v5 \

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PUSEYISM IN POWER;

A TRACT FOR THE TIMES

EXEMPLIFYING

THE "TRACTARIAN" SPIRIT OF THE TIMES.

/

'..,1:!:.[A," Sec.

BY THE REY, STEPHEN KAY,
a OF "TRAVELS AND RESEARCHES IN CAFFRAR:

¦,r-

" Can ye not discern the signs of the times ? ''

LONDON:
SOLD By JOHN MASON, 66, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1844.

[The writer alone is responsible for the views and opinions maintained
in the following pages.]

ROCHE, PRINTER, 25, HOXTON-SQUARE, LONDON.

PUSEYISM IN POWER.

" The Clergy of the National Church, and they alone, are entitled to the
respect and obedience of the people as their lawful guides and governors in
spiritual things : they alone are duly commissioned to preach the word of
God, and to administer his holy sacraments." — Bishop of London.

"In times," says the excellent Bishop Home, "when
erroneous and noxious tenets are diffused, all men should
embrace some opportunity to bear their testimony against
them." " It will be allowed," says another devoted and
justly celebrated Divine of the Church of England, " by
every dispassionate observer, that, if erroneous and noxious
tenets were ever diffused among men in any age, they are
eminently so in the present. I am so far, however, from
considering this in the light of a misfortune to the general
cause of truth, that I am persuaded purposes of the most
important nature are to be answered by it, in the course
of Divine Providence. When did the Gospel ever triumph
more gloriously than when, in the first ages, Celsus and
Porphyry drew their pens, Diocletian and Julian
their swords, bent upon its annihilation ? " Truth dreads
nothing more than inattention ; and the Gospel has ever
gained by investigation. It was cradled in the storm, and
reared amidst universal opposition. "When that oppo
sition ceased, and the great ones of the earth smiled upon
and fostered it, worse than the Egyptian darkness of
ignorance and delusion overspread Christendom."
With multitudes, unacquainted with Popish history,
and with the subtle spirit and principles of Jesuitism,
argument, respecting the danger of such a spirit, passes
a2

4 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
for mere conjecture and needless alarm ; and we are told,
forsooth, that there is now too much light and religion in the
country, to admit of Popish tyranny ever again becoming
injuriously prevalent in England. To such, the most
striking signs of the times are almost wholly uninstructive,
and nothing is seen in the various "feelers" put forth by
"the beast," beyond the bare circumstantials of the
moment. They can see nothing arousing in the shameless
evasion of Parliamentary oaths by Popish Peers and Jesu
itical Commoners, nor yet in the manifest yearnings of
certain Puseyistic legislators over monastic ruins or
"religious houses;" — nothing distressing in the low tone
of truly Protestant feeling in general, nor yet in the
amalgamating sympathies of distinguished members of the
Anglican Church, as well as of some of the most noble
families in the kingdom, with numbers in the Church of
Rome ; — nothing startling in the strongly urged proposition
of certain leading Statesmen, that the Popish hierarchy of
the sister country should be immediately elevated to a
level with that of the Protestant Establishment, or at
least endowed by the State, nor yet in the comparative
supineness of both Houses of Parliament, respecting ^wreZy
Protestant principle and Biblical truth; — nothing to be
very seriously deprecated in the Popish principles, aye, and
practices too, so stoutly maintained at our principal Uni
versities ; — in the Puseyistic bias of a very large proportion
of the English Clergy, and of not a few of the Bishops
also, nor yet in the ardent longings of these men (suffi
ciently brought out by the late Education scheme) to
secure a national acknowledgment of their imperious
claims, and of their exclusive right to lay hands upon the
entire of the rising generation, as also to govern and
control all the religious movements of the country.
Believing, as we do, that masked Romanism is much more
to be dreaded than undisguised Popery, we are anxious to
stir up attention to what even Puse3'ism is prepared to do,
luhere it has power.
Within less than fifty miles of one of the most ancient

PUSEYISM IN POWER. . O
cities in the kingdom, a certain personage, of some dis
tinction, rules a small speck of God's earth, comprising
eighteen hundred or two thousand acres ; and embracing
a parish, of which, of course, he is the patron, with a
population of four or five hundred souls. Most of these
are settled in a little rural village ; which, with the ex
ception of two or three small plots of freehold, forms part
and parcel of the estate. In this, there is a little old
church; and, not far from that, a small Methodist chapel.
The latter has been standing some nine or ten years : but
Wesleyan Methodism has been established in the parish
for more than thirty years; and, until very recently, its
Ministers have been permitted to prosecute their labours,
and its society and congregation to enjoy their privileges,
without let or hinderance. About two years ago, however,
circumstances rendering the appointment of a Curate
necessary, a young protege of the patron, just fresh from
college, and fully charged with Puseyism, stepped into
the office. This gentleman had not been in the village
many days, before he openly vowed vengeance against
nonconformity; and declared his determination to drive
it out of the place ; asserting his own high authority, his
"apostolical succession," and his exclusive "title to the
respect and obedience of the people, as their lawful guide
and governor in spiritual things." Nor was he long in dis
covering the availability of a certain "power behind the
throne," the constitutional weakness and tendencies of
which were well-calculated to sustain his views and pur
poses. Thus backed and emboldened, he scrupled not
to mark every one who ventured, even respectfully, to
question the scriptural character of his pretensions, ren
dering them henceforward the subjects of every possible
species of annoyance and persecution. A regular system
of espionage has ever since been in full operation, reporting
every one that enters "that place," — the Wesleyan chapel:
the Popish scheme,, moreover, of exclusive dealing, has
been rigidly adopted ; and every one, who at all attempts
to maintain liberty of conscience, or the right of private

6 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
judgment, is made to feel the consequence, directly or
indirectly, in reputation or in circumstances, most dis
tressingly. Pew indeed may cry aloud ; and why ? Because
they are afraid ; or because, Negro-like, their energies are
crushed : " They have taken the blood out of us," said one of
the sufferers; "therefore are we spiritless." There are
extremities of suffering which are speechless. " The greatest
agonies, the agonies of death, are often mute, from mere
want of physical power. A sudden blow, a fit of paralysis,
may be deeply and vitally injurious, yet inaudible. What
beholder would think of saying, 'Why he is not hurt; he
does not complain ? ' It is the most frightful circumstance
of some disorders that the patient can give no account of
them. For this reason, how affecting, how painful, the
ailments of infancy ! The deepest mental griefs are often
equally silent. The widow, who is a widow indeed, says
nothing. No one expects her to say anything. She
moves along, a voiceless pageant of woe ; yet awakening
and receiving, everywhere, the deepest sympathies of man
kind. The orphan again, does not, and cannot, complain.
What is the use of it ? Intense anxiety also is inaudible.
The slave, though a strong full grown man, generally
drudges on. A murmur rises to his lips ; but the eye of
his master, {vultus instantis tyranni,) hands full of work,
and a prostrate soul, keep him more than silent." Even
so in the case before us ; the particulars of which we have
carefully and repeatedly scrutinized; and the spirit of
which, cannot but be regarded as, at once, anti-Christian
and oppressive. In sketching it, we are anxious, as fully
as possible, to adopt the motto, "Principles, not persons ;
measures, not men."
I. Its PETTY Tyranny.
This, nearly all grades of society upon the estate have
felt, less or more. It appears to have commenced with
the Tenantry. There are but sixteen or eighteen
farmers in the entire parish. Up to the spring of 1842,
several of these, with their families, were in the habit of
attending the Wesleyan chapel, less or more, evei-y Lord's

PUSEYISM IN POWER. /
day ; one only, however, was a regular member and office
bearer : the consequence of which, he and his family have
since been made to feel most severely. This individual,
who was born upon the estate, is now upwards of fifty
years of age ; and the farm he occupied had been in the
family the greater part of a century, uninterruptedly.
Being utterly unconscious of any ground of complaint
against him, and consequently expecting, not only to
spend the residue of his days upon it himself, but to hand
it down to some other branch of the family, he had freely
expended considerable sums of money in drainage, fencing,
and the erection of cattle-sheds, &c., &c. Shortly after
his arrival, the young Curate called upon him ; and, in the
course of conversation, boldly asserted his priestly author
ity, the exclusive rights of his " order," their power " to
pardon and absolve," and his determination to up-root
"Methodism;" upon which, Mr.  ventured frankly to
express his opinion, and especially upon the latter point;
intimating that the determination might, perhaps, be more
easily formed than executed. After this, very few weeks
elapsed before the latter received an official order to quit.
For this, no reason whatever was at first assigned, except
ing a whisper, that the bearer understood it was because
he was a Methodist. On applying to the Steward, who
greatly regretted the circumstance, but stated that he had
no control in the case, he was unable to elicit any further
information. He therefore proceeded directly to the land
lord himself, who, for some time, seemed anxious to evade
the question; but who, at length, admitted that he had
nothing to allege against him, excepting that he under
stood that " he was a Methodist and a Local Preacher ;"
adding, that as he was himself " a Churchman, he was, of
course, bound to support the Church ; that the parish was
now under the care of a young Clergyman, fully adequate
to all the duties of the sacred office; and that, as the
Minister of the parish, he must insist upon his being
respected." "You cannot but be aware. Sir," said Mr.
 , " that I have been a Wesleyan Methodist for nearly

