if limitation of belief (which is far from the his
torical and original meaning) were the condition they
might qualify; but then they are Easterns.
All this, which may be quite worthless, tends to the
conclusion that there is no absolute barrier to exclude
an Eastern from the throne (if willing to communi
cate and take the coronation oath), unless it be in the
declaration of 30 Charles II. . . .

257. To the Bishop of Tenos. Hawarden,
January 4, 1895.
Tres reverend et venerable Eveque,
Un derangement de mes yeux m'a emp£ch6 de
repondre plus promptement k la lettre, egalement
pieuse et condescendante, que votre Grandeur a bien
voulu m'adresser.
Tres, vieux au seuil meme de la mort, je suis bien
sensible du besoin de m'attacher a la foi de N.S.
Jesus-Christ, et a l'Eglise qu'il a batie sur la terre
avec la promesse de perpetuite indefectible.
Baptise peu de jours apres ma naissance, je n'ai rien

72 ORTHODOX CONTENTIONS [189S
fait sciemment pour me separer de cette Eglise, et je
crois fermement que, bien que tout-a-fait indigne, j'y
appartiens. J'aime toujours me reposer sur le doux souvenir
de l'Homme-Dieu, et sur le fait que toutes les parties
du monde Chretien le confessent, plut6t que d'entrer
sur la voie des controverses epineuses qui divisent les
Chretiens, et qui se sont beaucoup aggravees depuis
que Taction et le nouveau dogme de 1870 ontexpulse
du sein de 1'Eglise latine mon cher ami Dr. Dollinger
et une foule de personnes les plus devouees et les plus
instruites de cette Eglise.
A l'lle de Tinos, votre Grandeur se trouve a c6te de
cent million Chretiens orientaux qui n'ont pas change
leur foi, et qui croient que le Pape, qui doit Itre le premier
de tous les Evgques, est malheureusement le plus
ancien des , Dissidents, qui a debite des nouveautes,
et coupe 1'Eglise de Jesus-Christ en deux parties.
Vers l'Occident, je trouve pres de cent cinquante
million de Chretiens de maintes parties du monde, qui,
comme les Orientaux, ne peuvent pas souscrire a
l'infaillibilite du Pape, et qui savent, comme moi je
sais: 1. Que, parmi les Papes, il y a eu au moins trois
heretiques, viz., Liberius, Vigilius, et Honorius.
2. Que, pendant 40 ans, il y avaient deux Papes et
deux eglises latines ; l'une a Rome et l'autre a Avignon.
Y avaient-il done deux Saints Pierres?
) 3- .Que, selon le Concile ecumenique de Constance,
e'etait a un pareil Concile, le cas echeant, de se faire
juge du Pape.
Depuis l'annee 1845, j'ai connu, rever6, aime Dr.
Dollinger; il etait mime a cette 6poque, tres bien-
veillant pour moi, et m'a enseigne maintes choses.
R-I-R _ Pour lui, avec son instruction enorme, l'in
faillibilite du Pape etait un mensonge. Ce serait
pour moi la meme chose, et la profession d'un
mensonge frayerait done pour moi le chemin de
l'enfer. J'ai connu pendant une demie-siecle les Cardinaux
Newman et Manning, et le Marquis de Ripon, et je
suis sohdement conviancu qu'ils joueront a l'autre
monde, tous les trois, de la Vision beatifique de Dieu.
Continuez done, je vous prie, vos bons offices pour

1896] ANGLICAN ORDERS 73
moi, et suppliquez que la misericorde de Dieu et le
Sang^precieux de Jesus-Christ me donnent leur aide
efficace, et a la fin admettent a la porte du Paradis
me principem peccatorum.
En remerciant chaudement votre Grandeur de votre
charite paternelle, j'ai l'honneur de me souscrire de
votre Grandeur le fils et serviteur tres devoue et tres
humble, W. E. Gladstone,
Ancien Ministre.

258. To the Rev. T. A. Lacey. Hawarden,
July 3, 1896.
My dear Sir,
I thank you for your tracts, and I think we are
all indebted to you and Father Puller for undertaking
so bravely an arduous work, which I do not suppose
could have been better performed.
I have read the Encyclical, and have not enough
knowledge to see in it all that Mgr. Gasparri describes :
but I see nothing at variance with his view, nor any
thing which ought to inspire dark anticipations as to
the Pope's eventual utterance on the subjectof Anglican
Orders. I do not allow myself to be very sanguine
about that utterance: but I read the Encyclical, with
its strong self-assertion of the Papacy, as intended
to clear the ground for whatever he may have to say,
and to let his flock know that, whatever it may be, they
have nothing to do but to obey it
The Pope has sent through Cardinal Rampolla to
the Abate Tosti for transmission to me a very kind
and gracious message.
We were much pleased with the Abbe Duchesne,
whom Lord Acton conceives to be the most learned
man in France.
The ' Life of Manning ' and the Duchesne movement
are enough to make this a considerable year in the
history of the Church. I remain, my dear sir,
Faithfully yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

74 PAPAL ACTION [1896

259. To Sir Walter Phillimore, Bart.
Penmaenmawr, November 2, 1896.
My dear Phillimore,
You have laboured most unsparingly and kindly,
and clearly seem to be at the end of your tether. It
is a pity that Halifax has no information to give:
absolute zero. I think that everyone concerned was
generously unwilling to disturb what seemed to be a
generous proceeding, and you seem to have been the
only person who knew how to affix any meaning to
the restrictions intimated.
The only object of my questions was to obtain
additional security against falling into injustice towards
anyone, if and when I come to write anything which I
feel still that I probably ought to do.
The whole affair gives me the lowest possible idea
of the Pope's statesmanship, but I do not think we can
make a case against him in point of fairness and truth.
I have obtained from Tosti the letter I wanted to
see, and have written to him again to wind up the matter
and say a word for the Church of Henry VIII.
If I write, depend upon my eschewing all that could
implicate others. Ever yours sincerely,
W. E. Gladstone.

CHAPTER III
the controversy with unbelief
I 864-1 894
At first sight the letters in this chapter have a
strangely antiquated air. There is nothing in them
about the authorship of the Fourth Gospel, or the
alleged symbolical character of the incidents recorded
in it, or the conflict between the Christology of St. Paul
and that of the Synoptic Gospels, hardly anything about
Evolution, and very little about the date of the
Hexateuch. But the two themes which recur so often
in the following letters — the mystery of sin and the
limitations of human knowledge — hold as large a place
in the controversies of to-day as in those of a genera
tion ago.
In two letters written earlier than any here printed,
Mr. Gladstone applies to Miss Martineau's 'Deer-
brook' very much the same treatment that he after
wards applied to Mrs. Humphry Ward's 'Robert
Elsmere.' Good fiction had always a serious attraction
for him. Of 'Deerbrook' he says that, while 'there
is much in it that is good,' and 'the latter part is
very interesting,' the religious system on which the
book is founded deserves only condemnation. Tt
is fatal.' It recognizes 'some of the ends which
Christianity proposes to effect upon the human char
acter,' but it puts aside the Divine provision which can
alone bring those ends about. Modern Unitarianism he
75

76 AGNOSTIC ETHICS [x888
characteristically compares to ' a tall tree scientifically
prepared for the saw by the preliminary process, well
known to woodcutters, of clearing away with the axe
all projecting roots, which as long as they remained
rendered the final operation impossible. This first
process leaves the tree standing in a very trim con
dition, much more mathematical in form, as it is more
near a cylinder, than in its native state. The business
of the saw, when the horse and the man arrive, is soon
accomplished.' His handling of 'Robert Elsmere' is
on the same lines. The aim of the writer is to pre
serve the moral elements in Christianity while reject
ing the supernatural elements. Had Mr. Gladstone
lived a little longer, he would have seen the im
possibility of this attempt demonstrated by its
abandonment — not, indeed, by Mrs. Ward, but by
almost every other Agnostic teacher. There is no
longer the professed acceptance of the moral precepts
of Christ that there was in the eighties. Science
claims to have shown that in some of its features the
morality of the Sermon on the Mount is the morality
of an ascetic or a mystic, not that of a man or woman
living in a world the conditions of which were unknown
to the Preacher. The newest attack on Christianity
is an attack directed, not against this or that article
of the Christian creed, but against the whole Christian
system. That system is as bad morally as it is intel
lectually or theologically. It is Mr. Gladstone's chief
merit as an apologist that he recognized the inevitable-
ness of this development long before it had been reached.
T am always inclined,' he says, speaking of 'Robert
Elsmere' (Letter 282), 'to consider this Theism as
among the least defensible of the positions alternative
to Christianity.' To-day there is hardly anyone left

1888] DOUBT AND SCEPTICISM

77

to defend it. Over the whole field of the relations of
the sexes, for example, the restraints of Christianity
are less and less accepted as binding. They are
openly challenged or quietly ignored alike in our
novels and in our plays, and when he who seeks to
maintain their permanent character is no longer
allowed to plead the precepts of Christ, he may easily
find it impossible to make good his case.
In some of these letters we meet the same method
as that on which Mr. Gladstone so much relied in the
Roman controversy. The doubter is blamed, not
because he cannot believe, but because he does not
really wish to believe. Difficulties have been first
played with out of curiosity, and then welcomed
without any real effort to get the better of them, or
any adequate knowledge of the other side of the
argument. Here comes in his devotion to Butler.
An opponent maintains that the orthodox conclusions
are not certain. 'Granted that they are not,' Mr.
Gladstone replies, 'are the conclusions you seek to
substitute for them any more certain? Upon other
matters we are constantly compelled to accept prob
able conclusions as the best we can get, and we do
in fact act upon them as though they were certain.
Religion is not exempt from this universal law.
The exceptional thing about it is that the honest
and practical acceptance of its teaching generates
a moral conviction different alike in kind and in
force from that which is felt in other matters.
'For Doubt,' says Mr. Gladstone, T have a sincere
respect, but Doubt and Scepticism are different things.
I contend that the sceptic is of all men on earth the
most inconsistent and irrational. He uses a plea
against religion which he never uses against anything

78 FUTURE PUNISHMENT [1879
he wants to do or any idea he wants to embrace — viz.,
the want of demonstrative evidence. Every day and
all day long he is acting on evidence not demonstrative :
he eats the dish he likes without certainty that it is
not poisoned; he rides the horse he likes without
certainty that the animal will not break his neck; he
sends out of the house a servant he suspects without
demonstration of guilt; he marries the woman he
likes with no absolute knowledge that she loves him;
he embraces the political opinion that he likes, perhaps
without any study at all, certainly without demonstra
tive evidence of its truth. But when he comes to
religion he is seized with a great intellectual scrupu
losity, and demands as a pre-condition of homage to
God what everywhere else he dispenses with, and
then ends with thinking himself more rational than
other people.' In another letter there is a passage
much to the same effect: 'What does a little surprise
me is, the facility with which many men persuade
themselves that by the adoption of certain negative
processes they can cut these difficulties away. This
I find to be far beyond my power; and it is my convic
tion, so far as my thought and experience have carried
me, that departures from what is called Orthodox
Christianity in its main points, while they remove or
lessen certain difficulties of a minor class, greatly
aggravate the more serious parts of the problem.'
For the last thirty years of his life Mr. Gladstone gave
much thought to the question of Future Punishment.
There is among his papers a packet of manuscripts on
this subject, with the date of 1879 on them, and the note :
' From this I was called away to write on Bulgaria.' A
pretty complete statement of his views on the question
will be found in the letter to his daughter-in-law,

1880] EXISTENCE OF EVLL 79
Mrs. W. H. Gladstone (Letter 289). His attitude
towards the theory of Natural Immortality may have
changed somewhat during the last years of his life,
but his sense of our ignorance of everything connected
with the future life, beyond the certainty that judgment
awaits us, and that it will be the judgment of an
absolutely just God, Who knows our actions and our
motives, and will weigh everything that either mitigates
or adds to our responsibility in regard to them, never
varied. It follows from this that, while all dogmatizing
on the subject is out of place, it is especially so in the
case of the heathen. To them applies the descrip
tion of the last judgment given in St. Matthew's
Gospel, where the final sentence turns wholly on the
natural virtues, while the principle on which Christians
will be judged is rather to be looked for in the Parable
of the Talents.* The certainty of future retribution
is not a greater mystery than the existence of evil
(Letter 287). Why should those who have to accept
the one, because they see it all around them, find the
other a stumbling-block? What does man know of
the ways of God beyond that small fraction of them
which is revealed to him for his personal guidance?
This is the question which Mr. Gladstone asks again
and again, and what is there to be added to the
'Nothing' which was his constant answer? The
difficulties honestly felt about future retribution seem
to derive their main force from a lurking doubt
of Divine justice or of Divine omniscience. 'There
is no one,' says Mr. Gladstone (Letter 280), 'whose
ultimate judgment would carry more weight with
me' than Dean Church, and in view of this I will
*This illuminating distinction may be generally drawn by theo
logians, but I am indebted for it to some ' Notes on the Gospels,'
by the present Bishop of Salisbury.

80 GENESIS AND THE 'ILIAD' [1889
venture to quote from his letters a passage which
seems to me to express Mr. Gladstone's conclusion
even better than anything of his own writing: 'Of
the publicans and sinners I do not doubt that many
will see and know Him there who did not know Him
here. But I cannot tell who they are. I only know
that now, as far as I can see, they are going against
His will. I do not know, for He has not said a word
to tell me, what He will do with them. Man's destiny
stops not with the grave. There may be discipline
for character and will beyond it. But I cannot speak
of it, for I know nothing of it. I only know the
discipline which goes on here, and which we are told
is so eventful. I have, on the one hand, all the hopes
which spring out of God's infinite perfection. I have,
to check the speculations of anxious human sympathy,
the certainty of my own ignorance — ignorance the
depth of which I cannot measure or comprehend; and,
further, the very awful fact of the difficulty with which
character and will undergo a change when once they
are fixed and confirmed.'*
For the Book of Genesis Mr. Gladstone had an affec
tion akin to that which he felt for the ' Iliad.' He held
that the account of the Creation in the first chapter had
not been invalidated by the discoveries of geologists,
and he accepted this without the modifications which
he found no difficulty in admitting as regards other
parts of the narrative. Speaking for himself, he would
not reject the historical sense of the book, but he thought
that 'the aim and sense of Scripture' might 'stand
with the parabolical.' Whether there was an earlier
man than Adamic man seemed to him an open ques
tion, and apparently he saw no difficulty in the
*'Life and Letters of Dean Church,' p. 264.

1864] GROWTH AND STATISTICS 81
evolution of man from the anthropoid apes. The ' dust
of the earth ' out of which Adam was created may have
been dust that had already passed through many forms.
His opinion of the controversy about the dates and
authorship of the Old Testament books will be found
in a letter to Lord Acton (Letter 288). But it is in the
letter to Sir Thomas Acland (Letter 291) that we shall
find, I think, the best expression of Mr. Gladstone's
permanent attitude towards unbelief. Inconclusive as
he thought its reasoning, disastrous as he believed its
influence to be upon human conduct and human
happiness, he was under no illusions as to the steadi
ness of its advance. The only force that could offer
any successful resistance to its progress was the
Church, 'the appointed instrument of the world's
recovery.' But the Church seemed no longer equal to
the work. Where spiritual gains and losses were con
cerned, Mr. Gladstone had no faith in statistics. Lists
of new churches, of additional services, of young
men's clubs, of mothers' associations, of all the nomi
nally religious machinery which makes so fair a
show on paper, left him unmoved by the side of the
fact that the incoming tide was steadily covering fresh
ground. 260. To the Bishop of Salisbury (Hamilton). February 8, 1864.
My dear Bishop of Salisbury,
I did not like to speak to you about the coming
judgment of to-day, which has, I fear, weighed upon
you by anticipation, and which I have just heard
nearly the whole of. You will not, I hope, allow it to
depress you overmuch. You have done to the best of
your judgment what seemed to be your duty. The
result did not lie with you. What that result is in its
ulterior meanings and consequences is a question, I
vol. 11 — 6

82 FAR FROM BOTH SHORES [1864
suppose, much too vast for us. This new and grave
occurrence appertains to a transition state through
which the Christian faith is passing. The ship is at
sea, far from the shore she left, far from the shore she
is making for. This or that deflection from her
course, from this or that wind of heaven, we cannot
tell what it is, or whether favourable or adverse to her
true work and destination, unless we know all the
stages of the experience through which she has yet to
pass. It seems to me that these judgments are most
important in their character as illustrations of a
system, or, I should rather say, of the failure of a
system, parts of a vast scheme of forces and events in
the midst of which we stand, which seem to govern
us, but which in reality are themselves governed by a
hand above. It may be that this rude shock to the
mere Scripturism which has too much prevailed is
intended to be the instrument of restoring a greater
harmony of belief, and of the agencies for maintaining
belief. But, be that as it may, the valiant soldier who
has fought manfully should be, and I hope will be, of
good cheer.

261. To ihe Bishop of London (Tait).
11. Carlton^House Terrace,
April 26, 1864.
My dear Lord Bishop,
You have been so obliging as to send me a copy of
the sermons you have recently preached on the Word
of God and the ground of Faith. I had been for
tunate enough to hear one or more of them, and
have read with cordial admiration the powerful argu
ments and exhortations contained in others. But I
think it is the preface which I am to regard as having
been specially in your lordship's view when you sent
me the book; and it would be an ill return for your
uniform kindness, were I to receive such an appeal in
silence, and keep back from your lordship my senti
ments, unimportant to everyone besides myself as
they are, on the subject to which it refers.
I heard the judgment delivered in the cases of
Dr. Williams and Mr. Wilson. It was impossible to

1864] ESSAYS AND REVIEWS 83
avoid being struck first with its ability, and next with
its reserve; and I restrained myself from passing any
hasty judgment upon its character and tendencies, for
I could not but admit its importance, though I do not
understand that either history, religion, or the Con
stitution, permit me to regard the Court as ' the highest
authority in Church and State,' or as being an au
thority in the Church at all, though it may be one
which is in a certain and an important sense over the
Church. The result of as much reflection as I have been able
to bestow upon the subject during the weeks that have
followed up to the present time has been growingly
and extremely painful.
It appears to me that the spirit of this judgment has
but to be consistently and cautiously followed up in
order to establish, as far as the Court can establish it,
a complete indifference between the Christian Faith
and the denial of it.
I do not believe it is in the power of human lan
guage to bind the understanding and conscience
of man with any theological obligations, which the
mode of argument used and the principles assumed
would not effectually unloose.
The same processes which have now been applied
to the inspiration of Holy Scripture and to the doc
trine of future punishment will, in my opinion, when
.the time arrives, be found equally effectual in their
application to the doctrines (for example) of Original
Sin, of the Atonement, and of the Divinity of our
Lord; and I can only thank God for the sake of
my children and my country, that the Primates of
the Church have given their voices in the sense which
refuses all concurrence in the responsibility of the
proceeding, and leads to the hope that belief is still to
be vigilantly guarded and maintained among us.
I freely admit that nothing can be more innocent in
itself than a declaration that we may, without con
tradicting the doctrine of the Church, freely question
matter which is found in the text of the Holy Scrip
tures, but which is 'unconnected with religious faith
or moral duties.' But this affords me little com
fort when I reflect that the issue raised in these cases
was not at all about a liberty to be exercised in matter

84 MEANING OF JUDGMENT [1864
'unconnected with religious faith or moral duties,' but,
on the contrary, about the exercise of such liberty in
regard to the declarations of Scripture which directly
belong to its office as the Word of God.
With respect therefore to the real meaning of the
judgment, it seems to me that this must be found in
the scope and character of the inculpated matter which
it has acquitted, and which it has mulcted the Bishop
of Salisbury and Mr. Fendall in costs for questioning.
I confess it appears to me that a person deriving his
knowledge of this portion of the case from your lord
ship's preface would be entirely misled as to the nature
of the transaction that has taken place.
With respect to the mode in which the judgment
has dealt with the question of punishment hereafter, it
is a mode which seems to me, under the notion of
judicial construction, to destroy the force of words,
and to encourage men to tamper with their own con
sciences and sense of truth by accepting from a Court
that absolution for breach of engagement which they
would justly and indignantly reject if tendered to
them from a different quarter.
I hope the day is distant when the work of the
Church of England as a national establishment must
cease: yet it would be better that that day should
arrive than that she should consent even to a silent
and gradual obliteration of the lines which mark off
belief from its opposite.
It is needless to pursue farther this painful subject,
and I will conclude with assuring your lordship that
I remain, with cordial respect for your pastoral zeal
and labours and much sense of your kindness,
Most faithfully yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
I ought in this letter to have stated my full accept
ance of the rule that all documents imposed by way of
theological test ought to be continued in a favourable
sense; but this, I apprehend, means a favourable sense
subject to the limits fixed by the time and natural
meaning of the words employed, and is perfectly
consistent with the definitions and integrity of the
Faith.

i86sl MILL AND WESTMINSTER 85

262. To Lord Radstock.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
June 24, 1865.
My dear Lord Radstock,
Since my note of yesterday I have considered the
passage which you kindly sent me, and which I under
stand to be extracted from a recent work of Mr. Mill.
When I expressed, and allowed to be published, my
opinion of Mr. Mill's claims to represent Westminster,
I was not aware that exception had been taken, on
religious grounds, to any passage in his works. But
had I seen the passage now before me, it would not,
with the view I take of it until better advised, have
altered my course of proceeding.
I will say nothing on the form or language of this
extract, or on the necessity or propriety of the hy
pothesis on which it turns; for, after all, I could not
properly judge of these matters without a knowledge
of the context, which I do not possess.
But the substance of the passage seems to me to be
just and sound, and not only not to involve unbelief,
but to be based on what is really the fundamental
principle of all belief. The nature of man is the work
of God, and it is not that nature, but only the evil in
it, which is not His work. What can be more seemly,
to say the least, than the proposition that, when the
great Physician and Restorer of that nature comes, He
should be known, not merely by exhibitions of power,
but by the radical correspondence of what He does
and teaches with all that is recognized, by the great
and never-failing, though often obscured, tradition of
humanity, as good in that nature which we bear?
But what I have above called seemly I might more
justly call inevitable and binding. On what founda
tions can the Almighty be expected by us to build,
other than those which He Himself has laid? What
was the blessed working of our Lord's habitual daily
life, except an appeal to those principles of love, truth,
justice, and the like, which abode in man, not strong
enough to govern, but yet strong enough to witness?
Why does St. Paul find fault with the heathen for not
acknowledging the goodness of God in His works, if
they had not within them what ought to have taught

86 MORAL STANDARD IN MAN [1865
and led them to acknowledge it? The whole Bible,
all the first ideas of Revelation, imply that there is in
man a moral standard by means of which its divinity
can be recognized. It is not this principle, but the
opposite of this principle, which destroys belief. For
belief is essentially founded in reason, not in the
narrow, arrogant, and perverted thing that some men
mean when they talk of reason, but in reason as that
faculty which attaches us to the truth, as conscience
attaches us to the right. Apart from defects of
expression, I am at a loss to know how these things
can be questioned, or what counter-proposition can
be set up. God is [in] my mind nothing else than a
name for Good attached to Personality, and invested
with the perfection of every other attribute. But good
is the essence; and the interpretation of good must, if
it is to govern us, have the sanction and attestation of
all that remains of good either in the speculative or in
the active being of man — of all that in us which in our
best hours we recognize as alone entitled to govern.
For truths esteemed to be of such breadth, it may
seem superfluous to quote individual witnesses. But
I am sure that, if I owe to any one man more than
another the clear and strong perception of these in my
mind, it is to one who is justly called the great evan
gelical doctor — I mean to St. Augustine.
I have reserved, and I wish to reserve, all questions,
except the one of the substance. But even on the
form, though it startles, and though I do not think I
should be ready to adopt it, yet I am slow to condemn.
Not only because a person of so powerful and dis
passionate mind as the Bishop of St. David's is stated,
I see, to withhold his condemnation, but because I know
nowhere any more startling expression to be found
than that which comes from one of the deepest human
hearts and souls, from the greatest of all Gospel
teachers not Divine, from the inspired Apostle, when
he wrote those transcendent words :
' I have great heaviness and continued sorrow in my
heart; for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh. ..." I remain, Sincerely yours,
W. E. G.

1865] IDEA OF SIN 87

263. To the Duke of Argyll.
Hawarden,
July 14, 1865.
My dear Argyll,
. . . The question which you put me ... is of the
deepest interest, and well deserves being answered, not
in a word but in a volume. Still, the affirmative answer
which you anticipate may be given with general truth.
The idea of conversion requires and depends upon the
idea of sin. I doubt if this latter idea can properly be
said to exist even in Homer, whose age, as represented
in him, had a far higher moral standard than that of
classical Greece. Of the East beyond Judea, I must
not speak, for I have none of the requisite knowledge.
But speaking of the race of man from the Valley of the
Jordan westwards, I think it is perhaps the greatest
peculiarity of the Hebrew race, and, if so, the strongest
proof of a Divine Revelation among them, that they
alone preserved, during so many centuries, the true
moral conception of sin and of that personal and indi
vidual relation between each man and his God on which
the idea of sin depends.
Among the heathen, I mean in what we call Paganism,
there remains a standard of right and wrong, but this
standard is neither derived from, nor intelligibly related
to, the Divine will or character. Singularly enough,
some idea of national or collective sin seems to have
remained even when it had been lost for the individual.
I would I were free to travel on these roads farther
and sine fine, but that cannot be yet. . . .
264. To Macmillan and Co.
Hawarden,
December 25, 1865.
Dear Sirs,
I have sometimes had tokens of your kind re
membrance, in the receipt of new publications, when
I have felt ashamed to send you a mere formal acknow
ledgment; and now, when my acknowledgment must
be more than formal, I still feel ashamed : because it
will be wholly insufficient. It is very rare with me,

88 'ECCE HOMO' [1865
under the pressure of office, to read a book of the na
ture of the 'Ecce Homo,' which you lately sent me.
But, from the moment when I opened that volume, I
felt the touch of a powerful hand drawing me on.
The author of it is a man who evidently would not
look for an undiscriminating eulogium or concurrence,
and, indeed, as the book is avowedly but half the
work, and as what remains is not less vital than what
has been accomplished, the time even for competent
judges to pronounce upon it is not yet come. With
regard, however, to the portion of it as yet unborn,
I please myself with thinking that the seed of it is to
be found in the last half -line.
I will not attempt to draw out the long catalogue of
its praises; but I will venture to say I know of, or
recollect, no production of equal force that recent years
can boast of, and that it is with infinite relief as well
as pleasure that, in the present day, I hail the entrance
into the world of a strong constructive book on the
Christian system. And I venture to add, I hope not
impertinently, the opinion that the author of such a
work, on such a subject, ought to give the world the
benefit also of his name. It must be some name that
would powerfully help to draw to it the attention it
deserves, and the more present responsibility of open
authorship would be useful, as I believe, even to this
most remarkable writer, and would make worthier
still what I cannot but call this noble book.
W. E. Gladstone.

265. To Dr. Newman.
Carlton House Terrace,
February 18, 1866.
My dear Dr. Newman,
To those who have once known you or your
writings, any work from your pen must be a matter of
interest, and to receive the letter you have just pub
lished from yourself, with words of kindness upon it,
has been to me that and something more. It lets in
a rush of memories of what was, and of what might
have been ; but with these it stirs up sentiments of
admiration and of thankfulness, on which it is more

1872] THE GODS OF EPICURUS 89
seemly and more suitable to dwell. Your style, as
you must well know, loses none of its clearness with
the gathering in of years, but what I have a better
right to thank you for is the frank, kindly, and tender
spirit which possesses you, and which breathes in
every line. I am sure that this is widely felt and ap
preciated, and that in that recognition you will think
you have your reward.
I hope you will allow me to claim a common interest
with you in works such as this and that which preceded
it. The internal condition of the great and ancient
Church, which has for its own one half of Christendom,
cannot be matter of indifference to Christians beyond
its borders. Ignorantly, perhaps, I contemplate with
pain and alarm what appears to be the ruling course
of influences and events within them. It seems hardly
too much to say that we see before us an ever-growing
actual necessity, in the world of thought, for a new
reconciliation of Christianity and mankind. Any who
have the feeling that these words very coarsely and
crudely express must earnestly wish God-speed to
those distinguished persons in the Roman Church
who, like yourself or like Dr. Dollinger, seem to
labour in the great and sacred cause.
Forgive my having said so much, in reliance on
your generous indulgence, and in the haste to which
I am a slave. May I hope — let me rather say / will
hope — to see you if you come to town.
Believe me, etc.,
W. E. G.
266. To Archbishop Manning. August 26, 1872.
... I am sorry to say that in one matter, which lies
at the root of all, I am hardly less a follower of
Cassandra than you, for I think there is a more power
ful combination of influences now at work in the
world which have atheism for their legitimate up
shot, than at any former period known to me. They
are alike hostile to God the Creator, God the Ruler,
and God the Judge; and the only deities they have
are the gods of Epicurus.

90 FOSSIL MAN [1872
267. To the Duke of Argyll. December 28, 1872.
... I return your very interesting letter on the
fossil man in the Mentone Cave. I do not perceive
that there are cogent reasons for assuming in this case
a very great lapse of time, but I am not qualified to
judge whether the circumstances warrant that in
ference or not. If, however, the lapse of time is very
great, the identity of type in the skeleton is the more
remarkable. I have been touching upon deep and
dangerous subjects at Liverpool. Whether I went
beyond my province many may doubt. But of the
extent of the mischief I do not doubt more than of its
virulence. All I hear from day to day convinces me
of the extent of this strange epidemic, for it is not,
considering how it comes, worthy of being a rational
or scientific process. Be it, however, what it may, we
politicians are children playing with toys in compar
ison to that great work of and for mankind which has
to be done and will yet be done in restoring belief. . . .
268. To R. B. Morier.
April 12, 1873.
. . . The arrival of Strauss and so many others at
materialism as the result of their toil and of the light
and researches of the age is, I do believe, one of the
strangest and most pitiable phenomena upon record in
the history of the human mind. Though Strauss's
book did not seem to me to indicate any general decay
of vigour, yet there really were some particular argu
ments, such as that connecting the immortality of the
soul with the plurality of worlds, which appear nothing
less than puerile. So also that upon Schopenhauer's
pessimism as destroying the weight of his authority.
I do not think that Strauss's book has attained to any
great celebrity or notoriety in England, but I grieve
to say we have many of native growth which, for every
practical purpose, are just as deplorable, and some of
which in opinion go even farther. . .

1873] CHURCH AND PARLIAMENT 91
269. To the Provost of Oriel (Hawkins). July 27, 1873.
... I turn to the Athanasian Creed. First, with
respect to the Creed itself, I have no doubts or diffi
culties. It is not by ideas as such, but by conduct in
its largest sense and including the use of all our powers,
that I presume we shall be judged. Further, I think
that one main source of difficulty in the matter arises
from importing the popular sense of terms such as
'saved' into theology, and another from assumptions
in the region of philosophy that we know more about
eternity than we really do know. Were I compelled to
decide the question, and for myself alone, I should be
for adopting the rubric of 1689, or the earlier part of
it. But as it is not to be decided for myself alone, I
should not be the man to preclude any other form of
change that I believed to be practicable, and that
might fairly be held to tend to health and peace. I
think, however, you are scarcely aware how very lim
ited are my means of action in this class of subjects.
Though Mr. Miall is probably as yet very far from the
attainment of his favourite objects, yet undoubtedly
the power of legislating through the medium of Parlia
ment with safety or steadiness on the higher matters
of Church and religion is brought down to a very low
ebb. An immense amount of out-of-doors consent is
requisite to enable any Government to undertake with
prudence such an enterprise. The two Bills of which
I have had the care, on the New Lectionary and the
Shortened Services, had every possible advantage of
consent and authority, but it taxed me very hard in
deed to steer them without admitting changes by
pure Parliamentary initiative, which would have formed
most dangerous precedents for the future. I am bound
to add my opinion that the Archbishop of Canterbury
has done much to embroil and entangle this difficult
matter by the premature and therefore rash adop
tion of ground which he has been unable to hold, though
possibly, now that Bishop Wilberforce is dead, he may
be tempted to resume it. Be that as it may, anything
like initiative or personal activity on my part in any
of these matters is really out of the question. There

92

A TREMENDOUS TASK [1873

is only a certain stage of ripeness at which I, or even
the Government, could with any advantage inter
pose. I had no personal desire for shortened services
or a new lectionary: but I gladly lent myself to pro
moting changes which were supported by general
though not universal consent: and which tended to
edification. So I should do again, if Atropos do not
cut the thread of my Ministerial life before an occasion
arise. One thing I can do without waiting for it, and
that is promise to read with interest and pleasure all
that you may write or send me on the subject of the
Athanasian Symbol. I do not know if you have read
Dr. Brewer's writings ; they are on the other side : but
he is a very able man, and he seems to beat Newman
in his knowledge of the ecclesiastical phraseology of
the fourth century, which I always supposed to be
Newman's stronghold. . . .
270. To the Earl of Pembroke Hawarden,
September 29, 1873.
My dear George,
I have never accused you of being either misty or
uncandid, and I am sorry that my practice of speaking
out so freely my whole meaning against you, whatever
it may be, should give you the pain of always or often
believing that I have more to say which I keep back.
However, my expression about your using the vague
ness of your language as a kind of defence was an un
happy one; as it did not bring out my meaning clearly,
I will try again, but I write from memory. I found
in the same book a denunciation of belief and a recom
mendation of belief. My hope was that between these
two contradictions you would adhere to the one last
named, and would thus find in your own mind the anti
dote to what I thought the bane. But I had besides
this the opinion that the inconsistency thus indicated
in your language, going as it did to the root of the whole
matter, would, together with other evidence, serve
to illustrate and support my main proposition, which
is that you have undertaken a tremendous task with
out being properly prepared for it by reflection and
comprehensive study, and that you are a teacher where

1873] NEGATIVE DOGMAS 93
you ought to be a learner. I certainly was struck
with the quiet way in which you gave up your affirma
tive proposition, or deprived it of its vitality as a mere
affair of verbal explanation without any misgiving
suggested to you by the necessity of such an operation;
and I am afraid that in giving this fuller statement of
my meaning I charge you with a heavier intellectual
offence that in my former less-developed words. You
will, however, see that I did not attack either of your
propositions in themselves, but that what you have
said on this head is said under misapprehension. My
argument all along was an argumentum ad hominem, a
denial of your locus standi in controversies of this kind,
until you should have fulfilled certain conditions.
But this was, in other words, simply an appeal to
you against yourself; and admitting in my last letter
that it had failed, I still thought I would hazard
a trial of one of your arguments on its own merits,
not by a proper counter-argument, which, unhappily, I
am not in a condition to make as it ought to be
made, but by one or two questions, which were in
effect counter-propositions. In like manner, with
respect to the Book of Genesis, I had sought to
convey to your mind that you had made a remark
as unwarrantable as it was contumelious, not by
supplying positive proofs as to that invaluable book,
but by putting a question, which I hoped would
suggest to you that, whatever be the true state of the
question, you had not legitimately earned a right to
pass a judgment upon it. But in this also I grossly
failed, but I quit that ground.
Let us therefore try if we can' make anything, in the
way of argument, of your dogma of the unknowable-
ness of God. When I spoke of this subject, I referred
to your words in the letter before me: 'the belief in
the unknowableness of God by our finite intelligences.'
Do not let me offend you by imputing to you a dogma.
I mean your assertion; and I certainly affirm that a
negative assertion, 'We can know nothing about the
moon' may be as dogmatic as the positive one, 'We
may know something about the moon ' — an illustra
tion, I think, much closer to the point than yours. But
as to your assertion or dogma, whichever it may be, I
take some comfort for the time from the fact that I am

94

PROBABLE EVIDENCE [1873

really at a loss to understand what is your actual mean
ing. Whether my concessions, or Bishop Butler's,
rather, are suicidal we may see more clearly hereafter.
I will only observe that I have never said there is no
absolute knowledge of God possible to man. That is
a question for separate and very careful inquiry; nor
is it even necessary now to define the terms. It is
quite enough for me to point out (and here I am glad
we are agreed) that (at most) of very few things have
we absolute or even certain knowledge. _ And yet we
form judgments upon a multitude of things, and act
upon those judgments, and should be regarded as
idiots if we did not form and act upon them. Prob
able knowledge, or, to speak more accurately, probable
evidence, may entail the obligation of action, the obli
gation of belief, as truly as knowledge which is demon
strative, and this probable knowledge is the 'guide of
life' — it is that upon which, as rational beings, we
commonly and chiefly act. Now, here it is that I am
at a loss to discover what your position really is. Do
you deny the proposition that probable evidence en
tails the obligation of belief and action in correspond
ence with it? or do you deny that we have probable
evidence of the existence and character of God? If
both these are admitted, a foundation is laid: but I
am not yet able to make out whether you admit them
or not.
You say in your letter of the 20th that you do not
assume that we are incapable of ' true points of con
tact with an infinite God.' But you say also: (1) The
existence of any such points of contact has to be proved.
(2) You question the ability of man to decide what
these points of contact are 'without any prior know
ledge of God to guide him.' I am afraid we are here
again at issue upon words. My points of contact were
contradistinguished from the absolute knowledge which
you appeared to me to consider as the sole condition
which could entail the obligations of religion. My
proposition is that partial knowledge may be true
knowledge. I am afraid you attach some other mean
ing to my words, as if I had said a stone might have
true points of contact with the infinite God; which
would have been wholly unmeaning though true.
Otherwise you could not have made 'prior knowledge'

1873] BEYOND VERIFICATION 95
a condition of any knowledge. Please then to ob
serve that against your general doctrine, that to finite
man the infinite God is unknowable, I reply that this
is either untrue or irrelevant to the question of relig
ious obligation : untrue if it means that because finite
we can have no knowledge of God, irrelevant if it only
means that our knowledge of God does not correspond
with His infinity. Just as, if you were to say the light
of the sun cannot be taken in by the human eye, that
would be untrue if it meant that none of it could be
so taken in, irrelevant to the inquiry whether this
light could guide us, if it only meant that the organ
was not equal to taking in the whole of the sun's light.
But, again, you contend against any right to assert the
truth of dogmas which are beyond verification. I do
not recollect your having previously employed this
favourite phrase of our modern philosophers. I should
be glad to know what meaning you attach to it. And
to let you see my meaning I will illustrate. The child
of A. falls into habits of lying. A. punishes him. Be
cause, says A., there is a law of right and wrong; and
lying is wrong. Here is a dogma about lying. I want
to know whether this dogma is 'beyond verification.'
If it is, then I am afraid we have no right to say lying
is wrong; and A. has transgressed in punishing his
child, if he has acted on such a principle. If it is not,
if the principle that lying is wrong can be 'verified,'
I deny that the being of God is beyond verification.
There is much of your letter that I pass by, because it
would entail such lengthened verbal questioning. My
desire is to get to close quarters upon some one point.
So that, having failed in my personal impeachment,
I confront your assertion that God is unknowable
because we are finite, by saying that our finiteness in
no way prevents our having true though imperfect
knowledge; just as (to use a feeble illustration) a dog
has true though imperfect knowledge of a man, and
a child of an adult; and that this true though imper
fect knowledge, if it exist, entails obligations of belief
and action; and that these obligations cannot be
laughed down as theological, for they are in their ground
rational, and they simply apply reason to the subject-
matter of theology, as the baker applies reason to
the business of baking. And now at all events we

96 STANLEY AND SOCRATES [1873
meet in the open plain, and you have the oppor
tunity of striking me where and how you please.

271. To the Rev. J. B. Mozley, D.D.
October 16, 1873.
... It appears to me that a large portion of the
'thinkers' have gone mad about Socrates. After fail
ing in London, I have obtained from Oxford Mr. High-
ton's tract, 'Dean Stanley and St. Socrates.' It ap
pears to me to display many of the qualities necessary
for the effective handling of this profoundly interest
ing and very important question. But the issue is
raised far too narrowly as between him and Stanley,
from whose name and picturesque intervention I
should like to see the subject detached. It is very
important, for the name of Socrates is an integral part
of the leverage now set to work for oversetting Chris
tianity. The Socrates of Grote would form, without
any personalities, an excellent basis for a careful dis
cussion. Do you not think it important that there
should be such a discussion? Can you promote it?
Do you know anything of Mr. Highton; or could you
learn about him whether he is fit? I was very near
writing to him, when I bethought me I had better write
to you. I should not mind proposing the subject to
the Dean of St. Paul's — should that seem the best
course to take. . .~ .

272. To the Rev. J. B. Mozley, D.D.
October 22, 1873.
... I am glad you enter into the importance of the
present controversy about Socrates. And I quite
agree as to the one-sidedness of Mr. Highton's pam
phlet, which has been evidently written to strike a
blow at Stanley, and which succeeds in striking it. At
present the extravagant doctrines held about Socrates
are a part of the* brought to bear against
* Blank in original.

1873] ETERNITY AND TIME 97
Christianity and all belief. In reducing him to his
own proportions as a sage, it is not necessary to exag
gerate. My own impression is that he practised what
he acquiesced in, but that such things as he so prac
tised were not vices at all, according to the standard
of the age. In making a true statement of the case, the
most important lights would be thrown upon the char
acter of that age itself, and the havoc that, with all
its culture, it had wrought upon the moral laws in
this great department. And this is, again, of im
mense importance with regard to the great controversy
of belief — that the real state of Athens at its climax,
that is, of human nature at its climax, should be under
stood. It appears that Aristophanes, in the 'Clouds,'
assails Socrates for his theology or atheology, but not
in respect of the prevailing vices. If I understand
the matter rightly, the case of Aristophanes himself
was in some important points analogous to that
of Socrates: he was a great political and moral
reformer, and (I take it) honestly sought to throw
back his countrymen upon the less scandalous age
of the Marathonomachoi. But the character of his
Dikaiopolis in the 'Acharnians' distinctly shows that
vice, and even foul vice, was admitted into, if not in
corporated in, his idea of the happy and virtuous
life. 273. To T. Scott. November 16, 1873.
. . . The autobiography of Mr. J. S. Mill shows, had
there been a doubt before, how deeply the question of
eternal punishment enters into the modern controversy
of belief, with very serious and earnest minds. And
I always find this satisfaction in Mr. Mill, that he is
thorough and does not put up with makeshifts. Were
it in my power to write on the subject in a manner
worthy of it, I would gladly do so; but I neither have
the time for research and thought, nor have I seen the
question exhaustively stated on the side of objectors.
I find most of what I see on the subject defective even
in the first condition — the definition of the terms used.
What is eternity? There appears to be a tacit assump
tion that it is an endless prolongation of time. What

98 SCIENCE AND OPINION [1874
is the authority for this assumption? Then there
appears to be a notion that by some doctrine of final
restoration all difficulties, or the main difficulties, are
removed. On which I would ask, What are the philo
sophical grounds for predicating this final restoration?
And is it really agreeable to all we know from obser
vation and experience (not religion) of the laws of
human nature? And, lastly, does it remove the diffi
culties? You will see, therefore, that I have large
demands to make before answering any demands.

274. To Herbert Spencer.
Hawarden,
January 12, 1874.
. . . To characterize Science as having gone to war
with Providence would be, for a man with my convic
tions, both altogether irrational and very nearly blas
phemous. There is, indeed, a practice which seems
to me to be widely spread among many persons in the
present day, of first unduly narrowing the definition
of Science, and then as unduly extending it to all the
opinions which those persons think fit to hold, and
all the theories they erect on the subjects they term
scientific. With this there is an appropriation to
themselves of the phrase 'scientific men,' which ap
pears to the rest of the world unreasonable and
unwarranted. Under the provocation thus given, ill-
advised things may sometimes be spoken of Science
itself. I have striven to avoid saying such things. I
shall ever feel grateful to those who, by enlarging the
field of knowledge, enrich the patrimony of mankind.
But I hold that they are themselves bound by the laws
of reason. To treat a man as the enemy of Science is
to treat him as the enemy of Truth. For those who
revere Truth, and who, above all things, desire to fol
low it, this is simply charging them with the breach
of a most sacred duty. And perhaps some anxiety, if
not sensitiveness, on this subject may be intelligible in
a man, much (many and weighty persons think too
much) of whose life and strength has been spent in the
endeavour to deliver himself, for the sake of Truth,
from the sway of preconceived opinions. . . .

1874] CHRISTIANITY AND MAN 99
275. To Sir A. Panizzi. February 8, 1874.
My dear Panizzi,
I give you in a note the substance of the memo
randum which I ought to have brought. The ques
tion was, What has religion done for man? The an
swer relates to Christianity: (1) Because the term
Religion is so vague, and includes even things mon
strous; (2) because its results are so very diverse, and
in some cases doubtful or bad; (3) because Chris
tianity alone is the religion with which we have to do.
I say, then, choosing points of the most definitive
character, that Christianity abolished — (1) Gladia
torial shows, and other spectacles of horrid cruelty
to man; (2) human sacrifices; (3) polygamy; (4) ex
posure of children; (5) slavery (in its old form, and has
nearly accomplished the work in its new) ; (6) canni
balism. Next, Christianity drove into the shade all
unnatural lusts, and, indeed, all irregular passions.
But the former it effectually stamped as infamous.
Next, Christianity established — (1) Generally speak
ing, the moral and social equality of women; (2) the
duty of relieving the poor, the sick, the afflicted;
(3) peace, instead of war, as the ordinary, normal, pre
sumptive relation between nations. Here is a goodly
list. I speak not of what it taught. It taught the
law of mutual love. It proscribed all manner of sin.
But the preceding particulars refer to what, besides
saying, it did, besides trying, it accomplished. And
in every one of these instances, except that of canni
balism, the exhibition of what it did is in glaring con
trast, not with barbarous, but with the most highly
civilized life, such as it was exhibited by the Greeks
or Romans of the most famous ages, or both. Now, I
think this is a fair statement not easily shaken. I
admit that many of these results are negative. And
as to those of them which are positive, there are other
and higher results in the excellence and perfection of
the human soul individually; but I have taken such
as are palpable, and I think undeniable.
Ever warmly yours,
W. E. G.

100 FAVOURITE POINTS [1874

276. To Professor Stanley Jevons.
Hawarden, May 10, 1874.
I have this day in a quiet hour read with attention
the closing chapter of your book, and I cannot resist
paying you the very indifferent compliment of saying
how greatly I am impressed and pleased with it. I am
not, indeed, altogether an impartial witness, for in
several points of great importance it indicates or asserts
what have very long been favourite points with me,
amidst those speculative disturbances of the present
age which have reached me even in the sphere of poli
tics: That there is gross ambiguity and latent fallacy in
much that we hear about 'uniformity of laws';
That we are not warranted in predicating, of time
and space themselves, that they are necessarily condi
tions of all existence;
That there is real insoluble mystery in some of the
formulae of mathematics;
That we are in danger from the precipitancy and
intellectual tyranny of speculation ;
That the limits of our real knowledge are (if I may
use the word) , infinitely narrow ;
That we are not rationally justified in passing over
our inward perceptions of things inward, and confining
the sphere of knowledge to things outward —
[These] are my old convictions, which I live in the
hope of doing something, before I die, to sustain and
illustrate; and they are, I think, all, nearly in these
terms, supported by your authority.
But I hope I have a better reason for admiring this
chapter. I find it in the true and high philosophic
spirit in which it seems to me to be conceived. I hope
you will not be shocked if I designate it by an epithet
which to my mind conveys the highest commendation :
it seems to me eminently Butlerian.
With respect to Evolution and to Darwinism I had
never formed any opinion, when Mr. Spencer criticised
me, except that the results assigned to them were un
warrantable. Since that time I have a little examined
them, not as propositions of natural philosophy, but in

1876] EVOLUTION AND GOD 101
their moral and speculative aspects. Having done
this, I entirely subscribe to what you say of them. In
deed, I must say that the doctrine of Evolution, if it
be true, enhances in my judgment the proper idea
of the greatness of God, for it makes every stage of
creation a legible prophecy of all those which are to
follow it.
What you said of your own theology inspired me
with great respect, although I am myself much ad
dicted to what I may call historical Christianity, and
profoundly disbelieve the notion of some, and of some
able and eminent, men that it is to be overthrown in
its old historic form, and to revive and flourish in a
new form, simplified as they say, but as I think
attenuated. . . .

277. To C. A. Hardy. Hawarden,
January 4, 1876.
. . . My first anxiety is that you should feel to how
great and arduous a work you commit yourself in
retrying the foundations of religion. If you can truly,
humbly, and manfully give yourself to it, I hope all
will end well.
Perhaps you have not quite understood me about
Religion and Arts. If I say to a person, 'You could
not jump this brook, how then could you jump that
river?' I do not assert that the river is a brook.
Even the reading of Butler is a serious matter. He
has a meaning everywhere, and (to be of use) it implies
knowing and weighing this meaning. Two much
stronger men than the one we mentioned were James
Mill and John Mill. Both said no one, from the Deist's
point of view, could answer Butler: any such, any
beginning with belief in God, he compels to be a
Christian. With respect to Authority, there is great value in the
early chapters of a book just now republished, Sir
George Lewis on the influence of Authority in matters
of opinion.
It is true he says his argument does not embrace
morals or religion. In that I think him wrong. But

102 CHRIST AND AUTHORITY [1876
at any rate his argument is well worth reading, and
will supply light to many on the subject of Authority,
such as they do not expect.
If our law of acquiring knowledge, as to its starting-
point, is to be that of a dog's litter, our condition will
soon be worse than theirs: for we have not the same
degree of aid from mere instinct. Why do you on
trust eat your meat dressed, or your corn ground and
baked, instead of taking them as Nature sent them and
the first man had them?
In the Christian view, the attitude of Jesus Christ
with respect to Authority, He being inspired and
Divine, does not supply ipso facto a measure for us.
But for what did He attack Authority, except for aban
doning the Scriptures — its highest law?
Acceptance of the collective evidence is not what
Rome demands ; she demands acceptance of the voice
of her own episcopal majority from hour to hour, or,
worse still, of the Pope alone.
I am not aware of any ancient book or ancient tra
dition carrying the notes, or anything like the notes,
of . the Bible and the Christian system, which have
led the highest intellect of mankind for the last 1,500
years, and have created modern society. It is where
humanity has reached its highest and its best develop
ments that I must look for the means of future energy,
stability, and advancement, not in the systems of less
nobleness and strength. . . .
W. E. Gladstone.

278. To the Rev. C. Voysey.
73, Harley Street,
July 2, 1876.
Nothing can be more kind than the tone and spirit,
as towards myself, of your discourses.
They afford me, as might be expected, additional
evidence that, in dealing so succinctly with so vast a
subject, I could not give my readers all the helps which
they might reasonably expect or desire for the avoid
ance of misapprehension.
A very little more such aid I may now try to give:
1. You have yourself perceived that I recognize the

1876] UNIVERSALISM 103
distinction between a system and the sentiments of
men who embrace it.
I am a good deal acquainted with the writings of
theists, including the three you name.
The writings of Parker have much in them that moves
sympathy and admiration. But your citation appears
to me much more emotional than philosophical, and
all durable religion must in my view be in relation to
a true basis of philosophy.
I ought, perhaps, to have explained distinctly that I
spoke of 'the system' in its relation to our nature as
it is. 2. I hope you have understood that my reference
to the sense of relief afforded by Universalism is meant
for those who may be led to it by predisposition rather
than by reasoning. Such I conceive there are.
3. On this subject at large I will only observe that
you substitute, to a great extent, the aggressive method
for the defensive one which I had suggested; that
Universalism implies a knowledge of the nature of
Eternity wider and clearer than any that I at least
possess ; that I doubt not there are works setting forth
fully its philosophy, but I have never yet been able
to find them.
That the proposition 'His unrest must work its
cure ' is one of those which seems to me most to re
quire to be fully developed and searchingly tested by
analogy. That, in my opinion, the whole, scheme is too much
open to the charge of resting on the basis of a priori
assumptions untested by experimental evidence.
But these are only isolated remarks. Only much
time and thought, and perhaps not these, could em
bolden me to think of dealing with the great demands
of the subject. . . .
W. E. Gladstone.

279. Incomplete. Probably to Lord Blackford,
about 1876.
Your standing ground is this: that however, as
viewed at a given moment, the future suffering of the
wicked be proportioned to the amount and nature of

104 NATURAL IMMORTALITY [1876
this wickedness, this proportion is destroyed by the
simple fact of perpetual duration.
I do not as yet feel myself constrained to assent to
his proposition. I think it implies more knowledge
of the meaning of its terms than we possess.
It may be that a present amount is aggravated by
anticipation of the future, and by recollection of the
past. But how can I assert that, by natural — i.e. Divine —
laws, amount is not so adjusted as with the inclusion
of these elements to compare to proportion?
It would surely be an unwarrantable daring to hold
that any amount of punishment, however reduced, must
by including the element of perpetuity pass out of pro
portion to the sin.
Is not this carrying arithmetic and quantitative laws
farther into the unseen world than is philosophically
just? But again: what if consciousness in the future state
of the wicked be so adjusted as that the anticipation of
the future and the recollection of the past shall stand
differently related to it, or even shall be cut off from
it? That is to say, that the elements of aggravation,
on which stress is placed, shall disappear.
It may be said that this is not a human consciousness.
It is more like the consciousness of animals, who know
when they suffer and when they enjoy, but apparently
without recollection or anticipation like ours.
This is true, but the champions of natural immortal
ity might hesitate to travel so far on their chosen line
as to deny all limiting modifications in the future state.
All modifications whatever they hardly can deny.
Take, for example, that biological sum which makes
the automatic functions of life, the normal current of
it, so to speak, pleasurable. It seems, therefore, that
natural immortality need not absolutely include limi
tation of the present functions of consciousness.
Much less is there here a difficulty for those who
contend against natural immortality; who hold that
immortality is or may be an endowment not inherent
in our original constitution, and one of which the con
ditions may be variously adjusted in various cases
according to their respective ends.
Yet again: those who think that in the idea of

1878] OFFENCE AND PENALTY 105
eternity there may or must be included perpetual
duration may yet think that eternity is, as it were,
a perpetual present without succession of ideas. If
this be so, it may be too bold to predicate in what form
or in what degree recollection and anticipation are
applicable to such a state.
On the whole, I still propound that amount and
conditions of suffering may in the future world be so
proportioned to sin that we cannot rightly assert that
the proportion cannot subsist should perpetuity be
found to be included among the elements of the case.
It may indeed be alleged —
1. That the considerations I have urged in bar of
judgment are such as could hardly be made intelligible
to the common perceptions of man.
2. That the idea of the wicked as thus always defac
ing the creation of God is derogatory to His dignity.
On these observations I will remark that I have been
dealing only with a charge against the Divine Justice
regarded as requiring (which I admit) an adjustment
between offence and penalty in each individual sufferer:
an adjustment which cannot rightly be disturbed by
any advantages intended or obtained through the
effect of the exhibition upon others.
280. To the Rev. G. W. Potter.
Woburn Abbey,
October 22, 1878.
Dear Sir,
The very first touch of the subject [of Future
Punishment] opens such a number of points that I dare
not even dream of giving you any sort of satisfaction
within the compass of a brief letter. If you think there
could be any advantage in your conversing with me
when I come to town (probably for a day or two in
the end of November), I should be happy to see you.
In the meantime I will only note certain isolated
points :
1. Our cause of difficulty in the matter, which seems
also to be a reason for much patience, is the want of
what may be called standard and exhaustive works on
the subject, whether in the positive or the negative
sense. At least I myself have felt this difficulty, and

106 GUIDING-LINES [1878
can only get at fragmentary, and therefore unsatis
factory, statements.
2. It is surely a cause for thankfulness that the
Church has been able to abstain from dogmatizing
upon this subject, and thrusting it upon her members.
I refer to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, and the
Athanasian only recites the words of our Lord.
3. The dogmatism of individuals on the small num
ber of those to be saved need hardly trouble us. Our
Lord's words on the strait gate, standing in isolation,
may have been relative rather than absolute, and can
hardly without violence be held to lay down a rule for
all mankind. They may be of the place, the hour, the
people. 4. I do not know where we find our supposed right
to say that the nature of eternity, of the beyond, has
been revealed to us. Of the illegitimate mixture of
metaphysics with religion we have a significant instance
in the adoption by the Lateran Council of the phrase
* Transubstantiation ' to express the Real Presence.
5. My own inquiries into this subject have been
intercepted by other urgent duties : but I have always
thought that there were, in the field to be traversed,
some guiding lines — for example:
(a) That this dispensation of life, in which we are
placed, is assuredly special ; and not one of an undefined
series, but probationary.
(b) That the essence of this probation may lie in
the planting of germs, as Bishop Butler appears to
think, which germs may be invisible to us, but yet
effectual. (c) That the constitution of our nature, through the
law of habits, tends in a marked manner to fixity of
state. (d) That (in my opinion) the arguments for a doctrine
of universal restoration are weak and futile as far as
they purport to be Scriptural : and they fail to satisfy
that ideal of the character of God which prompts men
to devise them.
(e) It is a grave matter to overset or reconstruct the
faith of ages in aiming at an ideal, and then to find that
it remains logically unattained.
(f) Much of what is urged about future punishment
really runs up into the old mystery of the origin of

1878] THE JUSTICE OF GOD 107
evil; the question is, how much, and possibly even
whether all.
(g) The absolute faith in the justice of God, and in
the adaptation of enjoyment and suffering to the laws
of right and wrong, must, it would seem, embrace and
override all particular beliefs, and constitute a lawful
and needful reserve under which they ought to be
held. In Paley there is a crude sentence to the fol-'
lowing effect: Tf you say that the shades of good and
bad in character are severed by an invisible line, I
answer that there may be just as little difference be
tween the conditions of the worst man in heaven and
the best man in hell.' But, jarring as this may be, there
may be in it the indication of a truth lying at the foun
dation of all.
Dean Church is indeed eminently, as you say, wise
and tender. There is no one whose ultimate judgment
would carry more weight with me. From what I have
said, you will see that I am very jealous for the great
moral truths enfolded in the popular doctrine, but I do
not now see that — talis qualis — it is enforced by the
Church upon her members, or even upon her clergy.
And as to your second query, I hope I have also in a
measure indicated such means, for I think what is
called the ordinary doctrine bears the marks of popular
exaggeration. Oxford of to-day is indeed very far from the Oxford
of my day. In some respects it is better, and much
better. In others it is such that one is tempted to cry,
'The wild boar out of the forest doth root it up, and
the wild beast of the field doth devour it.' But yet
I trust that her inner vitality will fight through it all.
I am, dear sir,
Your very faithful servant,
W. E. Gladstone.

281. To Sir Richard Owen. Hawarden,
October 23, 1885.
My dear Sir R. Owen,
I am extremely obliged to you for your interest
ing letter, although concerned to have given you so
much trouble. There is nothing in it inconsistent

108 COSMOGONY OF GENESIS [1885
with what I have intended to convey. But I am very
familiar with the tendency of the more negative and
destructive writers to stretch affirmations beyond their
proper scope; therefore, availing myself of the light
you afford, I have added to my list of the limitations,
under which I affirm a revelation in the Book of Gene
sis, as accordant with what is now known, by insert
ing the following passage in p. 10 (which I return in
its original shape ; I do not want it) :
A. 'There is here no question of the chronology or
of the date of man, or of knowledge or ignorance in
the primitive man; or whether the element of par
able enters into any portion of the narrative; or
whether every statement of fact contained in the text
of the book can now be made good. It is enough for
my present purpose to point to the cosmogony and the
fourfold succession of the living organisms as entirely
harmonizing, according to present knowledge, with
belief in a revelation, and as presenting to the rejecter
of that belief a problem which demands solution
at his hands, and which he has not yet been able to
solve.' With the other contents of the Book of Genesis in
their bearing on this question, it would take volumes,
perhaps, to deal. As to the Deluge, may it not be a
question whether the word 'earth' is used like the
olKovpevr} of the New Testament for the known or
local world? The genealogies of chapter x. on the
division of the earth among races are, according to
Renan, a marvellous proof of genius. This to me
sounds very like nonsense pure and simple. They
convey a knowledge nowhere else, I believe, to be had;
but whether they are accurate in every point I dare not
say, and they seem to prove great antiquity rather
than revelation. Of the patriarchal ages some solu
tions have been offered, but whether satisfactory or not
I do not know. The first person who pointed out to me
that there were some errors of fact in the Gospels was
Dr. Pusey; it was nearly sixty years back. It may
not be agreeable to find that error of fact can be found
at all in the Scriptures; but what would exclude them
short of a miraculous conservation of the text? And
would it not be wild and irrational to say therefore they
could contain no revelation?

1888] HUMAN LONGEVITY 109
I cannot here find when Cuvier died, but I will notice
the fact of his comparative remoteness. Herschel
and Whewell (if not Cuvier) must have been cog
nizant of the geological man, but I never heard their
views. The declaration obtained by Dr. Reusch from
Herschel was in 1864. Whewell died in 1866.
The assertion of 'absolute ignorance' is ReVille's,
not mine. On human longevity, I do not know if you
ever came on a curious passage, in Wilkinson's 'Dal-
matia,' about seven generations found living in one
Montenegrin house.
A more curious subject still there is, which you may
or may not have considered. Are there any traditions
existing which seem to show communication between
what I may roughly call the Adamic, or Noachic, and
the pre-Adamite man? Is the tradition of Atlantis
one bearing this character? Another, I think, may be
found. The text of Homer testifies unequivocally to a
belief, existing or known in his time, that the great
central and northern plain of Europe was under water,
and that there was an open waterway eastward from
the Adriatic. Can this belief be a like indication to
the other?
With renewed thanks for your great kindness,
I remain, etc.,
W. E. Gladstone.

282. To Lord Acton.
Aston Clinton, Tring,
Easter Day, April 1, 1888.
My dear Acton,
. . . You perhaps have not heard of 'Robert
Elsmere,' for I find, without surprise, that it makes its
way slowly into public notice. It is not far from twice
the length of an ordinary novel; and the labour and
effort of reading it are, I should say, sixfold, while one
could no more stop in it than in reading Thucydides.
The idea of the book — perhaps of the writer —
appears to be a movement of retreat from Christianity
upon Theism — a Theism with a Christ glorified, al
ways in the human sense, but beyond the ordinary
measure. It is worked out through the medium of a

no ROBERT ELSMERE [1888
being — one ought to say a character, but I withhold
the word, for there is not sufficient substratum: of char
acter to uphold the qualities — gifted with much intel
lectual subtlety and readiness, and with almost every
conceivable moral excellence. He finds vent in an ener
getic attempt to carry his new Gospel among the skilled
artisans of London, whom the writer apparently consid
ers as supplying the norm for all right human judgment.
He has extraordinary success, establishes a new Church
under the name of 'The New Christian Brotherhood,'
kills himself with overwork, but leaves his project
flourishing in a certain 'Elgood Street.' It is, in fact
(like the Salvation Army) , a new Kirche der Zukunf t.
I am always inclined to consider this Theism as
among the least defensible of the positions alternative
to Christianity. Robert Elsmere, who has been a par
ish clergyman, is upset entirely, as it appears, by the
difficulty of accepting miracles, and by the suggestion
that the existing Christianity grew up in an age spe
cially predisposed to them.
I want, as usual, to betray you into helping the lame
dog over the stile : and I should like to know whether
you would think me violently wrong in holding that
the period of the Advent was a period when the appe
tite for, or disposition to, the supernatural was declin
ing and decaying; that in the region of human thought
speculation was strong and scepticism advancing;
that if our Lord were a mere man, armed only with
human means, His whereabout was in this and many
other ways misplaced by Providence; that the Gos
pels and the New Testament must have much else
besides miracle torn out of them in order to get us
down to the caput mortuum of Elgood Street. This
very remarkable work is in effect identical with the
poor, thin, ineffectual production published with some
arrogance by the Duke of Somerset, which found a
quack remedy for difficulties in what he considered the
impregnable citadel of belief in God.
Knowles has brought this book before me, and, being
as strong as it is strange, it cannot perish stillborn. I
am tossed about with doubt as to writing upon it. . . .
Ever yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

1888] MIRACLES AND WILL in

283. To Lord Acton.

Oxford,
April 8, 1888.

My dear Acton,
I have neither space nor capacity at command
for the adequate discussion of the questions which
shattered the faith of Robert Elsmere ; whether miracles
can happen, and whether an universal preconception
'in their favour at the birth of Christianity, governing
the work of all men of all schools,' adequately accounts
for the fact that, notwithstanding their impossibility,
they are alleged in the New Testament as available
proofs of the Divine mission of our Lord. But I must,
in passing, at least demur to the authority of the Squire,
and even of Mr. Grey. As to miracles, I cannot regard
the doctrine of impossibility as either philosophical
or scientific until its advocates have shown that they
have ascertained some limit beyond which the extra
neous force of will (the most familiar of all experiences)
cannot act upon matter in derogation of laws merely
physical. For it seems that the old basis of 'impos
sibility ' — namely, I mean, want of support from ex
perience — is now out of fashion, and that what is
demanded, and legitimately demanded, for every al
leged effect is adequacy of cause to produce it. And
as to the period, let it be granted for argument's sake
that, if Christianity had been a religion for the Jews,
they at least were open to the charge of a blinding ap
petite for signs and wonders. But how came this
religion at once to spread among Greeks and Romans?
These Gentiles, who detested and despised the Jews,
had no disposition to receive a religion at their hands
or upon their authority. Were they, then, during the
century which followed our Lord's birth, swayed by
this devouring thirst for the supernatural? The recent
and prevailing schools of philosophy were not theistic
schools, and the contemporary Academy itself might be
described as a receptacle of universal doubt. A deluge
of profligacy had gone far to destroy at Rome even the
external habit of public worship; Horace, himself an
indifferentist, denounces the neglect and emptiness of

112 ADVANCE OF THE GOSPEL [1888
the temples; farther on we have the stern and em
phatic testimony of Juvenal :
'Esse aliquid manes, et subterranea regna,
Et contum, et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras
Nee pueri credunt, nisi qui nondum aere lavantur.'
Recent research has indeed shown that the advance
of the Gospel faith was greatly slower than had once
been supposed. Still, it took root, and spread steadily
by its innate strength, in face of the acute and subtle
speculations of the Eastern mind, and of the highly
organized political and aristocratic religion, which in
Rome regarded it from the first, and with reason, as a
deadly foe. Might it not be said, and with some show
of reason, that in the capital of the Empire portent
was the property and the tool of the established and
intensely national hierarchy ; and that a system which
bristled with rival portent, and aimed directly at the
overthrow of the older institutions, would concentrate
upon itself every prejudice, and that in fact it invited,
as no other religion did invite, the use of every avail
able means for its suppression? Had the new faith
been invented and launched in reliance on the universal
preconception, it was surely so far an anachronism
that the venture ought to have been made in an earlier,
simpler, and purer time? But I must not expect to
win the reader by dealing with the Squire almost as
summarily as he deals with the Gospel.

284. To Lord Acton. Dollis Hill,
May 13, 1888.
My dear Acton,
... I am not so much impressed as you appear
to be with the notion that great difficulties have been
imported by the researches of scientists into the re
ligious and theological argument. As respects cos
mogony and geogony, the Scripture has, I think, taken
much benefit from them. Whatever be the date of
the early books, Pentateuch or Hexateuch in their
present edition, the Assyriological investigations seem
to me to have fortified and accredited their substance

1888] UNBROKEN SEQUENCES 113
by producing similar traditions in variant forms inferior
to the Mosaic forms, and tending to throw these back
to a higher antiquity — a fountain-head nearer the
source. Then there is the great chapter of the Dis
persal, which Renan (I think) treats as exhibiting the
marvellous genius ( !) of the Jews. As to unbroken se
quences in the physical order, they do not trouble me,
because we have to do, not with the natural, but the
moral order; and over this science, or as I call it natural
science, does not wave her sceptre. It is no small
matter again (if so it be, as I suppose) that, after war
ring for a century against miracle as unsustained by
experience, the assailants should now have to abandon
that ground, stand only upon sequence, and controvert
the great facts of the New Testament only by raising to
an extravagant and unnatural height the demands made
under the law of testimony in order to a rational belief.
One admission has to be made, that death did not come
into the world by sin — namely, the sin of Adam —
and this sits inconveniently by the declaration of St.
Paul. . . . Ever yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

285. To S. Laing. Hawarden,
September 9, 1888.
Dear Mr. Laing,
. . . The question of belief has immense attrac
tions for me and a great authority over me. But it is
only indirectly and slowly, and on particular points,
that I can approach it. I know, in some degree, what
I am dealing with on the positive side; and am desir
ous of some guidance, if not from authority, at least
from correct and accepted opinion, on the negative
side. My pace and yours are very different. It is
little to say I am a canal boat, and you an express train.
You, without electricity, put a girdle round the earth
in twenty minutes. I am amazed at the multitude of
solutions included in your paper: were my life now
clear and at -my disposal, I should be too glad to think
I could deal in the time remaining to me with one- tenth
part of the field of debate which you open. It is not
VOL. II — 8

114 MAN AND EVIDENCE [1888
altogether in the spirit of controversy that I look at
these matters: for I do not think, so far as I know my
own mind, that I could satisfy any school or party:
certainly not the Ultramontane, which I commonly
find to be the only one admitted to a relative respecta
bility by negative writers, and complimented with a
logical consistency which, in my opinion, it is as far
as possible from exhibiting. But while I have probably
on that side 'more kicks than halfpence' to expect;
from you and from the sceptical movement, I am at
a terrible distance. With an unbounded acceptance
of the facts of science, I am amazed at the uses made
of them, and in vain try to comprehend how it is that
very clever men, whom in their own department I go
as near as possible to taking on trust, can be so utterly
outside the spirit (as I conceive it) of philosophy. Per
haps I ought just to state that I am a Butlerian, by
which I mean, not so much the champion of any par
ticular argument, as the follower of the Butlerian
method. You give me credit which I do not deserve, for prob
ably agreeing with you in thinking 'every fair-minded
man must admit that the "evidence for a revelation"
ought to be extremely strong, and almost irresistible.'
Now, I do not want consciously to forfeit the claim to
be a fair-minded man, and this broad and profoundly
important proposition is one on which I should not
arrive at a final conclusion without much more con
sideration than I have been able to give it. But, as at
present minded, I cannot accept the doctrine, and,
indeed, I am surprised at your deeming it a thing almost
to be taken for granted. I ask myself two things in
limine. First, how am I enabled to know that a crea
ture like man is well qualified to judge of the degree
(or kind) of evidence which ought to accompany a
revelation? Secondly, from whatever source this claim
is to be made good, I do not think it is from the experi
ence of life and the rules recognized as those of common
sense in conducting it. As a patient I do not ask from
my doctor, in a mortal strait, evidence almost irre
sistible about his medicine. Nor, if tidings is brought
me that my house is on fire, do I remain inactive until
it is demonstrated. Nor, when men hear, I will not say
of new goldfields, for gold acts abnormally on the imagi-

1888] IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE 115
nation, but of new enterprises with the promise of great
profit, does each wait until he has evidence almost
irresistible that he will make his fortune? These
hasty illustrations throw their light from different
points of view.
Again, I do not feel at all sure of your ground against
the atheist, whom you dispose of as summarily as if
he were the first chapter of Genesis. There is (in my
opinion) evidence against the being of God, real, but
outweighed by vastly preponderating evidence in fa
vour of that belief. If, however, the Agnostic parts
with the whole, or by far the larger share, of the affirma
tive evidence, I am not sure of his easily persuading the
atheist to admit, 'charm he never so wisely,' that there
is after all a curtain — the curtain of death — and be
hind the curtain a lottery. He sees before him creation
'red with ravin'; he will make much of the sight,
and when his contention is that the grounds for an
ethical judgment on the whole matter are palpable, I
should not as an Agnostic exactly know how to get
out of view what Aristotle would call the irio-Tei<s in
his favour. He will not understand the Agnostic very
well when he is told that the pain, sin, waste, and mis
ery, in the world are known, but nothing can be known
of them beyond what is phenomenal; and he may
have some sympathy from the theist when he refuses
to arrest at such a point as this the exercise of his facul
ties, and close the book.
When I am told that God is unknowable, I ask the
meaning of the word. If it is that He cannot be
perfectly known, I agree: here, I think, comes in Ten
nyson's 'behind the veil' (do you think that Agnos
ticism could have produced 'Guinevere'?), in con
sonance with St. Paul, 'we see through a glass darkly.'
And then I ask, how many things are there which we
know in the sense of perfect knowledge? Perhaps,
even, are there any? But we live and work with im
perfect knowledge. It is real, available, and valu
able, especially if we know its limitations. To my
mind, to say that we cannot have partial but real know
ledge of God is, I will not say irreligious — for we are
simply testing in the region of fact, — but in the high
est degree irrational, and most of all irrational, as I
think, in relation to that evidence of the being and

116 THE MOSAIC BOOKS [1889
acting of God which not only the exterior course of the
world, but the interior daily experience of mind and
soul, afford. I will add to this fragmentary and desul
tory letter one word on the mode now so fashionable
of handling the Scriptures. In a book intended to
convey special knowledge to mankind, I expect above
all things to find the modes of speech which will make it
most intelligible. In this view, the use of figure and
parable, which both believers and non-believers are
apt to treat as weakening the Bible, may be among
the most solid proofs, in the end, of its august origin.
And again, on a lower ground, I entirely contest your
statement of fact that in the early chapters of Genesis
this practice of explanation has only of late begun to
be adopted. It had broad ground in the early Chris
tian literature. And I think you have mistaken a
literalism, which grew incidentally out of the circum
stances of the Protestant Reformation, for the true
Christian tradition. . . .
Most faithfully yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
286. To Lord Acton. Naples,
January 23, 1889.
My dear Acton,
. . . Most of my reading here has been about
the Jews and the Old Testament. I have not looked
at the books you kindly sent me, except a little before
leaving Hawarden: but I want to get a hold on the
broader side of the Mosaic dispensation and the Jewish
history. The great historic features seem to me in
a large degree independent of the critical questions
which have been raised about the redaction of the Mo
saic books. Setting aside Genesis and the Exodus
proper, it seems difficult to understand how either
Moses or anyone else could have advisedly published
them in their present form, and most of all difficult to
believe that men going to work deliberately after the
Captivity would not have managed a more orderly
execution. My thoughts are always running back to
the parallel question about Homer. In that case,
those who hold that Peisistratos or someone of his

1889] ORIGIN OF EVIL 117
date was the compiler have at least this to say, that
the poems in their present form are such as a compiler,
having liberty of action, might have aimed at putting
out from his workshop. Can that be said of the
Mosaic books? Again, are we not to believe in the
second and Third Temples as centres of worship
because there was a temple at Leontopolis, as we are
told? . . . Ever yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

287. To B. M. Malabari (of Bombay).
July 20, 1889.
... I do not mean to undervalue the gravity of the
tremendous problem which confronts and besets all
theists alike — I mean the existence of evil in its rela
tion to the power and goodness of God. I sometimes
feel astonished at the thinness and poverty of the ma
terial with which men sometimes think they can con
struct solutions of it. It is demonstrated that infinite
series cannot be closed, and that the circle cannot be
squared. It is not demonstrated that there can be no
solution of this problem, but I suppose it clear that none
has yet been found. I take refuge, with Bishop Butler,
in believing that, from the very limited nature of our
faculties, our failure to solve a problem does not lead,
by any rational process, to the conclusion that it is
insoluble. At the same time I am thankful for all
alleviations or mitigations of the difficulty which stares
us in the face. The idea is attractive to me, that it
may be in the nature of all moral evil to wear itself out
of existence. But, even if such an idea proved to be
true, it does not afford an answer to the problem, to
the question how and why it came into existence.
Neither is such an answer furnished by another con
ception which suggests itself to me both as a theist
and as a Christian, and which, as I think, finds coun
tenance in the Scriptures. It is this, that, perhaps or
probably, this world of ours (which I cannot help be
lieving to be a very wonderful world, even among
the mighty and countless works of God) serves the
purpose of a great object-lesson, as it is termed, to the

118 WHY I AM HERE [1889
denizens of other worlds, and serves for them very
high purposes of instruction and edification.
There is another mode of looking at this question,
which I will venture to sketch. As an individual
human being, I am placed here, primarily and mainly,
not to construct a theory of the universe; not, in the
words of Milton, to 'justify the ways of God to man';
but to do my own duty and work out my own destiny.
In this task I am largely affected by the presence of
evil within arid without, and I may succumb to it. But
I cannot honestly say that I am conscious of being
obliged to succumb to it; while I am constantly im
pressed with the belief that resistance to it is a won
derfully fruitful and efficacious instrument of progress
in good. So that it does not at once appear what title
I have to complain of my Maker on this score. But
pray observe that I do not put this forward as a solu
tion of the gene/al question, or as an answer to many
other questions, such as those growing out of the ter
rific inequality of human destinies or allotments of
state and circumstances. The questions relating to
physical evil are, or seem to me to be, of a less formi
dable order.
I am concerned to learn from you that, among In
dians, the sense of responsibility is widely on the de
cline. If this be so, what can improve, or what that
improves can be appreciably worth having? There is,
I think, in Christian communities at the present time
something painfully analogous to your allegation —
namely, a decline in the sense of sin, which, instead
of being, as under the Christian system it ought to be,
piercing and profound, is passing with very many into
a shallow, feeble, and vague abstraction; and which
does not hold the place in religious teaching, so far as
my observation goes, to which it is entitled. I do not
know whether you have paid much attention to this
part of the Christian system; but I dare say you may
be aware that our Saviour, in the Gospel of St. John,
predicts the giving of the Holy Spirit as the instrument
for establishing His doctrine, and says that the Holy
Spirit, when He is come, shall convince the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; thus suc
cinctly setting out what may be termed a code of moral
regeneration for mankind, and setting the great fact

1889] HOMERIC CRITICS

119

of sin, often in Christian theology termed 'the fall,'
at the threshold.
You will see that I sympathize much with your
aspirations after an ending for the evil that is amongst
and in us, and feel that this is a kind of half-refuge to
which the speculative mind naturally has recourse. . . .
288. To Lord Acton. (No date, but probably
sometime in 1889.)
My dear Acton,
. . . On the old subject of the Old Testament
books and the Mosaic legislation, on which I have been
so much pressed to write something with a special
view to the working class. Now, I think that the most
important parts of the argument have in a great degree
a solid standing ground apart from the destructive
criticism on dates and on the text : and I am sufficiently
aware of my own rawness and ignorance in the matter
not to allow myself to judge definitively, or condemn.
I feel also that I have a prepossession derived from the
criticisms in the case of Homer. Of them I have a very
bad opinion, not only in themselves, but as to the levity,
precipitancy, and shallowness of mind, which they
display; and here I do venture to speak, because I
believe myself to have done a great deal more than any
of the destructives in the examination of the text, which
is the true source of the materials of judgment. They
are a soulless lot; but there was a time when they had
possession of the public ear as much, I suppose, as the
Old Testament destructives now have, within their
own precinct. It is only the constructive part of their
work on which I feel tempted to judge; and I must own
that it seems to me sadly wanting in the elements of
rational probability. But outside of all this lies the
question how far we may go past the destructives and
their pickaxes and shovels, and deal with the great
phenomenon of the Old Testament according to its
contents, however put together, and its results actually
achieved. . . .
To a rationally destructive book such as Bentley on
Phalaris I can yield my admiring homage.
Ever yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

120 CHARACTER AND CUSTOM [1892

289. To the Hon. Mrs. W. H. Gladstone.
Dalmeny Park,
July 10, 1892.
One of the special griefs of the present day is the
shallow treatment of great subjects. On the subject
of future or eternal punishment, in particular, every
quack and every stripling tries his hand. Yet they do
not know — and who does know? — what eternity is.
Some argue, plausibly at least, that it is time with
a limit. Some think of it as time indefinitely pro
longed — I believe without sufficient authority. The
Church at large has been very cautious, and has not, I
think, endeavoured to explain eternity: and it seems
as if the Almighty had purposely left a veil upon this
great subject.
But I believe that Dr. Farrar, when Dr. Pusey had
written on the doctrine, accepted such an eternal pun
ishment as he had maintained. The proposition, I
think, is something like this. Punishment may be
considered as a judgment from without, but it is also
a natural growth from within, and is the consequence,
in the way of natural growth, which sin deliberately
persisted in of itself brings about.
Philosophy seems to teach that character is formed
mainly by customary action, which forms mental habit,
and by long continuance hardens, so as finally to be
come unchangeable. In cases where evil runs this
full course, it is difficult to see where lies the escape
from that state which our Saviour describes by the
worm that dieth not, here using the figure, not of an
infliction from without, but of a self-growth from
within. Persons think they honour God by imagining (ap
parently) some higher form of redeeming process in
a future state than the present Christian one. For
this, however, there is no warrant in Scripture, the
tradition of the Christian Church, or reason, if I esti
mate reason rightly. It is very dangerous for us to set
about well-meant vindications of God which He Him
self has not revealed to us, and of which no one that I
have read at all solves the admitted difficulties of the
subject.

1893] GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE 121
There are those who say sin is a disease, and a mortal
disease, and it must, like other mortal diseases, when
it has taken final possession of a being, destroy that
being: and when our Saviour says, ' whose worm dieth
not,' these would hold His meaning to be, the
worm in these unhappy creatures, being inseparably
annexed to the life, eats it out, destroys it, and is only
itself destroyed in it. I do not rely on this, the subject
is too far beyond me : I am not able altogether to put
this plea wholly aside.
The upshot of the whole matter thus far seems to be
that over-bold and rather flimsy speculations have
become so much the fashion that, as a matter of fact,
clergymen are intimidated from preaching about the
future punishment of sin at all, and I really believe
this is one cause which at present helps to enfeeble
the ' arm of the Lord ' used in preaching.
W. E. Gladstone.

290. To the Rev. H. Mackeson. Blackcraig,
September 13, 1893.
No book is fuller than the Scripture (especially, I
think, the New Testament) of verbal contradictions.
If a teacher rides off upon one of the statements, ar
bitrarily choosing to take it as the supreme, entire,
exclusive truth, he makes great havoc of the Holy
Book, and perhaps of his own title to be considered
as a man of sense. It is a cruel return for the wise
and tender consideration which adopted, in conde
scension to our narrowness and weakness, this mode
of exhibiting the various sides of truth and the com
prehensiveness of its nature.
It is indeed a daring and a narrow proposition that
God has no foreknowledge. A knowledge of the future
is necessarily foreknowledge. He who denies this is
guilty of a contradiction in terms.
When God created Time, He created what may be
termed futurition. If we say all things are present to
Him, we use a figure of speech which is only true in
the sense of saying that this accuracy and precision

122 THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN [1893
of foresight are such as to make them be as if they were
present. Can anything be clearer than the separability of
predestination and foreknowledge? The man who
uses Babbage's machine foreknows with certainty his
results, but in no way predestines them.
When the Apostle speaks of predestination, he
means, I suppose, to illustrate the fixity of things future.
He adds nothing to the Divine foreknowledge, but he
adds much to our sense of it, and helps us towards an
adequate conception of what without this trait would
would have been an abstraction. I hope your ex-
parishioner will escape from the labyrinth in which
he is entangled.

291. To Sir Thomas Acland, Bart. London,
December 3, 1893.
... I am rather more painfully impressed with the
apprehension that the seen world is gaining upon the
unseen. The vast expansion of its apparatus seems to
have nothing to balance it. The Church, which was
the appointed instrument of the world's recovery,
seems, taking all its branches together, rather unequal
to its work. I doubt, however, whether any effectual
and permanent efforts can be made except within its
precincts (largely viewed) and under its laws.
I venture to hope that, when you pronounce judgment
on the undue predominance of logic in positive dogma
and in the negative scepticism, you will not regard
these two as standing upon quite the same level in
regard to claim upon our respect and deference. It
seems to me that the singular mode in which the dogma
of the Church was matured in centuries 3-5, and the
obstinate durability it has shown, constitute a great
marvel of Providential government. I do not mean
that my poor private judgment follows sympatheti
cally all the dogmatic procedure of that great period.
Were I to take my stand on it, I should say the case
of Nestorius was a hard one, and the Nestorian-
ism of to-day hardly seems to carry all the marks of
heresy.

1896] THE TERRORS OF THE LORD 123
But in judging of those conclusions, accepted by the
great body of the people of God from that day to this,
I feel that I do not approach them upon the level, but
have to look a little upwards. As to the present scep
ticism, I have no such sentiment, and think that the
common Christian is entitled to deal with it very freely
on its merits. The large family of isms, huddled
together under its name, present to my view not much
either of duty or of strength. They have had a facti
tious advantage in this, that the work of clearing or
thodoxy of its factitious encumbrances has seemed
to be, perhaps has been, more or less their work.
I am driven back more and more upon the question,
'When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith
upon the earth?' which cannot be frivolous or un
meaning, since it was put by our Saviour. . . .