8 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
thirty years, and a Local Preacher during the greater
part of that time : but I never before heard it so much
as intimated that there was anything at all objectionable
in this. I have ever deemed it my duty to render all due
respect to the Clergyman of the parish, and some portion
of my family are in the habit of attending church almost
every Lord's day." The decree, however, was gone forth ;
and, without any further show of reason whatever, the
poor man was, at the earliest possible period, ejected ;
and as no other farm presented itself, circumstances com
pelled him, at once, to submit to a still further sacrifice,
in the immediate disposal of his stock and agricultural
implements. His fate filled all the rest with fear; so
that no farmer, nor farmer's family, have since dared to
be seen in the chapel, on any occasion whatever.
The Tradesmen of the parish feel the evil in question,
more than even the farmers themselves. The first of this
class upon whom Puseyistic vengeance fell, was the village
butcher ; who, until now, had for years been quietly and
successfully pursuing his calling, as did his father before
him, in the same place. But no sooner was he reported
as a Nonconformist, and a zealous supporter of the Wes
leyan Sunday-school, than he was proscribed, instanter,
and injured to the uttermost; — plain intimations being
given, in high quarters, that neither tenants nor labourers
were henceforward to deal with him ; and another person
brought forward, in whose favour patronage and power
have ever since been exerted as extensively and effectually
as possible. The poor old builder (resident in the parish
between thirty and forty years) became the next victim
of clerical intolerance. As far as possible, this individual
had the whole of his employment taken away at a stroke ;
and, as if to perpetuate the injury thus inflicted, his
principal workman was subsequently enticed away, and
actually furnished with means to set up against his
master. The patroness, moreover, one day gave his aged
wife pretty plainly to understand what the family might
further expect if, instead of going to church, they stiU

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 9
persisted in attending the chapel.* At the close of the
year, the Curate and his companion called upon the shoe
maker, who was in the habit of attending church occasionally,
but who was nevertheless a Wesleyan ; and after settling
their account, they said, " Now,  , if you continue to
attend the Methodist chapel, we can no longer employ you ;"
reminding him, moreover, that the principal Churchwarden
was one of his best customers, whose custom, to the amount
of £15 or £20 per annum, was forthwith and complete !^
taken away. There are but two shops in the village ;
one of which is kept by a God-fearing man, the other by
an ungodly one. Upon the latter, all possible favours are
now heaped, whilst his godly neighbour is placed under
the ban, in a manner every way worthy of the most palmy
days of Popery itself. -f-

* One might almost imagine that this lady had been under the tutorship
of the Bishop of Exeter. " During the recent progress of Bishop Phillpots "
(says the 'Falmouth Packet,' October, 1836) "through Cornwall, a circum
stance occurred, at St Ives, which has occasioned a very strong sensation in
the town. The Rev. J. Malkin, a Clergyman of respectable character, and
Curate of St Ives, went to meet the Bishop, as was his duty, at Lalant. His
Lordship, having listened to secret accusers, told the reverend gentleman that
he had a serious charge to make against him; for he had been credibly
informed that he (the Curate of St Ives) was in the habit of attending the
conventicle. To this the Curate replied, he had not been in a conventicle for
the last two years. His Lordship then said, that he had been informed that
his wife and family went to those places. The Curate rejoined, that he could
not dictate to his wife, nor prevent her from occasionally attending a Methodist
meeting, if she felt inclined to do so. ' If, then,* said the Bishop, ' you
cannot command your wife and famUy, Sir, not to visit such places, you are
not fit to be a Minister of the Establishment' The Curate, thus publicly
addressed by his Diocesan, indignantly replied, ' My Lord, I received this
gown from your Lordship's hands, and I now return it to you without a
blemish.' The inhabitants of St. Ives have sabseribed a handsome piece of
plate, to be presented to their ejected Curate."
f One of the most powerful and formidable abettors of this starving system
was, a few days ago, literally starved to death, amidst the greatest plenty :
with all the comforts and luxuries of life at his very lips, he has rapidly wasted
away, under the most terrible gnawings of hunger ! Not many months ago,
this gentleman was "flourishing lite the green bay-tree," hale, strong, and
one of the finest looking men in the neighbourhood. A distressing and
irremediable affection of the throat, however, rendered him incapable of

10 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
The Labouring Classes, Servants, and Paupers,
are all likewise made to feel their dependence most
pitiably. It is worthy of remark, however, that as many
as evince no concern whatever, either about religion or the
existing state of morals, are allowed to proceed undis
turbed ; whilst the bare whisper of vital godliness, or of a
temperance lecture, has again and again stirred up, to
fierceness itself, the fiery zeal of this spiritual " Governor."
One of the labourers on the estate, after many years of
confessedly approved service, was most unceremoniously
discharged, at a moment's notice, simply because, to the
offensiveness of his religious tenets, he had added certain
zealous and praiseworthy efforts, promotive of temperance
amongst his neighbours. The displeasure of "her lady
ship " being dreaded, no farmer in the parish, after this,
dared to employ this cast-off labourer : hence, with his
wife, (on the eve of confinement, which, indeed, was
actually brought on by the grief thus occasioned,) and
three or four small children, wholly dependent upon his
weekly earnings, he was at once reduced to a state of
absolute beggary. After making various unsuccessful

swallowing, even the smallest sacramental crumb, without the greatest pain and
difficulty; and he, at length, refused to take even that, at the hands of the
Curate, having no longer confidence in his Popish principles, and being
confessedly disgusted with his anti- Christian spirit and practice! Another
of the party, in the very prime of life, and only just married, was recently
hurried into eternity, in a state of mind the most benighted and wretched that
can well be conceived. The writer is credibly informed, that a day or two
prior to his death, a friend proposed calling in a pious neighbour to pray
with him. "No," said he, "I'll have none of those d  s about me."
" Pray whither, then," said the other, " can you expect to go, in such a spirit ? "
"If," replied the unhappy man, " there be no room for me in heaven, I shall
find a place somewhere." He at length died, where he had lived, in a public-
house ; — suddenly, and unexpectedly, whilst all around were fast asleep !
" Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth, before whom the wicked
melt away." (Psalm cxii. 10.) " They shall not be planted ; yea, they shall
not be sown ; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth. He shall blow
upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as
stubble: as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind cut of the fioor, and as
the smoke out of the chimney." (Isaiah xl. 24; Hosea xiii. 3.)

PUSEYISM IN POWER. ll
applications for work, he, at length, laid the particulars
of his case before a neighbouring Magistrate, who advised
him forthwith to lay them before the Board of Guardians,
which he did, and immediately obtained an order for ten
shillings per week, chargeable upon the parish of his perse
cutors ! * But, even after this, the Steward discharged
the whole of his household servants, simply and avowedly,
because they were Wesleyans, or determined to attend the
Wesleyan ministry. It is but just to this gentleman, how
ever, to state, that he gave them the highest character, as
servants ; that he confessedly entertains a high opinion of
Wesleyan Methodism ; and that he was never before
known to interfere with it, directly or indirectly. Never
theless, such is the humbling position in which he now
feels himself placed, that he evidently fears to afford it the
slightest countenance.
II. Its SPURIOUS Charity.
In the carrying out of this system of intimidation and
coercion, every institution in the parish has been rendered
less or more subservient. Now one of the grand charac-

* The following will show how Mr. Wesley remonstrated with those who,
in his day, dismissed servants, and deprived the poor of employment, on the
ground of nonconformity ; and may be instructive here. We quote his own
-words, as addressed to a persecutor of this class : — " You employed A. B. for
several years. By your own account he was an honest, diligent man. You
had no objection to him but his following ' this way.' For this reason you
turn him off In a short time, having spent his little all, and having no
supply, he wants bread. So does his family, too, as well as himself Before
he can get into other business to procure it, for want of convenient food to
eat, and raiment to put on, he sickens and dies. This is not an imaginary
scene. I have known the case, though too late to remedy it. And what
then? What then ! You are a murderer ! ' O earth, cover thou not his
blood!' No ; it doth not. ' The cry thereof hath entered into the ears of the
Lord God of Sabaoth.' And God requireth it at your hands; and mil
require it in an hour when you think not For you have as effectually mur
dered that man, as if you had stabbed him to the heart. It is not I, then, who
ruin and starve that family: it is you, — you who call yourself a Protestant !
You who cry out against the persecuting spirit of the Papists ! Ye fools and
blind ! What are ye better than they ? Why, Edmund Bonner would have
starved the heretics in prison ; whereas you starve them in their own houses J"
— Wesley's Works, vol. viii., p. 127.