292. To the Rev. S. E. Gladstone. Biarritz,
February 3, 1896.
... I can only give you very summary indications
of the contents of my paper, which will touch, I think,
100 pages.
1. My impressions about 'Eternal Hope' are much
like yours.
2. What is much more grave in my view is that 'the
terrors of the Lord ' are fading and dying out of ortho
dox preaching. A bad sign of the times was Mivart's
'Happiness in Hell.'
3. With them will fade and dwindle the idea of sin.
4. I am profoundly struck on finding that Butler
declines to commit himself to 'natural immortality,'
or avoids it.
5. Next, I find it is nowhere in Scripture or the
Creeds, and am not inclined to allow it to be an article
of religion.
6. I suppose it to be a philosophical opinion which
gradually, from about the time of St. Augustine, found
its way into the popular tradition : but has never been
affirmed by the Church at large.
7. What I find in Scripture is, a flood of light upon
the blessed future of the righteous, but much reserve,

124 RESERVE OF SCRIPTURE [1896
beyond a certain line or precinct, on that of the
wicked. 8. That line thus defined, they are described gen
erally as passing into misery ; a veil falls on them there,
and is never lifted; no more than this misery is re
vealed. 9. I do not embrace or recommend the opinion of
annihilation, which never, so far as I know, until now
has found any wide [acceptance?].
10. What I am led to desire is reserve beyond the
precinct, free and bold teaching within it.
1 1 . My opinions on the disputed points are subject to
correction. 12. But I see plainly that it is natural immortality,
considered as an article of religion, that has forced on
the question of 'eternal punishment,' and that from
that question religion is suffering fearful disadvantage.
Those who deny are bold and rash against it; those
who believe hardly dare say so, and practically it is on
the way to becoming obsolete.
13. I am printing in America, where I hope to gain
the benefit of criticism without stir or excitement. Pres
ently I shall consider whether to reprint in my Butler
Essays. But I expect to see proofs of the important
parts before publication in America.
14. General upshot — I am moved to meddle by the
sense of a very threatening danger: and I wish to be
very cautious as to means for checking it.
15. I may add that I was on this subject twenty
years ago, and was torn away from it by the Eastern
Question (1879). ...

CHAPTER IV
EDUCATION 1843-1894
In 1843 Sir Robert Peel's Government, of which Mr.
Gladstone was a subordinate member, made the first
serious attempt at dealing with elementary education.
Lord Ashley had called the attention of the House of
Commons to the vicious condition of the manufacturing
population, and Sir James Graham at once gave notice
of a Factory Bill which should provide some moral
training for the children in these districts. Morality
and religion were not then supposed to be separable,
and Graham's proposals amounted to an endowment
of religious instruction under the superintendence of
the clergy of the Established Church. New schools
were to be set up partly by local exertion and partly by
a Government grant. The managers were to be the
incumbent and churchwardens of each parish and
certain elected trustees. The teachers must be ap
proved by the Bishop of the diocese, and the books used
were to be the Authorized Version of the Scriptures
and certain portions of the Prayer-Book. By the time
that the Bill came up for the second reading, the im
possibility of carrying these clauses had become plain
even to their author. The whole Nonconformist com
munity was in arms against them. Dissenters, it was
said, would be excluded from the management of
"5

126 GRAHAM'S FACTORY BILL [1843
the schools by the composition of the trust, and the
Bible, being taught by Church teachers, would be
interpreted in a Church sense. In vain did Graham
promise that any teacher misusing his opportunities
in this way should be removed by the Committee of
Council, and make provision for Nonconformist chil
dren being taught the religion of their parents on one
day in the week. Petitions against the education
clauses poured in from all quarters, and on the 19th of
June the Government withdrew them. Mr. Glad
stone saw clearly the force of the Nonconformist ob
jection, and the difficulty of meeting them except by
the surrender of the very points which made the clauses
valuable to Churchmen. But his position 'in office,
yet not one of the Cabinet who are parties to such a
measure,' necessarily kept him silent. 'Anything that
I might say,' he writes to a clergyman, 'could hardly
fail to bear in the eyes of the public an official character,
whereas in point of fact I have no authority whatever
to express in whole or in part the views of the Govern
ment. If I made a strong and warm speech, it would
inflame the opposition of the Dissenters; if a feeble
and indecisive one, it would dishearten Churchmen
and arouse their suspicions — and in neither case
could they avoid drawing inferences, though in neither
case would there be any foundation for them.'
In 1870 these same questions presented themselves
in a more urgent form, and Mr. Gladstone's share in
the Education Act of that year has often been made
the foundation of a charge of inconsistency. It cannot
be denied that his position towards that Act was very
unlike that in which a Prime Minister ordinarily stands
to one of the chief measures of an eventful session. It
was reserved for Mr. Gladstone to denounce with

1870] WHAT THE ACT OF 1870 WAS 127
remarkable persistence a law passed by his own
Government, and defended by himself under a
total misapprehension of its actual results. The
undenominational teaching which was created by his
own Education Act became the 'moral monster' of
his closing years. It is worth while to inquire what
Mr. Gladstone expected from this measure as finally
shaped, and why his anticipations were so signally
disappointed. The undenominational principle which for years
past has been attacked and defended with equal vigour
had no place in the original Education Bill. As it left
the Parliamentary draftsman's hands, it put it in the
power of each School Board to decide for itself what
the character of the religious teaching in its schools
should be. This was the plan 'chosen deliberately
by the Government,' and the plan which Mr. Glad
stone thought in itself the best (Letter 304) . Judging
by the subsequent action of the School Boards, it is
probable that, even if this liberty had been left to them,
the great majority of them would have used it to estab
lish a kind of religious teaching substantially identical
with that actually adopted under the Cowper-Temple
clause. But no one, unless it were W. E. Forster,
thought this at the time. The strength of the unde
nominational feeling in the country had not been tested,
and Mr. Gladstone was probably of opinion that the
religious teaching given in Board Schools would be
Anglican in the many districts where the Church was
strong, and limited to 'Christian instruction minus
Catechism, Church, clergy, and Sacraments,' only
in the few districts where the Nonconformists were
strong. This was also the opinion of Dale of Birming
ham. There was nothing, he said, in the Bill as it

t28 DOGMA AND FORMULARY [1870
stood at first to prevent the Board Schools from being,
what in his opinion many of them would be, purely
denominational institutions. The Nonconformist ob
jection to this provision proved too strong to be re
sisted, the use of any 'catechism or religious formulary
distinctive of any particular denomination' was for
bidden in Board Schools, and the very teaching which
Mr. Gladstone so hated was set up, as the event proved,
in every rate-provided school.
Why, then, was he a party to so radical a change in
the Government Bill? Simply because he did not
foresee in what sense the words ' catechism or religious
formulary' would be read by the authorities which had
to interpret them. He had no love for the clause which
was forced upon him. He held the original form of
the Bill to be the best, and, when the retention of this
proved impossible, he would have preferred that the
State should pay for nothing but secular teaching, and
leave religious teaching to be provided by the volun
tary efforts of the several denominations. But in the
Cowper-Temple compromise he saw, as he thought, a
last refuge for the denominational principle. All that
was forbidden was the use of distinctive formularies.
Not a word was said against the teaching of distinctive
doctrines. 'Under the new clause,' said Forster to a
friend, 'you may teach Transubstantiation in every
Board School in England, so long as you don't teach
it out of the Penny Catechism.' 'The amendment,'
said Dale, 'excluded the Church Catechism, but left
the Board absolutely free to teach every one of its
characteristic doctrines. . . . The formulary was for
bidden, but the dogma of the formulary was permitted.'
In this way, Mr. Gladstone thought, the 'popular
imposture of undenominational instruction' would be

1870] FORSTER'S POSITION 129
killed by the very words by which Mr. Cowper-Temple
proposed to give it life. Probably it seemed to him
almost unconceivable that every School Board in the
kingdom should deliberately choose a kind of teaching
of which he had so low an opinion, or that any con
siderable number of teachers would make the Bible
a mere peg on which to hang their religious specula
tions by way of comment. Had he been able to bring
the Cabinet to his own point of view, he would prob
ably have carried out the complete separation of
religious and secular instruction which he had sug
gested to Lord Ripon in the previous autumn; and
at that time this simple way out of the difficulty would
have had a better chance of being accepted than it has
ever had since. It would have been supported by
Dale and his friends — then the most influential sec
tion of Nonconformists — and it would have averted
the Nonconformist revolt which was so important a
factor in the Liberal defeat of 1874. Unfortunately,
this solution encountered, and gave way to, the rooted
hostility of Forster. He thought that to leave relig
ious instruction to be given and paid for by those who
believed in it was to make religion 'a thing of no ac
count,' and when this strange misconception had once
taken possession of him, nothing could dislodge it.
Possibly, had the Cabinet foreseen the injury which the
religious strife engendered by the Cowper-Temple
clause was to inflict on elementary education, Forster's
resignation would have been accepted and Mr. Glad
stone's plan adopted. But its author saw no farther
into the future than anyone else. He knew, of course,
that dogma would be taught most naturally and most
safely by the aid of formularies, but he also knew that
it could be taught quite as effectually by a teacher with
VOL. 11 — 9

130 GRAHAM'S BILL [1843
only a Bible in his hand. Consequently, as the Bill
promised to pass more easily if the latter method were
alone permitted, he was willing to accept Mr. Cowper-
Temple's proposal. We, who are wise after the event,
can see that he underrated the strength of the English
dislike of dogma, and forgot that, when School Boards
found themselves forbidden to use denominational for
mularies, they would interpret this as a prohibition to
teach the doctrines which gave these formularies their
importance. 293. To Lord Lyttelton.
13, Carlton House Terrace,
March 24, 1843.
. . . With respect to my speaking on the Bill [Fac
tory Bill — Education Clauses], I am not, to my know
ledge, under any implied engagement to confine myself
to the subjects which belong to my department, but it
naturally happened that, as they were new, numer
ous, and pressing, they drew me off from other mat
ters. What I feel, however, is this : If I am prepared
to support the measures of Government, I may prop
erly speak on them off-hand; if I am not, I think it
my duty to lay my objections _/w\itf before them, and
not before Parliament.
On a question of this kind, however, it requires
some time and digestion to get one's thoughts into
just and fixed forms, and then to apply them to a series
of provisions in a Bill. I am not sure that I can do so
in time to be able to speak upon the second reading,
even if it be postponed from to-night. But I quite
agree with you that, without inquiring whether it is
of the least importance in its results upon others, I am
bound, by my character, not by my conduct to utter
no uncertain sound upon any controverted Church
question, but to be decisive and intelligible.
My general positions as yet are these:
1. I am not prepared to agree to limit the teaching
of the Church in the exposition of Scripture in schools,

1843] EDUCATION CLAUSES 131
and I consider myself to know that no idea is enter
tained of any such partial exposition.
2. I should think it a strange plan to allow the
reading of Scripture without exposition. But if Dis
senting parents choose to send their children to the
reading, and keep them from the exposition, I should
not refuse them the legal right so to do.
3. If Dissenting parents think fit to say they will
not send their children to either the reading or the
exposition, but claim to send them to other parts of
the instruction, I am not prepared to say it should be
refused. The position of a State and of a society to
which such a system is adapted is indeed far from en
viable: but I think that, while we have to keep the
Church inviolate, our business with respect to the
State is to bolster up its practice as well as we can.
4. As to trusteeship, I think we ought cheerfully
to encounter inconveniences, taking, however, adequate
security against the invasion of the religious system
under any circumstances. . . .
294. To Sir James Graham, Bart.
13, Carlton House Terrace,
March 25, 1843.
My dear Sir James Graham,
I am very anxious to avoid troubling you with
any crude or premature expression of opinion upon
the matters involved in the Education Clauses of the
Factory Bill ; but one practical difficulty occurs to me
with respect to a particular point, which I think it best
to state at once.
I understood you to say last night that the school
master is to teach from the Holy Scriptures by ex
plaining the meaning of the text, but so as to avoid
matter of controversy. By matter of controversy I
understand tenets contested between the Church of
England and the general body of Protestant Dissenters,
and I exclude those on which she is at issue with the
Church of Rome.
The difficulty that occurs to me is this: There are
many texts of Scripture of which the meaning would
be stated bona fide in one sense by the Church, and
in another by the Protestant Dissenters. Take, for

132

ALTERNATIVES b

instance, such a passage as the discourse of our Saviour
with Nicodemus. According to the Office of Baptism
and the Catechism, the meaning of this passage is to
be found by a reference to that Sacrament, whereas
according to Dissenters it is to be sought in a separate
and wholly unseen operation. So that by giving an
interpretation to the language of Scripture the school
master, as it seems to me, takes a side pro tanto in the
controversy. In this case his exposition would not be objected to
on its own merits by Roman Catholic parents; but I
am afraid you will find Lord Arundel last night repre
sented himself rather than the religious body to which
he belongs, and that they would take an objection to
the child's receiving even orthodox doctrine at the
hands of a teacher supposed by them schismatical.
I have contemplated the two alternatives of the
teacher's giving one or the other exposition of this
text. There is a third : he may avoid giving any —
but then he does not convey to his pupils the meaning
of the Scripture.
I believe it to be quite true, and a gratifying circum
stance, that in practice, by a man of tact and ability,
there need be no offence given in such a case as I have
supposed. But difficulties which may be, and often
are, smoothed away in practice will be objected to
your plan in their most rigid argumentative forms,
and you will be expected to find a solution for them
beforehand. And, further, that kind of remedy to
which I have referred is evidently a discretionary
one — one not capable, I apprehend, of being reduced
to rule and provided for by legal enactment : and if so,
is it of a sort to which parties can be called upon to
trust? Will the Church agree to the deliberate and
systematic exclusion of the bona-fide meaning of por
tions of the text from that part of the instruction which
is declared to be instruction in Holy Scripture? Or
will the Dissenters agree to compulsory attendance
upon lessons of which the criterion is to be their repre
senting the meaning of Scripture according to the sense
of the Church ? Or will the Roman Catholics as a body
agree to receiving religious instruction at all from a
teacher belonging to the communion of the Church of
England? . . .

1843I THE CHURCH'S MEANS 133
295. To the Rev. W. F. Hook, D.D. London,
March 30, 1843.
My dear Dr. Hook,
It was without my knowledge that Miss Geor-
giana Harcourt did me a kindness and gave you trouble
by requesting you to state your views of the Educa
tion Clauses in the Factory Bill, and I have read your
letter with the greatest interest. The establishment
of any school system by public rate is so new, and opens
such a width of possible results, that it almost makes
a man start at his own shadow, and mistrust conclu
sions apparently the most just, merely from the im
pression that there are no adequate means as yet of
estimating their consequences. Subject only to this
general description of misgiving, I am very glad to find
that you approve of the clauses of the Bill as to their
main scope and outlines. I am not yet able to believe,
however, that the country will bear a good measure,
and we had far better have none than a bad one. Al
most from year to year those difficulties seem to increase
which hinder the proper action of the State in the high
province of religion. We must hope to see them miti
gated or removed, but this hope is slender, and we are
poor indeed if it constituted the sole object of our reli
ance. But all experience inclines my mind to look
i.iore and more to another quarter — namely, the
development of the intrinsic resources of the Church,
both spiritual and secular. And in the latter branch,
not according to the noble sentiments which you ex
press, by taxation of the Bishops and clergy, which is
no matter for my consideration (and it must also be
said for the body that, if it be far in the rear of your
standard of charity and self-denial, it is as far in ad
vance of the general practice of the day) , but by better
husbandry of those immense means which her landed
possessions, though the mere wreck of what they once
were, still present, and likewise by the regular organi
zation of a system of Christian offerings in their proper
place as an accompaniment of the administration of
Christian ordinances. There is another question which
some day or other it may be right to entertain — namely,
that of public rating, with exceptions in favour of those

134 FUSION OF SECTS [1853
who declare themselves dissidents. I know great ob
jections are laid against any plan of this nature: I
admit there is force in them, and I do not say that the
time for raising the question has come, or necessarily
will come, but merely that there are conditions under
which it might be the least undesirable alternative of
those open to choice. It would be a very great relief
to the Church if all those who are deliberately Dis
senters would declare themselves so, and assume that
legal standing. But I suspect one of the great diffi
culties of the Church in this generation will be to gain
a point apparently so simple, and in point of right
so incontrovertible.
W. E. Gladstone.
296. To the Bishop of Salisbury (Denison).
Downing Street,
August 5, 1853.
My dear Bishop,
I have no doubt you are right in your view of
the private leaning of Lord John Russell's mind with
respect to education. It is obvious that, if England
were a ' nose of wax ' in his hands, he would have some
thing in the nature of a comprehensiveor united system.
But I must grant to him what I should require to claim
for myself on many public questions — namely this, to
be judged, not by [merely] crude personal instincts, but
by the complex result at which the judgment delib
erately arrives, and of which those instincts are, after
all, but one element. Now, when thus tried, I think
Lord John will, with reference to education in England,
stand the trial. From all I have seen, I believe that he
acquiesces bona fide in what he sees to be, on the whole,
the sense of the country, and that he acts consistently
upon that acquiescence.
I am not friendly to the idea of constraining by law
either the total or the partial suppression of conscien
tious differences in religion with a view to fusion of
different sects, whether in church or school. I believe
that the free development of conviction is, upon the
whole, the system most in favour both of truth and of
charity. Consequently, you may well believe that I
contemplate with satisfaction the state of feeling that

1853] SEPARATE SUBSIDIES 135
prevails in England, and that has led all Governments
to adopt the system of separate and independent sub
sidies to the various religious denominations. And I
should be the last man to concur in any measure that
tended to alter that state of things. I think the late
Minute of the Government tends powerfully to main
tain it. I do not think the Education Bill hostile to it.
If in any way it is thus hostile, it is, I think, through
the medium of the rating principle. It is hard to fore
see in what precise manner this principle, so new among
us in regard to education, will work. But in its first
aspect it tends to decentralize the system, and place
it under the control of local opinion, which opinion is
generally favourable to the separate system. The
clause which prevents giving (religious instruction
objected to by parents or guardians, is primd facie a
relaxation of the separate system, but I confess I think
it is one of those reasonable and guarded relaxations
which gives increased security to the substance of the
very system which it relaxes. You are aware that the
Government entirely repudiate the construction which
some have been inclined to put upon the clause —
namely, this, that parties having the charge of schools
would be obliged to admit children of all religious
creeds, as well as that, having admitted them, they
would be put under control as to the instruction to be
given. I do not myself see that there is any ground
or colour for such a construction: and, at any rate, in
what I say of the Bill, I entirely put it out of view.
W. E. Gladstone.
297. To the Rev. J. Woolley (University College,
Sydney, N.S.W.). Glenquoich, N.B.,
Augpst 22, 1853.
Reverend Sir,
. . . In the year 1845 I gave an earnest support,
as an independent Member of Parliament, to Sir Robert
Peel when he introduced a Bill for founding colleges in
Ireland not subject to any religious test, nor invested
with any distinctively religious character. I did this
deliberately, not from any preference for such a scheme
of education, but because I was convinced that it was

136 QUEEN'S COLLEGES [1853
framed in a spirit friendly to religion as well as to
liberty of conscience, that it was the best of which
the case admitted, and that, mainly because of
the animus of the plan as evinced by its subsidiary
provisions, it would in its operation tend not to sap,
but rather to consolidate, the foundations of belief in
Ireland. I trouble you with this recital because, from the
circumstances which you are good enough to detail,
I would hope that the case of Sydney may in its essen
tials be a parallel case, and because in any parallel
case I should undoubtedly pursue the course — so
far as I might be concerned with the subject-matter
— which I took with reference to the Queen's Col
leges in Ireland.
You have no cause, therefore, to believe that I could
read your letter or your remarks on the late admirable
Bishop Broughton with adverse and disparaging
prepossessions. It would indeed be presumption in
me were I to affect, with my imperfect knowledge, to
have an opinion upon a question so grave as the
question what line of conduct the clergy ought to have
pursued or to pursue with regard to the Sydney
University. But I would not only assent to, I would
ever and strongly assert, the principle that it is in this
day their especial duty to take to heart the lessons
which the time is teaching, and to inquire in what way
they can best use for the fulfilment of the essential and
perpetual mission of the Church those new instruments,
and those altered and still altering opportunities, which
this critical period of human destiny affords them.
Like other men combined into a profession, they con
tract more or less of peculiarities not requisite for the
fulfilment of its work: nay, more, beyond other men,
as being especially charged with a Divine unchangeable
deposit, they are bound to be jealous for its security,
and circumspect in committing it to the action of
novelty and vicissitude. But their paramount obliga
tion must still be, like that of other men, to judge for
the best by the light of prudence within the lines laid
down for them; and this conception of their duty is,
I think, making at any rate perceptible progress, at
least in this country, from year to year among them.
W. E. Gladstone.

1867] THE LAST PLANK 137
298. To the Archdeacon of Nottingham.
11, Carlton House Terrace, July 16, 1867.
My dear Archdeacon,
I used words in the debate on Mr. Bruce's Bill
corresponding in substance with those which you
quote, and they are the expression of a conviction to
which I have sought for nearly thirty years to give
effect. That conviction has become, not more clear,
but more urgent, with the increased urgency of circum
stances. If anything is to be done to save denomina
tional education, it should be done with speed. The
time is short, and the final issue drawing near.
The Conscience Clause has been regarded by the
Church with an evil eye; it is, in my view, the last
plank. By it I understand free teaching on the one
side for the body in connection with which the school
is founded ; free withdrawal for children of other bodies.
I do not think we can claim as a right on the part of
the State that the Church should take the Conscience
Clause. It is a matter of free compact. I would urge
it, not in the name of the State, but in the name of the
true interests of the Church itself.
Your plan would admit the Conscience Clause within
certain limits into all State-aided schools. Would not
those limits be difficult to observe in practice wherever
the clause operated extensively? Would those who
object to the clause not object to your compromise?
I hail with pleasure any plan which, like yours, lets
in the principle of the Conscience Clause. But it is
fair to say, I think the clause would follow bodily in its
entire and unrestricted application.
I hope the clergy will, before it is too late, decline
to commit themselves finally in another battle which
can only end in a crushing defeat.
W. E. Gladstone.
299. To Earl De Grey. November 4, 1869.
My dear De Grey,
I have read Forster's able paper, and I follow
it very generally. On one point I cannot very well

138 SECULAR TEACHING [1870
follow it: the proposal to found the rate schools on
the system of the British and Foreign Society would,
I think, hardly do. Why not adopt frankly the prin
ciple that the State or the local community should
provide the secular teaching, and either leave the
option to the ratepayers to go beyond this sine qua non
if they think fit, within the limits of the Conscience
Clause, or else simply leave the parties themselves to
find Bible and other religious education from voluntary
sources? I suppose you have got exact information as
to the mode in which (so we are told) religious educa
tion is reconciled with nationality and universality in
Prussia? . . .
W. E. Gladstone.

300. To Earl Russell.
March 24, 1870.
. . . The Education Bill itself is the one critical
measure. It involves principles of vast sweep and
much novelty, the questions of universality, compulsion,
local rating, gratuitous teaching, and along with these,
of course, comes up_ again our old friend the religious
difficulty, with the rival claims of all the different modes
of eluding or arranging it. A state of clear, firm, and
well-balanced opinion is the best help we can have in
working through such a mass of complication, but such
is not the actual state of opinion. Men are decided,
not between two courses, or even three, but four or
five: secularism, Bible-reading, Bible-reading with
unsectarian teaching (to be limited and defined on
appeal by a new sort of Pope in the Council Office),
Bible-reading with unlimited exposition, or, lastly, this
plus Catechism and formularies, each of these alterna
tives viewed more or less in the light of private interests
and partial affections, and these complications recompli-
cated with the competition between local and central
authority. All this shows a state of things in which it
will be very difficult to maintain the equilibrium of the
measure, and in which mere resolute resistance, or even
untoward help, might be attended with very awkward
results. Still, there are favouring circumstances.
Forster's position is excellent. Great admissions are

1870] UNSECTARIAN SCHOOLS 139
made. The Dissenters and the Church are both repre
sented by many reasonable men. Lastly, all except
pure secularists or very bitter men seem to feel that
great embarrassment would ensue upon the loss of the
Bill for the year. Such is the map of the situation — not
very legible. For my own part, I think the sum of my
desires is that, with a measure on all the other points
worked up to the point of real efficacy, we should leave
religion free, and not discountenanced or disparaged,
protect conscience effectually, and keep the State out
of all responsibility for, or concern in, religious differ
ences. . . . 301. To Henry Richard. March 28, 1870.
... I have, however, read with much interest the
memorial you have sent me. And I should be much
obliged if, in the course of the next three or four
weeks, you were able to give me an answer to the
following question: whether in the view of the me
morialists generally the unsectarian education in
the rate schools, for which they ask, would (setting
aside the question of paedobaptism) admit of a pretty
complete religious instruction in those schools, accord
ing to the use and within the limits of the ordinary
teaching of the Nonconformist pulpits? I would also
submit one other point of inquiry.
Supposing that, in unsectarian schools such as are
intended by the memorial, a schoolmaster is charged
with expounding the Holy Scriptures in the sense of
the sacramental doctrines of the Church Catechism,
who is in this, and in any series of like questions, to
have fixed authority to decide the case, and thus to
draw the line between sectarian and unsectarian
education? This seems to be a matter of great diffi
culty, but it lies at the root of the proposal. I am
very thankful for the kind terms in which you write;
and I sincerely trust that a spirit of intelligent equity
towards all parties will enable us to dispose of the
controverted matters in the Education Bill, which many
appear to find so perplexing. . . .

i4o JUSTICE FORGOTTEN [1870

302. To Archbishop Manning. June 22, 1870.
. . . You ask what we will do for the Roman
Catholic University in Dublin. Nothing could be less
desirable than that there should be any correspondence
between you and me on that subject at present.
Already the shadow of the question of Irish education
is cast darkly over the English Bill. Upon that Bill
we have striven as far as we could to serve the in
terests of the Roman Catholic body, in and by serv
ing the interests of general justice. I must say
in honesty that, in the general proposals and mani
festations throughout the country, while no very
enlightened view is taken of justice to the Church
of England, justice to the Roman Catholics appears,
except by a very few, to be wholly forgotten. It is
coolly proposed by a large section that, while unde
nominational education shall be made to reign in
schools founded by the rate, the Privy Council grants
shall remain provisionally until the schools which they
aid can be gradually swallowed up in the so-called
national system. Communications with those who
represented your communion seemed to show that
their views with reference to the Bill were summed up
in seeking adequate provision for the voluntary schools,
and that there were no terms which could be proposed
for rate schools of a nature to be accepted by them.
Mr. Allies told me, if they could make sure of one
moiety of the school charges from the State, he thought
they could perhaps perform their work; and this
moiety will, I apprehend, now be secured for efficient
schools by the proposals of the Government. While
the Roman Catholic interest is most concerned of all,
I feel sure we have served the general and compre
hensive interests of justice by the new provision. But
the business is a very heavy one. Time is against us,
so is much prejudice. On the other hand, there is a
lack of firmly organized opinion, and possibly the
weight of the Government may in this state of things
suffice to carry the Bill. ...

1870] THE APOSTLES' CREED 141

303. To W. E. Forster.
October 17, 1870.
... I have thought over the question which you
put to me about the three Creeds, and have looked a
little into the case of their character and reception.
It appears to me that it is quite open to you at once
to dispose of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, and
to decline inquiring whether they are distinctive, upon
the ground that they are not documents employed in
the instruction of young children; and to this refusal
it would seem quite safe to adhere until proof to the
contrary can be alleged. Obviously, no one has a right
to call on you to define the distinctive character of a
formulary such as the Thirty-nine Articles, or of any
but such as are employed in schools. With respect
to the Apostles' Creed, it appears to me not to be a dis
tinctive formulary in the sense of the Act. Besides
the fact that it is acknowledged by the great bulk of all
Christendom, it is denied or rejected by no portion of
the Christian community; and, further, it is not con
troversial in its form, but sets forth in the simplest
form a series of the leading facts on which Christianity,
the least abstract of all religions, is based. . . .
W. E. G.

304. To Lord Lyttelton.
11, Carlton House Terrace, S.W.,
October 25, 1870.
... I have read your letter with much interest, and
with every disposition to concur in what you say of
the Cowper-Temple clause. I should much like to
talk the matter over with you at large. Meantime I
will only say that it was in no sense my choice, or that
of the Government. Our first proposition was by far
the best. But it received no active support, even from
the Church, the National Society, or the Opposition;
while divers Bishops, large bodies of clergy, the Edu
cation Union, and — earliest of all, I think — Roundell
Palmer in the House of Commons, threw overboard

142 AN IMPOSTURE [1871
the Catechism. We might then have fallen back upon
the plan of confining the application of the rate to
secular subjects, but this was opposed by the Church,
the Opposition, most of the Dissenters, and most of
our own friends. As it was, I assure you, the very
utmost that could be done was to arrange the matter
as it now stands, where the exclusion is limited to the
formulary, and to get rid of the popular imposture of
undenominational instruction. . . .

305. To John Bright.
Hawarden,
November 25, 1871.
. . . The state of things as to the Education Bill is
singular and threatening. The subject lay deep in
ray mind and motives when I saw you, but I did not
dwell on it very largely, as it is hardly ripe for its
crisis. At least not ripe in the view of the Govern
ment; but there is so much jealousy, suspicion, and
irritation, that it may ripen or explode without our
agency. It seems more likely than any other matter
to be the death of this Government in connection with
some one of the three countries.
As to me, I know not whether the Nonconformists
and I shall always be able to 'put up our horses'
together; but they have behaved honourably and
handsomely to me, and I desire to reciprocate in fair
and straightforward conduct. I should wish to retire
from public life, rather than at this advanced hour
of my little day go into sharp and vital conflict with
them. I feel also that some reserve in speech, and much
careful reflection, are the present duty of the Govern
ment with regard to the question of English education
in its present stage. It may be interesting to you that
I should state what took place in the Cabinet to bring
the provision as to rate schools and the religious
instruction in them to its present form.
I enclose a memo containing five methods of dealing
with this point, all of which had advocates.*
* This has not been found.

1871] FIVE METHODS

M3

No. 1 was that chosen deliberately by the Govern
ment (I rather think before you left it, but as to my
present purpose this is immaterial) ; and I for one
think, as I believe we generally think, that, if the coun
try would have taken it, this is the best. But it was, or
was deemed, untenable in Parliament.
This being so, my own view was, and still is, that
there was no other solid and stable ground to be taken
except that of No. 5.
But this was not the view of —
1. The Cabinet. I may add that I doubt whether
anything would have induced Forster to acquiesce
in it.
2. The Church, which without doubt much pre
ferred No. 1 : but yet the body in general acquiesced
in No. 2, and a not unimportant fraction of the clergy
recommended it. A fraction of this fraction would
have taken No. 3.
3. The Dissenters. This I know well, because my
own preference of No. 5 was too decided to allow me
to be blind to any indications in its favour. I satisfied
myself by separate and detailed conversations with
many deputations, and with such men as Miall, Richard,
and Winterbotham, that they were, in vast majority,
determined on having No. 2 if they could not get No. 3,
which the Church would not have tolerated, and which
would only have laid the foundation of fresh con
troversies. Some went as far as No. 4, but a decided
minority. Nonconforming opinion is now altered, and altering;
and part of the blame they award to Forster is because
he was then and now of the opinion which they held
then, but not now.
I think what I have said will show (of course to you
in great secrecy, as to the Cabinet) how we were led
to our conclusion. I think I can say it was the only
form in which the Bill could have passed, and that it
should pass was what all demanded.
I hope that a little time will bring the Dissenters to
clear and decided views, not only on Clause 25 (for
the matter cannot be dealt with piecemeal), but on
the whole subject, so that we may know with what
materials we have to deal.
Upon the whole matter I do not despair; I am

144 THE LAST PLEDGE [1873
rather inclined to despond, but I wish not to
hurry. An election fought upon this battle at the present
time would certainly, I apprehend, throw the Liberal
party into a minority, as the whole party has not
adopted, nor, indeed, has the whole Protestant part of
it adopted, the creed of the dissatisfied as it stands.
I do not even feel that I yet understand the whole
argument. As far as I do understand it, I am not
surprised that the Dissenters should run restive.
Finally, I have read with care Mr. Dale's most able
and striking speech — a speech quite sufficient of itself
to make a man; I only make on its matter this one
observation: it contains no answer whatever to the
question, ' What right have you on your own principles •
to compel the ratepayer to pay for what you are
pleased to term unsectarian religious instruction in
rate schools, when he chooses to object to it?' The
more so as this unsectarian instruction is to a great
extent Dissenting instruction — the instruction which
a Nonconformist would spontaneously give in a school
of his own : being, in brief, Christian instruction minus
Catechism, Church, clergy, and Sacraments. It seems
hardly too much to say that the speech blinks the
question.

306. To the President of Maynooth (Dr. Russell).
January 2, 1873.
. . . We are approaching a third great and critical
question, and the redemption of our last specific Irish
pledge, though not the fulfilment of our last duty, for
duty can never cease. If we fail, I think it will not be
from an inadequate sense of the character of our engage
ment, nor from want of pains, nor from what is called
the fear of man. From the nature of the case in part,
but more from the temper of men's minds on this par
ticular question, no plan can be proposed which will
not attract much criticism; but I think, if upon the
whole we are met in the same spirit as in 1869 and 1870,
we may, please God, accomplish this step also towards
the improvement of Ireland. ...

1873] CONTRACT FULFILLED 145

307. To Archbishop Manning.
n, Carlton House Terrace,
March 8, 1873.
My dear Archbishop Manning,
The violent outburst (as I think it) from the
Irish Roman Catholic Bishops has been exaggerated,
but, strange to say, the exaggeration marks the views
taken by those who follow as much as by those who
repudiate them. They as lords and masters (which
I suppose them to be) of the Roman Catholic College
refuse the place offered it in the Bill. This is a blow
to the Bill, but it could be borne. They have ex
pressed a desire that the Bill should not pass in its
present form, and the consequence is that I am saluted
by their followers with an announcement that they
must vote against the second reading, and so prevent
the House of Commons from modifying or altering
the Bill in Committee. This is a grave matter: for it
comes to a question of votes. Your (my) demands are
easily dealt with : I should be ashamed to offer a measure
that did not concede them. I shall fight to the last
against all comers, but much against my inclination,
which is marvellously attracted by the vision of my
liberty dawning like a sunrise from beyond the hills.
For when this offer has been made, and every effort of
patience employed to render it a reality, my contract
with the country is fulfilled, and I am free to take my
course. I remain, Affectionately yours,
W. E. G.
308. To John Bright. January 27, 1874.
. . . The Dissenters will, in my opinion, greatly dam
age their own cause, not generally alone, but in connec
tion with the specific matter of the Education Act, if
they ask from our candidates a positive pledge to
go against the present denominational grants to the
Roman Catholics.
The fact is, it seems to me, that the Nonconformists
VOL. II — 10

146 OXFORD OPINION [1873
have not yet as a body made up their minds whether
they want unsectarian religion, or whether they want
simple secular teaching, so far as the application of
the rate is concerned. I have never been strong against
the latter of these two, which seems to me impartial,
and not, if fairly worked, of necessity in any degree
unfriendly to religion. The former is, in my opinion,
glaringly partial, and I shall never be a party to it.
But there is a good deal of leaning to it in the Liberal
party. Any attempt to obtain definitive pledges now
will give power to the enemies of both plans of pro
ceeding. We have no rational course as a party but
one, which [is] to adjourn for a while the solution of
the grave parts of the Education problem, and this
I know to be in substance your opinion. . . .
309. To Dr. Dollinger. April 28, 1873.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
Mr. Meyrick has kindly allowed me to peruse
a most interesting letter which he has recently received
from you. It shows me what I should hardly have
ventured to hope, that you had been able amidst all
the pressing, and even harrowing, interests of your
own position to give attention to our late debates
and transactions on the Irish Universities Bill, and it
emboldens me to send you copies of two speeches
delivered by me in regard to that Bill. I cannot wonder
that much which it contained, and many also of its
omissions, should stand ill when measured by a German
standard, as they do even when tried by an English
one. But I am sorry to say that almost all, if not all,
its defects were virtues in relation to the lamentable
state of the University question and of the higher
education in Ireland. And nothing struck or pleased
me more than the great favour which was won by the
Bill among our highest and most practical academic
men, particularly at Oxford. Goldwin Smith, a real
leader among academic reformers, thought it worth
while to send his eulogy from America, which he has
made his home. If you should see Pattison's 'Sugges
tions on Academical Organizations' (he is the head
of a college at Oxford), you would find in it a most

1877] COMPULSION 147
trenchant exposition of the case of Oxford, and very
daring proposals of change. It was a disappointment
to me when, six weeks ago, the Leader of the Opposi
tion flinched from facing the consequences of his own
operations, and left us no choice but to retain our
offices: for without at all complaining of the conditions
of public life, I feel that it ought to be subject to a
measure of time and quantity ; and if a choice is per
mitted, I do not mean to exhaust the decline of life
in such excess of strain and in such an atmosphere of
incessant contention.
Believe me, with warm respect and regard,
Your attached friend,
W. E. G.
310. To ihe Rev. S. E. Gladstone. Hawarden,
November 26, 1877.
Before learning that the question of compulsion for
this school district was to be raised next week, I had
made appointments in London which will compel me
to be absent.
It is however, I think, a question which should be
decided according to the conscientious and informed
judgment of the ratepayers.
In arriving at that judgment, they ought, I think, to
fortify themselves by full and authentic information on
a variety of points, such as —
1. The known or probable feelings of those who will
not take an active part at the time, but who may here
after judge, and censure freely, those who do take such
a part. 2. The numbers of children not now attending school,
and particularly the increase or decrease of this neg
lected class.
3. The particular circumstances of the cases of neg
lect, especially how far it is wilful and obstinate.
I have not the close and minute acquaintance with
the state of the case which is needed for useful advice
to the ratepayers.
But I may say there are two suppositions upon
either of which I should regret the adoption of the
proposal for compulsion at once :

14S THE STATE AND EDUCATION [1894
1. If the voluntary attendance is growing in such
a way as to promise becoming in a short time nearly
universal. 2. If the ratepayers generally are not thoroughly
apprised of what is being done in their name.
I presume you will do all in your power to inform
your parishioners, without, perhaps, taking in other
respects a very active part.
311. To ihe Rev. Septimus Buss. Hawarden,
September 13, 1894.
... I have not followed the particulars of the con
troversy in the London School Board. Nor do I
intend to do so; for, after a contentious life of sixty-
two years, I am naturally anxious to spend the re
mainder of my days in freedom from controversy.
I will not undertake to say what precise scheme as
to religious instruction was in the contemplation of the
Act of 1870. I always thought, however, that the Act
for Scotland, which soon followed it, was more wisely
framed. I believe that the piety, prudence and kindness of
a teacher may do a great deal in conveying the cardinal
truths of our Divine religion to the minds of pupils
without stumbling, or causing them to stumble, on
what are termed denominational difficulties. But the
contentions so called form part of the religious convic
tions of those who advance them, and they are entitled
to respect, and ought not to be rudely overridden.
In my opinion (which I have endeavoured recently
to set forth in the pages of the Nineteenth Century)
an undenominational system of religion, framed by or
under the authority of the State, is a moral monster.
The State has no charter from Heaven such as may
belong to the Church or to the individual conscience.
It would, as I think, be better for the State to limit
itself to giving secular instruction (which, of course,
is no complete education) than rashly to adventure
upon such a system.
Whether the Act of 1870 requires or permits anything
of the kind, I cannot say; but if it did, its provisions
would involve a gross error. . . .

CHAPTER V
LETTERS OF MR. GLADSTONE TO HIS CHILDREN
1847-1893
In this chapter I have included a few letters which
have no direct reference to religion. Mr. Gladstone's
interest in his children knew no limits; it extended to
everything in which they took part. Their prayers;
their work, whether at home or at school; their ex
penditure, alike of time and of money; the questions
he thought likely to arise in the course of their reading;
the special difficulties presented by their characters,
their health, or their careers — all find a place in his
letters, and I have not attempted to make any separa
tion between them. There was no need, indeed, to
do anything of the kind, since, whatever may be the
subject on which he is writing, the reference to religion
as the universal and immutable standard of thought
and action is always implied.
312. To W. H. Gladstone. Fasque,
Sunday, August 29, 1847.
My beloved Willy,
You are now a little more than seven years old,
and are more able to think on what you are, and on
what you do, than when you were a very little child.
You must therefore try to render a more strict account
to God; must pray for more and more of His grace;
149

150 DUKE OF WELLINGTON [1852
and must try harder to be like the Lord Jesus Christ,
and to love Him with all your heart.
To help you so far as I may in this, I wish to see you
from henceforth every Sunday morning (at the time
at which on other mornings you come for lessons),
that you may then look back upon the past week, con
sider whether you have advanced in goodness during
its course, and whether you have committed sins of
which you have not before that time repented ; and
try to know, to confess and to repent them, and pray
for pardon.
In this, and in all things may your Father in heaven
bless you and make you more and more His beloved
and loving child. Amen.
313. To W. H. Gladstone. Hawarden,
September 24, 1852.
... I hope you recollect having seen and shaken
hands with so great a man as the Duke [of Wellington],
for it is a circumstance worth remembering, especially
because the remembrance may assist you in learning
some of the lessons which we all may learn from his
character. Observe that many men have been more
brilliant than the Duke of Wellington, and have had
greater natural gifts, but it was the use he made of
his powers which rendered him so remarkable. His
steadiness and fixedness of purpose, his solidity of
judgment, his vigorous good sense, his deep sense of
duty, his determination, when he knew a thing was
right, to do it, and not to swerve from it — these, pos
sessed by him in so extraordinary a degree, were proper
ties that we all may imitate and profit very greatly by
imitating, each according to our measure and capac
ity. .. .
314. To W. H. Gladstone. Hawarden,
October 18, 1853.
... I gather from what Mr. Coleridge says that you
, do not take the same pains with your Latin prose as
with your verses.

1854] LABOUR AND DUTY

1Si

The art of writing really good Latin prose is a very
difficult one, and possessed by few persons, you can
only advance towards it by slow degrees; but it is
a most valuable accomplishment, and helps much in
making up the character of a scholar and a gentleman
by its refining effect upon taste and judgment in ex
pression. It is an admirable preparation for writing
good English.
I dare say you do not find it so pleasant an exertion
as that of writing verses, in which a sort of impetus is
acquired that seems to carry us on whether we will or
not, or at any rate makes the movement very agree
able, and enables us to forget the toil in the enjoyment.
But if we never labour earnestly except for or with
pleasure in the act, we cannot come to much good.
What really tries our mettle, both as men and as Chris
tians, is to labour resolutely, when duty calls us, at
what we do not like, and by doing this, with the help
of God, we acquire not only mastery over the thing we
are about, but, what is still more important, a thorough
command over ourselves. . . .

315. To W. H. Gladstone. Downing Street,
July 18, 1854.
My dearest Willy,
At first fatigue, and latterly illness, have pre
vented me from writing to you on a subject of great
moment : I mean your having passed your fourteenth
birthday, and having thus arrived at a new stage of
your life as a Christian.
The age of fourteen is that which the Church very
much recognizes as marking the passage from child
hood, properly so called, to a state of fuller knowledge,
judgment, and responsibility. At that age, speaking
generally, it is considered time to prepare young persons
for their Confirmation — that is to say, for a holy rite,
instituted by the Apostles of Christ, in which, having
taken upon themselves the vows made for them at
their Baptism (which, as you know, are set forth in the
Catechism as well as in the Office of Baptism), they
receive graces from God by the laying on of the Bishop's
hands for the fulfilment of that solemn engagement.

152 SELF-EXAMINATION [1854
But even Confirmation itself is only the introduction
to something higher and holier still, the Commun
ion of the Body and Blood of Christ, which ought
immediately to follow it, and to be regarded by us
as the great source of spiritual life and strength
thenceforward unto our life's end. I wish very
much to write to you, or prepare something
for you on these subjects, but I will not attempt
it now : if I can manage it before you come home, I
will try to do it so that you shall have it next Sunday :
as I hope that you contrive to keep your Sunday as
a day of peace.
I will now only say a very few words upon the prepa
ration requisite for these great subjects.
Self-examination, a most needful and healthful duty
at all times, is especially so at these seasons of special
interest and import. It should then take a wider
range: we should examine not only the course of the
day or the hour by itself, but the course of our whole
life, of our thoughts, tempers, desires, language, and
acts, now as compared with what it was in our earlier
years. Are we or are we not going forwards, and
towards God? For if we are not going forwards, we
may be sure that we are going backwards. It is essen
tial to try ourselves in this matter, as youth comes on,
and the enjoyments of the world are more keenly rel
ished, and its snares multiply around us.
I will only suggest to you one or two simple rules
by which you may acquire some knowledge useful
either by way of encouragement or else by way of warn
ing. A strong-minded mother told her son that what
ever deadened in his mind the sense and desire of the
presence of God was sin, and should as such be
avoided. 1. Is the thought of the presence of God irksome, or
is it delightful to you?
2. Are you glad that His eye should see all the inmost
thoughts of your heart — should see your faults and
weaknesses, that He may mercifully take counsel to
amend in you whatever is amiss?
3. Do you find prayer a labour of love to you now,
as it was in your childhood?
4. Do you find that you continue to love the House
of God, and does your heart understand and answer

1854] READING NEWSPAPERS 153
to the words of the Psalmist when he says, 'Lord, I
have loved the habitation of Thine House, and the
place where Thine honour dwelleth ' ?
5. When you pray, 'Thy kingdom come,' is it the
desire of your heart that it should really come? that
all sins and all follies should be banished from among
and from within us, and that Christ alone should rule
us all in thought, word, and deed?
I do not wish you to answer me yes or no to each of
these questions. But I wish you to think them over
most seriously for yourself, in calm and silence,
as before God: and may He enable you to an
swer them now as you will wish them to have been
answered when you stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ. . . .
316. To W. H. Gladstone. Worsley,
October 1, 1854.
. . . To read much of such matter [daily newspaper]
in early youth cloys the palate: it is like eating a
quantity of marmalade before dinner. There is such a
thing as mental just as much as there is bodily self-
denial : and one great branch of it is to impose rigidly
upon ourselves the limit both of time and quantity in
such reading as tends more to excite than to sustain,
form, and strengthen the mind. This, I think, you
will already understand, wholly or in part, and if only
in part, then I rely upon you to take the rest upon trust
— that is to say, profit by your father's experience.
[This is] one of the great privileges that distinguishes
man from the brutes, each generation of which has to
begin afresh in the way of knowledge, and is not al
lowed to accumulate and transmit any to those that
come after. . . .
317. To W. H. Gladstone. Hawarden,
October 22, 1854.
My dearest Willy,
I mentioned to you when we met that we still
hoped you might be confirmed during the Christmas

154 MEANING OF LIFE [1854
vacation by the Bishop of New Zealand ; and the time
when you first assume the full responsibilities of a
Christian, and likewise enter upon his highest privilege
in approaching the altar of Christ to be partaker of
His Body and Blood, is so great an era in life that you
will readily understand why I wish to make much of
it, and earnestly desire that you should make it, as it
were, a resting-point for looking backwards, and around
you, and forwards. Backwards, to examine what you
have been, and pray for pardon and for grace; around
you, to consider what you are and are about, and what
are your present and immediate means of improve
ment; forwards upon that broad, mysterious field of
life which will now from year to year open upon your
view. As to the first of these three offices, I entirely trust
you, and I believe in my heart you will try to discharge
it as a Christian should. As to the second, I will sug
gest to you such rules as seem to me likely to be useful
to you ; but at the present time I go to the third.
The greatest service, perhaps, that I could render
you — at any rate, that about which I am now most
anxious — is to bring into your mind now what, if you
do not receive it at the instance of others, you can
hardly of yourself come to know until after many years.
You can hardly, from your own reflections and experi
ence, have the least idea as yet of what age teaches us
respecting the reality and solemnity of life: the deep
meaning, the enduring effects, especially upon our
selves, of all we think, say, and do; the immense op
portunities of good which God opens to us; the un
bounded richness of that field of which I spoke above
— the field that all must traverse, but that few will
cultivate at all, and that only the choicest saints of
God cultivate so that it yields them 'an hundredfold.'
It is yet in your power to be among them — may you
share in their lot!
It may, however, help you to the perception of these
things if you bear in mind the great truth of our con
dition as Christians. St. Ignatius, a very early mar
tyr, astonished his pagan persecutors by declaring
that he was Xpio-Tofopos — that he bore his Re
deemer within him. That sublime privilege, how
ever, he did not mean was his alone ; it is common to

1854] PLAY AND WORK

J5S

all the faithful. For, says St. Paul, we are members
of His flesh, and of His bones. We are incorporated
into Him, and fed by Him — by Him who, though man,
yet sits upon the throne of the universe. It is, then,
no common destiny to which we are born.
This destiny God gives us certain means and instru
ments to work out. The first of these is time. You
can hardly yet know, but I pray you to believe on credit,
how precious it is. As you grow older you will find life
so full of deep and varied interests, and of duty to be
done, that your time will not suffice for them, and what
ever hours you lose now, you will then deeply lament
and long for in vain. It is a shocking thing that
many persons want, as they say, amusements to
kill time, and find their time hang heavy on their
hands. How will they, when time is no more,
contrive to kill eternity? How will that hang heavy
on their hands!
St. Paul desires us to 'redeem the time': igayopd&o-Oat.
tov icaipov. This means literally to deal with it as a
man deals with a thing which he carries to market.
Now, what does he do with such a thing? He tries
to get the greatest value for it, to make a profit by it,
as a shopkeeper does by his goods, to bring back with
him the highest price for it that he possibly can. Now,
the price which we can get for our time — the profit
which we can make by it — is in duties, in honour
able and useful labours done. These are real value
for it, since by them we ourselves grow in goodness;
for these we may well give it, even as we give money
for food.
Now, in order thus to redeem the time, one of the
most necessary things is to distribute it: to divide it
into parts with care and method, and to give to each
part its separate and proper occupation. Relaxations,
especially in youth, are not at variance with St. Paul's
injunction, if they be adopted and regulated on the
one right principle, which is this — to play in order
that we may work the better and more cheerfully.
And it is quite right to be earnest in play, and what
ever we do to try to do it well. But when play is made
the business of life, and is so pursued, or so idolized,
as to indispose us for work, it then becomes sin and
poison.

156 DUTIES TO OTHERS [1855
Method in the use of time cannot be gained without
some trouble, nor all at once. At Eton you have a
great help towards it in the minute subdivisions of
the day for a fixed series of occupations ; in the holidays
I think you should now try to make a beginning. I
venture to promise you that with experience you will
find this — that method in application of time gives
a double zest to amusement, and that, if a little diffi
cult to learn, it is not less delightful than useful when
learned. And this division of time of itself goes very
far towards securing its proper use, and giving to our
life that constancy and earnestness of purpose without
which it can neither be pleasing to God nor honourable
in the eyes of men. . . .

318. To W. H. Gladstone.
April 22, 1855.
I add first a few words upon what are called relative
duties — i.e., your duties to others. Do to them as
you would they should do to you, and construe this
precept liberally. Be strictly just to them; and not
only so, but, where is a real doubt, decide in their favour,
not in your own. Always put upon their words and
actions the best construction they will bear: you will
find afterwards that it was the true one in many cases
where at the time it seemed to you improbable. While
avoiding all outward cringing and arts of currying
favour, be most careful to cherish inwardly a habit of
estimating yourself, both as to intellectual and es
pecially as to moral gifts, meanly in comparison with
others. No two things combine together better than
meekness in asserting your rights and resolute resist
ance against all solicitations to do wrong, with a mani
fest determination to be governed in your conduct by
your own judgment of right and wrong, and not by
theirs. Of course this does not exclude deference to
authority, age, experience, or superior means of form
ing a right judgment; but it is rather a rule for the
common intercourse of companions. You have, I
do not doubt, long known that kindness and a disposi
tion to oblige are necessary parts of the Christian

i8ssl SELF-OBSERVATION 157
law of love. And that cheerfulness in bearing what
is disagreeable, though it costs an effort at first, well
and soon repays it by the good-will which it honestly
earns. As to the duties of se//-government, I add a few
words on each of these three:
1. Self-examination.
2. Self-observation.
3. Self-denial.
Give heed to self-examination; use it from time to
time: perhaps if used at fixed periodical times, with
intervals not too long between them, it will thus be
most profitable. It will be of especial use in detect
ing, and after detection tracking, your besetting sin.
When this is found, keep the eye close upon it, follow
it up, drag it from its hiding-places, make no terms
with it, never remit the pursuit; and so by the grace of
God's Holy Spirit may you cast it out. When you
have both found what was your besetting sin — that is,
the sin most easily besetting you — and have by the
same grace conquered it, then take the sin which
besets you next most easily, and deal with it in like
manner. Besides self-examination, which is an act to be done
from time to time, form a habit of self-observation.
This will come to be a never-sleeping censor and cor
rector of your actions, always holding the rule of God's
law against them, and detecting them when they swerve.
The divisions of money necessary in order either to the
use or even the waste of it give us without any trouble
upon our own part some sense of the relative quanti
ties of it. But the more precious gift of our time is
passing through our hands in a continuous and never-
ending flow, and its parts are not separated from one
another except by our own care. Without this divi
sion of it into parts we cannot tell what is little and
what is much; above all, we cannot apply it in due
proportion to our several duties, pursuits, and recre
ations. But we should deal with our time as we see in
a shop a grocer deal with tea and sugar, or a haber
dasher with stuffs and ribands: weighing or measuring
it out in proportions adjusted to that which we are
to get for and by it. This is the express command

158 ANCIENT HISTORY [1855
of St. Paul, who bids us i^ayopd^eo-ffai rbv icaipbv, im
perfectly rendered by our version to 'redeem the
time': for it means to make merchandise of it, and
to deal strictly with it as men deal with goods by which
they mean to make a profit, to pursue the same means
they pursue — energy, care, watchfulness, forethought,
attention to small things — in order that we, too, may
make that profit the greatest possible.

319. To W. H. Gladstone.
May 12, 1855.
. . . There is such a thing as a foolish pride of know
ledge, but this a person must be either very weak in
deed or very wonderful indeed to entertain, particularly
now when knowledge is so multiplied and extended
that any efforts we may make to learn teach us at once
(and it is one of their great uses) the vastness of what
remains unlearned. In truth, the whole business of
study is an excellent moral discipline of patience and
humility if we go about it aright. . . .

320. To W. H. Gladstone. Hawarden,
November 20, 1855.
... I strongly advise again that, whether you read
much history or little, you should read it regularly:
make an effort to do so, and I know quite well you
will find it practicable. I further advise this with
respect to ancient history in particular. Ancient his
tory is a far better introduction to modern than mod
ern to ancient. It may be learned at your age more
easily, more completely, and more instructively. If
you make your plan to read a very moderate portion
of ancient history steadily, then as to modern I think
you may take such times as offer.
With regard to ancient histories consult your tutor.
These things have changed so much since my day that
it would be rash in me to advise you. ...

1856] THE EYE OF GOD 159

321. To W. H. Gladstone.
February 17, 1856.
When you reflect that your evil thoughts and dis
positions, as well as acts, all lie naked and open before
the Eye of God, even though they may have escaped
the view of man, is this a subject of satisfaction, or of
dissatisfaction ? Would you have it otherwise if you
could, and hide them from Him also ? The Christian
hates sin, and finding that neither his own nor any
other human eye can effectually track it out in him,
while he knows it to be the true and only curse and
pest of the universe, must rejoice to think that there
is one from whom it cannot lie hid — one who will
weigh his own case, which he may feel to be to him
unfathomable, in the scales of perfect justice and
boundless mercy.
But if we are sensible of a lurking wish that we
could hide the sad sight of our inner sins from God,
this, while it abides, is a fatal sign.

322. To W. H. Gladstone.
February 17, 1856.
Beware of taking kindnesses from others as matters
of course.
The heart well purged by humility is so deeply con
scious of its unworthiness, that to receive acts of kind
ness always excites some emotion of gratitude, of shame,
of surprise, or all three together — of gratitude for the
benefit, of shame upon thinking how ill it is deserved, of
surprise that our brethren should bestow upon us what
we so little merit. 323. To W. H. Gladstone.
4, Carlton House Terrace,
February 20, 1856.
. . . The case of Brutus and his children, if I recol
lect it right, is one about which there could be no doubt
had he lived in Christian times. But men are only

160 A WORLD OF WORK [1856
responsible according to the light given them, and
the light afforded by the religion of Rome was very
scanty. We must always beware of judging men who
were not Christians by Christian rules. Brutus had
the light of natural conscience, and was bound to follow
that. In his circumstances, the question may be
rather a nice one, and I could not speak positively
without having all the particulars before me. The
presumptions must be against a father taking away
the life of his sons; but we must consider whether as a
public officer he was specially bound to provide for the
safety of the State; whether the guilt of the sons left
no room for doubt as to their fate; whether his exe
cuting their doom was more effectual in saving the
State and the innocent inhabitants from danger;
whether the moral effect in deterring others from crime,
and in exalting the majesty of law, was likely to be good.
After taking all these into view, we may still find cause
to say he was wrong ; but points of this nature should
all be carefully weighed, and must affect the com
plexion of the case.

324. To W. H. Gladstone.
March 12, 1856.
Try and reconcile your mind thoroughly to the idea
that this world, if we would be well and do well in it,
is a world of work and not of idleness. This idea will,
when heartily embraced, become like a part of your
self, and you will feel that you would on no account
have it torn from you.
325. To W. H. Gladstone.
Wilton House,
January 21, 1857.
... I asked him [Lord Carnarvon] whether there
was anything which struck him unfavourably in the
examinations [for the Newcastle Scholarship] gener
ally, and he said that certainly there is a defect in
point of accuracy. I told him that when I was at Eton
we knew very little indeed, but we knew it accurately.

1857] ACCURACY 161
The extension of knowledge is an excellent thing, but
the first condition of all is to have it exact. I am under
the impression, from our Italian reading, that you are
trying to keep this always in mind, and I feel most
desirous you should, for it is hard to say what an evil
the want of it always proves. . . .

326. To W. H. Gladstone.

April 25, 1857.

Vanity, unequivocal vanity, sometimes finds vent
in self-depreciation. One mode of this is when we
affectedly cry ourselves down with a hope — more or
less concealed even from ourselves — that others will
protest and set us up again. Another mode is when
we cry ourselves down as to particular faculties of a
secondary order, in order by implication to set up some
faculty of higher rank.

327. To W. H. Gladstone.
Cheventng, Sevenoaks, May 16, 1859.
. . . When you are at work construing, you should
be strictly on your guard against all guessing except
such as is allowable. Here, you will say, is a pretty
riddle : What is allowable guessing ? Allowable
guessing is such as violates no rule or principle of
grammar or sense. There may be a word of which
I do not know the meaning. I may put in my paper
' I conjecture it to be so-and-so.' It is of little conse
quence whether I know or do not know some par
ticular 'hard word'; but it is of much consequence
that I should not make a guess, which either shows
I do not comprehend the general meaning, or else
contradicts some law of construction or scholarship.
It is very tempting, when we think we have a glimpse
of the meaning, to drive right at it ; but it is fatal if we
cut our way through rules which are in their own
nature as rigid and inviolable as those of arithmetic. . . .
VOL. II — II

1 62 PORTRAITS IN HALL [1859

328. To W. H. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace,June 14, 1859.
I congratulate you heartily upon your having been
elected into the body of students of Christ Church. I
never enjoyed any designation in my life so much as
that. It is full of incentive, full of comfort, full of
honour, and full of warning.
If you look at the chief portraits in Hall, you will
see with what manner and calibre of men you are
associated. Neither is there any reason why you for
yourself should not leave behind you a name with
which in after-times others may be happy to claim
fellowship: only be assured it must be on the same
condition as Nature lays down for all except her
prodigies, or, in other words, as God ordains for His
children in general — the condition, I mean, of steady
and hard work. If I may recommend you a mode in
which to inaugurate your studentship, I would say
add an hour to your daily minimum of work. Besides
the good it will do you, it is a double acknowledg
ment — first to God, who has blessed your exertions;
and secondly to the poor old College, to which I must
be ever grateful, and whose fame I fondly hope you
in your sphere will do something to restore and to
increase. . . .
329. To W. H. Gladstone.
Deanery, Windsor,
November 14, 1859.
... I think there are some men who have received
from the Almighty an extraordinary variety and versa
tility of power, so that they can afford to dispense with
the benefits of mathematical study. Aristotle was not
a mathematician : but the fruits of his mental efforts
will perhaps remain unrivalled in their class until
time shall be no more. In general it is true that
we can none of us afford to dispense with any
valuable training that is within our reach, and I think
Mr. Hawtrey is profoundly right when he says that
Euclid is more important to those who read it with

i860] BOOKS AND DISCIPLINE 163
difficulty than to those who feel none: just as our
dumb-bells would be of little use to the men of Brob-
dingnag. There is no doubt that what your mind will most
want before you grapple with the business of manly
life is a bracing process: and I also believe that we
ought not be in any great hurry, but to give it time,
and that you will find, as you go on, a steady increase
of power, provided your studies be of a strength
sufficient to give tone. I am not sure that you may
not find the same preliminary harshness and repulsive-
ness in the ethics when you come to them, as you find
in mathematics: but I am quite sure that if both were
abandoned, or neither really mastered, on that account,
you would in all likelihood quit Oxford without having
realized above half the benefit she is capable of con
ferring upon you.
The question whether you have a ' turn ' for mathe
matics is ambiguous and misleading. Comparatively
few persons have a ' turn ' for anything. Our capacities
are chiefly developed out of elements which before
culture were not distinctly discernible. Pascal had
a ' turn ' for mathematics : he drew geometrical figures
in the sand; but of ten who come to do them well,
scarcely one has originally a 'turn' for them. . . .
330. To W. H. Gladstone. 11, Downing Street,
August 1, i860.
. . . With respect to philosophy, I do not know
what may be best according to modern fashions at
Oxford, nor do I know what number of books you
should take up. But, as far as the value of the books
in themselves and for discipline of the mind are con
cerned, I should recommend you as three books Aris
totle's 'Ethics' and 'Politics' and Butler's 'Analogy.'
You should also read and know Butler's Sermons. I
should think you ought now to begin the 'Analogy,'
or the 'Politics,' if not both. I would read little at
a time, making sure that you thoroughly understand
and possess everything as yOu go along — not that the
two are the same, for the 'Politics' will call more
upon memory, the 'Analogy' upon thought.

164 'POLITICS' AND 'REPUBLIC [i860
I cannot say what value I attach to Bishop Butler's
works. Viewing him as a guide of life, especially for
the intellectual difficulties and temptations of these
times, I place him before almost any other author.
The spirit of wisdom is in every line.
331. To W. H. Gladstone.
Downing Street, S. W.,
October 18, i860.
In my opinion the 'Politics' of Aristotle are much
more adapted for discipline to the mind of the young,
and especially to your mind, than the 'Republic' of
Plato. The merit of Plato's philosophy is in a quasi-
spiritual and highly imaginative element that runs
through it; Aristotle's deals in a most sharp, search
ing, and faithful analysis of the facts of human life
and human nature. All the reasons that have bound
Aristotle so wonderfully to Oxford should, I think,
recommend him to you. Were I to determine your
study, I should say, Take for the present some lighter
specimen of Plato, and nothing more. . . . The
'Politics' will require much from you in thought
and energy: I think the 'Republic' would be lighter
as well as less valuable work. . . .
332. To W. H. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
February 16, 1861.
. . . The work of the schools no doubt appals if you
look at it in the mass ; but if you map out your time —
the months as well as the hours — you will find that
by distribution it is adjusted, and need not be beyond
your strength ; though it must be up to your strength,
and would lose more than half its value if it were not.
333. To W. H. Gladstone. 11, Downing Street,
June 2, 1861.
... As you grow older you will find more and more
how full the world and our life are of opportunity, and

1862] EVE OF EXAMINATION 165
how impossible it is that, unless by our own fault, they
should seem to present a blank. The real discourage
ment of life is in our insufficiency for the duties that
crowd in on every side, and are still crying out, as it
were, that they remain undone. But the consoling
and powerful remedy is that nothing is asked of us
beyond our power, and that, if more, is offered than
we can do, it is by way of gracious help to exercise
our energies, and so to raise them to the best and
highest state of which they are capable. . . .

334. To W. H. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace, May 15, 1862.
I cannot avoid writing you a line in these last days
of your struggle with one or two suggestions, begging
you, however, not to bother yourself about them, but
simply make use of them if you see your way to good
by it. One is that in these last days you may do a
good deal by using odds and ends of time down to the
smallest scrap and shred of it. Things looked at in
odd ways and flying moments are often easier to
remember by association because they have been so
looked at. It is not well to found a course of educa
tion on the idea of loading the memory; but now is
the moment for you to load your memory as heavily
as you can without stint — much can be carried for
a short distance that cannot be for a long one. It
is very convenient at such a time to have the eye
able to run over maps and refresh the memory on
cardinal or imperfectly known points of geography.
Especially at this time I should say work up well all
the crack passages: those which concentrate much
meaning in few words ; those which give characteristic
and pointed illustration of the characters of the authors,
or of their race, country, or institutions. I think you
will find the collection of these passages in my little
red books pretty good: they were of great service to
me, for which I love them, and I shall love them better
if they can now do you a good turn. Finally, believe
all my anxiety begins and ends with anxiety that you
should do your best, and not miss through remissness

166 PITT AND FOX [1863
and want of resolution what you might have got by
courage and determination. May God prosper alike,
as He shall see best, this and all your efforts!
335. To W. H. Gladstone. Hawarden,
October 16, 1863.
... It is not easy to deal briefly with the question
between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox.
I will begin by stating Mr. Fox's great point of
superiority. It was this, that he never gave his ap
proval to the Revolutionary War. Mr. Pitt did not
give in to the warlike tendencies of the country until
they were very, far advanced. It was probably not
within the power of the man who was Minister to
resist them, and the probability is that, if Mr. Fox had
been Minister, he also would have yielded.
In perhaps every other point, as far as I can see,
Mr. Pitt was superior, though Mr. Fox had, as it would
appear, singular fascinations. Both were strong in
personal friendships. Mr. Pitt was by far the stronger
in private character. Speaking generally and without
details, Pitt was a well-conducted and Fox an ill-con
ducted person.
Pitt was, I apprehend, the better man of business —
a great element in the power of an English statesman.
Pitt was a sound and good political economist, in
days when that accomplishment was rare, Fox was a
very bad one. Pitt had a rare talent for finance, Fox
seems to have had little or none.
Pitt had much general prudence, Fox fell into great
Parliamentary excesses — in his attacks on Lord North,
in his subsequent coalition with him, in his secessions
from the House of Commons.
Pitt had a more forcible and commanding, as well
as a more business-like and practical, if not a more
fascinating eloquence. Lord Lyndhurst, who remem
bered both, told me how he was impressed in youth
by Pitt's dominion over the House of Commons, and
felt at a loss to understand how they could be com
pared as speakers. But the judgment of the world
has shown that they at least were sufficiently within

i86s] PITT AND BOLINGBROKE 167
range of one another for comparison. Fox at his best
seems to have had a grand and transporting fervour.
Lastly, Pitt had in a much greater degree the gift,
so difficult to define, of inspiring confidence. In polit
ical conflict generally, he proved himself too strong
for Fox. But the very great, though very pardonable,
error of the Revolutionary War prepared the way for
a state of things in which Pitt's so-called followers
were to degenerate greatly, and in which Fox's party
were to have the honour of associating their name and
fame with almost all the great measures of public im
provement. Hence the political predominance since
1830 of what is now called the Liberal Party.
Pitt's early career was wonderful. It is the romance
of political history. Bolingbroke's first period is the
only thing resembling it in Parliamentary annals: but
it is at once more solid and more brilliant. It asso
ciates reality with the marvellous, and recalls the
romance of Charlemagne's Court and of the Round
Table, of Orlando and Sir Lancelot. Upon the whole,
my impression is that Pitt was the greatest peace
Minister that has ever ruled this country.

336. To W. H. Gladstone. Hawarden,
October 19, 1863.
. . . The one great error of the war drew Pitt along
with the nation into a false position. He became, con
trary to the bias of his nature, in some things illiberal
(though not in all — witness the question of Roman
Catholic Emancipation, and the Slave Trade). In all
these things, however, he was less illiberal than the
country at large. The struggle in which they em
barked speedily became a deadly one. A nation en
gaged in such a conflict soon grows to be intolerant
at home; the majority cannot afford to give freedom
of opinion to the minority. Hence the repressive
measures which marked Pitt's war administration.
All these I consider as belonging to the -n-pajov ifrevSos :
the minor and derivative errors were seminally con
tained in the great error of the war, and followed in its
wake. In resisting them Fox had a corresponding

168 FEAR AND SECURITY [1865
advantage, and played a part which might quite as
naturally have been played by Pitt. Perhaps even
more so, for when Pitt proposed the Treaty of Com
merce with France, Fox described her as our natural
enemy. But from the subsequent course of affairs
Rogers was enabled to write:
'What though with war the madding nations rung,
Peace, when he spoke, was ever on his tongue.'
The ultimate issue was that, not the Tory party only,
but especially the ultra-Tories, called themselves
Pittites, and, in the bad domestic administration and
policy which they pursued after the war was over,
sheltered themselves under the name of Pitt while they
were estranging the people by misgovernment from
the throne and institutions of the country.
All that latter part of the great and noble-minded
man's career is a powerful warning to us weaker men
who embark ourselves on the sea of politics, teaching
us that there are storms before which we must be
driven or drive, and currents that sometimes may
carry us whither we neither will nor know. In quiet
times, however, this is less likely to be the case. . . .
337. To W. H. Gladstone. Brighton,
Easter Day, April 16, 1865.
... It is sometimes necessary in politics to make
surrender of what, if not surrendered, will be wrested
from us. And it is very wise, when a necessity of this
kind is approaching, to anticipate it while it is yet a
good way off ; for then concession begets gratitude,
and often brings a return. The kind of concession
which is really mischievous is just that which is made
under terror and extreme pressure : and, unhappily,
this has been the kind of concession which for near
200 years it has been the fashion of those who call
(and who really think) themselves 'friends of the
Church' (a strange phrase) to make. Early and pro
vident fear, says Mr. Burke (whom you cannot read
too much nor too attentively) is the mother of security.
I believe that it would be a wise concession, upon

1865] WAIVER OF CLAIMS 169
grounds merely political, for the Church of England
to have the law of Church Rate abolished in all cases
where it places her in fretting conflict with the Dis
senting bodies ; and in the case of Ireland we have
seen the temporal interests of the Church as an Estab
lishment greatly promoted by the absolute uncondi
tional abolition of Church Cess, which was the Church
Rate of that country. I say all this, however, not to
form the groundwork of a conclusion, but only in
illustration of a general maxim, which is applicable
to political questions.
But next, this surely is a political question. Were
we asked to surrender an Article of the Creed in order
to save the rest, or to consent to the abolition of the
Episcopal order in order to obtain a fresh sanction for
the parochial ministry, these things touch the faith of
Christians and the life of the Church, and cannot in
any manner become the subject of compromise. But
the external possessions of the Church were given it
for the more effectual prosecution of its work, and
may be lessened or abandoned with a view to the
same end. I need not ask whether they may with
propriety thus be compromised, though probably they
may, with a view to social good only. But nothing
can be more clear in principle than that they ought
thus to be compromised, when the spiritual good of
the Church itself requires it.
Now, we have lived into a time when the great danger
of the Church is the sale of her faith for gold. As
one large portion of the political world is disposed to
tamper with the purity and integrity of that faith under
the vain idea of making the whole nation become
Churchmen, so another portion of it perhaps yet more
seriously endangers the same priceless treasure by
clinging with obstinacy to all the temporal incidents
of national Establishment. The chain of cause and
effect, by which this comes round to spiritual damage,
is obvious. In demanding the money of Dissenters
for the worship of the Church, we practically invest
them with a title to demand that she should be adapted
to their use in return, and we stimulate every kind of
interference with her belief and discipline in order to
that end. By judiciously waiving an undoubted legal
claim, we not only do an act which the understood

170 LIFE OF THE CHURCH [1865
principles of modern liberty tend to favour, and almost
require, but we soothe ruffled minds and tempers, and,
what is more, we strengthen the case andjjclaim of the
Church to be respected as a religious body. This
partial but real contrariety of interest between the
true life of the Church and its temporal emoluments
as fixed by law is already an element deeply enter
ing into the work of modern politics, and before
your life has run to its natural length the force' of this
element will be far more generally and profoundly
felt. It may not yet be as visible and sensible to you
as thirty-three years' experience have made it to me.
With the perception of it which I have, it would be on
my part treason to the Church were I to act on the
principles with regard to her which are most com
monly acted upon by the party in opposition. I am
convinced that the only hope of making it possible for
her to discharge her high office as Stewardess of
Divine Truth is to deal tenderly and gently with all
the points at which her external privileges grate upon
the feelings and interests of that unhappily large por
tion of the community who have almost ceased in any
sense to care for her.
This is a principle of broad application — broader
far than the mere question of Church Rates. It is one
not requiring precipitate or violent action, or the dis
turbance prematurely of anything established ; but it
supplies a rule of the first importance and value for
dealing with the mixed questions of temporal and
religious interest when they arise. I am very anxious
to see it quietly but firmly rooted in your mind. It is
connected with the dearest interests, not only of my
public life, but, as I believe, of our religion. Again, I
say the danger of losing gold is small ; that of losing
faith is great. At a time when the inspiration of
Scripture, and one by one the Articles of the Creed,
are brought into question by authority, our great care
should be to consider, not how the outer apparatus of
the Church should be maintained entire, but whether
by judicious modification of it we can strengthen her
hands for the purposes to which her Divine commis
sion is addressed. I am in no way anxious that you
should take my opinions in politics as a model for your
own. Your free concurrence will be a lively pleasure

1865] CHURCH RATES 171
to me, but above all I wish you to be free. But what
I have now been dwelling upon is a matter higher
and deeper than the region of mere opinion. It has
fallen to my lot to take a share larger than that of
most around me, though in itself slight enough, in
bringing the principle I have described into use as a
ground of action. I am convinced that if I have lived
to any purpose at all it has been in great part for this
reason. It is part of that business of reconciling the
past with the coming time and order which seems to
belong particularly to our country and to its rulers —
to be appointed for them, it is not too much to say,
after an especial manner, in the counsels of Divine
Providence. Now, little or nothing of what I have said bears
directly upon the course to be taken by you, in the
event of your being elected, with respect to Church
Rates. But if you embrace the general propositions I
have laid down, they will supply you with a point of
view from which that course will appear, not indeed
necessary, but natural. It will then appear, too, not
an unworthy compromise of honour for advantage,
but an application of an essentially sound general rule
to a particular case in a manner which the nature of
that case seems to justify. I believe that every one
of my old colleagues, unless it were Lord Herbert,
came by degrees to the plan of voting for the Aboli
tion Bill. True, I have not done it myself, for various
reasons, but none of. them at variance with the view I
have here expressed. Indeed, I will go so far as to
say that, if obstinate adherence to the present very
injurious law is much longer continued, circumstances
might arrive in which it would become almost impera
tive to vote for the Abolition Bill as a protest against
it; though I do not by any means so say to abandon
the better ground which I hope you will maintain,
that of freedom to concur in some generally fair and
reasonable settlement. The great reason for main
taining in some form the Church Rate in rural parishes
is not a religious one ; it is to prevent the hardship of
making the clergy in such parishes practically respon
sible for maintaining the fabrics of the churches and
the expenses of Divine worship. Reasons of the same
order demand the abolition of the present law in

172 TEMPORAL SACRIFICES [1865
parishes of a different character. But reasons more
properly religious, and connected with the highest
interests of the Church, may come to require, as matter
of duty to her, the surrender of the whole. That state
of things has not actually, I think, arrived. But the
permanent duty of securing the Church (not merely
the clergy) in her spiritual office should be the first
principle of action : and if temporal sacrifices can pro
mote this purpose, they should be made as freely as
the shipmaster throws cargo overboard to save the
lives of passengers and crew.
In speaking of spiritual compensations for temporal
concessions, I do not use words without meaning.
Already something has been done towards recognizing
and securing the action of the Church as a religious
body. In Canada the clergy and people now virtually
appoint their own Bishop. The late judgment in the
Privy Council, though probably intended for a different
end, seems likely to lead to a widespread emancipa
tion for the Colonial Church. In 1852 Mr. Walpole,
on the part of Lord Derby's Government, stated that
the Convocation could not be allowed to proceed to
business ; but the Government of Lord Aberdeen
which followed granted the permission. The present
Government has already once given the licence of the
Crown to legislate — that is, to alter one of the Canons :
and is about to give a like licence for a most im
portant object, namely, the alteration of the Thirty-
sixth Canon, relating to subscription. The Act of
1854, which gave real self-government to the University
of Oxford, was an important step in the same direction.
In these measures I have been permitted to take my
part : but had I adopted the rigid rule of others in
regard to the temporal prerogatives, real or supposed,
of the Church, I should at once have lost all power to
promote them.
Though this is a very long letter, I will ask you tb
consider it carefully ; for it contains, however roughly
expressed, the results of a long experience. Though
I am much younger in political life than the most
prominent personages of the day, Lord Palmerston,
Lord Russell, and Lord Derby, yet my political life
has, I believe, now been longer than that of almost
any others of the leading men who, during the last

1861] ESSENTIAL LANDMARKS 173
century of years, have signalized the annals of the
House of Commons. I do not expect that many years
will be added to it. Though I agree with the Liberal
party,_ and serve them heartily in general affairs, yet
there is partially diffused in that party a tendency to
break down the essential landmarks of religion ; and
should this tendency gain the upper hand and become
its rule of action, as it can have no countenance from
me, so I think it very probable it may be the means,
and not altogether the unwelcome means, of giving
me my quietus. . . .
338. To S. E. Gladstone. House of Commons, May 28, 1861.
... I feel sure that we have not misled you, and it
will now stand to the satisfaction of all concerned that
you remain until next Easter. I think you need have
no fear about the relish. In this world it is very
difficult to look onwards to a series of years and of
situations with a distinct sense of satisfaction attach
ing to the contemplation of each. It more commonly
happens that we fear to lose what we have, and that
we are oppressed with a vague sense of misgiving as
to the future. Even in circumstances of the greatest
difficulty there is an adequate remedy, which is also
the proper remedy in all cases where we feel that the
future looks blank and chill. It is in the knowledge
that disposal of the events of our life as the greater so
the more minute is in the hands of God, and that He
always adjusts them as is best for us. Even if we
were able to do it for ourselves, we should do it ill,
and while we now know ourselves to be unable, we
also know that He who loves us so much both can
and will do it, and do it better than we can ask or
think. . . . 339. To S. E. Gladstone. 11, Downing Street,
April 12, 1862.
I see with pleasure and thankfulness your manful
efforts, and the real and steady growth of your mind,

174 MERITS OF PALMER [1862
and I have no anxiety for you about present visible
results. It is probable that, if your health and strength
are spared, ten or twenty years hence, should your
habits of application continue, you will have passed
ahead of many who are now ahead of you. The saying
of our Saviour is true of the career of intelligence as
well as of the spiritual state, 'The first shall be last,
and the last first.' God does not put people backwards
and forwards arbitrarily; but they who use well the
means and faculties they possess, from being behind
come to be before, and they who use them ill from
being before come to be behind. If an oak could
compare itself with a poplar at ten or twenty years
old, it would be disappointed ; but let a hundred years
roll away, and the tables are turned.

340. To S. E. Gladstone.
Hawarden,
November 9, 1862.
Having recommended to you the use of Palmer's
treatise on the Church, I ought to say a word more
about it. I do not recommend every opinion con
tained in it : generally I should say that, with respect
to Protestant communions other than our Church, he
condemns rather too freely, and does not make allow
ances enough. But I think the book of great utility
for the clear, and methodical, and comprehensive
treatment of its subject, and the manner in 'which it
presents to us its fundamental idea — namely, that
the Church is not, according to Holy Scripture, an
optional association or religious club, but a society or
polity founded by our Lord Himself in the persons of
the Apostles, and, though not guaranteed anywhere
against all errors or abuses, nor in particular limbs
and portions of it from fundamental corruption, or
even extinction, yet that it is ordained to exist as a
body visible upon earth, and to maintain the pro
fession of the Catholic or Christian Faith, until the
end of time.

1863] A MASTERLY SERMON 175
341. To S. E. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
November 15, 1863.
I often think with regret that you are in a place
which, venerable and sound at heart as it is, yet is,
at least for the moment, more or less disturbed with
controversies. I think they do not cause trouble
to your mind, for I trust that if they did you would
not hesitate a moment to communicate with me, and
would take such advice as I might be able to give you.
But I have just been reading Mr. Shirley's sermon,
called 'Undogmatic Christianity,' preached at Oxford
in May, and I think it not only a most noble and
masterly production, but one which is peculiarly fitted
to meet the needs of the day. ... It is all gold, and
a very little of it goes a great way. It is a production
which once read now may be read again, and thought
of hereafter. St. Paul teaches us to put on the whole
armour of God, and this sermon is like armour. It is
worthy, I would almost say, of being bound up with
Bishop Butler. 342. To S. E. Gladstone. Ltverpool, July 18, 1865.
. . . What gives me special pleasure is your affec
tion for dear old Oxford, and your choosing this
moment to tell me that she is becoming a precious
object to you. I have always cherished a lively hope
that this would be so. Continue, my dearest boy, to
love her, and to profit, as you have already so much
profited, by what she can give you, and you may yet
live to do her true and valuable service in the critical
times that are coming on. . . .
343. To S. E. Gladstone.

11, Carlton House Terrace, July 17, 1866.

Now about your accounts. I am much
pleased with your view and intention. You know

176 TIME FOR ORDERS [1866
this has been the one subject on which you and I
have always in a quiet way quarrelled. It has been,
for me, absorbed and swallowed up in all manner of
satisfaction with respect to other and higher subjects.
Not that I think it unimportant. On the contrary, I
think it almost, if not quite, essential to one important
province of duty — namely, the application of the rule
and standard of conscience to the disposal of our pecun
iary means. Pray take to it resolutely. You will find
it, at any rate after a little while, much more a comfort
than a burden. Could I now reduce my expenditure
to the scale of yours, I would revert to the system
of my youth, and put down every penny.
Now about your expenditure. I cannot be dis
pleased with your reproaching yourself — you show a
watchful conscience : but I certainly see nothing with
which to reproach you. A quiet accumulation of
books, though for future use, is not, I think, to be
blamed within such limits as you fixed for yourself.
This reminds me, however, that I think it was hardly
fair in me to lend you Sir A. Grant's 'Ethics,' which
he presented me by way of compliment, and not to
stand in the stead of a purchase which an Oxford
student would and could have made. I rather think
you ought to buy a copy.
As regards the prospects of your examination,
you do well not to let your mind rest on anything
beyond what may lie fairly within your reach. To
think little of results, and to work much for them,
taken together, make a good rule. Something much
more important than the apparent result is in this
case involved, and that is the real one, which is to be
traced in the state of mind, faculties, and character. . . .
The question about the time for Orders, and the
preliminary studies, is too large forZme to attempt to
dispose of in this letter, or except (I think) upon full
communication with you. One thing, however, I
would say : If there are particular subjects that
press upon your mind so that you feel a practical
need of clearer and fuller light with regard to them,
such matters of controversy I think you may do well
in attempting to dispose of without long delay. But it
would be a mistake to suppose that by postponing
ordination you could make time for going through

1866] POSITIVE TEACHING 177
and settling in your own mind subjects of theological
controversy in general. The truth is that any such
attempt at settlement would be crude, artificial, and
far from durable. You would find that, with the
advance of years and ripening of the mind, many new
aspects of things would open, and would, as it were,
dislocate the frame of thought you had set up. It is
that ripening of the mind, which I have no doubt will
be granted to you richly, and in which you will find
the most satisfactory solutions, by the constant deep
ening and strengthening with experience of the bases
of thought and conviction. I hope I may not bewilder
you by the distinction I draw between particular and
urgent subjects in which difficulty definitely formed
presses for relief, and the large design of reviewing,
as it were, the history of thought in regard to the
great conflicts by which, as a whole, it has been dis
tinguished. The positive teaching of the best Chris
tian philosophers is that which gives the mind the
most effective equipment, and in proportion as this
equipment grows more and more effective you will
find yourself able to deal more easily, as well as more
extensively, with particular subjects. Numberless, it
seems to me, are the cases of doubt, distress, and
error, from which people would be saved beforehand
if they had but a good preparation of the mind. But
they go unarmed into the battle. For of arms the
best and the most important are not those supplied by
particular information on each contested subject, but
a full possession of the principles and modes of
thought by which all subjects ought to be determined.

344. To S. E. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace, June 9, 1867.
.... With regard to the second question, that of
your profession, and the time for entering it, I wish
that my brain were more equal than it is to saying all
I should like to say. This, I fear, cannot be. But I
will go to the point at once by remarking that, as
you do not give me your reason for postponing until
twenty-five, I have not in full the materials of judg-
VOL. II — 12

178 THE STRAINING SHIP [1867
ment before me, and so far I speak with reserve. But
I "confess that I do not see what advantage is gained
by the delay, and though I should not dissuade anyone
from lay work before the clerical age, it appears to me
that to choose it afterwards is to choose a post of in
ferior interest as well as inferior obligation.
The path of a clergyman is not now in prospect as
easy as heretofore, because the critical temper and
(in part) wayward movement of the age have raised so
many questions that they cannot solve. The effect is
that this arduous calling is more arduous than ever.
But so it is in the present day with every calling of the
highest order, and these are very few — only such as
deal with the government of man and his higher
faculties and destinies. I often feel a comfort in
thinking by far the largest part of my work is done.
But this feeling, excusable at my age, would be un
natural in youth. And I can say with some confidence
that, if the labours and anxieties of a conscientious
clergyman are now enhanced, so are his honours and
rewards. The greater or more sustained efforts he
will have to make are to be made in the service of
a Master who counts and records them all until the
day when He shall say, ' Well done ! ' The field of
thought is more widely open to a clergyman than
ever, and its harvest richer. Depend upon it, what
ever murmurings and disputings we may hear, it is
still the Gospel of our Lord on which are principally
hung the fortunes of the human race ; and he who
would desire to glorify God on earth during the time
allotted to him can nowhere be more certain that
every stroke of his hand will tell. Doubtless there is
a sapping of the foundations of belief ; so much the
nobler will be the task of him who toils to confirm,
clear, and reinstate them. That is on the speculative
side of the clergyman's work, which presents to view
the Divine philosophy of religion ; but if he prefer the
part of Martha, the pastoral and externally active part,
or if he embrace both in the plan of his life, this, too,
has mounted to an interest in the present day such as
it has rarely before attained. Christianity is under
strain ; but it is like the strain of the good ship in the
roaring sea, as it leaps from wave to wave. The im
mense changes in all departments of life and know-

1868] REASON AND AUTHORITY 179
ledge put faith on its trial, and apply more stress to
that chain which links us to the unseen world. But
these are just the very circumstances to call out
the high and noble emotions of a devoted service.
I admit that for the half-and-half clergyman it will be
an evil time. But your nature is earnest, solid, and
affectionate ; and my belief is that, though you may
modestly look with apprehension on the first touching
of the Ark, you would with every year of experience
become more and more closely attached to your pro
fession. I write to you with a deep conviction that it
is no idle venture which is before you. I write also
very freely : and I hope you will be, whether by letter
or by speech when we meet, as free in return. . . .

345. To S. E. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
May 26, 1868.
. . . Probably you are now learning by degrees,
yet very effectually, what is the true relation of the
individual mind, according to the pure law of reason,
to the beliefs and institutions which he, the individual,
finds existing in the world when he enters it. Rely
upon it, those persons commit a fundamental error of
the understanding who think it their first duty to
question everything, and begin in every matter from
the beginning, as if God had done nothing for man
kind as a race ; or who set up a supposed contradiction
between authority and private reason, whereas one
of the true functions of private reason is to compre
hend the nature and limits, and to recognize the office,
of authority as a ttIoths of truth. . . .
Lord Aberdeen, a person of particularly sober mind,
once said to me he supposed that no one passed
through life without feeling these temptations. This
was probably beyond the mark, but it was a remark
able testimony. . . .
I may so far refer to my own experience as to say
that, during all my early years, my heart was set on
my being a clergyman, that only my father's wish
turned me away from it, and that my mind has worked
incessantly on the subjects which have tried you. And

180 A SPIRITUAL BODY [1868
the upshot is, that it seems to me to be the especial
work of sound reason in these times, receiving that
light of Divine grace to which you refer so justly,
to aim sedulously at discrimination between the per
manent and the transitory in matters of religious belief,
or between belief properly so called, and the mere
opinions which, according to the bias or the supposed
needs of each age, tend to gather round it. Of these
latter there has been a great shaking in our times ;
and many have done no more and no better than to
substitute a new set of mere opinions for the old —
some in one direction, and some in another. But the
foundation of the Lord standeth sure ; He will find
instruments for His work, in His time, and happy are
we if we are among them, as I feel a good hope you
will be. . . . 346. To S. E. Gladstone.
Hawarden,
September 15, 1868.
. . . During very many years my mind has been
much directed from time to time to the great subject
of the Holy Eucharist. I am a firm believer in the
words of our Lord, therefore in the 'objective
Presence.' But it is the presence of a spiritual
body (see the phrase of St. Paul in 1 Cor. xv.), there
fore not according to the laws of a natural body. A
local presence I should not have the least hesitation
in disclaiming.
When you come here I will show you the MS. notes
of a conversation which I had twenty-three years ago
with Dr. Dollinger, the first living Roman Catholic
theologian : I think they will interest and help you.
There is great fallacy in allowing what are called
logical consequences in theological doctrine. Human
language is only adequate to a very partial expression
of Divine truth ; and we must often stop resolutely
where the Catholic Faith places us, and decline to
follow even arguments of which we cannot at the
moment detect the flaw. In this case the sophism
lies in the ambiguity of the word 'body,' which is
not necessarily to be confounded with or attached to
matter. . . .

1872] BEING UNDERSTOOD 181

347. To the Rev. S. E. Gladstone.
Balmoral,
September 30, 1871.
. . . It is only by comparison that our difficulties,
disadvantages, and discouragements, can be justly
measured. This, which is true of our positions indi
vidually, is yet more true of the Church. In propor
tion as its nature is heavenly, its deflections from the
ideal are grievous, and to have seen these deflections
in one country and in one form of the Church, only,
has often led, and in precipitate or eager minds is very
apt to lead, to dangerously hasty judgments.
348. To the Rev. S. E. Gladstone.
Hawarden,
August 12, 1872.
. . . With regard to addressing the poor and having
to stand upon a level with them, this, I have no doubt,
can be acquired. I feel, for example, myself that I
could do this now much better than I could have done
in early youth, from having had to speak to audiences
of different classes, and always with a view to being
understood. I know you are sensible of the importance
of this subject, which in general the clergy of the Church
of England do not thoroughly appreciate. . . .
349. To the Rev. S. E. Gladstone.
Hawarden,
August 14, 1872.
. . . The entire situation recalls to me the case of
Bishop Hamilton in 1854. He was sorely reluctant
to take the bishopric — much like you in motives, but
he was called to place himself in what was at that
juncture a position more arduous than it is now, since
the Episcopal Bench is now less sharply divided in its
sympathies. He spent most of a Sunday with me, and
I think was persuaded by my representations, joined
to the desire of his predecessor — Bishop Denison — on
his death-bed. I do not think he ever at all repented

182 THE RIDSDALE JUDGMENT [1877
of having overleapt the obstacles which only his
humility interposed.
It has been a great pleasure to me in this important
matter that you have let me deal with you as a friend,
in perfect freedom, and it is thus that I should always
desire and hope to deal with my children. It imposes
a special obligation to look fairly at the case, and not
with a foregone conclusion. So looking at it I find
it grow clearer. You have not sought or desired it ;
it has come to you. As regards your capacity, you
reasonably look to the judgments of others rather
than your own ; but there can be no doubt at all
which way lie the verdicts of those whom you most
trust, and who know you best in your clerical capacity.
It is a post of greatly increased responsibility, but
why ? Mainly, though not solely, because it is a post
of increased opportunity to serve and glorify God.
If the greater station arid higher emolument are a
trial, they are a trial of that kind which, though it
cannot safely be challenged, may be boldly encountered
when it has not been sought. The disinterestedness,
which you justly think the Church so much needs,
may be shown in the handling of money, as well as
in the non-possession of it. The opinion of the people
about which you ask may perhaps best be shown in
the almost universal anticipation that this call must
come upon you. . . .

350. To the Rev. S. E. Gladstone. 73, Harley Street,
February 8, 1877.
. . . I do not approach the question of the coming
Judgment from the same point of view as you do, but
I sympathize with those who are, in relation to it, the
object of an unjust and unwise prosecution, and I
cannot pretend to place confidence in the tribunal,
which, I think, does not represent the spirit of the
Reformation Settlement.
It is difficult and hazardous to deal in general
propositions on these subjects : but I am decidedly of
opinion that such questions as the Eastward Position

1879] AREA OF A JUDGMENT 183
and the Vestments do not justify driving matters to
the last issue : that they do not justify what would be
justified and required by a Judgment, or a Law, for
bidding you to preach the Real Presence or the
Eucharistic Sacrifice.
Anything hasty, anything done until after full con
sultation and aim at general co-operation, would, I
think, be a mistake ; but the greatest mistake of all
would be resignation — the severing of a spiritual tie
on account of temporal action.
Strange to say, but it is material as well as strange,
I am very doubtful whether it is meant or understood
that a Judgment in one diocese is to rule the whole
country. What was the use of giving to each of some
thirty Bishops the power to stop a suit, if any one of
them was to have the faculty of allowing to go to
issue what would rule the question for the whole
country ?
A great shock has already been given to the prin
ciple of Establishment, and the farther they go the
severer the shock will be.
It is a time, assuredly, for much thought, much
watchfulness, much prayer. I cannot but think God
will keep longer what He has kept so long.

351. To the Rev. S. E. Gladstone.
73, Harley Street,
March 29, 1879.
... I never can wonder at, I may say never can
regret, any amount of sombre tints in the picture
which an earnest clergyman draws to himself of his
work and its fruits. My belief has long been that
even the Apostles and the early Church had converted
but a small numerical portion of society in 300 years,
when the change under Constantine led to the bring
ing in of the masses. But are not these depressing
views among the very means by which the quality of
the work is sustained, and without which it could not
be secured ?

184 ENERGY AND REWARD [1864
352. To H. N. Gladstone. Edinburgh,
September 24, 1864.
My dearest Harry,
I need not say you have been much in my
thoughts since you left us, and not least since, moving
northwards, I have lengthened the distance between
us. I am looking with much cheerful desire to hear
the issue of your examination at Eton. I feel satisfied
that, if it is favourable, you will take it as an encourage
ment to continued exertion, which, depend upon it, is
absolutely necessary to us all for a good and useful
life. But even if the present result is less favourable
than we could desire, it may be of great use if it be
taken rightly, for it may tend to bring out increased
energy, which is sure, sooner or later, to bring its
reward. It was a capital plan by which Willy got you into
the same room with Arthur Lyttelton : and on the
whole I feel that you make your start at Eton — the
greatest event in your life since, as an infant, you
were baptized — under very favourable circumstances.
Your progress in knowledge pleased me much, and,
what is more, it, I think, pleased Mr. Eminson. If
any time you feel difficulty, remember that if all things
were easy we never should gain strength by practice
in them : difficulty is, in truth, the mother of improve
ment. If anything happens at any time to grieve and
dishearten you, remember that such incidents of life
do not come by chance ; that they are intended by our
Father in heaven to form in us a temper of trust,
resignation, fortitude ; and if they begin early, it is
that we may early grow stout to encounter the ruder
shocks which come in after-life. But I hope and think
your Eton life will be both a good and a happy life.
You will like the place, the buildings, the playing-
fields, all the associations of Eton : you will find good
schoolfellows and friends, but you must exercise a
choice. . . . Make God your friend, and remember
that there is not a whisper addressed to Him which
He will not hear and answer. . . .
Your affectionate father.

1868] MANFUL RESOLUTION 185

353. To H. N. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
March 27, 1868.
My dearest Harry,
- I am much concerned that my duties here should
be so pressing at this moment as to prevent my going
down to Eton to-morrow and joining my prayers to
your dear mother's that the grace of God may abun
dantly descend upon you, both in the holy ordinance of
Confirmation, and afterwards through all the days of
your life. I shall do my best to recollect you from
hence ; and among other satisfactions I am truly glad
that you should be confirmed by the Bishop of Oxford,
who far exceeds all the prelates I have ever heard in
the wise and devout impressiveness of his administra
tion of that particular rite.
But I look most to what lies within your own
breast. It is in the preparation of the heart that the
surest promise as to this and every other ordinance is
to be found : in the humility and self-mistrust, in the
continual looking up to God, the silent prayer of the
soul, for help and strength, in the manful resolution,
resting on the hope of His aid, to follow right, con
science, honour, duty, truth, holiness, 'through all the
changes and chances of this mortal life,' and whether
others will walk with us or whether they will not.
May that preparation of the heart, my dearest
Harry, be largely and richly yours, and both to
morrow under the Bishop's hand, and afterwards at
the altar of Christ, and in every turn and passage'of
your life, may the best blessings of God descend upon
you, for time and for eternity !
Ever your affectionate father,
W. E. Gladstone.
354. To Miss Agnes Gladstone (Mrs. Wickham).
Downing Street,
October 17, 1854.
. Your twelfth birthday brings you into your
teens, and almost shuts the door on childhood.
None of us can stop the flight of Time ; but what

186 USE OF TRANSLATION [1858
by the grace of God can be done is this, that as it
passes by it can be made to carry on its wings the
best fruit of life — acts of duty done, of conquest
achieved over what is evil in us, of love to God and
man, of that humility and obedience which are so
exceeding precious in the sight of our Saviour.
May these recollections ever be yours, my beloved
Agnes : place before the eyes of your mind the image
of your Saviour, who once so wonderfully rescued
you from death when it was ready to devour you,
who is ever ready to save us from our other enemy,
sin, so much worse than death, and in whose dear and
blessed likeness I trust that you will grow as you grow
in years. 355. To Miss Agnes Gladstone.
Haddo,
October 4, 1858.
... I doubt whether it is well for you to translate
from French rather than from English. I think Tele-
machus not a very good book for the purpose : an
historical book would be better, and brief dialogue
better than either, and would give more profit with
less labour. But further, I think you might do best
at present (if Miss Syfert is of the same opinion)
to get a further command of translating Italian into
English, as well as English into Italian. The benefit
of these things is not in substituting one word for
another, but in learning how to change the idiom or
peculiar form of one language into another.
Be on your guard against introducing the passive
frequently into Italian. And always consider your
sentence as a whole before you begin it, and think
in what form it will be most like a sentence of original
Italian. . . .
356. To Miss Mary Gladstone (Mrs. Drew).
Combe Warren,
April 6, 1884.
Dearest Mary,
You know that when you read to me anything
from Lord Acton's letters, they always arouse in me

1884] ACTON AND LIDDON 187
much interest, but they have never stirred in me sur
prise until I heard what you read about Dr. Liddon. I
understood Lord Acton to say that Dr. Liddon as
suredly would not go into the Church of Rome, but that
he held opinions or admitted principles which seemed
to have that step for their direct and necessary result.
Now I know nothing of Dr. Liddon's inner mind, and
any assumption of mine about him may be quite
worthless. But I had always supposed him to be one
of those who may properly be called Anglicans, who
pay allegiance to the Church of England (as Manning
did before 1850) entirely and exclusively as the Catholic
Church, that is as the branch or section of the Catholic
Church which in its territorial distribution has become
possessed of this realm : and for whom therefore it is
no more possible to join the Anglo-Roman Com
munion, even if they happened to prefer its modes of
thought and action, than it would be to transfer them
selves out of the family of their own parents, in order
to meet the solicitations of another couple who might
profess to be, or even might be, more desirable.
This to me has been through all my mature and
thinking life the clear and simple and indestructible
basis of Churchmanship — and the fact that such a form
of thought lives and works among us cannot, I am sure,
be unknown to Lord Acton, although I do believe it
has been entirely foreign to the minds of very many
among those Englishmen who have conformed to the
Roman system.
There is another ground on which I should have
supposed Dr. Liddon to be severed by an impassable
wall of separation not merely from the Anglo-Roman
but from the whole Latin Communion : that is the
deplorable decisions of the Council of the Vatican,
which it seems so hard to exempt from the taint of
heresy, though I am aware that this is a stamp which
no individual has a title to attach.
Your affectionate father,
W. E. Gladstone.

CHOOSING A BISHOP [1884

357. To Miss Mary Gladstone.
10, Downing Street,
July 1, 1884.
Dearest Mary,
I have read Lord Acton's most interesting letter,
and I now seem perfectly to understand his remarks
about Dr. Liddon and Rome.
For very many years I have thought that Dr. Pusey
was apt, in his mode of handling Roman matters, to
abjure or forfeit his historic freedom : and I believe
that Dr. Liddon took over a good deal from Dr. Pusey
in this and some other matters.
Again I should have a word to say on the com
parison which Lord Acton makes between Dr. Liddon
and men lately preferred to the Episcopal Bench con
sidered as 'forces.'
It is to be borne in mind that they are so preferred
not by a single force but by many. If I am one of
them, so the particular Diocese is another, the Queen
a third, the Liberal party a fourth. It is the resultant
of all these forces which determines the choice.
Men of the highest stamp as a class should un
doubtedly be chosen, but it cannot always be the
highest man in the class. Bishop Butler had an
intellect incomparably superior to that of any Bishop,
much more that of any English Bishop, now alive ;
but I am not sure that he would have been the best
man to place at Bristol or at Durham under the condi
tions of the northern Episcopate.
Your ever affectionate father,
W, E. Gladstone.

358. To Miss Mary Gladstone. Hawarden,
January 19, 1885.
Dearest Mary,
To my mind the chief and paramount recom
mendation of the Life of Ellen Watson may be
summed up in one word, its nobleness. As a
biography it is very incomplete, for it is mainly the
history of an intellect. As the history of an intellect,

1886] THE LESSON OF TUPPER'S LIFE 189
incompleteness still adheres to it ; for the biographer,
perhaps from modesty, has not set out in detail the in
fluences, and the steps, by which the great transition
and the religious transformation were brought about.
But the nobleness is in every page, and its features
cannot be mistaken. Even in the days when she
principally fed upon the joys of conscious mental
power, selfishness never lays its paralyzing hand upon
her. It is because of this unselfishness that the
process so radical is also so gentle ; and it is the com
bination of the intellectual energy with the wealth of
purity and love that gives to her conversion a place
among the memorable triumphs of the Cross.
Ever your affectionate father,
W. E. Gladstone.

359. To Miss Mary Gladstone.
10, Downing Street,
May 17, 1886.
Dearest Mary,
The lesson of Tupper's Life is a very singular
and rather touching one — a reproduction of Robert
Montgomery's. Him Macaulay killed; nay, drew
and quartered him after hanging. Tupper was slain by
an article in the National Review, as Keats had been
slain, for a time, by an article in the Quarterly, very
inadequately counteracted by the noble 'Adonais.'
Tupper's was a hard case, for the public had practised
on and developed his bump of vanity, which, according
to my recollection, was not very marked at Oxford,
where he was a good youth spotted as a 'saint' and
little known or heeded. The life is an epic, though a
very, very small one. The good-natured article in the
AthencBum misses all this, and heaps together laughable
trifles. If the book misses it, this excuses the review,
but seriously condemns the author.
As to the passage which mentions me, fancy has
inflamed his statement. It was not an 'Essay' at all,
but an attempt to harmonize, as it is called, one or
more Gospels. The prize, if I remember right, was
not £25, but £10. My reward, as defeated candidate,
was a book called 'Jones on the Canon,' well known

190 ZOLA'S 'LOURDES' [1895
then, possibly now, the value of which may have been
30s., not £5 ; three volumes, octavo, plainly bound,
and now to be found in the Temple of Peace, if you
are curious to look at it, among my octavo books on
Scripture, in the eastward face of the middle one,
among three stacks of books between the large window
and the fire. As to Burton's having asked him for
leave to deduct this 30s. or so from the £10, I simply
don't believe it : glorifying recollection has deceived
him. I think I shall buy his book. He is a good man,
and must have suffered in many ways.
Your affectionate father,
W. E. Gladstone.

360. To Mrs. Drew.
Cannes,
January 18, 1895.
. . . Since coming here I have been reading, and am
now finishing, Zola's 'Lourdes.' An extraordinary
book. I suppose the most remarkable he has produced.
"He manifests disbelief, and deals with the miracles
slyly, but yet not unfairly, according the fullest sub
jective credit. There are not less than ten or a dozen
separate bits, exhibitions of character and circum
stance, all of which are excessively clear and interest
ing, some of [them] highly refined and beautiful, some
very droll. On the whole a very notable work. . . .

361. To Miss Helen Gladstone.
11, Downing Street,
August, 1859.
'God bless you, my little darling Lena, on this day
and on every day ! You are, I trust, a happy child ;
strive to be every day more and more a good one,
having continually before you the beautiful and blessed
image of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is found for
young and for old alike the model of all goodness.
If I bid you thus to labour and strive, it is not that
I mistrust you, for I am well convinced that by God's

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1866] AN EVENT IN A LIFE

191

grace you do so labour and strive in prayer and in
your daily conduct ; only, I would help you as far as
I may both by my words, and by beseeching our
Almighty Lord to be ever with you, and to order all
things, whatsoever they may be in outward seeming,
for your good.
I am so glad to be able to write to you by the post
to-day. Best love to Maizie and the rest : and thank
Miss Syfert in my name for all she does for you.
Ever your affectionate father, W. E. G.

362. To Miss Helen Gladstone.
Wilton House,
August 27, 1866.
. . . The journey to Italy which you have in pros
pect is a great event in your life, or in the life of any
one when made for the first time, but especially if so
made in youth. No more powerful stimulus can be
applied to the mind and the imagination. You will,
I am sure, try to make the best and most of it. It
is of the greatest value as an opportunity for self-
improvement. Not but that, indeed, as you will find more and
more, the whole of life is rich and fruitful in such, and
in all good and noble opportunities. The longer I live,
the more I feel that we may all say God hath ' set our
feet in a large room/ The duty to be done, the
progress to be made, the good to be effected, the store
to be laid up for the future, from day to day, from hour
to hour, make life a solemn thing, and the first of all
our duties is that the life of each of us should have
a purpose, namely, the fulfilment of the Divine will,
by steady exertion aimed at this object, that so far as
depends upon us the sum of sin in the world, and in
ourselves especially, shall be lessened by the work of
our lives, and not increased. Pursue this end, my
dearest child, under an ever-living sense of the presence
of God with you, and of your union with Christ, and
may you in pursuing it have ever-increasing progress
in overcoming evil and infirmity, and in working out
the holy will of God.

192 HOW TO READ BUTLER [1869

363. To Miss Helen Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
November 13, 1869.
... I read it [a paper on Ambition] more than once
yesterday. It gave me very great pleasure for the
ability which it showed, for its powers of analysis, and
for the soundness of its moral views.
You will, I am sure, feel what additional force
capacity gives to duty. If you can write so well, you
are deeply bound to cultivate yourself, so that you
may write much better. You are bound to bring care,
method, perseverance, in aid of good materials of
power. I wish I could help you : it is not in my
power to do much, but the little will be done willingly.
Remember that I am always ready and glad to be
asked any question.
Have you read Bishop Butler? If not, I think you
should begin, and read him steadily and strongly with
your whole mind at six, eight, or ten pages a day.
Dante also ought to do much for you. . . .

364. To Miss Helen Gladstone. Windsor Castle,
November 17, 1869.
One word in addition to my former letter. I advise
you to read Bishop Butler in small quantities. He
requires a great deal of digestion : there is not a page,
hardly a line, which does not afford much matter for
thought. . . . Your affectionate father,
W. E. G.

365. To Miss Helen Gladstone. Walmer,
August 26, 1870.
My dearest Helen,
Although your coming of age to-morrow is not
the subject of glittering celebrations, it is an event

1870] CAPACITY AND DUTY 193
much noted in the hearts of your parents, and I am
sure that the accomplishment of another year will come
to you attended with a sense of deeper thankfulness to
God at a period like this, when so many, who count
no more days than you, are biting and to bite the dust.
May every blessing attend you, and never forget that
our blessings depend under God upon ourselves, and
that none of them, which come from without, can be
effectual unless as the appendages of those which come
from within ; nor is any life worth living that has not
a purpose, or that is not devoted from day to day to
its accomplishment. Even in the humblest sphere, and
where it has not pleased God to give powers adequate
to more than very humble duties, this is an undoubted
truth ; and many lives, of which the range is small, are
among the happiest and best, because they are most
steadily and most completely given to their appointed
purpose. But we see in the Parables that our Lord
takes as His examples of faithfulness those who are
entrusted with a larger store. God has been liberal
to you in capacity, and I trust you will render it all
back to Him in good works done to your fellow-
creatures, in the cultivation of your own mind, and in
bringing your whole heart and life into conformity
with the blessed Pattern given us. . . .
Ever your affectionate father,
W. E. G.

366. To Miss Helen Gladstone. 73, Harley Street,
April 14, 1877.
I am not surprised at your troubles in Political
Economy. I would, however, advise your trying
Adam Smith, who is very pleasant reading, and who,
as far as I can recollect, is all right except on Rent and
the Navigation Laws. I have already told you I am at
some loss to comprehend his being thrust aside in
favour of John Mill as text-book.

VOL. II  13

i94 HOLLOWAY COLLEGE [1886

367. To Miss Helen Gladstone.
[This letter was written in between big meetings and speeches in
Midlothian. Miss Helen Gladstone had been offered, and had at
once refused, the headship of the newly-built Holloway College.]
Edinburgh, June 19, 1886.
My dearest Helen,
I telegraphed to you yesterday on a mattei
which is certainly of great importance. Before leaving
London, we learned that you had received, from a body
of persons highly competent to judge the case, an offer
of the principalship of Holloway College. My feelings
hereupon were these : First, I had a thrill of delight
upon this signal manifestation, this tribute to the work
you have done, and the capacity you have shown for
more work in a special and very important department.
Secondly, a strong hope that it might be found possible
for you to proceed onwards, by acceptance, into a yet
larger field of service to your fellow-creatures. Thirdly,
a sense that the matter could not be settled without
much consideration, that the arrangements respecting
religion must especially be weighed, and that there
might be reasons which might prove fatal to acceptance,
though I could not but think it probable that, after
having dealt successfully with the religious problem
at Newnham, you would not be defeated by it on this
great occasion.
On coming here we find that an excess of generosity,
and a lofty regard to filial duty, had induced you at
once to refuse this remarkable offer. We entreated
you to hold your hand. It would not only be erroneous,
it would be wrong, were you to allow those feelings to
balk the purpose of your life. Your life has a distinct
purpose. After all we have heard and seen, there can
be no doubt that you have upon you the marks of a
distinct vocation. That call is from on high : and I
really do not think you have a right to overlook or
not to follow the marks of it.
I am not now arguing for acceptance forthwith, but
against rejection forthwith, and by implication against

1886] A GENEROUS ERROR 195
the idea that, on your mother's account particularly,
you might have to leave Newnham a year hence. I
argue against the ground of this resignation.
Were you an only child, the case might be different ;
to what extent I need not inquire, as it is not the point
before us. The case stands as between seven children,
of whom four are married ; and of whom three at
present, one permanently, and one with a work that
may last for many years, are actually planted at
Hawarden, which seems marked out by Providence
absolutely for your mother's main residence, and in
a great degree for mine. It is evidently a case for
division of labour. It seems more than probable that
vacations would of themselves enable you to take your
fair and your full share. I will frankly say that to me,
and I believe also to your mother, it would be nothing
less than a cause of standing grief and pain were you,
however generous the motive, to commit the error
of refusing or quitting a work to which you seem so
evidently called, or, as I have already stated it, to balk
the purpose of your life.
My conclusion is nothing violent or headstrong. It
is simply a plea, which I feel sure you will accept, for
the most careful consideration of the subject, and for
taking counsel upon, as one of deep importance and
of far-reaching consequence.
Before closing I ought to express my sympathy with
you as to Cambridge. I admit that in the event of
acceptance you would have to make a sacrifice, for you
have struck deep roots there. But your place there
could be far more easily supplied. What we have all
to look at is the accomplishment of God's work in the
world by those whom He seems to choose as instru
ments. What makes me remain at seventy-six in a life
which is on all general grounds positively unnatural
makes me urge upon you not to hold back, whatever
the effort or the sacrifice, from the Divine call, if such
it shall appear to be.
Ever, dearest Helen,
Your most affectionate father,
W. E. Gladstone.

196 CHANGES AT OXFORD [1887
368. To Miss Helen Gladstone.
Keble College, Oxford,
November 27, 1887.
. . . Strangely interesting is this place. Great
material extension, legislative revolution, intellectual
propulsion, abatement or abolition of religious forms,
invigoration of religious life, extension of social interests,
multiplication of pursuits — all these sever the Oxford
of this day from the Oxford of mine. The Oxford
of the future may be widely severed from both.
Change has been stunning and bewildering ; some evil,
some questionable, but none such as either to abate the
fame and power of the place or to cut it off from pros
pects of future good.
369. To Mr. Edward Wickham.
Dollis Htll,
May 1, 1892.
My dear Edward,
I said to you a word of good wishes and good
will : but I should like to write it also. For the day
of your going to school is the first great marked day
in your life. I think your life has begun well ; I hope
and pray it may continue well.
Let me give you this earnest injunction; strive hard
to do your best in everything. Every boy's best is
really good in something: and by honest trying he
will soon find it out, and will take real pleasure in it,
and will be of use to others and to himself, and will
never fail to ask God's blessing upon it and upon all
he does.
In all our acts, there is no such safeguard as to
do them with a sense that they are done in the pres
ence of God, and done to fulfil His will concerning us.
Difficulties, taunts, and failures, then come to mean
but little to us, except as lessons how to do better,
how to try harder, and then they are very helpful :
our failures often are our best successes.
But I must not make my little sermon too long, so
I only further write, God bless you !
From your affectionate grandfather,
W. E. Gladstone.

CHAPTER VI
personal 1826-1896
Mr. Gladstone's chief correspondents in his earliest
years were his father and his brother John. For both
he had great admiration as well as great affection. His
estimate of his father will be seen a little farther on ; of
his brother he says : ' My brother John, three years
older than myself, and of a moral character more manly
and on a higher level, had chosen the navy, and went
off to the preparatory college at Portsmouth. But he
evidently underwent persecution for righteousness' sake
at the college, which was then (say about 1820) in a bad
condition. Of this, though he was never querulous,
his letters bore the traces, and I cannot but think they
must have exercised upon me some kind of influence
for good.' I have printed an early letter to this brother
(Letter 370) because it shows the interest which Mr.
Gladstone, even at Eton, took in ecclesiastical history.
To the Evangelicals of that day the Waldenses were
the chief link between the Church of the first three
centuries and the Churches of the Reformation, and
this impression remained with Mr. Gladstone down to
his Italian journey in 1832. Then it disappeared, in
the light partly of history, and partly of personal
acquaintance. A second characteristic which he re-
197

198 NAMES AND BADGES [1830
tained to the end of his life appears in Letter 372.
This is, his persistent isolation from religious parties.
These early letters show in every line how closely he
was associated with the Evangelicals of that day. He
admired their characters and he shared their beliefs.
But even then he could not accept the party name or
the party badge. We have seen him under the influ
ence of a similar feeling in the most exciting period of
the Tractarian Movement ; in 1865 he tells a corre
spondent, ' I have never by any conscious act yielded
my allegiance to any person or party in matters of
religion ; ' and later still he tries to dissuade a son from
saying of himself, ' I am what is called a High Church
man.' It is unnecessary to add that this dislike of
religious labels did not hinder him from throwing him
self with all his strength into religious controversy when
the occasion seemed to demand it.
Even before he took his degree, Mr. Gladstone's
mind was greatly occupied with the choice of a pro
fession. Left to himself, he would at once have taken
Orders. The reasons which determined him in this
direction are set out very fully in the letter to his
father which has been printed by Lord Morley. But
the strength of his desire is seen even more clearly in
one written nearly a month later (Letter 371). His
father had shown very plainly what his own wishes
were, and, supposing those wishes to remain unaltered,
Mr. Gladstone had from the first resolved to make them
his own. In this letter he makes a last and vigorous
attempt, not to obtain his father's permission — for that
was already given — but to change his father's mind.
By the end of the year, however, the question was
decided. He was not convinced by his father's argu
ments, but he had no doubt as to what would give him

i83s] A DEPLORABLE SLAVERY 199
most pleasure. Apparently this deference to a parent
displeased some of his friends. At least, a letter written
three years later (Letter 374) is mainly a justification
of his belief that a father's desire may be one of the
appointed ways in which the will of God is made
known to men. His conviction that he had made the
right choice never varied, though for years afterwards
he allowed himself to hope that something might yet
happen to close political life against him, and so leave
him free to take Orders.
' I was brought up to believe,' writes Mr. Gladstone
in an unfinished autobiographical fragment, ' that every
Unitarian (I suppose also every heathen) must as a
matter of course be lost for ever. This deplorable
servitude of mind oppressed me in a greater or less
degree for a number of years. As late as in the year
(I think) 1836, one of my brothers married a beautiful
and in every way charming person, who had been
brought up in a family of the Unitarian profession,
yet under a mother very sincerely religious. I went
through much mental difficulty and distress at the
time, as there had been no express renunciation [by
her] of the ancestral creed, and I absurdly busied
myself with devising this or that religious test as
what, if accepted, might suffice.' Of what Lord Morley
describes as a 'little sheaf of curious letters on this
family episode' I give two (Letters 375 and 376). They
show Mr. Gladstone at the highest, and also the latest,
point of his Evangelical development, for they were
written in the closing months of 1835. In 1836 he
renewed his acquaintance with James Hope, and his
whole religious future was changed.
Two papers in the Appendix which relate to this
process of emancipation may conveniently be noticed

200 A THIRD ORDER [1838
here. It was Mr. Gladstone's conviction from a very
early period that the 'separation from the world,'
which had been so prominent a feature in the early
Evangelical teaching, had by this time come to be little
better than a shibboleth. The test was satisfied by
abstention from certain amusements ; it had no value
as a universal rule of life. In any circumstances Mr.
Gladstone would soon have outgrown so arbitrary
a precept, but the process was hastened by his adop
tion of the Tractarian view of moral questions. Of the
purpose of the paper headed 'A Third Order,' and
dated March 9, 1838,* I can give no account. It may
possibly have been a scheme written for submission
to James Hope. Its purpose, apparently, was to
replace the Evangelical notion of separation from the
world by something framed on definitely ecclesiastical
lines. Its author did not propose to make a rule for
everybody. He saw how unreal that had become in
practice, and how necessary it was to recognize that
men's vocations vary with their characters, and that
a kind of discipline which is helpful to one may be
hurtful to another. The idea may well have come to
nothing from the very scale on which it was framed.
The foundation even of one such society as Mr.
Gladstone had in mind would have needed a very
large endowment, and so have come into rivalry with
the many other objects which then seemed of impor
tance in the eyes of men to whom Churchmanship had
become a reality. The minuteness with which all the
details are described must be taken as evidence, not of
the progress which the scheme had made at the time
when the paper was written, but rather of Mr. Glad-
* Appendix VII. 6.

1837] THE CHURCH AT FASQUE 201
stone's passion for following out a principle into every
particular of its possible application. The paper on
Amusements* is of a different character. It is a careful
analysis of a popular religious theory, which the writer
finds himself compelled by the circumstances of his
life either to accept or reject. To accept it in name
while disregarding it in practice was not a way out
of the difficulty likely to recommend itself to Mr.
Gladstone, and in the end it is put aside as merely a
partial and arbitrary recognition of 'the need of some
systematic self-denial.'
The change from the strict Evangelicalism of these
early years is first visible in the project for building
an Episcopal chapel at Fasque, the Scottish estate
which his father had lately bought (Letter 378). The
Scottish Episcopal Church was not in favour with the
English Evangelicals. Many of them, when in Scot
land, altogether disowned the authority of the Scottish
Bishops — mainly on the ground of the supposed
Popery of the national Communion Office — and
frequented certain chapels which had nothing in
common with the Church of either country except
that the English Prayer-Book was used in the services.
Indeed, for some time after this letter was written
Mr. Gladstone defended the Presbyterian Establish
ment as an exception to ecclesiastical order which could
show extraordinary proofs of Divine favour, and some
of the arguments he urges on behalf of his proposal
are quite consistent with this theory. 'The village
kirk,' he says, 'is already crowded,' and the new chapel
would relieve 'the pressing demand for seats.' But
why should this demand be met by an Episcopal chapel
rather than by an enlargement of the parish church ?
* Appendix VII. 7.

202 ITS USES [1847
First of all because there is an obvious advantage in pro
viding Episcopal services for a household 'wholly, or
in great proportion, members of the English Church.'
So far, of course, the strictest Presbyterian could have
found no cause for complaint. The Gladstone family
had a right to be Nonconformists in Scotland if they
chose. But a missionary idea follows. His father is
about to build almshouses for old people, and the
Presbyterian Church does not allow the Communion
to be administered in private houses. Here is a want
which only Episcopal ministrations can supply. The
chapel will be equally valuable to the very young,
who, according to Presbyterian usage, are not taken
to church until they are supposed capable of following
an extempore prayer. And then he suggests that, if
in addition to the chapel a school were built, 'not in
the way of opposition, but of substitution for some one
of those already existing in the parish,' the parents
'would gladly afford their children the enjoyment of
the blessing of public worship.' If it occurred to Mr.
Gladstone that these arrangements were nothing less
than a scheme for making proselytes among the very
old and the very young, the scruple was at once
dismissed in deference to his 'constantly and painfully
increasing sense of the inadequacy of the Scottish
service to the most essential purposes of public wor
ship.' The church foreshadowed in this letter was
some years in building, and was not consecrated till
1847. But Mr. Gladstone's interest in it was a steadily
increasing quantity. In the Appendix I have given
his own detailed account of the Consecration services,*
and for each year between 1846 and 1851 there
exist, in his own handwriting, full and carefully
* Appendix VII. 9.

1840] A NEW PROBLEM 203
indexed lists of the Psalms (in Tate and Brady's
version, which are to be used on each Sunday, with
the tunes to which they are to be sung. The number
of attendants at each service is also noted, with the
name of the minister, and whether he preached in the
surplice or the gown.
The church at Fasque was not the only religious
undertaking that occupied Mr. Gladstone during these
years. In the first freshness of his friendship with
James Hope, the two were closely associated in the
foundation of Trinity College, Glenalmond. It was to
serve the double purpose of an ecclesiastical seminary
and a public school on the English model. Both Hope
and Gladstone gave largely to the proposed college,
and threw into it an amount of zeal — and, on Glad
stone's part, of exertion — which attracted large sup
port from outside. ' I cannot now say,' writes Mr.
Gladstone to Miss Hope-Scott, 'who was the prime
mover in the scheme.' The first mention of it in this
correspondence is in the letter of September 8, 1840
(Letter 380). But this was in answer to a criticism
by Hope (printed in Mr. Ornsby's book) of a previous
letter from Gladstone. 'The nature of the institution,'
writes Hope, 'requires us to solve that problem, in
these days so difficult, how young men of different
ranks and fortune shall have the benefit of a common
education without allowing the growth of habits which
will be injurious to one or other class — particularly
how the clergy shall receive a strict clerical education
in contact with, and yet without being secularized by,
the laity.' Hope's solution was that up to the age of
twelve or thirteen every boy in the institution should
be treated in the same way, and this a very simple one.
At this point the boys who were meant to take Orders

204 SEMINARY OR SCHOOL [1840
'should be separated from the rest, and be made to
feel throughout that they are under a different dis
cipline ... I know that advantages are supposed to
result from familiar habits in early life between the
young gentry and the young clergy, but as regards
personal character, undoubtedly, I think, to the detri
ment of the latter.'* Mr. Gladstone's reply (Letter
380) is perhaps, as Mr. Ornsby has pointed out, the
earliest indication of the coming divergence of their
views. The seminarist theory of training for Orders
already finds more favour with Hope than it does with
his friend. At this time, however, Mr. Gladstone was
necessarily the mainstay of the enterprise. Hope
went abroad in September, 1840, but only a month later
we hear that five of the Scottish Bishops have given
their sanction to the effort, that gifts amounting to
about £2,300 are already promised, and that a circular
naming £25,000 as 'the smallest sum at all sufficient,''
and £15,000 as 'the smallest possible — i.e., justifying
practical measures ' — is in preparation. By this time
Mr. Gladstone's attitude towards the Scottish Estab
lished Church had a good deal changed. ' In the Kirk,'
he goes on, ' matters look more and more ugly from day
to day.' (The acute stage of the controversy which
ended in the disruption of 1843 was just beginning.)
Tt is impossible that our scheme should not be affected
one way or both by the crisis ; our business, however,
is, as I think, to maintain a position purely negative,
and to put forward as our object to supply actual
deficiencies of education which grievously cripple the
Episcopal Communion. With collateral and ulterior
effects we have at this moment, I think, nothing to
do ; our basis is, existing want, and we are not in a
* Ornsby, ' Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott,' i. 210, 211.

1840] SEPARATE EDUCATION 205
condition even to raise the question of aggression,
at a time when all the children of our communion,
who are educated within Scotland, are actually edu
cated in Presbyterian institutions ! '
All this time he is busy with the revision of ' The
State in its Relations with the Church,' which he is
making so complete that 'the book hardly will know
itself again.' He hopes to get through it in the course
of the recess, ' but the college is rather a cross-purpose,
for it is very engrossing,' and the more so that, while
he ' would never have dared to undertake it ' without
Hope's aid, his absence abroad makes it impossible to
refer to him.
In the next two months good progress was made.
On the 19th of December Mr. Gladstone writes to
Hope, 'The Duke of Buccleugh gives £1,000 with an
intimation that he may do more ; my father gives £1,000
with the intention of doing, if it be required, very con
siderably more.' This last gift specially delights him.
'I consider,' he says, 'the manner in which my father
has taken up the subject, under all the circumstances,
one of the most signally Providential events that has
ever crossed my path in life.' But as the scheme became
better known a new difficulty presented itself. ' When
you come back to this country,' he tells Hope, 'you
will find that the general sentiment among those with
whom we shall have to deal will be one of backward
ness to sanction separate education even in a moderate
degree.' This 'backwardness' was a very natural
feeling in the circumstances of the country. To the
English gentry 'separate' education — i.e., education
in schools in which masters and boys were all of the
same religion — seemed the natural system, since it
was education in and by the Established Church. But

206 HIS FATHER'S CHARACTER [1841
the Scottish gentry were largely Episcopalian, and if
they wished their sons to have separate education they
would have to provide it at their own cost. It was in
view of this obstacle that Mr. Gladstone laid so much
stress on the ' utilitarian ' arguments for the new college
(Letter 383). In the end enthusiasm and hard work
combined carried the scheme through all its diffi
culties. Money came in — Charles Wordsworth, the
first Warden, giving £5,000 and offering to lend as
much more — the site was given in 1842, the foundation
stone of the chapel was laid by Sir John Gladstone in
1846, and by 1850 ten theological students and forty-
eight boys were in residence.* A passage in Mr.
Gladstone's letter to Miss Hope-Scott brings together
the three chief movers in the design so happily that
I quote it here : ' It was, I think, the undertaking to
found Trinity College which gave rise to another
friendship that it gave me the greatest pleasure to
witness — between him and my father. In 1840 my
father was moving on towards fourscore years, but
"his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" ;
he was full of bodily and mental vigour ; "whatsoever
his hand found to do, he did it with his might" ; he
could not understand or tolerate those who, perceiving
an object to be good, did not at once and actively pur
sue it ; and with all this energy he joined a correspond
ing warmth and, so to speak, eagerness of affection, a
keen appreciation of humour, in which he found a rest,
and an indescribable frankness and simplicity of charac
ter, which, crowning his other qualities, made him, I
* A seminary had existed in Edinburgh from some time in the
thirties, and this was transferred to Glenalmond in 1848. The com
bination did not work quite satisfactorily, and in 1876 advantage was
taken of a propitious fire to take the seminarists back to Edinburgh.
Since then Glenalmond has been simply a public school.

1839] FINDING A SITE 207
think (and I strive to think impartially) , nearly or quite
the most interesting old man I have ever known.
Nearly half a century of years separated the two ; but
your father, I think, appreciated mine more than I
could have supposed possible, and always appeared to
be lifted to a higher level of life and spirits by the con
tact. On one occasion we three set out on a posting
expedition, to examine several sites in the midland
counties of Scotland, which had been proposed for the
new college. As we rolled along, wedged into one of
the post-chaises of those days, through various kinds
of country, and especially through the mountains
between Dunkeld and Crieff, it was a perpetual play,
I might almost say roar, of fun and laughter. The
result of this tour, after the consideration of various
sites near Perth, Dunkeld, and Dunblane, was the
selection of the spot on which the college now stands.
I am ashamed to recollect that we were, I do not say
assisted in reaching this conclusion, but cheered up in
fastening on it, by a luncheon which Mr. Patton, the
proprietor, gave us, of grouse newly killed, roasted
by an apparatus for the purpose on the moment, and
bedewed with what I think is called partridge-eye
champagne.* Before leaving this period of Mr. Gladstone's life,
I will give two letters from Hope to him which show
in a very remarkable way the moral temper and the
constant subordination of act and emotion to religious
duty which they both shared with the early Tractarian
leaders. It is in this temper, I think, more than in
anything that we must look for the link which bound
Mr. Gladstone to their cause. The first letter was
* Ornsby, 'Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott,' i. 279, 280.
This was the site eventually given by Mr. Patton.

208 AN IDEAL MARRIAGE [1840
written on hearing of the engagement to Miss Catherine
Glynne. Mr. Gladstone's reply to it (Letter 379) will
be found farther on. Lincoln's Inn,
June 11, 1839.
Dear Gladstone,
I hear on good authority that you are going to
be married. If this is so, I should be sorry not to be
among the first to wish you all the blessings which
may be hoped for an engagement entered into, as
I doubt not yours has been, in the fear of God, and
with a determination of turning every circumstance of
life into an instrument for His honour. Marriage is
so often resorted to upon light or worldly motives,
and so often looked upon by more serious persons as
a kind of home and anchorage amongst trials which
ought to be guarded against by higher principles, that
it is an unusual and a great pleasure to see it entered
on under circumstances which allow me to believe
that the persons engaging in it look to each other's
society rather as a means of more steadfastly serving
God than of substituting inferior consolations for those
which are alone to be depended on.
I remain, my dear Gladstone,
Ever yours most truly,
James R. Hope.
The second letter is Hope's answer to Mr. Gladstone's
request that he would be godfather to his eldest son :
Merton College,
June 23, 1840.
Dear Gladstone,
Your request that I should be godfather to your
boy is one which I most heartily accede to. I must,
however, add a condition which I have before required
on such occasions — namely, that you should by your
will express your intention that this spiritual relation
ship shall exist in fact as well as name, and should
provide that in the event of your death I may have
sufficient control over the child's education to enable
me (as far as this will do it) to discharge my trust.
He will be my third godchild in life — one is already

1840] A SPONSOR'S ACCOUNT 209
gone to realize the pledge which he obtained in baptism ;
and if the rest get as good an inheritance after they have
grown out of my care as, I believe, this one has obtained,
who had scarce come under it, I shall give up my
account with gladness, and shall wish heartily that
my own sponsors had as good an one to present.
Of that deep and kind feeling which has led you to
select me, and of my association with such a man as
Manning in such a charge, I am, I can assure you, very
very sensible ; and I shall pray God heartily that, when
the day comes for all men's thoughts to be known, mine
may not appear to have been such as to make you
marvel that you should ever have held your present
opinion of me.
Pray tell Mrs. Gladstone that as her son and yours
is to be henceforth called mine also, I shall consider
all mere acquaintanceship to have ceased, and shall
insist, if she will suffer it, upon being numbered among
those on whom as relations she has a right at all times
to depend. To yourself I cannot say more than I have
always said since the time when it pleased God to
enable me to appreciate your character and principles,
and this it is needless to repeat.
I will come up for the baptism whenever it may be,
so when the day is fixed let me know.
Yours ever truly,
James R. Hope.
I have included here some letters which were unavoid
ably omitted from the chapters to which they properly
belong. Thus, the gradual change which came over
Mr. Gladstone's mind between 1839 and 1845, in refer
ence to the relation of the State to the Church, is well
illustrated by the letter to Mrs. Gladstone in the
latter year (Letter 394), if read in connection with one
to Manning in 1837 (Letter 377). In the earlier of the
two he is profoundly impressed with the difficulty of
fighting the Church's battle in Parliament. He who
would defend her with any hope of impressing his hearers
must state her claims, not in the way in which they
VOL. II — 14

210 GOLDEN CHAINS [1845
appeal to himself, but in that by which alone they can
be made intelligible to the House of Commons. But
though the task be hard, it is not one from which he
ought to flinch. He has but slender hope of success,
but it is none the less his duty to apply ' the searching
test of Christian Catholic principles' to those numerous
measures which are 'calculated to bear powerfully on
religion.' Even from the latter part of this very letter
it is plain that the severance between him and the
Church party in Parliament had already begun. With
him the alienation of Church property is no longer a
thing to be resisted at all costs. It has become only a
change which suggests 'many preliminary inquiries.'
By 1845 Mr. Gladstone's thoughts have already taken
the shape which they were to retain for the remainder
of his life. The 'highest interest of the Church' is
not now necessarily bound up with the maintenance
of her present relations with the State ; it lies, rather,
in the cultivation of habitual readiness to put an end
to those relations if the State asks too high a price
for their retention. The growth of this disposition
finds hindrances alike among Churchmen who will
give up none of their gold, and among politicians
who see in the gold the means of keeping the Church
in fetters. Already, too, — - more than twenty years
before 1868, — Ireland is forcing upon him 'great
social and religious questions,' as well as a deepen
ing sense of the courage which it will need to look
them in the face and to work through them. The
ecclesiastical question is further dealt with three
months later in a letter to Manning (Letter 397). Mr.
Gladstone was quite alive to the drawbacks of the
policy he had made his own : 'The process which I
am now actively engaged in carrying on is a process

1848] A FALSE PARALLEL 211
of lowering the religious tone of the State.' But only
in this way could the Church be served in the House
of Commons. To possess strength there she must
have strength with the people. 'As she grows out
of doors she will be more felt indoors.' There was
a time when some Churchmen dreamed of seeing
Mr. Gladstone and Bishop Wilberforce sustain in this
country the part which Montalembert and Bishop
Dupanloup played in France. But in this same letter
we have Mr. Gladstone's opinion that there was never
any real parallel between the two cases, and when
we recall the various aspects presented by the recent
ecclesiastical history of France, we may well doubt
whether Parliament has ever been the arena in which
the Church has been best served. In Letter 400 Mr.
Gladstone returns to the unavoidable disadvantages
of his new policy. The admission of Jews to Parlia
ment, for example, is a retrograde step. It is a formal
departure from the spirit of the text, 'The kingdoms
of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and
of His Christ.' But if they have already ceased to be
so in any real sense, what is to be gained by keeping
alive ' a hopeless falsehood ' ? Has not the time come
' to unveil realities ' ? Mr. Gladstone's attitude towards
a policy of Disestablishment was often misunderstood.
His consistent repudiation of all idea of making that
policy his own led many people to reckon him among
the advocates of the State Church. But from 1845
onwards it is more than doubtful whether in the sense
that the word 'advocate' commonly bears he could be
so reckoned with any approach to truth. The work
of destruction would not fall to his lot ; it would
have, in all probability, to be done some day, but not
by his hands. To Mr. Gladstone this was reason

2J2 THE REAL PRESENCE [1845
enough for putting the subject away from him, except
when he was roused to utterance by what he thought
some special extravagance on the other side, as, for
example, in 1894, when he laments what he calls the
' Establishmentarian fanaticism ' of Archbishop Benson
(Letter 460).
The journey in the course of which this letter to
Mrs. Gladstone was written was important as laying
the foundation of that intimacy with Dollinger which
is so often referred to in these letters. The notes of
a particular conversation will be found in the Appendix,*
and possibly it was of value in giving precision to Mr.
Gladstone's view of the Anglican doctrine of the Real
Presence. It is difficult, however, to believe that upon
this question much help from without was needed.
There is nothing to show at what time the ' Devotions
for Intervals of the Eucharistic Service' were put
together, but upon this, as upon Baptism, his convic
tions seem to date from a very early stage of his
religious progress. His entire agreement with the
substance of Robert Wilberforce's book upon the
Eucharist will be seen in Letter 408, and one written
nearly half a century later (Letter 462) shows how
unchanged in any particular his belief remained to the
end. The friendship with Dollinger, always strong,
became stronger after 1870. Naturally, Mr. Gladstone
was keenly interested in the Old Catholic Movement,
and in the memorandum 'The Vatican Council and
the Old Catholics,' written in 1874,! ne seems almost to
make separation from Rome a matter of duty. Whether
Dollinger himself ever went this length is at least
doubtful. Possibly as time went on he came to realize
how slowly the Old Catholic community grew, and
* Appendix IV. 1. f Ibid., 4.

I87S] DOLLINGER'S POSITION 213
how slight a hold it appeared to have upon religion
in the country of its origin. At no time, indeed,
does he seem to have shared Mr. Gladstone's view
that Roman Catholics who were not Infallibilists
were bound to leave their Church. Where explicit
acceptance of the new dogma was demanded of them,
they had, of course, no choice but to refuse it. But
there was no need for them to go out of their way
to invite attack. To mind their own business and stay
where they were, so long as they were left in peace,
was the substance of much of the advice he was wont
to give to those who consulted him. He used to go
and pray in the Roman churches, but he seldom
attended any Old Catholic service. The developments
that followed the Conferences of 1874 and 1875 were
not to his mind, and he preferred the position of a
confessor unjustly condemned to that of the founder of
a new Church. Accordingly, after 1875 the letters to
Dollinger refer rather to the affairs of the Church of
England than to those of the Old Catholics.
Here and there we come upon letters referring to
Elementary Education. No man was more resolute
than Mr. Gladstone in defending the right of the
Church to give her own religious teaching to her own
children. But he saw from the first the difficulty of
maintaining this right in its fulness under a system of
State aid (Letter 401). For some years the controversy
turned mainly on the Conscience Clause. Indispen
sable as this is now seen to be, it was at first regarded by
many of the clergy as an unlawful concession, though
few were consistent enough to go the length of Arch
deacon Denison, and refuse a State grant if coupled
with such a condition. The letter to Lord Gran
ville written in 1865 (Letter 414) puts with great force

214 HOPE AND MANNING [1851
the difficulties inherent in any system which gives the
State a right of making stipulations as to the nature of
the religious teaching given in its schools.
The year 1851 saw a marked change in Mr. Glad
stone's correspondence. As regards frequency and
intimacy of communication, no friends took the place
of Hope and Manning. There is a notable unlikeness,
however, in Mr. Gladstone's later attitude towards the
two men. Both had been closely associated with him
in religious work and religious controversy. Both, as
he thought, had taken their hands from the plough and
thrown away the highest of human vocations. But
the tone of his letters on the occasion of the two
secessions is very different. In Hope's case there is
an absence of criticism, a pained acquiescence in a
mysterious Divine purpose, of which there are but
few traces where Manning is concerned. It is not, I
think, untrue to say that Mr. Gladstone felt Hope's
change more deeply, and Manning's more bitterly.
Perhaps the explanation of this lies in the fact that
Hope had followed his own course from the first. His
Romeward direction dated from the affair of the
Jerusalem bishopric, and had only been strengthened
by Newman's departure and by the Gorham Judgment.
Manning, on the other hand, had for some time been
much less of a Tractarian than Mr. Gladstone. He
had been neutral in the contest for the Poetry Pro
fessorship ; he had voted for Ward's degradation ; he
had preached a Fifth of November sermon which was
generally accepted as a veiled attack upon Newman;
he had been wholly unaffected by the secessions of
1845. To all appearance, his change in 1851 was the
result of the Gorham Judgment alone, and it is easy
to understand why the act seemed to Mr. Glad-

1873] BISHOP WILBERFORCE 215
stone so much more precipitate in his case than in
Hope's. The letter to Queen Victoria describing the circum
stances of Bishop Wilberforce's death (Letter 428)
gives no facts that were not published at the time. I
have printed it for the sake of the strong praise it
contains of the Bishop's character and work. Mr.
Gladstone had not always been in agreement with
him, but the occasions of difference between them
grew fewer as years went on, and the Winchester
episcopate had placed Wilberforce on a higher plane
than anything he had previously done. There had
been a time (Letter 104) when, as Mr. Gladstone
thought, he had not shown the courage the State has
a right to expect from the episcopate, when the
character he bore among politicians was that of a
most able prelate getting all he could for the Church
and giving nothing. The Disestablishment of the
Irish Church had shown him in a new character — that
of a man in great position who knows that there is a time
to yield as well as a time to resist. Mr. Gladstone
had other friends by whom this lesson had never been
mastered. Chief among them was George Denison.
In his case, as we see from Letter 419, occasions were
constantly arising which forced him to do something
for which he would need his friend's forgiveness.
Passionate in feeling and expression as the Archdeacon
could show himself, he well deserved Mr. Gladstone's
praise that there could be no one whom it was more
delightful to forgive.
For the most part Mr. Gladstone's gaze was fixed
on the present or the future, but in three of the letters
in this chapter it turns back to the past. Two of them,
written to Mrs. Gladstone (Letters 410 and 411), refer

216 'ECCE HOMO' [1893
to the death of the Duke of Newcastle — the friend to
whom he owed his introduction to the House of
Commons, and with whose political career and private
sorrows he was afterwards so closely associated. The
third is a letter of sympathy to the present Lord
Northbourne on the death of his father (Letter 458).
It was written in the session of 1893, the year of his
victory at the polls and of his defeat by the House
of Lords — a defeat which he could not bring his
Cabinet to challenge. From 'the chaos of business'
he looks back over 'the waste of years' to that un-
forgotten Roman winter when the two friends were
'enjoying Rome, as it could then be enjoyed,' in the
company of those to whom, as it proved, they were to
owe so much of the happiness of their lives.
Now and again the reader will come across some
characteristic criticisms on books. Mr. Gladstone
fully shared in the passing excitement about 'Ecce
Homo,' but he did not for a moment fall into the
mistake, made even by some good judges, of attributing
it to Newman. At the same time, Letter 416 leaves the
reader in some doubt whether he thought the book
too great to be Newman's, or not great enough. The
letter to Messrs. Macmillan given in Chapter III.
(Letter 264) goes a long way towards explaining the
interest with which 'Ecce Homo' was received. The
writer was at first supposed to be feeling his way towards
a more complete system of belief. As Mr. Gladstone
puts it, what remained was 'not less vital than what
had been accomplished.' When it appeared that the
author was not likely to go farther in the direction
attributed to him, the book came to be judged solely
by what it had done, and what was then left of it was
chiefly a happy phrase — the 'enthusiasm of humanity'

1871] SCOTT AND LOCKHART 217
— and the demonstration that Jesus Christ came not
only to preach a present Gospel but to found a Society
to which that function was to be committed in the
future. In two letters (Letters 417 and 421) Mr. Gladstone
gives enthusiastic expression to his admiration for
Walter Scott, and, by an inevitable connection, for
Lockhart's Life of him. In these days it is hard for a
biography in many volumes to retain the attention it
deserves. Happily, this is one of those rare instances
in which there exists an abridgment — by Lockhart
himself — as good, so far as the necessarily reduced
space permits, as the original work. In 1871 Hope-
Scott brought out a new edition of this abridgment,
and dedicated it to Mr. Gladstone. He gives as his
reason that 'from you, more than from anyone else
who is now alive, I have received assurances of that
strong and deep admiration of Walter Scott, both as an
author and as a man, which I have long felt myself, and
which I heartily agree with you in wishing to extend
and perpetuate.' With Mr. Gladstone this wish rested
on 'the conviction that both the writings and the
personal history of this extraordinary man, while
affording entertainment of the purest kind, and supply
ing stores of information which can nowhere else be so
pleasantly acquired, have in them a great deal which
no student of human nature ought to neglect, and much
also which those who engage in the struggle of life
with high purpose — men who are prepared to work
earnestly and endure nobly — cannot pass without loss.'
I quote these sentences from Hope-Scott's dedicatory
letter both as showing the impression which Mr. Glad
stone's opinion of Walter Scott had made upon his
friend, and as expressing the serious estimate of life

218 NEWMAN ON SCOTT [1871
which had been the root of their intimacy. There is a
letter of Newman's to Hope-Scott* in which, after
describing the trouble it was to him that Scott's works
seemed to be so forgotten, he goes on : ' Books are all
annuals, and to revive Scott you must annihilate the
existing generation of writers, which is legion. . . .
Perhaps the competitive examinations may come to the
aid. You should get Gladstone to bring about a list of
classics, and force them upon candidates. I do not
see any other way of mending matters.' It may be
doubted whether an appeal to the Civil Service Com
missioners would have done much to bring about the
revolution in taste which Newman desired. There is
better material for hope in the recent multiplication
of cheap reprints of the Waverley Novels. They do
at least suggest the existence of a new class of readers,
for whom Scott still provides healthier interests and
nobler ideals than can always be found in contemporary
fiction. Few things would do more to help on this
happy recovery in public taste than a better acquaint
ance with the book which was thus blessed by Mr.
Gladstone and by Hope-Scott, f
In Mr. Gladstone's latest years his correspondence
practically comes to an end. Weakened eyesight,
failing health, and a definite and long-cherished idea of
the manner in which men should 'slow down towards
the close,' combined to lessen the number, though not
the vividness, of his interests. But, as if in preparation
for this time of gradual withdrawal from that crowded
life which had been his for sixty years, he had reserved
for his last days two undertakings which, to most men,
* Ornsby, Life, ii. 243.
t Lockhart's own abridgment of his 'Life of Scott' is now to be
had in Messrs. Dent's 'Everyman's Library.'

i89S] THE RAIN OF BOOKS 219
might have seemed fitting employment for their most
vigorous time — his edition of Butler, and the founding
of St. Deiniol's. T find my Butler,' he tells the Duke
of Argyll, 'a weighty undertaking,' and, familiar as he
was with his author's text, the breaking up of what
Pattison calls that 'solid structure of logical argument'
into short paragraphs for the convenience of the reader
must have demanded a minute attention which old men
rarely care to give. The 'Subsidiary Studies,' which
fill a whole volume of this edition, are an exposition
of his final views on some of the greatest of theological
problems. It is here that those who seek for informa
tion on these points will find brought together much
which they would otherwise have to glean from
many occasional articles, only in part collected in
the 'Gleanings,' and from a vast number of letters.
This is especially true of the question of Future
Retribution. The foundation of St. Deiniol's appealed to Mr.
Gladstone on two sides of his character — as a lover of
books and as a firm believer in the need of theological
learning for the proper treatment of theological ques
tions. What is material to the history of the scheme
is already before the world, and all I need do is to
reproduce, for completeness' sake, the substance of
Mrs. Drew's article in the Nineteenth Century and After
for June, 1906. Books played a large part in Mr. Glad
stone's life, even in his busiest times. As his love for
them became known to the dealers who minister to
this taste, 'second-hand catalogues rained in by every
post, and were always carefully scanned and marked
for immediate purchase.' This process of marking for
purchase is apt to have one inconvenient result.
Books keep coming in, and the space that is to hold

220 BOOKS AND BILLIARDS [1889
them is soon filled. Mr. Gladstone was confronted
by this difficulty as early as i860. In that year 'the
housing of the growing library necessitated the addition
of a new wing to the Castle at Hawarden.' The build
ing of the 'Temple of Peace' solved the problem for
a time, but as this in its turn grew full, a policy of
makeshift had again to be resorted to. 'One by one
each piece of extraneous furniture disappeared, to
make way for low bookcases.' When nothing more
could be done in this way, books overflowed first into
the vestibule, then into the billiard-room, and finally
crowded out the billiard-table. Then some larger plan
had to be devised, for the commonplace remedy of
ceasing to buy books was not to Mr. Gladstone's mind.
At this point, however, another long-entertained desire
suggested a way of escape. Mr. Gladstone was not
a selfish buyer ; he wished his books to be at the
service of all who shared his conviction 'that the
future of the human race depends in the main upon
the great question of belief, and that the most special
and urgent of present needs is the need of sufficient
means for the effective promotion of Divine learning.'
If this need was to be satisfied by his own library, the
ultimate destination of the larger part of it must not
be Hawarden Castle ; but it did not follow that it
should not be Hawarden village. If the books were
to find a new home, might not the same building
provide temporary homes for their readers ? At all
events, Mr. Gladstone determined to try the experi
ment, and to try it ' cautiously, tentatively ' — and
economically. 'In 1889 two large iron rooms, lined
with felt and pine, were erected, with six or seven
smaller ones to act as studies, on the crest of Hawarden
Hill, and the travel of the books began.' To borrow

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1896] OBJECT OF ST. DEINIOL'S 221
a phrase not then in being, it was a personally con
ducted tour. 'Each book' — and there were 27,000 of
them — ' he took down from the shelves, and each
packet he strapped up, with his own hands, and no
vehicle was ever allowed to leave the Castle without
its consignment of book bundles. Arrived at their
destination, they were laid upon the floor in the
order in which they came, and Mr. Gladstone, unaided
save by his valet, and sometimes one of his daughters,
went home from Cambridge, unstrapped and lifted
and sifted, and placed the volumes one by one in the
bookcases prepared to receive them.' This was the
beginning of St. Deiniol's, and out of it has grown
the spacious library and the existing provision for the
accommodation of the students who use it. The founder
gave £40,000 by way of endowment ; the National
Memorial Committee contributed £10,000 for housing
the books, and his sons and daughters added another
£8,000 for housing the warden and students. The
character and object of the institution which has thus
been created have been sketched out by Mr. Gladstone
himself in a letter circulated among his friends in
March, 1896, when it became necessary to provide a
recognized head for the new institution.
' In the search for a warden, who will be in Priest's
Orders, besides the qualifications of intelligence, char
acter, and capacity to comprehend and forward the
spiritual work of the Church, other and more special
qualifications are to be kept particularly in view, as
follows :
'1. To be engaged in, and to extend the prosecution
of, the study of Divine learning.
'2. Aptitude for carrying forward the gradual exten
sion and development of the Library, which embraces

222 THE WARDEN'S WORK [1826
as its two main departments Divinity and Humanity,
and leaves as yet a great deal to be desired in point of
method and of any approach to completeness.
' 3. The qualities necessary for attaching and assist
ing others, who may from time to time become members
of the foundation.
'4. To take cognizance of the household cares, as
well as to be especially responsible for the religious
rules and usages. It is hoped that the household
cares would not be burdensome.'
Thus guided and thus administered, St. Deiniol's
was, in Mr. Gladstone's hope and intention, to be
'a Clergy House, a House of Rest and Refreshment
not rigidly confined to our own Clergy, a House of
Study for the glory of God and the culture of man,
a House of Mission perhaps for Liverpool, a House
of Help perhaps for the parish of Hawarden,* and, of
course, a House of Prayer and Worship.'

370. To John Gladstone (brother).
Eton College,
Sunday, January 29, 1826.
. . . There is a very interesting article in the last
number of the Quarterly Review, written, I believe, by
Southey, on the Vaudois'or Waldenses — whose numbers
now amount to only, I think, eighteen thousand. They
have alone kept the faith pure and undefiled from the
age of the Apostles — and their piety is not shaken by
length of years — but they are extremely poor, and the
clergymen have the greatest difficulty in educating
* Mr. Gladstone's idea seems to have been that Liverpool and
Hawarden should be helped only in the CEise of Disestablishment
and Disendowment. As long as the Church retained her property
she would be able to provide for her own needs.

1826] THE WALDENSES 223
their children for the Church. It is pleasing to think
that their tenets and Church government are the same
as those of the Church of England. They are the
parents of all the reformed Churches, and more
especially the cradle in which our own was fostered.
I think it is stated that Wickliffe came from among
them. The head of their Church was formerly called
a Bishop ; when Mr. Gilly, the author of a work on their
condition, etc., visited them some years ago, he found
that they had exchanged the name of Bishop, as less suit
able to their humbled condition, for that of Moderator.
His [the Moderator's] stipend amounted only to forty
pounds a year — the summit of his wishes being an
hundred and twenty ! Father Peyrani, the Moderator
of whom I speak, they describe as a perfect gentleman,
but, of course, in indigence — not repining at his condi
tion, but speaking with evident satisfaction of the like
ness between his Church and the Church of England.
They have frequently, with rustic weapons, made a most
heroic defence against the Catholics, and defeated their
regularly organized armies — animated by the spirit of
true courage. I need hardly tell you that the Romanists
take every opportunity of oppressing them. Altogether
I do not know a more interesting people. I hope that
the English will not suffer their parent Church to fall
to ruin, while we send our missionaries into remote
and comparatively strange parts of the world. I spoke
yesterday in our Society. We have also got a valuable
acquisition in a fellow of the name of Selwyn — one of
the cleverest fellows here. In fact, altogether I have
the pleasure of announcing that we are in a very
flourishing condition. . . .

371. To John Gladstone (father). Cuddesdon, August 29, 1830.
... In the first place, I believe that employment to
be, of all others, the highest and the noblest, however
honourable and praiseworthy others may be, which
has for its object the bearing of the great embassy
from God to man, the communication of the tidings of

224

DIGNITY OF ORDERS [1830

salvation. Eighteen hundred years have now elapsed
since our Saviour bled for us upon the bitter cross.
The tree which He planted grew gloriously at first, and
indicated, in a manner not to be misunderstood, its
high and holy original by its rapid increase and holy
fruits. But how small a portion of the work has been
performed which He commanded to be done. 'All
nations' are not yet baptized into the faith of the
crucified Jesus, but, on the contrary, a large proportion
of the race of Adam have not heard His name ; while
of those who bear His name, how many are there who
bear His name alone? To go, then, forth into this
world, lost, alienated, apostate — this world, once great
and glorious, and to become great and glorious again
by the mercy of God, and thro' the instrumentality of
man — this is a province which must by all surely be
allowed to be an exalted one, as to me it seems to
transcend all others in dignity and usefulness, _ not
because a man may not serve God in other professions,
with a conscience cheerful, free, and pure, but because
here I think he is admitted to the high honour of serv
ing Him in that mode which is, of all others, the most
efficacious and direct. Thus much for the dignity of
the profession ; another not less urgent but more
awful plea is, in my view, its necessity : that constrain
ing necessity which results from the present condition
and future prospects of the human race. When I
endeavour to view my condition apart from all artificial
disguises, all extraneous considerations, I cannot but
see that I am one of a sinful race, who were made like
God, with capacities for knowing, loving, serving Him,
but are fallen like the sun of the morning into the
depths of sin, misery, and darkness. Then I hear of
the redemption of the world by Christ, of His lowly
birth, His life of sorrow, and His death of shame, and
the infinite and inestimable value of that sacrifice
proves to me at once the two fundamental propositions
of religion : first the wretchedness of the condition to
which we have fallen, to require so costly an atonement ;
secondly, the extent of the love of God to give it, and
the loftiness and majesty of those capabilities which
could render man the object of this transcendent love.
I deem, then, that if I, a drowning man myself, may
be permitted to lend a hand to one in the same con-

1830] DISLIKE OF MATHEMATICS 225
dition with myself ; if I, a guilty and trembling sinner
may hope to look to God as a reconciled Father, and
may communicate to another, alike in guilt and alike
in fear, the same abundant and efficacious means of
delivery ; that so we shall escape that fire, that torture,
naturally inherent in all sin, those pangs of remorse
without repentance, those cravings of passions never
to be gratified yet never to be stayed — all that fearful
accumulation of horrors which awaits those who con
tinue in their natural state of alienation from God.
I feel that I know little of anyone, and perhaps least
of all of myself ; but still if I may presume on any
feeling or bias of my mind, if I may believe in the
reality of any of those impulses which sway my being,
I cannot help believing that the glories of this picture,
of God reconciled and man redeemed, are such as
must continually, by God's grace, grow upon my
sight, and kindle day by day into a more and more
celestial brightness. Therefore I am willing to per
suade myself that, in spite of other longings which
I often feel, my heart is prepared to yield other hopes
and other desires for this — of being permitted to be
the humblest, as I am the vilest, of those who may be
commissioned to set forth before the eyes of man, still
great even in his ruin, the magnificence and the glory
of Christian truth. Especially as I feel that my
temperament is so excitable, that I should fear giving
up my mind to other subjects, which have ever proved
sufficiently alluring to me, and which I fear would
make my life a fever of unsatisfied longings and
expectations. ... It tortures me to think of an
inclination opposed to that of my beloved father —
and more of carrying that inclination into effect. . . .
I have here [Cuddesdon] been reading for the first
time in my life ten hours a day or more — not that the
quantity of work is by any means excessive, but the
quality is not agreeable throughout — indeed it could
not be expected that it should be. I have so culpably
indulged my natural aversion to mathematics up to
the present time, keeping up a merely nominal study
of them, and doing everything regarding them with
the utmost negligence — in addition, too, having a bad
memory in all matters, but most atrocious in these.
For myself I would gladly give them up, but as my
VOL. II — 15

226 THE WISHES OF PARENTS [1830
father wishes that I should go on with them, I must
endeavour to regain some of the ground I have lost,
and if I be too late, must put off my degree till next
November. . . .

372. To John Gladstone (brother).
Leamington,
Thursday, December 30, 1830.
... I will take this opportunity of endeavouring to
lay before you explicitly the state of my own prospects
which, I think, cannot have been clearly stated to you
before, from the expressions which you use in your last
received letter (I have not it at hand, but it is the same
in which you name the transfer to the Druid) ; though
I do not know whether your impressions were derived
from my own letter on the subject or from any other.
But the circumstances as I understand them are these :
My dear father, with [his] usual affectionate indulgence,
is anxious that I should follow the bent of my own
inclinations, though also anxious that those inclinations
should coincide with his own : of these desires he post
pones the second to the first. On the other hand, both
from natural duty and from those, if possible, stronger
obligations which such extreme kindness imposes,
I feel exceedingly solicitous to come to no decision
which shall in any way interfere with his wishes,
although to the general question which was the most
useful I could then give no other answer than the one I
did. Having given that answer, I had done all that I
was bound to do, or justified in doing — for they are the
same in matters such as these. This view of the subject
was the one which appeared to me the true one ; but I
have neither the right nor the desire to act upon it in
opposition to a parent's wishes : especially as on the one
hand I am convinced that neither duty nor happiness
are at all confined to any one station or condition of
life, and that acceptable and free service to God may be
rendered by those who are so disposed in one as well
as another. People say, indeed, that you are to follow
the will of God in these things, but that will must have
channels of conveyance, and what more natural one

1830] MAN AND HIS MAKER 227
than the wishes of a parent ? And, on the other hand,
it seems to me that in the present age there is a
dangerous and increasing laxity on the subject of
certain social obligations : not social obligations in
general, but those where there are relations of in
feriority on the part of the inferior party. I mean that
the duties which differences of age and the condition of
sonship impose are frequently overlooked and generally
more or less neglected, and I bitterly regret to say that
this neglect is found in too large a proportion among
those who. are called the religious world. Now, God
forbid I should pretend to consider myself as possessed
of the privileges, exalted as they are, of true Christian
religion : and God forbid (I trust I am not impious in
saying) that, if I were, I should attach myself, in the
way which I think too generally prevails, to this 'reli
gious world' which I have mentioned. I mean this :
it is an honour — it is the highest honour — to claim
kindred and relationship with the faith of those who are
practical believers in the crucifixion of our Saviour, in
their entire inability to justify themselves, in the perfect-
ness and abundance of this atoning power, in the need
of the implantation of a new principle of action — the
love of God — in the place of that which we have, some
wholly all too much, by nature, the love of self (or,
indeed, of any created being), if independent of the love
of the Creator. This is the true bond of union between
men, essentially and in its nature eternal. Why ?
Because it is altogether founded upon the approximation
of those whom it unites to the nature and image of Him
whose unchangeableness and eternity are necessary.
The bonds of flesh cannot endure when flesh itself is
no more. But this bond of union is, as it seems to me
(may God reprove me if I am wrong), to be altogether
different from that incrustation of party badges and
symbols which the remaining corruptions of human
nature, and no other cause, have, I fear, superinduced
upon a portion at least of the religious world. To
return to the point from whence I started, I fear there
is no inconsiderable neglect of the duties above men
tioned among the members of this 'religious world,'
and it would be a blow to whatever hopes I might
entertain of attaining to its privileges did I not attempt,
when enabled, to keep free of those abuses which have

228 VIEWS AS TO WORK [1832
been unhappily joined with them. I hope I have made
the matter understood, at least as far as [I am] able :
and you will see that it rests in 'abeyance. . . .

373. To John Gladstone (father).
Verona,
Monday, June 25, 1832.
... As to myself, as our return is now coming in
sight, I am thinking about my own matters after arrival
in England ; for I should hope to get to work soon.
What my views are, I -take this opportunity of submit
ting to you for your approbation, correction, or rejec
tion. Naturally enough, one's mind is turned with con
centrated interest to that class of questions which seem
most to be agitated in one's own time, and with most
effect on the peace and happiness of mankind. These
seem to me to be the principles which bind society
together, direct the mutual conduct of governor and
governed, and determine their relations. To these,
which I believe are now very rarely made a subject of
serious inquiry, it is my desire, should that desire
meet your approbation, to turn ; and herein to embrace
mainly two kinds of reading : the one, legal and
historical, as law and history bear upon this question ;
the other, the works of those authors who have
investigated the same subject in a more general and
abstract form. My firm belief is, according to my
means of judging, that these topics are not less neg
lected than they are intimately blended with the
happiness of mankind — and, in the relation of instru
ments to an end, with the final triumph of that religion
in the world, whose propagation, I trust, will ever be
the dearest desire of my heart, and the ultimate end of
all my actions, in as far as they are placed beyond
the imperative control of circumstances. I trust
this will appear to you in conformity with what is
right, and with the sentiments formerly expressed,
which you were good enough to approve.

1833] THE WILL OF GOD 229
374. To 0. B. Cole. Albany,
August 12, 1833.
My dear Cole,
... I acknowledge, because it is impossible to
deny, the soundness of your principle of action, which
I understand to be this: that the will of man as a final
cause or supreme law of action is utterly and essentially
sinful, because the will of the Creator must of right be
the supreme law to all but rebellious and apostate
creatures, and the ultimate object in which all their
efforts find their consummation and satisfaction.
Alas ! I would that this noble and elevated philosophy
had as effectively planted itself in my heart, as it
easily and fully approves itself to my understanding.
But we are now concerned not with the actual, but
with the proper consequences of this principle, in the
establishment of which we seem to be at issue. Now
my belief, and that belief which seems to bring me
into collision with you, is this : that the doctrine of
the Bible, while it unquestionably prescribes one
principle of action, does nevertheless embrace a much
more extended subject-matter than many are led to
suppose. To communicate the will of God to others, I
confess, or rather I would maintain, naturally and
forcibly strikes us as the loftiest function to which His
creatures can be called. Then there are' many ways
of communicating that will, and perhaps those which
are the most obvious and direct may not be always
the most comprehensive or the most permanent in
their effects. But in its humbler forms, of example
always and of entreaty or admonition as power may
be given, it stands forth as an indefeasible duty and
privilege of every Christian. From this even now —
and I impute it to you even though I may seem to
impute along with it an erroneous judgment of your
understanding — you, the self-condemned, do not hold
yourself absolved, or you would not have written the
letter which lies before me.
I know, or think I have gathered it from you in
conversation, that you admit the universality of the
operation of Christian principle, and that beautiful
peculiarity which belongs to it, of investing with true

230 VARIETY OF FUNCTION [1833
sanctity even the humble and ordinary offices of daily
life : as, for example, that our Saviour did the will of
God, even as He sat at meat in the house of the
Pharisee ; that the Christian women would be doing
the will of God, who meekly obeyed the directions of
St. Paul, indicating to them a lowly and a silent path
of duty ; that even Onesimus went to do the will of
God, when the Apostle remanded him to the perform
ance of the labours of servitude, undignified except by
the spirit dwelling in him upon earth even amidst his
menial toil, and by his title to the glory of Christ's
inheritance in heaven. How wide then is the vine
yard of the Lord, and how true it is that He is the
God of all our nature, and that He wills all that tends
to its progression — for it is His own work and not ours
— provided only the law of proportion amidst its parts
be maintained, and all be governed and directed for
the fulfilment of His will by our spiritual advancement
in the knowledge and likeness of Him. But I con
jecture that your position is this — if I may be bold
enough to put words into your mouth, for the .sake of
making myself understood : ' I admit that God has
servants of ten thousand ranks for as many various
functions. Each man is blessed in the performance of
the work to which he has been called ; but I have
rejected the work to which I was called, therefore, by
your own rule I am no longer an heir of blessing.'
Now I will make my reply to this, though conscious
that I may perhaps be replying to my own argument,
and not yours. My reply is this : Admitting, for
argument's sake, that you were called to labour in a
higher office, and admitting, for the same reason, that
you refused and deserted your duty, and lost the
blessing attached thereto — yet I say that so long as in
your bodily and mental conformation there remains
any jot or tittle of any kind of power, which may
enable you in any way to perform any one of those
ten thousand functions, from the highest to the lowest,
so long you are called to its performance. You may
maintain inward persuasions to be a more direct call,
but you are not one who can deny that God calls by
circumstances also; that his Providence mingles itself
in all the shifting events of this world of shadows, and
speaks by those events, palpably and intelligibly, and

i83s] INSTRUMENT AND PURPOSE 231
in a manner such that we are responsible and guilty if
we answer not : well then, to apply this argument, in
your mind are faculties capable of ministering — in a
degree, if you choose, infinitely minute — still, capable
of ministering to the glory of God — how can you
escape the obligation of using them ? You hold the
argument of final causes — you infer the existence of a
Divine volition from the applicability of certain instru
ments to certain ends : but what would become of
that noble and irrefragable argument if the mute
creatures of God had rebelled like ourselves against
the laws of their existence — if the applicability every
where existed, but nowhere the application ? So long
as you maintain that you are debarred from doing the
will of God — that is, from performing duty, having at
the same time a spirit capable in no mean degree of
appreciating the harmony of His visible works and the
benevolence of His loftier unseen designs, are not you,
I say not in the condition, but in the determination
and intention of one who oversets that primary law
which even the elements of the most infantine and
immature religion absolutely need for a foundation
whereon to raise a future and more ample structure ?
Surely, then, you are still called : if not by visions of
heavenly glory, or by sweet accents heard in the calm
of your soul, still, though the manner be sterner and
more magisterial, by a title equally imperative, by the
essential character and capabilities which God has
communicated to your being ? — there is no link of
adamant so strong as that moral law which binds in an
indissoluble union the instrument fitted for a purpose,
and the purposes for which it is fitted. You cannot,
you do not deny, that the instruments and the pur
poses both exist : wherefore are they not brought
together? . . .

375. To John Gladstone (father).
Athol Cresceot,
November 30, 1835.
. . . The use of all the means it has been in my
power to employ upon the subject of religion has led

232 A RULE OF MARRIAGE [1835
me long since to a conclusion, which gathers strength
from the lapse of years : that in the doctrine of redemp
tion alone has Christianity any adequate foundation,
and that by this is meant, not Divine assistance to our
weakness, nor Divine protection to save us from ex
ternal foes, alone, but the purchase of our souls by
Jesus Christ, and the power of His Spirit to cure the
radical disease of our wills and hearts. And, further,
that these truths ought to become the great and govern
ing principles of daily life. As, therefore, a great
disparity in worldly circumstances, or a great dis
crepancy in natural dispositions, renders a marriage
unfit, and in consequence unhappy, in an earthly point
of view, so, as it appears to me, the belief of the great
truths of redemption on one side, and their not being
received upon the other, presents a case of difference
as great, and in subject-matter infinitely more im
portant than the foregoing in a spiritual point of
view. Union, then, before this difference has been
removed, appears to my mind not in conformity with
the principles of our faith, and, as a necessary inference,
not a happy event, but, until those circumstances are
altered, a cause of regret. . . .
So far as I understand the question now, it is not
whether my convictions are to influence another's
conduct, but whether they are to govern my own. I
have reconsidered them again and again: most willing
am I to devote any time, and in any manner you may
wish, to their further investigation. My presence at
the marriage is, of course, at your option ; but it would
be as wrong there, as elsewhere, so to speak or act
as to falsify my belief.
For the present, then, I must be content with in
quiring what there is that I can do without giving the
lie to my conscience. Within those limits, I need
hardly say, it only needs to be pointed out.
Believe me, I have not chosen for my conduct
... a rule which I should shrink from applying to
myself. In writing to  , which (having your appro
bation) I propose to do in a day or two, it will be
my duty to express my humble but full concurrence
in the rule which they adopted of requiring unequi
vocal evidence of conformity in religious belief as a
preliminary to entertaining the question of marriage

1835] REGRET FOR HARSHNESS 233
— of conformity more comprehensive and minute
than any which has been thought of in the present
instance. It has the appearance of selfishness thus to introduce
my own far less important case : but I have no other
way of giving testimony to the fact that my feelings
are not based upon a disposition to sacrifice recklessly
the peace of others to mere speculations of my own.

376. To John Gladstone (father). Edinburgh,
December 26, 1835.
. . . There is indeed one thing that I can do, and
that is I can see now that I might have written a
letter quite as consistent with truth, and less likely
to be felt objectionable, than that which I did write.
I might have written to this effect : to have wished
him, as God knows I do, every blessing, to have
admitted my want of means to comprehend the
grounds of his satisfaction, and to have expressed a
belief that he had arrived at it by means of more ample
information than he had transmitted by letter. I am
quite persuaded that I might have written thus to him
more properly and less offensively, and I am therefore
ready, and more than ready, to express my regret for
my choosing a course of inconsiderate harshness, a
fault which I have in the course of my life had but
too many occasions to regret, and which I well know
to lie deep in my character. All this I could conse
quently do now, but it would be more satisfactory and
entire if I could have been enabled, not only to express
my conviction of my own fault, but also the reestablish-
ment of a full confidence that my opinion itself was
formed on defective and insufficient grounds. If,
however, you are of opinion that it is in vain to look
for the assurance which I have earnestly desired, and
that still my writing to the above effect will give any
satisfaction, I will not delay doing so a moment after
hearing from you. . . .