\2 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
teristics of " the world," as described by the Son of God
himself, is the " love of its own," but of Christian charity,
it is written, " she seeketh not her own ;" even to call the
former, therefore, by the name of the latter, is a gross and
deceptions misappropriation of terms. The spirit of
"love and charity," enjoined at the sacramental table, is
unquestionably one which extends, not to friends or
partisans only, but to " neighbours," of every class and
grade ; — a spirit, moreover, which speaketh on this wise,
if even " thine enemy hunger, feed him ; and if he thirst,
give him drink :" while " pure religion and undefiled
before God and the Father is this. To visit the fatherless
and the widow in their affliction, and to keep ourselves
unspotted from the world." But, as to the amount of this
spirit, exhibited in the systematic exclusiveness which is
now extensively and increasingly manifest, and which
would leave both the widow and the fatherless to perish,
unless willing unreservedly to yield the right of private
judgment, we leave it with facts to state.
A poor aged widow, of eighty-four, who has resided in
the parish for more than forty years, who has brought up
a large family in honest respectability, whose character is
altogether unimpeachable, and through whose instru
mentality Wesleyan Methodism was first introduced,
because still a determined Nonconformist, is, as deter
minedly, shut out of every public and private charity over
which Church influence can be at all exerted; and is
therefore only just kept out of the workhouse by a little
eleemosynary aid, which private individuals (as privately
as possible) add to her parish pittance of two shillings or
half-a-crown a week. " If," said the Curate, to this
" widow indeed," " you do not come to church, while
living, it may become a question as to whether we shall
allow you to come in, when dead! " " O," replied the
good old woman, " that will not give me the slightest
uneasiness ; as it will not, cannot, deprive me of my
passport into heaven."
The Village School, the only day-school in the village.

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 13
being wholly under patronial influence, might seem to
have been entirely surrendered to Puseyistic power: no
poor child, whose parents have exhibited anything like
insubordination to clerical rule, being any longer allowed
to enjoy the benefit of patronial benevolence. The in
dividual, in charge, moreover, has, from the first, served
the purposes of the "Governor" admirably, keeping her
Argus eye upon every poor neighbour; and, by a wily
sinuosity of disposition, acquainting herself with every
movement ; affecting to sympathize with the sufferers, the
more effectually to aid her inquisitorial employers ; and
reporting, instanter, everything at all calculated to foster the
bitterness of the latter, or to rivet the chains of the former.
This creature's brother-in-law was immediately placed
upon the farm whence the poor "Methodist" was driven;
and the favoured butcher also, is one of her nearest re
latives ; — facts, which render further observation upon this
point wholly superfluous.
Until Puseyism arrived, Episcopalianism was here almost
wholly asleep as to Sunday-schools. Then, however, one
was forthwith established ; not indeed to gather together
the children of negligent parents belonging to the Church, so
much as to break up the long-established Wesleyan school.
The Curate, indeed, scrupled not openly to avow his
" determination " in this matter also ; in which he has,
unhappily, been but too successful ; the children, cruelly
wrested out of the hands of affectionate and gratuitious
teachers, being now nearly all cooped up, under the care of
a carnal and irreligious mercenary or two, hired for the
purpose. To render this piece of influence the more
stringent, a certain piece of land has been appropriated;
and (under the exclusive direction of the Curate) divided
into allotments, as potatoe-grounds: the rental of which
is said to be applied in aid of this school. Under the
guidance of pure benevolence, such a measure would, of
course, have been not only highly laudable, but really and
extensively beneficial : but, instead of this, like everything
else at all available, it is rendered part and parcel of the

14 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
great engine of persecution. Hence, all were distinctly
given to understand that no Nonconformist would be
allowed to participate in the benefit of this arrangement,
nor yet any member of the Temperance Society; no, nor
any one who, directly or indirectly, encouraged either one
or the other.
A Clothing Club also has been established; professedly,
of course, as the handmaid of charity; but, in fact, as
another tool of tyranny. Like most other kindred insti
tutions, it proposes to supply the poor, in winter, with the
comforts so generally and urgently called for, at that
season of the year ; requiring from each, desirous of bene
fiting thereby, a trifling contribution weekly or monthly.
The first of its rules provides, "that the management of
this Club shall be in the hands of the Vicar and Curate : "
and the eleventh, "that any Member, being convicted
before a Magistrate, of any offence, either against morals,
or the laws of the realm; or being guilty of any open
offence against the order or discipline of the Church of
England, shall be expelled the Club, and forfeit all sub
scriptions." At the foot of a copy of these rules, hung
up at the church doors, and duly signed, was the following
written, "N.B. Attention is particularly directed to the
second clause of Rule XI. ; which will be strictly enforced."
Now at the Christmas distribution, no Nonconformist was
allowed, in any way whatever, to enjoy the least benefit
from this Club, although several had been regular sub
scribers to it. Had any of them been "convicted, before
a Magistrate, of any offence" whatever, "either against
morals or the laws of the realm ? " No : nor so much as
charged. The reader, therefore, will easily conceive on
what grounds their rights were thus trampled under foot,
and they themselves cast out, as unworthy of a place
within the pale even of common benevolence ; and that in
the very depth of winter/ In the estimation of these
reverend managers, indeed, nonconformity appears to be
a damning sin ; whilst licentiousness, the most gross, would
seem to be but a venial one ; for some of the most godless

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 15
characters in the parish notoriously bask in their smile,
and mere attendance at church serves as a sure passport
to privilege. This, therefore, as touching the spirit in
volved, wiU lead us to remark more particularly upon, —
III. Its low Morality and unscriptural Basis.
We say not that incentives are held out designedly to
promote immorality ; but such is unquestionably the tend
ency of the course pursued. Hence, one of the greatest
drunkards in the parish, who was some time ago induced
to join the Temperance Society, no sooner heard it inti
mated that no member of that Society was to occupy
any of the potatoe-grounds, above mentioned, than he
forthwith violated his pledge, and returned to his former
habits ; but no objection whatever was raised against him
on account of these. He gained his object, in fact, by again
becoming a drunkard. Another of the same class, who
has for years been a source of indescribable grief to an
aged and pious mother {as the Clergyman himself well
knows) was nevertheless one of the first upon whom the
privilege was conferred; whilst his brother, long regarded
as one of the most exemplary characters in the neigh
bourhood, is frequently and opprobriously denounced,
because a determined and zealous Wesleyan, " After
maturely deliberating," said one of these Tractarian
teachers to an old Nonconformist, whose aged husband
often spends the Lord's day at the ale-bench, "after
maturely deliberating upon the question you put to me
the other day, I am quite of opinion that he had much
better go there, than frequent that place, — the chapel ! " On
hearing that a young lady, visiting at the house where he
lodges, had been at the Wesleyan chapel, the Rev. Mr.
 most uncourteously and peremptorily refused to
allow her, afterwards, to be present with the family at
evening prayers ; and on questioning him upon the subject,
the following day, (Feb. 11th, 1844,) she was plainly told
that her conduct would have been much less sinful had she
gone to the public-house ; and that drunkenness itself was
innocence, compared with nonconformity.

16 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
Such sentiments are, even in the abstract, sufficiently
revolting: but when actually carried out by licensed
exemplars themselves, and more than virtually declared to
be perfectly compatible with a regenerated state of mind,
and of a mind directed and " moved by the Holy Ghost,"
their influence upon the mass, and upon unenlightened
minds, cannot but be as baneful as the spirit, whence they
proceed, is palpably anti-Christian. A certain Reverend
Incumbent, whose conscience would seem to be just as
fully at ease at the ball-room, the card-table, the horse
race, and in the theatre, as though Rom, vi, 16, Matt,
vii. 16, John viii. 44, 2 Cor. v. 17 and vi. 15—17, had
long been, not only expunged from the sacred page, but,
completely forgotten, has recently filled nearly one hundred
and twenty pages with quotations from the Fathers, and
with scraps of Greek and Latin, to prove that we were
all "most undoubtedly regenerated in baptism ;" and that
(notwithstanding Rom. v. 2, 3; viii. 13 — 16; and Gal. iv. 6)
we have no scriptural warrant whatever for expecting
anything like a conscious sense of acceptance with, or
justification before, God, " beyond what is imparted in
baptism, until the final judgment." Another of the order,
whose repeated, but unsuccessful, attempts to seduce his
neighbour's wife were recently reported to his Diocesan,
after proclaiming similar doctrines for years, some weeks
ago, went up to the judgment-seat with hands full of
blood ! A commission of inquiry having been appointed
to sit upon his conduct, before the result could transpire,
the unhappy man hurled himself headlong into eternity —
blowing out his brains, within hearing of his family, on
Sunday morning, February 25th, 1844 ! Two others also
present themselves at this moment, who loudly vaunt their
"apostolical succession" whenever opportunity serves, but
whose intemperate habits and sensuality have become so
lamentably notorious, that the Bishop deemed it his duty,
in March or April last, to suspend them both for the
space of three years.
Now, until such men can prove that the Apostle James

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 17
(ch. lii. 12) was altogether mistaken ; that Paul himself knew
not whereof he affirmed ; (2 Cor, v. 17 ;) that " the works
of the flesh" (Gal. v. 19 — 21) may consistently and most
conspicuously ornament " temples of the Holy Ghost ;"
(1 Cor. vi. 19 ;) and that " the fruits of the Spirit" (Gal. v.
22, 23) are mere matters of word, and not of deed, it is
scarcely too much to say that the entire volume of in
spiration is against them ; and that the man must be
pitifully destitute of pure Biblical knowledge, or peril
ously willing to " sit in darkness," who, from Sabbath to
Sabbath, can contentedly sit under the ministrations of
such teachers. Idly, indeed, does our metropolitan Bishop
claim for the " order " the exclusive respect and obedience
of the people, so long as " the cassocked huntsman " is
allowed to appear in the pulpit, the gambling Priest at
the altar, and the surpliced sot at the grave-side, com
mitting to the ground (on the strength of mere " sacra
mental efficacy") the debauchee, the unclean, yea, the
man that actually died drunk, " in sure and certain hope
of the resurrection to eternal life;" enabling the veriest
infidel to exclaim, " Well, if the Parson be right, and
our pot-companion safe, we cannot be far wrong." To
keep up respect and reverence for such men, or even for
principles that tolerate and shield such men, it will be
absolutely necessary to put down, not "Methodism" only,
but the very Bible itself, together with Bible Societies,
(of which Puseyism, like the Pope himself, has openly
avowed its utter abhorrence,) Missionary Societies, and
Sunday-school Societies, throughout the land; the veriest
child having now light enough to echo the appropriate
stanza of Cowper, —
" Is this the path of sanctity ? Is this
To stand a way-mark in the road to bliss ?
Himself a wanderer from the narrow way,
His silly sheep — what wonder if they stray?"
Along with principles the most erroneous, however,
and practices the most corrupt, we find (as in olden times,
B

18 PUSEYISM IN POWER,
and in all purely Popish countries at the present moment)
all possible importance attached to particular days, con
secrated grounds, architectural arrangements, and pictorial
altar-pieces. Times and places must be sacred, whilst
Priests and people may be profane. On the estate in
question, Tuesday, the 25th of July last, was solemnly
proclaimed as "the feast of St. James the Apostle,"* and

* The following may suffice to show what fruit this idolatrous veneration of
saints has produced in neighbouring States: — "In Naples, which contains
about three hundred thousand inhabitants, there are three hundred churches,
one hundred and twenty convents of men, and forty of women. The mother
church is dedicated to St Januarius : and when any calamitous events arise,
this St. Januarius is applied to ; his image is carried about in procession ;
and thousands of prayers are offered up to this supposed patron for deliver
ance. At Madrid, the Virgin Mary seems to be the most favourite protectress.
Abundance of ceremonies are here continually performed in honour of this
saint Not a single house or street is to be found, throughout the Spanish
capital, which is not decorated with a portrait or bust of the Virgin. Incredible
is the annual consumption of flowers made use of in Spain for crowning her
image ; incredible the number of hands which are continually employed,
from morning till night, in dressing her caps, turning her petticoats, and
embroidering her ruffles. Every Spaniard regards the Virgin in the light
of his friend, his confidante, his mistress, whose whole attention is directed
to himself, and who is perpetually watching over his happiness. Hence the
name of Mary hangs incessantly upon his lips, mixes in all his compliments,
and forms a part of all his wishes. In speaking, in writing, his appeal is
always to the Virgin, who is the guarantee of all his promises, the witness
of all his transactions. It is in the name of the holy, blessed Virgin, that
the ladies intrigue with their gallants, write billet-doux, send their portraits,
and appoint nocturnal assignations." In the Belgian Evangelical Society's
Report, for June, 1843, it is stated, "the Virgin Mary is in Belgium exalted
and worshipped as divine. She receives more homage than Christ ; more
offerings are made to her, than to Him ; more confidence is placed in her
intercession, than in that of the Saviour ! Only a few days since, in one of
the largest churches in Brussels, a most splendid crown of pure gold (en
riched with rubies, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, turquoises, together with
three hundred and forty-four pearls) was presented to her image." In the
arms of this go?rfe?i-crowned image, was one of the Holy Child Jesus ; whose
head, however, had never been honoured with anything more than a small
paltry crown of silver ; and to whom, it is said, no offering whatever was
presented on this occasion. Not only were all the Popish fooleries of this
idolatrous act, witli its processional parade, honoured with the attendance
of the royal body-guards and court-bands, but with the presence also of
TUE King and Quben of the Belgians themselves ; and one of the

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 19
as the Church Sunday-school anniversary; all which ended
with A Ball at the Vicarage, This, too, was graced
by the presence of the " Governors ;" who are said to
have taken part in " the merry wheel," to the great delight
of all present, whose joviah'ty was kept up
" Until rosy morn unbarr'd the gates of light.''
The whole, however, was followed up, on the ensuing
Sabbath morning, by a long lecture on the "holy sac
rament ;" which all were pressingly urged to attend.
Opportunity serving, the writer one day found the Rev,
Lecturer monotonously reading, to a congregation of six
or eight persons, one of the admirable Homilies of the
Church of England ; in the course of which, the thirty-
first verse of the fifth of Acts occurred. But, for the word
" repentance," he substituted the Popish term " penance ;"
saying, " Him hath God exalted with his right hand to
be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give penance to Israel,
and forgiveness of sins." One of the few individuals
present, on that occasion, was a blind old pauper, who has,
in a great measure, been forced aside from the paths of
scriptural holiness, — his poverty, his pitiable infirmity, and
his besetting sin, having all been turned to account in the
matter. Until within the last year or two, this old man
was a steady member of society. By repeated threats.

richest sapphires in the crown was actually presented, for the purpose, by the
Queen herself! At the close of the ceremony, moreover, " the Cardinal con
secrated to Mary, the King, the Queen, their august children, the parish,
the capital, and the whole of Belgium! !" The near and intimate alliance
of British power with such idolaters — idolaters, with whom the following
blasphemous effusion (translated from a card, commonly sold in the shops
at Brussels, and illuminated with gold) is common prayer — cannot but con
stitute ground of serious apprehension.
" To Mary.
" Our Mother, who art in heaven; 0 Mary, blessed he your name for
ever ; let your love come to all our hearts ; let your desires he accomplished
on the earth as in heaven : give us this day grace and mercy ; give us the
pardon of our faults, as we hope from your unhounded goodness, and let us
no more sinli under temptation ; hut deliver us from evil. Amen."
B 2