234 A BLESSED CALLING [1837

377. To the Rev. H. E. Manning.
Betchworth, Dorking,
March 29, 1837.
My dear Manning,
... I fully believe with you that there is in the
public councils of this realm, and especially in the
House of Commons, where, after all, the brunt ofthe
social battle is to be borne, a 'most blessed calling'
open to us, a work which does indeed cry aloud for
men to work it, and that is the application of the
searching test of Christian Catholic principles to those
numerous measures of the time which are in form or
substance or both calculated to bear powerfully on
religion. But there are few men in the kingdom the
joint state of whose minds and hearts would permit
them to discharge that function : and I fear their
mental composition is for the most part of too fine a
texture readily to undergo the rude handling of a
popular election, and the subsequent contact with
party combinations and with every form of worldly
motive. It must require a large gift of grace, to have
strength for carrying unharmed through the crowd so
precious and so delicate a burden. It is no reproach
to our party leaders that they fail to develop in their
public speeches what the study and the cloister have
only rewrought out in this country within the few last
years : for I think that that form of Christian feeling
which we now want as applicable to statesmanship,
involving a mixed and justly proportioned regard to
the body and spirit of institutions, is one different
from personal piety even where combined with
intellect, still more different from any combination of
secular motives, only realized by a few persons under
the most favourable circumstances, requiring time to
spread over and tinge the general sentiment of the
nation, and less likely to prevail in proportion as
persons are in contact firstly with the excitements,
secondly with that pressure of detail, which are the
accompaniments of all politics, but especially so of
those of our own day and time. And let me observe
this further : there is a great obstacle to this develop
ment in the peculiar nature of that description of

1837] ITS DIFFICULTIES 235
speaking which is required in the present day. It is
not now as it was in ancient times, when the orator
addressed his audience from the elevation of a mental
bema as well as a physical one ; he must now stand
upon the floor — believe me this is no fanciful analogy
— he must, having the part of a debater in the House of
Commons to discharge, place himself upon a level with
his audience, his mind with their minds ; study their
accessibilities accurately and narrowly, seek to lead
their wills and not trust to a tone of command, to a
mere display of intellectual power, or to the influence
of rank or character or experience, in anything like
the same degree to which it would formerly have been
safe. In fine, it is of the character of a debater to be
peculiarly subject to impressions from his audience, to
be passive before and while he is active, to be oppressed
by the sense of their antipathy while he is seeking to
rouse or create their sympathy. Now if this be true,
and, as all the world knows, the standard of the religious
sympathies of the House of Commons, is not the
distance immeasurable between that frame of mind, and
that frame of language, in which a debater can be
intelligible, so to speak, to this audience, and those on
the other hand in which he must needs be himself in
order fully to realize the conception of the Christian
Faith and the Christian Church ?
For myself I avow that, taught as I have been in a
sound and also an awakened University, and blest as
I am with friends who, from positions less disturbed,
supply me from time to time with views of unmaimed
and uncontaminated truth, it were a sin indeed if I did
not look forward with desire at least, though with slen
der hope, to a struggle with these difficulties ; but it
would also be a blindness grosser than that of which I am
conscious if I did not see that I have never yet
succeeded at all in carrying myself upwards during a
speech to that region of pure principle, and at the same
time retaining the sympathy of the hearers. When
the handling of obvious and everyday considerations
is at an end, and when after the time for argument,
should come the time to rise into the expression of
feeling, I cannot describe to you the sensation of
faintness and incapacity which oppresses the mind ;
it tries to fly, and finds itself laden with wings of lead,

236 CHURCH PROPERTY [1837
and the only refuge of the tongue is in some bald and
general commonplaces. This is sad truth : and yet
what you say is true, that, so far as the principle of an
Establishment is perceived in the House of Commons,
on our side at least, it is honestly, warmly, loyally,
felt by a class of men either religious or at least high-
minded, and they will always respond even to the
feeblest appeal upon such a subject.
Nothing that I have said is intended as in the nature
of an exception to any view which you have taken :
and I shall always be glad when you are inclined to
open to me those yet unfolded sentiments upon this
subject to which you advert.
Now with reference to the doctrine of alienations of
religious property. I did not, so far as I am aware,
commit myself upon the rectitude of such alienation in
any case — unless you think that I did so virtually, by
remarking that it might be consistent with maintaining
the principle of a National Establishment : and I
instanced the period when half the land was in the
possession of the Church as affording the example of
such a case. What more we are bound to do, as men
and as a nation, than simply to maintain the principle
and practice of such an Establishment, is, I think, an
ulterior question.
Upon your general doctrine I am not prepared to
give a decided opinion : but it seems to me to suggest
many preliminary inquiries — e.g., what is the nature of
the consecration proposed to be untied : and whether
it were really and unmixedly to the direct religious
worship of God. And whether the alienation be to
purposes capable of receiving a Christian character —
e.g., education : and charity in all its forms. Whether,
if it be wrong in all cases to alienate, it were wrong to
stop the bequests of lands on their way to the treasury
of the Church, as was done, and I think properly, by
the Statutes of Mortmain. Whether there be so broad
a line of distinction between the devotion of which
you speak, and that devotion of his property along
with every other gift, not merely a nominal, but a
real though an indirect one, which every Christian
owes to God. Whether this line were not evidently
much broader under the Jewish dispensation.
Whether the argument therefrom would apply as

1837] WHEN ALIENABLE 237
strongly where the proportions were greatly exceeded.
Whether the consecration had been made by persons
really competent — i.e., not under delusion. In short,
there is great difficulty in applying any very broad
abstract principle to a creature so essentially concrete
and conventional as property. But after having
stated all these questions, which might issue either
into mere bubbles or into serious considerations, I still
come to nearly the same point as yourself, because I
never contemplated the distinct case of alienation to
sheer secular uses, and I feel that no diversion of any
kind should take place except at the point, if there be
a point, where the purposes themselves are hindered
by the bulk of apparatus for working them out. We
both admit a class of mixed uses — e. g., feeding the
poor : yet alienation for this would, I think, be
sacrilege before the higher purposes were satisfied,
though charity after it. But, I think, further we should
erect a Propaganda with the excess of our own Church
property rather than divert it (were there any). But
this is beyond the mere principle of a National Church.
Your sincerely attached
W. E. Gladstone.

378. To John Gladstone (father). Fasque,
October 29, 1837.
When the idea of building an Episcopal chapel was
lately mentioned amidst the light conversation of the
dinner-table at Fasque, it passed off in a manner suit
able rather to the occasion (for which I, as the intro
ducer, am responsible) than to the subject itself. It
has certainly struck me that there are reasons for it,
which you would deem serious at least, whether they
are or are not in your view sufficient; and having once
been led almost involuntarily to allude to them, I
cannot help wishing to give them the advantage of
a more intelligible statement : and I only premise that
I do so trusting to your invariable indulgence, and
of my own motion alone, no other person being aware
that I write this letter.
As regarded the point to which you alluded in jest —

238 A CHURCH AT FASQUE [1837
namely, my contributing to the expense — I revert to
it in earnest for the purpose of stating that it would
afford me cordial pleasure to do so, both as a means in
general of doing good, and also because in the particular
instance it would tend towards supplying one of your
own wants, which are the only ones that you ever fail
to meet, while you more than satisfy those of all
around you. In a few months I believe there will be
near £3,000 at my credit in the books of the House ;
and if I were allowed, on the ground above stated,
to devote £1,000 of this towards the object in question,
I should be ready and desirous to do it.
Next I will endeavour to set aside two objections
which might offer themselves to the proposed plan.
The first, that it would seem to be an interference
with the Kirk of Fettercairn ; the second, that it would
not afford sufficient employment for a clergyman.
With reference to the first (as some might consider it
of weight), I should observe that the population of the
parish is increasing : and that it already appears to be
quite beyond Mr. Whyte's powers of visiting when we
take into view its considerable extent. I never enter
a cottage where I do not find testimony, in general
volunteered, to this fact. The village kirk is already
crowded, and does not, I believe, supply the full
amount of seat-room for which the heritors are legally
liable. As regards the second, my idea certainly is that it
would be desirable on every account for the clergyman
of an Episcopal chapel, if built at or near Fasque, to
have some additional occupation or study besides that
immediately connected with his cure : and that this
would readily be supplied by his taking pupils. A
desirable tutor, anywhere in England, has no difficulty
in getting them, and the remuneration is considerable.
In Scotland I cannot help thinking such a person
would be still more in request: and a better situation
could hardly be conceived.
I shall now endeavour to enumerate some of the
positive advantages which I think would accrue, and
that not simply according to my own views (for to
them the acquisition of an Apostolical ministry and
ordinances within easy distance is alone enough), but
as I think they might strike observers in general.

1837] ITS VALUE TO THE OLD 239
How can I omit, in the first place, to speak of your
self, and for the reason I before gave, that you will
neither speak nor think of yourself ? You have, I trust
in God, a considerable proportion of many successive
years of health and vigour to spend at Fasque. I have
often heard you lament the comparative meagreness
of the Scottish worship, and owing to its peculiar
nature it is now wholly beyond your reach. In the
place you have made so commodious and delightful,
may you not remain without the privilege of partici
pating in the ordinances to which the Divine promises
belong !
As next in order I take your household. They are,
and are likely to continue, wholly or in great proportion
members of the English Church : and one can hardly
say less than that it is desirable to place the services of
that Church within their reach : nay, that it would be
so were those services only on a level in point of advan
tage with those of the Scottish Establishment. Besides
which, as I take it for granted, they would not have
to go so far even as now to Fettercairn, and in pro
portion they would be able to attend with more
regularity. The next point that I would mention is one connected
with the almshouses you are about to build. The old
people are a class much to be felt for here as regards
their spiritual concerns. The discipline of Presby
terianism does not allow the Communion to be ad
ministered to them in their own houses. It would
be no small advantage, surely, to have a minister who
(where they desired it) could avail himself of a wiser
system. But further : that class in an uncertain cli
mate are very liable to be cut off from public worship by
any inclemency of weather : and they soon become
disqualified for traversing the distance between many
of the cottages on your estate and Fettercairn. The
present opportunity would enable you so to adjust the
relative situations that these aged and commonly forlorn
persons should, amidst your other bounties, have to
bless your name for the secure enjoyment of the most
valuable gift they can possess on earth.
I believe there is little doubt that they would be
glad to avail themselves of the services of the English
Church. At least, I can testify that in every case I

240 AND TO THE VERY YOUNG [1837
have known they have accepted the English Prayer-
Book with joy, or even solicited it with eagerness.
Descending to the very young from the old, one
cannot fail to observe with pain how very rarely they
are taken to church in this country for a period of
several years after they become capable of appreciating,
in the heart at least, if not the understanding, our
beautiful and simple Liturgy, although doubtless in
capable of properly following an extempore prayer.
Now, if a school were connected with this chapel, not
in the way of opposition, but of substitution for some
one of those already existing in the parish, I cannot
but believe that the parents would, in many instances,
gladly afford their children the enjoyment of the bless
ing of public worship which would thus be at their
command. As regards other attendants, besides your household,
the young, and the old, of course I do not contemplate,
at once, any considerable number : nor do I more than
mention that we have been, as you know, at times forty
in number within your own walls : nor that our neigh
bours at Fettercairn and at Thornton are Episco
palians : but the members of our communion are
likewise spread, and not thinly, through the people.
I have never made it my business to ascertain them,
but casually I have found on your own estate Wilkie,
one of your tenants, and his entire family : the mother
of another, Bruce. Old widow Fraser, at the Old Mains,
for twenty-five years attendedthe Laurencekirk Chapel,
but now cannot go to the village, and therefore goes
nowhere. Close by Craigneston Bridge, Mrs. Mollison,
again, is Episcopalian. Crabb, the tailor, and his fam
ily (but he has removed, for a time at least, to Brechin),
and the Exciseman of the village, were all that I knew
in Fettercairn. These, however, you will observe, are
known to me, not by search for the purpose, but as
it were by accident.
Of course the erection of such a chapel would be a
relief, as far as it went, to the pressing demand for
seats in the parish church, which, if unrelieved, will
soon, I suppose, lead to a demand for its enlargement.
The expense, according to the rates of building here
and the local facilities, could not be great. If a school
for children were added, I fancy it would support itself.

1837] THE SCOTTISH SERVICE 241
The right description of clergyman would be, I should
think, a young man in English Orders, and his emolu
ments (of course not of a nature to locate him here for
a great number of years, which would be quite un
necessary) would be, say, a small endowment, a house,
a proportion of the weekly collections, and the pay
ments of pupils.
I have thus endeavoured to lay before you the case
upon its own merits, and without attempting to create
a favourable inclination on your part by raising up
voices in its support ; and if I have not expressed a
willingness to lay out upon the proposed undertaking
a greater share of what your extreme bounty has
enabled me to save, it has been from the recollection
that other places and objects have their claims.
Individually I am perhaps less interested than others
in the realization of the plan, for to me it is no great
hardship under any circumstances to go to Laurence
kirk : though I will not deny that I may have been
partly stimulated to its proposal by a constantly and
painfully increasing sense of the inadequacy of the
Scottish service (without any disparagement to Mr.
Whyte's efforts individually, which seem to me to do
him great credit) to the most essential purposes of
public worship.
I hardly know whether it be worth while to suggest
as a modification of this plan, or as a commencement
for it, that possibly an arrangement might be made
with Goalen to give a single service here on the Sunday
besides his duty at Laurencekirk, for this seems of at
best doubtful practicability.
Of our afternoon prayers in the dining-room, it is
enough to say they do not seem to me in any sense
worthy to be called a substitute, unless we were
necessarily debarred from the reality.
And now it only remains to ask your pardon for
having at so much length stated my own insignificant
opinions, and to express a trust and prayer that they
may be dealt with, not according to any wishes of
mine, but to their own merits and the substantial
interests involved.
I remain, my beloved father,
Your ever-affectionate son,
W. E. Gladstone.
VOL. II — 16

242 A FAITHFUL LETTER [1840
379. To J. R. Hope.
6, Carlton Gardens,June 11, 1839.
My dear Hope,
Accept my sincere thanks for your faithful and
friendly letter : I love it far better than merely smooth
and thoughtless congratulations. You will, I hope,
soon know my wife, and try her by the test you pro
pose ; unless I am mistaken, the genuine graces of her
character — and of course I speak not of human graces
alone or chiefly — will abide it. We have both much
need amidst the kindness that pours upon us ; and I
more in proportion, as I am less worthy to have our
thoughts directed to the Cross, and to the Man of
Sorrows upon it. Pray for us that we may be enabled
to bear both our griefs and our joys so that they may
work out in us, and by us, the purposes of God. I
rely much on your friendship. I hope you will never
shrink from admonishing me, and that my attachment
may grow with your fidelity.
God bless you now and ever, and believe me,
Your warm friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
'380. To J. R. Hope. Hawarden Rectory,
September 8, 1840.
My dear Hope,
... I agree very much in the general spirit
of your remarks respecting the details of the institution,
and in most of the observations themselves. I think,
however, that it would not be wise to separate the
clerical pupils so soon as you propose. For fifteen or
sixteen I should say seventeen or eighteen, thinking it
desirable to keep lay boys until the natural age for their
repairing to the Universities. I am rather persuaded
that their last years at the college would be the best :
but if it were not so, we might discourage their re
maining a little by taxing them higher. Neither do
I like the proposal that the exhibitioners who are to be
candidates for Orders should sleep in a common apart
ment. I think that a certain measure of privacy is very

1841] EARLY SEPARATION 243
advisable and very sacred for persons who have grown
to the full use of all their faculties. I have been con
sidering the education of the laity all along, not only as
a great object, but as quite co-ordinate to the other in
importance, and greater in bulk. A very small establish
ment indeed would enable you to educate as many
candidates for Orders as the Church in Scotland is
likely for some time to require : but without such a
school for the laity as we contemplate, I think the
means of extending Church principles in Scotland will
be greatly crippled; for at present the clergy are without
access, almost, to the gentry, unless in a few excep
tional cases. I am afraid that your plan of early
separation would startle people much, and should
wish the general aspect of a school to remain elevated
indeed, but undisturbed. There is no such separation
as you mention in the Anglo-Popish colleges, I believe :
and surely it is early enough at seventeen or eighteen.
All these, however, are matters in which we may
compare our ideas with each other and with friends
hereafter, so as either to agree or to differ without
impeding the pursuit of our great common object: the
time has not yet arrived for dealing with them defini
tively, as you observe.
With respect, however, to the general problem — how
to unite in a common education persons paying different
rates of charge, without arrogance on the one hand and
debasement on the other — I look to attaining that
object by dividing the foundation scholarships partly
into exhibitions for those who are to be clergymen,
and partly into rewards of merit, open to competition
by the whole body of the school. I should hope that
this would keep them in the same relation of moral
superiority as the studentships at Christ Church have
with respect to commonerships. . . .

381. To Lord Lyttelton. London,
March 5, 1841.
... I received yesterday a letter from Girdlestone
enclosing copies of the same papers which you have
sent me. It is a very difficult subject : and it appears
to me that, of the two points contrary to G.'s view,

244 EXPURGATED CLASSICS [1841
the expurgation of the text is far more questionable
than Christianizing the notes. As respects the latter
branch, I see no obstacle that ought to prevent it :
only it should be done by very judicious men, who
will not run out into sermons in their notes : they
should be in my view dryly and succinctly done. But
to me it seems that expurgation is liable to many
objections, although I admit the use of the entire text
is by no means free from them. It is a happy circum
stance that, of the classical books otherwise most apt
and most in use for boys, there is hardly any one
except Horace which raises the question : and the
quantity of expurgation requisite in him is limited.
The amount being small and the quality, very bad, I
do not see why in mere school Horaces the omissions
should not be made : but I do not see that it could be
extended much farther. In such a case as that of
Juvenal entire satires must be omitted : and instead
of publishing Juvenal purged, it would be better, it
seems to me, to select certain satires only for boys to
read first. Even in the tenth, however, there must be
an omission, but, if I recollect right, only one. As to
applying the process to the whole of Aristophanes, it
is, I imagine, hopeless : but a play or two might be
selected for the initiation of boys, and disencumbered.
It seems to me quite fallacious and visionary to talk of
publishing a number of authors, or any general edition
of the classics, on this principle : it goes upon the
supposition, which I imagine would prove totally
false, that young persons, up to the age at which they
have gained an acquaintance with a considerable range
of classical authors, would hereby be kept free from
the notions it is desired to avoid.
But, after all, what I should most like to have upon
this important subject would be the judgment of a
good and sensible man who had been extensively
conversant with the education of youths where it had
been conducted upon the principle of expurgation. I
cannot deny or palliate the fact that mischief does
arise from the present practice : and though I much
doubt whether, generally speaking, natural appetite
and curiosity together do not greatly outrun informa
tion thus acquired, and anticipate any temptation it
may bring, yet if a practical man could be found to

1841] BOYS AND SCHOOLS 245
say, ' I have seen much of boys educated this way and
also that, and I find the one class much purer than the
other,' I should willingly choke my own suspicions.
This question connects itself very much with a
larger question respecting young boys, and the ex
pediency of sending them to public schools. There is
no doubt that it places them early in contact with
danger : the question is, whether upon the whole of
the process of entering life the aggregate of danger is
hereby increased or diminished. My own strong
conviction is, that to send a bad or a weak boy to a
public school is madness : but that every boy who
with a true principle of love to his Redeemer has any
firmness or tone of character is better there than any
where else. On something of the same consideration
I believe we must be content to act with reference
to false principles and corrupting passages in the
classics. Nay, further, is it not to be recollected that
the principle of expurgation, narrowly viewed, is
capable of application even to the Bible, almost as
much as to those authors whom I have named ? It
might also be applied to all unchristian passages in all
authors that boys are to read, though in various
degrees. If I were a juryman obliged to make a verdict on
pain of starvation, I should say, T think it imprac
ticable to carry the principle of expurgation of the
classics to any considerable extent, but can see no
harm in applying it to such works as are put into the
hands of young boys before they begin to range freely
in their reading. ..." July 4, 1841.
382. Part of a Circular giving an Account of the
Proposed College.
In order more fully to inform parties who are
unacquainted with the details of the 'higher English
Education' mentioned in this Circular, it has been
thought expedient to specify the chief particulars of
the Education alluded to.
These are :
I. The union of religious teaching and of habits of
public worship with secular instruction.

246 UNITY IN EDUCATION [1841
2. The regulation of conduct out of school-hours,
whether by the general discipline of the system, or by
superintendence within boarding houses.
3. The general teaching of reading, writing, and
arithmetic, of the English, Latin, and Greek languages,
of history, ancient and modern, of mathematics, of
science, moral and physical, and of the doctrine of the
Church, according to the gradual capacity of boys
from the age (say) of eight up to the age of eighteen.
Also the supplying means of instruction in foreign
languages, drawing, and music to those pupils whose
parents may desire these accomplishments.
The advantages above mentioned cannot at present
be procured in a combined form by Episcopalians in
any public institution in Scotland, and yet it is upon
their combination that the chief value of each particular
depends. Thus historical, classical, and scientific instruction,
to be safe, must be guarded by religion : doctrine to
be held otherwise than as a theory must be inter
woven with the elements of general knowledge and
find a practical support in religious exercises ; and,
again, lectures in all branches, Catechisms, and acts of
public worship, must have their deficiencies supplied,
their effects combined and assisted and the regular use
of them enforced by domestic discipline and the
continual superintendence of authority.
In the chief English schools this union of means
either is, or, according to their Constitution, ought to
be attained, but at a cost (to speak roughly) of not less
than from £100 to £200 and upwards per annum
besides the expense and inconvenience attendant upon
the distance from Scotland at which these schools are
placed. In the proposed institution it is calculated
that both board and the general Education above
described might be furnished at from fifty to seventy
guineas per annum according to the age of the pupil
or less than one half of the expense in England.
It is also thought that the foundation of a new
establishment would afford facilities for a fuller
development of the system than can always be ensured
in England.

1841] . SCOTTISH TEACHERS 247
383. To J. R. Hope.
Liverpool, August 9, 1841.
My dear Hope,
Since I last wrote to you it has appeared to me
that we are, in point of fact, extremely strong in
utilitarian arguments for the Scotch College. That
the soil of Scotland is admirably adapted for the
growth of patient, earnest, and able persons fitted for
the office of teaching is clearly shown by a fact noto
rious to us all, namely, that England is at this very
time importing schoolmasters by scores from beyond
the Border : in other words, we in England want a
great number of persons to undertake a laborious and
scantily remunerated function, and at the same time
absorbing all that our own region can supply, we are
obliged to depend upon Scotland to enlarge our store.
Now, just let us consider that English schoolmaster-
ships, such as are now drawing Scotch masters to fill
them, are better paid (or quite as well at the very least)
than the clerical cures in Scotland for which we wish
to provide : surely, then, upon the genuine principles
of free trade, and setting aside every argument for
encouraging home growth as such, it is clear that
Scotland is better fitted than England for yielding the
class of persons we want, inasmuch as she is now an
exporting country of such persons, while England is
an importing one. I think that this topic is capable of
being handled with great truth and effect, and that
some of our refractory or reluctant friends will surely
see that talent and character available for a teaching
function are to be had cheaper and more easily in
Scotland than in England.
Nor can it be said in answer to this that the Scotch
are a Presbyterian people, and that the class now
trained for schools would not take advantage of the
College : it is notorious that many of them come into
Church schools in England, which is scarcely com
patible with the supposition that none of them would
use a Church seminary in Scotland.
I have here grazed another topic, viz., that the
College ought to be a training-school for schoolmasters
too, and that by its means we have a prospect of

248 FOUNDER'S MOTIVES [1841
regulating the Bell bequest according to the intention
of the founder, which I imagine is hardly done at
present : but the argument is of wider scope, and goes
upon the anomaly of coming to a dear country _ to
supply a cheap one which is already itself supplying
that dear one, by reason of its dearness, with (economi
cally speaking) the same commodity. . . .
I remain always,
Your attached friend,
W. E. Gladstone.

384. To the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Audley End,
Sunday, November 21, 1841.
My Lord Archbishop,
It is probable your Grace may have received
about this time a letter from Bishop Skinner, the
Primus of the Episcopal College in Scotland, request
ing your Grace's countenance and support to a design
for founding an educational institution, for both lay
and clerical training, in that country.
I shall not presume to offer any pleading on behalf
of a project which, I trust, will be more effectually
commended to your Grace's notice by the documents
which Bishop Skinner undertook to forward: but
having been in the first instance, together with Mr.
James Hope, responsible for the suggestion, I venture
to furnish some slight information respecting it.
The moving cause with us, I am bound to state, was
not ambitious or aggressive intention, but an earnest
desire to supply the Episcopal Communion in Scotland
with an organ of the first necessity for her internal
welfare. She is as yet destitute of the means of rearing
her own children, and to provide adequate instruments
for this purpose will require all her disposable energies
for a length of time.
And I am glad to say that, so far as I know, this
scheme has not in any respectable quarter been mis
construed into an attack, open or covert, upon the
Church Establishment of Scotland.
The only circumstance, I conceive, that could make
it wear that aspect would be its failing to obtain public,

1841] BASIS OF COLLEGE 249
general, and (so to speak) authoritative support in
England. It was received at the outset by the Scottish Bishops
with a cordial approbation of its principle and aim :
by some influential parties among the laity with in
difference, or even aversion: by others with satisfaction,
as the Duke of Sutherland and some more ; and it
pleased God that from the very first it should be
cordially welcomed by some persons, such as the
Duke of Buccleuch and the late Lord Lothian, who
had both the will and the power to place it on a stable
footing. The Queen-Dowager has also granted her
patronage. From what I know of the existence of such disposi
tions in Scotland, I may venture to assure your Grace
that, humanly speaking, the scheme will proceed:
though of course the difficulties to be encountered,
and the comprehensiveness of its utility, will depend
very much on the quality as well as the amount of
support which may be acceded to it.
Mr. Hope, I know, partakes with me in the desire
that we may be understood to claim no other share
in the proceedings connected with it than would be
open to any other individuals anxious to aid them,
and indeed, as to myself, my occupations will not
allow of my paying them more than an occasional
and rare attention. On every ground we trust that
it may be identified in the utmost possible degree with
the Church herself, by having a basis of principles
neither narrower nor less defined, and by being placed
under the control of the Scottish Bishops.
At present I think it may be asserted with truth that
the design stands well in the general opinion north
of the Border. We trust, however, to receive important
aid from England, especially from the approval of the
rulers of the Church and from great institutions con
nected with it. We have reason to believe that very
favourable dispositions exist in the Committee, for
example, of the Christian Knowledge Society : but I
may, perhaps, be pardoned for suggesting that no
circumstance could so favourably introduce our appeal
in England as if your Grace should think fit to make a
specific recommendation on behalf of the projected
college to that Society.

250 WARD'S APPEAL [1843
I may further submit that, should your Grace be so
inclined, it would be an important advantage that the
Committee should be in possession of your Grace's
mind on the subject at its meeting on the 29th, or at
the latest on the 6th, in order that the requisite notice
might be given at the meeting of the Society on the
7th, and the matter entertained definitively at the
January meeting. I remain, . . .
W. E. G.
I have also written to the Archbishops of York and
Armagh.
385. To Mrs. Gladstone. Fasque,
August 18, 1842.
. . . You do not seem to be much disturbed by the
neighbourhood of this turn-out, which I hope may
cause no commotion beyond the edge of the manufac
turing district ; but in itself it is formidable. This is
the time when we may reflect on the thorough rotten
ness, socially speaking, of the system which gathers
together huge masses of population having no other
tie to the classes above them than that of employment,
of high money payment constituting a great moral
temptation in times of prosperity, and then reductions
in adversity which seem like robberies, and which the
poor people have no discipline or training to endure.
386. To the Rev. W. G. Ward. Whitehall,
November 23, 1843.
My dear Ward,
Let me thank you for your note, which renews
our direct intercourse after so many eventful and
changeful years. It is but little that I have to say in
reply, but I felt a dislike to the appearance of in
difference which silence would have borne, considering
your direct appeal. Be assured that I thank you for
your frankness, while I must beg you to excuse my
own.

1843] THE GIFT OF SCRIPTURE 251
If you are desirous to find 'any one good thing
about the English Reformation ' before you publish ;
and if you ask me to point out what may correspond
with that condition, I am driven to the answer that
the way to that discovery may lie through an opera
tion upon your own mind : as if on a lowering, stormy
day a person said to me, ' I see nothing but clouds ;
show me the daylight,' he would force me to conclude
that there was something in his vision requiring to be
dealt with. Anxious ' to see as much good as you can in
all movements,' you find 'in the English Reformation
itself,' and not merely in the motives of its instruments,
'as nearly unmixed wickedness' as 'the intrinsic in
consistency of human nature' will allow. I am most
certain that you would not knowingly judge either of
men or things in an inequitable mode or spirit : but of
what you have done unconsciously I confess to a very
different opinion.
For my part, without going farther, I see in the
free use of Scripture by the Christian people at large,
not for controversy, nor for dogmatic accuracy, nor
for the satisfaction of the understanding, but for its
milk and meat, the food of the spirit, one undeniable
object and fruit of the English Reformation which
appears to me not to correspond to the description of
'nearly unmixed wickedness': and the sense of that
which I deem an immense though a much-misused
blessing is, I confess, quickened when I remember
what substitutes for that celestial gift are supplied in
som6 other Christian lands.
But I am not so vain as really to suppose that it can
lie with me to point out to a much more competent
and experienced person anything that has not already
met his view. I do not draw consolation, in the
perusal of your note, from any such hope, for it would
indeed be anything rather than a reproach to you that
what I had said carried no conviction, or rather no
suspicion, to your mind.
I lean much more on the belief, which your kind
expressions confirm, that it is possible for persons to
seek the truth, while they differ concerning the way to
it, under such conditions, both of faith and temper,
that they may have an union in and by virtue of that
search, real though not yet fully realized : and that,

252 THE DIVINE WILL [1844
where it is so, the subjects of that relation may wait
with content and thankfulness for the day of being
made perfect in peace.
Believe me always,
Very sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

387. To Mrs. Gladstone.
13, Carlton House Terrace,
Sunday Evening,
January 21, 1844.
... I am going to end this day of peace by a few
words to show that what you said did not lightly pass
away from my mind. There is a beautiful little sentence
in the works of Charles Lamb concerning one who had
been afflicted : 'He gave his heart to the Purifier, his
will to the Will that governs the Universe.' But there
is a speech in the third canto of the 'Paradiso' of
Dante, spoken by a certain Piccarda, which is a rare
gem. I will only quote this one line :
'In la Sua volontade e nostra pace.'
The words are few and simple, and yet they appear to
me to have an inexpressible majesty of truth about
them, to be almost as if they were spoken from the
very mouth of God. It so happened that (unless my
memory much deceives me) I first read that speech
upon a morning early in the year 1836, which was one
of trial, although the meaning of the event that made
it such has since been made manifest, and it wears in
retrospect a character quite different ; and I was pro
foundly impressed and powerfully sustained, almost
absorbed by them. They cannot be too deeply graven
upon the heart — in short, what we all want is that they
should not come to us as an admonition from without,
but as an instinct from within. They should not be
adopted by effort or upon a process of proof, but they
should be simply the translation into speech of the
habitual tone to which all tempers, affections, emotions,
are set ; that as, in a time of gaiety, the lively conscious
ness of a state of enjoyment revives again and again,
so in the Christian mood, which ought never to be

1844] THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH 253
intermitted, the sense of this conviction should recur
spontaneously, that it should be the foundation of all
mental thoughts and acts, and the measure to which
the whole experience of life inward and outward is
referred. The final state which we are to contemplate
with hope, and to seek by discipline, is that in which
our will shall be one with the will of God : not merely
shall submit to it, not merely shall follow after it, but
shall live and move with it even as the pulse of the
blood in the extremities acts with the central move
ment of the heart. And this is to be obtained through
a double process : the first, that of checking, repressing,
quelling, the inclination of the will to act with reference
to self as a centre — this is to mortify it: the second, to
cherish, exercise, and expand, its new and heavenly
power of acting according to the will of God, first,
perhaps, by painful effort in great feebleness and with
many inconsistencies, but with continually augmenting
regularity and force until obedience become a necessity
of second nature.
And these two processes are carried on together.
Your abundant overflowing affection as a wife leads
you to wish we were together, while duty keeps us
apart. You check that affection, school and subdue
it — that is mortifying the individual will. That of it
self is much more than the whole of what is contem
plated by popular opinion as a Christian duty, for resig
nation is too often conceived to be merely a submission
not unattended with complaint to what we have no
power to avoid ; but it is less than the whole of the work
of a Christian. Your full triumph, as far as that par
ticular occasion of duty is concerned, will be to find that
you not merely repress outward complaint — nay, not
merely repress inward tendencies to murmur — but that
you would not if you could alter what in any matter God
has plainly willed ; that you have a satisfaction and
a comfort in it because it is His will, although from its
own native taste you would have revolted. Here is
the great work of religion : here is the path through
which sanctity is attained, the highest sanctity. And
yet it is a path evidently to be traced in the course
of our daily duties ; for it is clear that the occasions
of every day are numberless, amidst the diversities of
events, upon which a true spiritual discrimination may

254 INTERRUPTED DUTIES [1844
find employment in discerning the will of God, and
in which also the law of love and self-denial may be
applied in the effort to conform to it both inwardly
and outwardly so soon as it shall have been discerned.
And thus the high attainments that have their crown
and their reward in heaven do not require, in order that
we may learn them, that we should depart from our
common duties, but they lie by the wayside of life ;
and every pilgrim of this world may, If he have grace,
become an adept in them.
When we are thwarted in the exercise of some
innocent, laudable, and almost sacred affection, as in
the case, though its scale be small, out of which all
this has grown, Satan has us at an advantage ; because
when the obstacle occurs we have a sentiment that
the feeling baffled is a right one, and in indulging
a rebellious temper we flatter ourselves that we are
merely, as it were, indignant on behalf, not of ourselves,
but of a duty which we have been interrupted in per
forming. But our duties can take care of themselves
when God calls us away from any of them, and when
He interrupts the discharge of one it is to ascertain, by
the manner of bearing the interruption, whether we are
growing fit for another which is higher. To be able
to relinquish a duty upon command shows a higher
grace than to be able to give up a mere pleasure for
a duty ; it shows a more practical discernment of the
Divine will to distinguish between two things differing
only in measure, than between one which has a manifest
stamp of God upon it and another which is but remotely
related to Him, or what is commonly (and hazardously)
called indifferent.
Monday.
Thus far last night. To-day I only add that what
precedes is with me speculation, not practice. . . .

388. To Lord Medwyn.

Fasque,
October 5, 1844.

... As at present informed, I could not participate
in any application to Sir Robert Peel and the Chan
cellor of the Exchequer for an increase of the

Photo, Chidley, Chester.

MR. GLADSTONE, 1897.

1844] FRESH RELAXATIONS 255
grant to the Episcopal Communion of Scotland, even
upon the very modest scale which you propose —
namely, by the simple change of a biennial into an
annual gift of £1,200.
My reasons are various, and in part, but in part
only, have reference to myself personally. I think
that every new grant, and in its degree every aug
mentation of a grant, to an unestablished body of
Christians, is a new relaxation of the connection
between Church and State : and that I am a very unfit
person to take part in any such proceeding : although
I am far from saying that I regard you, for example,
as bound by the same ties. At the same time I cannot
help thinking that all our brethren in Scotland should
well consider the effect of any effort they may make
upon the claims, especially when regarded as exclusive
claims, of the Church in England, and especially in
Ireland. I pass, however, to more general reasons. What
claim can we urge upon Parliament ? Loyalty is a duty,
and does not entitle the loyal subject to have his
religion endowed. Shall we, then, plead the Apostolic
title of the Bishops? I for one am ready to urge it,
except to the State : because, if that argument be good
for anything to the State, it is good to the extent of
claiming the whole property of the Presbyterian
Church Establishment. But of course, in making
such a request as you propose, our friends would
carefully disclaim any such idea, and would ask the
money as a free and almost an eleemosynary gift. I
have a considerable repugnance to seeing the Episcopal
Communion of Scotland seek, by the mouth of those
who for such purposes are her organs, for public
support in formd pauperis, because I think it has some
tendency to lead us to undervalue, or even to disavow,
our unassailable ecclesiastical position. The preten
sion to represent spiritually the ancient Church of the
country is serious and respectable while it is urged
soberly and not compromised by those who hold it ;
I should see no compromise in accepting what the
State might tender ; I do not at all presume to limit
others who may feel themselves free in conscience to
go farther : but I am so satisfied that the strength of
our Church is intrinsic, and lies in the principles of

256 A GREAT SCANDAL [1844
her construction, that I am extremely loath to run
any risk of restraining the free expression of those
principles for the sake of a new pecuniary grant which
you very probably would not obtain, and which if
obtained might be a pledge of silence and of servitude.
I am by no means for premature and inconsiderate
assertion of the claims, in a religious view, of our
Church, but it is my earnest desire that she should
keep in her own hands the whole question as to the
time and mode of opening them.
It may occur to you that these opinions are not less
fatal to the acceptance of the present grant than to
an application for doubling it. But I am under the
impression, confirmed by the construction I put upon
your letter, that the present grant is the bounty of the
Sovereign, not of the Legislature, and that it was given
by the Crown out of moneys which would otherwise
have been available for the use of the Crown. If this
be so, it stands upon a ground wholly different ; and if
we could go with a prospect of success and with general
prudence to the Sovereign as a member of the Church
to ask her bounty, to this my objections would not
apply. I was not aware that the vote was now made
by Parliament ; but if it is, my view is not altered, for
I apprehend that Parliament takes over, as charges
upon the Treasury, burdens which may have been laid
on the Crown revenue while it was in the hands of the
Crown. We cannot plead that we are a numerous body in
Scotland. We can plead that we were established :
but look to the effect of this in the other two countries.
Still, I confess to you that I have reserved my
strongest grounds of objection for the last place. I
do not think there is on the face of the earth a greater
scandal than the state of the pecuniary resources of
the Scottish Episcopal Communion, when compared
with those of its individual members. We are few in
numbers, but we have a greater proportion of members
in easy circumstances, and even of great possessions,
than almost any other existing body of Christians.
We have also a ministry of which the hierarchical
structure rather tends to increase than to diminish the
just measure of its demands for pecuniary support.
With these facts staring us in the face, taunted with

1844] RICH CHURCHMEN 257
them as we are in the public journals, we are to resort
to the State for assistance upon the ground of the
poverty of our Church. Might we not more fitly cut
off one-half or three-fourths of the wages of our
domestic servants, or the allowances of our children,
and then ask the State to contribute to the relief of
their poverty ? A friendly Minister might be satisfied
to decline our application in silence, I confess that I
think a hostile one would not rest content without a
bitter taunt upon ourselves.
Poverty, undoubtedly, in our Bishops and clergy we
can show, along with wealth in ourselves, and the
ownership of perhaps half or more of the soil of
Scotland. True, this is no relief to the wants of our
clergy, I am not now arguing, God forbid, against
our taking some measures to improve their circum
stances : but I think if we go to the State, and are put
upon an exposition of the state of the facts, we shall
prove effectually that there never was an instance of
more undeniable ability on the part of a religious
community for the proper sustentation of its clergy,
and never an instance of half so disgraceful neglect.
But let me here insert one word to assure you that,
while I speak thus warmly, and perhaps vehemently, of
ourselves as a body, I honour not the less but the
more, on account of the general neglect of duty, those
few who have laboured to remove the evil : those few
of whom the honoured name you bear claims so large
a proportion. Always understanding, then, that my remarks
relate to the body, I proceed to say that the worst
part of the whole matter, darker even than the shame
of the visible state of our clergy as to their subsistence,
is the proof which our penuriousness affords of spiritual
languor, of indifference to the blessings of the com
munion of the Church, of disposition to adhere to the
good things of this world, and to part with no share of
them which we can contrive to retain — I was going to
say, which we can contrive decently to retain, but the
qualification may be dispensed with in word, for we
are not careful to observe it in act.
Now, I have a serious apprehension that an increase
of the existing grant by the State, as an act independ
ent of our own exertions, while in its immediate effect it
VOL. II  17

258 A POOR CHURCH [1844
would tend to mitigate the existing mischief, would
have a more extensive and permanent effect in hiding
from us our own misconduct, and in increasing there
by the deadness of conscience which is the real root
of it.
And now I must intreat you to forgive me for
having written with this freedom — a freedom con
sistent, as I trust, with the highest respect both for
your character and for the motives with which you
urge the claim of the Church, and also with a full
consciousness that I am ill informed and ill qualified
to come to conclusions upon the subject even for my
self, far less to influence others. Indeed, the plain
ness of speech, perhaps in excess, which I have used,
is in no way warranted by my slight personal acquaint
ance with your lordship. It has not been my habit to
obtrude these sentiments upon others not intimately
known to me, but you will forgive me for feeling that
there was a bond of brotherhood between us which
would supply the place of ordinary intercourse ; and
after you in your position had thought fit to make a
request to one from whom the Church has a right to
demand all such services as he can render, and from
whom you might, I think, very naturally presume that
you would meet with encouragement and co-operation,
I felt myself on the one hand compelled to decline
sharing in your intended proceeding, and on the other
hand not less unequivocally constrained to avoid
shrouding my views and motives in language of
formal etiquette, and I determined to state strongly
what I think strongly, and to trust to your indulgence
for a favourable construction.
But now I am well aware that there is nothing more
justly offensive in matters of this kind than the
character of an objector, who intercepts the benevolent
intentions of others and substitutes nothing for them.
And your lordship's letter gives me a good oppor
tunity to mention that I for one have long been look
ing for an occasion to do something towards providing
fitter means of support for our clergy. In the first
design of Trinity College I thought we were sowing
for the future, by endeavours to supply such a training
as would teach the next generation in our Church
something of the value of their position and something

1844] A NEW DISCIPLINE 259
of the blessedness of being allowed to contribute
towards her temporal support. And at this moment
I am most anxious that we should, if possible, wind up
our Trinity College subscription, in order that we may
clear the ground for a fresh effort to raise a fund
towards the endowment of our bishoprics.
Individually I am quite prepared with my contribu
tion towards such a fund ; but it is necessary to await
the moment when there may be a reasonable hope of
obtaining the co-operation of a sufficient number.
You are the first person to whom I have presumed
to mention this subject in such a manner, and I am led
to do it because it seemed incumbent on me to show
that in declining, and even I would venture to say
dissuading, the course you would follow, I did not
propose acquiescence in the present miserable state of
things, but entertained the hope that good examples
may be given, and may find imitators as God shall
permit ; and the belief that the Church will find her
best support, under His Providence, in the due appeal
to those motives which are most intimately allied with
our personal relation to her, and to the ordinances
which it is her office to dispense. . . .
389. To Mrs. Gladstone.
13, Carlton House Terrace,
Sunday, November 24, 1844.
. . . For years have I been talking about discipline,
and now some opportunity and hope of help in it
appears to have come into view. My conscience is
weak, and wants aid — not to say that it is crooked,
more than you know or can know, and wants a straight
rule for its correction. The laxity of habits which my
occupations entail forms another good reason for
taking some means to ascertain that it does not
degenerate into a mere pretext for self-indulgence.
I am quite at ease also in this matter, as the move
ment is one not only within, but almost required by,
the injunctions and spirit of the Church.
It often occurs to me what a blessing it will be to
our children if they can be brought up in the habit of
constantly disclosing the interior of their minds : then

260 A SERVICE AT CALAIS [1845
that is met by the thought that while thus governing
them we should — or at least I should — also have made
already some provision still nearer home. This seems
to me so healthy and so simple that I confidently
anticipate its appearing so likewise to you, and I say
nothing, therefore, with the view of obviating appre
hension or suspicion. If the eye be steadily fixed
on the salvation of the soul, how precious does every
real help appear ! How do we love the holy songs
of the Church, which are such helps ! Let us, then,
love other true helps also, though not of such unmixed
exterior sweetness. . . .

390. To Mrs. Gladstone. Calais,
September 25, 1843.
... I had heard so much against Calais, which I
have never seen before, that I am rather pleased with
it. It is exceedingly clean, and the view of it from the
sea on entering the harbour has a good skyline, with
three tower-spire projections, of which only one,
however, belongs to a church. But that is rather a
striking building — Notre Dame. I found service going
on, and made such notes as I could. It seems to be
the only church in the town within the walls; there
was a function going on, and a sort of officer to keep
order, who, I am sorry to say, smelt strongly of spirits,
and looked them too. There is an elaborate marble
screen behind the altar, dated 1622, much of the style
of our monuments of that period, but with the figures
much more modernized and affected — in fact, like those
of the time of Louis XIV. and Charles II. , as they
appeared to me. A fine organ, but harsher than our
old ones, pealed valiantly from one end ; at the other,
two priests or singers (cantores) chanted one on each
side of an enormous trombone that completely drowned
them, played by an unchurchlike-looking man in
slippers — the one whom I saw taking snuff liberally
between his responses. When I see the amazing
accumulation of gestures and evolutions, almost
dancing-masterlike, of their priests in celebrating
service, it never fails to prompt a Puritanical reaction

i84S] SOUTH GERMAN CHURCHES 261
in my mind. But let us give due weight to the fact
that their congregations are so attentive. There were
some fifty present to-day, and they appeared absorbed
in their work. I was a little surprised to see in the
affiches of prices for chairs that a stall in the choir
may be had for five francs a year, that being properly
the clerical part. The charge for chairs at funerals
is very high — several francs — varying according to
the hour. . . .

391. To Mrs. Gladstone.
Munich,
September 30, 1845.
... I passed Strasburg without seeing it : as it
was Sunday, I was not sorry to be prevented, by the
necessity of setting off at once for the railroad (between
Kehl and Carlsruhe), from getting a sight of it, which
must under the circumstances have been a mere sight,
and no more like a spectacle than a Sunday employment.
It is impossible, however, not to receive some general
impressions from the character of these South German
churches, so different from ours, though in pointed
architecture one is surprised at their great size, and
particularly their height. The interiors (two) that
I have seen have a kind of solemnity and grandeur ;
and yetit is not rich, it is not sublime, it is not heavenly,
it does not move one to rapture as the best interiors of
our cathedrals do, or would do if they were as they
should be. In Augsburg there is a singular arrange
ment of the altars — they are all placed against the
pillars of the nave, one to each, looking westward,
and none along the sides of the church. In the
cathedral here I was sorry to see an arrangement new
to me, on a principal altar. In the centre, between the
candlesticks, was a figure of the Blessed Virgin with
out our Lord. Then with each candlestick was an
angel kneeling towards the figure in the middle — this
is very strong. In this country, generally, by the roads
I see few images, except of our Lord upon the cross —
which, I think, Arnold wished to see in England.
This city seems to be one in which art and munificence
have been contending vehemently against great natural

262 A TALK WITH DOLLINGER [184S
disadvantages. It is a dead flat, hot, cold, wet, and
foggy — mY experience is not good for much, but it has
poured with rain almost all to-day. The architectural
character is not interesting : there are a number of
great public buildings, but they do not make a whole
such as one finds in the towns of the Middle Ages. Of
the pictures, whether fresco or others, I have as yet
seen almost nothing.
Yesterday evening, after dinner with two travelling
companions, an Italian negoziante and a German,
I must needs go and have a shilling's worth of the
Augsburg Opera, where we heard Mozart ('Don Gio
vanni') well played and very respectably sung. To-day
I have spent my evening (for I write just before bed,
and this will go to-morrow) differently : in tea and
infinite conversation with Dr. Dollinger, who is one of
the first among the R. C. theologians of Germany— a
remarkable and very pleasing man. His manners have
great simplicity, and I am astonished at the way in which
a busy student such as he is can receive an intruder.
His appearance is, singular to say, just compounded of
those of two men who are among the most striking in
appearance of our clergy — Newman and Dr. Mill. He
surprises me by the extent of his information, and the
way in which he knows the detail of what takes place
in England. Most of our conversation related to it.
He seemed to me one of the most liberal and catholic
in mind of all the persons of his communion whom
I have known. To-morrow I am to have tea with him
again, and there is to be a third, Dr. Gorres, who is
also a man of eminence among them. Do not think
he has designs upon me. Indeed, he disarms my
suspicions in that respect by what appears to me
a great sincerity.

392. To Mrs. Gladstone. Munich,
October 2, 1845.
... On Tuesday after post I began to look about
me : and though I have not seen all the sights of
Munich, I have certainly seen a great deal that is
interesting in the way of art ; and having spent a good

i84S] DOLLINGER'S VIEWS 263
deal of time in Dr. Dollinger's company — last night till
one o'clock — I have lost my heart to him. What I
like, perhaps, most, or what crowns other causes of lik
ing towards him, is that he, like Rio, seems to take a
hearty interest in the progress of religion in the
Church of England, apart from the (so to speak) party
question between us, and to have a mind to appreciate
good wherever he can find it. For instance, when, in
speaking of Wesley, I said that his own views and
intentions were not heretical, and that, if the ruling
powers in our Church had had energy and a right
mind to turn him to account, or if he had been a
member of the Church of Rome, I was about to add
he would then have been a great saint, or something
to that effect, but I hesitated, thinking it perhaps too
strong, and even presumptuous ; but he took me up
and used the very words, declaring that to be his
opinion. Again, speaking of Archbishop Leighton he
expressed great admiration of his piety, and said it was
so striking that he could not have been a real Calvinist.
Then, he is a great admirer of England and English
character, and he does not at all slur over the mischiefs
with which religion has to contend in Germany.
Lastly, I may be wrong, but I am persuaded he in his
mind abhors a great deal that is too frequently taught
in the Church of Rome. Last night he spoke with
such a sentiment of the doctrine that was taught on
the subject of indulgences which aroused Luther to resist
them ; and he said he believed it was true that the
preachers represented to the people that by money
payments they could procure the release of souls from
purgatory. I told him that was exactly the doctrine I
had heard preached in Messina, and he said a priest
preaching so in Germany would be suspended by his
Bishop. Last night he invited several of his friends, whom I
went to meet at an entertainment which consisted first
of weak tea, immediately followed by meat supper
with beer and wine and sweets. For two hours was
I there in the midst of five German professors, or four
and the editor of a paper, who held very interesting
discussions. I could only follow them in part, and
enter into them still less, as none of them (except
Dr. Dollinger) seemed to speak any tongue but their

264 AN HOTEL SERVICE [184S
own with any freedom — but you would have been
amused to see and hear them, and me in the midst. I
never saw men who spoke together in a way to render
one another inaudible as they did — always excepting
Dr. Dollinger, who sat like Rogers, being as he is a
much more refined man than the rest. But of the
others I assure you always two, sometimes three, and
once all four, were speaking at once, very loud, each
not trying to force the attention of the others, but to
be following the current of his own thoughts. One of
them was Dr. Gorres who in the time of Napoleon
edited a journal that had a great effect in rousing
Germany to arms. Unfortunately, he spoke more
thickly than any of them. . . .

393. To Mrs. Gladstone. Munich,
Sunday, October 5, 1845.
. . . Last night it appeared that Gilbert Lewis was
in this hotel — so the Somerses sent him a message
and suggested his performing service, for which he was
quite willing, the regular clergyman being away. We
failed, however, in getting the keys of the usual chapel,
or I dare say we should have had Holy Communion.
However, we have had prayers in a room in the inn,
and about eighteen present — much better than noth
ing. We have them again at three : meantime I have
heard a sermon at eight in one of the churches, and hope
to hear another at five. Of the first I have made a
record, and also of a most interesting conversation with
Dr. Dollinger — I am to have yet one more evening
with him, please God, to-night. I know that not even
my saying so much about him will make you uneasy
for me. But lest the thought should be suggested to
you, let me tell you the effect of my conversations
with him is confirmation and corroboration in our
position as members of the Church in England, though
it delights me to find so good and able a man in the
Roman Church whose statements command so much
my assent and sympathy.
I hear the guns firing for these great festivities :
agricultural show, races, and what not. On another

184s] ON THE VERGE 265
day I should have been glad to see them : as far as the
races are concerned, they belong to those things which
I would do here, but not in England ; not because we
should have two standards for two countries, but
because one comes here to inquire and see (or, in my
case, being here one should a little inquire and see),
and because I believe they make among this people a
very innocent amusement. . . .

394. To Mrs. Gladstone. Baden,
October 12, 1845.
... In my wanderings my thoughts, too, have had
time to travel : and I have had much conversation
upon Church matters, first at Munich, and since
coming here with Mrs. Craven and some connections
of hers staying with her, who are Roman Catholics of
a high school. All that I see and learn makes me
more and more feel what a crisis for religion at large
is this period of the world's history, how the power
of religion and its permanence are bound up with
the Church, how inestimably precious would be the
Church's unity — - inestimably precious on the one hand,
and on the other to human eyes immeasurably remote
— lastly, how loud and how solemn is the call, upon all
those who hear and who can obey it, to labour more
and more in the spirit of these principles, to give
themselves, if it may be, clearly and wholly to that
work. It is dangerous to put indefinite thoughts,
instincts, longings, into language which is neces
sarily determinate. I cannot trace the line of my
own future life, but I hope and pray it may not be
always where it is — not that it may now cease to be
so, nor while a reasonable hope remains of serving
God there to more purpose than elsewhere: but that
that hope may come to an issue, if it be His will. I
see too plainly the process which is separating the
work of the State from the work of Christian faith.
Even now as a consenting party, in a certain sense
and relatively to certain purposes, to that process of
separation, I am upon the very outside verge, though
with full consciousness, and an undoubting support

266 GOLD AND FREEDOM [1845
from within, of the domain which conscience marks to
me as an open one. I have a growing belief that I
shall never be enabled to do much good for the Church
in Parliament (if at all), except after having seemed
first a traitor to it and been reviled as such. I
mean that it is now for the highest interest of the
Church to give gold for freedom ; but there are so
many who will not allow the gold to be touched, even
though they value freedom, and so many more who
will have the Church keep all the gold that it may
be the price and the pledge of her slavery. Ireland !
Ireland ! that cloud in the west, that coming storm,
the minister of God's retribution upon cruel and
inveterate and but half-atoned injustice ! Ireland
forces upon us these great social and great religious
questions — God grant that we may have courage to
look them in the face and to work through them.
Were they over — were the path of the Church clear
before her as a body able to take her trial before God
and the world upon the performance of her work as
His organ for the recovery of our country — how joy
fully would I retire from the barren, exhausting strife
of merely political contention. I do not think that
you would be very sorrowful ? As to ambition in its
ordinary sense, we are spared the chief part of its
temptations. . . .
395. To Archdeacon Manning.
Hawarden,
Sunday, December 28, 1845.
My dear Manning,
. . . I write respecting your sermons, and in
their bearing on myself. . . .
You teach that daily prayers, the observance of fast
and festival, and considerable application of time to
private devotion and to Scripture, ought not to be
omitted e.g., by me : because, great as is the difficulty,
the need is enhanced in the same proportion, the
balance is the same.
You think, very charitably, that ordinary persons,
or such whohave a right general intention in respect
to rehgion, give an hour and a half to its direct duties ;
and if they add attendance at both daily services

i84s] AMOUNT OF SLEEP 267
raising it to three, you consider that still a scanty
allowance while some sixteen or seventeen are given
to sleep, food, and recreation.
Now, I cannot deny this position with respect to the
increase of the need — that you cannot overstate. But
I think there are two ways in which God is wont to
provide a remedy for real and lawful need — one by
augmenting supply, the other by intercepting the
natural and ordinary consequences of the deficiency.
I am desirous really to look the question full in the
face : and then I come to the conclusion that, if I were
to include the daily services now in my list of daily
duties, my next step ought to be resignation.
Let me describe to you what has been at former
times, when in London and in office, the very narrow
measure of my stated religious observances : on week
days I cannot estimate the one family prayer together
with morning and evening prayer at more than three-
quarters of an hour, even if so much. Sunday is
reserved, with rare exceptions, for religious employ
ments, and it was my practice in general to receive
the Holy Communion weekly. Of daily services,
except a little before and after Easter, not one in
a fortnight, perhaps one in a month. Different in
dividuals have different degrees of facility in supply
ing the lack of regular devotion by that which is
occasional, but it is hard for one to measure this
resource in his own case.
I cannot well estimate, on the other hand, the
amount of relaxation which used then to accrue to me.
Last year I endeavoured in town to apply a rule to
the distribution of my hours, and took ten for sleep,
food, and recreation, understanding this last word so
as to include whatever really refreshes mind or body
or has a fair chance of doing so. Now my exigencies
for sleep are great. As long as I rise feeling like a
stone, I do not think there is too much, and this is the
general description of my waking sense, in office and
during the session, but I consider seven and a half
hours the least I ought then to have, and I should be
better with eight. I know the old stories about re
trenching sleep, and how people have deceived them
selves : with me it may be so, but I think it is not. I
have never summed up my figures, but my impression

268 HABIT OF WORK [1845
is that last year, upon the average, I was under and
not over the ten for the particulars named — I should
say between nine and ten. But last year was a
holiday year as to pressure upon mind and body, in
comparison with those that preceded it. Further,
people are very different as to the rate at which they
expend their vigour during their work — my habit,
perhaps my misfortune, is, and peculiarly with work
that I dislike, to labour at the very top of my strength,
so that after five or six hours of my office I was fre
quently in a state of great exhaustion. How can
you apply the duty of saving time for prayer out of
sleep and recreation to a man in these circumstances ?
Again, take fasting. I had begun to form to myself
some ideas upon this head ; but I felt, though without
a positive decision to that effect, that I could not and
must not apply them if I should come again into
political activity. I speak now of fasting in quantity,
fasting in nutrition ; as to fasting in quality, I see that
the argument is even strengthened, subject only to the
exception that in times of mental anxiety it becomes
impossible to receive much healthy food with which a
sound appetite would have no difficulty. The fact is
undoubted ; it is extremely hard to keep the bodily
frame up to its work under the twofold condition of
activity in office and in Parliament. I take it then
that to fast in the usual sense would generally be a
sin, and not a duty — I make a little exception for the
time immediately preceding Easter, as then there is a
short remission of Parliamentary duties.
I need not, perhaps, say more now. You see my
agreement with you, and that I differ, it may be,
where the pinch comes upon myself. But I speak
freely, in order to give scope for opposite reasoning —
in order that I may be convicted if possible, as then I
hope also to be convinced.
There is the greatest difference, as I find, between
simple occupation, however intense, and occupation
with anxiety as its perpetual accompaniment. Serious
reading and hard writing even for the same number of
hours that my now imminent duties may absorb, I for
one can bear without feeling that I am living too fast ;
but when that one element of habitual anxiety is
added, Nature is spurred on beyond her own pace

i845] VALUE OF SUNDAY 269
under an excessive burden, and vital forces waste
rapidly away. I should be more suspicious of myself
than I now am in the argument I have made, were it
not that I have had experience of occupation in both
forms, and know the gulf between them.
I ought to have added the other sting of official
situations combined with Parliament. It is the sad
irregularity of one's life. The only fixed points are
prayers and breakfast in the morning, and Sunday at
the beginning of the week. It is Sunday, I am con
vinced, that has kept me alive and weil, even to a
marvel, in times of considerable labour ; for I must not
conceal from you, even though you may think it a sad
bathos, that I have never at any time been prevented
by illness from attending either Parliament or my
office. The only experience I have had of the dangers
from which I argue, in results, has been in weakness
and exhaustion from the brain downwards ; it is
impossible for me to be thankful enough for the ex
emptions I enjoy, especially when I see far stronger
constitutions — constitutions truly Herculean — break
ing down around me. I hope I may be preserved from
the guilt and ingratitude of indulging sensual sloth
under the mask of wise and necessary precautions.
Do not trouble yourself to write at length, but
revolve these matters in the casuistical chamber of
the mind, and either before or when we meet give me
an opinion which I trust will be frank and fearless.
There is one retrenchment I could make : it would
be to take from activity outwards in matter of religion,
in order to give to prayer. But I have given a mis
description. What I could economize is chiefly read
ing : but reading nowadays I almost always shall have
to resort to — at least so it was before — by way of
repose. Devotion is by far the best sedative to excite
ment : but, then, it requires great and sustained exer
tion (to speak humanly and under the supposition of the
Divine grace) or else powerful external helps, or both.
Those mere dregs of the natural energies which too
often are all that occupation leaves are fit for little
beyond passivity — only for reading when not severe*
* Later in life 'Cardinal Manning recognized the danger of a
preacher usurping the office of a spiritual director of souls. In one

270 CHURCH RESOURCES [1846
Reading all this you may the more easily under
stand my tone sometimes about public life as a whole.
Joy to you at this blessed time and at all times "
Your affectionate friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
396. To Archdeacon Manning.
13, Carlton House Terrace,
March 10, 1846.
... I see but two modes in which the available
resources of the Church are likely to receive material
increase — over and above certain modes of increase
now in operation under statutes or other arrangements
already formed ; these are : (1) The episcopal and part
of the capitular estates, and (2) the free and systematic
resort to voluntary contributions.
As to the first, I am afraid I am right in the sup
position that the old spendthrift modes of managing
ecclesiastical estates are still generally in vigour, so
far as relates to Bishops and to many Chapters : that
there is still, to this extent, the same inducement to
provide for the life interests of actual holders by waste
of prospective resources, and that so long as it con
tinues it must, one may almost say it ought, to produce
the same effects.
In my opinion it is visionary as matter of fact, and
unwarrantable as matter of right, to ask Parliament to
interpose for any purpose which regards the Church
in formd pauperis, until she has thoroughly husbanded
her own pecuniary means and applied them to the
best advantage. There may be some remote risk
in centralizing the management of episcopal and
capitular estates, there may be some derogation to
temporal dignity in interposing such a system of
control over and above the will of life-incumbents as
is necessary for thrift — let us have as little of these
evils as possible : but we must, I think, and ought to
have that of which they may be the accompaniments —
a thorough excision of the old system of management
of his autobiographical notes he confesses 'that as an Anglican he had
treated subjects in the pulpit which properly belonged to the con
fessional' (Purcell, i. 439).

1846] PEW TO PEW COLLECTION 271
and a bona-fide effort to obtain from the property all that
it can justly be made to yield.
But what next ? Supposing this done, can the
Church then seek for public aid ? I think not. She
would be met at the door of Parliament — (1) by the
allegation that half of the population of the United
Kingdom do not belong to her communion : (2) by the
question, Who are you and what are you ? The first of
these constitutes a formidable opposition ; the second is
far more formidable — it would carry division, and with
division dismay, into her own ranks. She has become
in the popular view so hybrid ; her mind is so variously
apprehended on this side and on that; the just jealousies
of the people of England have been so fearfully aroused
by the development of Romanizing elements among
her members, that she is no longer an unity for the
purposes of political combat.
But the evil does not stop there. Neither you nor
I should much lament shutting the door upon the
prospect of Parliamentary Church extension. The
sorer evil, for which also the late movers to the
Church of Rome have also in my belief mainly to
answer, is that they have brought into fatal prejudice
and disrepute that most innocent, most simple, most
effective, nay, let me add — for so it is — that some
what Protestant and Presbyterian mode of supplying
the wants of the Church, by churchlike appeal to the
voluntary liberality of her members. The sore point
in the use of the offertory seems to be collection
from pew to pew — the common practice, I believe,
of multitudes of Presbyterian congregations every
Sunday in Scotland. But being favoured here by
those who favour Rome, and who favour her as Rome,
it seems to be now placed under general ban, to hold
its ground in some places where it had been introduced
before the general suspicion of Romanism put the
Church in a flame, but the hopes of its progress and
extensive prevalence to be indefinitely postponed.
This is very sad and very disheartening. Nor do I
think we shall live to see this prejudice effectually
removed, except by new modes of action. The last
twelve or fifteen years have, I think, afforded us an
example of what Froude declared the Reformation to
be — the limb is badly set, and must be broken again

272 HIS WORK IN PARLIAMENT [1846
before it can get sound. In some way or other the
Church must descend into the ranks of the people, and
find her strength there, and build up from that level.
If she can really unfold great energies in that region,
prejudices among the classes having property will be
too weak to hold their ground. Asceticism itself,
provided it be an active and missionary asceticism, will
become a source of popular as well as of inward
strength. To some this would seem at the best very
remote speculation ; but I confess that whatever it
may be, when I look deliberately at it and compare it
with other modes and schemes of human improvement
now in vogue, as to its utilitarian aspect, the question
arises, Why does not every one who wishes well, or
thinks that he wishes well, to his kind, betake himself
to this path of duty ?
397. To Archdeacon Manning.
13, Carlton House Terrace,
Sunday, April 19, 1846.
My dear Manning,
... I blame myself for never having clearly
stated to you the original and cardinal ideas upon
which I proceed. Had I done this thoroughly, we
should sooner have found out our real proximity
of view. But the truth is, that to deal properly with a
question of this kind requires certain mental habits as
well as will, and those habits, with me never well
matured, are now of course utterly disorganized.
Still, let me repair one omission, and beg you to
observe I am not claiming privilege or relief : first of
all, because that possibility of change in my outward
career, which is all that I claim, may never realize
itself ; secondly, because the claim rests upon a
different basis — namely, on this, that the process
which I am now actively engaged in carrying on is a
process of lowering the religious tone of the State,
letting it down, demoralizing it — i.e., stripping it of its
ethical character, and assisting its transition into
one which is mechanical. This it is which makes me
feel that the 'burden of proof lies on the side of the
argument for remaining in public life ; and that the
purposes which warrant it for me — i.e., for one in

1846] METHODS OF ADVOCACY 273
whose public life office or executive government is an
element — must be very strong and very special in
order to make good the conclusion.
I agree with you that, in all probability, the Church
will hold her nationality, in substance, beyond our
day: I think she will hold it as long as the monarchy
subsists, and that that will last when we are gone,
though it is difficult to look at the little Prince of
Wales without a sigh.
So long, undoubtedly, the Church will want political
and Parliamentary defence. But it is quite another
question in what form that defence can be best con
ducted. I have seen the popular cause of Ireland at
its strongest, when the popular leaders have even
contumaciously absented themselves from the business
of the House of Commons. The Dissenters have no
members for Universities, but their real representa
tion is better organized by far, in proportion to its
weight, than that of the Church : and yet it is not
formally organized at all. A knot of men professing
and claiming everything, engaged in constant resistance
and protest, like Montalembert [and Dupanlou] in
France, present to view a method of advocacy which
may be well united to a country like France, and to a
state of acute active hostility between the Church and
the State. But that is not likely to be our case for a
long time to come, and my belief is that strength with
the people will, for our day at least, be the only effectual
defence of the Church in the House of Commons, as
the want of it is now her weakness there. It is not
everything which calls itself a defence that is really
such. There are kinds of defence that excite jealousies
far beyond their power to repel, and thus cause more
danger than no defence at all. As the Church grows
out of doors, she will be more felt indoors. She has
already, as you justly say, the educated classes : there
fore she has the personnel of Parliament : what she
needs is beyond it, to make that personnel effective.
But I cannot conceive the possibility of her lacking
the means of representation in that region in full pro
portion to that which is to be represented, and which
now, I think, demands the application, to speak gener
ally, of all available energies for its replenishment.
These truths must be held 'in solution,' but the day
VOL. II — 18

274 STANDARDS OF HEALTH [1847
for them to be 'precipitated' may be nearer, or may
be farther, than any rational conjecture now formed
would serve to show.
My impression has been that Hope is beyond being
affected by the Jerusalem Bishopric either one way or
the other ; but if you think otherwise, and particularly
if you know anything to the contrary, it is a fact so
important that I hope you will give your mind to the
case, and consider what you can do towards bringing
Gobat's case out fully. From some little things lately
seen and heard, I have comforted myself with the
belief that Hope's mind was more settled.
Believe me always,
Affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

398. To Archdeacon Manning. Hagley,
March 9, 1847.
My dear Manning,
... I suppose that there is a region between
high health on the one side and ill-health on the other,
which is the region proper to the exercise of abstinence:
and that deviation either way should at once be marked
and corrected. I mean that as high animal health
shows that there is not abstinence in the proper sense,
so the first appearance of ill-health shows that we are
approaching danger and incapacity for duty, and that
this first appearance should be cared for and removed,
that we may be put back into a condition for duty. Is
this right ?
Since I came back here I have received your tract
for Lent, and I feel about it as everybody else does.
But I wish it could have had your name, as, though the
authorship is known, it is not notorious, and it is not
so known as to recommend the tract through as wide
a circle as it would otherwise have ranged over. There
is another question important at the present time [the
time of the Irish famine] : I mean that relating to the
use of animal food. Persons seem now to suppose that
to economize flour and bread is everything. No doubt
it is the first and most important ; and for this reason I
do not suppose it is desirable to keep Lent by total

1847] THE IRISH FAMINE 275
abstinence from animal food. Nor, indeed, do I think
it is a good mode generally, at least for persons not
living very privately, because it attracts attention : and
it is quite plain to me that restriction of the total quan
tity of food may be made, and is likely to be made, more
effectual in the way of abstinence than an abstinence
from animal food as such, which at most is no better than
a contraction of quantity. It is worth, however, reflect
ing now that, if the attention of all the consumers of
meat should be concentrated only on the notion of
economizing flour, this would cause a greatly increased
consumption of meat ; by raising the price of meat it
would directly stimulate the breeding and feeding of
cattle, and would thereby tend greatly to diminish the
aggregate quantity of food available for man ; because
there is, I believe, no doubt that we might have a much
larger total of subsistence from the earth if we consumed
no animal food. These considerations seem to become
important when we reflect that the present scarcity
cannot well be temporary. Even if we have abundant
crops of all kinds, the quantity one may fear of unsold
land in Ireland, and the exhaustion of stocks through
the present pressure, will keep food more or less high —
at least, until after the harvest of 1848. But again, it
is fearful to remember that our harvests usually move
in cycles, that from 1842 to 1846 inclusive we have had
no bad harvest, and that there are due to us now,
according to the usual cycles, a majority of bad harvests
in the next three or four years. So that, if we look at
natural circumstances only, they show the likelihood
to be that of severe and continued pressure.
But it will not do to look at such circumstances
either as sole or as principal agents. Here is a calamity
most legibly Divine ; there is a total absence of such
second causes as might tempt us to explain it away;
it is the greatest horror of modern times, that in the
richest age of the world, and in the richest country
of that age, the people should be dying of famine by
hundreds, and we, the English community, have
scarcely as yet got even the feeblest notion of this
horror in its aspect to us. No mere giving of money
will do, it can only be met by national and personal
humiliation. To have balls and operas for the dis
tressed is bad and rotten in principle at all times ; but

276 A WAY OF RELIEF [1847
at this time it seems like a judicial blindness, a defiance
of the Divine wrath, a looking up into the very face of
God, and saying, 'Thou hast called us to weep, and, lo,
we laugh.' How can the handwriting be made clear
against us if it is not clear now ? To give money is
very well, to economize flour is very well, because
these go to diminish the quantity of actual suffering,
the external range of the evil ; but they do not touch
its root ; we want the heavy hand of God lifted from
off the land, and so long as we ourselves personally
continue in our usual tone of thoughtless joyous or
ambitious life, we cannot be in a tone to ask or in
a state to receive the boon. But I find I am preaching
to you, of which I had not the remotest intention when
I sat down to write. The question, however, for us is,
What shall we do when at the end of this week we
resume our household cares in London ? As to my
servants, I have put them on board wages, making
them a small allowance over on account of the dearness
of provisions. I can now exhort them vigorously to
save and spare, and I am political economist enough
to believe that it is a sound and sure way of relief to
increase the quantity of food in the market by lessening
what is taken out. As to ourselves, we have some
difficulty from the circumstance that my mother-in-
law will be with us, and, as she is an invalid and ner
vously so, [this] will prevent our being quite as thrifty
as we could be for ourselves alone, But the most
difficult question is as to entertainments. I feel that
not only in Lent, but during the continuance of this
visitation, people ought, if possible, to be set free from
every entertainment which is either of a gay and osten
tatious kind, or which causes waste of food. But the
degree and manner in which this principle can be
worked out I am not as yet clear about. I shall be
very glad if at any time you can give me your thoughts'
and advice. There will be time to think, for I hope
the question will not arise in any serious form before
Easter. We have not, however, thought it expedient
to adopt any rule of refusing all invitations through
Lent, although we do not give them.
Your affectionate friend,
W. E. Gladstone.

1847] ADVICE AND CONFESSION 277
399. To Archdeacon Manning. London,
March 20, 1847.
My dear Manning,
. . . This is not the first time that it has hap
pened that we have approached questions from different
sides, and on that account, to say nothing of the other
reason of my doing it much worse, have expressed our
selves very differently when our real meanings were not
far apart. I hope and believe this must be the case in
the present instance, though ever since a walk to St.
Peter's in December, 1838, we have had some shades of
distinction in our views of the element of human
freedom, its proper scope and action, in the Christian
system. I have the belief that the earliest constitution
of the Church was in its spirit singularly free, and
that it would be happy for us, and would imply the
real strengthening of the hands of authority, if weight
could again be given to it as was then given. In the
case before us, I have written under the belief that the
twofold system of compulsory confession for retro
spect, and direction for prospect, not, or scarcely less,
compulsory, do in practice so work as very f reque ntly
and extensively to take out of the hands of the indi
vidual Christian the chief care of and therewith
the chief responsibility for, his own conduct, and that
therefore it is that in this country, notwithstanding our
sins and miseries, the moral sense upon the whole is
at this moment more generally clear and strong than
in the lands where the Roman Church bears sway.
But I am sensible that I do not write on this subject
with the weight which is due to any dispassionate
judgment concerning it : for my own convictions upon
it are in an immature and half-developed state — I
mean in its relation to my own conduct. For I should
reply much more aye than no upon the question whether
my own conscience is not one of those to which the
Church refers as having been unable to bear the
weight of its own government, and as accordingly
requiring not advice only, but the aid which confession
and the grace which absolution gives. The period of
relief from distraction which I now enjoy I hope will,

278 ADDED DUTIES [1848
as it certainly should, enable me to shape definitely
my own resolutions about it, and to take them to a
definite issue, whatever that issue may be. But I
must say that in all my reflections about it I have felt
the pressure of the reasons in its favour had reference
to my own peculiar case, and by no means connected
themselves with its appearing a general rule which
ought to be obeyed by every normal mind. . . .
400. To Archdeacon Manning. London,
Sunday, March 12, 1848.
My dear Manning,
... It is always a pleasure to write to you, but
it is an effort, too, because there is so much — so very
much — that I should like to pour out before you ; and
for a long time back I have had no energies to_ spare,
nearly all my works have been works of anxiety ,_ I
have not had strength or elasticity to look any duties
except those nearest hand in the face. Care has been
very heavy upon me, and in some new and unaccus
tomed forms. You may remember one day, as we walked
back from St. Mark's, my telling you something as to my
general views about the disposition of such property
as I had or might have, and how they were qualified
by my having become involved in a great iron mining
and manufacturing concern which was opened many
years ago by a reckless agent unduly trusted. . . .
A concern in bankruptcy with £250,000 of liabilities,
a vast and complex business to be recast, very heavy
and early demands to be provided for, large sums of
money to be borrowed and realized, and a constant
uphill fight to be carried on against difficulties which
are to all appearance all but and only not insurmount
able : these are the additions now made by the dispen
sation of God to the usual engagements of my life,
which have at all times for many years back seemed
to be quite adequate to my very middling strength.
How I get on with them I hardly know ; they often
make me faint and sick at heart, for there is something
in having to deal with the case of another, for whom
you may not take the resolutions you would in your
own case, that gives a peculiar form to the problem

1848] NEW SOURCES OF HOPE 279
and the working of it. But do not suppose that I
presume to talk of it as an affliction — it is a weight
much more than a pain. . . . My recent experience of
our little Agnes's struggle between life and death, and
my remembrance of the rebellious temper of my heart
when I thought that God had evidently marked her
for the world of spirits, and of the sharpness of that
conviction, enables me, if not' to describe, at least
acutely to feel the difference between the two. I cannot
pray or wish that this should be removed ; I have never
seen the working of the prudential and moral laws of
God's providence more signally exhibited. I fully own
the signs of His Fatherly wisdom and love ; were the
task taken away from me, I think it would leave me
light-headed, such a difference would it make in the
pressure on my daily existence, and all I can presume
to wish or pray is that it may please God to give me
a little more strength to carry the charge so full of
admonition. All this, which, as you will readily see, is
very private in its nature, I have only been led to state
in order to explain to you what really demanded expla
nation — namely, the reason why I have so often flagged
and failed to discharge an office of friendship to you in
your absence, and, in an absence from such a cause as
yours, by trying to bring a little of the world in which
we live and of its events and interests before you. . . .
As to public and Church affairs, there are so many
and of so much interest that I scarcely know how to
touch them in what remains to me of time and space.
The course of things, you see, has brought me at once
into collision with my constituents about the Jews, and
into a pretended collision about the Roman Catholics.
As to the former, I agree with everything that you say ;
it is a decided note of retrogression in the matter of that
text, ' The kingdoms of the world are become the king
doms of the Lord and of His Christ ' ; but there is a point
at which it becomes not politic only, but obligatory, to
let down the theory of civil institutions — namely, when
the discrepancy between them and their actual opera
tion has become a hopeless falsehood and a mis
chievous and virulent imposture. It was time, I think,
to unveil realities, though in every case by unveiling
you are apt, for the first effect, to confirm ; but you
open new sources of hope by throwing the minds of

2.3o LORD JOHN RUSSELL [1848
men into a more natural and genuine attitude, to think
and to labour in fields that are not and cannot be
exhausted. I have published my speech with a long
preface, and I have the consolation of knowing that it
has mitigated the displeasure of some excellent men,
while in other cases I hope a form of thought has been
suggested which will exercise hereafter an influence
in modifying its course among the clergy. None of
these things can be done without a painful wrench.
Though the National Club tried to get up a requisition
against me and failed, yet some weeks ago I was
informed on good authority that if I vacated I should
be opposed and beaten. It may still be so, but that, of
course, does not move me ; I am deeply and ener
getically convinced that I have acted for the Church,
and that any other vote from me would have been
decidedly injurious to her ; and if Oxford should reject
me on such a ground, painful as the reverse would be,
I shall, I trust, take it cheerfully, and believe that that,
too, will work for good, though in a way very different
from the one imagined by those who might inflict the
blow. Let me add that Hope, Lyttelton, R. Palmer,
and some others, to whose judgments I assign much
weight, had come separately to my conclusion.
As to the revived 'war of investitures,' I think the
remonstrant Bishops will be prepared to stickle for
some provision which shall secure a power of equi
table and canonical objection when the question comes
to be stirred. But it seems to be thought, and I for
one undoubtedly think, that the Church has decidedly
gained by the proceedings, except as to having Dr.
Hampden for a Bishop, which, though serious, is not
the great question involved, so we are content to wait
a while. Meantime the Government are in great diffi
culties, and have blundered sorely with their finance ;
we are obliged (I mean the ex-official corps) to lend
what help we can towards bringing them through.
The case of Lord John and the Church is now, I fear,
fixed for ever. To the Church, as she is Apostolic and
as she is dogmatic, he will conscientiously do the very
utmost of evil that he dare. And this, I must say,
ought to have been foreseen by those who rushed into
his train last summer, and who (in my judgment) then
and at other times have done Peel so much injustice. . . .

1849] SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 281

401. To Archdeacon Manning. 6, Carlton Gardens,
July 6, 1849.
My dear Manning,
I do not see any immediate prospect of a
discussion in Parliament about National Education. I
am also far from desiring to hasten one, for I know
well by experience that, whatever pleasure persons
may have out of doors in reading speeches made in
the House of Commons by those who sympathize
with them, a question touching spiritual or clerical
power is never mooted there in opposition to the
Executive Government without damage to the idea of
such power and a diminished disposition to recognize
it as the result. All such discussions should be con
templated as preludes to the severance of Church and
State, remote perhaps but yet true and substantial
preludes, and it is a misfortune that many persons
regard them as mere flourishing of trumpets, and,
sensible of the inspiriting effect on their own minds,
assume that they have no other or at least no different
effect. But this is a lecture which you do not want,
and which those who do want it will miss. Therefore
e"j)Tcu. I fear I cannot undertake by an engagement now to
be formed to adhere in the House of Commons either
to the principle that the whole extent of the former
liberty of the Church in constituting schools is to be
preserved under the system of aid from the State, or
to the particular application that it is necessary to
retain a liberty of giving them a constitution by which
all matters in dispute shall be referred to and settled
by the Bishop. Indeed, I would suggest to you to
read the correspondence, which has just been pub
lished, between the Privy Council and the Roman
Catholics before you determine finally to insist on that
liberty. I was before, as you may remember, not
disposed to think it essential, I am even less disposed
to stickle for it now. The Bishop has no strength to
spare for purposes lying beyond his sphere ; and a strict
bona-fide definition of the spiritual sphere and restraint
of his authority, as a general rule, within it in all new

282 LIBERTY UNDER RULE [1849
arrangements, I conscientiously think to be for his
interests, since, being already too weak for his spiritual
and ecclesiastical work, fie has evidently no spare force
to spend upon other questions where he will be brought
into collision with portions of the local communities
interested in schools.
You will perceive that the concession to the National
Society would at once be followed by a similar grant to
the Vicars Apostolic. The liberty thus given would
be sometimes used among us, almost always among
the Roman Catholics. I should be sorry to see that
system at work in Roman Catholic schools aided by
the State.
To obtain liberty for the Church is the object for
which I should think it the highest, almost the only,
honour and delight to spend and be spent. But by this
I understand liberty in the English sense, liberty under
rule, and the whole question is what rule is admissible
or desirable, what freedom will tend to or is required
for the real development of your religious system. . . .
Your affectionate friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
402. To Mrs. Gladstone.
Fasque,
September 11, 1850.
. . . Without more information about the poor sui
cide, I can say nothing but that these cases raise the most
painful questions for clergymen. I incline to think
that as a general rule the cases of suicide, where there
is a legal verdict of insanity, are less difficult than
some other cases of sin where there is no verdict. A
clergyman as a public officer must not always set up
his own impressions, though reasonable, against a
public authoritative declaration, though unreasonable.
But don't suppose I am condemning — I suspend my
judgment. . . . 403. To Mrs. Gladstone. Fasque,
May 2, 1851.
By dint of some rather hard work and the use of
my two legs, I got back from Trinity College to break-

1851] THE COST OF A YEAR 283
fast this morning, having left it late last night. The
day was a very interesting one, and you are right in
saying you would have wished to be there rather than
at the grand show in London. . . .
Trinity College looked finer than ever — the chapel
is a beautiful structure : the chanting, done entirely by
the masters and the scholars, was most living and
effective, and I do not doubt the whole institution is
taking root and gaining solidity as well as prominence.
We had a large body of communicants with the Scotch
office. Four of the Bishops were present. Dean
Ramsay preached in the morning ; I cannot say I
was satisfied with the sermon, but the part about
Hope was most graceful and most touching, and would,
I think, have pleased him, as it did me deeply. Of
course the thought of him dashed a cup otherwise
very joyous with bitterness. My father's fidelity to
Trinity College in all tempers and circumstances is
really a moving circumstance of his old age.
404. To J. R. Hope.
6, Carlton Gardens,June 22, 1851.
My dear Hope,
Upon the point most prominently put in your
welcome letter, I will only say you have not miscon
strued me. Affection which is fed by intercourse, and
above all by co-operation for sacred ends, has little
need of verbal expression ; but such expression is
deeply consoling when active relations have changed.
It is no matter of merit to me to feel strongly on the
subject of that change. It may be little better than
pure selfishness. I have too good reason to know
what this year has cost me, and so little hope have I
that the places now vacant ever can be filled for me,
that the marked character of these events in reference
to myself rather teaches me this lesson : the work to
which I had aspired is reserved for other and better
men. And if that be the Divine will, I so entirely
recognize its fitness that the grief would so far be
small to me were I alone concerned. The pain, the
wonder, and the mystery is this, that you should have
refused the high vocation you had before you. The

284 NOT ESTRANGED [1851
same words, and all the same words, I should use of
Manning, too. Forgive me for giving utterance to
what I believe myself to see and know : I will not
proceed a step farther in that direction.
There is one word, and one only, in your letter that
I do not interpret closely. Separated we are, but I
hope and think not yet estranged. Were I more
estranged I should bear the separation better. If
estrangement is to come I know not : but it will only
be, I think, from causes the operation of which is still
in its infancy, causes not affecting me. Why should I
be estranged from you ? I honour you even in what
I think your error ; why, then, should my feelings to
you alter in anything else ? It seems to me as though
in these fearful times events were more and more
growing too large for our puny grasp ; and that we
should the more look for and trust the Divine purpose
in them, when we find they have wholly passed beyond
the reach and measure of our own. 'The Lord is in
His holy temple : let all the earth keep silence before
Him.' The very afflictions of the present time are a
sign of joy to follow. 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will
be done,' is still our prayer in common : the same
prayer in the same sense, and a prayer which absorbs
every other. That is for the future : for the present
we have to endure, to trust, and to pray, that each day
may bring its strength with its burden, and its lamp
for its gloom. Ever yours, with unaltered affection,
W. E. Gladstone.

[The following is the letter to which No. 404 is an
answer : 14, Curzon Street,
June 18, 1851.
My dear Gladstone,
I am very much obliged for the book which you
have sent me, but still more for the few words and
figures which you have placed on the title-page. The
day and month in your own handwriting will be a
record between us that the words of affection which
you have written were used by you after the period
at which the great change of my life took place. To

i8si] NEWMAN IN IRELAND 285
grudge any sacrifice which that change entails would
be to undervalue its paramount blessedness ; but, as
far as regrets are compatible with extreme thankful
ness, I do and must regret any estrangement from
you — you with whom I have trod so large a portion of
the way which has led me to peace ; you who are ex
voto at least in that Catholic Church which to me has
become a practical reality admitting of no doubt ; you
who have so many better claims to the merciful gui
dance of Almighty God than myself.
It is most comforting, then, to me to know by your
own hand that on June 17, 1851, the personal feelings
so long cherished have been, not only acknowledged to
yourself, but expressed to me. I do not ask more just
now — it would be painful to you. Nay, it would be
hardly possible for either of us to attempt (except
under one condition — for which I daily pray) the re
storation of entire intimacy at present ; but neither do
I despair under any circumstances that it will yet be
restored. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Gladstone, and
believe me, Yours, as ever, most affectionately, James R. Hope.]
405. To J. R. Hope. Fasque,
September 23, 1851.
My dear Hope,
Apart from his very high general qualifications
for the headship of an University, I should not have
supposed Dr. Newman to be particularly qualified for
the Irish meridian, but I am little in a condition to
judge. I am glad and thankful to hear of the application, as
a probable event, of any portion of your time and
attention to the history and prospects of religion, and
its relations to human society, whether in Ireland or
more at large. I hope, whatever share you give to
that singular country, you will let me plead with you
to allot a corner in your mind to a question every day
growing more difficult and formidable, that of the
temporal dominion of the Pope.