20 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
however, that unless he relinquished his connexion, the
paltry pittance, by which he was just enabled to keep out
of the poorhouse, would be withheld, he was at length
induced to yield ; renouncing privileges to which he con
fessedly stood indebted for all the religious good he ever
experienced. And, alas ! where, and what is he now ?
Regularly dragged to the steeple-house ; and, from Sab
bath to Sabbath, there required to sit under the sound
of " damnable heresies," which are manifestly and rapidly
deadening his better feelings. Hence, after serving his
" lawful guides and governors " as fiddler during the night,
at the above-mentioned ball, he was taken home, beastly
drunk, about sunrise in the morning, " Cursed be he that
maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the
PEOPLE SHALL SAY, AmEN."
The retrospect, in this little rural locality, is truly affect
ing ; and the prospect is little less appalling. At the time
Puseyism began its reign, a very gracious influence seemed
to pervade the people, and numbers were manifestly and
greatly concerned about spiritual things : a deadly supine
ness now marks their general mien, and the love of many
has waxen cold. At that period, the chapel was often
crowded to excess : but there are now seldom more than
a score or two ; and sometimes not even twenty. The
society also is greatly enfeebled ; and instead of eighty
or ninety children in the school, there are rarely more
than eight or ten. The general tone of morals was then
happily improving, and the observance of the Lord's day
such as to encourage high expectations : the children,
however, are now often seen grouping together, and
desecrating the Sabbath by various sports and games, in
the public streets ; and if at all rebuked, they will imper
tinently repel reproof, saying, " The Parson does not say
it is wrong.'' During the winter, indeed, the barbarous
pastime of by-gone days — the football — was again seen
going on, in the adjoining fields, on the Lord's day; which,
with the exception of church-hours, bids fair for becoming
a day of amusement, rather than of devotion. Banefully

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 21
and fearfully, however, as corruption is thus exerting its
leavening influence, there is, nevertheless, " a remnant"
still left ; a few who faithfully stand in the breach, firmly
maintaining that " the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost ;" and who, though frequently threatened with the
" loss of all things," nobly " endure, as seeing Him who is
invisible." One of the most painful instances of suffering, connected
with this case, is that of a lady, of enlightened under
standing and Christian experience, whose position in life
distressingly chains her down in this " house of bondage."
Although a decided Churchwoman, she is as decided an
opponent of Puseyism ; and is, consequently, exposed to
the most vexatious and harassing annoyances, whenever
opportunity serves. Her circumstances, happily, put it out
of the power of the adversary to deprive her of bread, or
of a dwelling : but this, to a cultivated mind, and a spirit
highly sensitive, only renders the fetter the more galling.
Literally panting for the word of life, her feelings may, in
some measure, be conceived, when it is stated, that there is
not a single church, within miles of her residence, in which
" the truth " is plainly and faithfully preached ; and her
appearance in any Dissenting congregation would, in all
probability, be followed by the most painful consequences.
Earnestly desirous of enjoying " the communion of saints,"
but resolutely standing at a respectful distance from the
Puseyistic order, she is most vigilantly watched ; and fears
almost to be seen, even in conversation, with any Noncon
formist neighbour, on any subject whatever. Surrounded
by several lovely and intelligent children, whom she is not
allowed, even when opportunity serves, to place within
the sound of an evangelical ministry ; and who, conse
quently, never hear a Gospel sermon, from one end of the
year to the other, this excellent woman often pours forth,
in secret, the sighs of a bleeding heart, trembling lest her
beloved offspring should for ever sink, under the soul-
destroying heresy that is ever sounding in their ears»

ZH PUSEYISM IN POWER.
Completely hedged in by Mammon, in whose scales the
world far outweighs the soul; and at whose shrine, eternal
life, religious enjoyment, and pure Protestantism, are all
secondary concerns, she painfully proved that a prison is
a prison, though the gratings be of gold.
This, however, is not the only way in which the evil in
question is preying upon parental affection. A gentleman,
of high respectability, well known to the author, has two
sons and two daughters, the whole of whom have been
accustomed to sit under the Wesleyan ministry, from
earliest infancy ; and, than whom, a more affectionate and
united family was scarcely to be found in the three king
doms. Two or three years ago, however, the eldest son
suddenly assumed the character of a zealous Puseyite.
On his obtaining a small Curacy, in one of the northern
counties, his fond mother immediately proceeded on a
visit, intending to spend three weeks or a month with him.
But on the Sabbath after her arrival, her inquiries re
specting the way to the Wesleyan chapel, to which she
purposed going in the evening, were met in the most pain
fully repulsive manner possible ; and on repeating them,
with manifest determination, in the after part of the day,
she was pierced to the heart with the declaration that if
she persisted in going to " that place," her son " cared not
ever to see her face again!" With a sad heart, and full, she
liurried home again immediately ; and, after the lapse of a
week or two, by letter, affectionately and prayerfully en
treated him to guard against the inroads of a spirit, which so
seriously threatened the peace and comfort of the family ;
and to remember the rock whence he had been hewn, and
the hole of the pit whence he was digged; as also the
lasting obligation, under which Divine Providence had
placed him, to the religious body which he now affected
so greatly to despise, and of which his parents were still
members ; begging him, moreover, prior to taking Priest's
orders, fully to acquaint the Bishop with his true position
and history. This letter, producing little or no effect, the
father himself communicated directly with the Bishop, to

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 23
whom he was personally known, in the confident hope of
prompting a salutary check, and eliciting suitable advice.
But, judge of his disappointment, when, on opening the
reply, he found the Right Rev. Prelate highly commending
the spirit and fidelity of his son ; and gravely advising that
neither father nor mother should visit him at all, unless
prepared to keep at a respectful distance from all Dis
senting places of worship, while on such visits, especially
on the Sabbath-day. " Sir," said the afflicted father,
when stating these facts, " my eldest daughter also,
imbibing the spirit of her brother, now positively
refuses to worship with us ; and this once dutiful and
affectionate son, no longer deigns to correspond either with
father or mother."
As the grand object of these pages is to show up error
and its operations, rather than individuals, we forbear (for
the present at least) to name any of the parties, regarding
the whole as the natural offspring of Puseyism, grafted upon
" high Churchism," and involving the true spirit of Roman
ism, which is thus insidiously labouring under the mask,
and living upon the bread, of Protestantism. The only
excuse which even charity herself can set up, in such a
case, is to be found, we conceive, in the pitiful and
perilous ignorance charged by Christ upon the Apostles
themselves, when anxious to call down " fire from heaven
to consume " certain that walked not with them; "Ye know
not what manner of spirit ye are of." That this spirit,
even in the disciples, would have been just as tyrannical
as that of their pretended successors, if backed by
authority and power, is perhaps more than probable : but,
that no one amongst them ever so much as intimated that
such a spirit was, in the least degree, accordant with a
regenerated state of mind, or with " the mind that was in
Christ," is not less clear, than the fact that Christ
absolutely, instantly, and most markedly condemned it, as
nothing better than a direct emanation of that corrupt
principle which, on another occasion, gave rise to un
hallowed strife, as to " who should be greatest in the

24 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
kingdom." That such, however, according to the highest
authorities, has ever been the spirit of national establish
ments, less or more, is at once lamentable and undeniable.
" All national religions," says a celebrated Church of
England Divine, "whether Pagan, Jewish, Turkish, or
Christian, have ever hitherto been national tyrannies.'
" Who was it," says the Bishop of Llandaff, "that crucified
the Saviour of the world for attempting to reform the
religion of his country ? — The Jewish priesthood. Who
was it that drowned the altars of their idols with the blood
of Christians, for attempting to abolish Paganism ? — The
Pagan priesthood. Who was it that persecuted, to flames
and death, those who, in the time of Wickliffe and his
followers, laboured to reform the errors of Popery ? — The
Popish priesthood. Who was it, and who is it, that both
in England and in Ireland, since the Reformation — but I
check my hand, being unwilling to reflect upon the dead,
or to exasperate the living." " When Henry VIII.
discarded the Pope of Rome, and made himself Pope in
his place, the great body of Bishops and Clergy followed
the example : very few, comparatively^, suffered death for
refusal. When Edward VI. rejected much of the re
maining rubbish of Popery, and became Protestant, almost
all the Bishops and Clergy again followed his example.
Then when Mary afterwards undid all that Edward had
done, and introduced Popery again, nearly three thousand
were turned out of their livings, but not more than four
or five hundred, both of the Clergy and laity, suffered for
refusal to join her. And then, once more, when Eliza
beth rejected Popery, the Clergy very generally imitated
her conduct. All these changes took place in the course
of forty years. But whoever prevailed. Papist or Pro
testant, they were steady to their purpose of persecuting
those who refused to comply with their tyrannical injunc
tions." Amongst the favourites of Puseyism, Archbishop
Laud is well known to stand almost pre-eminent ; and it is
jqually notorious, that that dignitary was a man of a
nost insolent temper and superstitious mind; allowing