286 BOOKS ABOUT IRELAND [1851
You will think I have interpolated these sentences to
hide or soften the nakedness of my replies to you. I
know but few good books about Ireland, and am not
sure that I can recollect all even of them. Those which
now occur to me as decidedly good in their kinds are —
Mathison's 'Six Weeks,' privately printed.
Spenser's (Edmund) Tract.
Sir W. Petty's Tracts.
Sir J. Davies's History, or Historical Tracts.
The 'Drapier's Letters.'
I must also recommend Charles Greville's ' Past and
Present Policy.'
The only historians, I think, that I have made much
acquaintance with are Leland and Plowden, with
Mant, Dr. Phelan's account of the Irish Church, and
Todd's 'Church of St. Patrick,' for Church matters.
Do not overlook Bishop Jebb's Life, and the corre
spondence with Knox in parts. The Times Commission
of course you will remember; and in Swift you will
find curious matter, such as the declaration that the
Roman Catholic population never could possibly come
to be of political importance.
You should, of course, read the 'Letters of Colum
banus,' G. C. Lewis on Irish Disturbances, Wyse's
'History of the Catholic Association,' Lord Clare's
speeches on the Union ; and there is much interesting
matter connected with the history of the Veto negotia
tions that has its bearing on the question of the Titles
Bill. A good deal of this is to be found in Parlia
mentary Reports and Evidence, but I cannot supply
references. There is, however, a Report on Education in which
Sir F. Lewis took part, about the year 18 12, which has
had much influence and should be read. . . .
Believe me always,
Affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
406. To R. J. Phillimore. Fasque,
December 12, 1851.
My dear Phillimore,
I well know where you are always to be found
in the day of mourning, and even so kind and affec-

1851] SIR JOHN GLADSTONE 287
tionate a letter as you have sent me causes me no
surprise. You, however, do no more than truly appre
ciate the fact with regard to my father's position.
Though he died within a few days of eighty-seven,
with little left either of sight or hearing, and only able
to walk from one room to another or to his brougham
for a short drive, though his memory was gone, his
hold upon language, even for common purposes, im
perfect, his reasoning power much decayed, and even
his perception of personality rather indistinct, yet so
much remained about him of one of the most man
ful, energetic, affectionate, and simple-hearted among
human beings, that he still filled a great space to the
eye, mind, and heart, and a great space is accordingly
felt void by his withdrawal. But it is all well, and
this does not cut like some other forms of natural grief.
I have got and read the Bishop of Salisbury's
Charge. You know, no man better, my immeasurable
soreness and disgust with reference to those matters
in England, and will therefore know I mean something
when I say that Charge did me good, and (without
entering into this or that particular) seemed to me
thoroughly worthy of his high moral tone (what a
rarity that is !) and solid sagacity. I don't write to
him about it, for it rather seems always to me an im
pertinence to write to a Bishop about his Charge.
Ever affectionately yours,
W. E. G.
407. To H. E. Manning.
Downing Street,
August 7, 1853.
My dear Manning,
With you, I hope, not even my date will belie
me, when I say that I received with deep interest
your letter of April 5, and was most thankful for the
assurance with which it concluded. Indeed, to express
that thankfulness is the chief aim with which I write.
I rejoice to be in your prayers at all times, and espe
cially at the time you name, when prayer assumes its
vantage-ground. Your intercession can have no in
gredient of harm for me, nor even mine for you. Let
us continue to meet in the Presence of the Eternal. If

288 A MASTERLY BOOK [1853
that which was is cut away, yet this, the best part of
it, invisibly remains. I, indeed, shall never recover
the losses I have sustained, and sustained at a time
when the pressure and strain of life were becoming
heavier upon me from year to year. But, then, I fully
know it was the enjoyment, not the bereavement, that
was undeserved. I never was worthy to associate
with you ; and now, if we could associate, perhaps
you would find me less so than ever. What I still
have is far more than I can appreciate or use aright.
What I most lament is not my loss — it is that hands,
once so strong to carry sword and shield, now carry
them no longer in the battle, the real battle of our
place and day. I grudge you the rest which you say,
and which I do not doubt or question, you have
obtained ; I would it were at an end. Never can I in
this world see or think of you, or you of me, but this
must be the pivot on which all our thoughts must
turn. That, I think, you know well ; and when you
speak of the wide field of intercourse still left free to
choice, as between us two, you speak what is to me a
riddle. But I know also that you speak in kindness
and affection, which darkens sometimes, as well as
sometimes clears, our view.
I remain, Ever your attached friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
408. To Archdeacon (Robert) Wilberforce. Hawarden,
October 31,1853.
My dear Wilberforce,
When you left us I had not begun your book
[on the Eucharist] ; nor have I yet finished it : I have,
however, read the first nine chapters and glanced at
the eleventh ; and though I am little fitted to say any
thing at all about such a work and such a subject, I
cannot any longer forbear ; indeed, I have found silence
very difficult to maintain even up to this point. Speak
ing generally — and to make this reservation seems
paltry in such a case — I really cannot tell you either
how I admire it as a great effort of comprehensive
knowledge and masterly skill, or how thankful I feel

1853] WILBERFORCE'S METHOD 289
that the poor Church of England, and I as a member
of it, ought to be for a gift so wonderfully suited to
her uses and her needs. With the anticipations I
entertained as to the propositions you would have to
defend, I was a short time ago greatly astonished at the
circumstance which you mentioned, and which I had
noticed — namely, that there was no uproar, and even
no controversy, about the work: but since I have read,
and witnessed the manner in which you have set out
the doctrine, my surprise has vanished. Your method
of proceeding by what is positive rather than by what
is polemical has the effect of placing you within the
guard, so to speak, of opponents. Again, the nearness
of the subject to men's thoughts and lives, from the
fact that you are dealing with a matter of universal
duty, gives you an advantage and a power such as
you have never yet had: and I cannot remember the
appearance of any work of theology from which I should
expect anything like the same amount of real revival
and progress, both in doctrine and in the habits of
thought by which doctrine is embraced and assimilated,
that yours, I trust, is destined to produce.
If there is an especial feature of the book which
beyond all others gives it strength, it seems to me to
be this, that you have maintained so faithfully the
historical or traditional character in it, and have
theorized so little : except in those parts where theory
was appropriate, and even necessary — viz. the ratio
nale you have given of the Lutheran and Calvinian opin
ions, and of the tendency of various schools in the
Church from particular circumstances to derange the
equilibrium of the true doctrine.
What appears to me least satisfactory as matter of
argument is what relates to the ' natural ' conditions of
Christ's glorified Body : nor can I feel sure ground
under me in the formal distinction of the Res and the
Virtus Sacramenti, nor understand that the life and
power of the Lord's Body, which I suppose you do
not in any case separate from His Soul and Divinity,
is not in itself a grace, and the highest grace. It looks
as if the doctrine of universal participation really grew
up out of anxiety to maintain the substantive and
objective effect of consecration, and was used by way
of an outwork to it.
VOL. II — 19

290

A PRECIOUS GIFT [1859

I dare say that after so great and prolonged an effort
your mind feels a necessity of unbending, and an
instinctive aversion to further labour upon the book :
but quite apart from reopening any serious (much less
vital) question, I hope you will still, when you can, look
to every subsidiary and minute point of order and
expression, in order that so great and signal a work
may not stop short of its perfection.
Have you had any Roman opinions upon it, and to
what effect ? I remain, Affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
409. To J. R. Hope-Scott. CORFE,
February 17, 1859.
My dear Hope-Scott,
Your letter of November 3 has lain by me these
three months, never forgotten and never answered.
But the day for my turning homewards is now close
at hand, and this reminds me not any longer to delay
what I ought to have done before.
There is nothing intrusive, and nothing painful for
me to read, in what you tell me of the blessings which
your wife derived from her religion. There are few
unalloyed pleasures in this world ; but, surely, to hear
of a faith which grasps the unseen and the future with
the firmness of a hand laying hold on the sensible
objects proper to it, and to hear of this, too, in the case
of a person so near to my thoughts and feelings, could
not but be one of them. Why should either of us
grudge to one another the precious gift, ' the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,'
because God has chosen or permitted for its convey
ance a medium which is not according to our choice or
understanding? Nay, forgive me if I go one step
farther, and ask whether anyone reading those sen
tences in your letter would not have said that their
tenderness was mingled with mistrust, and that
we, too, never could have known one another well and
closely. Be assured it is with an unmixed joy that I see

1859] THE WORLD OF PEACE 291
you clinging to the Divine dispensation, and covetous
of the treasure it conveys — not that it teaches
what is new concerning you, but only that it gives
a new assurance of what is old. Be also assured that
you cannot pain me by what you may say : my pain
lies in this, that we have so much unsaid, that free
speech is impeded between us, and certainly not in any
use that you could make of it. But I turn from a
subject which it is equally difficult to open and to
close, with expressing the hope that we may both
be moved by the lamentable circumstances of this
world to live the more in that world where all is
peace. I trust that you have been spared anxiety about
your children, and that you have been able to make
good arrangements for them as far as any arrangement
can be good which aims at supplying such a void as it
has pleased God to make for them. . . .
W. E. Gladstone.

[The following is the letter to which No. 409 is an
answer : Abbotsford,
November 3, 1858.
My dear Gladstone,
I was uneasy at not having written to you, and
hoped you would write, which you have done, and I
thank you much for it. An occasion like this passed by
is a loss of friendship ; but it was not, nor is, easy for me
to write to you. You will remember that the root of
our friendship which struck the deepest was fed by a
common interest in religion ; and I cannot write to you
of her whom it has pleased God to take from me with
out reference to that Church whose doctrines and
promises she had embraced with a faith which made
them like objects of sense to her, whose teaching had
moulded her mind and heart, whose spiritual blessings
surrounded and still surround her, and which has shed
upon her death a sweetness which makes me linger
upon it more dearly than on any part of our united
and happy life.
These things I could not pass over without ignoring
the foundation of our friendship ; but, still, I feel that

292 A DISPENSATION OF PAIN [1864
to mention them has something intrusive, something
which it may be painful for you to read, as though it
required an answer which you would rather not give.
So I will say only one thing more, and it is this : If
ever in the strife of politics or religious controversy
you are tempted to think or speak hardly of that
Church — if she should appear to you arrogant or ex
clusive or formal — for my dear Charlotte's sake and
mine check that thought, if only for an instant, and
remember with what exceeding care and love she
tends her children. . . .
And now good-bye, my dear Gladstone. Forgive
me any word which you had rather I had not said.
May God long preserve to you and your wife that
happiness which you now have in each other ; and
when it pleases Him that either of you should have to
mourn the other, may He be as merciful to you as He
has been to me. Yours affectionately,
James R. Hope-Scott.
410. To Mrs. Gladstone.
Hawarden,
October 19, 1864.
... So that brave heart [the Duke of Newcastle]
has at last ceased to beat. Certainly in him more than
in anyone I have known was exhibited the character
of our life as a dispensation of pain. This must ever
be a mystery, for we cannot see the working out of the
purposes of God, yet in his case I have always thought
some glimpse of them seemed to be permitted. It is
well to be permitted also to believe that he is now
at rest for ever, and that the cloud is at length removed
from his destiny. . . .
411. To Mrs. Gladstone.
Clumber,
October 26, 1864, night.
. . . It is a time and a place to feel, if one could feel.
He died in the room where we have been sitting before
and after dinner — where, thirty-two years ago, a

1864] A HOUSE OF MEMORIES 293
stripling, I came over from Newark in fear and trem
bling to see the Duke, his father — where a stiff
horseshoe semicircle then sat round the fire in even
ings, where that rigour melted away in Lady Lincoln's
time, where she and her mother sang so beautifully
at the pianoforte in the same place where it now stands.
The house is full of local memories.
I have no doubt that in these last weeks he told
a good deal piecemeal to Dr. Kingsley. He said this :
' I cannot now look to gain the place which I once
hoped to gain, but I think I may live to be of great use
to the Queen, particularly about the Church ; she is not
well advised about the Church. Or if I do not do this,
yet I shall have plenty to do among my own people
here. . . .' 412. To the Rev. C. J. Glyn.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
February 4, 1865.
. . . You think (and pray do not suppose I make this
matter of complaint) that I have been associated with
one party in the Church of England, and that I may
now lean rather towards another. You are in every
way entitled to form your own judgment upon my acts
and declarations : you have done it heretofore, I doubt
not, with perfect fairness of intention, and I have no
other desire than that you should continue to do the
same ; but I will never make professions which must
in themselves be general and vague, and can hardly
fail to be suspected and equivocal.
There is no one about whom information can be more
easily had than myself ; I have had and have friends of
many colours — Churchmen High and Low, Presby
terians, Greeks, Roman Catholics, Dissenters, who can
speak abundantly, though perhaps not very well, of me.
And further, as Member for the University, I have
honestly endeavoured at all times to put my con
stituents in possession of all I could convey to them
that could be considered as in the nature of a fact, by
answering as explicitly as I was able all questions
relating to the matters, and they are numerous enough,
on which I have had to act or speak.
Perhaps I shall surprise you by what I have yet

294 TRUTH AND PARTY [1865
further to say. I have never by any conscious act
yielded my allegiance to any person or party in matters
of religion. You and others may have called me
(without the least offence) a Churchman of some
particular kind, and I have more than once seen
announced in print my own secession from the Church
of England. These things I have not commonly con
tradicted, for the atmosphere of religious controversy
and contradiction is as odious as the atmosphere of
mental freedom is precious to me ; and I have feared to
lose the one and be drawn into the other, by heat and
bitterness creeping into my mind. If another chooses
to call himself, or to call me, a member of this or that
party, I am not to complain. But I respectfully
claim the right not to call myself so, and on this claim
I have, I believe, acted throughout my life, without a
single exception ; and I feel that, were I to waive it, I
should at once put in hazard that allegiance to Truth
which is at once the supreme duty and the supreme
joy of life.

413. To T. D. Acland.

Hawarden,
August 20, 1865.

My dear Acland,
In consequence of your letter, mentioning the
Bishop of Worcester's [Philpott] Charge, I wrote to
the Bishop, and he very kindly sent it me. I have
read it with attention : and I think it deserves what
you say of it, and more. Irrespective of coincidence
of opinion on this or that particular topic, it leaves
upon the mind a deep impression as to both the abili
ties and the character of the person who could write
it. It is not byway of deduction (i.e., diminution) from
what I have said, if I ask what the Bishop means in
p. 29 by 'the enactment of law which prescribes
written formularies as the sole test of soundness of
doctrine, and the sole rule of teaching for our clergy.'
What enactment of law is this ? Do you know where
it is to be found ? That men may be found who be
lieve in such an enactment, and some of them those
who have figured as judges in ecclesiastical questions,

i86s] THE COURT OF APPEAL 295
is very possible : but unless I am much mistaken, there
is no such enactment, and no such principle in our
law. And unless I am again much mistaken those
who have erroneously proceeded on the assumption
of its existence have also laid down the astounding
proposition that Scripture is of no authority in the
Church of England to determine faith or duty, except
where it is incorporated into, and interpreted by, the
Prayer-Book or the Articles.
Another point. The Bishop states his sense of the
danger of setting up a body of men to declare what is
the doctrine of the Church of England. I feel that
there is very serious danger in such a proceeding : and
there is also, perhaps, a good deal of just objection to
it in principle. Again, he dwells with force and justice
upon the principle of applying to the temporal rights
of an incumbent the same narrowing rules which
govern criminal judicature in general. This seems to
me difficult to deny. But I do not, so much as the
Bishop apparently does, find the question exhausted
by considerations of this class. For I suppose the
business of a Church is to teach and maintain the
truth : and I do not see that the constitution of the
Court of Appeal makes the same effectual provision
for attaining the great end of such a Court — namely,
the correction of false doctrine — as it makes against
collateral abuses which might aid in the prosecution of
that end.
For example, the late judgment (wholly disowned,
as I am told, by Lord Kingsdown) deals with two
subjects. On one of them, the inspiration of Scripture,
the Bishop has explained his views. It would require
an immense amount of the famous non-natural ex
pedient to bring them into unison with the declarations
of the Judicial Committee. On the other point the
Bishop has said nothing : but on that other point I
will say that that judgment appears to me simply to
deprive words of all their meaning. Consequently
I ask myself, What is the use of a penal judicature to
the Church of England, if, upon matters lying at the
root of religion, it is simply, by applying the rules
of criminal justice (however properly), to give the
authority of law to a set of negative propositions
without any positive security for the faith of the

296 OFFICE OR BENEFICE [1865
Church ; while on the other hand we are to derive our
comfort, and our guarantee for the public standard of
belief, from expositions like that of the Bishop in his
Charge on the inspiration of Scripture, admirable
indeed as it appears to me, but still entirely without
the authority of law already given to the propositions
it is evidently intended to correct ?
The conclusion towards which these considerations
would seem to point is that it is very difficult to
maintain religious doctrine in these days by means
of penal law. But penal law is with us correlative to
laws of exclusive privilege, power, and emolument,
which are enjoyed by the clergy. I individually could
live, as I have lived in Scotland, without any of these.
But I am not willing to consent that the clergyman
shall, under pretence, or with the honest allegation, of
the love of freedom, or upon any other plea, escape
from his obligation to preach the system of doctrine
he has engaged to preach, and yet remain in the enjoy
ment of all the legal privilege, power, and emolument,
which he received upon condition of that obligation.
The pursuing of this rule of freedom without limit,
which is the matter now really at issue, will ultimately
be fatal to any national establishment of religion.
And as long as you have a national establishment
(perhaps longer) you will not be able to get rid of
penal judicature. But, if we are to have it, how is it
to be so regulated as that it shall not place the authority
of law practically on the side of that which it is the
business of law to prevent, and except with a view
to the prevention of which we should all say that it
would be much better that law should have nothing at
all to do with the matter ?
In a word, would it not appear that the rule neces
sary for the maintenance of religious teaching is one
thing, and the rule necessary to guard the civil rights
of an accused person is another ? And that it is the
business of the clergy principally or specially to guard
the first, that of the laity exclusively to secure the
last ? (The same considerations will apply in a great
degree to cases of clerical immorality ; in these, how
ever, there is little fear of perversion of justice from
prejudice or extraneous motive.) I frankly own I do
[not] see my way at present to the framing a Court

i86s] SCRIPTURE TEACHING 297
which shall at once give to Christians, humanly speak
ing, a fair security against the destruction of their faith,
and to accused incumbents an assurance that they shall
not be deprived of their livelihood except by a trial
conducted on the same principles as in other cases
of misconduct. I think, therefore, there is a great deal
in what has been said by Archdeacon Sinclair, who in
his Charge, after showing how easily Hume would
have escaped condemnation for his 'Essay on Miracles,'
intimates that the spiritual office or the benefice may
seem to require in cases of appeal different modes of
dealing. Many thanks for your kind words about Oxford
to your attached friend,
W. E. G.
414. To Earl Granville.
Court Hey,
October 9, 1865.
My dear Granville,
. . . Provision, I understand, is required to allow
the withdrawal of the children of Dissenters from
instruction in the 'formularies and doctrine' of the
Church of England. What does this mean ? If it be
limited to instruction given ex proprio in Church
doctrine, it is an immediate corollary to the exemption
from formularies ; but this limitation of meaning is
too important, I think, to be left as matter of inference
only. And there arises the question whether it would
or ought to satisfy the Dissenting argument.
But suppose the schoolmaster is reading with his
boys the third chapter of St. John, and he explains the
passage relating to Baptism in the sense of the Prayer-
Book and Articles : the Dissenter would say, 'This is
instruction in the doctrine of the Church of England.'
Now, it is utterly impossible for you to tell the Church
schoolmaster or the clergyman that he must not in
the school explain any passage of Scripture in a sense
to which any of the parents of the children, or at least
any sect, object : for then you would in principle
entirely alter the character of the religious teaching
for the rest of the scholars, and in fact upset the whole
system. The Dissenter, on the other hand, ought (in

298 EARLY CALLS [1866
my opinion) to be entitled to withdraw his child from
the risk (if he considers it such) of receiving instruc
tion of the kind I describe. But would the conscience
clause secure to him this right ? Would not a very
awkward wrangle arise upon the question whether
bona-fide exposition of the Scripture text, incidentally
touching doctrine in which the Church of England
differs from some other body, is to be considered as
' instruction in the doctrine of the Church of England ' ?
It would not be desirable to leave the decision of such
a question to an executive and political department
with fluctuating views.
It appears to me as if the right of withdrawal ought
to embrace the whole or any part of the religious
instruction, or of what the parent considers to be such.
You are strong on this ground : but weak, as I think,
when you use language which gives even the faintest
colour to the imputation that your real meaning is,
under cover of protecting exceptional consciences, to
invade the integrity of the instruction which is to be
given to the mass of the children. . . .

415. To Lady Mary Herbert (Baroness von Hiigel).
11, Carlton House Terrace,
January 28, 1866.
My dear Mary,
I wish it were in my power sufficiently to make
known to you the earnestness of the interest which
we feel in all that concerns you, both for your dear
parents' sake and for your own, placed as you are in
your early years, in years usually so free from care
and the sense of responsibility, in a position which
makes such calls upon you as many go through life
without being required to meet.
But God, who has caused you through no act of
your own to find yourself so placed, has abundant
means to make it even easy for you, were it His will,
to fulfil your duties. And if He does not thus give
you ease, if, as may well be the case, your spirit some
times droops for a little while, this is not because He
loves you little, but because He loves you much. For
though He never sends trial without being ready also

1866] THE GIFT OF WISDOM 299
to send strength to bear it, yet it seems His will often
to charge us quite up to the strength He gives ; and
this in order that the fruit of the trial may be the
richer for us, that faith maybe strengthened by exer
cise, that reliance upon Him may be more certain as in
the ever-deepening sense of our own weakness we
feel more and more the need and the all-sufficiency of
the strength He gives.
I need not tell you that you will find your labour
prosper in your hands in proportion as you live near
to Him, in all the ways He has appointed — in His
Blessed Sacrament, in the solemn prayers of the
Church, in the private and even, if I may so say, in the
unspoken prayers which, amidst all the occupations of
life, will ascend from your own heart. As He gave
Solomon the precious gift of wisdom, so I trust He
will give it to you, that you may know how to live in
all love and in obedience to your mother, and yet may
also know how to maintain your loyalty to the Church.
Need I remind you that, while you pursue your
appointed path, the prayers of your friends, too,
will ascend to heaven for you, and with the more
encouragement because the past seems already to
show them that you do not shrink from duty, arduous
as it is and may be. Just as in every other exercise
excellence is attained by difficulty, so here, in pro
portion as the strain is great, the purpose of God in
your favour is high ; and the effect upon your own
character, and through your character on your life,
will, I hope, be blessed.
Little as your youth ought to be perplexed with
controversy, yet it may happen that difficulties may be
thrown in the way of your understanding ; and in any
matter relating to the Church of England you would,
I think, find it useful to refer to Palmer on the Church
— not because he is certain to be right in all he says, for
indeed there is a certain harshness in his judgment of
some Protestant bodies, but because it is a work of
great force and remarkable clearness, with excellent
method and much knowledge, presented in a very
accessible form. I am sure it is a book which your
father would have approved for such an use, and
which you might wisely employ in case of need, now
that you have become in this great matter (a humbling

300 NEWMAN'S STYLE [1866
but an inspiring thought for you), as long as present
circumstances continue, the chief guardian of his
wishes. All intelligence of you at all times will be most
acceptable to us, and if at any time you can make me
of use, believe at least in my willingness, or rather in
my earnest desire, to afford you any service.
Believe me, my dear Mary,
Your very sincere friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
416. To Sir F. Rogers, Bart.
Windsor Castle,
February 25, 1866.
My dear Rogers,
I have read, or rather reread, those fine ser
mons, and will return the volume to-morrow, which
you so kindly lent me ; but, though with a great
deference to your opinion, I hold firmly to my own,
that the 'Ecce Homo' cannot be by Dr. Newman.
I please myself with thinking that in this busy age,
quick at sapping and dissolving, but commonly
not masculine enough in thought to construct, the
author of this volume may have been sent among us
as a builder, and may perform a great work for truth
and for mankind.
I have called the two sermons 'fine' It is a poor
word for them. I do not know if Newman's style
affects others as I find myself affected by it. It is
a transporting style. I find myself constantly dis
posed to cry aloud, and vent myself in that way, as
I read. It is like the very highest music, and seems
sometimes in beauty to go beyond the human.
It is a kind of beauty far above the ordinary beauties
of style, like the drawing of Raphael compared with
the drawing of ordinary painters. It calls back to me
a line in which I think (but it is long since I read it,
Dante describes his own religious ecstasies : ' Che
fece me da me uscir di mente.'
And yet (I do not know if you agree with me) I
think Newman is not, and never was, a philosopher — a
philosopher, I mean, in the sense of Butler.
He has not the balance of mind, and his aspects of

Photo, Numa Blanc Fils, Cannes.
MR. AND MRS. GLADSTONE, CHATEAU THORENC, CANNES,
FEBRUARY, 1898.

i866] NEWMAN AND BUTLER 301
truth are partial : he is not well settled on a centre of
gravity, his plumb-line is not true.
I think there is nothing more characteristic of the
unphilosophic mind than impatience of doubt and
premature avidity for system. That seems to me
(especially after the revelations of the 'Apologia') to
have been Newman's snare all along. No man can
grasp truth entire. Butler took it in fragments, but
his wise instinct enabled him so to lay each stone that it
would fit in with every stone which might be well and
truly laid in the double light of thought and of experi
ence. He is now in his second century, and his works
are at once younger and older than when he wrote them :
older, because confirmed by the testing operations of
other minds, younger, because with not only fuller
and broader, but with, so to speak, more flexible
foundations adaptive to the present and the coming
needs of the human mind. Newman also laid his
stones ; but at every period of his life he seems to
have been driven by a fatal necessity to piece them
all together, to make a building of them, and he has
made half a dozen ; and when the winds blew and the
floods beat they gave way, and if the one he now
inhabits seems to him firmer than the rest, I do believe
it may be the result of little else than weariness of
mind at so many painful efforts and (to a man of his
intense feelings and perceptions) so many sad col
lapses. And yet, for one, I say boldly that since the
days of Butler the Church of England reared no son
so great as Newman.
It would seem the Almighty, ever bringing good
from evil, has given him a work to do where he is :
may it prosper in his hand !
Believe me,
Most sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
417. To J. R. Hope-Scott. Penmaenmawr,
September 7, 1868.
. With great delight, and under fascination, I
have been treading (in mind) much ground familiar to
you, and have been upon a regular perusal of Lockhart's

302 A VANISHING DIOCESE [1869
Life of Scott from end to end. I am already reflecting
with concern how soon I shall probably reach the last
page of the last volume. . . .

418. To the Bishop of Oxford (Wilberforce). November 20, 1869.
My dear Bishop of Oxford,
One extorted word to say I have seldom read
anything with more pleasure, or more emotion, than
the address to you from the clergy of your now vanish
ing diocese, and your reply. You have not known
me as a flatterer, and so I the more freely say
it makes the heart bound to feel that even in this poor
world truth and justice sometimes claim their own ;
and thank God it has not been in the power of jealousy
or cowardice or spite, or any other evil creature, to
detract one jot from the glory of that truly great
episcopate, the secret of which you have written alike
in the visible outward history of the Church and in the
fleshy tablets of the hearts of men. May the undying,
unabated courage with which you now gird yourself
for the work elsewhere feed you with the bodily
strength which I am well assured is the only quality
for it that can ever fail you ! I wish I had been an
Oxford clergyman qualified to sign.
Do not write, but when you chance to have occasion,
I shall then only like to know how many signed.
W. E. Gladstone.
419. To Archdeacon Denison. July 14, 1870.
My dear Denison,
I deeply regret the occasion which has called
forth your note, and I trust you may yet be spared for
many years. But I write a line, unfortunately in great
haste, to say that I do not think you have given me
any occasion to exercise the virtue of forgiveness ; but
if you had, I think there could be no one towards
whom it could be more easy and delightful to put in
practice. . . .
W. E. G.

1871] SCOTLAND'S FIRST SON 303

420. To Mrs. Gladstone. Hawarden Castle,
January 7, 1871.
I found in Dryden yesterday a line most suitable to
be addressed to you on that day,
' And ever be thou blest, who liv'st to bless,'
and it is worth sending now, if a day too late.
I did not pass unnoticed what you said of sleep, and
I act upon it. My general rule is to take all my frame
will accept. Hence freshness in the morning for the
day's work. . . .

421. To Dean Ramsay.
August 8, 1871.
... I wish I could convey to you adequately the
regret with which I find myself cut off from any
possibility of joining in the tribute to be paid to
morrow to the memory of the first among the sons of
Scotland. He was the idol of my boyhood, and though
I well know that my admiration is worth little, it has
never varied.
In his case the feeling is towards the man as much
as towards his works. Did we not possess a line from
his pen, his life would stand as a true epic. I will not
say I think him as strong in his modern politics as in
some other points, but I find my general estimate of
the great and heroic whole affected in the slightest
degree by this point of qualified misgiving. If he is
out of fashion with some parts of some classes, it is
their misfortune, not his. He is above fluctuations of
time, for his place is in the Band of the Immortals.
The end of my letter shall be better worth your
having than the beginning. A fortnight ago I visited
Tennyson, and found him possessed with all the
sentiments about Scott which your celebration is
meant to foster. . . .

304 THE BULGARIAN SCHISM [1872
422. To the Rev. Sir G. Lewis. September 24, 1871.
... I have now finished your brother's book on
Authority, which on coming here I have made it one
of my first, or rather my first object to read, in the
limited portion of the day which my correspondence
leaves at my disposal. I am astonished that such a
book should have been confined to so moderate a circle
of readers, and that it should have never reached a
second edition. It exhibits all the writer's patience,
tolerance, calmness of mind, and sound sense, his
discerning observation and his wide knowledge. I am
truly obliged by your kindness in giving me an oppor
tunity of perusing it, and I shall pursue my search for
a copy which I may call my own with increased
determination. . . .
423. To Mrs. Gladstone. On the Rails,
October 11, 1871.
At ten this morning I had a moving farewell. The
Dean himself (Ramsay), with everything about him,
forms a really beautiful picture of life : the evil, the
poison, the disorder of the world, seem expelled. All
is full of love and sweetness. I was most unwilling to
say good-bye. But if I had stayed more days, I should
have been just as unwilling at the end of them. . . .
424. To the Archbishop of Syr a.
August 18, 1872.
. . . From my recollections of Your Grace's mission
to England, I am very sensible of the large and con
ciliatory view which you take of ecclesiastical questions,
and I feel confident that you would not, without strong
cause, recommend a course to be nastily adopted
which might end in a formal schism between the
Russian and Bulgarian Churches on the one hand,
and the ancient and venerable communions which

1872] THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 305
look to Constantinople as their centre of unity on the
other. Your Grace will, however, understand that it
is difficult for me, at this distance, at once to recognize
a necessity for running such fearful risks, especially
as, according to all I learn, the violent partisans on
the Bulgarian side are themselves disposed to pre
cipitate the sharpest issue to the controversy. I enter
very much into Your Grace's views as to any aggres
sion of the Panslavist against the Hellenic element,
either in religion or otherwise. But while, as a
Christian, I must cordially desire the union of all
your Churches, I find myself led to a similar form of
feeling by my duty as a Minister. We in this country
are anxious for the peace of the Levant. To this end
it is material that there should be harmony between
the Ottoman Porte and the Christian Churches within
its dominions, But for this purpose it seems to me
also much to be wished that more Churches should be
in harmony with one another, since, if they are at
variance, foreign Powers may be tempted to step in,
and, under cover of religion, to promote political aims,
of a nature adverse to peace, by taking up some one
of the rival interests and working it against another.
This has been known to happen in other days, through
differences between the Greek and Latin communions
— differences which far more, I suppose, than any other
cause brought about the downfall of the Byzantine
Empire. The evil will, I fear, be greatly aggravated
if permanent discord spring up among the orthodox
Churches themselves, and it would be especially sad,
in these days of so many perils to religion, that a
schism should be established among those who agree
together in matters of faith. Had I therefore (which I
have not) any power in this deeply interesting question,
my aim would be first to procure the intervention of a
little time, which, by allaying heats, cures so many
disorders, and then to see whether it was quite hope
less to procure from the Bulgarian Church a due
observance of the rights of the Patriarch and the
Eastern Church, before proceeding to extremities. . . .*
* For the substance of the following note I am indebted to a
friend: The Bulgarian schism is one of a series of similar incidents which
have occurred in nearly every country that has shaken off the Turkish

306 A RECONCILIATION [1872
425. To the Ven. Sir G. Prevost. November 30, 1872.
... I think I mentioned to you at Hawarden the
course taken by Dr. Pusey towards me at the time of
Dr. Temple's appointment, when his long-suffering
gave way. A fortnight ago I passed a night at
Oxford, and heard through Dr. Liddon that Dr. Pusey
would be glad to see me. I called on him, and was
received with all his old accustomed warmth and
kindness. I thought it would be well to make this
known to you. Considering his age and labours, I
thought he looked well. . . .

426. To Lord Lytton.

May 13, 1873.

... I cannot resist the impulse to add one letter to
our correspondence respecting 'Kenelm Chillingly.'
At broken times (as is my wont), and in the Easter
holidays, I read it, and it pleased me so much in so
many ways that, after some delay, I feel obliged to
write a hasty word. First, I am delighted with the
high aim and purpose of the book. It is aimed at
making men nobler and better ; not, as is so commonly
the case with the novels of the day, at inducing
readers to work through three volumes for the sake
of the morbid excitement they afford by exhibiting, in

yoke. Ecclesiastically these countries were all exarchies of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, but since their emancipation they have
rejected the control in things spiritual of a subject of the Sultan, and
have declared themselves autocephalous. Thereupon the Patriarch
has excommunicated them and pronounced them in schism. Hitherto
he has always come, mainly under Russian pressure, to recognize
accomplished facts, but in the case of Bulgaria there was a longer
delay than usual owing to her being a part of the Sultan's dominions,
and now that she is independent her relations with Constantinople
are embittered by the conflicting jurisdictions in Macedonia. The
Russians have all along been in communion with both Churches.

1873] 'KENELM CHILLINGLY' 307
varied or unvaried combination, the vices, follies and
weaknesses of society. Next, all this is done with a
most remarkable abstention from the introduction of
bad, base, and contemptible characters, even by way
of contrast. In foregoing this contrast, the artist
deprives himself of much factitious aid, and his dis
pensing with it, and yet attaining his end, is a great
achievement. Next, I cannot too highly express my
feeling about that ethereal sketch of Lily. She
reminded me, in a different sphere and surroundings,
of Ariel as a work of art. And, lastly, I think it a
master-stroke that Kenelm and Cecilia Travers are
left in the possibility and evident likelihood of union,
but are not as a fact united ; for I have never seen a
case when a transferred affection was satisfactorily
handled in a work of imagination. Forgive me for
troubling you with these few words, in a matter full
of interest to you, of eulogy not less sincere than it is
insignificant. Most gifts ought to be made in life ;
but this work was surely made for a posthumous
bequest, to remain a centre of pure and genial re
collections for all who knew, honoured or loved your
father. . . . 427. To Mrs. Tyler. July 19, 1873.
... I know that an occupation may be real, steady,
and permanent, without what is termed 'a profession.'
The essential thing, I think, is that in some form or
other there should be an occupation corresponding to
that description. The habits of this age and country
dispose us to look with far too great indifference upon
the evil, I would almost say the misery, of a life with
out adequate employment. Is not this the talent hid
in a napkin ? Is it not really worse than many things
which at first sight appear worse than it ? You are, I
am sure, acting for the welfare of those in whose
happiness you are bound to take so deep an interest,
when you contend that this great want ought to be
supplied. And supplied it can be, without doubt,
since Providence has supplied for every one of us a
work in the world, and has given us sufficient means
of discovering what it is. . . .

308 WILBERFORCE'S DEATH [1873

428. To the Queen. House of Commons,
July 22-23, 1873.
Mr. Gladstone has had the honour to receive Your
Majesty's interesting letter on the death of the Bishop
of Winchester. He could, if it were needful, bear an
independent testimony to the truth of much of what
Your Majesty has said respecting that great prelate.
Of his special opinions, Mr. Gladstone may not be an
impartial judge : but he believes there can be no doubt
that there does not live the man, in any of the three
kingdoms of Your Majesty, who has, by his own inde
fatigable and unmeasured labours, given such a power
ful impulse as the Bishop of Winchester gave to the
religious life of the country. And that affectionate
disposition which he testified before Your Majesty
after the death of the illustrious Prince Consort was ever
ready to soothe and share the sorrows of the humblest
of your subjects. Mr. Gladstone went yesterday with
Lord Granville to Abinger Hall, where the Bishop lay
dead. The inquest was short and almost painfully
simple, though conducted with perfect propriety. The
shock to Lord Granville's mind and nerves from the
terrible sight which he saw had not wholly passed
away. The jury, of course, went to view the Bishop
as he lay, and Mr. Gladstone had his last sight of him
on earth. The countenance was calm, but full of the
marks both of his labours and of his powers. There
were slight marks — dots they might be called — on one
side of the forehead and nose, where the face, partially
protected by the hat, had met the grassy ground in
rolling over. There was a heavy bruise at the base of
the hinder part of the skull, but this Mr. Gladstone
did not see. The hat was exhibited to the jury quite
crushed. There seems to be no doubt that death was
caused by the dislocation of the vertebrae of the neck,
on which the whole force of this heavy fall was dis
charged, and that it was instantaneous and absolutely
painless. After the inquest Mr. Gladstone went to
see the spot, where it is but too easy to understand
the manner of this catastrophe. A rough cart-track
passes straight down a rather, but not very, steep

1873] LORD R. CAVENDISH 309
descent. On the left is grass, and the ground inclines
downward also towards the line of the cart-track.
Upon this descent there is a dip almost in the shape
of a horseshoe, about 18 inches deep on the side near
the cart-track, and shallower away from it : where Lord
Granville (probably) rode, it is almost imperceptible.
The Bishop, riding down at a slow canter, seems not
to have taken up his horse, and the animal, though a
very sure-footed one, not finding the ground meet it
as it stepped, lost its footing, and came (as the groom
says) on its knees. It had risen at the moment when
Lord Granville, who was slightly ahead, looked round
upon hearing a dull, heavy sound, and saw the horse
standing up, the Bishop lying at full length motionless,
with tranquil countenance, his arms by his sides, and
his feet in the direction in which they were proceeding.
The scene was quiet, rural, and pretty, but without any
wide view or other circumstance to absorb attention.
Thus, a slight and momentary carelessness in riding
seems to have been the cause of this great calamity.
To these details, in which Mr. Gladstone has thought
Your Majesty would feel an interest, though the whole
of them may not be new, he will only add that the
extent and depth of feeling which has been shown,
both in the neighborhood and in London, are even
beyond what he could have anticipated. There appears
to be a widespread desire, which Mr. Gladstone shares,
that he should be buried in the Abbey : of which,
though but for a limited time, he once was Dean, and
where his honoured father lies.

429. To the Rev. G. Williams. November 27, 1873.
... I scarcely know what to say of the loss of
Lord R. Cavendish. First, it is so heavy that it can
hardly be described without seeming exaggeration.
Let us, however, forget ourselves, and be glad that
that tender and ripened spirit is at rest, and has no
longer to feel or witness the bufferings of this agitated
world. . . .

3IO THE BRINK OF A CRISIS [1874

430. To Mrs. Gladstone.
Hawarden Castle,
Easter Morning, April 6, 1874.
. . . The anti-Parliamentary reaction has been
stronger with me even than I anticipated. I am as
far as possible from feeling the want of the House of
Commons. I could cheerfully go there to do a work,
but I hope and pray to be as little there as possible
except for such an aim. In London I think we were
too much hustled to speak leisurely or effectually of
the future. It will open for us by degrees. . . .
There is one thing I should like you to understand
clearly as to my view of things, for it is an essential
part of that view. I am convinced that the welfare of
mankind does not now depend on the state or the
world of politics : the real battle is being fought in the
world of thought, where a deadly attack is made, with
great tenacity of purpose and over a wide field, upon
the greatest treasure of mankind — the belief in God
and the Gospel of Christ. . . .

431. To Earl Granville.
Hawarden,
December 7, 1874.
. . . The religious question generally — which we
could manage while we were in power — has now
passed out of our hands, and is a great difficulty in my
way. What in this province the next session may
bring about, I cannot tell. But the Church of England
has been brought to the brink of a most serious crisis,
which may take the form of schism, disestablishment,
or both. It is, I believe, still avoidable ; but only by
an amount of self-command, high-mindedness, and
circumspection, on the part of the highest Church
authorities, very different from that which they ex
hibited during the last session. While the question
remains unclosed, any strapping up of the relations
between the party and me can only, I fear, constitute a
new danger. . . .

1874] A DUTY TO ACTON 311

432. To Lord Acton. Hawarden Castle,
December 18, 1874.
My dear Lord Acton,
1 . When you were putting in caveats and warn
ings, you did not say to me, ' Now mind, this affair will
absorb some, perhaps many, months of your life.' It
has been so up to the present moment — and it evi
dently will be so for some time.
2. But for me it is nothing, compared with what it
is for you. And I assure you I have asked myself
much and many times what was my duty to you, and
others like you. And my answer to myself has been
this : «
(a) To move others, if I could, to take up their
position abreast of you. For, in such a position,
Defendit numerus. I have laboured at it, but as yet
without effect.
(b) By carefully watching my own language, and
making no attack on the Roman Catholic religion such
as a Roman Catholic was required to hold it before July,
1870. To this I have endeavoured rigidly to conform.
A furious and inveterate Protestant foe of mine, Dr.
Porter or Potter, of Sheffield, has pointed this out in
print. I might deviate by accident. If I do, pray pull
me up. Of course I do not, and cannot, hold myself
tightly bound as to reserves of language in speaking of
the Roman authorities who have done all this por
tentous mischief. You perhaps saw a letter of mine
in the papers to some Nonconforming ministers. It
was intended to mark out my province. Unfortu
nately, they had misread 'clearly,' and printed it
'merely.' (c) By curbing myself from all endeavours to turn
to account this crisis in the interest of proselytism.
This has applied chiefly, I may say in confidence, to
my communications with my sister.
3. A thousand thanks for the admirable passage
about Dr. Dollinger ; I enclose my projected render
ing of it. I would also print the original.
4. His words to me in English on the point you
mention were to the effect that he despaired of any

312 LEADERSHIP AND CHURCH [1875
satisfactory change under the ordinary working of the
Roman Curia, though it might, however, come by
'crisis or revolution.' But you doubtless have heard
from him in German which in these nice matters is
better. . . . 433. To Mrs. Gladstone.
11, Carlton House Terrace,
January 9, 1875.
. . . Do you not see that the opinion of a man like
E. Talbot, so far as it has force, tells the other way ?
The very thing that unfits me to lead the Liberal party
on Church questions — namely, anticipated differences
from them — recommends me in his eyes, under the
idea that I am to make that party less un-Churchlike
than it would otherwise be. . . .

434. To Dr. Dollinger.
23, Carlton House Terrace, July 24, 1875.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
... As the meeting at Bonn is nigh at hand, I lose
no time in acquainting you with the exact state of my
sentiments. I regard the idea of returning to office at any future
time with aversion, and, as old Time fights on my side, I
also conceive it to be in a very high degree improbable.
Still, as long as I do not leave Parliament, I am
under many restraints, from the impossibility of
totally avoiding its business, and from the moral ties
which still unite me with all my old colleagues. I
remain in free and familiar intercourse with them, and
I share their counsels whenever they desire it.
With some risk and much criticism, I assert my
liberty up to a certain point, but beyond that point I
could not go without making a change for which the
time has hardly arrived. And I think, as you provi
dently and considerately suspect, that it would not be
expedient for me to take an actual part in the meetings
at Bonn.
At the same time, I recognize as freely as I did last

l87S] THE BONN CONFERENCE 313
year your title, in your arduous and hopeful work, to
every kind of moral support which it may be in the
power of any of your friends to give you. If you
think that, in view of the presence of the Eastern
prelates or representatives, I can in any way strengthen
your hands, I could contrive to come to Cologne, or
some spot in the neighbourhood of Bonn, and could
pay a visit to that place unofficially on the day before
the Conference, or on any morning or afternoon while
it continues, but so as not to interfere with the pro
ceedings, and could see you and any other persons, as
you might think it desirable. In the newspaper it
might fairly be stated that I had on such a day come
over to visit you, my old and revered friend. Please
to consider this and to let me know your wishes.
I know money must be wanted for some of the
purposes in view, and I should gladly send (or bring)
a hundred pounds.
Very sincerely do I hope that you will have some
good Englishmen present to take part in the pro
ceedings. If you cannot have the Bishop of Win
chester and Dr. Liddon, why not have the Bishop of
Salisbury (Dr. Moberly) and the Dean of St. Paul's
(Dr. Church). I think they would not refuse a line
from you. I would back it up if this were your wish.
But I trust you have not lost the Bishop of Winchester
(Dr. Browne) , who is so much and so justly respected : I
mean his presence, for I am sure his heart is with you.
I do not think that the controversy on Ritualism in
this country threatens you, at present, with any diffi
culty. And I anticipate a continually increasing
measure of sympathy with the endeavour to work out
a scheme of concord on the basis of the dogma and
faith of the undivided Church.
Even your proceedings in Germany are scarcely
more interesting than the tidings from Italy, and the
proceedings of the peasantry in the three parishes of
the Mantovano. I was also greatly delighted with
the debate in the Italian Parliament, and I had some
days ago an opportunity of speaking pretty freely to
Prince Humbert, who is paying England a visit. . . .

314 PERE HYACINTHE [1876
435. To Dr. Dollinger. 73, Harley Street,
May 29, 1876.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
I send you by post the proof-sheets of a paper I
have written for the Contemporary Review of June. It
aims at setting out, in a manner very slight and very
rude, the principal courses of thought concerning
religion at the present time. It can give you no
information. But, if you look at it for a moment, you
will, without going through the several divisions, see
the general distribution I have made, and will under
stand in what way it is that I think that it may perhaps
be of some use among my countrymen.
Pere Hyacinthe is in London, and thinks of holding
one or more Conferences (in which I believe nobody
confers) on the 'religious question.' He asked my
opinion, and I recommended this. He seems a man
of upright mind, and his wife is a pleasing and sensible
woman, with a good deal of apparent energy, and a
real religious character — though many, and I among
them, think he made a serious mistake in dispensing
himself from his vows to marry her. His ecclesiastical
position seems to be that of the Old Catholics : he
waits and longs for a provisional Episcopal Govern
ment, and then a reform in the Latin Church ; having
no idea that a schism, properly so called, can have
warrant or prosperity. I understand privately that
he has communicated in the Church of England, but
I have no authority to say so. He assures me that he
gets much private benediction and encouragement
from within the Roman Church : and seems to estimate
rather highly the number and importance of those who
are waiting for the death of the present Pontiff as the
crisis of the present controversy.
While contemplating with the deepest interest the
progress of the work you have carried forward on the
scientific area at Bonn, I look rather anxiously also to
the practical side and the Christian provision made,
and to be made, for persons who resist or cannot
accept the innovations of Vaticanism.
It still seems to me the reasonable opinion that,
if the old Catholic body is to thrive, and is to avoid

l877l SPIRITUALISM

315

the snare of Erastianism so injurious to the Jansenists,
the via prima salutis, the most available and probable
means for durability, and security, will be such a re-
establishment of relations with the Eastern Church as
will allow that Church in all or some of its branches
to take part in some consecration or consecrations of
Bishops to assist Bishop Reinkens and continue his
work. I hoped and believed Archbishop Lycurgus would
be the instrument for achieving this work, and I trust
God may raise him up a successor. . . .
Always affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
436. To Mrs. Gladstone.
Hawarden,
December 29, 1876.
... God be thanked that we have been spared so
long to mount the hill of life together, and to reap
such a harvest of love and blessing in our children, a
harvest which even seems to grow richer from year to
year, and to give every confidence that the increase
will continue. During what remains of life may we
come ever nearer in spirit, and may I be less unthank
ful for all God has given me in you to love and
honour. . . . 437. To James Phillips. HOLMBURY, April 8, 1877.
Sir, I fear I can render but little service, yet I
should be glad to aid in removing, if it might be, risks
which you name, and each of which is in its own way
so grave.
I know of no rule which forbids a Christian to
examine into the preternatural agency in the system
called spiritualism.
But it seems to me his duty —
1. To refrain from dabbling in a question of this
kind — that is to say, making a shallow and insufficient
examination of it.

316 THE REFORMATION [1878
2. To beware of the assumption that, if the signs
are real, the system has therefore of necessity any
claim to more than an acknowledgment of this reality.
3. To remember that, on the principles of Christian
religion, a bad preternatural agency, or a misleading
one, is not shut out from the range of possibility.
4. To avoid in so solemn a matter the spirit of mere
curiosity, and to be assured of having in view an
useful object. Universal knowledge is not possible,
and we are bound to choose the best and healthiest.
I may add that an inquiry of this kind seems to me
much more suited for a mind in a condition of equi
librium than for one which is disturbed. If the storms
and gusts of the day have in any way shaken your
standing ground, is it not the first and most obvious
duty to make an humble but searching scrutiny of the
foundations ? I speak as one who is deeply convinced
that they will bear it, and that God has yet many a
fair plant to rear in this portion of His garden.
With all good wishes, I remain, sir,
Your faithful servant,
W. E. Gladstone.
438. To Dr. Dollinger.
Woburn Abbey,
October 23, 1878.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
I am very grateful for your letter : for I was
afraid that I might have intruded unwarrantably upon
your time. And I am also greatly pleased to find you
think my main propositions right. I need hardly say
I agree with you that the subject requires a much
fuller elucidation. Indeed, I consider my paper as no
more than a provocative to serious and searching
inquiry.* My object, really, was to broaden the field of
discussion, which has heretofore been sadly narrow
when the questions raised have touched the polemical
interests of the Roman and Protestant causes respec
tively. I have described with truth the slavish
traditionalism with which the Reformation is still
largely regarded in this country. Not merely for the
* ' The Sixteenth Century arraigned before the Nineteenth,' Con
temporary Review, October, 1878.

1880] IDOLATRY OF THE LETTER 317
sake of justice to the Church of Rome, but even in our
own interest, it is time to vindicate a true historic
freedom against this servile temper. What may be
called Protestant idolatry — for example, idolatry
towards the letter of Scripture, and even of its trans
lation used among us (a most noble work) — has
undoubtedly opened a broad road in our time for the
incursions of unbelief.
In describing the fourteenth century as early days,
etc., I meant to throw the stress on the word culture.
This I suppose to have begun just before Dante, and
therefore I thought Boccaccio might be called as
belonging to its earl}' days. I quite understand the
isolation of the 'Decameron,' Petrarch representing
another and better side of 'Humanism.' I will take
care, should the opportunity offer, to give the greater
fulness and roundness to my statement, of which it
stands in need. Meantime I am glad not to have seen
objection seriously taken on the Anglican side to what
I have said about the loss which reformed Christianity
has suffered in respect to such matters as prayers for
the faithful departed, and the Eucharistic sacrifice.
It is much otherwise as to the silly and effeminate
criticisms which have been showered on a single sen
tence in my article in the North American Review,
where I have said that at a future time America may,
and probably will, carry away the commercial primacy
which we at present hold. When Chancellor of the
Exchequer in 1866, I dealt largely with this subject in
a Budget speech, and no one objected ; but with all the
arrogance and rhodomontade of the last few years
there is connected a vein of morbid weakness which
comes out in these feeble criticisms. . . .
Believe me, in unabated reverence,
Your affectionate friend,
W. E. Gladstone.
439. To J. Morley, Esq.
October 27, 1880.
... I also read with great interest a few days back
the Pall Mall Gazette's article on the High Church
Party in the Church of England; agreeing, I think,
with what is said until I came, near the end, to a state-

318 THE 'CIVITAS DEI' [1881
ment that they were wrong in not leaving the Church.
This, I think, from the writer's point of view, would
have been just, if he had said they ought not to leave,
but to disestablish and disendow (if they could). As
it is, the allegation requires of the High Churchman
that he should contravene a fundamental article of his
belief — namely, that our Saviour, through the Apostles,
founded an institution called in the Creed the Holy
Catholic Church, to be locally distributed throughout
the earth, that it is matter of duty to abide in this
Church, and that for England this Church is found in
the Church of England. I do not well see how, with
this belief, he is to go out of it. . . .
440. To the Rev. Malcolm Maccoll. Hawarden, March 27, 1881.
. . . What I want to have, on the basis of Palmer's
work, is a setting forth, according to the methods
which theological science provides, of the Civitas Dei,
the city set on a hill, the pillar and ground of truth,
the Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Fortsetzung
der Fleischwirkung, exhibited, not as against Noncon
formists, nor even principally as against the Jesuit,
aggressive Church of Rome, but as a positive dis
pensation, a form divinely given to the religious idea,
which challenges with authority, but agreeably to
reason, the assent of the rational and right-minded
man, in competition with all the other claimants on
that assent. I want some solid scientific work which
shall set up historical or institutional Christianity to
takes its chance in that melee of systems dogmatic and
undogmatic, revealed and unrevealed, particularist,
pagan, secular, an ti theistic, or other, which marks
the age.
Having spent fifty years of adult life in this melee, I
find the method I describe the most rational of all, and
I wish that there should be a textbook of it for the
help of doubtful or uninstructed minds.
Also that this textbook, founded on the principle
I have described, should apply the principle, for the
benefit of Englishmen, to the case of the English

1881] A SACRED PEACE 319
Church, under the shadow of which our lot is provi
dentially cast.
441. To G. A. Macmillan. Hawarden,
April 10, 1881.
. . . ' Hymns Ancient and Modern ' ought some day
to receive a drastic purgation. But I am less tolerant
than the Dean.
The 'Jacob's Dream' is indeed a true and very fine
poem, especially the earlier part of it. But the 'Jesu,
Lover of my Soul,' though a general favourite, I can
not and will not admire. Why, on the other hand,
has Mr. Goldwin Smith left out those noble, those
wonderful verses of Scott in the Lay, 'That Day of
Wrath, that Dreadful Day ' — almost the noblest sacred
verses since the Dies Irce, of which they are sometimes
wrongly called a translation ?
442. To J. H. Shorthouse.
Hawarden,
December 5, 1881.
I thank you very much for your interesting paper
upon Wordsworth's Platonism.
You say that the effect of his teaching is a sacred
peace. Your words remind me of words used to me
by Sir James Stephen in the Colonial Office nearly
fifty years ago. He said 'Wordsworth is the most
sabbatical book I know.' With both sentiments, or
both forms of the one sentiment, I strongly sympathize.
He has been a great teacher and a great blessing to
mankind. I am glad to see, from the form of your tract, that the
spirit of Baskerville is not wholly expelled from its
convenient haunts.
443. To John Murray.
Hawarden, January 23, 1882.
I must not omit to send you more than formal
thanks for the gift of Mr. Beckett's able book.

32o THE REVISED VERSION [1882
The calamity (I cannot use a weaker word) which it
was written to avert is, I trust, no longer impending;
undoubtedly he has given us an additional security
against it. .
The English nation, while they retain their senses,
never can assent to such a substitution as this.
The Revised Version cannot be corrected; the work
will have to be begun anew on other principles, and
the good work will have to be picked from out of the
mass of trashy alterations. Such is my surmise.
444. To Dr. Dollinger.
Hawarden,
September 1, 1882.
My dear Dr. Dollinger,
... I trouble you with a letter from myself
on a fact of some interest in ecclesiastical history. _ I
do not know if you have ever had an opportunity
of seeing Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism. He
was the Primate of Scotland in 1552, when the re
forming movement in England went at a head
long pace. A synod was held by the Archbishop, and
this work was put forth as a norm for teachers rather
than an instruction to the laity. It is, I apprehend,
important as showing what doctrinal and ecclesiastical
language was thought advisable by a National Church
at that critical moment. The work became exceed
ingly rare. I saw a copy in the University Library of
Edinburgh twenty years ago, and urged its republica
tion, offering in case of need to get it done at Oxford.
They paid no heed. But an Edinburgh bookseller has
now republished it in a rather costly form. I think
you would esteem it to be of some importance. It
expounds ably and fully the Decalogue, the Creed,
the Lord's Prayer, and the Ave Maria. It presents
several salient points for notice, especially that, in
setting forth the substance of Christian teaching, it
nowhere notices the supremacy, or primacy, or juris
diction, of the Pope, but speaks simply of the Church.
In treating of the Eucharist, it lays down sharply
the scheme of substarice and accidents, and of recep
tion in one kind. On the other hand, it avoids the
phrase Transubstantiation, it habitually speaks of God's
Board, and it hardly touches the doctrine of sacrifice,

l883l HAMILTON'S CATECHISM 321
only saying: Tt is called the Sacrifice of the Altar,
because it is a quick and special remembrance of the
Passion of Christ, as it is said in the Evangel of
St. Luke, Hoc facite in meam commemorationem. It
seems generally to be composed with much ability,
and in a pious tone.
You have heard, I believe, that a recast of Palmer's
book on the Church is in progress. I have done what
I could to promote it. I have some apprehension lest
it should be made rather too much a defence of revela
tion, instead of a treatise on the Vehicle provided by
Divine ordinance for bringing home its provisions. I
look, however, to the republication, and to mitigations
in it which will be real improvements, with lively
interest ; for I believe its reproduction will be an event
of great importance for the future of the Church of
England and of religion in this country. I understand
your advice will be sought : and I earnestly hope and
pray you will not withhold it. I believe it will have
large Episcopal countenance.
I would it were in my power to renew those per
sonal communications with you which, of late espe
cially, but also from the first, have been to me a source
of so much pleasure and advantage. But I am
a slave to the heavy undertaking which has lain upon
me, without remission, almost ever since I saw you.
Much, thank God, has been done. Even Ireland has
improved, and is improving. In Egypt, naval and
military operations have, thus far, gone beyond our
expectations. If you write to Bishop Strossmayer, pray convey
to him the assurance of my continuing affectionate
respect : and accept the same for yourself from the
bottom of my heart. May every blessing rest upon
your life and work ! Ever yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
445. To Mr. R. Ornsby. Hawarden,
October 15, 1883.
I received the proof-sheets on Saturday, and I now
return them. I must not claim any credit for despatch :
VOL. II — 21

322 HOPE'S FASCINATION [i883
once taken up, it was hardly possible to lay them
down. You will find on the margin a few insignificant
pencil notes; but I have not a single exception to take
on my own behalf. I am glad to see that they contain
some marks of the deference which I always paid him,
though they may not directly show that that deference
was founded on a sense of his superiority even more
than upon affection. But I never could be an impartial
judge of him : he possessed that most rare gift, the
power of fascination, and he fascinated me.
In reading these proof-sheets I could not confine
myself to the narrow scope of the request which in
duced you to send them. I could not but look to the
biography itself, and I rejoice to see from every page
of it that a wise choice has been made of its writer,
and that, unlike many works now published under that
title, it is to be a real, a careful, and a living work.
Still, it raises in my mind the question whether
there should not be, if there can be, some other me
morial of James Hope in a republication of some
of his own remaining works. Is it quite out of the
question to make a small collection and reprint of
them ? Would not what he has left on colleges and
foundations be of much permanent value ? I do not
doubt the justness of your selections, but can they
truly represent the whole ? In saying this I bear in
mind that few men are so inadequately represented
by their external distinctions. Eminence at the Parlia
mentary bar is not eminence in the English nineteenth-
century life ; and to the attainment of this eminence,
as a visible sign, he was limited by his own choice.
I feel that it is hazarding much for me to make this
suggestion. His secession placed so terrible a rift
between us (except in feeling), that without doubt I
lost in a great degree the perspective of his life. But
I am sure you will in any case pardon me, and ascribe
my boldness to the desire that full justice should be
done him.
The work when it appears must in any case be
received as one of deep religious interest ; but I am
sure your wish would be that, through him also,
Religion should reassert her hold upon the world.
Before reading these sheets, I was not aware that
his friendship with Cardinal Newman was a late as

1883] RELIGION AND BELIEF

323

well as a rapid growth. I now see that in the very
month in which he tendered to me (p. 107) a very
remarkable engagement,- he came under another attrac
tion far more powerful, which after a comparatively
short time disabled him from fulfilling it, and made
him resolutely close his ears to anything I could urge
upon him.
I arn exceedingly struck by your remarks in p. 179.
There is, I believe, much deep truth in them, and
they still further deepen the belief I have always
rather specially entertained as to the amount of that
profound and diversified influence which the Tract
Movement, and its singular sequel, have exercised
upon academical as well as ecclesiastical and religious
history.

446. To R. Ornsby.

Hawarden,
October 20, 1883.

I need say but little on your interesting letter be
yond this, that your subject has too much hold upon
me to allow of my reckoning very minutely any time
I may spend upon it. I may be misled, but it still
appears to me that, even if no piece is forthcoming
except the speech of 1840 and the article which carried
away Cardinal Newman, their publication in extenso
would constitute a splendid funeral oration for the old
collegiate system, of which it is worthy, and which I
fear it never can receive in any other form. I do not
now recollect his writings on the Jerusalem Bishopric
but I have no doubt they must be important.
It is a subject the revival of which in any shape is
painful to me, but I cannot help wishing before all
things that the debt of justice to him should be paid.
The religious interest of the book is perfectly safe,
but religion in this age has a special interest in ex
hibiting all that was great in men who have believed,
and have wrought their belief into their life, as he did.
Pray make sure about his politics. My impression
had been that he was a Tory to the last. I do not
know whether to ascribe in any degree to his in
fluence the change which took place in the Duke of
Norfolk's politics during his lifetime.

324 LUTHER IN ENGLAND [1883
447. To Sir H. Ponsonby. Hawarden,
November 4, 1883.
. . . The celebration of a Luther Festival seems
perfectly natural in Germany, where he is a great
national hero, and not merely a theological or eccle
siastical combatant. There he has acted powerfully
upon, and given much of its tone to, the whole thought
of the country. But, as I think, to make the celebra
tion here is above all things to stir up the embers of
religious controversy, and the religious controversies
of one age are never wholly satisfactory to the mind
of another. In Germany the name of Luther is asso
ciated with the widening of thought ; here the attempt
rather is to tie it down to a particular form, and thus
to narrow it. Agreeably to this, I see in the printed
list the names of the most vehement anti-Maynooth
men.
448. To the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon.
10, Downing Street,
June 18, 1884.
My dear Sir,
I cannot avoid writing a line to offer you my
hearty congratulations upon the approach of a day
full of interest to many who stand beyond the circle,
wide as it is, of your immediate hearers, followers,
and denominational brethren.
I believe that both you and I belong to the number
of those who think that all convictions, once formed,
ought to be stoutly maintained, and who would
therefore be called strong denominationalists.
But without prejudice to this persuasion, and outside
the points by which our positions are marked off, there
happily abides a vast inheritance of truth which we
enjoy in common, and which in its central essence
forms, as I rejoice to think, the basis of the faith of
Christendom. I therefore ask to unite my voice with
the voice of thousands in acknowledging the singular
power with which you have so long testified before

1884] AUGUSTINE AND BUTLER 325
the world 'of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,'
and the splendid uprightness of public character and
conduct, which have, I believe, contributed perhaps
equally with your eloquence and mental gifts to win
for you so wide an admiration.

449. To the Rev. C. Beard.
Hawarden,
August 23, 1884.
... I very seldom volunteer a letter : indeed, now
that I think of it, this is hardly volunteered. It is, I
may say, extorted from me by the singular merits of
your Hibbert Lectures, with which I have only just
become acquainted. I have nearly finished the delight
ful task of reading them, and I should run to great
length were I to say all I think in their praise.
I have never read anything so good, in so brief a
compass, on the English Reformation, still probably
the least understood of all.
It is not, however, mere concurrence of opinion
(varied rarely by dissent), nor even the great power
and richness of the volume, which most impress me.
It is the large and generous spirit of the book, and the
gift it shows of bringing out the nobleness of mixed
characters, a gift which must be allied with something
ethically similar in the writer.
After saying this, I wish to put in a plea for St.
Augustine. I cannot think he ought to be put in
a leash with Luther and Calvin, except as to what was
best in them. His doctrine of human nature is sub
stantially that of Bishop Butler ; and he converted
me about forty-five years ago to Bishop Butler's doc
trine. I will not trouble you further, though I am tempted,
sorely tempted, to ask whether you really think there
is a true antithesis between authority and reason. I
know it is a favourite phrase. All systems have their
slang, but what I find in almost every page of your
book is that you have none.

326 FAITH AND 'FIDUCIA' [1884
450. To G. W. E. Russell. Hawarden,
October 13, 1884.
... I remember a young Tory saying at Oxford he
could not wish to be more Tory than Burke.
He was perhaps the maker of the Revolutionary
war ; and our going into that war perhaps made the
Reign of Terror, and, without any 'perhaps,' almost
unmade the liberties, the constitution, and prosperity,
of our country. Yet I venerate and almost worship
him, though I can conceive its being argued that all
he did for freedom, justice, religion, purity of govern
ment, in other respects and other quarters, were less
than the mischief which flowed out from the reflections.
I would he were now alive. . . .

451. To T. G. Law.

Hawarden,
October 15, 1884.

On understanding that it would be agreeable to
you, I have written a short introductory notice to
precede your admirable preface, and have received
for it the imprimatur of Bishop Stubbs. Pray note
fearlessly anything in it that you may find wrong.
I venture a criticism on one phrase which you have
used in p. xxxvi. After saying, ' this saving faith con
sists in intellectual assent, with fear, hope, repentance,
and complete self-surrender added (the Lutheran
assensus et fiducia).'
Will the words in the parenthesis hold good ? Is
not the fiducia of Luther a fixed confidence of having
received the gift of pardon and justification? I do
not like to trust my rusty recollections. But, as far
as they go, nothing less than this is the Lutheran
fiducia: whereas I should say the description here
given singularly resembles that furnished by the
English 'Homily of Justification.'

1884] A MISSING QUALITY 327
452. To Lady Russell.
Hawarden,
December 14, 1884.
... A very clever man, a Bampton Lecturer,
evidently writing with good and upright intention,
sends me a Lecture in which he lays down the
qualities he thinks necessary to make theological
study fruitful. They are courage, patience, and
sympathy. He omits one quality, in my opinion,
even more important than any of these, and that is
reverence : without a great stock of reverence, man
kind, as I believe, will go to the bad. I might add
another omission : it is caution — a thing different from
reverence, but an apt handmaid to it, and the proper
counterpoise to the courage, of which certainly there
seems to be no lack. 453. To Dr. Dollinger.
Hawarden,
May 27, 1888.
My dear Friend,
On coming hither for the Whitsun holidays, I
found a double pleasure prepared for me in receiving
the book you had kindly sent me. It lay firstly in the
token of your recollection, and next in the proof of
your continuing vigour. I have begun it with the
essay on Madame de Maintenon, for a strong attrac
tion draws me to the whole Louis XIII.-XV. period,
as one of the most instructive and memorable, although
one of the most odious, in history. I found your dis
quisition profoundly interesting, apart from its mar
vellous freshness and fulness. It seemed to taste of
the mountain streams that fill the Lake of Tegernsee.
The woman herself has been placed by you on a very
high pedestal, in point both of talent and of piety and
personal unselfishness. But was her country, though
her country was the world, better or worse for her
existence ? I am not certain, from your three or four
last sentences, what would, on this issue, be your
verdict. She was art and part in the whole vast mass

328 MADAME DE MAINTENON [1888
of the transactions of the reign of Louis XIV., for
thirty years or more, which were one long conspiracy
against liberty both political and moral, against peace
and justice in Christendom, and against the whole
principle and the very idea of legality in France.
You have weightily noticed the connection between
1685 and 1793, and the enduring and as yet unex
hausted vitality of the terrible bequest of that Sovereign
and his abettors to the world. That she was a well-
intending Christian is all the better for her : but I ask
whether she was a benefactress to the world. Perhaps,
but for her, her husband might have lived to the end
a life as foul as that of Louis XV., but this does not,
I think, in any way suffice to redress the balance.
I have lately undergone the shock of a most painful
surprise in being introduced to the novels of Zola,
through the medium of a book called 'La Terre.' It
is a brutally realistic account of the life or supposed
life of a provincial and rural community in the district
of La Beauce Exaggerated it must be, I hope grossly :
but the delineation is close and first hand, and the
question arises, What must be the state of a popula
tion about whom such a book could be written ?
Canon MacColl tells me that you share a desire,
which has been expressed here, that I should write
something on the reign of Elizabeth for the long-sus
pended recast of Palmer's book. Although I feel in
credulous as to his report, I may try to comply.
Reading over Palmer's section on the reign of Eliza
beth, I should think it might stand ; but in a short
supplement I might try to show how much she did
towards restoring a Church system that had become
seriously dilapidated in the later years of Henry VIII.
and under Edward VI. , and had been replaced under
Mary simply by the action of the Papal Power.
It is, however, enormously difficult for me, while I
remain in the political sphere (as it brings me fresh
work every day), to do anything requiring any width
of survey or re-examination.
I have, however, recently written two articles, one
published in America and one here, touching on the
sceptical movement of the day. The first I have not
seen in type ; of the latter I venture to send you a
copy.

1888] A BRIGHTER PICTURE 329
In vain I long for an opportunity of conversing with
you on the state of things here, in which even when I
first knew you, in 1845, you took so warm and living
an interest. As regards the Church, the picture is
really brighter than some time ago I could have hoped
to see. The Bishops, speaking generally, govern with
dignity, unity, and wisdom. The strength of the office
and its traditions subdues for the most part any minor
eccentricity (so to call it) of the man. The clergy are
to a large extent efficient and devoted : more bold in
their mission, but almost always in harmony with
their parishioners. (How I wish you could see one
large parish here, of which my second son is the
Rector !) Further, I am assured that in Oxford, which
is a kind of heart's core to the country, there is among
the candidates for Fellowships, who are the flower of
the University, a strong current of inclination towards
Holy Orders : almost a novelty since the great seces
sion of Newman. . . .
- May health, strength, and all inward light and joy,
be long continued to you, and let me remain,
Affectionately yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

454. To Lord Acton.

London,
April 29, 1890.

My dear Acton,
. . . In the matter of the Old Testament, all the
little I can gather, either by reading or by reflection,
tends to the strong belief that, whatever the changes
of form may have been, the older books, the essential
substance, has been wonderfully well preserved.
I have always had a strong conviction that the
Israelites never could have carried the pith of their
religion through the 1,000 years between Moses and
the Captivity unless it had been walled in by a strong
institutional system. Ever yours,
W. E. G.

330 CHURCH AND NEWMAN [1891
455. To Mrs. Church. Brighton, April 6, 1891.
My dear Mrs. Church,
I have not written to you since your great
bereavement, but I am now really unable to refrain
from giving you the trouble of reading this letter. For
I have just read through your husband's ' History of
the Oxford Movement.'
To call it able, and extremely able, is to say little.
It is much more than that. It is a great and a noble
book : few indeed are the books to which the first
epithet can be applied, and fewer still can claim,
and rise to, the level of the second. It has all the
delicacy, the insight into the human mind, heart, and
character, which were Newman's great endowment ;
but there is a pervading sense of soundness about it,
which Newman, great as he was, never inspired.
In its small compass, and without the advantage
of his final touches, it is a chapter of real Church
History, and for the first time it supplies a really
historical record of a period and a movement certainly
among the most remarkable in the Christendom of the
last three and a half centuries — probably more remark
able than the movement associated with the name of
Port Royal, to which he is fond of comparing it ; for
that has passed away and left hardly a trace behind,
but this has left ineffaceable marks upon the English
Church and nation. Nay, they have gone much
farther, and the ulterior consequences, I admit, have
been very mixed, but with these I have nothing to
do — I write only of the faithful, penetrating, high-
minded recorder.
Many personages, such, for example, as Froude,
Hampden, Ward, have been here set in frames from
which they will, I think, never be dislodged. The
one case of severity in the book is the treatment
of the Board of Heads. I am sorry to say it is de
served. Yet I cannot help thinking there must be
something more to plead on behalf of Dr. Hawkins.
Whatever other memorials there may be, your

1892] OXFORD AND PARIS 331
husband can have no higher monument than this
work. With our united and warmest good wishes,
Very sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
456. To Lord Acton. 10, Downing Street,
September 19, 1892.
My dear Acton,
. . . My lecture at Oxford, planned several
months ago, is to come off in October. Now that it is
on paper, I could much have wished for the advantage
of perusal by you. But it is not yet verbally quite com
plete : and I should not like to trust it to the post.
One or two points of literary conscience I may
submit to you.
1. I have got together tolerably the great Oxford
men of the Middle Age. I have difficulty in doing the
like for Paris : though Budinszky's book gives the
foreigners who repaired thither to teach or learn. I
do not know if you can tell me any names — besides
William of Champeaux, Abelard, Stephen Langton.
2. I have given Cambridge the credit of a trio un
approachable by Oxford for the seventeenth century —
in Milton, Bacon, and Newton. Will European opinion
justify placing Bacon by the side of the other two ?
Evidently Locke had much greater influence, but I
could not pit him against Bacon. I should think that
as philosopher Boyle came nearer Bacon.
3. I have been reading Zart. He does not even
mention Butler. I think you believe that Kant does.
He is honourably mentioned by Lotze, but I think
only as an apologist. . . . Ever yours,
W. E. Gladstone.
457. To Lord Acton. Hawarden,
September 26, 1892.
... 1. I have failed to make my point clear about
Oxford. I speak of rearing only. As to men who,

332 ROME IN 1838 [1893
apart from rearing, studied and taught, the position
of Paris is overwhelming. 2. Barrow was indeed
a great man. He died under fifty, and had not the
chance given to blockheads like me. The world knows
little of him. Cambridge had also a strong fifth in
Bentley, summus ille Bentleius as he is, I think, classi
cally called by German scholars. 3. In dealing with
Butler, are you not dealing with his sermons ? Only ?
To me he seems a great moral discoverer, as you say
Martineau makes him. Bravo Martineau ! I want to
know when did Time produce a greater — perhaps so
great a — teacher on the laws of moral action as be
tween God and man ? And all action (not 75 per cent.,
as M. Arnold says) is moral. . . .
458. To Lord Northbourne. House oe Commons,
February 9, 1893.
My dear Walter,
Absorbed and distracted as I am at this time by
the pressure of business, I cannot longer delay saying
a few words on your dear father's death. It is to me,
as it is to my wife, an event which reaches back so far.
With it seems to totter the fabric of more than half
a century's recollections, which for me began in the
winter of 1838, when your mother, in her youthful
beauty, was enjoying Rome as it could then be enjoyed,
together with her parents. Unless memory deceives
me, that winter laid the foundations of his marriage,
as it did of mine, and it is united with this present
death by a long, unbroken line of this warmest friend
ship. Even from out of the chaos of business I look
back along it, and see how bright it stretches into the
distance along the waste of years. If the responsibili
ties of a man are to be measured, in some not in consider
able part at least, by the excellence of his parents, then
you, my dear Walter, have them in such [abundance]
as is shared by few. A long life has in my case been
coupled with a wide acquaintance : but among all the
friends I have known, I could not, the light of this our
Christian civilization, easily point to a more happy or
more normal life and death than that of your father.
I feel, indeed, as if I ought not to be here and writing

1893] THE EVANGELICALS 333
about him, but rather to have preceded him. Here,
however, I am, and being here I feel that this honour (?)
has been given you by God, that in your case the pains
of privation, which I know must be sharp, are singularly
set against what I may almost call a far more exceeding
and abundant store of consolation which we remotely,
though warmly, and you in close proximity, and almost
without limit, must draw from the retrospect of his
gifts, his virtues, and his graces. Peace be with him
— the peace of the just, the peace of his Redeemer.
And what can I wish for you and yours but the heart
and the strength to follow him ?
Yours, with true affection,
W. E. Gladstone.
459. To the Rev. Dr. Fairbairn.
Hawarden,
October 15, 1893.
. . . Childhood and boyhood placed me in very close
connection with the Evangelicalism of those days, and
very notable it was.
In one collateral point I think you give it more than
it deserves. It had large religious philanthropy —
e.g., in missions — but little political philanthropy.
The great case of Wilberforce was almost purely an
individual case : nor was he more against slavery than
Dr. Johnson. Speaking generally, I am sorry to say,
the Evangelicals of that day were not abolitionists.
They left that honour to the Nonconformists, most of
all to the Quakers. Their Toryism obstructed them,
as it does now.
Buxton, I admit, did a great work, but was, I think,
hardly a Churchman. Wilberforce, on the other hand,
was a warmly attached one, and of a beautiful and
heavenly character.
460. To the Rev. Stephen Gladstone. Dollis,
May 5, 1894.
. . . Painful indeed is the Archbishop's establish-
mentarian fanaticism.
Many things could I say on this latest and singular

334 CHURCH AT ST. PAUL'S [1894
passage in my life. I will only say one. Never did
I see more plainly the Divine handwriting. Here had
I been scheming for twenty, years to get out of public
life without dishonour, and never could make any
approach to it. Then comes in the providence of
God, and arranges to set me free by means of this
cataract! from which in its turn I have good hope of
being set free in a short time ; and all this has been
done, O infinite mercy, amidst universal outburst of
kindness and goodwill at the end of my long con
tentious life. Praise to the Highest in the height, and
in the depth be praise.
461. To Mrs. Church. Hawarden,
December 11, 1894.
My dear Mrs. Church,
My powers of vision are now a good deal
restricted : but I have read through, on and since
Sunday, the delightful volume which you have been
good enough to send me, and which I hope and believe
will enchain many another besides me. It surpasses
all my expectations, though these were at a high
pitch. It has, I think, only one fault — there is too
little of it — the fault opposite to that of modern
biographies in general.
There is, indeed, a consideration which ought to
restrain me from speaking much about it, and that is,
that I receive in this book at every turn so much more
than is my due. But I look back with thankfulness
on the efforts which I used to draw him towards the
centre of Church life. I think I was guided in them for
the benefit of others by a wisdom higher than my own.
Measured in quantity, the sum total of my knowledge
of him was always limited ; and it was certainly very
small, though clear and strong, at the epoch when I
dunned him into St. Paul's. It seems that for once
a kind of divining-rod was entrusted to my hands.
The Church of England has within the last half-
century lived through the extremes of difficulty and
peril. In reading such a book as this, we see what
were the qualities which God ordained to be the
means of her deliverance.

1894] CHURCH AND M. BERNARD 335
The Preface, the paper by Canon Scott Holland,
and Dr. Barrett's affectionate sketch, are in their
several ways of exceptional value, though the last is
but brief.
It would have been right, I think, to make mention
of occasions on which, in vain, I solicited him to allow
me to recommend him for a bishopric.
I do not know whether I ever named to you either
of the following circumstances :
Dean Wellesley was in the habit of receiving at his
house most of those who preached before the Queen
at Windsor. Himself no mean judge, he told me that
he placed Mr. Church (as he then was), in a spiritual
sense, before all the others. Again, a constant reader
of the Guardian in those days, I observed with grati
tude the wonderful skill and great indulgence with
which, through a series of years, it handled the tender
subject of my sayings and doings. I was led to
suppose Mr. M. Bernard to have been the author of
these comments, and after a long continuance of them
I wrote to thank him. In reply he disclaimed it, and
used language which led me to suppose it was your
husband to whom I was indebted.
He speaks so humbly of himself in conjunction with
Cardinal Newman. Doubtless the genius of Newman
has given him a throne which is all his own. But
surely the Dean was by much the weightier and the
wiser man.
You have been elected, dear Mrs. Church, to great
privileges, and to the great sorrows which, under the
Gospel, are their appropriate accompaniment. Among
and even above them all, I feel sure, must ever tower
the blessed recollection of your husband.
Believe me, with our affectionate good wishes,
Ever yours, W. E. Gladstone.
Your dear daughter will know from this letter what
my husband thinks of her share in this work.
Affectionately yours, C. G.

336 BISHOP GUEST [1894
462. To the Rev. G. F. Hodges. Christmas Day, 1894.
Rev. and dear Sir,
I am much obliged by your kindness in sending
me your treatise on Bishop Guest and Articles XXVIII.
and XXIX., which appears to me, if I may presume to
say so, to be a succinct but substantial contribution
to theological history. It supplies deficiencies which
must be felt by readers of the common 'Life of Guest.'
I venture, however, upon two remarks :
1. I have always been impressed with the idea that
the word 'given' in Article XXVIII. is decisive on the
whole matter. It entirely shuts out the confused and
confusing doctrine of a mere Presence in the receiver,
and it embodies the whole force of the word 'objective.'
It reduces, I cannot but think, any inferences even
from the title of XXIX. (if that title had authority) to
a secondary position.
There is no more remarkable feature, I suppose, in
the movement of the last sixty years than the firmer
and larger grasp which has been obtained of Eucha-
ristic doctrine.
2. I notice that you make a rather free use of the
term 'Consubstantiation.' This seems to be meant
merely as a mode of expressing a belief in the Objective
Presence such as excludes Transubstantiation. But I
would respectfully suggest for consideration whether
it is a convenient term for the purpose ; whether it is
a safe term generally ; and whether it is not open to
the charge of attempting to define the mode of the
Presence which our divines, I think often justly, boast
that our Church avoids.
I remember very well that in 1845 Dr. Dollinger
spoke with me on the Anglican idea, and I told him
that we believe (or were bound to believe) in the
Real Presence. 'Oh,' he replied, 'then you accept
Consubstantiation,' which I wholly disclaimed. I may
be wrong, but my idea is this : That the term ' Transub
stantiation' is a term highly technical, and turning alto
gether upon the distinction between substance and
accidents ; that this intrusion of purely metaphysical
matter into the domain of faith is mischievous and
dangerous; and that the phrase 'Consubstantiation,'

1895] BUTLER AND THEISM 337
which changes the preposition, is open to the same
objection. Forgive me for offering these suggestions. I venture
to add that we are busied here with the foundation of
a library partly theological, that we hope it will be
useful to those who desire rest with study, and that,
if at any time you should desire to make use of it, all
needful information will be supplied by Rev. H. Drew,
now Warden, or by the Rector of Hawarden.
Yours very faithfully,
W. E. Gladstone.

463. To the Rev. J. H. Bernard, D.D.
(Dean of St. Patrick's.) Hawarden,
November 10, 1895.
I have referred to the admirable passage in p. 21 of
your sermons (for the gift of which I trust you received
my thanks), and I need hardly say it has my entire
concurrence. There is, I think, a way in which the
'Analogy' may have ministered to scepticism without
implying any fault. I suppose the difficulties of
Theistic belief to be strong and real. But he seems
to state them with great force, and sets his arguments
by the side of them. When this twofold representa
tion comes before one who has been positively but
vaguely instructed in Theistic doctrine, the objections
have all the freshness and force of novelty, which the
affirmative arguments necessarily want, and which the
higher class of minds are attracted to. But by the
weighty considerations you have suggested, minds of
a more ordinary class who have got their belief, such
as it is, without trouble, resent the trouble that Butler
gives them, and punish him by superficially attaching
value, which is disproportionate, to the pleas of his
adversaries. I hope this may not seem fanciful.
I gather from the work of Miss Dawson that Butler
has a recognized place in your University studies.
But perhaps it is only on the theological side. His
deposition in Oxford was a cruel act, perhaps the
worst determinate result of the great anti-Newman
reaction. VOL. II — 22

338 ACCESS TO LETTERS [1896
464. To E. S. Purcell.
Biarritz,
January r4, 1896.
Dear Mr. Purcell,
Your biography of Manning reached me on
Saturday. Formal thanks would be out of place with
reference to such a book, or I would give them. My
powers of reading, always slow, have in the new state
of my vision become slower still. But by throwing
over all else, I have perused, I think will care, the
600 pages which you give to the Anglican period. I
will divide what I have to say, and my numbers 1, 2, 3,
will be in inverse proportion to their importance.
1. Your range of time and subject is large, your
statements of necessity almost innumerable. I find a
good many errors, though none of a nature to impeach
your general care and trustworthiness. Also the
words in Italian want overhauling. I know them to
be usually a source of trouble with our printers.
2. This is the challenging head. I am myself the
subject of it. Pray tell me — (1) Did you ever obtain
my leave to publish my letters ? (2) In what way had
you access to them ? I have no recollection of lending
them. Next, I read with surprise Manning's statement
(made first after thirty-five years ?) that I would not
sign the Declaration of 1850 because I 'was a Privy
Councillor.' I should not have been more surprised
had he written that I told him I could not sign because
my name began with G. I had done stronger things
than that, when I was not only Privy Councillor, but
official servant of "the Crown — nay, I believe Cabinet
Minister. The Declaration was liable to none (in my
view) interior objections. Seven out of the thirteen
who signed did so without (I believe) any kind of
sequel. I _ wish you to know that I entirely disavow
and disclaim Manning's statement as it stands.
And here (alone) I have to ask you to insert two
lines in your second or next edition : with the simple
statement that I prepared and published with prompti
tude an elaborate argument to show that the Judicial
Committee was historically unconstitutional, as an

1896] A TERRIBLE TIME 339
organ for the decision of ecclesiastical questions.
This declaration was entitled, I think, 'A Letter to the
Bishop of London on the Ecclesiastical Supremacy.'
If I recollect right, while it dealt little with theology,
it was a more pregnant production than the Declara
tion ; and it went much nearer the mark. It has been
repeatedly republished, and is still on sale at Murray's.
I am glad to see that Sidney Herbert (a gentleman if
ever there was one) also declined to sign. It seems
to me now that there is something almost ludicrous in
the propounding of such a congeries of statements by
such persons as we were — not the more, but certainly
not the less, because of being Privy Councillors.
It was a terrible time, aggravated for me by heavy
cares and responsibilities of a nature quite extraneous :
and far beyond all others by the illness and death of a
much-loved child, with great anxieties about another.
My recollections of the conversations before the
Declaration are little but a mass of confusion and
bewilderment. I stand only upon what I did. No
one of us, I think, understood the actual position, not
even our lawyers, until Baron Alderson printed an
excellent statement on the points raised. And now I
turn from this rather repulsive position of the subject ;
of some interest, perhaps, to me, but otherwise of little
weight or moment.
3. Very different is the case when I turn to your
biography and to the subject of it. The part I have
read must have been for you the most critical, the
most difficult, of the whole. So it (i.e., the period) was
for me : afterwards I had Manning's at arm's length.
Now here I have so much to say that I hardly know
where to begin. Were it not from a sense of justice
and duty to you, I think I should not begin at all.
You have produced, I think, by far the most extra
ordinary biography I ever read, and have executed a
work of (I think) unparalleled difficulty with singular
success. I have not been interested in it, I have been
fascinated and entranced. You have maintained firmly
your own principles, which I take to be Ultramontane ;
and yet, to the poor outlying Church of England, you
have been equitable, generous, and kind. Accept, I
pray you, this sincere tribute for what it is worth,
however little that may be.

340 TALENT AND WISDOM [1896
All my communications with you while you were
writing were of a nature to make me hopeful : but you
have greatly surpassed my expectations. All this I
write not knowing yet what I have to encounter in
the remaining 1,100 pages. Of course there may be
differences and great ones ; but so there are already,
most of all in what you write of Dr. Dollinger — as to
whom, let me say that my knowledge of him, let me
say my friendship with him, dated from 1845, when
(you perhaps will smile) he formed my mind on the
Holy Eucharist, and gave -me a good piece of my
theological education.
So much for the biography. But I approach with
fear and trembling the remaining subject, that of the
biographee. Some things I can say without much
apprehension. For example, I have formed the opinion
that he went too fast and too far in introspection, and
did himself very serious mischief by formulating the
results in writing. For I do not agree with you that
diaries afford the most trustworthy evidence. In them
there is, I always feel, an interlocutor — namely, myself,
the worst of all interlocutors.
I presume to think he was either wholly wrong,
or went much too far, in garbling this evidence by
excisions and lacerations. Why did he not, like that
great and noble, and not less simple than great and
noble, St. Augustine, write his ' Retractationes ' ? (This
paragraph should have preceded the last.)
Further, I can even venture into the sphere of
intellectual judgment. Your book even raises my
estimate of Manning's talent, which was always very
high. It greatly lowers my estimate of his wisdom,
his power of forming a comprehensive judgment.
Here I pause with my censures. Yet one thing I
must add. You have, with a manly force and frank
ness, threaded the labyrinth of the 'double voice,' and
have offered its apology. But I fear that apology in
no way covers the memorable declaration of 1848 made
to me in St. James's Park.
Here I really pause. The immense gifts of his
original nature and intense cultivation, his warm affec
tions, his life-long devotion, his great share in reviving
England, but above all his absolute detachment, place
him on a level such that, from my plane of thought

00 ON
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55

1896] UNSOLVABLE PROBLEMS 341
and life, I can only look at him as a man looks at the
stars. Even so, my difficulties in contemplating him are
grave. On the whole I leave him, in the spiritual
order where Bishop Butler leaves all the unsolved,
and apparently unsolvable, problems of the natural
order — to Him, namely, who ordained them ; in the
never-dying hope of what lies beyond the veil. You
have so pierced into Manning's innermost interior that
it really seems as if little more remained for disclosure
in the last day and when the books are opened.
Believe me,
Sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.

APPENDIX
The contents of this Appendix are taken from an immense
mass of notes and memoranda extending over the greater
part of Mr. Gladstone's career. As indications of the
direction of. his thoughts, they are at least as valuable as
his letters. I have arranged the extracts in an order
roughly corresponding to that of the preceding chapters.
I. — CHURCH AND STATE
No. i is an account of a conversation with Lord Ashley
in 1837. If Lord Shaftesbury kept any similar record
of this conversation, he may in after-years have looked
back to it as giving the first hint of the coming sever
ance between Mr. Gladstone and himself. Though
they were both devoted supporters of religious establish
ments, Mr. Gladstone's Parliamentary instinct was already
opening his eyes to the difficulty of defending them in the
House of Commons on the high theological ground taken
by his friend.
The next four papers refer to the Reformation Settle
ment, taking that term as applying to the whole process
of change between 1532 and 1666. The most interesting
is the careful and sympathetic study of Queen Elizabeth,
whose ecclesiastical policy always had a special attraction
for Mr. Gladstone.
No. 6 appeared originally in the North American Review
343

344 CHURCH AND STATE [1837
for December, 1889, and was afterwards reprinted as a
leaflet for private circulation. It is given here as the
latest and fullest statement of Mr. Gladstone's views on
divorce. No. 7 is a list of Mr. Gladstone's seventeen nominations
to the Episcopate.

1. CONVERSATION WITH LORD ASHLEY.
(March 17, 1837.)
Yesterday I had the following conversation with Ashley on
the subject of my speech delivered the night before.* It was
in the Carlton Club ; he seated himself opposite (but close)
to me. I spoke of the Division, and regretted that he had
been unable to speak. He said : 'Now, I will tell you what,
Gladstone, you made an able speech, but you disappointed
me. I expected that you would have taken up the question
on higher grounds ; but you did not, and I was much grieved
at it.' I expressed in the first place my great obligation to
him for this truly friendly conduct ; and I begged him to
particularize wherein lay the defects which had given him
pain. He rephed : 'This measure cuts up by the roots all
our national homage to God, which is the meaning of a
Church Establishment. If it be passed, we separate ourselves
as a nation from Him. It is true you spoke about the principle
of a National Church, and alluded to the spiritual destitution
of the country, but you did it in the same cold manner as  .
What could be more flat and void of f eeling than his descrip
tion of that destitution? Now you have many gifts and
advantages, and you may become a considerable man in this
country, and one of God's most efficient instruments ; and I
am sure you had it in your heart to say more than you did say
in last night's debate, and so I said when conversing on the
subject with several others as we walked home. You did not
give that high tone to your speech which I had expected from
you ; I am sure you will excuse my saying it.
'Then, as to your quotation from Polybius, I must say I
*March 15, 1837, in support of Church rates.

1837] LORD ASHLEY 345
thought it altogether misapplied. The notion of the heathen
gods as producing the same result with the revealed Gospel !
I will tell you the remark my wife made upon it, and I
thought it a very sensible one. She said : "Why, if that
rehgion could have produced such effects, they will naturally
ask where was the need of Christianity." It is true that
Polybius writes as you quoted him, but his statement is not
true, and if you examine the Roman character you will find it
fraudulent, selfish, and hard-hearted, and their policy towards
other nations the most grasping and oppressive on the face of
the earth.'
I have here condensed what he said ; for I could not
faithfully portray, and I was unwilling to caricature by an
attempt at detail, that warm and noble eloquence of feeling
with which he spoke of those highest and deepest truths
which are at the bottom of his whole Ufe and conduct ; and I
proceed to my own reply.
'As regards the Polybius,' I said, T am confident it was
merely the want of a fuller explanation which has caused
your present impressions, and that upon your own principles,
with which I concur, I could show that I was not fundament
ally wrong. My meaning was this : On looking at the Ro
man institutions, I find they had a principle of vigour and of
permanence which belonged to no other in those times ;
and that the phenomena presented by them require the
assignment of a gigantic cause which alone is adequate.
Then I find the man who, of all writers of the period, most
united philosophy with practical habits, discovers that cause
in the extraordinary degree to which that rehgion, though
false, was brought home to the mass of the people and
interwoven with all pubhc concerns. I grant you that the
Romans were fraudulent, selfish, and hard-hearted; but I say,
compare the individual character of the Roman with that of
the Athenian, or other ancients in general, and you will find
him less fraudulent, less selfish, and less hard-hearted than
they — I meant in early times. Now, I say this is fairly
ascribable to the influence of their religion, which, blind, false,
and degraded as it was, had nevertheless this efficacy, that it
tended to impress his mind with the idea of a power beyond

346 CHURCH AND STATE [1837
himself, and to carry his desires beyond himself, concentrat
ing them upon the glory of the state. This I do not call aright
principle, but it is better than the principle of mere self-
worship ; and thus we show not only, like Bishop Warburton
and others, that the principle of religion was found by law
givers to be the only one capable of binding together social
institutions, but that in the case where those institutions were
of the most effective structure, we find coexisting with that
fact an extraordinary degree of attention to rehgion. Then
comes the argument a fortiori for the influence and use of
revealed truth. I admit my reference to it was brief and
obscure  '
A. : 'Yes, your quotation was looked upon as the end of
your speech, and immediately after it they began to talk  '
G. : 'But I felt I had been unconscionably long. And,
further, I feel this : it is comparatively easy to speak in the
House of Commons on matters merely secular, but as you
ascend higher into the region of principles, the work of
expressing what you feel in the face of a popular assembly
becomes incomparably more delicate and difficult. So much
for Polybius. Now, my dear Ashley, for the remainder of
what you have said, I concur in every sentiment ; I bow
entirely to your animadversion ; I did desire, and intend, to
state your own very words that the plan went " to rob God of
His honour and the poor of their right " — but it was with this
as with many of my best intentions and desires. I am striv
ing to learn how to speak, but I have not yet acquired the
effective use of memory in the face of such an audience, nor my
self-possession so as to express with any fulness what I feel.
The words whoUy escaped me. In every speech I have ever
made, and more in proportion as the subject was a lofty one,
I have painfully had to feel how entirely I have failed of
realizing even my own conception of the subject, and much
less the subject as it really is. I therefore only hope that
this fault may hereafter be less weighty. I admit its existence
to the full.
' But pray tell me whether you had any affirmative objec
tions to the speech ; whether you thought that in what I did
say there was anything of untruth or of unworthy compro
mise ? '

1837] A VALUABLE FRIEND 347
He assured me, nothing of the kind. ' Then I trust you are
satisfied with my avowal of the want, which I cannot too
much lament.' He expressed himself quite so. Mr. Goulburn
came up while we were speaking about Polybius ; praised
that part of the speech which described the vacillation of
ministers, and objected to the citation. I thanked both very
heartily ; and, admitting the want of elucidation, said I
thought the ground-work of the idea in my mind came from
St. Augustine's ' De Civitate Dei ' — at least that it was that
book would permit me to think and say. Mr. Goulburn went
away. Ashley and I sat writing for a httle. When I had
concluded, I rose, and, to attract his attention, said ' Good-
day.' I shook him warmly by the hand, as the simplest way
of offering my thanks to this true and high-minded friend, and
he rephed, 'God bless you.' May blessing be upon him.
Now what a character was this — he would not join in the
tones of compliment and congratulation without showing me
how sadly I had fallen short of my duty. Of what value is
such a friend ! I felt with him in all that he said ; and yet,
had he not said it, that feeling would have fallen asleep in
my mind, I should have indolently acquiesced in the less
courageous sentiments of others, and should have lost the ad
vantage of remembering hereafter the previous deficiency,
and of being thereby incited to use every effort for the pur
pose of supplying it. Would that such were the acknow
ledged law of friendship, and its universal practice !
He spoke of himself in depreciating terms ; of his having
omitted to acquire the power and practice of speaking, and
of its being now too late. I entirely demurred to this low
estimate ; I have never heard him speak, except with latent
clearness and general effect. He spoke of retiring from
Parhament. I rephed: ' God forbid ! — unless you go thence
to some still more extensive sphere of usefulness.' I had in
my mind, whether wrongly or not, the desirableness of his
appointment to some important government abroad. Some
effort must be made for rehgion in our colonies.

348 CHURCH AND STATE [undated

2. FACTORS IN THE ENGLISH REFORMATION.
(Undated.)
There were, then, I apprehend, originally three main
elements or factors in the English Reformation.
The first of these was the old national sentiment of resist
ance to foreign domination, which had long found its most
frequent provocation in the ambition and rapacity of the
Roman See. Of this1 sentiment Henry VIII. made himself
the exponent, and directed all its force to the purpose of
strengthening the Crown against the Papacy. The closest
union between the Crown and the National Church was one
obvious method of attaining this end. The formation of such
union might have been difficult if the idea of separate and
cross interests between the parties had as yet been raised.
But in the struggles of Church and State before the Reforma
tion, whether it were Dunstan, or Becket, or Anselm, the
champion of the Church always betook himself to the Papal
Chair, and was regarded as fighting the battle of that Chair.
The entire National Church had often been seen contending
against the Pope and resisting his extortion ; it had never
been so seen in conflict with the Crown, but only some mem
ber or members of it, and then always in alliance with Rome.
Thus it appears that Henry had the materials of resistance
ready made for his use ; and that the traditions of the country
had predisposed the Church in a manner favourable to the
civil power.
The second of these elements was, a growing inclination
on the part of enlightened Churchmen towards reform.
Only one generation before this sentiment had had a noble
representative in Savonarola. It had been conspicuous in
Dean Colet ; it had moved Bishop Fox to found the College
of Corpus Christi at Oxford, under the impression that if he
estabhshed a rehgious house it could not stand ; it had
prepared the sagacious Gardiner and the pious Tunstall for
no inconsiderable changes, and had brought them into the
arena to contend against the Papal Supremacy before the
sovereign lifted a finger for the purpose. It is needless to
relate how many illustrious men of the Continent were under

undated] CIRCUMSPECT REFORM 349
similar impressions, and were disposed to a thorough reform
of the Church which should yet be a reform conducted upon
ancient and canonical principles. To this class of minds I
believe that Cranmer, Ridley and Parker essentially belonged.
It is true that this latter divided from those first mentioned
or the survivors of them. But this is the fate, almost
universally, of middle parties in times of violent change. It
is in the main by two great armies of opinion or force as the
case may be that at such periods the destinies of mankind are
brought to their decisive issues ; and it rarely happens that
the right and the wrong of these great arbitraments are so
clearly divided, or remain so steadily with the same side
from first to last, as not to leave room for differences of
opinion among those who with general but not uniform
concurrence occupy the intermediate ground. Thus under
Charles I. we at first find Hyde and Falkland united in
opposition to the Court, we then perceive them on adverse
sides, and at last they are reunited in support of the Crown.
So Laud, without doubt, had he hved in Parker's time, would
have gone to a given point with the Reformers : Parker had
he lived in Laud's would have made a firm stand against the
Puritans. We must estimate men not only in their relation
to the circumstances and parties of their own time, but like
wise in the relation of those circumstances and parties to the
circumstances and parties of other periods.
This spirit of enhghtened and circumspect reform placed
between opposite dangers each of the most fearful kind
necessarily when developed in action presented to the
common view some appearances of indecision : first because
such is its besetting infirmity or vice, and secondly because
its very virtue is sure to be mistaken in times of crisis and of
overpowering passion.
Those who were governed by it were numerically weak.
Their contest really was with the more violent of both
parties. In the Church of Rome it is too plain that they
were obliged to succumb both at the Papal Court, in the
Council of Trent, and among the nations on that side. In
the Protestant countries generally, they could scarcely be
said to make head. In Scotland there is not a vestige of
them, at least among the Reformers. In England only they

3 SO CHURCH AND STATE [1883
acquired a powerful and ultimately a prevailing and deter
mining influence over the fortunes of the Church. They
attached themselves to the civil power, and made concessions
to it, which did their work for their day, although that day
has now gone by, and we must now, as they did, endeavour
to make the best provision for the future of which the time
and our materials admit. Although few they had knowledge
and the gift of governing ; they were also men of pure and
Christian character if not of the loftiest strain of piety. They
sat at the helm, and a little strength of theirs swayed the
violent and brute forces that tossed and drove the vessel, and
turned them to account.
The third powerful element of the Reformatory movement
in England was that known by the name of Lollardism, which
afterwards formed the basis of Puritanism in all its forms. In
its ultimate developments this spirit was relatively to the
ecclesiastical order what the spirit of Wat Tyler and Jack
Cade was relatively to the temporal authority : a spirit
originally roused by oppression and abuse to a righteous
indignation, then carried by it beyond self-control, then
associating with itself all the elements of turbulence and
passion, and finally acquiring a bent and tendency utterly
destructive of all positive religion. Such developments, it is
needless to say, are commonly gradual and in their details far
from uniform. It would be absurd to combine the name of
Lord Cobham with such ideas as these ; but in Wicliffe we
may easily discern the groundwork of these destructive
tendencies, the want of the discriminating mind and the
strong sense of the positive truth bound up in the subsist
ing Christian institutions which are essential to the true
reformer in religion and which separates between him
and the instigator or tool of movements having their goal
in unbelief.

3. THE THREE ANGLICAN SETTLEMENTS.
(January 25, 1883.)
In the period of transition from the Roman obedience to
the Anglican system, there were three distinct settlements

1883] THREE SETTLEMENTS 351
or resettlements of the affairs of the Church and the religion
of the country.
The first was in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI.
The second under Ehzabeth.
The third under Charles II.
The two intervals between them were themselves revolu
tionary : the first undoing the whole work of Henry VIII.
and Edward VL, except that it could not replace the de
stroyed ecclesiastical establishments ; the second exhibiting
the triumph of Puritanism wrought out through civil war.
Of the three settlements, the first covers by far the largest
arc in the wheel of ecclesiastical revolution. In its earliest
portion it was marked by violence, rapacity, servility, the
establishment of State power over rehgion, notwithstanding
some theoretical reserves, in the harshest and most sweeping
fashion, and extreme peril in the civil sphere, even to the
elementary principles of that freedom which had distin
guished England under the Plantagenets.
It was, however, in its first division, under the sceptre of
Henry VIII., eminently national as to its main rehgious out
line, which alone, probably, the nation apprehended. It
embraced the correction of grossly superstitious abuses, the
extrusion of the Pope as a troublesome and mischievous
ahen from the active exercise of jurisdiction within the realm,
the permission, by no means unrestricted, of access to the
Scriptures as a means of combating both Papalism and
priestcraft, and a firm adhesion to the substance of doctrine
and tenet as these had been received.
Under Edward VI. ah the restraining forces that had
slackened, and occasionally, even, for a time reversed, the
movement were withdrawn ; the greed of unscrupulous
governors and the fluctuating instability of the mind of
Cranmer, rendered only more dangerous by his great talents,
placed both ecclesiastical and civil authority on the side of
unlimited innovation. Viewing the distance of the second
Prayer-Book from the first, we may speculate with curious
wonder on the question, What would have been the dis
tance between the second and the third? But that there
would have been a third, the men continuing in their

352 CHURCH AND STATE [1883
places who made the second, there can hardly be a
doubt. And apart from all speculation, it may be aUowed that the
Uving system of the Church, at the end of the reign of
Edward VL, required only the continued operation of the
prevailing poUcy to be simply a wreck. If the waUs and
gates of the city on a hUl remained, there was no disciplined
garrison to man and to defend them.
The year 1553 exhibited in England the nadir of the
Church system. The year 1661 notes the normal elevation
at which the returning tide arrived. As a constitutional and
pohtical scheme, it remains in substance tui the present day.
The two great agents of this reaction were Elizabeth and
Laud. To neither of them are we indebted for any portion
of our civil freedom. But they were, humanly speaking, the
creators in one sense of Anglicanism : the two great agents,
without any rival or even any second, by whom, in the world
of action, it became a reahty, and estabhshed itself as one,
and not the least weighty and significant, of the standing,
immovable facts of Christendom.
The ecclesiastical activity of Laud is on the surface of
history, and ah that is censurable in it has been abundantly
censured, while it still awaits that meed of praise to which,
from the Anglican point of view, it is thoroughly en
titled. But the activity of Ehzabeth was many-sided, and the
dazzling brilliancy of her position as the Island Queen cast
her ecclesiastical operations and pohcy into the shade.
She, too, has yet to receive the honour due to her for
steadily refusing to aUow the Thirty-nine Articles, the great
polemical document of the Enghsh Reformation, to assume
the rigid form of law until the violent and rash proceedings
of the Pope agamst her throne and person compeUed her to
let her subjects close their serried ranks as against a foe
utterly implacable.
But there is one other point of view from which the conduct
of the great Queen has to be regarded in its relation to
rehgion. Taking, as she could not but take, the year 1553 for her

1883] HEAD OR GOVERNOR 353
starting-point, she found the Church system lying in ruins
around her ; but it has not been sufficiendy observed how
many of its stones she picked from the ground and put
together, so that the fabric rose again from the ground and
became once more a place of shelter and of habitation.
(1) The title of Supreme Head, which, as understood under
Edward VI. , must have been speedily fatal to Church hfe
was abandoned, and that of Supreme Governor, which fairly
exhibits the normal relation of the Crown to a Church
nationally estabhshed, was substituted for it.
(2) A virtual sovereignty in the Church, first delegated by
Henry VIII. to a single layman, and after his fah exercised
by a Council, which under Edward VI. was almost wholly
lay, and was from being purely civil in glaring contradiction
to the great Preamble of 1532, was severed from the machinery
of civil government, and exercised (with much restraint and
only as a penal power) through a High Commission essentially
ecclesiastical. (3) The Commissions which were taken out by Bishops
under Harry and his son were abandoned under Elizabeth.
(4) The principle of election for Bishops was revived by the
restoration of the conge d'elire, in heu of the simple nomina
tion enacted under Edward VI.
(5) The Convocation again came to be summoned by writ
of the Archbishop, instead of meeting simply under the order
of the Crown, as in the time of Edward VI.
(6) The demand of that body in 1547 to receive the royal
permission to proceed to business, and to share in the settle
ment of doctrine and worship, had been unceremoniously set
aside, but the Elizabethan Convocation settled the Thirty-
nine Articles as they stood until they became the subject of
a statute. (7) When that period arrived, the Queen, by a stretch of
power, inserted in Article XX. what is, perhaps, the most
pregnant clause they contain, ' (The Church) hath authority
in controversies of faith.' As to the means, they were no
doubt irregular, nor is it needful to hold the Act as valid,
but it expressed the true mind of the Church, and became
perfectly regular under the final settlement at the Restoration.
vol. 11 — 23

354 CHURCH AND STATE [undated
(8) The external regulation of worship reposed in her hands
by statute was subject to ecclesiastical concurrence, and, if
exceptional in form, was intended and was used in the sense
of the Church.
(9) In the statutory definition of new heresy, the judgment
of the Church was included as a necessary condition.
(10) According to the contention of Palmer, the act of the
reign most violent in appearance — namely, the deposition of
the Marian Bishops — was ecclesiasticaUy valid, inasmuch as
they had extruded from the sees persons regularly possessed
of them without canonical condemnation, or refused an Oath
of Supremacy founded on a valid act of the Enghsh Church,
and not repealed by lawful authority.
Note. — I do not here inquire what warrant or apology
may be shown for the proceedings under Henry so far as the
element of violence is concerned. There may have been a
mass of superstitious practice, so welded together by use
and traditional encouragement that it could not be cor
rected in detail, and could only be touched with effect like
an igneous rock by a blast as of gunpowder.
4. FRAGMENT ON QUEEN ELIZABETH.
(Undated.)
The experience of my hfe has impressed me with the
belief that, of all the classes of human characters (and they
are many), politicians present to us those which are the most
complex. I use the phrase as the most comprehensive which
the subject supphes, and as including alike Sovereigns,
Ministers, popular leaders, all in short who are neither figure
heads nor clerks, but who wield wholesale power or influence
over the destinies of men as they are associated in civil life.
Of this most complex class, if the problem were to name
the most complex personahty, it might not be easy at a ven
ture to fix upon a likelier candidate for the place than the
great Queen Ehzabeth. Perhaps the most remarkable in the
long line of Enghsh Sovereigns, she attracts and she repels.
She does both in an uncommon, an abnormal degree. It
must, perhaps, be admitted that in the main she attracts by

undated] QUEEN ELIZABETH 355
what she did, and repels by what she was. She is, I think,
still among ' Th' inheritors of unfulfilled renown '
in this respect, that the depths of her character have not yet
been so thoroughly sounded as to explain by what amalgam
its strange and staggering contrasts were cemented into a
personal unity. It seems plain that she inherited in a marked
manner both from her father and her mother, and that the
drastic experience of her childhood and her youth, which has
been set forth in the instructive work of M. Wiesener,* may
go some way to explain how the sources of feehng in her
heart were dried, and the powers of her mind schooled into
a persistent energy which made them equal through her long
reign to all demands in a state of things as complex as any
known to history.
I am not about to attempt what I have described as the
still unaccomplished work of dealing with her character,
a work which is far beyond me. But her actions, apart
from her character, have contributed largely towards making
the people of England what they are — in the phrase (I think)
of Cardinal Wiseman, ' an imperial race.' I make no apology
for treating those actions as her own, and not as done in her
name by the great, able, and powerful statesman with whom
it was among her greatest merits that, more than any other
Sovereign, she was surrounded. And I proceed to deal
briefly with a department of her pohcy which, .as it appears
to me, has not yet received sufficient attention, and which,
unless I am mistaken, is strongly marked with her indi
viduality. I mean her pohcy with respect to the Church.
And here I note a difference between the ecclesiastical and
the civil order. In the State she had great men for her
servants. Her father, Henry VIII., had hved among great
prelates. Not to reckon the reforming Bishops, he had
known Wolsey, Fisher, Warham, Tunstall, who taken
together make an illustrious generation. The Elizabethan
Prelates, with the exception of Parker, who may have been
a Burleigh on a smaller scale, are not men of more than
* 'La Jeunesse d 'Elisabeth.'

356 CHURCH AND STATE [undated
moderate dimensions. Though a few were men of learning,
the strange lapse into ultra-Calvinism in the Lambeth articles
does not allow a very high estimate of their mental calibre ;
and many of them were in rehgious accord more wifh the
Puritans whom they had to put down than with the ecclesi
astical system which their office bound them to administer.
Heath, the deprived Archbishop of York, had led the Parha
mentary opposition to the Elizabethan statutes. But the
Queen used to visit him after his deprivation. Probably her
great intellect kept her in sympathy with an able as well as
an upright man.
In one sense Queen Elizabeth may be termed a survival.
She was a reformer rather after the pattern of the reign of her
father than of the Edwardian period, when the direction
of the Church of England was given over into the hands
of foreigners ; when Lutheran, Calvinist, and Zwinglian con
tended among themselves for the possession of this fair
portion of the vineyard ; and when the Lutheran influence,
once powerful, fell into the background as the type of an
insufficient and still semi-Popish Reformation. It is said,
and it seems probable, that a third form of Prayer-Book was
in preparation, to replace the second, when the King died.
It is plain that these years do not represent the dehberate
adoption of a defined position, or the preparation of a
stationary camp for defence ; but a ship on the bosom of the
stream, with no fixed destination as to moorings.
The performances of this period, and still more its promise
and its potency, drove back into the Roman party in a mass
men of the colour of Tunstall and of Gardiner, who repre
sented in the main the sentiment of nationalism dominant in
the reign of Henry VIII. The Queen [Mary] was thus em
boldened to destroy the work of her father not less than of her
brother, and made the first year and a half of her reign a dehb
erate conspiracy against the nation. England had hardly
had a taste of the Prayer-Book of 1552, and was not for the
most part intolerant of the older worship, but had heartily
concurred in the abolition of the 'usurped jurisdiction,' and
does not seem to have been scandalized at the petition in the
Litany to be delivered 'from the tyranny of the Bishop of

undated] THE RESTORATION 357
Rome, and ah his detestable enormities.' The Protestant
sentiment was suppressed, but in its suppression was im
mensely sharpened by the violent persecution which broke
out in full force.

5. FRAGMENT ON THE RESTORATION
SETTLEMENT.
(Undated.)
(1) As the authoritative basis of the Catholic Faith was
determined, after a century and a half of controversy, by the
four first (Ecumenical Councils and the reception of them in
the Church at large, so, after a period of nearly the same
length, the authoritative basis of the Enghsh National Re
formation was determined by the Church and State after the
Restoration in a canonical manner.
(2) The succession of Bishops having been carried without
breach of continuity from pre- Reformation times through the
reigns of Henry VIII. and his successors, the other transac
tions of those reigns, however interesting and important in
themselves, are not essential to, and do not form any part of,
this final and authoritative settlement.
(3) In the conditions of this settiement,as they are set forth
in the Prayer-Book and the Articles, there are, both by way
of omission and of commission, particulars which vary both
in the region of theological opinion and in that of practice,
from the current doctrine and discipline of the Latin Church,
and in a lesser degree from those of the Churches of the East ;
but there is no such variation (a) in any matter regarded by
the National Church of England as de fide, nor (b) in any
matter of doctrine determined by any (Ecumenical Council,
nor (c) has the Chinch of England anywhere claimed for itself
a final authority in the interpretation of Scripture, or of his
torical tradition, superior or equal to that of the Church of
God at large, to which the promises are made.
(4) The Church of England then exercised an authority
which was competent in its sphere, to make arrangements
adequate to the emergencies of a divided Christendom, but
which in principle were provisional and not absolute ; and her

358 CHURCH AND STATE [1889
action as a Reformed Cathohc Church is attested by these
circumstances :
(a) That she teaches the faith of the Creeds under the
same secondary conditions of tenet and practice as were
adopted by her in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
without abatement or corruption under the testing experience
of three centuries and a half.
(b) That in this character she has accepted, and humanly
speaking fulfils, her mission to the English-speaking race
throughout the world.
(c) That she rears elect souls within her to a standard not
inferior in Christian attainment to that of any other Christian
Church at this day, so far as it is given to the human eye to
perceive. (d) That, if separations have grown up around her, her
situation in this respect, relatively to those of the Enghsh
tongue, is no worse than that of the Latin Church relatively
(and this is the analogous case) to the Christian world.
6. THE QUESTION OF DIVORCE.
REPLIES TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
(1889.)
(1) Do you believe in the principle of divorce under any cir
cumstances? (2) Ought divorced people to be allowed to marry under any
circumstances? (3) What is the effect of divorce on the integrity of the family ?
(4) Does the absolute prohibition of divorce where it exists
contribute to the moral purity of society?
I undertake, though not without misgiving, to offer answers
to your four questions. For I incline to think that the future
of America is of greater importance to Christendom at large
than that of any other country ; that that future, in its high
est features, vitally depends upon the incidence of marriage ;
and that no country has ever been so directly challenged as
Arherica now is to choose its course definitively with reference
to one, if not more than one, of the very highest of those
incidents.

1889] CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE 359
The sohdity and health. of the social body depend upon
the soundness of its unit. That unit is the family ; and the
hinge of the family to is be found in the great and profound
institution of marriage. It might be too much to say that
a good system of marriage law, and of the practice appertain
ing to it, of itself insures the well-being of a community. But
I cannot doubt that the converse is true ; and that, if the
relations of husband and wife are wrongly comprehended in
what most belongs to them, either as to law or as to conduct,
no nation can rise to the fulfilment of the higher destinies of
man. There is a worm in the gourd of the public prosperity ;
and it must wither away.
(1) On the first of the four questions I have to observe that
the word divorce appears to be used in three different senses.
First, it is popularly apphed to cases of nullity, as in the
world-famous suit of Henry VIII. This sense has only to be
named in order to be set aside, since the finding of nullity
simply means that, in the particular case, no contract of
marriage has ever been made.
The second sense is that which is legally known, in
canonical language, as divorce a mensa et toro — from board
and bed — and wbich is termed in the Enghsh statute of 1857
judicial separation. The word is employed apparently in
this sense by our Authorized Version of the Bible (Matt. v.
32 : 'Whosoever shaU put away his wife, saving for the cause
of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery : and who
soever shaU marry her that is divorced committeth adultery').
The Revised Version substitutes the phrase ' put away. ' The
question now before me appears to speak of a severance
which does not annul the contract of marriage, nor release the
parties from its obligations, but which conditionally, and for
certain grave causes, suspends their operation in vital par
ticulars. I am not prepared to question in any manner the
concession which the law of the Church, apparently with the
direct authority of St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 10 : 'Unto the married
I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife
depart from her husband'), makes in this respect to the
necessities and the infirmities of human nature.
(2) The second question deals with what may be called

360 CHURCH AND STATE [1889
divorce proper. It resolves itself into the lawfulness or
unlawfulness of remarriage, and the answer appears to me to
be that remarriage is not admissible under any circumstances
or conditions whatsoever.
Not that the difficulties arising from incongruous marriage
are to be either denied or extenuated. They are insoluble.
But the remedy is worse than the disease.
These sweeping statements ought, I am aware, to be
supported by reasoning in detail ; which space does not
permit, and which I am not qualified adequately to supply.
But it seems to me that such reasoning might fah under the
following heads :
That marriage is essentially a contract for hfe, and only
expires when hfe itself expires.
That Christian marriage involves a vow before God.
That no authority has been given to the Christian Church
to cancel such a vow.
That it hes beyond the province of the civil legislature,
which, from the necessity of things, has a veto within the
limits of reason upon the making of it, but has no competency
to annul it when once made.
That according to the laws of just interpretation remar
riage is forbidden by the text of Holy Scripture.
[I would here observe :
(a) That the declarations of the Gospel of St. Mark
(x. 4 : 'Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to
put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For
the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But
from the beginning of the creation God made them male and
female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and
mother, and cleave to his wife ; and they twain shall be one
flesh : so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What
therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
And in the house His disciples asked Him again of the same
matter. And He said unto them, Whosoever shah put away
his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
And if a woman shaU put away her husband, and be married
to another, she committeth adultery') ; and St. Luke (xvi. 18 :
'Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another

1889] A CONTRACT FOR LIFE 361
committeth adultery : and whosoever marrieth her that is
put away from her husband committeth adultery ') ; and of
St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 10) make no exception whatever.
(b) That the language of St. Matthew prohibits absolutely
the remarriage of a woman divorced or put away (apolelu-
menen, not ten apolelumenen) .
(c) That the reservation found in St. Matthew only is
reasonably to be referred to the special law of Moses, or what
is here termed porneia.]
That, although private opinions have not been uniform
even in the West, the law of the Latin Church, and also of the
Anglican Church, from time immemorial, allows of no re
marriage. [Divorce with hberty to remarry was included in the
Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum under Edward VI. ; but
that code never received sanction. In all likelihood it was
disapproved by Queen Elizabeth and her advisers.]
That divorce proper, without limitation, essentially and
from the time of contraction onwards, alters the character of
marriage, and substitutes a relation different in ground and
nature. That divorce with hmitation rests upon no clear ground,
either of principle or of authority.
[In England it was urged, on behalf of the Bill of 1857,
that adultery broke the marriage bond ipso facto. Yet when
the adultery is of both the parties, divorce cannot be given !
Again, it is said that the innocent party may remarry. But
(1) this is a distinction unknown to Scripture and to history,
and (2) this innocent party, who is commonly the husband, is
in many cases the more guilty of the two.]
That divorce does not appear to have accompanied primi
tive marriage. In Scripture we hear nothing of it before
Moses. Among the Homeric Achaians it clearly did not
exist. It marks degeneracy and the increasing sway of
passion. (3) While divorce of any kind impairs the integrity of the
family, divorce with remarriage destroys it root and branch.
The parental and the conjugal relations are 'joined together'
by the hand of the Almighty no less than the persons united

362 CHURCH AND STATE [1889
by the marriage tie to one another. Marriage contemplates
not only an absolute identity of interest and affections, but
also the creation of new, joint, and independent obligations,
stretching into the future and limited only by the stroke
of death. These obhgations where divorce proper is in force
lose ah community, and the obedience reciprocal to them
is dislocated and destroyed.
(4) I do not venture to give an answer to this question,
except within the sphere of my own observations and ex
perience, and in relation to matters properly so cognizable.
I have spent nearly sixty years at the centre of British hfe.
Both before and from the beginning of that period absolute
divorces were in England abusively obtainable, at very heavy
cost, by private Acts of Parliament ; but they were so rare
(perhaps about two in a year) that they did not affect the
pubhc tone, and for the Enghsh people marriage was virtually
a contract indissoluble by law. In the year 1857 the Enghsh
Divorce Act was passed, for England only. Unquestionably,
since that time, the standard of conjugal morality has per
ceptibly declined among the higher classes of this country,
and scandals in respect to it have become more frequent.
The decline, as a fact, I know to be recognized by persons
of social experience and insight who in no way share my
abstract opinions on divorce. Personally, I believe it to be
due in part to this great innovation in our marriage laws ; but
in part only, for other disintegrating causes have been at
work. The mystery of marriage is, I admit, too profound for
our comprehension ; and it seems now to be too exacting for
our faith.
The number of divorces a vinculo granted by the civil
court is, however, still small in comparison with that pre
sented by the returns from some other countries.

7. EPISCOPAL APPOINTMENTS.
(1) Archbishop Benson owedhis elevation to the Episcopal
Bench to Lord Beaconsfield, and was promoted to the Archi
episcopal See of Canterbury by Mr. Gladstone.

undated]

MR. GLADSTONE'S BISHOPS

363

Archbishop Thomson was raised to the Bench and pro
moted to York by Lord Palmerston.
(2) The Bishops.

Lord
Palmerston

Lord
Derby

Lord
Beaconsfield

Mr. Gladstone

1. Pelham (Nor

1. Campbell

1. Lightfoot

1. Temple

wich).

(Bangor).

(Durham).

(Exeter, and

2. Philpott

2. Claughton

2. Atlay (Here

London).

(Worcester).

(Roch»ester,

ford).

*. Moberly

3. Ellicott

afteirwards

3. Magee

(Salisbury).

(Gloucester).

St. Albans).

(Peter

3. Goodwin (Car

4. Harold Browne

borough).

lisle).

(Ely, tr.ans-

4. Jones (St.

4. Hervey (Bath

lated by Mr.

David's).

and WeUs).

Gladstone to

5. Thorold
5. Mackarness
Winchrater).
(Roches
(Oxford).
ter).
6. Fraser (Man
6. Maclagan
chester).
(Lichfield).
7. Durnford
7. Ryle (Liver
(Chich-sster).
pool).
8. Hughes (St. Asaph).
9. Woodford (Ely).
10. Wilberforce (Newcastle).
11. Lewis (Llan
daff).
12. Wilkinson (Truro).
13. Stubbs (Ches
ter).
14. Ridding (Southwell).
15. Carpenter (Ripon).
16. King (Lin
coln) .
17. Bickersteth (Exeter).
I. — THE OXFORD MOVEMENT
The Oxford Movement supplies but four papers. The
first is only a fragment of what seems to have been meant
to be a longer study of the nature of the Episcopal Com
mission. The second and third deal with the Thirty-nine Articles,
with an interval of forty-six years between them. The
earlier in date is really a softened version of Newman's
famous tract ; the later begins as though the writer had
intended to go over the same ground in the light of further
knowledge, but it soon becomes merely a damaging crit
icism of a single Article — the Thirteenth, or rather of
its title.
The resolutions embodying Mr. Gladstone's suggested
substitute for the Pubhc Worship Regulation Bill are
reprinted to explain the references to them in vol. i.,
pp. 388-391.
1. CHURCH GOVERNMENT— GENERAL.
(Undated.)
Among the mass of ideas vaguely afloat in the Christian
world there is no more shallow misconception, and perhaps
there are few more widely entertained, than the belief that
the question between the ancient constitution of the Church
and the various forms which have prevailed in the greater
part of the Reformed communities since the sixteenth
century is a question of Church Government. It is analo
gous in this view to the controversy between our monarchical,
aristocratic and democratic forms of government in the
civil order. 364

funeral procession from Westminster hall to the abbey,
may 28, 1898.

undated] CHURCH GOVERNMENT 365
Now it cannot be said that the question is wholly detached
from that between the respective forms of civil government,
because this ancient and once uniform system is essentially
based on the concentration of principal power in single
hands. This statement does not fully exhibit the essence of
the case which turns upon our principal power — the power
of ordination — by which the Church is supplied with a
succession of persons formally entitled to administer her
highest offices. It is only through the exercise of this power
that the Church has any permanent constitution at ah. The
highest ministering functions are thus confined within certain
limits. If they were promiscuously given by each individual
at his own option, this would not be so much a constitution
as a chaos.
The constitution of the National Church of Denmark is
episcopal, but, be this good or bad as an internal arrangement,
no one supposes that it makes the smallest essential difference
between that Church and the sister Lutheran Churches in
Germany. The constitution of the Latin Church, on the other hand,
is stringently monarchical, especially from the time of the
Vatican Council ; but neither the Orthodox Church of the
East, nor the other Eastern Churches, nor the Anglican
Church, are in any sense monarchial, except as to their
Diocesan constitution. As bodies they recognize some
combined authority which unites the Diocesan Churches
together, and places them under an authority wielded by
many. The question is one for which as to its essence we can
derive no analogy from the case of civil government. The
civil governor leaves his office vacant by death or otherwise,
and it is refilled according to the conditions of the particular
constitution, but he has nothing to do with the designation
of his successor. Whereas, in an Episcopal Church of the
ancient form, the authority of all the present Bishops is
derived by express commission from those who preceded
them, and the authority of those who are to follow them will
be derived in the same formal manner from the present
Bishops. And the chain of SioSd^ai mounts farther upwards
from century to century. It is traceable in the British Sees,

366 THE OXFORD MOVEMENT [undated
for instance, up to very early dates, commonly giving the
first foundation of the See. But much more is asserted or
presumed. The Bishop who was the first in each See came
there by express commission from the Bishop of some other
See, and it is held that this method of historical succession
began with, and has been regularly continued from, the
Apostles. They, it is plain, did not invent the commission,
but received it from our Lord Himself, who was pleased to
incorporate it in the Baptismal Charter at the first founda
tion of the Church. It had been so under the old dispensa
tion. The question between Moses and Aaron on the one side,
and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on the other, was not
whether thepeopleof God should be governed by one or three,
or any given number, but whether they should be governed
by men whom God had given charged with an express com
mission to govern them. Even in the case of the proph
ets, they allege as their authority for prophesying not
the mere action of the private spirit, however earnest and
sincere, but a palpable order, an intelligible message from
the Most High, analogous perhaps to that internal but
well-defined operation by which St. Paul was enabled to
distinguish between the commands of the Holy Spirit, which
he was to dehver, and the recommendations which he
thought it fit in certain cases to offer on his own account.
'To the rest speak I, not the Lord.' And this Apostle has
laid down the principle in the broadest manner which re
quires an external commission capable of being tested like
any other matter of fact as necessary in order to the full and
legitimate appointment of the preacher of the Gospel. 'How
shall they hear without a preacher ? And how shall they
preach except they be sent ? '
The object here in view is not to establish the fact of this
historical devolution of the ministerial charge, but merely to
point out that this is the great — might we not say the sole —
matter at issue in the argument as to what is necessary for
the legitimate constitution of the Church. To place this
question in the fullest and clearest light, let me refer to the
statement of St. Jerome respecting the Church of Alexandria,
where, as he states, it had been the custom of the presbyters
to select and empower their own Bishop.

u-ndated] AN HISTORIC CHANNEL 367
If we assume that St. Jerome was historically correct, the
meaning of this would be that the Alexandrian presbytery
had received from those above them and before them an
authority so to act. Otherwise we should place him in con
tradiction with St. Paul, for if a man may not preach with
authority except under a commission, how could he govern ;
how, above all, could he constitute other governing authori
ties by delegation except under such a commission ? If it can
be shown that there exists anywhere a duly ordained presby
tery, which has through an historic channel been empowered
to appoint its own Bishop, and to vest in him the powers of
consecrating and ordaining, the acts of such a presbytery
would have to be acknowledged as having their base in the
Apostohc succession, and then, indeed, the question of the
distribution of Church power in Alexandria might have come
to be, what no such question now is, a question of Church
Government. But there remains to be considered a very important
question. The mere question of the form of government in
the Church appears to be of some weight, but of no com
manding weight. The question of transmitting ministerial
authority through an historic channel by acts which become
a regular subject of record is of a different nature. If we
consider the Church merely as a society, there is no necessity
for it, since other societies have existed, and now exist,
without it. Why, then, was it (apparently) embodied by our
Lord in the Baptismal Charter ? Why has it been so con
stantly beheved and maintained in the history of Christian
belief and practice ?
When the Gospel went forth into the world, there were
great — aye, terrible — odds against it.

2. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION FOR THE
THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.
(August 11, 1847.)
(1) That according to reason, as well as according to the
Declaration, the Articles ought to be taken in their hteral and
grammatical sense.

368 THE OXFORD MOVEMENT [1847
(2) That within the natural meaning of words, or their
hteral and grammatical sense, a diversity of sentiments is
admissible. (3) That so much and no other diversity of sentiments
ought to be taken to be conformable to the intention of the
authority requiring the subscription.
(4) That the history of the period supports the proposition
that room was intentionally left for some, and in particular
points for considerable diversity.
(5) That the character of the compilers and of the revisers
supports the same proposition.
(6) That the same proposition imports no reproach to their
honesty or ingenuousness, and pays a high tribute to their
wisdom. (7) That damnatory and repudiatory clauses in a formu
lary imposed by way of test, being of a penal and restrictive
nature, ought to be construed in the most favourable sense
of which the language will justly and naturally admit.
(8) That the 'hteral and grammatical sense' will be
determinable in the main from the Articles, and indeed from
the passages themselves.
(9) That the inquiry, What construction of a given Article
or passage, within the limits of that sense, is preferable?
must be governed by proofs and presumptions drawn from —
(a) The authorized formularies of the Church of
England. (b) The other laws, and the established and approved
usages (as opposed to casual and hcentious custom), of
the Church of England.
(c) The doctrines and principles of the Cathohc
Church.
(10) That Holy Scripture has the whole sovereign au
thority, and the scale above given has reference to the best
mode of fixing the sense of Scripture and its application in the
particular case.
(11) That no weight is to be given to the private opinion
of the subscriber, or even of the compilers, in contravention
of proofs or presumptions drawn from any of the above-
named sources.

1893] THE EDGE OF A PRECIPICE 369
3. THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.
(December 31, 1893.)
The Thirty-nine Articles walk (as it seems to me) at times
along the edge of a precipice, yet without actually tumbling
down. I have signed and could sign them. The imponens is the
English Church. If the framers were the original imponentes,
I should not like to be bound to all their opinions.
The titles of the Articles are not, I believe, part of the
Articles. Had they been imposed, I think I must have
kicked scores of years ago at the Thirteenth, which, according
to the title, would affirm that all works done ' before justifica
tion ' have the nature of sin. In the body of the Article this
is predicated, not of works before justification, but of ' works
done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of His
Spirit.' That is a different matter. For the grace of Christ
and the inspiration of His Spirit may reach infinitely farther
than what we 'forensically' term 'justification' : whether
this was or was not present to the minds of men under the
many narrowing influences of the Reformation controversy.
Is there, then, no good among heathens and non-Christians ?
Take the self-sacrifice of Regulus, an imperfect but true
martyrdom. Take the deaths of the two brothers in Hero
dotus, after drawing the car of the god. Take the hymns
recently pubhshed by Professor Newman. Our Blessed
Lord is, alas ! studiously expunged from them : but it would
(so far as I see) be absolutely profane to deny that they
contain true piety.
We are not, however, wholly extricated from difficulty.
The Article is not content with its dogmatic assertion : it
adds the reason why works done before an access of grace
have the nature of sin. It is because they 'spring not from
faith in Jesus Christ.' No: and as I would not venture to
make any assertion about any works done before the ' grace
of Christ ' has had some access to the soul in its now faulty
and degenerated condition . No direct difficulty, then, arises
upon the words of the Article. But they throw a curious
vol. ii — 24

370 THE OXFORD MOVEMENT [1893
light upon the ideas of the framers. Let us consider the
matter logically. Certain works have the nature of sin.
Why ? Because they are not founded upon faith in Christ.
Therefore in the minds of the framers all works have the na
ture of sin, which are not founded on faith in Jesus Christ.
That means a faith consciously founded upon Him. There
fore it would seem they thought all works sinful except such
as were performed (of course I do not refer to those of the
elder covenant) out of a faith consciously resting on this ever-
blessed name. This has an aspect somewhat horrible.
These works, says the Article, have the nature of sin.
What, then, is sin ? Is it not voluntary conflict with the will
of God ? But in the Litany we speak, and I suppose cor
rectly, of our 'sins, neghgences, and ignorances.' The last
term denotes what we absolutely did not know. Our negh
gences are ignorances in thought, or omissions in action, of
what we ought to have known and might have known. For
both of these we ask pardon from God. Yet would it not be
overstern to say that all our ignorances, for example, ' have
the nature of sin ' ? Is it intended to lay down the doctrine
that everything that falls short of perfection, in so far as it
falls short of perfection, being undoubtedly imperfection, is
therefore also sin? Sin is indeed a terrible and an awful
thing, especially in an age which seems so largely to have
blunted the edge of the old conceptions about it, and which
seldom, I fear, hears it denounced as it deserves. But may
it not be very seriously questioned whether to stretch the
notion of it beyond its true and exact conception, while it
seems to aim at loftiness and dignity of tone, is the true way
for those who desire to see the hatred of it made vigorous
and intense ? The result may be, not so much stringency of
dealing with elements comparatively mnocent, as confusion
and laxity in our mental apprehension of the monster-mis
chief, and a consequent coolness and slackness as to the reme
dial means necessary for putting it down.

1874I A MISTAKEN BILL 371

4. THE PUBLIC WORSHIP REGULATION BILL:
MR. GLADSTONE'S RESOLUTIONS.
(July 9, 1874.)
(1) That in proceeding to consider the provisions of the
Bill for the Regulation of Pubhc Worship, this House cannot
do otherwise than take into view the lapse of more than two
centuries since the enactment of the present Rubrics of the
Common Prayer Book of the Church of England ; the
multitude of particulars embraced in the conduct of Divine
Service under their provisions ; the doubts occasionally at
taching to their interpretation, and the number of points they
are thought to leave undecided ; the diversities of local cus
tom which under these circumstances have long prevailed ;
and the unreasonableness of proscribing all varieties of opin
ion and usage among the many thousands of congregations of
the Church distributed throughout the land.
(2) That this House is therefore reluctant to place in the
hands of every single Bishop, on the motion of one or of
three persons howsoever denned, greatly increased facilities
towards procuring an absolute ruling of many points hitherto
left open and reasonably allowing of diversity ; and thereby
towards the establishment of an inflexible rule of uniformity
throughout the land, to the prejudice, in matters indifferent,
of the liberty now practically existing.
(3) That the House willingly acknowledges the great and
exemplary devotion of the clergy in general to their sacred
calhng, but is not on that account the less disposed to guard
against the indiscretion, or thirst for power, or other fault of
individuals. (4) That the House is therefore willing to lend its best
assistance to any measure recommended by adequate au
thority, with a view to provide more effectual securities
against any neglect of, or departure from, strict law, which
may give evidence of a design to alter, without the consent of
the nation, the spirit or substance of the established religion.
(5) That in the opinion of the House it is also to be desired
that the members of the Church, having a legitimate interest

372 THE OXFORD MOVEMENT [1874
in her services, should receive ample protection against pre
cipitate and arbitrary changes of estabhshed custom by the
sole will of the clergyman, and against the wishes locally
prevalent among them ; and that such protection does not
appear to be afforded by the provisions of the Bill now before
the House.
(6) That the House attaches a high value to the concur
rence of Her Majesty's Government with the ecclesiastical
authorities in the initiative of legislation affecting the
Estabhshed Church.

III. — OXFORD ELECTIONS
The letter from Charles Wordsworth to Hope is given
as a reasoned example of the Extreme Church and State
theory which underlay much of the opposition to Mr. Glad
stone's claim to represent his University in Parhament.
The two circulars that follow also belong to the election
of 1847, and between them constitute a pretty complete
defence of his pohtical action up to that time. The fare
well address to the electors in 1865 is added.
1. CHARLES WORDSWORTH'S VOTE IN 1847.
Rev. Charles Wordsworth to James R. Hope.
Trinity College, Glenalmond, Perth.
My dear Hope,
You have done me a very great kindness in endeavour
ing to convince me that I may conscientiously vote for Mr.
Gladstone, for the difficulty I feel about it has been a constant
source of uneasiness and pain to me ; as indeed you may well
suppose, knowing as you do, better than almost anyone, the
very strong grounds of ah kinds, pubhc and private, which I
have for wishing not only to vote for him, but to support him
in every way to the very utmost of my power, and if I shah
not eventuaUy do so it will be the most distressing step of the
kind which I have ever had occasion to take, and one which I
would gladly do anything that I could, without a sacrifice of
principle, to escape. For many years I looked upon Glad
stone, and often spoke of him to others, as the man to save the
country, or rather the nation; it was thought almost — if I
may speak so strongly — his mission from God to do so — to
save it in the only way in which I believe it is to be saved
373

374 OXFORD ELECTIONS [1847
(under Providence) upon the principles of the Constitution in
Church and State ; but in an evil hour, as I think, his faith
failed him. Fascinated by the practical ability and power of
Sir R. Peel, he lost sigh,t of his own position ; and at last,
from the high ground which he fancied to be untenable, but
was not more so than high ground has often been before
in faithless times, and will be so no doubt again, he leapt like
Curtius into the gulf, and what is far worse, he drew the
Church of England along with him. Such is the language
which my revered father often used during the last year of his
hfe in speaking of Gladstone, and you will not wonder that it
made a deep impression upon me, knowing as I did the pain
it gave him to speak so of one for whom he entertained the
highest possible regard and esteem. Had Gladstone abided
by his own principles, instead of falhng in with the no-
principles of Sir R. Peel and of the House of Commons, how
different would have been his position, and the position of
parties at the present time ! But, not to indulge in painful
reflection upon the past, What is to be done now ? Are we
still to have no rallying standard — no solid ground to stand
upon again? Let it be that we have no certain or clear
principles for the government of our Colonies, circumstanced
as they are so differently, and occupied as they have often
been in unprincipled ways, is the same to be the case with the
Mother Country ? — with England ? with Ireland ? with
Scotland ? Am I, at all events, as a member and minister of
the United Church of England and Ireland, not to aim at a
uniformity in religion in the three countries, without which
upon no sound principles can they properly form one
kingdom ? More especially, am I to help to aggravate our
present inconsistencies by relinquishing still farther the
ground of the Constitution, so as to render it impossible,
eventually, for our Sovereign to be crowned, or our Parlia
ment assembled with any sanction of rehgion ? With Scot
land Presbyterian and Ireland neutral (in the eye of the
State), what right, it may well be argued, can we have to
claim the use of the Prayer-Book for any State occasion what
ever ? Ireland has been for many years, and is still, in a
most wretched condition, both rehgious and political, worse

1847] CHURCH AND STATE 375
probably since the passing of the Emancipation Act than it
was before, certainly not better, and yet what politician was
there that supported that measure who did not assure us of
a very different result ? The fact is, no statesman since
Perceval's time has even thought of acting honestly by the
Church of that country. It has been estabhshed only to be
kicked and insulted, and eventually robbed. Who, having
any faith in God's word, wonders that such a country so
governed should be a thorn in our side ? And what sincere
member of a Church protesting against Popery can think that
the true remedy for such evils is to be found in strengthening
the hands of the Popish priesthood ? But I beg pardon —
some sincere members of our Church do think so, and others
think that the Church might do as well, or perhaps better,
both in England and Ireland, without any connection with
the State. I can only say to both opinions, God forbid ! for I
beheve He does forbid. Gladstone himself has taught me to
say so, and as he, moving in the turmoil of pohtics, claims for
himself to see pohtical expediences or necessities which I
cannot admit of, so I, living in another atmosphere, and
subject to experiences, as I think, of another kind, am bound
to act upon them as I best may ; and in this case I am able to
do so with greater confidence in that I do nothing but appeal
from Gladstone, the member of an ungodly House of
Commons and colleague of Sir Robert Peel, to the same
Gladstone 'beneath the shades of Hagley,' the wise philoso
pher and pious divine. Not a year ago he himself told me he
had abandoned his first principles because they had found so
httle support in the country, especially among the clergy.
I answered I thought he had done so without reason, for the
support was there, and only wanting to be called forth. If he
will now tell me, or allow me to understand that he returns
henceforth to his own principles, and means to act upon them
on all occasions faithfully and unflinchingly, he shall have my
vote and interest with more pleasure and satisfaction than I can
express; otherwise, after the conversation to which I have
referred, he cannot but misinterpret my support as withheld
from that which I approve, and given to conduct and to
principles which I then described as faithless, and which

376 OXFORD ELECTIONS [1847
I must still object to as strongly as ever. The unhappy
condition of things to which you refer in the latter part
of your letter I can see plainly enough, but yet I am not
altogether without hope when I consider what a change has
come over the spirit of our Church during the last fifteen
years — a change still going forward, and which, if we have
but one man of power and principle to fight the battle as
Gladstone might fight it in the House of Commons, may bring
about still more astonishing results in the next fifteen years
to come.
But however this may be, I certainly do not think that we
shall be hkely, on the whole, to mend our bad practices by
plunging deeper into false principles; nor am I desirous of
seeing the Church more pure on the terms which you
propose — viz., of the State becoming more irreligious.
Rather I protest against any such notion. What God (as
I beheve) has joined together let no man put asunder.
I am, my dear Hope,
Ever yours most sincerely,
Charles Wordsworth.
2. DRAFT RESPECTING VOTE ON WARD'S CASE.
(June 11, 1847.)
Mr. Ward's book, entitled 'The Ideal of a Christian
Church,' when it came to my notice in the autumn of 1844,
appeared to me to be a work written with honesty of intention
upon a subject of the greatest importance, but, at the same
time, to constitute from the opinions it contained, and from
the mode of their announcement, an outrage upon the first
principles both of public decency and of duty to the Church.
I had ever before, I beheve, undertaken to censure any
work through the medium of the press, but I thought it my
duty, or felt myself impelled, to write a review of Mr. Ward's
work, and to tender it to the editor of the Quarterly Review,
mainly for the purpose of exposing the writer as having
proved himself totally unfit to handle such questions by the
exhibition of almost every fault (except personal dishonesty)
of which he could in a book be guilty ; but partly also to

1847] VOTE ON WARD'S CASE

377

suggest caution and discrimination as to the form of any
measures which might be adopted against him. I declined,
on account of the pending question at Oxford, to inquire
whether his work was consistent with even the letter of his
obligations as a clergyman and a member of the University.
I disclaimed, however, the shghtest objection to enforcing, in
their substantial meaning according to history and authority
and with the provident securities of law, those subscriptions
which are required from clergymen and from the members of
universities.
i Soon after my article had been published in the Quarterly
Review of December, 1844, Mr. Ward, in his 'Address to
Members of Convocation,' expressed in print his inten
tion of replying to it so soon as the question pending at
Oxford was over, which was not done, probably owing to
a subsequent change in his views of his position.
Having been acquainted with Mr. Ward at Oxford, and
having a great repugnance under such circumstances to
censures which are anonymous as between the writer and the
subject of them, I made it known to Mr. Ward that I was the
author of the review at the period when it issued from the
press. In the meantime I had perceived, to my great sorrow, that
a censure had been proposed at Oxford in terms (inde
pendently of some other objections not inconsiderable, but of
less moment) directly denying the bona fides of Mr. Ward.
I felt at once that, having censured him publicly and severely
in the way of discussion, and believing his bona fides could not
properly be questioned by Convocation, it would be an act of
gross cowardice on my part to refrain from acquitting him of
a charge of which I believed him to be innocent. It is not
advancing any claim to the praise of forethought if I state
that I was, of course, aware that in discharging this act
of justice I should expose myself to many, and, on the part of
remote and imperfectly informed observers, not unreasonable
suspicions. I remember observing at the time to a gentleman nearly
connected with a leading person at Oxford that I thought
Mr. Ward well deserved censure, but that, on the ground

378 OXFORD ELECTIONS [1847
I have now stated, I could not concur in the censure proposed.
He rephed that he could venture to assure me that it was not
intended to impeach Mr. Ward's honesty. I answered that,
as a judge, I must be guided by the meaning of the words, and
that the term bona fides went directly and exclusively to the
question of inward sincerity. At the same time, I do not
doubt that the majority of Convocation viewed the motion in
the light which he suggested, and attached to the words
a sense which, as I thought, they could not bear.
I am aware that there may be at first sight something
paradoxical in refusing to affirm the dishonesty of a man who
teaches doctrines like that of the non-natural sense sure to
beget dishonesty in others. But first I thought that a ques
tion of inward motive was unfit for the cognizance of a human
tribunal, and especially of a large and promiscuous body.
Secondly, I believe more perhaps than most men in the
capacity of the human mind for self-delusion, and I thought
Mr. Ward infatuated without being dishonest.
The votes given on the respective sides were naturally,
though most inaccurately, termed votes 'for or against'
Mr. Ward ; and since my own was described under the
former appellation and indefinitely associated with the
doctrines of the book, as well as with the subsequent acts
of its writer and of others, I regard it as a subject upon
which every member of Convocation who may desire it is
entitled to receive the fullest explanation. This, as far as
memory and hasty reference would enable me, I have now
endeavoured to give.
3. ELECTION CIRCULAR, 1847.
Committee Room,
July 26, 1847.
In consequence of the occurrence, very unusual in an
University contest, of an attack upon Mr. W. E. Gladstone
by the committee of the opposing candidates, Mr. Gladstone's
committee have placed the paper which contained it in his
hands, and have received the accompanying notice of it,
which, under circumstances so peculiar, they think it fit to

1847] DISSENTERS' CHAPELS 379
pubhsh, more particularly as they trust and beheve it does
not contain a word which reflects on the principles, capacity,
or conduct of his opponent, Mr. Round.
13, Carlton House Terrace,
July 26, 1847.
I extract the principal assertion contained in a circular of
the 19th, which has this day been put into my hands, and
which is signed Wilham Harrison, Charles Sumner, Edward
P. Hathaway, and I add my observations upon them :
' ist. — The object of the Dissenters' Chapel BiU was to
secure to certain Socinians the undisputed possession of pro
perty which was never intended for them.'
I argued in Parhament that this proposition was entirely
false ; that the property affected by the BiU generaUy was
intended to be held by persons who repudiated aU creeds
and human impositions, and drew their opinions for them
selves from the Holy Scriptures ; that there was no evidence
to show it to be the desire, even of the original associates (to
caU them founders would be, generally, an abuse of terms),
to make the profession of particular doctrines a condition of
succession to them in the possession of the chapels and their
appurtenances ; and that, therefore, the Socinians were reaUy
entitled to what they held. I supported this argument, in
great detail, by historical evidence ; no man then or since
rephed, or brought counter evidence in Parhament or else
where to my knowledge ; and to this hour I rejoice in having
been permitted to take part in the performance of a great act
of justice.
' 2nd. — The courts of equity were compelling them to
relinquish this property.'
This also is untrue. It was shown in the House of
Commons — and without an effort, I believe, at reply — that
the case of Lady Hewley was entirely distinct from that of the
chapels, because Lady Hewley did refer in her trusts to par
ticular doctrines which were in the nature of tests, whereas
the Chapels BiU was expressly intended for cases where
there was no such reference.
'3rd. — The Bishops were unanimous in opposing it.'

380 OXFORD ELECTIONS [1847
This is also untrue.
I find two divisions recorded in the House of Lords.
In the first of them no Bishop opposed the BiU.
In the second of them the names of those who opposed it
are not recorded, but two Bishops supported it. I have a
letter from a third prelate, than whom no one, perhaps,
commands more universal confidence, dated July 17, 1844, in
which he states his ' conviction of the justness and propriety
of the BiU,' and adds, 'that he was unable, on account of
absence from London, to be in his place on the occasion.'
If it be asked, What, then was the object of the BUI ? I
answer, It was to prevent htigation by estabhshing at once
an issue which was definite and just, instead of leaving the
question hable to perpetual agitation, without hope of
settlement. '4th. — Mr. Gladstone supported the Maynooth BiU, be
lieving it to be opposed to the views of the people of Eng
land.' This is true. However willing I had been upon, and for
many years after, my introduction to Parliament to struggle
for the exclusive support of the national rehgion of the State,
and to resist aU arguments drawn from certain inherited
arrangements in favour of a more relaxed system, I found
that scarcely a year passed without the fresh adoption of
some measure, involving the national recognition and the
national support of various forms of religion ; and in par
ticular, that a recent and fresh provision had been made for
the propagation from a pubhc Chair of Arian or Socinian
doctrines. The question remaining for me was whether,
aware of the opposition of the Enghsh people, I should set
down as equal to nothing, in a matter primarily connected
not with our but with their priesthood, the wishes of the
people of Ireland, and whether I should avail myself of the
popular feehng in regard to the Roman Catholics for the
purpose of enforcing against them a system which we had
ceased by common consent to enforce against Arians : a
system, above aU, of which I must say that it never can be
conformable to pohcy, to justice, or even to decency, when it
has become avowedly partial and one-sided in its application.

1847] CENSURE ON MR. WARD 381
' 5th. — Mr. Gladstone voted against the censure on Mr.
Ward.' This is true. In that censure two propositions, totaUy
distinct, were unhappUy combined. The first of these con
demned his opinions and proceedings : the second declared
his personal dishonesty. I was ready to condemn the
opinions and proceedings, as I stated at the time to persons
of influence, connected, as I beheve, with the framing of the
motion agamst him ; and as I had, indeed, already done
myself, to the very best of such capacity as I possessed
through the medium of a powerful organ of opinion, the
Quarterly Review for December, 1844. I was not ready to
declare Mr. Ward's personal dishonesty ; without presuming
to judge for others, I thought that question was one not fit
for the adjudication of a human tribunal.
In conclusion, I humbly trust that Mr. Harrison, Mr.
Sumner, and Mr. Hathaway are not justified in exhibiting me
to the world as a person otherwise than ' heartily devoted to
the doctrine and constitution of our Reformed Church.' But
I wiU never consent to adopt, as the test of such devotion,
a disposition to identify the great and noble cause of the
Church of England with the repression and the restraint of
the civU rights of those who differ from her. I shaU rather
beheve that it may more wisely, more justly, and more
usefuUy be shown, first by endeavours to aid in the develop
ment and apphcation of her energies to her spiritual work,
and next, by the temperate but firm indication of those rights
with which, for the pubhc good, she is endowed as a National
Estabhshment.
4. FAREWELL ADDRESS.
TO THE MEMBERS OF CONVOCATION IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.Hawarden, Chester,
July 18, 1865.
Gentlemen,
After an arduous connection of eighteen years, I bid
you respectfully fareweU.
My earnest purpose to serve you, my many faults and

382 OXFORD ELECTIONS [1865
shortcomings, the incidents of the pohtical relation between
the University and myself, estabhshed in 1847, so often
questioned in vain, and now at length finaUy dissolved, I leave
to the judgment of the future. It is one imperative duty, and
one alone, which induces me to trouble you with these few
parting words : the duty of expressing my profound and
lasting gratitude for indulgence as generous, and for support
as warm and enthusiastic in itself, and as honourable from
the character and distinctions of those who have given it, as
has in my behef ever been accorded by any constituency to
any representative. I have the honour to be, gentlemen,
Your obhged and obedient Servant,
W. E. Gladstone.

IV. — CONTROVERSY WITH ROME
The Controversy with Rome plays so large a part in the
Letters that there is not much left for an Appendix. The
Conversation with Dollinger gives a very full account of
Mr. Gladstone's position in reference to the Eucharist.
Upon the effect of consecration his faith was unalter-
. ably fixed, but aU speculation as to the mode in which this
effect was wrought seemed to him rash and unprofitable.
It would have been weU for Europe if the plan of a
reconcihation between the Papacy and the new Itahan
Kingdom, sketched out in the Memorandum on the Roman
Question, had found favour with both parties. But only
a very hearty acceptance of it by the Pope would have
recommended it to Cavour, and of this there was never
the least chance.
The conversation with Pius LX. had no theological or
pohtical importance, but it shows Mr. Gladstone in plea-
santer relations with the Pope than the stress of con
troversy often permitted him to maintain. The Memo
randum on the Old Catholics may be taken as the high-
water mark of Mr. Gladstone's hopes on their behalf.
i. CONVERSATION WITH DR. DOLLINGER, 1845.
Munich,
October 4, 1845.
Yesterday I had a conversation with Professor Dollinger
on several questions of rehgion to the foUowing effect, and I
put it on record because of the pointedness of its results.
He spoke of the question of images as one on which there
3«3

384 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1845
were great differences between the Church of Rome and that
of England : I said not in regard to the formal and net
doctrine, but to the practical system in the former Church ;
and then added that the points on which that system pre
sented the greatest obstacles to communion were, I thought,
the worship of images, the invocation of saints and par
ticularly that of the Blessed Virgin, and the purgatorial
indulgences. He smiled, and said as to the last it was a subject scarcely
existing or scarcely sensible for them in Germany. Then he
stated the meaning of purgatorial indulgence to be this : that
the Church offers her prayers for the deceased person in the
behef that they are beneficial to him, but without defining
the effect upon his state. I said: 'Then, I was right in sup
posing that yesterday you referred with reprobation to the
preaching of Tetzel and his associates, because they told the
people that their gifts .were to be foUowed by the release of
souls from Purgatory.' Yes, he said that was the case. ' Yet
surely,' said I, 'indulgence is a judicial act, is it not?' 'As
to the hving, but not as to the dead, ' he rephed. ' The juris
diction of the Church is over the hving ; it terminates with
the grave. For the dead she can only pray, and she cannot
measure the result of her prayer.' Upon this he expressed
himseh as most positive.
I then asked : T conclude that with you aU prayer for the
dead is conditional upon the supposition that the person
departed in a state of grace, although the condition may not
be expressed?' 'Undoubtedly,' he said. 'We,' I rephed,
'you see, who travel in Roman Cathohc countries, do not
see the signs of that condition, but everywhere see prayer
absolute in appearance.' He said no Cathohc can be misled
upon that point.
To my inquiry (earher in the conversation) what was the
meaning of indulgence to the dead for so many days, or other
periods of time, he answered it was stiU the apphcation of
the prayer of the Church for them for forty days.
(There are, indeed, difficulties left behind. PracticaUy as
they manage prayer for the dead, is not the result that aU
men are regarded as subjects of prayer under no condition at

1845] THE BLESSED VIRGIN 385
aU, or one insensible — aU who die ostensibly in the com
munion of the Church as no worse than in purgatory ? And
if so, must not the effect of this upon many hving be im
mensely to mminish the force of the thought of death as
the closing up of their moral account ?
(And as to the indulgences, an indulgence is taken from
some proclaimed paper of terms by someone hving on behalf
of a dead person. There is no act of the Church subsequent
to, it may be, the printing of the paper with the conditions.
Is it, then, meant that the force of the petitions of the Church
for the peace of the departed is, unconsciously to those who
offer them, distributed according to indulgences which have
been obtained by other parties, so that the effect of the
prayer is thus separated, systematically and by anticipation,
from the consciousness of those who offer it? There is
something slippery in this, yet it seems capable of an
explanation.) I said to him : ' I wish you could have heard sermons which I
have heard, particularly two to which I have adverted, in
Italy and SicUy ; and to know what your view of them would
be. In a sermon at Naples I heard the preacher found
himseh on these two main propositions : (1) That the Blessed
Virgin differed essentiaUy from aU created beings whatever in
that their gifts and graces were finite, whereas hers bordered
upon the infinite ; the words used were "Toccano a' canceUi
del infinito.'' I know it is difficult to give a metaphysical
meaning to this sort of medium between finity and infinity ;
but the practical force of the sentiment is clear and positive
enough. The second was that the Blessed Virgin Mary was
invested extrinsicaUy with aU the attributes of the adorable
Trinity — infinite power, infinite wisdom, infinite love.' He
rephed, with a httle straining — then corrected himself, and
said with a great deal of straining — ' the words might be
made to bear a tolerable sense ; but taking them as they
stand, I should say they border upon blasphemy.' I said :
'Toccano a' cancehi deUa blasfemia.' He rephed yes ; that
no such thing would be tolerated here. I answered: 'Then,
you see, this has some bearing upon that matter on which you
press us so much, the unity of doctrine.' He seemed a httle
vol. ii — 25

386 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1845
touched, and made no reply, but that it must be the neglect of
the Bishops. I answered I hoped it might be so (meaning, I
feared they either did not wish or, more probably, did not dare
to disturb such teaching).
We passed to the subject of the Eucharist, and I ventured
to suggest to him that perhaps in the last resort it would be
found that the great difficulty between the two Churches
would be found to he in the predication by the Church of
Rome of the cessation of bread and wine. He said he
thought he could not approximate without a more defined
doctrine of the Real Presence by the Church of England. I
said our difficulty was not in believing the Real Presence in
the Eucharist, but in believing the unreahty of the signs.
He said : 'If you admit that the elements become the body
and blood of our Lord, it foUows that they are not what they
were ; they have lost their identity. That upon which their
identity rests we caU substance, so that if you beheve in the
real presence you must beheve in the cessation of the sub
stance of bread and wine, although, on the other hand, in
every point that meets the sense they are just as real as ever
they were.' I said : ' Forgive me if, in reply, I state that our
objection is to these deductions founded upon questionable,
overbold, and even, perhaps, fantastic metaphysics ; and
that I know to some of the best among us the doctrine of the
Church of Rome seems chiefly noxious from the rationalizing
character which it seems to us to have. By rationalizing,
I mean not giving reasons in support of faith, nor giving
elucidations of matter of faith simply, but giving such reasons
and such elucidations of a matter of faith as are injurious to
faith in some other maimer or matter.' To this he assented.
Then I said : 'Do not suppose we draw objections ab impos-
sibili. The objection, as it seems to me, is this : here is a
sacrament ; we have it defined as consisting of two parts, the
outward visible sign and the inward spiritual grace. If you
overset the reahty of the sign, you overset the reality of the
sacrament by destroying one of its essential parts. Now, are
bread and wine the signs, and therefore essential parts, or are
they not ? And, if so, must not they stiU be real bread and
wine ? ' 'It depends,' said he, ' on what you mean by reahty ;

1845] A SPIRITUAL BODY 387
in respect to aU that you see and feel, and to aU their nutritive
quahties, they are as much bread and wine as ever. But with
aU this, their substratum may be changed. Thus, St. Paul
teaches us that there is a a<ap.a Trvevpanicbv, and we know
that in this glorified or spiritual body our Lord dwelt upon
earth for forty days. In this body He passed through the
closed doors or the waUs, and entered the chamber where the
Apostles were sitting. At the same time St. Thomas put his
hands in the hole of his Lord's wounds. Could he, then,
properly have argued that because he had thus touched he
had been assured of the reahty of the flesh which he touched,
and therefore knew it could not have passed through the
doors or walls ? ' I rephed : ' No ; and I can advance no such
argument at aU. We stand upon the ground that the ele
ments are declared in Scripture to be bread and wine when
consecrated. Therefore we hold they must be real and true,
as other sensible substances. I should set out from this that
God has given us certain faculties and certain objects for
them ; and although He has not provided us with such means
of assurance as are infallible (for in what process may not
error as a possibility intervene ? — to this he assented) but
with such as are intended, and adequate, to give certain
conviction. I by no means place the evidence of the senses
higher than that which belongs to our mental perceptions ;
but I take them as a great, Divinely-ordained channel for
receiving a part of those impressions through which God
works upon and with us. I am therefore bound to guard
the authority of this evidence, on account of its relation to our
knowledge and convictions in general, and therefore to all
behef . According to me, it seems we must hold not only that
certain attributes which we perceive in the consecrated
elements are real, but that these make them real bread and
wine ; and that which is presented to our senses not only is
real, but also is that by which the things are what they are, is
the essence.' 'No,' said he, ' there you are wrong ; indepen
dently of doctrine I beheve aU metaphysicians and chemists
wiU teU you that there are in matter attributes that escape us
— and thus that the whole essence is not presented to us.'
T was wrong, undoubtedly,' said I ; T should have spoken

388 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1845
thus, that the attributes which we perceive are of the essence,
belong to it, and constitute, to us, the ground of predicating
it.' He said : 'You know that we were at one time accused
of making the Eucharist a phantasmagoria, and of teaching
that these attributes were mere appearances. ' I said : ' That
is by no means the allegation I have made : I have always
beheved your best divines at least allowed the reality of the
accidents ; but what right have they to put down as accidents
those things which are to us the only evidence of the essence,
when in the particular case Scripture calls them, and there
fore fixes upon them the character of, the essence ? But I am
not to say because the nature of bread remains, therefore the
nature of our Lord's body is not there ; nor yet am I to say
that it is there with the bread in the manner of consubstantia
tion.' 'No doubt,' he said, 'it was happier when the early
Church in the energy of faith could dispense with definitions ;
and the Greek Fathers do speak of bread and wine as remain
ing after consecration.' 'So also Pope Gelasius,' said I.
'Yes,' he added; 'but heresy arose, and what could the
Church do ? She was obhged to give metaphysical defini
tions respecting the Trinity,which may not be abstractedly
desirable from the imperfection of our knowledge. So she
must do the same in the case of the Eucharist when the Real
Presence is denied.' I replied : 'I know that the alleged
paraUel between the definitions on these two subjects is a
common, and a most plausible, and to me, if the fact be true,
a conclusive, argument ; but I cannot find the fact to be
true. I find the greatest difference between the Nicene defi
nition in defence of our Lord's Divinity and the definition ex
pressed by Transubstantiation.' He did not seem disposed
strongly to press the parallel, and in matter so high IreadUy
refrained from explaining my meaning. 'But,' said he, 'all
matter has a spiritual character, a spiritual part, as it may be
glorified.' 'A spiritual susceptibility,' said I. 'Yes,' he re
phed. 'It is in that respect that the elements are changed
in the blessed Eucharist. In another sense they are certainly
real. This,' said he, 'is, I am sure, an exposition allowed in
our Church.' I answered : 'Would it, then, be allowable to
speak thus (I had before put to him this point : Scripture

i84S] TWO REGIONS OF CREATION 389
calls the holy elements by the names of bread and wine ; the
Fathers do the same. The Church of Rome will not aUow it,
unless in a figure — on which he did not give adefinite reply) :
There is a higher region of creation, and there is a lower one
dependent upon it and receiving hfe from it ; in that lower
region the consecrated elements (which are related to both)
are stUl bread and wine ; in the higher one they are no longer
such, having spiritually become the body and blood of our
Lord?' 'Yes,'hesaid. 'Surely,' I replied, 'much would be
gained if these things were understood.' He agreed. And
the conversation was of great comfort to one who views the
unity of Christians as I must do. Perhaps on such a question
it should be remembered that Dr. D. spoke in a tongue not
his own, although he understands it extremely well.
When we bid farewell he said : ' Well, we are in one Church
by water — upon that I shall rest.' I said : 'It is my happi
ness, if I may say so, to be aUowed to go farther.' I must
indeed carry away with me a very lively sense both of his
kindness, and of the great value of intercourse with him ; and
I must say of the breadth of those grounds of agreement
which I find with such expositions of doctrine as those to
which I have here referred.
Dr. D. also asked if there was not for us great force in the
fact of the adhesion of the Eastern Church on Transubstan
tiation ? I said : ' Yes ; but we did not conceive the Eastern
Church to take quite the same position with regard to it.'
Sunday, October 5, 1845.
In the foregoing conversation of October 3, Dr. Dollinger
spoke with a particular positiveness on his statement of the
doctrine of purgatorial indulgences as the proper doctrine of
the Roman Catholic Church. He said, I think : ' I have been
twenty years in theology, and I am sure I cannot be wrong.'
On the Real Presence he only spoke of his exposition as
allowable. He adverted to the doctrine of sacrifice, and said some of
our divines seemed to resolve it into the material sacrifice of
bread and wine, which was rather a judaizing notion. I said
I supposed we were taught the doctrine of a double sacrifice

390 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1845
in the Holy Eucharist, the first that of the elements as fruits
of the earth. He replied : ' Yes certainly ; but that first is
only in respect of the higher character to which they are to
be elevated.'
Of my very long conversations of former days with Dr.
D. I shall only record certain fragments delivered by him.
He expressed a strong opinion that if the Church of
England were to work upon the people with effect, the
character of our preaching must be changed to the kind
without book — ¦ except in the case of the higher classes.
He thought it a great felicity of the English people that
they were in many things less technical and systematic than
other nations, and yet practicaUy quite as effective. I
pleaded this when he remarked on our want of systematic
theology, and he did not wholly repudiate the plea.
He had read my article on Ward, and said certainly Ward
could not complain of it.
He had read Manning on the Unity of the Church, and
admired it as a work of talent, but thought it quite un
satisfactory because it did not make out the case of internal
unity of doctrine in the English Church, of which he thought
we must feel the want much more acutely than the want of
external unity.
He conceived that as our theology strives to become
systematic, the Catholic and Puritanical elements in it will
come into sharper colhsion, will both become systematic and
rend us in pieces.
Here I must give my reply : it was that the Puritanical
element had been once cast out of the English Church and
was a reintroduction — that we had a Church divinity in
dependent of it — that it was not within our Church properly
a system but an impulse, working loosely and diversely
through a very heterogeneous mass of opinions, often on the
verge of heresy or in it, but yet not often held in an heretical
spirit — that a few years ago, say before Tract CX., it was in
course of rapid absorption — that on the whole I still believed
and trusted it would be absorbed, and indeed developed as to
its sound part in a Cathohc system, but that undoubtedly
since the romanizing turn in the Oxford Movement it had

1863] THE ITALIAN CAPITAL 391
become more obstinate, and had made efforts to rally into
order and system, which if effected, I agreed, must destroy us.
He thought it a great misfortune that there should be a
close and constant conflict in detail between the Roman
Church and ours, as tending to quicken the sense of differ
ences and to subdue that of agreements.
He said the habit of his Church on the Continent was from
the known sympathies of Cranmer and others with the
Continental reformers to assume that we were essentially a
portion of the same body, though we had kept much nearer
to the Church of Rome.
He clearly understood from me that in my view the seces
sions in detail to the Church of Rome were the great obstacle
to the realization of a Catholic character among the members
of our Church, and that England never would be reunited to
the rest of the Western Church through the agency of the
Roman Catholic body there as an aggressive system apart
from and in conflict with the actual Church. Should not I
have gone one step farther and also stated the conviction that
if a conflict was now caused in the Church of England, and a
merely Protestant character fastened upon her, the opposite
element being cast out or reduced to comparative impotence,
still the hope of reunion would have been lost, so far as it was
dependent upon us ?
2. MEMORANDUM ON THE ROMAN QUESTION.
(March 27, 1863.)
The simple and unconditional union, for every civil pur
pose, of Rome with the Itahan Kingdom, as its natural, neces
sary, and only possible, capital, is desired by every friend of
the cause of Italy, and is regarded as the proper consumma
tion of the constructive work.
That consummation being for the moment impossible, it
becomes a matter of importance to consider whether a
separation can be made between the essential parts of that
union, which may be necessary and sufficient for the purposes
of a true pohtical unity, and the adjuncts by which, in a

392 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1863
more favourable state of circumstances, it would naturally
be attended.
It may be difficult for a distant observer to measure
accurately the intentions or the wishes of the Emperor of the
French with regard to Italy. What appears plain, however,
is simply this : that he has arrived at an impasse; he is
pledged to reconcile the claims of the Italians with those of
the Pope, and yet he has been unable to suggest any plan
which has given satisfaction to either party. It seems right
to believe that his views are generally favourable to Italian
unity and nationality ; and, if they are so, then it may with
some confidence be assumed that he would be inclined to ex
amine with impartiahty, and even with favour, any plan
bearing upon its face some tolerable semblance of reason.
Can such a plan be suggested ? What is the maximum
(such is the question to be solved) of dignity, of security, and
of political and pecuniary independence, which can be
secured for the Pope compatible with the paramount object,
on the other side, of obtaining for the Roman people the full
enjoyment of the political and civil rights possessed by their
fellow-countrymen, and for Italy that practical possession of
her capital which is essential to the cause of order, freedom,
and good government in that country ?
The objection always urged by the friends of the existing
state of things in Rome to the surrender of the temporal
power is this : that the Pope must not be the subject of
anybody. But all mankind are divided into Sovereigns and subjects,
so that those who cannot be subjects must be Sovereigns.
Sovereignty, however, may be either sovereignty of dignity
or sovereignty of administration. The former is called
suzeraineti, and is compatible with a variety of particular
arrangements appertaining to the dignity and advantage of
the Suzerain.
Let us suppose, then, the first notion of a plan to be that
the Pope is to be Suzerain of Rome and the rest of his
territories, and that the King of Italy is to be his Vicar,
invested by a permanent, irrevocable instrument with all the
ordinary power of civil government over the inhabitants.