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 25
neither justice nor compassion to stand in his way, when
the Puritans were to be oppressed, insulted, and ruined.
When pronouncing sentence upon the excellent Dr.
Leighton, in the Star Chamber, this Right Rev. Prelate,
pulling off his cap, and lifting up his eyes to heaven,
thanked God who had enabled him to behold this ven
geance upon his enemies ! In his private diary, he thus
records the execution of the sentence: — "Nov. 6th. 1. He
(Dr. Leighton) was severely whipt, before set in the pillory.
2. Being set in the pillory, he had one of his ears cut off.
3. One side of his nose was slit up. 4. He was branded
on the cheek, with a red-hot iron, with the letters S. S.
On that day se'enight, the sores upon his back, ear, nose,
and face being not yet cured, he was whipped again, at
the pillory at Cheapside, — cutting off the other ear, slitting
the other side of the nose, and branding the other cheek." *
And this, forsooth, was "a true Successor of the
Apostles ! ! "
Persecution, and bloody deeds, are the infallible marks
of Antichrist, (Rev. xvii. 6.) It is not surprising, there
fore, that the Archbishop of Mentz, on opening the Bible,
should exclaim, " In truth, I perceive that everything in
it is against us." Whilst another dignitary, little less dis
tinguished, declared it, as his firm conviction, " that it
had been best for the Church, if no Gospel had been
written." In perfect accordance with this sort of feeling,
the Prayer-Bookishere publicly extolled, as the safest rule
of judgment in all spiritual matters ; and the Bible (from
the pulpit) declared to be " a dangerous book, in the hands
of the poor :" the most godless souls in the parish are
regularly and earnestly taught to believe that they were all
" born again in baptism," and that all expectation of
regeneration beyond this, is sheer fanaticism; that con
firmation is essential, as the seal of baptism ; that these
ordinances, followed up by attendance at church and
sacrament, fully entitle all to the appellation and hopes
* Milner's Church History, p. 764.

26 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
of "children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of
heaven ; " and that any and all doubts, on the verge of
eternity, are to yield to " priestly absolution and the holy
eucharist." " Such," says a celebrated Tractarian, (Sewell,
Fellow and Tutor of Exeter College,) "is the vastness of
the power claimed by the Church, — a power which places it
almost on a level with God himself, — the power of forgiving
sins, by wiping them out in baptism, — of transferring souls
from heaven to hell without admitting a doubt of it, as
when" baptized infants, dying before they commit actual
sin, are undoubtedly saved ; — " the power of bringing down
the Spirit of God from heaven, and incorporating it in the
person of frail and fleshly man." * "All things, belonging
to his salvation, are to be sought and found in, to be begun
and finished by, the Church : through her Priesthood,
as the hand, by which, and in her sacraments, as the
channels through which, out of her own abiding inherent
treasure of grace, deposited in her, as a storehouse, at the
beginning of the Gospel, she communicates regenerating
and justifying grace to the simmer." We are expressly told,
indeed, that "the Church is "an abiding personification of
the great sacramental principle of the consecration of
matter,' for the conveyance of grace; that 'Christ is con
tinually incarnate in his church ; ' that the ' Priesthood may
be called the organs of the Spirit, who dweU within the
Church, whereby he grasps the several members and unites
them to the one body ; ' and that they (the Priests) are ' the
Church's functionaries, in dispensing to the people her
varied blessings, by whose special agency the Church
collective intercedes for, and applies her blessings to her
members, one by one.' Christ is represented as having
purchased the grace of eternal life for all alike; and as
having left to the Church the office of going from one to
another of his people, and making the special dispensation
thereof, out of her own abiding deposit, according as each
has need. 'She descends from her throne, in the con-
* Christian Morals, p. 'HI.

PUSEYISM IN POWER.

27

gregation, and comes to us one by one, and knows us by
name, and investigates our several needs, and prescribes
for our private ills ; ' and all this, we are told, she does by
the Priest, " the Clergyman of the parish ! " The whole
system," adds the enlightened Bishop of Ohio, "is one of
Church instead of Christ ; Priest instead of Gospel ;
concealment of truth, instead of manifestation of the
truth ; ignorant superstition, instead of enlightened faith ;
bondage, where we are promised liberty; all tending
directly to load us with whatever is odious in the worst
meaning of Priestcraft, in place of the free, affectionate,
enlarging, elevating, and cheerful liberty of a child of
God." The Curate in question, was some months ago called in
to baptize two children, (twins) which were not expected to
survive many days ; and, in the course of three weeks or a
month afterwards, he again visited the parents (from whom
the writer had the fact) to inform them, that the children
were, as yet, " but half saved ;" and that, in order to
the completion of the work, they " must immediately look
out for sponsors, and present them at church without
delay." Deeming the simple ordinance already admin
istered, sufficient, and contending that, as parents, they
were themselves the fittest guardians that could be
appointed, the latter respectfully declined compliance ;
which, of course, gave huge offence : and, after quietly
enduring much strange reasoning and not a little brow
beating, for the space of two or three hours, they were
pretty plainly denounced as "little better than infidels."
One of the oldest members of the Wesleyan Society, and
a person of good report amongst all classes, professor and
profane, was one day visited by the Curate and his
clerical companion, who evinced great apparent anxiety
to reason her out of convictions which considerable Biblical
knowledge, and nearly forty years' experience, had matured.
After long, and silently listening to much harassing dog
matism, she at lengtli said, " Well, gentlemen, what would
you have me to believe? I believe in one God, our

28 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
heavenly Father: I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son,
our Saviour, and my Redeemer : I believe also in the Holy
Ghost, the Comforter, who blessedly attests my adoption
into the family of God," as declared by the Apostle, Gal.
iv. 6, Rom. viii. 15. 16. "Ah!" exclaimed these spiritual
guides, " there it is where you are wrong. The direct
witness, of which you speak, is all a delusion. The Church
alone being the voice of the Holy Ghost, who speaks to the
people through the Clergyman of the parish, and through
HIM ALONE."
In all this, these Puseyistic Divines doubtless regard
the Bishop of London as sufficient authority ; who, in his
late Charge says, " It will be my endeavour to act as an
interpreter of the Church's sense, as to the one, (doctrines,)
and of her will, as to the other (rites and ceremonies). If
these can be clearly ascertained, we can have no difficulty,
looking to the relation in which we stand to her, as to
what we are to teach, or how we are to minister." Com
paring this passage with the published sentiments of
Newman himself, upon the same point, this Right Rev.
Prelate could not surely take any very great offence, were
even that celebrated Tractarian to arrogate the title of his
ecclesiastical father, and say of him,
" Dextras se parvus luliis
Implicuit, sequiturque patrem non passibus sequis;"
the statements of the one being, substantially, those of the
other. "The Church," says the latter, "not only trans
mits the faith by human means, but has a supernatural
gift for that purpose." And again : " The Church catholic
is unerring in its declarations of faith, on saving doc
trines." * " That regeneration does actually take place
in baptism," says the Bishop of London, "is most un
doubtedly the doctrine of the English Church ; and I do
not understand how any Clergyman who uses the office
of baptism, which he has bound himself to use, and which
• Newman on Romanism.

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 29
he cannot alter, nor mutilate, without a breach of good
faith, can deny that, in some sense or other, baptism is
indeed the laver of regeneration." * And again: "Justifi
cation begins in baptism, vvhen the children of wrath are
regenerated by water and the Holy Ghost, and are made
children of God. Remission of sins is expressly declared
(by the Church) to be then given." " The atonement,"
says Newman, " is applied to every individual in his bap
tism." "Although some of the Churches (with apostolical
succession) have fallen into some errors, — the Roman
Catholic, to wit, — yet it is undoubtedly consoling to re
flect that they are regenerated and justified by one holy
baptism, like ourselves. For the washing away of the
defilement of our sins, God has opened a well within the
Church ; and only in the Church have we any certainty of
the forgiveness of our sins." f " To us, individually — who
have been born within it, (the Church,) and were never
left to our mere natural powers, having had original sin
remitted to us through baptism, and having been justified
and cleansed from all sin, and had the grace of Christ
given, and fresh supplies pledged, to us — the statement
(in the Xlllth. Article of the Church) of works done
before justification, does not apply : if does not speak of a
state in which we ever actually were." J Now the fol
lowing quotation from the authorized formularies of
Popery itself, may suffice to show how fully all those
various parties have adopted the very language of the
Romish Church ; and how dishonourably, therefore, they
still retain the mask and emoluments of Protestantism : —
" Deus omnipotens. Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi,
qui te regeneravit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, quique dedit
tibi remissionem omnium peccatorum, ipse te liniat, chris-
mate salutis in eodem Christo Jesu Domino nostro in
vitam seternam. Da ei scientiam veram, ut dignus gratia
baptismi tui, quem suscepit ; teneat firmam spem, con
silium rectum, doctrinam sanctam, ut aptus sit ad reti-
* Charge, p. 23. f Church Herald. + Oxford Tract on Xlllth. Art