1863] PAPAL IMMUNITY 393
What seems to be requisite, on the other side, is that the
Suzerain should be secured in all the circumstances necessary
for his ease, dignity, and personal inviolability.
He is not to be the subject even of the law, such is the
demand. For all his personal acts, he must enjoy an entire
immunity from restraint and from penalty.
It seems plain that if this can be conceded and secured,
there remains no decent plea, much less argument, for the
retention of the temporal power. For the highest advocate
of it must admit that it is not necessary in itself, but only on
account of its insuring such immunity.
The difficulty in conceding immunity of this kind may be
considered as relating, for practical purposes, not to the
personal but only to the official acts of the Pope.
His prerogatives, which are properly spiritual, have a
thousand points of contact with the established political
order, and with the civil interests of the people ; and the
regulation of the reciprocal relations at these points of con
tact, though it does not seem to have been found difficult in
Eastern Christendom, has constituted for a long period of
time a difficulty of the first order within the present and
former limits of the Latin Church.
What is required on behalf of the Itahan kingdom is, not
to take security for the just and reasonable exercise on all
occasions of the spiritual powers of the Pope, but simply to
prevent them from being so used as to invade the province of
civil government.
It seems worth while to consider whether the double
object of an absolute unconditional inviolability for the Pope,
and the plenitude of temporal rights for the head of the
Itahan kingdom, might not simultaneously be attained by a
method somewhat resembling that which has been worked
out in English history as respects the person of the Sovereign.
The maxim that the King can do no wrong has there been
reduced, within the pohtical sphere, to an absolute and
practical truth.
All the Acts of Government in England require the counter
signature, or other intervention, of the Minister of the proper
department : except only the choice of a new administration.

394 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1863
Nothing done by the Sovereign, however contrary to the
laws or to public right, would be punishable : but the person
or persons who concur, and whose concurrence is necessary
in order to complete the act, are fully amenable. And this
security is deemed ample under all circumstances.
An arrangement equaUy simple and effective could prob
ably be made were the Pope willing to agree to act only
with the concurrence of ecclesiastical ministers or servants,
selected and dismissed at will by himself.
We must perhaps assume that he would refuse to be party
to such an arrangement.
But it may still be thought that absolute personal inviola
bility might safely be conceded to him, if not only everyone
who should illegaUy obey him, but every counsellor by whom
he was surrounded, and every agent who might be employed,
ministerially or otherwise, in giving effect to any illegal act,
remained responsible to the law. This, after all, is the sub
stance of the English arrangement, which has a special
distinction in the means taken to determine at once who
those counsellors and agents are.
The Pope would then stand in regard to Italy, to all Italy,
as he now stands in regard to the Italian kingdom within its
present limits, or as he stands in regard to France or England.
He may issue a deposing Bull : he may do acts that in them
selves, if done by a British subject, would be acts of treason
or sedition : we cannot touch him : but we can touch any and
every one who shall obey him.
In the interest of His Holiness it does not appear why
this inviolability should not be as effective as the temporal
sovereignty, a mere fragment of which he does not enjoy but
possesses, and which the lapse of every day helps to under
mine. Nor in the interest of Italy is it clear why the dangers
attaching to such immunity might not be for every practical
purpose neutralized substantially in the same manner as in
the case of the civil sovereignty of England, even if without
the same perfect facility and simplicity of arrangement.
That such inviolability would with the utmost natural and
inherent propriety be attached to a Suzerain appears pretty
clear.

1863] AN EUROPEAN ACT 395
There remains the question what would be the security for
its being duly observed by the Italian kingdom. But this
question applies alike to all conditions which might be stipu
lated on the Pope's behalf. His palaces, churches, revenues,
and the local precinct which might be formed into a kind of
sanctuary for him — all these would have to be covered by
the same security, and any security adequate for them would
also be adequate for this additional condition.
It hardly belongs to the purpose of this memorandum to
treat of a point which is not peculiar to it, but belongs to the
subject at large. It has, however, seemed to the writer of it
tnat the best security for an arrangement of this kind (and to
the very best that can be had the Pope is in justice entitled)
would probably be found in an European Act, to which all
the Powers, signatories to the Treaty of Vienna, should be
parties along with the Itahan kingdom. Any breach of the
stipulations by the King of Italy would then be a casus belli
for any of these Powers. Their number would be the Pope's
best defence, for in proportion to their number would be their
diversity of interests, on which he must greatly rely : and his
best chance of having what are termed the Cathohc Powers
in general on his side in any given case would be their being
combined with Powers out of the Latin Communion, instead
of being left to intrigue among themselves for preponderance
of interest and favour.
It would be not a httle singular if the Pope, who began by
holding under the temporal Sovereign, were to end by the
temporal Sovereign's holding under him.
3. MEMORANDUM OF A CONVERSATION WITH
HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS LX. ON OCTOBER 22, 1866.
Cardinal von Reisach having signified to me that it would
be according to rule to ask anaudience of the Pope, I wrote
accordingly to Cardinal AntoneUi on Friday, and received on
Saturday a courteous note in reply, naming Monday at half-
past twelve. At that time accordingly I repaired to the
Vatican in household uniform. I found the Pope dressed
with great simphcity in white : the apartment and its

396 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1866
furniture were of the same character. He sat on one side
of an oblong table. When I had bowed and kissed his hand,
dropping on one knee as before the Queen (an operation in
which he took my hand himself) , he motioned and asked me to
sit down on a chair placed over agamst him. Mr. RusseU had
told me that it was his wont, notwithstanding this invitation,
to stand : I therefore begged permission to do 'as I should if
before the Queen.' But he said : 'If the Queen ordered you
to sit, you would sit.' 'AUora,' I said, 'Santo Padre non mi
resta altro che di ubbidire : Roma locuta est:' quoting the
famous words of St. Augustine in a weU-known case against
the Donatists, I think. The Pope smiled, and finished the
sentence, causa finita est. He then asked about the Queen's
health, and where she was : and observed on the etiquette
maintained in the Court of England, which he said also had
subsisted in the 'piccola nazione' (such, I think, was the
phrase) of Piedmont, but not among the Courts of the other
Itahan princes with their more impulsive peoples. He ob
served on the superior practical ability of the Piedmontese, as
exhibited in Cavour, and he likewise understood in Menabrea,
now at Vienna ; but thought there was a general want
of power in Itahan administrators, including Ricasoh, who,
he said, had never returned to Florence since Custozza.
He spoke of England and its general course in the past in
terms of great honour : he spoke of the primato she had
obtained among nations. Also of the vast extension of the
Empire : of her having a gamba here, and another there, all
over the earth.
The exceedingly genial, and simple, and kindly manner of
His Holiness had at once placed me at my ease, and I entered
freely into the conversation. I observed that the etiquette
of Courts was of especial use in a country like England,
where wealth was so rapidly created, and where the move
ment into the forward and upper ranks of society was active
in proportion. When he came to the extension of our
Empire, I rephed : ' Santo Padre, ne abbiamo troppo, di
queste gambe. Abbiamo troppo da fare e per questo non le
facciamo troppo bene.' He replied he understood we had
representative governments in our Colonies. Yes, I said,

1866] PIUS IX. AND IRELAND 397
and it was not in their internal government that serious
difficulty arose, but in the false position into which they
might bring us with Foreign Powers. But this very variously.
Austraha, for instance, created no difficulty : British North
America much, in contact with a most powerful and energetic
people, and Ul able, not at all used, to defend itself, while for
us its defence whUe incumbent by honour would be a most
difficult and critical operation. He hoped that Fenianism
was not formidable. I said not in Ireland, but mixed with
the colonial question it might be so in America. I said I
looked on Ireland and British North America as involving
our greatest difficulties for the future : that in Ireland they
might be due to our own fault, but in British North America
rather to a false position. He spoke warmly against
Fenianism, and declared the decided hostility to it of his
clergy in Ireland, which hostility, in any point that might
come before him, he always approved and seconded.
He said the Irish Bishops were true to the existing order
of things, though in some points they would wish for change,
and in some points I rephed hanno ragione. I then ex
plained the state of the University Question, and the steps
taken by the late Government.
At an early period of the conversation he had spoken of
himself and of Italy. He, too, wished, he said, to promote
peace, concUiation, settlement ; quoted the ilfaut s' entendre,
bisogna intendersi, urged upon him by questi mediatori, the
French : a buon principio, I rephed, but aU depended on the
development and apphcation. WeU, he said, he was most
ready to receive anyone who might be sent to him by the
Itahan Government, though he did not think they should
conclude much. I said it would at any rate be il primo passo.
The previous faUure, he said, was not the fault of Vegezzi,
with whose conduct he said he had every cause to be satis
fied. He did not lead me farther than this into Roman affairs,
and though looking for an opportunity I did not see any that
offered itself consistently with due respect and my intention
to volunteer nothing. But on the affairs of Italy he spoke
rather largely and very freely, and I not less freely in return.

398 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1866
With regard to the unity of Italy he made no objection in
principle, but even seemed to admit it theoreticaUy, and to
aUow that there were practical advantages in it. But he
spoke of the present state of things as deplorable. He
distinctly complained of the conduct of the Italian Govern
ment as inimical to rehgion. In one place he said : ' I diret-
tori di questo movimento sono Anticristiani.' I rephed :
'Santo Padre, non e vero che questi sarebbero piuttosto i
direttori per cos} dire sotterrandi, mai non queUi che guidano
U popolo : U popolo d' Italia non b irrehgioso.' No ; he said,
the people of Italy is Cathohc, but the conduct of the Govern
ment is adverse to religion. I said, that according to our
view in representative Governments, there was a power and
a tendency to cure their own faults ; that the constituency in
Italy freely choosing those who form the Parhament should,
and would, impress upon the Parhament its own convictions,
especially being, as I understood it was, formed of an intelli
gent class of persons. I trusted, therefore, that respect for
rehgion would be maintained by the State if it hved in the
people. He admitted the general and powerful tendency in
these days towards representative Government ; expressed
no feeling adverse to it, but said that in Italy the elections
were not really free ; there was such a timidity or indifference
in the good, and such a sfrontatezza of the bad.
He spoke also of the strong traditionahsm of the various
parts of Italy. There would be Naples, with its 600,000
inhabitants (sic) ; Venice, with its recoUections of the Doges
— he specified nothing else. I said that these tendencies to
localize and separate did not appear to be paramount in the
Itahan Parhament ; that as I understood, both commerce
and education had made great progress at Naples ; that
undoubtedly the difficulties of Italy were great, most of aU,
perhaps, in connection with finance (he said there was infinite
and unpunished peculation) ; that there ought to be great and
vigorous reform and reduction ; that it was not for me to
estimate the forces and probabilities this way or that, but
that I could not faU to see what great benefits would flow
from the unity of Italy to Europe. She would in the first
place by becoming a nation shut off a battle-field on which

1866] PIUS IX. AND ITALY 399
Austria and France had been able to pursue their aims,
would stop a series of constant intrigues, and would substitute
for a standing weakness and cause of danger a strong State
necessarily pacific and conservative (he seemed to assent,
observing 'with the Alps for its boundary') that could not
entertain ambitious aims. He threw in that there would be
questions about the Tyrol and Trieste, but seemed to allow
my reply, that the claim for the latter would be too unreason
able to be seriously urged, and that the former must be a
question within the narrowest bounds.
I must say that what he dwelt on most was the necessity of
time for Italy to consohdate itself, referring, very properly, to
the cases of Spain, France, and England. At the same time
he hoped that instead of the present evils it would attain to
a httle tranquiUity, respect for rehgion, and especiaUy un
poco d' or dine, and that oforse una lega oforse una nazione, a
solution would be found. This was the only distinct refer
ence to any alternative involving the severance of Italy. He
made no mention of the deposed families ; none of the reh
gious corporations. He complained, as an example, that
Archbishop Polding had been imprisoned on suspicion when
travelling through Turin. This seemed a very strong case ;
but he added that his release was immediately ordered from
Florence. I should have said that when I referred to difficulties con
nected with our Colonies, he rephed he supposed it was for
that reason that we gave up Corfu. I said yes : the occasion
was perhaps not very good, but the spirit of the people was
HeUenic ; and we had no interest or plea which would justify
us in disregarding in their case the principle of nationahty,
which within certain limits was a good principle.
I thought he began to feel we had had enough of Italy
when he most graciously asked if I had not brought my wife
and family to Rome, so that I inquired whether they might
be presented to him, when he said he should have much
pleasure in seeing them to give them his blessing. He also
received with kindness and warmth a message from my
sister, and made a reference to works of mine. He then
expressed his willingness to do anything to promote our

400 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1874
comfort in Rome, and I in retiring could not avoid tendering
a marked expression of my thanks for his condescending kind
ness towards a person so unworthy as myself. The interview
lasted about three-quarters of an hour.
4. THE VATICAN COUNCIL AND THE OLD
CATHOLICS.
(September 30, 1874.)
(10
(1) The adoption of an erroneous proposition touching
Christian behef , or circa fidem, by a Christian Church is a
very serious matter at best.
(2) Its adoption as de fide, as a thing to be believed for
necessity of salvation, is a thing far more serious.
(3) But this act becomes tremendous in its consequences
when the particular Church, or Churches, however extended,
claim the entire authority of the Church Universal.
(4) And, lastly, when they teach as matter of faith that the
authority so claimed embraces infallibility in such a manner
that the seal of infaUibUity is set to the proposition in ques
tion by the act of its adoption. This is, on the part of such a
Church, a repudiation and breach of duty, in vital matter, to
be repaired only by repentance. And this is the truth in
every word, with the dogma of Papal Infallibility recently
adopted by the Vatican CouncU.
WhUe, however, the decree of Papal Inf alhbihty considered
with a view to practical effects leaves a door open to much
equivocal argument by the condition that in each case the
utterance of the Pope shaU be ex cathedra, the CouncU has
provided another more ready and effectual arm against the
private conscience, in another of its decrees, which has not
received the attention it well merits.
It has decreed that the acts of the Pope may not be
questioned, and that his orders must be obeyed. This is
without qualification or exception.
There is no ex cathedra here: and by this decree the
consciences and actions of the faithful are effectuaUy bound,

1874] THE OLD CATHOLICS

401

in all cases where they might have escaped from the reach of
the other, in so far as it shall at any time please the Pope, or
those who from behind move the Pope, to bind them.
It is easy to perceive how the power hereby given might
be used in reference, for instance, to the temporal power of
the Pope.
Prayers might be ordered for its restoration.
It might be declared vital to the independence of the
Church, and thus mediately to Christianity itself.
To impugn its necessity or its legitimacy might be pro
hibited under pain of mortal sin.
In what manner could the meshes of this net be escaped ?

(II.)
The Old Catholics, if I understand them aright, are by no
means Protestants, nor are they Rationalists in disguise ; but
they are men who beheve as the moderate, Cisalpine, or
Galhcan divines and members of the Western Church gener
aUy, always beheved, and as the CouncU of Constance in
effect decreed ; and who wiU not be bound to an article of the
Christian Faith which they know to be novel, and therefore
to be false as an article of faith ; even if it were true, which
they hold it not to be, as a proposition.
Reformers doubtless they are, but within the limits com
patible with the maintenance of their ancient faith : that is
to say, within the province of discipline, which, however,
according to high Roman authorities, is a very wide one :
and if of doctrine also, only of such doctrine as has never
been truly accepted by the Church.
It seems to me, however, probable that they are in one
sense too good for the age in which they hve ; an age for the
taste and apprehension of which not only things abstract, but
things remote, are as if they were not.
At the same time, in Germany, the roots of inteUectual hfe
are vigorous, and the legitimate authority of human reason,
as a factor in life and conduct, is thoroughly naturalized in
idea and practice.
These men are, eminently, if not exclusively, the professors
VOL. ii — 26

402 CONTROVERSY WITH ROME [1874
of historical Christianity ; and the desire, disposition, and
capacity, to maintain the basis thus denned wiU not easily die
out among them.
It seems highly probable that they will seek strength in a
quarter where they may legitimately obtain it, namely, by
union with the Eastern Church, immediately represented by
the See of Constantinople. Of the two more serious points
of distinction between East and West, one, the Papal
Supremacy, is already virtuaUy disposed of : and there seems
no reason why the other should not be adjusted provisionally
on the footing marked out at Bonn, or one resembhng it.
The services, usages, and local privileges and powers gener
ally, would remain intact. (III.)
It appears to be indubitable in principle that the great duty
of Church communion, when it caUs us to consider between
conflicting claims, likewise provides us with the rule by which
those claims are to be decided. We are not to consider — if
we act on Cathohc principles — what communion best suits
our tastes. Nor even what communion is, by the usages it
follows or the promises it holds out, most liberally furnished
for the supply of our personal rehgious needs. It is, 'What
communion holds the titles of the Apostohc Church ? For
this end it must produce to us the original charter of the day
of the Ascension : and it must teach the Christian Faith —
perhaps we should say more specificaUy the faith of the
undivided Church — without diminution and without addi
tion. For where these marks are, God has set His hand : and
where He has set His hand, our souls will be best trained and
moulded : and we have no more right to go elsewhere than
the child to leave the house of his parents because he happens
to know some other house where the father is richer or the
mother fairer.
Neither must it be an intrusive Church. But this does not
touch the case as between the Old Catholics and the Church
of Rome, to which alone these remarks apply.

V. — CONTROVERSY WITH UNBELIEF
I have printed the paper on Future Retribution of 1864
rather than that of 1879, because, though the latter is of
later date, it is only part of what was probably meant to
make either a review article or a book, and was left in
a very confused state. Nos. 3 and 4 are given mainly for
the perennial interest of the questions they deal with.
For Mr. Gladstone's matured views on this question,
the reader must go to the ' Studies Subsidiary to the Works
of Bishop Butler,' part 2, chaps, i. to iv.
1. FUTURE RETRIBUTION.
(November 13, 1864.)
When we address ourselves to the questions connected
with the administration of the Divine justice in the world to
come, we seem to be encountered by a preliminary considera
tion. Who and what is the creature that caUs upon the
Divine Being to unlock His stores and render an account
of His government under any heads which it pleases the
interrogator to select? What is the moral standing, what
is the competency, of those who require these matters to be
explained to their plenary satisfaction ?
Now, this preliminary consideration, if legitimate, is im
portant ; and if important, it suggests as very worthy of note
the fact that it is so seldom entertained, or even noticed. In
general, each man quietly assumes the judge's chair, and
proceeds to dehver therefrom his oracles.
Again, we ought the less to shrink from giving a due weight
to this topic, because, after aU, we must ourselves, being
parties, be also judges in the case. It is pretty sure that we
403

404 CONTROVERSY WITH UNBELIEF [1864
shall not rule it in a manner unfair to our own true claims.
It is somewhat probable, indeed, that we shaU do the very
reverse, and that we shall finally pass from the prehminaries
to the case with too favourable an estimate of our position.
StiU, whatever, within the confines of truth, may be done
towards reducing that estimate is so much gained.
Let us take our departure from that which seems to be
beyond doubt, the immeasurable distance between the Fra-
mer of the world and ourselves. Viewing this distance, we
may well say it is reasonable to anticipate that the problems
connected with the Divine government over us will require
for their complete comprehension some inteUigence higher
and more powerful than ours.
If, indeed, the Almighty has thought fit by any special
means, such as we term revelation, to give us a knowledge of
things future and unseen different in degree or in kind from
what the general resources of our being would have afforded
us, then we may rationally expect first the fuU benefit of that
inspired knowledge on the matters which the revelation
embraces, and secondly, and less directly, a general elevation
and bettering of our faculties. When, however, we go beyond
the limits of the revelation (and a fortiori, if indeed we were
without one), it does not appear that our capacity of judg
ment upon the matters now under view is essentially altered.
We approach them, to say the least, with imperfect integrity
and with imperfect force.
But labouring under this double imperfection, with an
inadequate standard of right and inadequate means of bring
ing points of right to the test of that standard, can we expect
that Truth wiU so perfectly unveil to us aU her secrets as to
dispose of all our difficulties ? May it not be the case that
even if there be a perfect solution for every single problem,
even if all is without qualification 'wisest, virtuousest, dis
creetest, best,' and if that solution could be displayed to us in
the present state of our faculties, we might still be far from
able to comprehend it, and to us it would be imperfect and so
far bad, and this not by reason of its faults, but by reason of
its perfection ?
Let us seek analogies in the world of nature and experience.

1864] MAN AND HIS JUDGE 405
No civihzed nation would allow its criminals to legislate for
crime, or would consent to be bound by their judgment on
this branch of its jurisprudence ; for the criminal element in
them would be justly held to disable them from the uniform
or sure perception of right as against themselves. The
analogy seems to be plain, for criminals, though they would
have a selfish bias, are not wholly and absolutely corrupt.
But if there are those for whom it is too harsh, let us seek for
others : let us take the ward under his guardian, the child
under its nurse, the animal under its guide. From these
in their several degrees we may perceive how vain it would
probably be to expect that the scheme of the Divine govern
ment, if it were exhibited to us, or accessible by us as a whole
and in aU its grounds, could as a whole and in aU its grounds
be thoroughly intelligible by us.
Thus far as to the competency of the race : but now a word
on that of the individual. Each of us personally has his own
account with the Most High, and is in a certain sense alone in
the universe with his Maker and his Judge. In what attitude
is he to stand before that great Being ? Not only as a crea
ture of limited powers, means, and opportunities, but as one
who has corruptly or negligently faUed to make the best of that
use, which was in his power, of these limited powers, means,
and opportunities. ' I know,' he may naturally say, 'that I
am a sinner : I constantly confess that I am a miserable
sinner. Over and above ah mere circumstances of disadvan
tage, I weU know that I have faUed to do, not only what I
ought to have done, but what I might have done, and that I
have done, not only what I ought not to have done, but what
I might have avoided. Therefore, OLord Most High, I come
to the pursuit of Divine knowledge with an eye dimmed and
blurred, and the exhalation of my sins lies as a cloud between
Thee and me. But whatever be the abstract problems of my
condition as a member of the human race, this I know, that in
relation to my personal desert it is one of extraordinary grace
and favour. I at least am within the area enhghtened by the
Sun of Righteousness : I am on every side hedged in by the
influences and apphances of grace : I am ever solicited to be
saved : this earthly dispensation is made subservient and

406 CONTROVERSY WITH UNBELIEF [1893
ministerial to the interests of my soul : aU events of joy or
sorrow come to me charged with purposes of love and
beneficence : no question can arise upon the law of my
personal condition, except how the Lord can have been so
patient with me, so indulgent, so liberal towards me.' What
ever be the case with the benighted, this surely, or something
like this, is the strain of thought and language that ought
to be addressed to the Most High by the bulk of such as take
these themes in hand.
By way of answer to this, it may perhaps be urged that
God has in a certain sense made us the judges of His own
justice. For the principles of Christian doctrine make their
appeal to us, and find their entrance into us, by means of the
elements of truth and right which stUl abide in the percep
tions of men, in the ground and soU of the heart. It is ob
vious, however, to reply that it does not follow, because God
has assigned a certain office and duty to these perceptions, to
which they must be presumed competent, that they are also
competent to other offices and duties, such as the ransacking
of the whole of the Divine government, which he has not as
signed to them.
2. THEISM.
(September 3, 1893.)
There are certain propositions which seem to he at the
root of the great theistic question, and also to be almost or
altogether incontestable.
The visible frame of things in which we hve appears to
supply copious proofs that it is the work of a Maker, and
that that Maker is possessed of power and wisdom to which
we can assign no limits, and of an abounding and predomi
nating goodness.
Yet there is much in things outside us, and there is more in
our condition as human beings, of which we cannot give a
rational or satisfactory account. Not only is there waste in
creation, which appears to be a disproportion of means to
end, but there is, altogether apart from human agency, both
pain and the fear of pain suffered by the innocent ; while aU

1893] IRREPRESSIBLE QUESTIONS 407
creatures are likewise overhung by the saddening mystery of
death. Acute and crushing misery is, however, chiefly referable to
human agency, and to that part of human agency which is
sin, or departure from the will of God. So that we have to
say that if man inflicted no Ul on his neighbour the world
would as a rule be a happy world, and the suffering inflicted
by natural agents would only constitute the rare exception.
It would also appear that, of the evU done by man, much is
due rather to weakness than to an original and determined
depravity : and though he is not compelled to do wrong, yet
he is often placed in circumstances of weakness, tempta
tion, and pressure, such that, in exercising the functions of
moral choice, he finds the scale that inclines to evil heavUy
weighted agamst him.
Hereupon arise in the human spirit most grave questions
difficult to repress. Why are not the scales of moral choice
equaUy or even favourably weighted ? Why is wickedness
aUowed to afflict the innocent or unoffending? Why is
strength so often on the side of wickedness ? Why is evil in
the world outside its recoU upon the agent of evil ? And
lying behind all these the deeper question yet, Why is there
a sufferance of evil in the world at aU ?
In dealing with the problem presented to us by the pres
ence of pain, Paley suggests to us that it is a happy world.
An American writer, stripping the thought of its veU, thinks
that he finds an adequate solution when treating the good
and the evU under the existing dispensation as matter of
account, or by way of debtor and creditor ; he finds that there
is more to be set down on the credit side than on the side
of debit. The insufficiency of these rephes can hardly be
doubted if they are intended to supply by their own force an
explanation of the suggested difficulties and a vindication of
the Divine methods in the government of the world. Hear
rather the bold chaUenge of Dante :
'E tu chi se', che vuoi seder a scranna,
Per giudicare tutto 1' universo
Con la veduta corta d' una spanna ?' *
* Par. xix. 79.

408 CONTROVERSY WITH UNBELIEF [1873
Of this we have reaUy the expansion in Bishop Butler. No
full solution has yet been made accessible to us. But our
faculties are of limited range, shaUow depth, and feeble
operation. That a solution does not meet the eye within
this narrow precinct is neither a proof nor even a presump
tion against the possible existence of such a solution.
3. THE ATHANASIAN CREED.
(June 8, 1873.)
(1) The formularies of the Church content me for myself,
with or without the Athanasian Creed.
(2) My chief reason for being thus content would be that
in no other portion of the Church is the Athanasian Creed a
document of popular worship. My second reason, which as
far as it goes actuaUy recommends a change, is that the
clauses may mislead those who do not understand that an
explanation which is technical, and appears to the unin
formed oversubtle, may in reahty be the rational, and the
only rational, one.
(3) Also I am content with the Declaration of 1689, and
think it an improvement in the rubrics.
(4) Also I have seen no other Declaration as yet that
seemed to me free from objection.
(5) If, however, the Athanasian Creed were dropped out
of the pubhc service, or made optional, it seems to me that it
ought to be introduced in ordinations and consecrations :
where, perhaps, it would be more thoroughly in place.
(6) It seems to me that the scope of the 'damnatory'
clauses is needlessly exaggerated : that their proper apphca
tion is as foUows :
(a) Of 1 and 2 to Clauses 3 and 4.
(b) Of Clause 28 to Clause 27.
(c) Of Clause 42 to the Clauses 3, 4, 27, 29, and possibly
or probably to the following clauses down to 41.
(7) I do not beheve that the clauses tend with the mass
to disedification, for I think they are understood roughly as
condemnations of unbelief ; which, where wUful, is guUty.
(8) With these views, the question for me becomes one of

1873] A GRAVE DANGER

409

regard to others. There are very sincere believers both ways.
But there is this to be observed : that the bulk of those who
move against the Athanasian Creed are not firm in adhesion
to dogmatic truth, desire and mean to go much farther, de
mand this as an initial change only, and chiefly desire the
excision of the Creed as a practical negation of the title or duty
of the Church to proclaim the 'damnatory' message (for of
necessity there is a damnatory message) of the Gospel.
(9) The question whether an aUowable concession shall be
withheld, lest it should be foUowed up by an inadmissible
demand, is one not to be answered by any unbending formula.
In this case there is some reason to fear that a negative act
would give an impetus to the widespread movement of the
present day in favour of negation.
(10) The sum of the matter seems, then, to be, in a practi
cal point of view, that a certain schism impends if the Creed
be dropped, or even made optional. IndividuaUy I should
be prepared to recommend the course described in No. 5, if
acquiescence in it, so as to avert the danger I have described,
could be had. But I am not prepared to face that danger
which seems to me more formidable than any on the other
side.
4. PRAYER AND THE DIVINE WILL.
(December 5, 1875.)
(1) There is One who foresees.
(2) All things are foreseen : both the acts of the free agents
and of the unfree.
(3) The acts of the unfree (and lower or mechanical) agents
are adapted and adjusted to the training of the free (and
higher) agents.
(4) Prayer in aU its parts, sorrowful, trustful, joyful, is,
when normaUy offered according to its idea, healthy and
improving for him who prays.
(5) Why should not such an exercise enter into the dispen
sations of God for the creatures whom He has to train ?
(6) Why should we be told that God will not alter His
modes of action because we wish and ask it ?

410 CONTROVERSY WITH UNBELIEF . [1875
(7) It is not a question of impromptu alteration, but of fore-
ordered adaptation.
(8) If it be said this is 'unthinkable,' I admit it. But this
is only saying that God is greater, and greatly greater, than
we are. 'His ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts
as our thoughts.'
(9) To us, who are so httle, much is 'unthinkable' or in
conceivable that is also matter of daily experience. And the
truly great, even of our own race, such as Homer and Shake
speare, are unthinkable — at least to me.
I submit these tentative propositions for examination.

VI. — CHILDREN
The foUowing prayers and counsels were written for the
use of his eldest son. The counsels are dated ; the prayers
were probably written in 1854, at the same time as the
earhest counsels.
1. LITTLE PRAYERS.
(1) Upon entering a church, bow the head or close the eyes,
think on God, and say, either aloud or to yourself :
' Oh how amiable are Thy dwellings, Thou Lord of Hosts ! '
(Ps. lxxxiv. 1).
(2) Before reading Holy Scripture, do in hke manner, and
say as above :
' Thy hands have made me and fashioned me : oh, give
me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments'
(Ps.cix. 73).
(3) In church, before Divine service begins :
'O Lord Jesus Christ, Shepherd of the lambs, help me so
to pray, and so to hear this day in Thy holy house on earth,
that at the last I may join with holy children, to praise Thee
for evermore, before Thy glorious throne in heaven.'
(4) After Divine service has ended, before leaving church :
' O God, hear me in that I have prayed to Thee, and pardon
me in that my mind hath gone astray from Thee, and open
Thou mine eyes that I may see Thee : through Jesus Christ
our Lord.'
(5) In bed, before going to sleep, you may say :
"For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep
thee in all thy ways.
'They shall bear thee in their hands : that thou hurt not
thy foot against a stone' (Ps. xci. 11,12).
411

412 CHILDREN [1854
2. MORNING AND EVENING PRAYERS.
Before morning or evening prayer, collect your thoughts :
place yourself by reflection before God : and say :
' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost.'
Then go on as follows :
I. In the Morning.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise
His holy name : for the mercies of the past night ; for . . .
all His goodness, and loving kindness, to me and to all men ;
but above all for our redemption in Jesus Christ.
Forgive me, O Lord, for His sake, all the sins of my past
hfe. Make me grieve that I ever offended TheeJ who hast so
loved me. Grant that this day I may watch against sin, deny
myself for the sake of the Lord Christ, and strive to avoid all
temptation. [Here stop, and think of the kinds of tempta
tion that you suffer most.]
Make me to live as a child of God, a member of Christ, and
an heir of heaven. Make me gentle and loving to all men :
lowly and obedient to my parents and elders, diligent and
firm in all manner of duty, just and true and pure : that so
living in this world, I may come to Thine everlasting kingdom
in heaven.
Bless, O Lord, my father and mother, my grandpapa, my
grandmama, my brother Stephen, my sisters Agnes and Jessy,
all who are near and dear to me, all who are in need and
sorrow, all the Bishops and clergy, and all Thy Holy Church
throughout the world. All this I ask through Jesus Christ
our only Saviour. Amen.
Our Father, which art, etc.
The grace of our Lord, etc.
II. In the Evening.
O almighty and tender Father, bless me before I lie down
to rest. Forgive me through the precious blood of Christ
whatever I have sinned this day [here stop : recollect, and

1854] SENSE OF GOD'S PRESENCE 413
confess distinctly whatever sins you have done or duties you
have left undone] in thought, in word, or in deed. Enable
me to serve Thee truly for the time to come, and to love Thee
with all my heart.
Bless my father and mother, my brother Stephen, and
sisters Agnes and Jessy, my grandpapa, my grandmama,those
who teach me and attend me, and all for whom I ought
to pray. And, oh, be Thou about my bed and about my
path, and let Thine holy angels watch over me and keep me
safe from evil in the watches of the night, through the
merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our Father, etc.
The grace of our Lord, etc.

3. COUNSELS, 1854-1857.
(1) On no consideration whatever omit your morning or
evening prayers. If any obstacle prevent them at the proper
time, say them at the first moment when you are free. If
from illness or otherwise you cannot say them kneeling, say
them in such place and posture as you can.
(2) Remember the Psalmist's words, T have set God al
ways before me ' : which mean by taking care not only not to
break His commands, but to cherish in the mind an abiding
sense of His presence, of being near to Him, and even when in
society or in bustle alone with Him.
(3) This sense of God's presence will both help and be
helped by the practice of prayer by silent ejaculation, or
inwardly addressing God in short sentences, though of but
two or three words : although so short, their wings may be
strong enough to carry upwards many a fervent desire and
earnest seeking after God.
(4) So also it is good to form inwardly and to bear about
with you upon the eye of your mind the image of Christ in
whom we live : especially of Christ crucified, as He bled for us,
and of Christ glorified, as at His Father's right hand He still
offers the one everlasting sacrifice of Himself on our behalf.
(5) Let no day pass without reading some portion of the

414 CHILDREN [1854
Holy Scripture. If you can, let this course of reading follow
the course of the Psalms, or of some of the Lessons, accord
ing to the Prayer-Book. It is good to acquire a habit of
reading the New Testament for devotion in the Greek when
you can do it with ease, by which much is learned that the
English translation of necessity leaves in the shade.
(6) Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, is at once the
emblem, the earnest, and the joy of the renewed life : cherish
it accordingly : grudge, and as it were resent, any intrusion
of worldly thoughts or conversation : except upon real neces
sity, strive to shut out rigorously any worldly business : al
ways view the devotion of the day to God, not as a yoke, but
as a privilege ; and be assured that if and so far as this view
of it shall seem overstrained, the soul is not in its health.
(7) Remember that the avoidance of sin, indispensable as
it is, is the lower part of our rehgion : from which we should
ever be striving onwards to the higher — namely, the life of
Divine love, fed continually by the contemplation of God as
He is revealed to us in Christ, nowhere better described in
brief than by the Psalmist when he says : 'As for me, I will
behold Thy presence in righteousness : and when I awake up
after Thy likeness I shall be satisfied with it' — words which,
hke most words of Scripture, open deeper and more satisfying
truths the more we humbly ponder them.
(8) Look to the Holy Communion as a great arid wondrous
key to unlock the things of God. In it our prayers are
especially united with that sacrifice of Christ, and a new
power seems to be given to them : whatever can at any time
render them acceptable, there is a larger union with His
people, the hving and the departed — 'the whole family in
heaven and earth,' as St. Paul says : a nearer identification
with Him : and not a foretaste only, but, as it were, a taste of
entry into His joy.
(9) The Christian should never forego any opportunity
which may be offered him of access to that Heavenly Feast.
December 3, 1854.
Prayer, if understood as the mere repetition, with con
sciousness of their meaning, of words of petition addressed to

1854] STINTING THE FLESH 415
God, may be, as most men think it, a business requiring no
great stretch or effort of mind. But, in truth, when it is such
as it ought to be, it is the highest and most sustained energy
of which the human mind is capable : and until we have
come to know this each for ourselves, we may be assured that
we have never yet prayed as we may and as we ought.
The precept, ' If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me,' is the
perpetual and inseparable badge of a Christian. But so
much are the contrivances of ease and of enjoyment multi
plied nowadays, that many souls are utterly lost from want of
occasions to remind them of this great precept and bring
them into real contact with it. It is therefore an excellent
rule to fix this, at least, that no day shaU pass without some
restraint put upon our natural inchnation : not merely in the
avoidance of sin, which is an absolute and uniform duty, but
in our employments, recreations, or enjoyments — as, for
example, in choosing the first according to duty and feehng,
that they are not regulated by mere wUl and preference : in
restricting the quantity of the latter : in doing some things
for the pleasure or good of others, to our own inconvenience or
distaste : or otherwise stinting the flesh, keeping the mind
lowly, and strengthening the spirit.
Do not, because of the want of sensible fruit, grudge the
time given to your prayers ; and be liberal of it. As the
keeping what is caUed good company leaves its mark on the
manners of a man, so wiU it powerfully influence the tone of
his spiritual hfe to have been much with God. April 22, 1855.
I add first a few words upon what are called relative duties
— i.e. , your duties to others. Do to them as you would they
should do to you : and construe this precept liberally. Be
strictly just to them : and not only so, but where there is a
real doubt decide in their favour, not in your own. Always
put upon their words and actions the best construction they
will bear : you wiU find afterwards that it was the true one in
many cases where at the time it seemed to you improbable.
While avoiding aU outward cringing and arts of currying

41 6 CHILDREN [1855
favour, be most careful to cherish inwardly a habit of esti
mating yourself both as to intellectual and especially as to
moral gifts meanly in comparison with others. No two
things combine together better than meekness in asserting
your rights and resolute resistance against all sohcitations to
do wrong, with a manifest determination to be governed in
your conduct by your own judgment of right and wrong, and
not by theirs. Of course this does not exclude deference to
authority, age, experience, or superior means of forming a
right judgment : but it is rather a rule for the common inter
course of companions. You have, I do not doubt, long known
that kindness and a disposition to obhge are necessary parts
of the Christian law of love. And that cheerfulness in bear
ing what is disagreeable, though it costs an effort at first, well
and soon repays it by the goodwill which it honestly earns.
As to the duties of ^//-government, I add a few words on
each of these three :
(1) Self-examination.
(2) Self-observation.
(3) Self-denial.
Give heed to self-examination ; use it from time to time :
perhaps if used at fixed periodical times, with intervals not
too long between them, it will thus be most profitable.
It wiU be of especial use in detecting, and after detection
tracking, your besetting sin. When this is found, keep the
eye close upon it, follow it up, drag it from its hiding-places,
make no terms with it, never remit the pursuit ; and so by
the grace of God's Holy Spirit may you cast it out.
When you have both found what was your besetting sin —
that is, the sin most easily besetting you — and have by the
same grace conquered it, then take the sin which besets you
next most easily, and deal with it in hke manner.
Besides self-examination, which is an act to be done from
time to time, form a habit of self-observation. This wiU
come to be a never-sleeping censor and corrector of your
actions, always holding the rule of God's law against them
and detecting them when they swerve.
The divisions of money necessary in order either to the use

l8S6] MONEY AND TIME 41 7
or even the waste of it give us, without any trouble upon our
own part, some sense of the relative quantities of it. But the
more precious gift of our time is passing through our hands
in a continuous and never-ending flow, and its parts are not
separated from one another except by our own care. With
out this division of it into parts we cannot teU what is httle
and what is much : above aU, we cannot apply it in due pro
portion to our several duties, pursuits, and recreations. But
we should deal with our time as we see in a shop a grocer
deal with tea and sugar, or a haberdasher with stuffs and
ribbons : weighing or measuring it out in proportions adjusted
to that which we are to get for and by it. This is the express
command of St. Paul, who bids us iijayopd£ea0ai. rbv icaipov,
imperfectly rendered by our version 'to redeem the time' :
for it means to make merchandise of it, and to deal strictly
with it, as men deal with goods by which they mean to make
a profit : to pursue the same means they pursue, energy, care,
watchfulness, forethought, attention to smaU things, in order
that we, too, may make that profit the greatest possible.
February 17, 1856.
When you reflect that your evil thoughts and dispositions,
as weU as acts, aU he naked and open before the eye of God,
even though they may have escaped the view of man, is this
a subject of satisfaction or of dissatisfaction ? Would you
have it otherwise if you could, and hide them from Him also ?
The Christian hates sin, and, finding that neither his own
nor any other human eye can effectuaUy track it out in him,
while he knows it to be the true and only curse and pest of
the universe, must rejoice to think that there is one from
whom it cannot he hid : and who wiU weigh his own case,
which he may feel to be to him unfathomable, in the scales of
perfect justice and boundless mercy.
But if we are sensible of a lurking wish that we could hide
the sad sight of our inner sins from God, this, whUe it abides,
is a fatal sign.
Beware of taking kindnesses from others as matters of
course. VOL. 11 — 27

418 CHILDREN [1857
The heart weU purged by humihty is so deeply conscious
of its unworthiness, that to receive acts of kindness always
excites some emotion of gratitude, of shame, of surprise, or
aU three together : of gratitude for the benefit, of shame upon
thinking how Ul it is deserved, of surprise that our brethren
should bestow upon us what we so httle merit. March 12, 1856.
Try and reconcUe your mind thoroughly to the idea that
this world, if we would be weU and do weU in it, is a world
of work, and not of idleness.
This idea wiU, when heartily- embraced, become like a part
of yourself, and you wUl feel that you would on no account
have it torn from you. February 8, 1857.
Try to found your rehgion, so far as any compendium of it
is concerned, upon the Creeds : and remember always that
the Cathohc Faith is our rehgion — the Faith One, Divine,
and Unchangeable ; wbich stUl, happUy, is owned in a
wonderful manner and degree by the great mass of Christians
as it has been through eighteen hundred years, though in the
minds of some it has been stinted and curtailed, or feebly and
timidly owned, whUe by others it has been overlaid with
dangerous usages, or associated with tenets that more or less
mar its pure and perfect apphcation. In one or other of these
ways most rehgious systems have in time come to err, nor
can we hope that our own is absolutely exempt from the
common lot ; but let us remember the promise of God to His
Church, that it shaU be kept until the end of time in the pos
session of all that is needful for its Ufe : and let us reflect with
wondering thankfulness that the old Creeds are still repeated
with one consent through every corner of the earth where the
name of Christ is named ; nay, that even of those who have
rashly ceased to use them a large part stiU chng to much of
the precious truth enshrined in them. April 25, 1857.
Vanity, unequivocal vanity, sometimes finds vent in self-
depreciation. One mode of this is when we affectedly cry

1857] THE POWER OF HABIT 419
ourselves down with a hope — more or less concealed even
from ourselves — that others wiU protest and set us up again.
Another mode is when we cry ourselves down as to particular
faculties of a secondary order, in order by implication to set
up some faculty of higher rank.
He that has made a leap to-day can more easily make the
same leap to-morrow ; and he wiU make a longer or higher
leap soon, perhaps the day after. His muscles are stretched,
and are also strengthened. This we caU practice. From it
comes a certain state of the body. So from practice in good
or evU comes a certain state of the mind. This is caUed habit :
and it tends to the doing again with more ease what we have
already done with less. The thought of that mighty engine !
never slumbering, ever working : self-feeding, self-acting :
powerful and awful servant of God who ordained it : power
ful and restless, too, alike for the destruction and for the
salvation of souls.
What we do without habit we do because it pleases at the
time. But what we do by habit we do even though it pleases
httle or not at all at the time.
Place habit, then, on the side of rehgion. You cannot
depend upon your tastes and feelings towards Divine things
to be uniform : lay hold upon an instrument which wiU carry
you over their inequalities, and keep you in the honest prac
tice of your spiritual exercises, when but for this they would
have been intermitted.
Again, observe the awful power of habit over the wicked.
They forget, whUe they are taking pleasure in sin, that they
are creating a power over themselves, which wiU make them
practise it even when they have ceased to take pleasure in it.
Measure that power by its effect upon them, and having
measured, use it for the opposite effect, that it may help you
to good as it is helping them to evU, and wiU presently con
strain them.
But you wUl say, By the time habit is strong enough to con
strain to good, a man wiU so love it that he wiU not want to
be constrained.
Learn better : God has not one discipline for aU. He now
gives you easy lessons ; as your strength increases He wiU

420 CHILDREN [1857
make them nobler, and therefore harder ; and the power of
habit, which you might not need for your present task, wiU
be alike needful and useful for your future one ; so that with
it you wiU do what without it you would faU in.
Thus you see that, when God in the flesh bid us take a
lesson from the banks where money is kept at interest, we are
to read that lesson into the language of our spiritual hfe.
And it is so with aU the concerns of the worldly hfe : the
chUdren of this world have real wisdom in their generation:
and aU the lessons of worldly hfe when translated rightly are
lessons of the Divine life.
Thus every day's good wiU enable you to do more good :
the earnings of to-day are stock to work with to-morrow.
Bread laid up wUl not produce bread to-morrow : but a good
act done, strengthening the frame of mind that did it, wiU do
— that is, you by it wiU do more good acts to-morrow. It is
hke money put out at usury one day, which makes more
money the next ; so does virtue beget daUy more virtue, and
grace more grace.

Photo, W. Bell Jones, Hawarden.

MEMORIAL TOMB AND CHAPEL IN HAWARDEN CHURCH.
ERECTED BY HENRY N. GLADSTONE.
Sculptured by Sir W. B. Richmond, K.C.B., R.A., D.C.L.

VH. — PERSONAL
The contents of this part of the Appendix might be
greatly extended. The examples chosen, with the excep
tion of the first, have been taken almost at random.
The Eucharistic Devotions have no date, and were prob
ably brought together at various times. Of the three papers
belonging to the Evangehcal period, two have been already
described. The second, the earhest in date, deals with
the subject of separation from the world, which is handled
at greater length in No. 7. The two next in order relate
to Trinity CoUege, Glenalmond, and the last to St. Deiniol's
Library — the main interest of his latest, as Glenalmond
had been of his earher, years.
1. DEVOTIONS FOR INTERVALS OF THE
EUCHARISTIC SERVICE.
Before Service.
Oh, how amiable are Thy dwellings : Thou Lord of hosts !
The hiU of Sion is a fair place : and the joy of the whole
earth. The Lord hath chosen Sion to be an habitation for Him
seU : He hath longed for her.
Out of Sion hath God appeared : in perfect beauty.
Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thine house : and the
place where Thine honour dwelleth.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness : let the
whole earth stand in awe of Him.
O Lord, how glorious are Thy works : Thy thoughts are
very deep. 421

422 PERSONAL [undated
O Lord, correct me, but with judgment : not in Thine
anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.
Oh, hold Thou up my goings in Thy paths : that my foot
steps shp not.
O Lord, let it be Thy pleasure to dehver me : make haste,
O Lord, to help me.
Oh, send out Thy hght and Thy truth, that they may lead
me : and bring me unto Thy holy hiU, and to Thy dweUing.
First Act of Penitence and Humiliation.
Put me not to rebuke, O Lord, in Thine indignation :
neither chasten me in Thy heavy displeasure.
For Thine arrows stick fast in me : and Thy hand presseth
me sore.
There is no health in my flesh, because of Thy dis
pleasure : neither is there any rest in my bones, by reason
of my sin.
For my wickednesses are gone over my head : and are
hke a sore burden, too heavy for me to bear.
My wounds stink and are corrupt : through my foolish
ness. I am brought into so great trouble and misery : that I go
mourning aU the day long.
For my loins are fiUed with a sore disease : and there is no
whole part in my body.
I am feeble and sore smitten : I have roared for the
very disquietness of my heart.
Lord, Thou knowest aU my desire : and my groaning is
not hid from Thee.
My heart panteth, my strength hath faUed me : and the
sight of mine eyes is gone from me.
Second Act of Penitence and Humiliation.
Coram Te, nee Justus forem,
Quamvis tota vi laborem,
Nee si fide nunquam cesso,
Fletu stiUans indefesso.

undated] EUCHARISTIC PRAYERS 423
Or in the English:
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling :
Naked, come to Thee for dress ;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace ;
Foul, I to the Fountain fly ;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
After the Sanctus.
(Hebrews xii.)
But ye are come
unto Mount Sion,
and unto the city of the hving God,
the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven,
and to God the Judge of aU,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better
things than that of Abel.
Before the Prayer of Consecration.
Thou, that offerest by the eternal throne,
Suffer us by Thy footstool ;
Suffer us, albeit unworthy,
Yet, by Thine holy and perpetual ordinance,
FeUow-workers with Thee,
Suffer us with Thee to offer
The one everlasting Sacrifice.
Prayer preceding Access.
Tanquam, prs tremendo Tribunah Tuo, Domine, ubi nul-
lus erit personarum respectus ; ita hodie, ante hoc sacrosanc-
tum altare Tuum, coram Te et stupendis angehs Tuis,
conscientii propria dejectus, profero improbas et iniquas
cogitationes atque actiones meas.

' 424 PERSONAL [undated
Respice, oro, humilitatem meam, Domine, et remitte
omnia peccata mea, quae multipUcata sunt super capU-
los capitis mei. Quodnam enim est malum, quod non in
animo commisi ? Quin et multa et nefanda opera perpetravi.
Reus sum invidis, irae, luxurije, malitiae, superbiae, gulae,
desidiae. Omnes sensus meos, omnia membra mea, poUui.
Sed infinita est multitudo misericordiarum Tuarum, in-
credibUis dementia bonitatis Tuae. Quare, O Rex omni
admiratione major, O Domine longanimis, clementissimas
propensionis Tuas benignitatem manifestato : potentissimag
dexterae Tuae vim exercito : et me prodigum resipiscentem
recipito, per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum. Amen.
Note. — I became acquainted with this remarkable prayer
more, I think, than fifty years ago, when it had been published
by Cardinal (then Mr.) Newman, in the ' Devotions of Arch
bishop Laud.' I have used it ever since in the altar service
as the closing preliminary before personal access, as it ap
peared to be admirably suited for the occasion. It is here
written out from memory, and may not be in precise verbal
correspondence with the text given in the work from which
I took it.
It was so taken, in the belief that it was an original com
position of Archbishop Laud ; and only from the ' Euchology,'
printed in English at Kidderminster in the year 1891, and
most kindly sent to me by the Chaplain to the Russian
Embassy, I have found the true original in the devotions of
St. Simon the Meditative, at pp. 240-243 of that manual.
The prayer as it stands in Archbishop Laud may be truly
said to correspond with the first half of St. Simon's composi
tion. There are changes in phraseology, but the spirit is
maintained entire, and the structure of the sentences remains.
It seems to me as if judgment was shown by the Archbishop
(if the act were his) in the limitation. The latter part is
indeed equally admirable in matter, but less pointedly adapted
to the solemn purpose for which the Archbishop used it.
Does it not express, with a depth and truthfulness rarely if
ever exceeded, the intensity and virulence of sin, while it
opens with boldness the new and living way? (Heb. x. 19, 20).
Before receiving the Sacrament of the Body.
O tremendum sacramentum Corporis Domini !
Deus meus, fac me capacem Corporis Domini !

Undated] EUCHARISTIC PRAYERS 425
After.
Incarnatus, Homo factus,
Passus tantos cruciatus,
Tractus et crucifixus,
Mortuus ac sepultus,
Redux ab inferis,
Sublatus in ccelum,
Regnans in gloria,
Venturus in judicium,
Per sacrosanctum Corpus Tuum,
Munditur Corpus immundum meum.
Before the Cup.
O suavissimum Sacramentum Sanguinis Domini !
Deus meus, fac me capacem Sanguinis Domini !
Agnus Dei, ante omnia et super omnia mihi dulcedo, accipe,
propter immensum amorem Tuum, hoc quantulumcunque
quod offero sacrificium : omne quod sum, quod habeo ; quod
facio, quod sentio ; quod amo, quod spero.
After.
Agnus Dei, qui toUis peccata mundi
In Sanguine Tuo abluar,
Propter Te absolvar,
Pro Te vivam,
Cum Te patiar,
In Te moriar,
Sub aia Tua requiescam
In vaUe umbracuh mortis :
Per Te inveniam misericordiam
In iUo Die.
As Convenient at and about Reception.
Quod non vidimus
Id tamen credimus :
Quod non tangimus
Id comedimus.

426 PERSONAL [undated
Last among the last,
Least among the least,
Can there be a place for me
At the marriage feast ?
Return from the Altar.
O vis magna Mortis atque Resurrectionis Domini, illabere
in spiritum necnon in corpus meum, et fac me vivere vitam
Domini, fac me in dies expectare Adventum Ejus gloriosis-
simum.
After Return.
Pater omnipotens,
Fili Unigenite,
Spiritus Sancte,
Da mihi jam depasto ccelestum cibum, et sic propius sito,
orare Pro omni creatura,
Pro genere humano,
Pro Ecclesia Catholica,
Pro parte ejus expectanti lucem, pacem, profectum versus
Te. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua
luceat eis. [And that it may please Thee to fill up the
number of Thine elect, and to hasten the coming
of Thy kingdom.]
Pro parte mihtanti
Ecclesia Orientah,
Occidental!,
Anglicana,Universe :
Pro Episcopis, Presbyteris et Diaconis :
Pro clero huic altari inservienti,
Pro politiis et imprimis pro nostri
Stabilitatem, pacem,
Pro popuhs et imprimis pro nostrati,
Ut in sancta simplicitate degens cibo ac potu Tuo pascatur.
Pro Regibus et imprimis pro Regina nostra,
Ut gregi Tuo fideliter intendat

undated] EUCHARISTIC PRAYERS 427
Ut electis ordinibus ascribatur.
Pro Academis, Collegiis, et Schohs, et imprimis Etonensi
Oxoniensi, .-Ede Christi.
Pro pus inceptis [Nominatim Fasque, Glenalmond, Hawarden,
Liverpool, Oxford, Ireland.]
Prayer for Conformity.
Fac ut ambulemus ; sicut ambulavit Christus.
Fac ut quahs erat in IUo, tahs et sit in nobis Spiritus.
Facut reformetur conversatio nostra, adnormam conversa
tions Ejus.
Fac ut ea faciamus, quae fecisset Christus hodie in carne
degens, et eo quo Christus modo.
Fac ut fiamus vasa gratiae Ejus, organa voluntatis Ejus.
At the Close of Service.
Go forth with me, O Lord, from this Thy holy house ; cast
about me the fence which the Evil One cannot pass,
And clothe me in the armour which his darts cannot pierce ;
And send down upon me Thy love, and hght, and calm,
wherein, as in a cloud, I may continuaUy dweU, and worship
Thee for evermore.
On Departure from the Church.
O blessed Peace, which hast here and now been ministered
to us, leave us not, and let us leave thee not :
But descend upon us :
And be shed around us,
And go forth with us,
And abide in us, on every step of this world's upward
way, until we come to dweU in thy bosom for ever.
O Semen immortalitatis, hodie in nos receptum, nuUa vi
vel fraude pereas, vel carnis vel diaboli :
Sed vivas,
Sed vigeas,
Sed crescas,
Sed fructum feras,
Fructum centuphcem in vitam aeternam.

428 PERSONAL [1832
2. SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD.
(October 14, 1832.)
' Our conversation is in heaven ' ; spirit, not persons ;
deadness to the worldly spirit as necessary now as ever.
Particular Rules.
(1) To cut off at once and unsparingly every act or inter
course which causes any known sin in self.
(2) To use the same measure with what affords natural
encouragement to such in others.
(3) If progress in Christian truth be gradual, then, as the
eye of the mind is quickened, new specks will be discerned,
and the catalogue of forbidden things enlarged.
(4) But if a man shall have been suddenly converted, then
he may under strong recoil have fled from many things allow
able, and therefore for the sake of his fellow-men desirable.
(5) For whatever is allowable is desirable.
(6) But in approaching inquiry into lawfulness of any
pleasure, we should reverse the judicial law (acting, in fact,
upon the converse of its principle), and assume it guilty tiU
it is found innocent.
(7) In whatever pleasures are retained and indulged, we
must observe a mean as to quantity (from their dynamical
nature). (8) We must try to make all pleasures considered as such
sit light upon us.
(9) We must keep constantly in view that they are good,
not in themselves, but for ulterior ends, as —
(a) Exciting thankfulness.
(b) Repairing fatigue.
(c) Expanding the lighter and more minute parts
of character.
(d) Attracting our fellow-men to substantial good — a
good secondary principle, but a most perni
cious primary.
(10) We must endeavour not only to keep in view their
general ends and grounds, but to intermix all possible
advantage in particular cases and times.

1836] THE USE OF MONEY 429
(n) Let aman thoroughly examine, to learn how he should
mix with persons whom he deems too httle sensible of God,
the characters of Abraham, David, Daniel.
(12) But above aU of Jesus Christ Himself, in His inter
course with the wealthy, and even with the less reputable
classes of society.
3. MONEY.
(September 18, 1836.)
It is wrong to say we ought not to care about money. We
ought to care about money. We might as weU say we did
not care about time ; or did not care about health and bodily
strength ; or did not care about our mental faculties : for all
these are referable to one and the same class, namely, the
class of means and instruments which God has put into our
hands (ourselves His primary instruments) to be employed
for His glory. AU may be made productive of or subsidiary
[to] good, each in its several place and degree : which, on the
other hand, aU are alike open to perversion towards evU.
We ought, then, to care about money, as a means : to be
utterly regardless of it, as an end. We ought to be careful
(1) to spend it — always to have either (a) a present or (b) a
prospective purpose for it ; (2) so to spend it that we may be
the better able to open our books of pecuniary account, along
with the rest of our proceedings, before God at the Day of
Judgment : and to show that it has been given, where not to
the necessary or decent expenses of our personal station, to
those of our own improvement and that of our feUow-men, in
aU, but especiaUy in those which are immediately spiritual
respects. There are what mathematicians would term different orders
of means appointed by God in the world : whereof the infe
rior, ascending from the lowest of the scale, is in succession
subordinate to all the higher. We ourselves, as spiritual
agents, may be said to be in the first order of means towards
the great end of God's glory. Our time, health, talents, and
fortune, may again be said to be in the second order of
means, towards the spiritual well-being of men, and so to
God's glory. With this distinction among them : that the

430 PERSONAL [1837
last is not essential beyond a very smaU quantity, nor, indeed,
is bodUy health altogether so.
But there are some men who boast that they do not care
for money, while they avowedly are nice about meat and
drink. They ought rather to blush ; for meat and drink are
in a third order of means, one subservient to that in which
money stands. They are subsidiary to the preservation of
health, and fortune, and time, and talents. They do not
contribute to the glory of God, therefore, except at one
remove farther than money : in the primary way, that is : for
there is a secondary way in which aU acts and functions
contribute directly to the glory of God — that is, by the
temper in which they are performed. Hence the Apostle,
Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do aU to the
glory of God.
4. THE WORLD AND THE FLESH.
(September 10, 1837.)
Another point in which it may appear that modern theology
has departed from the mind and the analogy of Scripture is
in the relative proportions which our preaching assigns to its
operations against the flesh and the world respectively. We
now hear very much of the world and of separation there
from, but comparatively httle of crucifying the flesh with the
affections and lusts. And yet, surely, in the Apostolical
teaching greater attention is paid to the flesh as the more
formidable and subtle enemy of the two. If this be true, its
principle apphes with much greater force to our own days.
For the demarcation between the Church and the world
was then clear : and by the world was indicated the mass of
men lying beyond the pale of the Gospel. PracticaUy to us,
in a land professing Christianity, the world in this sense has
ceased to exist. The wickedness of Christians may be as
great — may be far more guilty — but it is not denounced by
St. Paul under the same term. The territory of the world is
taken into the Church : and the hfe and practices condemned
as worldly are in their truest and most primary sense much
rather to be described as fleshly. The spirit that formerly
worked in the chUdren of disobedience stiU works in them

1837] CHURCH AND WORLD 431
against the influences of the Gospel : it is now, however, the
working, not of heathen principles and practice in a mass
unenhghtened by the rays and unsaddled with the responsi
bilities of revelation, but simply of the evil principle of our
nature with the malignant energies of Satan, a working
intrinsic and not extrinsic to ourselves as a body : and only
in part extrinsic to ourselves as individuals. The peril of a
temptation is made up in part of the external allurement, in
part of the internal prepossession, where the temptation is
most external : and even in such cases there are those who
can testify that the inward foe contributes by far the more
formidable portion of the difficulty. While there are at least
some men to whom the distinct class of temptations that are
whoUy within the individual, and therefore exclusively of
the flesh (as contradistinguished from the world), entirely
transcend in subtlety and force those which are in part
extrinsic. If this be so, and if experimental observation be here but
coUateral to the example and authority of Scripture, may we
not rightly describe it as a defect of our modern theology that
it spends more time and weapons against the term 'world,'
which has weUnigh lost its proper signification, than against
the term 'flesh,' which, alas ! retains aU its awful power, and
includes the springs and sources from whence proceeded
those manifestations which, in a peculiar coUective form,
were denounced by the Apostles as characteristics of the
world ?
It may, however, be demanded that we should point out
practical disadvantage arising from an alteration which it
may be contended is immaterial, since the same principle
is attacked under either term.
It may suffice to notice the foUowing mischievous results :
First, directing the attention mainly to the world instead
of the flesh, does not the preacher run the risk of leading his
hearers into spiritual pride ? For when the Apostles wrote
the distinction was clear between the Church and the world :
and when the inspired penman described a certain character
as belonging to a certain community, it was obvious to the
commonest understanding to whom the apphcation was to

432 PERSONAL [1837
be made. Is that the case now ? No. Further, it is not
possible, humanly speaking, certainly it is not consistent with
the fact, that the character held up to reprobation under the
term world should remain in a disembodied state, without
apphcation to individuals and bodies of individuals : and
each person is thus tempted into the great peril of deciding for
himseU what others, partakers of the same Christian privi
leges with himseU, he shaU place in the condemned cate
gory. Wherein he must too probably set out with violating
our Lord's idea of the Church as an enclosure containing
both good and bad : and at every step he must as he pro
ceeds judge his neighbour, with every risk of reflecting con
gratulations and complacent regards upon himself.
Next, the practice dilutes the strength of Christian doc
trine and blunts the arrows of the preacher. When he
reprobates the flesh, we know what he means, and we [need]
not go abroad to look among our neighbours for the objects
of his reproof ; the evil and accursed thing is in ourselves,
within our bosoms, and pervading aU our hfe. The apphca
tion, therefore, of threat, censure, remonstrance, exhortation,
promise, comfort, encouragement, is immediate : it passes
from the mouth of the speaker (by God's grace) to the heart
of the hearer. Now, when he utters invectives only or chiefly
against the world, it is true that he means us to beware of the
spirit of evil within us, and would enable us to detect it at
home by learning its hneaments from observation abroad ;
but is not this, as a general rule, an inversion of the Divinely
constituted process and of the natural order of things ? ShaU
we not in our corruption be too glad to let the denunciation
rest upon the heads of those at whom it is primarily dis
charged? WiU not our self-love have great facilities for
evading any transmission of the reproach to our own heart
and conduct ? Is it not when the Voice of God is brought
within one stage of ourselves that we most want aid from His
servants to carry it onwards to its destination ? When the
flesh is assailed we know that means each one of us : but
when the world, we fancy it a body from which we are
separate — nay, in many cases we know it apphes to persons
practising a certain class of amusements, which we perhaps

1838] THE DIVINE WILL 433
have foregone : at aU events, the message of the preacher
comes to us like a spent baU, and faUs to break the obduracy
of the heart.

5. DEPRESSION. (June 5, 1838.)
When you are heavily depressed, take the Divine wiU as it
comes to you in the stream of incidents of daily hfe, and do
not seek to look out of it : for the farther you look the less
certainly you can read it : and you are in a state to require
near and immediate support : be content, then, with that
which hes at your hand. Ask not in your dreamy mind,
How shaU I hve through this year, and the next, and the
next ? but think of the duties of the day, and gladly hide
your head within its narrow fold. Even they may not be
pleasant, but this is the right way in which youwiU be blessed :
they wiU keep you out of a region of more pain. It is like the
case of those in the ' Inferno ' (c. xxi.) :
'Pero, se tu non vuoi de' nostri gram,
Non far sovra la pegola soverchio.'
This seems a strange comparison : there is truth in it. But
whatever be the pain, cling to the wiU of God : and in propor
tion as the atmosphere is dark, to the near wiU of God ; this
alone wiU bear you through.

6. A 'THIRD ORDER.'
(March 9, 1838.)
(1) That great benefit might accrue to rehgion from the
institution of societies within the Church, aiming at a greater
yet a safer, less presuming and less egotistical separation from
the world than can easily be attained where the ground of
separation is in any notion adopted by merely individual
judgment. (2) That such institution would be in conformity with the
principles of cathedral and coUegiate institutions ; and with
the longings of Archbishop Leighton, who lamented that the
VOL. II — 28

434 PERSONAL [1838
Reformation generaUy had not made provision for those who
were inclined to a stricter way of Ufe.
(3) That, however, the beneficial objects would be by no
means purely negative and consisting in the relinquishment of
a more common for a more peculiar mode of life : they would
have many positive uses besides those personal only or pri
marily to themselves, as for example :
(4) (a) The maintenance of daily worship.
(&) The pursuit of divine learning.
(c) The exemplification of Church rules and discipline.
(d) The visitation of the sick, the aged, the poor.
(e) Care of hospitals, prisons, workhouses.
(f) The education of the young, whether charitable or
otherwise.
(g) The uses of society among those who have not
close natural connections among whom to reside.
(5) AU which in a more general view we may regard under
the heads of devotion, study, society, charity, tuition.
(6) It would appear desirable that such institutions should,
when practicable, be divided into two branches, each having a
seat — the one in the country (where boarders might be
educated), the other in one of our large towns, and among its
densest districts.
(7) The members to pass by cycle from the one of these to
the other, so as to equalize or distribute proportionably the
pressure. (8) That they should be partiaUy eleemosynary in certain
cases, offering pecuniary advantages, but never gratuitously.
(9) That they should embrace persons in different classes
of temporal circumstances — not, however, on a footing of
absolute equahty.
(10) That, they should consist of brethren, both clerical
and lay.
(11) That personal duties should be assigned by fixed
statute to aU members in their several classes.
(12) That they should be bound to conformity with the
injunctions of those statutes by solemn engagement.
(13) That such engagement, or vow, should in the first
instance be for no more than twelve ( ?) months.

1838] A 'THIRD ORDER' 435
(14) That it should be renewable from year to year (or in
the following scale) to be taken —
ist time, for one year.
2nd „ for two years.
3rd „ for three.
4th „ for seven.
5th ,, for life.
(15) No person under fuU age to be competent to enter
into any such engagement, or vow.
(16) AU members of such an institution to reside within its
walls, (17) And to attend daUy worship :
(18) And in general to have common tables — at least for
certain principal meals :
(19) And to have some ohstinguishing habit or symbol :
(20) And to divide among them the several departments of
duty: (21) And to act under the parochial clergy and the Bishop
in every case :
(22) And within fixed and known limits :
(23) And to educate as foUows :
(a) The children of the poor — both in town and
country, but many more, of course, in town —
these in one day school or more.
(b) The chUdren of the lower middling class — in the
country united probably with the foregoing —
in town at a separate and entirely self-sup
porting school.
(c) The children of classes higher than these, as
boarders, in the country.
(24) AU chUdren of aU the classes to attend pubhc daUy
worship within the waUs.
(25) And to be taught music among the elementary
branches of education, in order to the use of it in the daily
worship. (26) Church within the waUs, having departments for the
clerical members, the lay members, the schools, and the
pubhc.

436 PERSONAL [1838
(27) Sermons to be dehvered as frequently as may be, both
on Sundays, festivals, fasts, and certain days of the week.
(28) Morning and evening service daUy in the church, one
at least of them with music.
(29) The Holy Communion to be administered weekly in
the church, and on saints' days.
(30) Upon a certain number of saints' days, and of other
days, hves of the saints and of other holy men not canonized
to be commemorated.
(31) Adhesion to the three Creeds to be a rehgious test
of all members upon admission, and a declaration that the
motive is desire of the glory of God, and to be renewed in His
image through the body of His blessed Son.
(32) AU servants of the institution if practicable to be
members. (33) The entire Scriptures, and the Church Catechism, the
Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, to be used and explained in aU
the schools.
(34) Such arrangements to be made that lessons may com
mence and end with prayer, whether in the church or in the
school. (35) The buildings to consist of church, haU, Ubrary,
schools, bedchambers, sitting-rooms, apartments for the
Superior and officers.
(36) No price to be fixed upon the benches in the chapel
which shaU be open to the pubhc : but a collection to be
made from man to man on Sundays, and at such other times
as shall be ordered.
(37) The proceeds of such coUections to be divided between
local and general purposes of a nature either charitable or
connected with the Church.
(38) But no portion of them to be apphed for the pecuniary
advantage of the institution, unless it be in estabUshing
rewards or prizes for merit or eleemosynary funds, or in beau
tifying the House of God.
(39) Gates to be opened and closed at fixed hours.
(40) All members to attend at the funeral of any member.
(41) The inspection of schools out of the waUs may be
undertaken, with consent of the local clergy.

1838] TOO LITTLE OR TOO MUCH

437

(42) Certain courses of lectures and sermons to be de
hvered (besides those of a more general nature) :
(a) In continuous exposition of the Scripture.
(b) In explaining the harmony and order of the services
of the Church.
(c) In explaining her history from the time of our
Redeemer and His Apostles until now.
(43) AU clergy being members to have the hcence of the
Bishop. (44) AU persons desirous of becoming members to be sub
ject to question by the Superior and his deputies, with a view
to determining their class and functions.
(45) Trustees of the institution to be appointed, not being
members : and the office of trustee avoidable on becoming
a member. (46) Private property may be retained or not by the mem
bers, subject to limitations in amount receivable within the
waUs, and in manner of expenditure.
(47) Where property is not retained, to be commutable for
a fixed maintenance of a certain kind, as if in the nature of an
annuity. (48) Members to be bound to visitation of the sick as usual
in time of pestilence or epidemic.
(49) To be restricted from certain amusements.
7. AMUSEMENTS.
(Good Friday, April 13, 1838.)
(1) Query whether the rule of the ' rehgious world ' respect
ing amusements does not surrender either too httle or too
much : and whether it is based, as it professes to be, on a
clear and palpable principle capable of uniform apphcation ?
(2) It is easy to understand such a rule as this : that one
should not follow any practice of which the general and
permanent effect is to deaden the sense and the desire of the
presence of God, and the realization of spiritual life. It was

438 PERSONAL [1838
well said by Mrs. Wesley, 'Whatever such and such a prac
tice may be to others, to you whom it thus affects it is sin.'
(3) It is easy to fix another rule of personal conduct, which
is this : Wherever the practice involves a participation in sin,
by literal or virtual necessity, on the part of those who are
engaged in carrying it on, then it becomes undoubtedly
wrong to be a contributor to its maintenance, even although
there may be no sensibly evil effect on your own mind, and
though you may be enabled to extract what is innocent or
beneficial in the influences arising therefrom.
(4) But these rules do not reach the extent of that which is
very commonly adopted by religious persons in our day, and
made a sort of law among them, and almost a criterion
of soundness in faith.
(5) The case before us is that of certain other amusements,
enjoyments, indulgences, not essentially linked with sin, but
opening up many channels of temptation : balls and assem
blies, for example, would be taken as the most obvious
exemplifications of what is meant.
(6) There is no reason that I am aware of, except want
of faith and prayer, that should hinder a man from carrying
his rehgion into his amusements where he is not acting nor
encouraging sin.
(7) Nor am I aware that there is anything in the essence
of balls and assembUes which, even in the case of our rebel
lious race, so connects sin with that essence as to render
countenance of them in any form countenance given to sin.
(8) If the appeal be put in this way : Can you refuse to
abandon these paltry and unsatisfying pleasures for the sake
of the Lord who bought you ? the answer must undoubtedly
be that we are ready to surrender them in a moment upon
hearing the caU of our duty and our love to Him.
(9) Some of us might add — and that not from superior
spirituality — that to them these are not pleasures, but upon
the whole a burden, borne like others in the hope of its being
sanctified. (10) But thus the question comes to be one of Christian
expediency — and so it is generally regarded — we have to
ask whether it is more expedient to join in this and that, or to

1838] REAL SCRUPLES

439

abstain from it : measuring expediency, of course, by religious
results. (n) Observe, however, that in this we assume that, if
there be particular adjuncts of these amusements which are
sinful or naturally conducive to sin, those we have already
disposed of and cast away, and we are now arguing only about
the practice as divested of these adjuncts.
(12) And if it be said, in going to a baU you may make
a weak brother to stumble : I suspect the principle goes
farther than is supposed by those who use it. Look at the
state of luxury in which we hve : the dress, the furniture, the
equipages, the houses, the sumptuous fare. Are not these to
the fuU as Uable to be misunderstood as the particular amuse
ments under the limitation already stated (n) which the
rehgious world has branded ?
(13) I do think they are : I feel quite as much scruple and
doubt in their use. They jar as much at first sight with the
idea of 'strangers and pUgrims.'
(14) It is not enough to answer, these are the requisitions
of society which we must obey, unless the things required be
essentiaUy sinful : there is truth in this principle : but it is a
counteractive to that stated in 12 : for in obeying these
requisitions — in using luxuries which we feel to be dangerous,
and the aspect of which we must know might weU mislead
one, at any rate, of hasty judgment — we are running the
risk of making a brother stumble.
(15) But so, surely, was our Lord when He attended the
marriage feast, and when He sat at meat in the house of a
pubhcan. (16) We must come at the mind of Scripture by comparing
St. Paul's practice respecting meats, and again his rebuke of
St. Peter, with the cases just cited, and any others bearing
upon the same issue.
(17) In point of fact, the inference in the case of the meat,
agamst which St. Paul determined to guard, would have
been a fair one — that is, so plausibly deduced from general
practice, that none but a strong mind could be expected to
detect the faUacy.
(18) The questions here are, whether the inference is equaUy

440 PERSONAL [1838
fair in the case of the (regulated) ball or assembly? and
whether it is more fair than it would be in the other cases
enumerated in 12 ?
(19) There is apointnotyet touched upon. If any practice
clash with the discharge of a rehgious duty, this constitutes
a new and a fatal objection : and I am not prepared to say
how far the head of a family, who must, one should think,
desire his family to have daily worship, might be so circum
stanced as to render this incompatible with evening amuse
ments. This is, I think, an objection to be considered
separately. (20) As to the objection of the incongruity of religious con
versation, or of conversation on rehgious principles, in the
midst of these parties, it is undoubtedly possible to depict
a case in which the apparent contrast shaU be strong : but
I think it is an apparent, not a real, incongruity : an incon
gruity of the same kind, for example, as that of praying to
God in the middle of a debate in Parhament : or of saying
grace at a London dinner-party between the dinner and the
dessert. (21) I would even ask whether evening amusements be not
capable of having the sting taken out of them at least as
effectuaUy as dinner-parties ?
(22) Both will undoubtedly remain dangerous : but our
whole hfe is dangerous : and the question here is only about
gratuitous and superfluous dangers which we are bound not
to incur.
(23) Another rule of personal conduct undoubtedly is, to
watch our native inclinations, and to be wary especiaUy in
that to which we have a propensity, and sometimes to deny
it to ourselves for the mere benefit of the denial.
(24) All pleasure, we seem to have forgotten, which is
sought as such, is evil and sinful. None of these amusements
— and more, none of our most private relaxations — are
good in themselves ; they must aU be sanctified by having an
aim out of themselves, and higher than themselves. This
apphes chiefly to limitation in quantity : since it is when much
limited in quantity that pleasure contributes to reinvigorate
the mind.

1838] CONDEMNATION IN GROSS 441
(24A) But further : the business of the world is as unpro
fitable in itself as are its pleasures : and one's engaging in
commerce, or pohtics, with earnestness, may be as hable to be
mistaken as a participation, not engrossing, in common
amusements. Both pleasure and business have the same
need to be sanctified.
(25) Now suppose it be required of me that I should show
cause why I do not give up these evening amusements, and
the more so because professing to find httle use or enjoyment
in them :
(26) I should answer that it is because I cannot see a line to
separate them from those other usages which I accept as a
part of the constitution of society in which we are ordained to
hve, and as belonging to our juxtaposition with one another in
the world.
(27) I can very easily imagine that, were I more free to
choose respecting the whole subject of intercourse with
men either in business or pleasure, than I am, it might seem
needful or desirable for me to withdraw so feeble and so evil
a nature from its temptations : but I think that the points
enumerated in 12 are matters in which, with a view to real
Christian mortification, the sacrifice of self-will, and the
subjugation of our whole nature to God, it would seem
needful to outstrip the rehgious world before so much as
equalling it in its renunciation of certain amusements in which
the generahty partake.
(28) For I observe this pecuharity : the amusements are
condemned in gross : and not so much for their essential
quahties, as because they are practised by persons who are
termed 'the world.'
(29) Now I very much doubt the Christian right of anyone
to apply the appellation of 'the world' to any among the
members of the visible Church except those who are hardened
or avowed in the neglect of God. The tares in the field, the
fish in the net, the unfruitful branches of the vine, and
the practical conduct of St. Paul to his offending Chris
tians, appear clearly to show the sense of Scripture in this
matter. (30) That against which we have to contend is the evU
nature which is in as well as around us, and Satan working

442 PERSONAL [1838
through it ; but much more are we concerned with the
intrinsic than the extrinsic.
(31) I know not whether it be uncharitable — I cordially
wish it were inaccurate — to say that there is now compara
tively httle preaching against the beam which is in our own
eye, and much against the mote in our neighbour's.
(32) In the Apostohc times the world, being subject to no
Christian influences, afforded a full and free development of
the evil principle within us, namely, rebellion against God in
the flesh and in the mind : and thus formed a ready and
appropriate exemplification of the warfare which we have to
carry on.
(33) But it is a very different thing for one portion (for
example) of the Corinthian Church to condemn another —
not, be it observed, in respect of their acts, but to condemn
the acts in respect of them. To say, as is now commonly
said, Such and such are the amusements of the world —
avoid them.
(34) I have here an insuperable barrier. Show me an
objection in the thing itself, and you are inteUigible ; but I
know not how I can possibly separate myself from persons as
such, or otherwise than on account of their acts. Well, then,
I must judge by the acts, not by the persons.
(35) Who are these persons? Some, I am most firmly
convinced, are earnestly desiring to govern themselves in aU
things by the grace of God. As to others, their fate is
trembhng in the balances. The question here becomes, How
best can you lend them such assistance as is in your power ?
(36) It is a solemn question : and one almost shudders at
an argument, whose conclusion should seem to enlarge our
scope for pleasure, when we reflect how we are already
intoxicated. (37) In truth this sentiment of the religious world is, I
beheve, a partial development of the old principle which led
to asceticism : a sense of the need of some systematic self-denial,
in order to give effect to the grace of God upon us and
redress the evil constantly done upon us from the subtle
action of self-will.
(38) This principle is entitled to all honour. Even in its
excesses it is respectable : but in the religious world it is

l84i] THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

443

surely not in excess, as it respects quantity: the licence to
enjoyment there is sufficient, it may be thought.
(39) But it loses much of its efficacy because it stands upon
a basis of private opinion only, and thus assumes an offensive
aspect causing many to stumble. Let us by God's grace
have a Church discipline : let us feel the Church a living
power : and our own communion with the Head, and with
one another. When we have reahzed in thought and
practice the genuine force of this idea, we shaU be better
able to judge how to act than when acting upon a basis of
opinion which does not support us by a sense of its legiti
mate authority.
8. PASTORAL LETTER OF THE SCOTTISH BISHOPS
ON BEHALF OF TRINITY COLLEGE.
TO ALL FAITHFUL MEMBERS OF THE REFORMED
CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE BISHOPS IN
SCOTLAND, GREETING.
Grace be with you, mercy and peace, from God the Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Whereas certain lay members of the Church, moved by a
pious desire to promote the glory of God and the welfare
of the flock over which He hath made us overseers, have rep
resented unto us that our Church, having been long de
pressed, hath suffered the total loss of temporal endowments ;
that hence great difficulty hath been found in maintaining the
decent administration of God's Word and Sacraments, more
especially in so far as the same depends upon the due Educa
tion of Candidates for Holy Orders ; that the sense of this
deficiency hath been frequently declared by various pious but
inadequate bequests for this purpose, and more recently by
the Church herself in her XL. Canon, and that the same still
exists in almost undiminished magnitude :
And whereas they have represented unto us their desire,
under God's blessing, to attempt a remedy for this want, and,
in pursuance of such design, have proposed to us the founda
tion of a School and Theological Seminary, to be devoted to
the training, under CoUegiate discipline, of Candidates for
Holy Orders, and at the same time of such other persons as

444 PERSONAL [1841
may desire the benefit of a liberal, in conjunction with a reh
gious, education :
And Whereas they have represented unto us that sufficient
pecuniary support hath been secured to warrant their per
severance in their design, and that they are now desirous,
under our sanction, to make a pubhc appeal to the members
of the Church in its behalf :
Now We, the Bishops of the Reformed Cathohc Church in
Scotland, in Synod assembled, desire to express our warmest
gratitude to those with whom this proposal hath originated,
and, above aU, to God, who hath put it into their hearts to
attempt the supply of wants, the reahty and urgency of which
we have long painfuUy experienced ; and having maturely
considered the said design, we do hereby formally approve
the same, and recommend it to you, our Brethren in Christ, as
a fitting object for your prayers and alms.
We have, further, for the promotion of this good work,
requested certain discreet persons to act in Committee, and,
in concert with ourselves, to prepare a Scheme for its execu
tion, to be submitted to the members of the Church.
In thus endeavouring to awaken your zeal and charity in
behalf of that portion of the Church committed to our charge,
we deem it fitting to state solemnly and exphcitly that we are
moved by no feehngs of rivalry towards any rehgious com
munity, but by a desire to supply the wants of our own com
munion, and thereby to fulfil a duty imphed in the first
principles of the Christian Church.
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your
spirits. Amen.
W. Skinner, D.D., Bishop of Aberdeen, and Primus.
Patrick Torry, D.D., Bishop of Dunkeld, Dunblane,
and Fife.
David Low, LL.D., Bishop of Moray, Ross, and Ar
gyll-
Michael Russell, LL.D., Bishop of Glasgow.
David Moir, D .D . , Bishop of Brechin.
C. H. Terrot, D.D., Bishop of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh ,
September 2, 1841.

1847I A HAPPY DAY 445

9. CONSECRATION OF ST. ANDREW'S CHAPEL,
FASQUE, IN THE DIOCESE OF BRECHIN.
(August 28, 1847.)
The day was lovely throughout, and appropriate to its
work. It is a solemn act to set apart anything for all time,
particularly anything which wiU not end with time, but will
hve in its results after time is dead : and when the thing sepa
rated for ever is a temple of the hving God, wherein souls are
to be fashioned anew according to His image, a new Source
opened from the fountain head of hving waters, the waters
that spring up out of almightiness and whose draughts give
immortality, then the work is lovely too as well as very
solemn — a work upon which angels surely look, and in
which they minister with joy. Nor angels only, we may hope,
but likewise the spirits of the faithful dead, and, if so, then
that work of yesterday was contemplated with holy gladness
by some of the departed from out of their peace ; by some of
our own flesh and blood, though now after the flesh they know
us no more ; by some spirituaUy akin to us — I mean in
particular by our Bishop, whose mortal spoil we had only
the day before laid, at the churchyard of Brechin, in its bed
of earth.
I aUow myself to put down with pleasure the proceedings
of our happy day, the detail of the work ; not a great work,
but done for the glory of God, and one in which I have been
permitted to bear an auxiliary part.
At half -past ten the clergy and the guests had assembled in
the house : the doors of the Chapel were then opened, and
the bell rung, two persons being appointed with written
directions to maintain order and keep clear certain parts
of the Chapel. Written directions for the congregation were
also posted up near the Chapel.
At a quarter to eleven the organ played in the Chapel, and
the Bishops and Clergy assembled in their robes and walked
to the Chapel. They were preceded by Sir John Gladstone,
Bart., and his youngest son, the only one present, Sir John S.
Forbes, Bart., who had accepted the office of churchwarden,

446 PERSONAL [1847
and Mr. C. G. Reid, W. S., who prepared the deeds. Behind
these walked the (five Presbyters present : the Warden of
Trinity College, the Rev. Messrs. Henderson, Moir, Goalen,
and Thorn), with Mr. Irvine, the hcensed minister (in Dea
con's orders) and intended presentee, and last came the
Bishop of Aberdeen (the consecrator) and the Bishop of Ox
ford, who had been appointed to preach. Sir John Gladstone
and the other conductors carried wands with bands of black
crape in memory of Bishop Moir.
On their arrival at the Chapel some minutes before eleven,
they passed through the persons coUected outside and ad
vanced up the aisle to the altar-raUs, where the Right Rev.
the Bishop of Aberdeen, Primus, stood upon the step, the re
mainder of the procession arranging themselves on either
hand, and deUvered an address to the congregation, stating
the occasion of his appearing as consecrator in this diocese,
and his authority under the canons for the purpose.
Sir John Gladstone then presented to the Primus the
petition for consecration, which the Primus handed to Mr.
W. E. Gladstone to be read aloud. After it had been
read, the Primus received it back, and expressed before the
assembled people the gratification which he would have in
complying with it. His Reverence then passed down the
aisle foUowed by the Clergy, and beyond the west door of
the Chapel ; he then re-entered, and led them eastwards,
repeating Ps. xxiv. in alternate verses with them and the
congregation. The Primus then went within the raUs, as did the other
Clergy, except the warden of Trinity CoUege, who took his
place within the reading-desk to officiate there.
The Bishop of Oxford had, in the meantime, been com-
peUed by severe indisposition to quit the Chapel.
The altar was covered as usual with a white cloth, and on it
were hangings of crape in memory of the late Bishop of the
diocese. The Primus then received the instruments of endowment,
handed to him by the Rev. Mr. Henderson from Mr. W. E.
Gladstone, and laid them on the Lord's Table. He next
proceeded with the service until the place for the sentence

1847] A CROWDED CHURCH 447
of consecration,* which was read by the Rev. Mr. Henderson,
and then signed by the Primus.
His Reverence then handed back the document to Mr. W.
E. Gladstone, who stood immediately below the altar-rails,
and desired that it should be duly registered.
The middle aisle was now filled with benches for the
accommodation of a portion of the people, and a portion
stood : but some were unable to find entrance into the Chapel,
and sat or stood within view and hearing outside the west
door. The entire number present was about 180, of whom
much the greater part belonged to the middle and lower class.
The Chapel is calculated ordinarily to accommodate with
seats less than 120.
The Morning Service then proceeded according to the
usual form, except that Ps. lxxxiv. was sung after the Third
CoUect,t with the sanction of the Primus, and the Sanctusf
was sung before the commencement of the Communion
Service.§ The responses to the Commandments were
chanted to the organ, and Ps. c.|| was sung before the
sermon. The Canticles had been chanted as usual. If
The Bishop of Aberdeen performed the Communion Ser
vice, assisted, in the absence of the Bishop of Oxford, by the
Warden of Trinity CoUege : and his Reverence's chaplains
reading the Epistle and Gospel respectively.
After the Creed his Reverence gave notice of the Holy
Communion for the foUowing day, and of the destination
of the offerings — viz., those of the consecration for the
Episcopal Church Society.
Those of Sunday for the ordinary purposes of the Chapel,
as defined by the Constitution.
His Reverence then preached from Ps. cxxxu., 14, 15.
Before the sermon his Reverence used the bidding prayer.
After the doxology at the close he descended forthwith, and
took his place at the altar.
WhUe the Offertory Sentences were read, the alms were
*p. 7. f Bedford. JTonelli.
§Humfreys. || Savoy.
f Venite, 5th Greg. ; TeDeum, 6th Greg. ; Benedictus, Farrant.

448 PERSONAL [1847
collected by the Rev. Mr. Irvine from the Clergy, by Mr.
W. E. Gladstone from the rest of the congregation. The
amount was £14 18s. 3d., viz.,

£ s. d.

Gold and notes ...

9 10 0

Silver 

- S65

Copper 

1 10

£14 18 3
When they had been presented, the elements were brought
by Mr. W. E. Gladstone from the Vestry and were presented
by the Primus.
The Prayer for the Church Mihtant was then read, and
the non-communicants quitted the Chapel.
After the Consecration, the Primus administered to aU the
Clergy, and the Primus with the Warden to the laity.
There were thirty-six communicants. The remaining
elements were consumed in part by the Clergy, in part by
some of the lay communicants, kneehng.
The holy office of the morning closed shortly after two.

The Clergy and the guests met for luncheon at Fasque
immediately afterwards. The Chapel was duly arranged in
the interval, the Communion plate remaining on the altar.

At three o'clock a congregation of from sixty to seventy
persons were in attendance, when the Bishop of Aberdeen,
with the Warden of Trinity College, the Rev. Mr. Goalen,
and the Rev. Mr. Irvine, preceded by Sir John Gladstone and
others in the same manner as in the morning, walked from
the house by the south side of the Chapel to the vault.
The Bishop descended into and went round it, and then took
his place on the steps, the stone covering having been
removed : and the service of consecration proceeded accord
ing to the authorized form. The Psalm was sung, as aUowed
in it (Ps. xxxix., 5, 8)* by the congregation standing round.
They then again took their seats inside the Chapel, and the
* Abridge.

1847] THE PARTS AND THE WHOLE 449
afternoon service commenced. The Primus was on the north
side of the altar and delivered the Absolution and the Bless
ing. The prayers were read by the Rev. Mr. Goalen. The
Psalms were, Ps. xxiv. 1,2, and four last, before sermon ;*
Ps. cxxxii. 6-9 and four last, after sermon, f
The Canticles J were sung in the usual manner.
The sermon was preached by the Warden of Trinity
College, from 1 Cor. xiv. 26.
Both in the morning and afternoon sermons honourable
mention was made of the pious work of the Founder ; and
whUe the grace of God which had moved him to it was
magnified, the example was commended and the blessing of
the Most High implored upon him. The Rev. the Warden
also expressed the anticipation that the day of the Consecra
tion would be annuaUy celebrated in the Chapel.
The afternoon service closed at five o'clock.
D. 0. M. Gloria.
W. E. G.
Fasque,
August 31, 1847.

. . . Let it not be an offence that I have thus minutely
described the particulars of these blessed offices, in which
we went up with one heart before God to set apart another
temple of peace amidst the strife of tongues, of hght amidst
the darkness of the world. For the very skirts of the Lord's
garments are glorious, and fuh of virtue if they be touched
and seen in faith. To see the parts alone is trifling ; and to
see the whole alone is vague, and is like the memory of a
pleasant song that has passed away, or hke the beholding of
a man's self in the glass, after which he goes, and he forgets
what manner of man he was. But the Psalmist, the type of
all true and holy worship, who so loved the habitation of the
Lord's house, and the place where His honour dweUeth, he
said, ' Walk about Sion, and go round about her : and tell the
towers thereof : mark well her bulwarks, consider her
palaces: that ye may tell them that come after.' §
May this record then of my father's work be a holy and
a happy record. May the work be blessed, and in the
* Peterborough.
t Margaret.
t Magnificat, Wesley; Nunc Dimittis, 8th Greg, (second ending).
§Ps. xlviii. 11, 12.
vol. 11 — 29

450 PERSONAL [1847
days and years to come, by the gathering up, and the building
up of many souls to Christ, and may the gifts they shall re
ceive by means of this Church ascend upwards in glory to God
who prompted the work, and descend again in blessings on the
venerable head of him who did it. May his vigorous old age
be gladdened with the thoughts and with the fruits of it, and
when he goes down to lay his head in the grave which he has
there solemnly prepared for the wife of his bosom, and for aU
his flesh and blood, may his deeds done for God's honour
follow him; as he passes into rest and felicity may they
survive him and work after him and help to hasten the
coming of the Lord Jesus. To whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
W. E. G.
Fasque
August 31, 1847.

ft«!&3Q•A<HU I?Ha
in W 0ft<>> «CQ

O

VIII. — ST. DEINIOL'S LIBRARY
In 1903 the following report wels presented to the
trustees of the St. Deiniol's Library by the Warden,
Canon Joyce. I reprint it here as the best statement
of the objects and possibilities of the foundation.
The purpose of the institution was defined by the founder
to be the 'promotion of Divine learning.' I desire to point
out what is being done at present, and what I hope may be
done in the future to further that object.
Taking into account the conditions of Church hfe at the
present day, I beheve that the chief object of our efforts at
St. Deiniol's should be the encouragement of theological
study among the parochial clergy. Each year there is a con
siderable output of theological writing, and a high degree of
learning is maintained by the distinguished theologians of the
Church. But it is commonly admitted that there is room for
improvement in lifting the general level of inteUectual attain
ment. During the period when the EngUsh Church was
deservedly famous for her learning, some of the most note
worthy books on which her reputation rested were produced
by country clergy like BuU and Bingham. In this respect
there is perhaps a somewhat painful contrast between then
and now. Various tendencies have combined to turn the
energies of the clergy in other directions. Parochial activity
has increased, but theological study has suffered in amount
and quahty. In the endeavour to provide a remedy for this
(Unfinished attention to study, St. Deiniol's may take a part
which is not fiUed by any other institution. I hope that an
increasing number of clergy wiU be attracted by the oppor
tunity of residence at the hostel, admission to which is made
451

452 ST. DEINIOL'S LIBRARY [1903
explicitly conditional upon the intention to make use of the
library. In this way we endeavour to secure that a certain
number of clergy should devote a few spare weeks to theo
logical study. It may not seem a very ambitious programme,
nor can the results obtained be easily estimated by statistics.
But even a few weeks so spent wiU give a tone to the rest of
the year, and wUl prevent the habit of study from falling into
abeyance. There is no lack of evidence to show that the
visitors to St. Deiniol's make good use of, and warmly appre
ciate, the opportunities provided for them by the founder's
benefaction. The theological studies of the parochial clergy may be
further assisted from St. Deiniol's, if the Warden, Subwarden,
and any other officials connected with the institution, will
hold themselves ready to render any aid in their power to
clerical reading societies by means of lectures and addresses.
Such work has been carried on in connection with the Central
Society of Sacred Study, and may be further developed.
Secondly, there is an opportunity before St. Deiniol's in the
preparation of clergy for special work other than parochial.
There is a marked and probably an increasing tendency on
the part of our ecclesiastical authorities to set apart some
men in each diocese for special service, whether as lecturers
at the Diocesan Theological College, or as special preachers,
or in other capacities. For work of this kind a few years'
further theological study is surely a most valuable equipment.
For example, during the four years which our late Subwarden
spent at St. Deiniol's he was enabled to quahfy himself for
the work which has now been assigned to him in relation to
the students at the University CoUege of Bangor. We hear
much of the value of a course of post-graduate study ; as
much and more may be said in favour of a post-ordination
course. We shaU therefore be doing good work if, carefully
selecting from among the younger clergy men with some
special aptitude for study, we give them the opportunity of
developing their natural gift. They may pass from us to take
up some special work — tutorial or otherwise — they may
return to parochial work, but not without an increased power
to deal with the intellectual difficulties of religious belief ; or
finding their vocation in literary work for the Church, they
may become permanent members of the institution.
It is not intended that St. Deiniol's should come into com
petition with the ordinary theological coUeges. Its objects

1903] OBJECTS AND METHODS 453
and methods are different. But there are occasions, espe
ciaUy in the case of men taking Holy Orders somewhat late
in Ufe, when the usual course at a theological college would
prove unsuitable. Some men of this kind, with the approba
tion of the Bishops by whom they had been accepted as ordi
nation candidates, have spent their time of preparation at
St. Deiniol's. We are in a position to take in one or two such
with mutual advantage to them and to ourselves.
In conclusion, the Ufe at St. Deiniol's should be so arranged
as to combine with the pursuit of theological study the regu
lar practice of devotion. And as the lecture should be the
expression of the former, so the devotional address should be
the outcome of the latter. There are good reasons against
the indiscriminate acceptance of invitations to preach ser
mons, but the conduct of retreats and ' quiet days ' may weU
be considered as coming within the scope of our duties, pro
vided that such work is not permitted to interfere with the
primary object of the institution as defined by the founder.
Something of this kind has been already attempted, and it is
probable that further opportunities will offer themselves.
Gilbert C. Joyce,
Warden.
The numbers of visitors to St. Deiniol's for the years 1908,
1909, are as foUows (the new buUdings were opened in 1907) :
1908.
Clergy (Church of England) .... 69

Ministers of other denominations
Theological students ....
Laymen (various professions) .
Total 

6
45
JA
134

1909.
Clergy (Church of England) .... 88
Ministers of other denominations ... 4
Theological students  49
Laymen  _2_5
Total  166

INDEX

Aberdeen, Bishop of. See Suther
Aberdeen, Earl of : Gladstone's
letter on the Holy Euciarist
to, i. 372 ; alteration of the
Canons, ii. 172 ; on the tempta
tions of the mind, ii. 179
Abolition Bill, Gladstone on the,
ii. 171
Accuracy in work, necessity for,
ii. 161
Acland, Sir Thomas, on Gladstone
and the Gorham .case, i. 83 ;
Gladstone's letter on the Brad-
laugh .case, i. 178; on the Bishop
of Worcester's charge, ii. 294
et seq.
Acton, Lord : Gladstone's letters
to, i. 404 ; on Ultramontanism,
ii. 49-52 ; on Dollinger and Trent,
ii. 69 ; on Robert Elsmere, ii. 109 ;
on miracles and will, ii. 111; on
the researches of scientists, ii.
112 ; on the Mosaic books, ii.
116; on Homeric critics, ii. 119;
•and Dr. Liddon, ii. 187, 188;
Gladstone's duty to, ii. 311; thq
Old Testament, ii. 329 ; Glad
stone's Oxford lecture, ii. 331
Africa, South, and the Enghsh
Church, i. 143 et seq.
Agnostic ethics, i. 76
Alderson, Baron, ii. 339
Alexander, Mr., difficulties as to his
consecration, i. 230
Allies, Mr., on State aid for schools,
ii. 140
Altkatholicismus, ii. 61
Amusements, Gladstone on, ii. 437
Andrewes, Bishop, i. 365
Anglican settlements, the three, ii.
350 el seq.
Anson, Canon, illness of Dean
Wellesley, i. 207

Anstice, Professor of Ckssics at
King's College, London, death
of, i. 408
Argyll, Bishop of. See Ewing
Argyll, Duke of : Gladstone's letters
to, on the rehgious question in
Scotland and England, i. 172;
on the idea of sin, ii. 87 ; on the
fossil man, ii. 90
Aristophanes, The Clouds, ii. 97
Aristotle, Politics, Glacistone's
opinion of, ii. 163 ; compared
with Plato's Republic, ii. 164
Arnold, Dr., and Gladstone, i. 168,
274
Arnold, M., Gladstone's letter on
Disestablishment to, i. 167
Arundel, Lord, and the Education
Bill, i. 132
Ashley, Lord, and the Bishopric of
Jerusalem, i. 245 ; on education,
ii. 125; on Gladstone's Church
and State speech, ii. 344 et seq.
Athanasian Creed, Gladstone on,
ii. 91, 408
Athenaum, The, on Tupper's Life,
ii. 189
Auckland, Lord, Bishop of Bath
and Wells, and the Denison case,
i-304
Augsburg Confession, the, i. 240,
250
Authority, Sir George Lewis on,
ii. 101, 102
Awdry, Sir John, i. 433
Badeley, Mr., Considerations on
Divorce a Vinculo in Connection
¦with Holy Scripture, i. 133, 296 n.
Bagot, Bishop of Bath and Wells,
and the Denison case, i. 363
Baptism, decision in the Gorham
case on, i. 85 et seq.

455

456

INDEX

Barrett, Dr., Chairman of the Con
gregational Union : Gladstone's
letter on Apostolic Succession to,
i. 401, 409; sketch of Cardinal
Newman, ii. 335
Barry, Dr., Principal of King's
College, i. 202
Bath and Wells, Bishop of. See
Hervey
Beaconsfield, Earl of. See Disraeli
Beard, Rev. C, his Hibbert
Lectures, ii. 325
Bennett, 'Shepherd V.,' i. 366, 379
Benson, E. W., Archbishop of
Canterbury : 'Establishmentarian
fanaticism of,' ii. 212
Bentley, Mr., on the Epistles of
Phalaris, ii. 119
Bernard, Rev. J. H.,' Dean of St.
Patrick's, ii. 337
Bishops, and Parliamentary Church
men, i. 41 ; Gladstone on the re
sponsibility of, i. 175 et seq., 107 et
seq.; on power of Prime Minister
to appoint, i. 180 et seq.; inaction
in the Gorham case of, i. 88 ; and
Papal aggression, i. 119; action
in Convocation of, i. 160; and
the House of Lords, i. 181 ;
Gladstone's appointments of, ii.
363
Blackburn on clerical subscrip
tion, i. 139
Blomfield, C. J., Bishop of London :
Gladstone's letter on the Hamp
den case to, i. 66, 80; and the
Gorham case, i. 91, 105 et seq.;
and Gladstone, i. 122, 139, 369,
404 ; and the Jerusalem Bishopric,
i. 228 et seq., 236, 249 et seq.;
Gladstone on, i. 272, 304; and
Oakeley, i. 334
Blyth, Bishop, and the Jerusalem
Bishopric, i. 352
Bolingbroke, Viscount, and Pitt,
ii. 167
Bonn, Old Catholics at, ii. 57, 64
Books, three recommended to
W. H. Gladstone, ii. 163
Bradlaugh, Charles, Gladstone's
attitude towards, i. 175 et seq.
Brewer, Dr., Gladstone on, ii. 92
Bright, Dr., ii. 69
Bright, John : Gladstone and the
Irish Church, i. 154; and the
Burial Bill, .i. 173, 174; Glad
stone and the Education Bill, i.
142, 145, 146
British Critic, i. 289, 303, 304

British Magazine, i. 289
Brodie, Sir B., i. 361
Broughton, Bishop, ii. 136
Brown, Rev. Baldwin, on religious
education in the Universities, i.
213, 219
Browne, Harold, Bishop of Ely,
afterwards of Winchester, i. 162 ;
Gladstone on his sermon, i. 180;
the vacant Archbishopric of Can
terbury, i. 209, 394
Brutus, Gladstone's opinion of, ii.
Buccleuch, Duke of, ii. 205
Buchanan, Rev. R, the Scottish
veto law, i. 44
Bunsen, Baron, and the Jerusalem
Bishopric, i. 227 et seq.; his
character, i. 228 ; and Gladstone,
i. 237 ; his views, i. 238 ; Kirche
der Zukunft, i. 352
Burdett-Coutts, Miss (afterwards
Baroness), i. 143
Burke, Edmund, Gladstone on, ii.
168, 326
Burnet, Bishop, Exposition of the
Thirty-nine Articles, i. 139
Buss, Rev. Septimus, ii. 148
Butler, Bishop : Gladstone's opinion
of, i. 407, ii. 30, 101, 117, 192,
219 ; Analogy and Sermons, ii. 163,
301 ; and Theism, ii. 337
Cairns, Lord Chancellor, i. 388
Canterbury, Archbishops of. See
Benson, Davidson, Howley, Sum
ner, Tait
Capes, Mr., i. 328
Carnarvon, Earl of, opinion on
accuracy in Eton Examinations,
ii. 160
Cathedrals and the Church Com
mission, i. 40
Catholics, duty of, i. 277
Cavendish, Lord R., ii. 309
Chalmers, Dr. : on Church Estab
lishments, i. 12 ; his financial
skill, i. 189
Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph,
and Gladstone, i. 179
Cheyne, Patrick, an Aberdeen in
cumbent, deprived of his cure,
i. 413, 423 et seq., 445
Chichester, Dean of. See Hook
Children, Gladstone's prayers and
counsels for, ii. 411 et seq.
Christ Church, Oxford, W. H.
Gladstone a student of, ii. 162
Church of England : and the State,

INDEX

457

i. I et seq., ii. 343 et seq.; changes
in the air, i. 9, 10 ; Chalmers on,
i. 12 ; two views of Church Es
tablishments, i. 23 et seq.; possi
bility of reforms, i. 28 ; objections
to concurrent endowment i. 30;
limits of compromise, i. 33 ; in
dividual and collective obliga
tions, i. 36; and the Presbyterian
Church, i. 38 ; discipline in and
extension of, i. 53 ; effect of the
Gorham case, i. 83 et seq., 333 ;
two views of Royal Supremacy,
i. 94, 98, 100 ; Maskell's view of,
i. 99 ; Gladstone's faith in, i. 104 ;
duty of the Bishops, i. 107 et seq.;
and the constitutional position of
the King, i. m ; in fractions, i.
114 et seq.; shameful hesitation
of, i. 117; and the Ecclesiastical
Titles Bill, i. 122, 123; and the
Colonial Church Bill, i. 125 ;
tendencies towards Disestablish
ment, i. 126 et seq., 165, 178 et
seq., 184 et seq.; and the Divorce
Bill, i. 129 et seq., ii. 358 et seq.;
in South Africa, i. 132, 133,
143 et seq.; and Church Rates,
i. 142 ; Disestablishment in Ire
land, i. 148 et seq.; and Convoca
tion, i. 160, 170; no longer help-
Iras, i. 169 ; alteration of her
constitution, i. 171 ; Disestablish
ment in Scotland, i. 186 ; ecclesi
astical patronage and Univer
sity reform, i. 190 et seq.;
service at St. Paul's, i. 193 ;
her duty to the State, i.
197; preferments, i. 199 et seq.;
University reform, i. 211 el
seq.; the Oxford Movement,
i. 226 et seq.; and the Jeru
salem Bishopric, ii. 364 et seq.;
Tract 90, i. 256, 321 ; Tracts
for the Times, i. 270; Newman's
difficulties, i. 281 et seq.; her debt
to Newman, i. 318 ; Article XIII.,
i. 324; the Oxford Convocation,
i. 327; opposing systems, i. 329;
the Anglican claim, i. 330 ; Mar
garet Chapel, services at, i. 335,
375 ; Gladstone's views on, i. 335
et seq.; the bane of, i. 347;
reverence and ceremonial, i. 350;
destiny of, i. 352 ; opposite lines
of teaching, i. 353 ; change in
Manning, i. 357 ; the Denison
case, i. 363 et seq.; Gladstone on
the Bishop of Oxford's Charge,

i. 369; ritualism, i. 377 etseq.; the
Bennett case, i. 379 ; prayers foi
the dead, i. 382 ; and legislation, i.
383 ; Public Worship Regulation
Act, i. 386 et seq., ii. 371 ; Glad
stone on, ii. 3, 6 et seq.; contro
versy with Rome, ii. 23 et seq.;
The Filioque, ii. 63 ; the Eastern
position, ii. 64; the Thirty-nine
Articles, ii. 66, 367 et seq.;
definition of a Protestant, ii. 70;
the Athanasian Creed, ii. 91, 408;
and the Education Bill, ii. 125
et seq.; waiver of claims, ii. 169;
Church rates, ii. 170, 171 ; tempo
ral sacrifices, ii. 172 ; the Ridsdale
Judgment, ii. 182 ; and the Wal-
denses, ii. 197 ; alienation of
Church property, ii. 236 ; office
or benefice, ii. 296 ; a brighter
picture, ii. 329 ; factors in the
Enghsh Reformation, ii. 348 et
seq.; the three Anglican settle
ments, ii. 350 et seq.; govern
ment of, ii. 364 et seq.
Church, Rev. R. W., Dean of St.
Paul's, i. 190 ; Life and Letters of,
i. 192 n., ii. 80 n. ; his appoint
ment, i. 193, 206 ; and Gladstone,
i. 210, 401 ; The Oxford Move
ment, i. 260 n., 261 n., 262 n.,
296 n., 297 n., 300 n., ii. 330 ; Pub
lic Worehip Act, i. 394 ; Glad
stone's opinion of, ii. 79, 107, 335
Church Discipline Act, i. 364-366
Church Principles considered in their
Results, by W. E. Gladstone, i. 48
Church Rates, ii. 170, 171
Claughton, Mr., and the Professor
ship of Poetry, i. 266
Clerical Fellowships, i. 224
Cleveland, Duke of, Irish Church
BiU, i. 162
Clifford, Bishop, ii. 260
Cole, O. B., on the will of God,
ii. 229
Colenso, Bishop, deposed, i. 132,
144 et seq.
Coleridge, Derwent, i. 202
Coleridge, Sir John, Solicitor-
General, afterwards Lord Chief
Justice : University reform, i.
221 ; and the Vice-Chancellor of
Oxford, i. 296 ; Gladstone on,
i-433
Collegiate and Professorial Teaching
and Discipline, by Dr. Pusey,
i. 211
Colonial Church Bill, i. 124 et seq.

45§

INDEX

Common Prayer Book. See Prayer-
Book
Confession, the Augsburg, i. 240,
250
Confirmation, Gladstone on, ii. 151,
185
Conscience Clause, the, n. 137
Contemporary Review, The, ii. 316 n.
Convocation, meeting of Irish de
manded by Irish Episcopate,
i. 159 ; a moral influence, i. 170
Cosin, Bishop, i. 134
Cowper-Temple clause, the, ii. 127,
141
Creeds, the, i. 241, ii. 91, 408
Crown and Church preferments,
i- i95
Curtis, Mr., of Lichfield Theo
logical College, i. 202
Dale, Mr., on rehgious instruc
tion, ii. 144
Dalmatia, by Wilkinson, ii. 109
Davidson, R. (Archbishop of Canter
bury), his Life of Archbishop
Tait, i. 386
Deerbrook, by Miss Martineau, ii. 75
Delane, J. T., editor of The Times,
i. 160 ; refuses to insert Glad
stone's letter on the meeting of
the Bishops, i. 279
Denison, George Anthony, Arch
deacon of Taunton : threatened
deprivation for his sermons on the
Holy Eucharist, i. 363 et seq.,
382 ; Education Bill, ii. 213 ;
his character, ii. 215, 302
Denison, Edward, Bishop of Salis
bury : Education Bill, ii. 134 ;
his death, ii. 181
Depression, Gladstone on, ii. 433
Derby, Earl of, his episcopal ap
pointments, ii. 363
Discipline, Gladstone on Church,
i. 52 et seq.
Disraeli, Benjamin and Ritualism,
i. 375 ; and the Public Worship
Act, i. 388, 395 ; his episcopal
appointments, ii. 363
Dissenters, and the Church, i. 49 ;
rights of, i. 55 ; and the Universi
ties, i. 218 ; Chapels Bill, ii. 4,
379; and the Education Act,
ii. 125, 143, 145
Ditcher v. Denison, i. 363 et seq.
Divorce Act, i. 129, 374; Glad
stone on, ii. 358
Dodsworth, Rev. W., at Margsiret
Chapel, i. 408

Dollinger, Dr., Roman Cathohc
theologian: Gladstone on the
helpless condition of the Church,
i. 169, 395 ; Disestablishment,
i. 183 ; his opinion of the Church
of England, i. 384; on Palmer's
work, i. 407 ; on the Papal
Government, ii. 33, 45 ; the Bonn
meeting, ii. 57, 62, 312; Gkd-
stone's paper on Ritualism, ii. 59,
60 ; meaning of persecution, ii. 68 ;
and Council of Trent, ii. 69 ; the
Holy Eucharist, ii. 180, 212;
Gladstone's opinion of, ii. 69, 264,
340; Pere Hyacinthe, ii. 314;
Bishop Hamilton's Catechism,
ii. 320 ; Madame de Maintenon, ii.
327; on Consubstantiation, ii.
336 ; Gladstone's conversation
with, ii. 383 et seq.
Doubt and scepticism, ii. 77
Drew, Mrs. See Gladstone, Mary
Duchesne, Abb6, ii. 73
'Durham letter,' by Lord John
Russell, i. 118, 122
Eastern position, the, ii. 64
Ecce Homo, ii. 88, 216
Ecclesiastical Commission, i. 19
Ecclesiastical Courts Bill, i. 53
et seq.
Ecclesiastical Judgments of the Privy
Council, by Fremantle, i. 139, 203
Ecclesiastical patronage, i. 190, 191
Ecclesiastical Titles Act, ii. 5
Eden, Bishop of Moray and Ross,
i-435
Edinburgh, Bishop of. See Terrot
Edinburgh Review, The, i. 139
Education, ii. 125 et seq.; rehgious,
ii. 143, 145, 213
Elizabeth, Queen, and persecution
of the Papal party, ii. 68, 69
Elhcott, Bishop of Gloucrater :
Irish Church Bill, i. 162 ; his
appointment, ii. 363
Elwin, Mr., editor of the Quarterly
Review, i. 202
Ely, Bishop of. See Browne
Encyclical of Leo XIII, ii. 73
Endowment, objections to concur
rent, i. 30
English Review, The, i. 303
Epis-copal appointments, ii. 363
Episcopal Church. See Scotland
Erastianism, i. 143, 167
Essays and Reviews, 199 et seq. ¦
Establishment and Church Rate,
i. 142

INDEX

459

Eucharist, the Holy, i. 363 et seq.,
373, ii. 180, 212; Gladstone's de
votions for, ii. 421.
Evangelicalism, and education, i. 2 ;
Gladstone on, i. 6, 7; incom
pleteness of, i. 8 ; German Church,
i. 252; position of, i. 334, 365,
408
Evil, origin of, ii. 117
Ewing, Bishop of Argyll, i. 415, 430,
437
Exeter, Bishop of. See Phillpotts
Factory Bill of 1843 (Education
Clauses), ii. 125
Fairbairn, Rev. Dr., ii. 333
Farquhar, Sir W., i. 139, 177, 182
Farrar, Dr., ii. 120
Fasque, church at, ii. 203 ; conse
cration of, ii. 445 et seq.
Fawcett, Mr., ii. 46
Fellowships, non-resident, i. 214
et seq.
Filioque, ii. 62, 64
Finch, George, i. 108
Fleming, Rev. V. R., Irish Church
Bill, i. 164
Forbes, Alexander, Bishop of
Brechin: Gladstone on, i. 412,
434 ; his Charge, i. 413 ; Scottish
Episcopal Communion, i. 440,
443
Forbes, Wilham, Bishop of Edin
burgh : his Considerations, i. 355,
416
Forster, W. E., Education Bill,
ii. 127 et seq., 137, 147
Fox, Charles, compared with Pitt,
ii. 166, 167
Fremantle, Mr., Ecclesiastical Judg
ments of the Privy CouncU, i. 139,
203
Furlong, Bishop, his letter on the
Irish Land Bill (1870), ii. 53
Future retribution, Gladstone on,
ii. 403
Garbett, Mr., and the Poetry Pro
fessorship at Oxford, i. 256, 266,
279 ; Pusey's sermon, i. 287
Genesis, the Book of, Gladstone on,
ii. 80, 108
Gilly, Mr., and the Waldenses, ii.
223
Gladstone, Agnes (afterwards Mrs.
Wickham), letters from W. E.
Gladstone, ii. 185, 186
Gladstone, H. N., letters from
W. E. Gladstone, ii. 184, 185

Gladstone, Helen, letters from
W. E. Gladstone on her birth
day, ii. 190, 191 ; how to read
Butler, ii. 192 ; on capacity and
duty, ii. 193 ; offer of the princi
palship of Holloway College,
ii. 194, 195
Gladstone, John, father of W. E.
Gladstone : son's admiration for,
ii. 197 ; chooses his son's pro
fession, ii. 198, 199 ; dignity of
Orders, ii. 223 et seq.; his son's
views as to work, ii. 228 ; a rule
of marriage, ii. 231 et seq.; a.
church at Fasque, ii. 237 et seq.;
death, ii. 287
Gladstone, Jolm, brother of W. E.
Gladstone : his character, ii. 197 ;
the W.aldenses, ii. 222 ; man and
his Maker, ii. 226, 227
Gladstone, Mary (afterwards Mrs.
Drew) : letters from W. E. Glad
stone, ii. 186 el seq.; her article
on the founding of St. Deiniol's,
ii. 219 et seq.
Gladstone, Rev. Stephen : letters
from W. E. Gladstone on Divorce
Bill, i. 137 ; Disestablishment,
i. 189; terrors of the Lord, ii.
123 ; school compulsion, ii. 147 ;
advice to, ii. 173 et seq.; the
time and training for Orders,
ii. 176 el seq.; being understood,
ii. 181 ; the Ridsdale Judgment,
ii. 182, 183
Gladstone, W. E. : early rehgious
training, i. 1 et seq.; first visit
to Italy, i. 7 ; friendship with
Maiming, i. 8 ; the Oxford
Movement, i. 10, 226 et seq.,
364 et seq.; The State in Us Re
lation to the Church, i. 12 et seq.,
45 et seq., 62, 148, ii. 205 ; his
friendship with Hope, i. 12,
83, 84 ; Disestablishment of the
Irish Church, i. 14, 148 et seq.;
A Chapter of Autobiography, i. 14 ;
the Ecclesiastical Commission,
i. 19 ; patronage question in
Scotland, i. 20, 44, 51 ; reform
of the Ecclesiastical Courts, i.
22, 53-60; on Church Establish
ments, i. 23 et seq.; Parhament
and Church temporalities, i. 40
et seq.; the Scottish veto law,
i. 44 ; Church Principles Considered
in their Results, i. 48 ; Church and
Dissenters, i. 49, 55 ; his attitude
towards controversies, i. 51 ;

460

INDEX

grant to Maynooth College, i. 51,
52, 62 et seq.; Church discipline,
i. 52 et seq.; purpose of his Par
hamentary hfe, i. 61 ; two ques
tions, i. 62, 63 ; his diplomatic
relations and conversation with
the Pope, i. 65, ii. 395 ; votes for
removal of Jewish disabilities,
i. 66, 122 et seq.; on the unfair
ness of Hampden's censure, i. 67 ;
resignation of his seat, i. 68-71 ;
on the relation of the State to
religion, i. 71 et seq., 135, ii. 209
et seq.; and Wordsworth, i. 74 ;
and Sir J. Graham on the re
sponsibilities of Bishops, i. 75 et
seq.; on the Prime Minister's
power to appoint Bishops, i. 80-
82 ; and the Gorham case, i. 83
et seq., 95 et seq., 330, 333 ; on
Royal Supremacy, i. 94, 98, 101,
no et seq., 145, 146, 169 ; justifi
cation of his Parhamentary action,
i. 99 ; on continuance in pohtical
hfe, i. 101 ; agony of an ancient
Church, i. 103 ; denial of rumours
about Manning, i. 105 ; on the
duty of Bishops, i. 107 et seq ;
constitutional position of the
King, i. no et seq ; Church
in fractions, i. 113 et seq ; the
Bishops and Papal aggression,
i. 119; the 'Durham letter,'
i. 120, 122 ; his speech on Ecclesi
astical Titles Bill, i. 120 et seq.;
Colonial Church Bill, i. 124, 125,
132 ; tendencies towards Dis
establishment, i. 126-128 ; on
divorce, i. 129 et seq., 374, ii. 358 ;
authorities on clerical subscrip
tion, i. 139; Establishment and
Church Rate, i. 142 ; South
African Church, i. 143-147 ; Scot
tish Patronage Bill, i. 166, 167 ;
his attitude towards Scottish
Presbyterianism, i. 168, 172 ;
Convocation and moral influence,
i. 170; alteration of Church's
constitution, i. 171 ; reunion and
exchange of pulpits, i. 172;
recital to Burial Bill, i. 173 ;
and the Bradlaugh case, i. 175 et
seq.; his resignation, i. 178 ; ques
tion of Disestablishment, i. 178
etseq.; on Bishop Blomfield's
sermon, i. 180; a Denomina-
tionalist, i. 188 ; ecclesiastical
patronage, i. 190 et seq., 342-347,
384 ; on Essays and Reviews, i. 201-

210; Dean Wellesley's death,
i. 207, 208 ; on University reform,
i. 211-225; Tract 90, i. 234, 256
et seq., 314-316, 318-325, 405, 406 ;
the Augsburg Confession, i. 240,
250 ; and the Thirty-nine Articles,
i. 242, 243, 300, 323, 324, ii. 66, 367
et seq.; and the Poetry Professor
ship at Oxford, i. 254, 255, 266-
269 ; his power of work, i. 259 ;
his letter on the Tracts for the
Times refused by The Times, i.
270-279 ; changes in Newman,
i. 281 et seq.; his changed attitude
towards the Oxford Movement,
i. 293 et seq.; and the British Critic,
i. 302-305 ; his article on Ward
in Quarterly Review, i. 305-314 ;
and the opposing systems in the
Church, i. 327 et seq.; and Oake-
ley, i. 334, 335 ; explains his
views to Hope, i. 335-342 ; Have
we the right men? i. 348-350;
the Jerusalem Bishopric, and Mr.
Gobat, i. 351 ; the destiny of
the Church, i. 352 ; the analogy
of Jansenism, i. 354 ; his replies
to Manning,' i. 355-359; F. D.
Maurice and King's College, i.
360, 404 ; the Denison case,
i. 363 et seq.; and Wilberforce,
i. 367-369 ; on the Bishop of
London's charge, i. 369 ; and
ritualism, i. 375 et seq., ii. 59 ;
his letter to the Queen on Church
and legislation, i. 383-386 ; the
Public Worship Act, i. 386 et seq.;
Xhe road to peace, i. 371, 396 ;
no deprivations, i. 400, 402 ; on
contempt of court, i. 403 ; New
man, i. 404, 405 ; and Dr. Barrett,
i. 409 ; the Scottish Episcopal
Church, i. 411 et seq.; Bishop
Forbes, i. 412 ; Cheyne, i. 413,
422 et seq., 445 ; and the proposal
to abolish the Scottish Office, i.
413-446; and the Oxford elections,
ii. 1 et seq., 373 et seq.; on different
kinds of Protestantism, ii. 3 ; The
Functions of Laymen in the Church,
ii. 6; his relation to the parties
in the Church, ii. 10 et seq.; ex
plains his vote on the Jew Bill, ii.
16-18 ; his farewell address to
the Oxford electors, ii. 20, 381 ;
the controversy with Rome, ii.
23 et seq., 383 et seq.; exchange
of views with Manning, ii. 26,
35-44, 52-54; his letters to

INDEX

461

Miss Stanley, ii. 27-31 ; the
Pontifical States, ii. 33; The
Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on
Civil Allegiance, ii. 46, 47, 59 ;
Ultramontanism, ii. 49-51 ; the
Bonn meeting, ii. 57, 62, 312;
the Papal Church, ii. 60 ; Bishop
Reinkens, ii. 61, 62 ; the Filioque,
ii. 63 ; the Eastern position, ii. 64 ;
and the Prayer-Book, ii. 66, 67 ;
pereecution defined, ii. 68 ; Dol
linger Eind Trent, ii. 69 ; meaning
of the tei-m 'Protratant,' ii. 70,
71 ; the controversy with unbelief,
ii. _ 75 d seq., 403 et seq.; his
opinion of Deerbrook, and of
Robert Elsmere, ii. 75, 76, 109,
1 10 ; on doubt and scepticism,
ii. 77 ; on future punishment, ii.
78, 106, 120, 403 ; his opinion
of Dean Church, ii. 79-81, 107,
330, 335 ; on the Book of
Genesis, ii. 80, 108; on Bishop
Tait's sermons, ii. 82-84 ; on
Mill's works, ii. 85, 97, 101,
193 ; id<ea of sin, ii. 87 ; Ecce
Homo, ii. 88, 216, 300; on the
fossil man, ii. ,90 ; on Strauss's
book, ii. 90 ; Church and Parlia
ment, ii. 91 ; Dean Stanley and
St. Socrates, ii. 96 ; on science
and opinion, ii. 98, 112; on
Christianity and man, ii. 99 ; on
Professor Jevons' book, ii. 100 ;
on Christ and authority, ii. 101,
102 ; on universalism, ii. 103 ; on
natural immortality, ii. 104 ; on
miracles, ii. in ; on belief,
ii. 113-116; the Mosaic books,
ii. 116, 119; origin of evil, ii. 117-
119 ; on God's foreknowledge,
ii. 121 ; the seen and the unseen,
ii. 122 ; paper on 'Eternal Hope,'
etc., ii. 123, 124; education,
ii. 125 et seq.; his position and
views as to rehgious education in
Sichools, ii. 125 et seq., 213, 297,
310 ; the Church's means, ii. 133 ;
Queen's CoUeges in Ireland,
ii- 135i T3° ; on secular teaching
and unsectarian schools, ii. 138,
139 ; and the Roman Catholics,
ii. 140 ; Oxford opinion, ii. 146 ;
on compulsion, ii. 147, 148 ; letters
to his .children, ii. 149 et seq.; to
W. H. Gladstone, ii. 149-173;
to S. E. Gladstone, ii. 173-183 ;
to H. N. Gladstone, ii. 184, 185;
to Agnes Gladstone, ii. 185, 186;

to Mary Gladstone, ii. 186-190;
to Helen Gladstone, ii. 190-196 ;
to his grandson, Edward Wick
ham, ii. 196 ; his affection for his
father and brother, ii. 197 ; Evan
gelicalism, ii. 198, 200, 333 ; his
choice of a profession, ii. 198;
and Unitarianism, ii. 199 ; A Third
Order, ii. 200, 400 ; the Episcopal
chapel at Fasque, ii. 201 et seq.,
238-241,445; his close association
with Hope and Trinity CoUege,
Glenalmond, ii. 203 et seq., 242
el seq.; his difficulty in fighting
the Church's battle in Parliament,
ii. 209 et seq. ; The Vatican Council
and the Old Catholics, ii. 212, 400;
his friendsliip with Dollinger,
ii. 212, 383; the secessions of
Hope and Manning, ii. 214 ; his
praise of Bishop Wilberforce,
ii. 215 ; and George Denison,
ii. 215, 302 ; and the Duke of
Newcastle, ii. 216; on Scott and
Lockhart, ii. 217 ; his edition of
Butler, ii. 219; foundation and
object of St. Deiniol's, ii. 219-222 ;
letters to his father and brother,
ii. 222-241 ; dignity of Orders,
ii. 224; on his father's wishes for
his future, ii. 226, 228 ; on the
wiU of God, ii. 229 ; on marriage,
ii. 231-233 ; on the House of
Commons as a caUing, ii. 234 ;
on Church property, ii. 236 ; and
Ward, ii. 250 ; to his wife on
discipline, ii. 252, 259 ; on increase
of grant to Episcopal Communion
of Scotland, ii. 255 ; description
of Calais, ii. 260 ; visits the South
German churches, ii. 261 ; visits
Munich, ii. 262 ; interviews with
DoUinger, ii. 263 ; at Baden,
ii. 265 ; on the religious crisis,
ii. 265, 270 ; letters to Manning
on prayer, fasting, and the
state of the Church, ii. 266 et
seq.; on suicide, ii. 282 ; letters
to Hope on their separation,
ii. 283-286, 290-292 ; and to Man
ning, ii. 287 ; his father's death,
ii. 287 ; on Robert Wilberforce's
book on the Eucharist, ii. 288;
and the death of the Duke
of Newcastle, ii. 292 ; on truth
and party, ii. 293, 294; on
Bishop PhUpott's Charge, ii.
294-297 ; on Scripture teaching,
ii. 297 ; advice to Lady Herbert,

462

INDEX

ii. 298; on Newman and Butler,
ii- 3°°> 301 > on Scotland's first
son, ii. 303 ; the Bulgarian schism,
ii. 304 ; reconciliation with Pusey,
ii. 306 ; on Kenelm Chillingly,
ii. 306 ; his letter to the Queen
on Bishop Wilberforce's death,
ii. 308 ; death of Lord R. Caven
dish, ii. 309 ; brink of a crisis,
ii. 310; a duty to Lord Acton,
ii. 311 ; on Pere Hyacinthe,
ii. 314; on spiritualism, ii. 315;
The Sixteenth Century arraigned
before the Nineteenth, ii. 316 n. ;
the Civitas Dei, ii. 318 ; on Hymns
Ancient and Modern, ii. 319; on
Wordsworth's Platonism, ii. 319;
on Hamilton's Catechism, ii. 320 ;
on Hope's fascination, religion,
and belief, ii. 322, 323 ; Luther in
England, ii. 324; and Spurgeon,
ii. 324; on St. Augustine and
Bishop Butler, ii. 325 ; faith and
fiducia, ii. 326 ; on Madame de
Maintenon, ii. 327-329 ; his lec
ture at Oxford, ii. 331, 332 ; and
Lord Northbourne, ii. 332 ; on
Archbishop Benson, ii. 333 ; on
Bishop Guest and Consubstantia
tion, ii. 336 ; Butler and Theism,
"• 337 j 0I1 Purcell's biography
of Manning, ii. 338-341 ; his con
versation on Church and State
with Lord Ashley, ii. 344-347 ;
factors in the Enghsh Reforma
tion, ii. 348-350; the three
Anglican settlements, ii. 350-354 ;
on Queen Elizabeth, ii. 354-357 ;
on the Restoration settlement,
ii. 357, 358; his episcopal appoint
ments, ii. 363 ; on Church govern
ment, ii. 364-367 ; Wordsworth
on, ii. 373-376 ; his vote on
Ward's case, ' ii. 376-378; his
Oxford election circular and fare
well address, ii. 378-382 ; his
controversy with DoUinger on
rehgion, ii. 383-390; on the
Roman question, ii. 391-395 ; his
conversation with Pius LX., ii.
395-400; on future retribution,
ii. 403-406; on Theism, ii. 406-
408; on the Athanasian Creed,
ii. 408 ; on prayer and the Divine
will, ii. 409 ; prayers and counsels
for children, ii. 411-420; his
Eucharistic Devotions, ii. 421 ;
on separation from the world,
ii. 428 ; on money, ii. 429 ; on

the world and the flesh, ii. 430;
on depression, ii. 433 ; on amuse
ments, ii. 438; pastoral letter
of Scottish Bishops, ii. 443
Gladstone, Mrs., wife of W. E.
Gladstone : letters from her
husband on the hesitation of the
Church, i. 117 ; on the black
pohtical outlook, i. 135 ; on the
Divorce Bill, i. 136 ; on the Public
Worship Act, i. 393-395; on
labour troubles, ii. 250; on
resignation and submission, ii.
252-254; on discipline, ii. 259;
description of his visit to Calais,
Augsburg, and Munich, ii. 260-
262 ; on his conversations with
Dr. Dollinger and other Roman
Catholics, ii. 264-266 ; on clergy
men and cases of suicide, ii. 282 ;
on Trinity College, Glenalmond,
ii. 282 ; on the death of the Duke
of Newcastle, ii. 292, 293
Gladstone, W. H.: letters from
W. E. Gladstone on prayer, ii.
149 ; on labour and duty, ii. 151 ;
on Confirmation and self-examina
tion, ii. 151, 152; on the mean
ing of hfe, ii. 153-156; on
duties to others, ii. 156 ; on self-
observation and self-denial, ii.
157 ; on ancient history, ii. 158 ;
the eye of God, ii. 159 ; a world
of work, ii. 160; the need for
accuracy, ii. 161 ; books and dis
cipline, ii. 163, 164 ; on the eve of
an examination, ii. 165 ; on Pitt,
Fox, and Bolingbroke, ii. 166-
168 ; on Church Rates and con
cessions, ii. 169-173 ; prayers and
counsels for, ii. 411-420
Glenalmond, Trinity College, foun
dation of, ii. 203 et seq., ii. 242
et seq.; pastoral letter on behalf
of, ii. 443, 444
Gloucester, Bishop of. See EUicott
Glyn, Rev. C. J., Gladstone ex
plains his position to the Church
of England to, ii. 293.
Gobat, Mr., i. 352
Gorham case, the, i. 83 et seq., 95-
97, 33°; results of, i. 332 et seq.
Graham, Sir James : the General
Assembly and the Government, i.
21 ; Manchester Bishopric Bill, i.
75 ; and the Marriage Bill, i. 136 ;
on Gladstone's power of work,
i. 259 ; Factory Bill (1843), ii.
"5, 131

INDEX

463

Grane, Mrs., i. 236, 237
Grant, Sir A., Ethics, ii. 176
Granville, Earl : Gladstone on Dean
Wellesley's death, i. 206; re
hgious education in schools, ii.
297,310; death of Bishop Wilber
force, ii. 308
Gray, Bishop, i. 144
Grey, Earl de, Gladstone and
secular teaching, ii. 137
Guillemard, Mr., Senior Proctor,
i. 301
Gurney, RusseU, his speech on
Ecclesi.asti.cal Titles Bill, i. 395
Guthrie, Dr., Gladstone on the
Pope's claims, ii. 54
Haddan, Rev. A. W. : Dissenters
and the University, i. 217 ; Glad
stone's vote on the Jew Bill, ii. 17
Halifax, first Viscount, letter to,
on the repression of ritualism,
i- 397-399
Hallam, Henry, i. 48, no
Hamilton, Archbishop, Primate of
Scotland, his Catechism, ii. 320
Hamilton, J., letter to, on Estab
lished Church of Scotland, i. 50
HamUton, Walter Kerr, Bishop of
Salisbury, i. 199 ; ii. 81, 181
Hampden, Professor of Divinity,
censure on, i. 67 ; and Macmnllen,
i. 294
Hannah, Dr., Trinity CoUege, Glen
almond, i. 202
Harcourt, Sir Wuiiam, i. 395, 402
Hardy, Mr. Gathorne, succeeds
Gladstone as University member,
ii. 22 ; the foundations of religion,
ii. 101
Harrowby, Earl of, and Gladstone,
i- 395-397
Harrington, Marquis of : Disestab
lishment, i. 179 ; Bishops and the
House of Lords, i. 181
Hatherley, Lord Chancellor, and
Deceased Wife's Sister BiU, i.
132 ; cathedral preferments, i. 202
Hawkins, Dr., Provost of Oriel, i.
314-325 ; ii. 91
Heathcote, Sir William : Colonial
Churches, i. 124; the Marriage
BUI, i. 135 ; Gladstone's defeat at
Oxford, ii. 20
Henderson, Mr., i. 416, 420
Herbert, Lady Mary (Baroness von
Hugel), ii. 298
Herbert, Lord, and the Abohtion
BiU, ii. 171

HerscheU, Lord Chancellor, ii. 70
Hervey, Lord Arthur Charles,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, and
ritualism, i. 381, 382
Hessey, Dr., Merchant Taylors', i.
202
Heywood, Mr., his clause in the
Oxford Reform Bill, i. 217, 218
Highton, Mr., his pamphlet, ii. 96
Hodges, Rev. G. F., treatise on
Bishop Guest, ii. 336
Holland, Canon Scott, ii. 335
Holt, Mr., Pubhc Worship Act, i.
392, 393
Homer, ii. 109; criticisms, ii. 119
Hook, Rev. W. F., Dean of
Chichester : Ecclesiastical Titles
BiU, i. 122; the Irish Church, i.
161 ; Gladstone's opinion of, i.
202, ii. 17 ; offered the Deanery of
St. Paul's, i. 205 ; his doctrines,
i. 271 ; religious education in
schools, ii. 133
Hooker, Richard, Ecclesiastical Pol
ity, i. 2
Hope, James R. (afterwards Hope-
Scott) : revises Gladstone's The
State in its Relation with the Church,
i. 12, 13, 45, 46, 61, 335 ; his seces
sion from the Church of England,
i. 84, 85 ; and the Bishopric of
Jerusalem, i. 98, 99, 232, 242, 247 ;
origin of his friendship with Glad
stone, i. 226 ; Ornsby's Life of, i.
227 n., ii. 204 n., 218 n., 323; his in
fluence on Gladstone, i. 263, 265 ;
and the Poetry Professorship
at Oxford, i. 269 ; Gladstone ex-
, plains his views, i. 335-342 ; and
the Jewish BiU, ii. 5 ; and Trinity
CoUege, Glenalmond, ii. 203 et
seq., 242, 247 ; on Gladstone's en
gagement to be married, i. 208, ii.
242 ; his conoUtions as a godfather,
i. 208 ; Gladstone's attitude after
secession of, ii. 214, 283-286, 290-
292 ; his abridgment of Lock
hart's Life of Scott, ii. 217, 218,
301 ; the Oxford elections, ii. 373
Howley, W., Archbishop of Canter
bury : and the Jerusalem Bishop
ric, i. 228 ; and Glenalmond, ii.
248
Hubbard, Right Hon. J. G., Glad
stone and Bradlaugh, i. 176
Hutton, R. H, and Cardinal New
man, i. 400, 405
Hymns Ancient and Modem, Glad
stone on, ii. 319

464

INDEX

Ideal of a Christian Church, The, by
Rev. W. G. Ward, i. 296 et seq.
Ignatius, St., ii. 154
Immaculate Conception of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, the, ii. 57
Immortality, natural, ii. 104
Infallibility, the doctrine of, ii. 57,
61
Inglis, Sir Robert, i. 7, 233
Innes, A. Taylor, i. 188
Ireland, the Church in, i. 14, 16, 39 ;
Disestablishment, i. 148 et seq.;
Convocation, i. 159 ; and Glad
stone, ii. 210
Irons, Dr., i. 202
Italy, Gladstone's first visit to, i. 7
Italy, King of, and the power of the
Pope, ii. 31 et seq.
James, Sir Walter H. : the 'Dur
ham letter,' i. 122; Oxford Fel
lowships, i. 221
Jansenism, analogy of, i. 353, 354
Jerusalem, Bishopric of, i. 226 et
seq., 351 ; proposed changes in
scheme, i. 243
Jevons, Professor Stanley, Glad
stone's opinion of his book, ii. 100
Jewish Emancipation BiU, i. 66,
122-124 ; Gladstone votes for, ii. 5;
and Dr. Pusey, ii. 18
Johnston, the Rev. J. O., Life and
Letters of H. P. Liddon, i. 196 n.
Jowett, Benjamin, and Ward, i. 299
Judicial Committee, and the Gorham
case, i. 90 ; a secular tribunal, i.
122 ; and South African Bishops,
i. 144
Keats, John, and The Quarterly, ii.
189
Keble, Rev. John : critidsm of The
Church in its Relation with the State,
i. 17; Canada Clergy Bill and
Colonial Church BiU, i. 124; the
Divorce Bill, i. 136 ; his Profes
sorship of Poetry at Oxford ends,
i. 254
K.enelm Chillingly, Gladstone on, ii.
306
King, Rev. Edward, appointed
Bishop of Lincoln, i. 210
Knox, Alexander, on Church Estab
lishment, i. 17, 28
Kynaston, Dr., of St. Paul's, i. 202
Lacey, Rev. T. A., ii. 73
Laing, S., ii. 113
Lambeth Declaration, the, i. 143

Laud, Archbishop, i. 378
Lavington and Manning, i. 358
Law, Rev. T. G., and Gladstone,
ii. 68, 326
Lewis, Sir George, On the Influence
of Authority in Matters of Opinion,
ii. 101
Lichfield, Bishop of. See Selwyn
Liddon, H. P., Canon of St. Paul's,
i. 194 ; and the eastward position,
i. 195 ; Johnston's Life and Letters
of, i. 196 n. ; refuses a bishopric,
i. 210; University reform, i. 213 ;
ritual judgments, i. 380 ; and the
Archbishops' BiU, i. 394; and
Lord Acton, ii. 187, 188
Lightfoot, J. B., Bishop of Durham,
i. 194
Llandaff, Bishop of, i. 204
Lockhart, J. G., editor of the
Quarterly Review, i. 305 ; and New
man, i. 405 ; Life of Walter Scott,
ii. 217, 301
London, Bishop of. See Blom
field
Lord, James, i. 51
Lowe, Rev. H., i. 170
Lushington, Dr., and the Denison
case, i. 364; on the rubric of
1662, i. 380
Lycurgus, Archbishop of Syra and
Tenos, ii. 63, 64
Lyndhurst, Lord, and Gladstone,
ii. 166
Lyttelton, Arthur, (afterwards)
Bishop of Southampton, and
H. N. Gladstone, ii. 184
Lyttelton, fourth Baron : Glad
stone's letters to, on Church and
Dissenters, i. 48-50; on Jewish
emancipation of the Church, i.
79, 80; on the Divorce BiU, i.
T33, *34 ; on Tracts for the
Times, i. 233, 234 ; on rehgious
education, i. 130, 141 ; on ex
purgating the classics, ii. 243,
244
Lytton, Lord, ii. 306
Macaulay, Lord : his criticism of
The State in its Relation with the
Church, i. 15, 16 ; and Robert
Montgomery, ii. 189
MacColl, Rev. Malcolm, and the
Bonn meeting, ii. 62 ; Civitas Dei,
ii- 318
Mackey, Rev. Donald J., Memoir
of Bishop Forbes, i. 412
Macmillan, G. A., i. 404, ii. 319

INDEX

465

Macmullen, R. G., FeUow of Corpus,
and the Oxford authorities, i.
293, 294, 302
Magee, Bishop, and Disestablish
ment of Irish Church, i. 191
Maintenon, Madame de, ii. 327
Malabari, B. M., letter to, ii. 117
Manning, H. E., Archdeacon (after
wards Cardinal) : Gladstone's
friendship for, i. 8 ; Gladstone's
letters to, on Church Establish
ments, i. 23-28 ; Catholic Chris
tianity and pubhc affairs, i. 29-33 ;
the Scotch Church, i. 33-39 ;
Parhament and Church tempo
ralities, i. 40-43 ; Church disci
pline, i. 52, 60 ; Gladstone's
resignation, i. 67 ; on Royal
Supremacy, i. 100, 101, 104, 105,
111-117; agony of an ancient
Church, i. 102-104 ; rumours
about, i. 105 ; the Judicial Com
mittee and the Church, i. 117, 118 ;
supports the Irish Church Bill,
i. 149, 163 ; Gladstone's private
fears, i. 235, 236 ; the Oxford
address, i. 269, 279 ; changers in
Newman, i. 281-293 ; Gladstone's
article in the Quarterly, i. 307-309 ;
his partiality to the Church of
Rome, i. 329-333> 347 ; Newman's
secession, i. 348-351 ; the Church
of England conflict, i. 352-354;
change in, i. 355-359! and tne
controversy between the Roman
.and Anglican Churches, ii. 23, 26,
27, 32, 35-44, 52-54, 60; the Life
of, ii. 73 ; and the Roman
Cathohc University in Dublin,
ii. 140, 145 ; Gladstone's changed
attitude towards, ii. 214, 287, 288 ;
the House of Commons 'a most
blessed calling,' ii. 234 ; on
prayer and fasting, ii. 266-270,
274-278 ; Gladstone explains his
ideas, ii. 270-274, 277-280; re
ligious education, ii. 281, 282 ;
Purcell's biography of, ii. 338
Margaret Chapel, services at, i. 335,
375, 408
Marriage (see also Divorce) : the
test of Christian civilization, i.
138 ; a rule of, ii. 232
Marriott, Rev. C. : the Oxford Bill,
i. 216 ; Gladstone and the Oxford
elections, ii. 18
Martinou, Miss, Deerbrook, ii. 75
MaskeU, Rev. W. : Gladstone's
criticism of his pamphlet on the
vol. n — 30

Church of England, i. 97 et seq.;
the opportunity of Churchmen,
i- 355
Matheson, Mr., ii. 54
Maurice, Rev. F. D., his dismissal
from Professorship at King's Col
lege, i. 360, 404
Maynooth College, Gladstone on
the grant to, i. 51, 52,62 et seq. ,ii. 4
Mayor, Professor, ii. 60
McAU, Dr., i. 245
Medwyn, Lord, ii. 254
Meyrick, Rev. F. : the Marriage
BiU, i. 135 ; University reform,
i- 215
Miall, Mr., ii. 91
MUdert, Bishop Van, ii. 26
MiU, Dr., and the Jerusalem
Bishopric, i. 247, 248
MiU, James, and Butler, ii. 101
MiU, John Stuart, and W<cstminster,
ii. 85 ; the autobiography of, ii.
97; and Butler, ii. 101 ; his text
book, ii. 193
MUler, Dr., of Greenwich, i. 203
Miracles and will, ii. in
Mivart, Mr. S. G., Happiness in HeU,
ii. 123
Moberly, Rev. George, succeeds
Dr. Hamilton as Bishop of
Salisbury, i. 199
Moir, Bishop of Brechin, death of,
i. 412
Money, Gladstone on the care of,
ii. 429
Montalembert, M., ii. 41
Moore, Rev. D., i. 203
Moray and Ross, Bishop of. See
Eden
Morier, Sir R., i. 184, ii. go
Morley, John (afterwards Viscount),
Life of W.E. Gladstone, i. 1, 64,
65, 120, 130, 179, ii. 317
Morning Herald, The, on Gladstone's
article in the Quarterly, i. 113
Mozley, Rev. J. B. : his appoint
ment, i. 190, 198 ; reform at
Oxford, i. 214 ; on the Vice-
ChanceUor's reply to the address,
i. 295, 296 ; Stanley and Socrates,
ii. 96
Murray, John, publisher, and Glad
stone's article in the Quarterly,
•• 305, 306 ; Beckett's book, ii.
319
Natal, Church matters in, i. 132,
'33
National Review, The, 11. 189

466

INDEX

Nelson, Robert, i. 8
Newcastle, Duke of, Gladstone's
resignation, i. 68
Newdegate, Mr., inspection of con
vents, ii. 46, 53
Newman, Rev. J. H. (afterwards
Cardinal) : his influence on Hope,
i. 13, ii. 14; and the reasons for
Gladstone's resignation, i. 69-74;
result of his secession to Rome,
i- 95, 96, 232, 282, 328, 348, 349;
and the Jerusalem Bishopric, i.
229, 231 ; Tract 90, i. 233-235,
256, 257, 264, 297, 300, 301, 317,
321, 323, 406 ; his influence at
Oxford, i. 260, 261, 262, 327 ; his
position in 1839, i. 263 ; changes
in, i. 281 ; his difficulties, i. 282,
283, 28,6-288; and the Bishops,
i. 291 ; his defence, i. 292 ; Glad
stone's article in the Quarterly,
i. 312-314; the Church's debt
to, i. 318; Hutton's essay on, i.
400 n., 405-408; Gladstone's
opinion of, i. 404 el seq., ii. 72 ;
Gladstone's letter to, ii. 88
Nicholl, Right Hon. J., the Queen's
Advocate, Ecclesiastical Courts
Reform BiU, i. 21, 53, 57
Nineteenth Century, The, article on
Undenominationalism in, ii. 148;
Mrs. Drew's article on St.
Deiniol's in, ii. 219
Nonconformists and the House of
Commons, i. 11, 12 ; and rehgious
education in schools, ii. 125, 143
et seq.
North, Lord, and Fox, ii. 166
Northbourne, Lord, ii. 332
Northcote, Sir Stafford, Gladstone's
letters to, i. 141, ii. 21
Nottingham, the Archdeacon of, ii.
i37
Oakeley, Rev. F., and the British
Critic, i. 289; and Ward, i. 309-
312, 326; resigns Margaret
Chapel, i. 328 ; Gladstone's
opinion of, i. 334, 335, 408
Oaths BUI, Parliamentary, i. 175
Oriel CoUege, Provost of (Hawkins),
Gladstone's letters to, on Tract
90, i. 314-325
Ornsby, R., Memoirs of J. R. Hope-
Scott, i. 227 n., Ii. 203, 204,
207 n., 218 n., 321-323
Ossory, Bishop of, his Charge, i. 287
Owen, Sir Richard, ii. 107
Oxford, Bishop of. See WUberforce

Oxford (see also Universities) :
state of rehgion at, i. 2 et seq.;
University reform, i. 211-225;
theology at, i. 222-225 ; con
test for the Poetry Professor
ship at, i. 254, 255 ; life in, i.
260 ; Gladstone and the elections
at, ii. 1-22, 373-382 ; Self-Govern-
ment Act, ii. 172 ; changes at, ii.
196
Oxford Movement, the, i. 10, 226
et seq.; the Jerusalem Bishopric,
i. 227 et seq., 243, 351 ; object of,
i. 229 ; effect of scheme on Hope,
i. 232 ; Tract 90, i. 234-256,
257, 321 ! Gladstone refuses the
trusteeship, i. 234; Bunsen's and
Gladstone's views, i. 23.S-242, 244-
247 ;¦ proposed changes in scheme,
i. 243 ; Dr. MiU's view, i. 247,
248; the Augsburg Confession,
i. 250 ; rival Churches in the
East, i- 252 ; its two distinctive
features, i. 259 ; Dean Church's
history of, i. 260 n., 261 n., 296 n.,
297 n. ; influence of Newman, i.
261 ; Gladstone's relation to, i.
263-266, 293 ; Gladstone's letter
to The Times, i. 270-278; address
to the Vice-ChanceUor, i. 279;
changes in Newman, i. 281-288;
Newman's defence, i. 292 ; action
of the Heads of Houses, i. 293
et seq.; pubhcation of The Ideal,
i. 297 ; the new test, i. 298, 300 ;
feeling in Oxford, i. 299 ; the
three proposals, i. 301 ; Glad
stone's article on Ward, i. 306-
3°9, 3*3 ; the Heads' proposal,
i. 322; the crisis, i. 328 et seq.;
results of the GoAam case, i.
333 ; Maurice and King's CoUege,
i. 360; the Denison case, i. 363
et seq.; Archbishop Sumner, i.
373 ; Margaret Chapel semces,
i- 375 I the Bennett case, i. 379 ;
Pubhc Worship Regulation Act,
i. 386 et seq., ii. 371 ; Gladstone
on Church Government, ii. 364-
367 ; the Thirty-nine Articles,
ii- 3°7, 37o
Pall Mall Gazette, The, ii. 317
Palmer, Rev. W., editor of The
British Critic: his History of the
Church, i. 271, 406, 407, 410, ii.
23, 174; and the Tracts for the
Times, i. 280; Gladstone on The
British Critic, i. 302-305

INDEX

467

Palmer, Sir Rounds : (afterwards
Earl of Selborne; see also Sel
borne) ; Deceased Wife's Sister
BiU, i. 132; Irish Church BiU,
i. 155, 156; religious education,
ii. 141
Palmerston, Viscount : the Divorce
BUI, i. 136 ; and Gladstone, i. 196 ;
his episcopal appointments, ii. 363
Panizzi, _ Sir A., Gladstone on
Christianity and man, ii. 99
Parker, Rev. Joseph, Gladstone on
reunion and exchange of pulpits,
i. 172
Parhament and Church temporali
ties, i. 41
Parhamentary Churchmen and
Bishops, i. 40
Parliamentary Oaths BUI, i. 175
Pascendi Gregis, Encyclical, and Vati
can degree, ii. 48
Patronage, ecclesiastical, i. 190 et
seq., 342-347
Patteson, Sir J. : Maurice and
King's CoUege, i. 361 ; Cheyne
case, i. 433
Vee\, Sir Robert, and Germany,
i. 228; Gladstone on Church
preferments, i. 342-347 ; influence
on Gladstone, ii. 4 ; education,
ii- 125, 135
Pembroke, Earl of, Letter to, ii.
92
Penal proceedings in Ecclesia, mis
chief of, i. 140
Perrone, Father, on Palmer, i. 407
Persecution, Gladstone's definition
of, ii. 68
Peyrani, Father, ii. 223
Phillimore, Sir R. J. : Gladstone's
letters to, on the Gorham case,
i. 95 ; justification of Parlia
mentary action, i. 99 ; clerical
subscription, i. 138 ; Irish Church,
i. 153, ii. 9 ; the Denison case,
i. 372 ; Cheyne's case, i. 432 ;
Oxford elections, ii. 7-9, 12 ; on
the death of John Gladstone,
ii. 286
PhiUimore, Sir Walter G. F. :
Divorce Court proceedings, i.
137 ; Papal action, ii. 74
Phillips, James, ii. 315
Phillpotts, Henry, Bishop of Exeter,
and the Gorham case, i. 85 ; his
surrender, i. 93 ; Gladstone on,
i. 116 ; on Tract 90, i. 321
PhUpott, H., Bishop of Worcester,
Gladstone on, ii. 294

Pitt, WiUiam, compared with Fox
and Bolingbroke, ii. 166, 167
Pius V., ii. 67
Pius IX. : diplomatic relations with,
i. 65 ; Gladstone's view of the
power of, i. 359, ii. 31 et seq.;
England and the Vatican, ii. 44;
and the kity, ii. 48; his reason
able claims, ii. 55 ; Papal Infalli
bility, ii. 57, 61 ; .and Gladstone,
.«• 73, 395-400
Pius X., ii. 49
Plato's Republic, ii. 164
Poetry Professorship, contest at
Oxford, i. 254 et seq.
Ponsonby, Sir H., Luther in Eng
land, i. 324
Pontifical States, the, ii. 33
Pope, the. See Pius
Potter, Rev. G. W., ii. 105
Prayer and the Divine wiU, Glad
stone on, ii. 409
Piayer-Book, the : ratification of,
i. 165, 169 ; proposal to revise,
i. 430 et seq.; what it represents,
ii. 66, 67
Preaching, Gladstone on the power
of, i. 203
Presbyterian Church, the, i. 33 et
seq., 49, 188; and the young,
ii. 202
Prevost, Sir George, i. 187, ii. 306
Protestantism : Glaalstone on, ii. 3 ;
meaning of, ii. 70
Prussia, King of : the Jerusalem
Bishopric, i. 237 ; his proclama
tion, i. 252
Pubhc Worship Regulation Act, i.
386 et seq.; Gladstone's resolu
tions, ii. 371
PuUer, Father, ii. 73
Punishment, future, ii. 105, 120
PurceU, E. S., his biography of
Manning, ii. 338
Purchas case, i. 376, 381
Pusey, Rev. E. B. : the Divorce
BUI, i. 136 ; and Gladstone, i.
199, 228, 264, 288, 325, 348,
ii. 188 ; Collegiate and Professorial
Teaching and Discipline, i. 211 ;
and the Jerusalem Bishopric, i.
228, 230, 351 ; and the Poetry
Professorship, i. 248, 267 ; Pusey-
ism, i. 270; Tract 90, i. 275;
on the crisis in the Church and
his own position, i. 288-290;
condemned for heresy, i. 294,
344; the Bennett case, i. 379;
Scottish Communion Office, i.

468

INDEX

434, 43S ! °n errors in the Gospel,
ii. 108 ; on eternal punishment,

Quarterly Review, The: Gladstone's
article on Ward, i. 131, 306 et
seq., ii. 377 ; the eastward posi
tion, i. 398 ; on Tupper, ii. 189 ;
the Waldenses, ii. 222
Queen's CoUeges, ii. 136
Radclyffe, Rev. C. E., i. 123
Radstock, Lord, ii. 85
Rainy, Dr., Dis^tabhshment in
Scotland, i. 186
Ramsay, Dean, and Gladstone, i.
414, 429, 439, «• 303, 304
Rawlinson, Professor, i. 202
Reformatio Legum, i. 118
Reformation, factors in the Enghsh,
ii. 348-350
Reinkens, Bishop, ii. 60, 62
Rehgious education in schools, ii.
125 et seq.
Restoration settlement, fragment
on the, ii. 357
Retribution, future, Gladstone on,
ii. 403
Richmond, George, R. A., i. 409
Ridsdale Judgment, ii. 182
Ripon, Marquis of, ii. 72
Robert Elsmere, Gladstone on, ii. 75,
109
Rochester, Bishop of, i. 384
Rogers, Sir F., ii. 300
Roman Catholics (see also Pius LX.),
in Ireland, i. 65 ; Papal aggression,
i. 119; errors of, i. 323; contro
versy with, ii. 23 et seq. ; the Pon
tifical States, ii. 33 ; their increase
in England, ii. 50 ; reasonable
claims of, ii. 55 ; the Bonn meet
ing, ii. 57, 62, 64 ; civil loyalty,
ii. 59 ; their claims, ii. 60, 61 ;
Dublin University, ii. 140, 145 ;
Gladstone's conversation with
DoUinger, ii. 383-391 ; Gladstone
on the Roman question, ii. 391-
395 ; the Vatican Council and the
Old Catholics, ii. 400-402
RomiUy, Lord, ,and Bishop Colenso,
i- 133
Rorison, Dr., the Scottish Office, i.
443-445
Round, Mr., Gladstone's unsuc
cessful opponent at Oxford elec
tions, ii. 4
Royal Supremacy, i. 100, no,
145

RusseU, Dr., President of May-
nooth, ii. 144
RusseU, Lady, ii. 327
RusseU, Right Hon. G. W. E., ii. 326
RusseU, Lord John, afterwards Earl :
his 'Durham letter,' i. n8, 122;
University reform, i. 211 ; and
rehgious education, ii. 134, 138
RusseU, Odo, ii. 45, 46
Russian Church, i. 113
St. Andrews, Bishop of. See Words
worth
St. Davids, Bishop of. See ThirlwaU
St. Deiniol's, foundation and object
of, ii. 219, 451
St. Paul's Cathedral, service at
about 1850, i. 193
St. Paul's, Dean of. See Church
Salisbury, Bishop of. See HamU
ton
Science and opinion, ii. 98
Scotland : patronage question in, i.
20 et seq., 166 ; Established Church
in, i. 34 et seq., 50, 166, 182 et seq.;
veto law, i. 44; Presbyterianism,
i. 168, 172 ; Episcopal Church in,
i. 411 et seq., ii. 201 ; Communion
Office, i. 413, 414 ; pastoral letter
of the Bishops in, ii. 443
Scott, Dr., Master of Balliol, i. 202
Scott, T., ii. 97
Scott, Sir Walter, Gladstone's
opinion of, ii. 217
Selborne, Earl of (see also Palmer,
Sir RoundeU) : Burials BiU, i.
173 ; and Disestablishment, i.
179, 187, 210 ; and law of con
tempt of court, i. 403
Self-denial, self-examination, and
self-observation, Gladstone on,
ii. 152, 157
Selwyn, Bishop of Lichfield, i. 191 ;
and Gladstone, i. 201
Sewell, Rev. W., his outrageous
paradox, i. 102
Shaftesbury, Earl of : Gladstone
on Convocation, i. 170; Pubhc
Worship Act, i. 387
Sheil, Mr., his speech on Maynooth
grant, i. 52
Shepherd v. Bennett, i. 366
Shirley, Rev. W. W., Undogmatic
Christianity, ii. 175
Shorthouse, J. H., ii. 319
Sibthorp, Rev. R. W., i. 276
Sin, the idea of, ii. 87
Skinner, Bishop, Primus of the
Scottish Episcopal CoUege, ii. 248

INDEX

469

Smith, Adam, ii. 193
Smith, Bosworth, i. 179
Socrates, controversy about, ii. 96
Somerset, Duke of, Gladstone on
his book, ii. no
South Africa. See Africa
Spectator, The, and the Bonn meet-
ing, ii. 57
Spencer, Herbert, ii. 98
SpurgTOn, Rev. C. H., Gladstone's
letter to, ii. 324
Stanley, Lord, Gladstone's con
versation with, i. 64
Stanley (Dean) and St. Socrates, ii. 96
Stanley, Hon. Maud, Gladstone's
advice on religion to, ii. 27-31
State and Church, i. 1 et seq., 69
et seq., 197
Stale in its Relation with the Church,
by W. E. Gladstone, i. 12 e( seq.,
45 et seq., 62, 148, ii. 205
Stephen, Sir James, ii. 319
Stokes, Rev. E., i. 126
Stopford, Archdeacon, i. 163
Strahan, A., i. 168
Strauss, Herr, Gladstone on, ii. 190
Stundists, their belief, ii. 71
Suffield, Rev. R. R., ii. 68
Sumner, Dr., Archbishop of Canter
bury, and the Denison case, i. 363
et seq., 373
Suther, Bishop of Aberdeen, i. 432
Syra, Archbishop of, ii. 304
Tait, Dr. A. C, Archbishop of Can
terbury, and Burial BiU, i. 174;
his illness, i. 1.90 ; and the Jeru
salem Bishropric, i. 229 ; and
Ward, i. 299 ; and ritualism, i.
375 ; the Pubhc Worship Act,
i. 386 et seq.; his sermons, ii. 82
Temple, Dr., Bishop of Exeter, i.
191 ; Essays and Reviews, i. 199
Tenos, Bishop of, ii. 71
Terrot, Bishop of Edinburgh, i.
421
Theism, Gladstone on, u. 406
Theology at the Universities, i. 222
et seq.
'Third Order,' Gladstone on a,
Thirlwall, Bishop of St. Davids:
Remains, Literary and Theological,
oi; i. 151 u. ; and Gladstone, i.
161, 192, 201, 202, ii. 86
Thirty-nine Articles, the, i. 242,
243, 3°°, 323, 324 ; rules of con
struction for, ii. 367; Gladstone
on, ii. 367 et seq.

Thomson, W., Archbishop of York :
Gladstone and the Welsh Epis
copate, i. 203 ; and Puseyism, i.
272
Times, The: Dr. Liddon's letter, i.
183 ; Bosworth Smith's letters,
i. 184 ; King of Prussia's procla
mation, i. 252 ; Gladstone's letter
to, i. 270-279 ; comments on
Gladstone's article, i. 313
Tracts for the Times, i. 11, 254, 270;
Tract 90, i. 233, 255, 256, 275,
281, 297, 300, 320, 405, 406
Transubstantiation, ii. 26
Trench, R. C, Archbishop of
Dublin, and the Irish Prayer-
Book, i. 153 ; Gladstone on the
Irish Estabhshed Church, i. 157-
160
Trent, CouncU of, and Dr. Dollinger,
ii. 69
Trinity CoUege. See Glenalmond
Tupper, Martin, and the National
Review, u. 189
Ultramontanism, ii. 49, 50
Uniformity, Act of, i. 218
Unitarianism, Gladstone on, ii. 199
Universalism, ii. 103
Universities, the (see also Oxford) :
position in the House of Com
mons of members of, i. 174 ; re
form at, i. 211 et seq.; theology
at, i. 222, 223
Vatican, the. See Roman Catho
lics
Vaudois, the. See Waldenses
Vaughan, Dr., Master of the
Temple, i. 202
Veto law in Scotland, i. 44
Victoria, Queen, Gladstone's letters
to, on Church and legislation,
i. 383-386 ; on Bishop Wilber-
force's death, ii. 308
Voysey, Rev. C, ii. 102
Wackerbarth, Mr., Tracts of, i. 276
Waldenses, the, ii. 197, 222, 223
Walpole, Right Hon. S. H, and
Convocation, i. 171, ii. 172
Ward, Mrs. Humphry, Robert
Elsmere, ii. 75, 109
Ward, Rev. W. G. : The Ideal of a
Christian Church, i. 296 et seq.;
Newman's influence over, i. 296,
297 ; Oxford's treatment of, i. 297
et seq., 326 ; Gladstone's article
on, i. 307-314 ; leaves Oxford,

47°

INDEX

i. 328 ; Gladstone's letter to, ii.
250; Gladstone explains his vote
for, ii. 376-378
Warter, Rev. J. W., ii. 14
Waterland, Mr., and Arian sub
scription, i. 139
Watson, Life of Ellen, ii. 188
Wellesley, Dean of Windsor, i. 190 ;
his death, i. 206 et seq.
WeUesley, Hon. and Rev. G., i.
360
Wellesley, Hon. Mrs., i. 208
WelUngton, Duchess of, i. 208
Wellington, Duke of, Gladstone on,
ii- 150
Welsh Episcopate, i. 203
Whewell, Mr., ii. 109
Whiston, Mr., i. 139
Whitworth, Rev. W. A., i. 408
Whyte, Rev., ii. 238
Wickham, Mrs. See Gladstone,
Agnes
Wickham, Edward, ii. 196
Wilberforce, Robert, the Ven.
Archdeacon, i. 367 ; on the
Eucharist, ii. 212
Wilberforce, Samuel, Bishop of
Oxford and, Winchester : Glad
stone on result of Gorham case,
88-90 ; ecclesiastical patronage,
191 ; Gladstone's complaint of,
196; and the Poetry Profes
sorship, i. 269; the Bishop of
London's Charge, i. 369-371 ;
Gladstone on the status quo, i.

377 ; Purchas Judgment, i. 381 ;
the Scottish Office, i. 438 ; Glad
stone's- opinion of, i. 215, 308;
his tragic death, ii. 215, 308; an
address to, ii. 302
Wilkinson, Mr., Dalmatia, ii. 109
Williams, Rev. Isaac : Reserve in com
municating Religious Knowledge, i.
254 ; candidate for Oxford Poetry
Professorship, i. 254, 255, 266-
268 ; his withdrawal, i. 256
WiUiams, Rev. G., ii. 309
Winchester, Bishop of. See Browne
Windsor, Dean of. See WeUesley
Wolff, Rev. Joseph, i. 371
WooUey, Rev. J., University Col
lege, Sydney, ii. 135
Worcester, Bishop of. See Philpott
Wordsworth, Rev. , Charles, first
Warden of Glenalmond (after
wards Bishop of St. Andrews), and
Gladstone, ii. 4 ; his gifts to Glenal
mond, ii. 206 ; explains his vote
at the Oxford elections, ii. 373-367
Woro^sworth, Rev. Christopher,
Master of Trinity (afterwards
Bishop of Lincoln), and Glad
stone, i. 60, 74
World and the flesh, the, Glad
stone on, ii. 430-433
Wortley, Right Hon. J. Stuart, ii. 10
York, Archbishop of. See Thomson
Zola, Lourdes, ii. i<po

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by the loftiest principles, at work upon a great theme in a spirit of absolute
impartiality." — New York Tribune.
" A wonderful and satisfying portrait ... an absorbing story of palpitat
ing hfe." — The Evening Sun, New York.
" Here is no loose rambling train of anecdote and incident, no mere
arrangement of document and drawing of inferences, but a free and flowing
narrative, a firm-jointed, whole biography, a stately, balanced, fascinating
book." — William Garret Brown, in The Independent.
" A huge success." — Chicago Post.
"The work as a whole is a model of biographical writing ... an in
valuable addition to the library. It is not simply to be read, it is well worth
studying." — Chicago Chronicle.
" It is a great life of a great man." — Boston Berald.

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THE
OXFORD MOVEMENT
1833-1845
By R. W. CHURCH, M.A., D.C.L.
Cloth, l2mo, $1.50 net
" I must say distinctly what I want to do, which is, not to pretend to write
a history of the movement, or to account for it or adequately to judge it and
put it in its due place in relation to the religious and philosophical relation
of the time, but simply to preserve a contemporary memorial of what seems
to me to have been a true and noble effort which passed before my eyes, a
short scene of religious earnestness and aspiration, with all that was in it of
self-devotion, affectionateness, and high and refined and varied character,
displayed under circumstances which are scarcely intelligible to men of the
present time ; so enormous have been the changes in what was assumed and
acted upon, and thought practicable and reasonable, ' fifty years since.' For
their time and opportunities, the men of the movement, with all their im
perfect equipment and their mistakes, still seem to me the salt of their
generation." — Extract from letter to Lord Acton.
ESSAYS
ON SOME OF THE
MODERN GUIDES TO ENGLISH THOUGHT
IN MATTERS OF FAITH
By RICHARD HOLT HUTTON
Cloth, i2mo, $1.50 net
This book contains a collection of notable essays on writers who lived
during that period ofthe nineteenth century covered by Lothbury's "Ecclesi
astical and Religious Correspondence of Gladstone."
An essay on Thomas Carlyle opens the book, and he is graphically
described as a man whose personal judgment of men and things was every
where sought after. The next two chapters are on the two great Oxford
thinkers, Cardinal Newman and Matthew Arnold, both great masters of the
style in which sweetness and light predominate. George Eliot as author in
chapter four is followed in chapter five with her life and letters. The edition
of the latter is said by the leading critics to have been " excellently done."
The volume closes with an essay on Frederick Denison Maurice, whose whole
teaching was a protest against the delusion of redemption through opinion,
whether right or wrong, and an assertion of redemption through the life of
God incarnate in the nature of man.

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A Present-Day View of Modern England
A HISTORY OF MODERN
ENGLAND
By HERBERT PAUL
The set complete in five volumes. Cloth, 8vo, $12.50 net
" Mr. Paul has a vivid, picturesque style that never fails to be suggestive,
stimulating the reader's imagination and arousing the interest the more one
gets into the subject. He has, moreover, the faculty of getting at the heart
of things ; he penetrates the apparent meaning, and sets out the real gist
of the matter in trenchant, forceful English." — Philadelphia Public Ledger.
" Mr. Paul has that particular recommendation of being able to evoke
again in the reader of to-day a live interest in political questions settled long
ago, and to reintroduce into the politics of the mid-century the personal
element so likely to be wanting in the merely constitutional history. . . . All
in all, the author has given us a history instinct with the life of the English
nation. He has the rare virtue of understanding his countrymen, and,
though he has the pride of an Englishman in the achievements of England, he
is scrupulously just in treating of her political activity. . . . Indeed, besides
a full account of English politics and intellectual life, we have a practically
complete history of European affairs during the same period." — The New
York Times.
" But whether he is describing the conduct of a war or the changing
political conditions at home, Mr. Paul is equally interesting. One gets in a
paragraph, or even in a sentence, a side-light on a statesman and his relation
to his time that is positively enlightening. Besides the chronicles of the
material progress of his country, Mr. Paul drops in a page or two occasionally
on the books which were the outcome of contemporary events or national
moods, or which influenced national movements, or on the attitude of the
church or science. He enlivens pages which might be as dry as those of
Hansard, with bits of parliamentary repartee and personal characterization
which make them charming reading, never, however, forgetting his story,
but making everything he writes add to its progress and the ease and the
pleasure of following it." — The Chicago Tribune.

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STUDIES IN
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY
By JAMES BRYCE
Author of " The American Commonwealth "
Cloth, 8vo, $3.00 net (postage extra)
Twenty Sketches of Eminent Men of the Nineteenth Century, with
whom (excepting Lord Beaconsfield) the author had a personal
and in most cases an intimate acquaintance
The first and last of these studies relate to persons whose fame has gone
out into all lands, but about whom very much remains to be said. &l the
other eighteen sketches some deal with eminent men whose names are still
familiar, but whose personalities have begun to fade from the minds of the
present generation. The rest treat of persons who came less before the
public but whose brilliant gifts and solid services to the world make them
equally deserving to be remembered with honor. These studies are, however,
hardly to be regarded as biographies, even in miniature. The author's aim
has been rather to analyze the character and powers of each of the persons
described, and as far as possible to convey the impression which each made
the daily converse of life.
LETTERS OF LORD ACTON
TO MARY GLADSTONE
Edited by HERBERT PAUL
Author of " A History of Modern England ".
With two plates
Cloth, Svo, $3.00 net (postage extra)
" ' Lord Acton's Letters to Mary Gladstone ' show, as was to be expected,
an extraordinary acquaintance with books and facts and men." — The Evening
Post. "The recipient ofthe letters which form this volume is Mrs. Drew, that
daughter of Gladstone's who lived with him from the time of her own birth,
in the middle of the last century, to the day of his death. ... As contribu
tions to history, and to the biography of Gladstone, previous to 1885, these
letters from Lord Acton to Mrs. Drew will be found illuminating from a side
not so often displayed to the public. Lord Acton was a keen and shrewd
observer and a man of strong and matured opinions, but he was the very
reverse of a newspaper man or news-making politician. A liberal in theory,
he was a strict conservative by tradition and association, and an aristocrat in
spite of his love for the historical ideal of liberty which he found realized in
the American republic." — The Brooklyn Eagle.

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