30 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
nendam gratiam baptismi tui. — Deus patrum nostrorum,
Deus universse conditor veritatis, te supplices exoramus,
ut hunc famulum N. respicere digneris propitius, ut hoc
pabulum sails gustantem, non diutius esurire permittas,
quo miniis eibo expleatur coelesti, quatenus sit semper
spiritu fervens, spe gaudens, tuo semper nomini serviens,
et quem ad novce regenerationis lavacrum perduxisti, quse-
sumus, Domine, ut cum fidelibus tuis seterna pramia
consequi mereatur." *
Now to the law and to the testimony ; and from Popery,
and all these self-styled " successors of the Apostles," let
us turn, for a moment, to the Apostles themselves.
1. Paul, whom no one can deem at all wanting in due
and proper regard for the ordinance of baptism, or any
other ordinance of God, is nevertheless heard exclaiming,
" I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus,
Gaius, and the household of Stephanus." Now, if the
great Apostle had thought (and who so likely to know as
he ?) that baptism was the source, or means, or occasion of
regeneration, this is the most extraordinary and unin
telligible expression ever uttered by mortal man. How
could it possibly be matter of thankfulness to him that he
had not been the means of their having been savingly and
effectually born from above ? His language is utterly incom
patible with the notion of baptismal regeneration : " Christ,"
says he, " sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel."
What ! and could Christ himself, not only misplace, but
absolutely omit, in his commission to the great Apostle of
the Gentiles, the grand means of regeneration, when
sending him to turn them from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan to God, that they might receive for
giveness of sins, &c. ? It is indubitably evident that
St. Paul considered the sacrament of baptism as subordinate
to the great work of preaching the Gospel ; and it is
obviously impossible, legitimately , to put any other con
struction upon his words. Had salvation, and our becoming
* De Sacramento Baptismi.

FUSEYISM IN POWER.

31

children of God and heirs of the kingdom of heaven, been
absolutely dependent upon baptism, it would most assuredly
have been first and foremost, both in his thoughts and in
his practice. The highest consideration with him, however,
and the grand means of spiritual life, was (not baptism, in
any shape or form whatever, but) " the preaching of the
cross," followed by a personal and practical reception of the
Gospel. " For," says he, " in Christ Jesus I have begotten
you through the Gospel." 2. James also most explicitly
affirms, " Of his own will begat he us," — by baptism ? No ;
but " with the word of truth." 3. Peter likewise furnishes
us with a twofold testimony on the same point, exhibiting,
on the one hand, sincere piety and actual possession of the
Holy Ghost, where baptism was not so much as known ;
and, on the other, an utter destitution both of the one and
of the other, where even Peter himself had administered
baptism. " While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy
Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. Then an
swered Peter, Can any man forbid water that these should
not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as
well as we ? " Here, then, were numbers baptized by the
Holy Ghost, before apostolic baptism had been adminis
tered in any way whatever. And, on the other hand,
Simon Magus (Uke thousands of mere formalists, sceptics,
ecclesiastics, courtesans, and sensualists in our own times)
was duly baptized ; and yet St. Peter almost immediately
afterwards addresses him, saying, " Thou hast neither paH
nor lot in the matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight
of God." " It was an old error, among the Jews," says
Bullinger, (who was held in the highest estimation by the
Fathers of the English Reformation,) " that sacraments did
justify." " The doctrine of sacramental justification," says
Bishop Burnet, "is the most mischievous of all those
practical errors that are in the Church of Rome." This
"most mischievous error," however, our metropolitan Bishop
and his disciples have "most undoubtedly " adoT^ted ; and
herein lies the root and germ of every other.
Notwithstanding all this, however, we are very gravely

32 PUSEYISM IN POWER,
told by numbers (with whom, inconsideracy might seem to
pass for sound judgment) that, "however the Preacher
may err, the Church prayers and Liturgy being scriptural,
the people are quite safe." Quite safe, indeed! Because
good seed lies scattered about in the field, amidst much
deadly " night-shade," the flock, forsooth, is quite safe, —
with a wolf, moreover, in sheep's clothing in their midst ;
with a spirit for their shepherd, involving all the elements of
worldly-mindedness, of Romish arrogance, and of Pharisaic
pride ; a spirit which loudly cries up all the " tithes of
mint, anise, and cummin," and furiously tramples down all
the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith ; a spirit which vauntfully exclaims, " The temple of
the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we !" whilst daily
associating with the sons of Belial, and eagerly availing
itself of the ignorance of one, of the weakness or super
stition of another, and of the wickedness of a third ; of
patronage and of power, nay, of anything and of everything,
at all available, for the purposes of proselytism and priestly
domination ; — a purely " scriptural conversion of the
Gentiles " forming no part of its concern whatever.
Whilst sitting in the cold empty old church, listening (as
before-stated) to the miserable and Popish perversion of
holy writ, we could not but soliloquisingly ask. And is this
indeed St. Paul's, or St. Peter's successor ? The " burning
and shining light," before which every other is to disappear,
to dwindle and fade away into darkness ? " Is the piety
presenting itself in different circles of society, and in the
various departments of life, high and low ; in the numerous
graces and activities of Christian conduct ; in the several
conditions of prosperity and adversity ; amid the pains of
sickness and in the crisis of death," really and truly to be
regarded as sheer enthusiasm ; nay, as the direct offspring
of schism, simply because independent of, or unconnected
with, the English Establishment ? Looking, moreover, into
other lands, we see the Lutheran and Reformed Churches
of the Continent ; the Presbyterian and other Churches in
Ireland and in Scotland ; the Wesleyan, Congregational,

PUSEYISM IN POWER.

33

Baptist, and other Churches also of America ; all holding
the Head, and embracing thousands upon thousands who
are truly devout, whose faith works by love, rendering
them useful in life and happy in death ; but having no
" apostolical succession," this surpliced stripling will not
so much as own kindred with one of them. Taking a
wider range still, we see the poor Hindoo pondering over
the Serampore version of the Bible ; the long-neglected
African over the Kaffer and other translations of the
Scriptures ; and the assembled crowds gathering around
the self-denying Missionary in the east, in the west, in
the north, and in the south. Idols are cast away, the
ruthless savage has become a saint, the lion a lamb ; fervent
prayer is heard ascending in the Indian gale, and sacred
song swells on the ocean breeze : but, lo ! the succession is
wanting ! The Baptist Carey, therefore, could convey no
grace ; the Chinese Morison was an intruder in the sacred
office ; the Wesleyan and other Missionaries are all con
verting the nations to an " uncovenanted church," their
converts are not " regenerated by baptism," and therefore
not " made Christians ! " Looking higher still, however,
pray, what has become of the mighty dead ; of the Howe's,
the Knox's, the Baxter's, and the Owen's ? According to
Tractarianism, they were all " schismatics," lived and died
in " mortal sin," No Bishop's hand ever imparted to good
old Bunyan the grace of ordination : the most that can be
said of a Doddridge, of a Watts, and of a Henry is, that
they may just possibly have got into heaven ; the honoured
names of a Benson, a Clarke, a Hall, and a Watson, have
lost their halo of brightness. Retire ye master-spirits
before the men upon whom Prelatical hands have been laid.
Ye, indeed, were but ministers, by whom thousands believed,
and whom multitudes crowded to hear ; but there stands
the man, quite fresh from " the field," the card-table, the
ball-room, or a nocturnal revel, " duly commissioned " to
conduct God's ordinances, to " admimsfer his holy sacra
ments," to bow to the east and courtesy to the west, and to
PREACH, FORSOOTH, TO EMPTY PEWS AND BENCHES ! !
C

34 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
Such, then, is the man to whom all the souls of the
parish in question are committed, and whom the distin
guished patron deems " fully adequate to all the moment
ous duties of the sacred office ;" a fact which, of itself,
shows how little the true church * has to expect, and how
much she has to dread, from the potent power of patronage.
Looking, indeed, at the purely Papal origin of patronial

* Such is the confusion of ideas, that with multitudes, especially in certain
districts, " the Church " is too frequently confounded with the Establishment.
Hence it is scarcely possible, even incidentally, to refer to any form or degree
of ecclesiastical corruption, without coming under the charge of " speaking
against the Church." With such, line upon line would seem to be requisite
to keep them in mind of the line which common sense would of itself draw,
on any other subject, between " things that differ." In Spain, or Portugal,
(where, to question the worship of saints, or the doctrine of transubstantiation,
is death, according to law,) this could excite no surprise ; but in an age and
country like, our own, it is lamentable in the extreme that numbers, should
need to be gravely and repeatedly reminded that mere buildings, however
constructed, furnished, or antiquated, do not constitute the Church; that
the Establishment is not the Church ; and that clerical error, and clerical im
piety happily form rw part of the Church. "The visible Church of Christ"
(says the Church of England herself, ArtXIX.) "is a congregation of faithful
men ; in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly
administered, according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of neces
sity are requisite to the same." An Establishment is one thing, and the
Christian Church another: — the one is a divine institution, the other, human;
— the one embraces men only of a particular creed, the other, good men of every
name ; — the one is less or more governed by Acts of Parliament, the other, by
the everlasting Gospel ; — the one may be headed by the Pope of Rome, or by
an earthly Sovereign, the other, by the King of Kings alone ; — the one
has existed only a few centuries, the other is coeval with Christianity itself;
— the one may possibly fall, but against the other, the gates of hell shall never
prevail ; — the imity of the one is too much like that of the iceberg, combining,
in its cold and chilling embrace, the most heterogeneous materials ; (gold and
silver, iron and clay, blended together ; some of the holiest of saints, and many
of the chief of sinners ; stones the most precious, and stones the most vile,
merely rolled together, in heaps, by the force of education, of interest, of fashion,
of prejudice, or of circumstances ;) the unity of the other, however, is like
that of quicksilver; which, when cast upon the ground, may, indeed, by
reason of the inequalities of the earth's surface, be divided into a thousand
separate globules, and still retain all its internal and reciprocal affinities,
rendering the whole capable of perfect amalgamation, and of reflecting (mir
ror-like) the beauties both of earth and of heaven ; the image of our common
God ; the glories of our common Lord ; and the hopes of our common home.

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 35
power ; (forcibly transferred from Rome to royalty by one
of the most licentious Monarchs Britain ever knew ;) at
the fact of its being, in most cases, still under the control
of carnal, selfish, and absolutely worldly men ; and at the
comparatively powerless condition into which true Protest
antism, in the Establishment, has lamentably sunk, under
such patronage, we cannot but regard it as an incubus and
curse, rather than a blessing. To render the Church, in
any degree whatever, dependent upon godless Lords and
infidel Commoners for a truly evangelical or soul-saving
ministry, would be just about as rational as to make us
dependent upon darkness for light, upon pollution for
purity, or upon infidelity itself for true Christianity. We
cannot deem the man who would promote even religious
liberty, at the expense of Biblical truth and purity, as worthy
the name of a wise statesman ; but with certain well-known
facts before us, — the deeply-laid scheme for the enthral-
ment of the rising generation throughout the land ; the late
formidable and determined attempt to crush the spirit
of evangelism, and the " Free Church," in Scotland ; the
doggedly deaf ear still more recently turned to thousands
and tens of thousands of petitions for protection of " the
truth as it is in Jesus ,•" and, on the other hand, the im
mediate and ardent attention awarded to the Nobles'
Gambling Protection Bill ; the more than ordinary
eagerness and energy evinced in support of the Unita
rians' Usurpation Bill ; and the countenance annually
and increasingly given to " the Beast " itself, both at
home and abroad, — ^what sound-hearted Protestant can,
for a moment, think of the high interests or government
of the Christian Church being subjected to the legis
lative influence of such legislators, without fearfulness
and trembling? So long, indeed, as Prelacy itself
(with certain honourable exceptions) can quietly wink at
the rapid growth of error at home, and at the homage
officially rendered to idolatry by the highest authorities
abroad ; — so long as it exhibits so much of State, and so
little of Christ ; so much that is manifestly carnal, and so
c2

36 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
little that is truly spiritual ; — so long as it can evince such
a lamentable supineness upon questions like that of " the
gates of Somnauth," and so strangely forget its calling as,
ex officio, to advocate the alienation oi purely Gospel pro
perty in favour of the most " damnable heresy ;" — so long,
moreover, as it can inalienably secure to gamblers, turf
men, and the debauchee, thousands upon thousands of
absolutely sacred money; which is, consequently, most
iniquitously squandered at the card-table, on the race
course, or in the common brothel, (as in the case of the
notorious Rector of Barnack, and Canon of Peterborough,)
though handed down, by the pious dead, for purposes the
most holy ; — what can we expect, even from ecclesiastical
patronage, but that it should, to say the least, sustain the
character given by Christ himself to the reputed head of
" THE SUCCESSION," — " Thou savourest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men." When ques
tioned, in the House of Lords, respecting the above case,
the Bishop of Peterborough, it will be remembered, ex
pressed himself as " thankful that an opportunity was given
him" (how ? by his own ignorance of the powers of " the
Church Discipline Act," as subsequently proved by one
of the law Lords) " to be backward in the investigation of
that case;" — being apprehensive, that such a proceeding
might have seriously wounded the feelings of a venerable
relative of the accused party ! " To see," says the Times,
"a respectable Bishop of the Church tamely resigning
himself to the existence of such a scandal, this it is which
crushes all expectation of a better era; which prompts
suspicion of vital weakness, and tempts men to desert her
who is so wholly wanting to herself." " We are not
desirous," adds that journal, " of alienating or touching
the patronage which the Bishops now possess, and have
possessed from time immemorial; but the effect of ex
cessive patronage is (as we have all seen, know, and lament)
first Nepotism, and then a subservient Clergy. * * * A
Bishop will be much more disposed to be improperly lenient
to others, who may have imprudent sons of his own to

PUSEYISM IN POWER, 37
thrust into the Church. * * * Suppose the Bishops were
endowed with the whole patronage of the Church, what
would be the consequence ? Why it would not last a
single year. Whereas, if they possessed none, but faithfully,
resolutely, and impartially enforced all the rules of which
we have above spoken, (admitting none to holy orders, but
ihose -vrlxo wee fit and suitable persons ; instituting none to
livings, but after the most faithful, and searching inves
tigation, and attestation^ the Establishment ivould be the
purer, and consequently the more durable." *
In many respects, the misguided patron before us is,
perhaps, one of the best ; and the spirit of those legislative
enactments, in which, from time to time, he is well known
to have evinced deep interest, must ever bear standing
testimony against that which is, at this moment, brooding
under his wing. As already intimated, up to the spring of
1842, the most perfect liberty of conscience was enjoyed
by all classes upon his domain. Although, all along, per
fectly aware of the existence of a Wesleyan ministry and
society, he never interfered with one or the other ; but,
practically at least, respected in all, the sacred and in
alienable right of private judgment. Hence, instead of the
paralysing apprehension, under which all are now pitifully
prostrated, who have at all attempted to maintain this right,
the occupants of his lands were as free and as comfortable
as any in the country. That he, himself, never intended
such a state of things, we can easily conceive, nay, firmly
believe ; and that he knows comparatively little of the
extent and depth of the evil, his almost perpetual absent
eeism renders, perhaps, more than probable ; but having,
in the exercise of his patronial right, introduced a firebrand
and permitted the fiame, which in two short years have
made such havock of toleration, of social confidence, of
domestic harmony, of public morals, and of religious
interests ; having forced upon the people a propagator of
error instead of truth, the spirit of persecution instead of

Times, June 21st, 1844.

38 PUSEYISM IN POWER.
peace, a heartless oppressor in the place of a comforter,
we know not on what principle any patron can himself
plead, " Not guilty," under such circumstances. If " blind
leaders " are not only invested with power to drag " the
blind into the ditch," but, in the face of facts like the
above, still allowed to retain that power, " the skirts " of
the man who confers and continues it, cannot surely be very
clear of the blood of the slain. If, instead of the tree of
life, moreover, any such patron should think proper to
transmit to his heir and to posterity, this soul-destroying
" heresy," which, as we have seen, like the deadly Upas,
throws a sickening shade upon all around, permeating the
sanctuary, poisoning all the streams of Christian charity,
and turning the various institutions of piety and benevo
lence into so many chains to fetter even God's vicegerent
itself ; he would do well to think again, and to remember
that he is himself hut a steward, and must shortly go up to
his account ; that " the Lord God is a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third
and fourth generation ; " thatYie, who of old complained,
" They have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my
portion under foot, making my pleasant portion a desolate
wilderness, so that, being desolate, it mourneth unto me ,•"
who heard the cry and saw the tears of his ancient people
in Egypt ; who deigned also to identify himself with the
priest- threatened souls in Damascus ; (Actsix. 1 — 4;) and
who emphatically declares, concerning the righteous, of
every age and name, " They that touch you, touch the apple
of mine eye," has still all power in heaven and in earth,
and is still Head over all things to his body the Church."
Could we, therefore, for a moment, command the ear of all
entrusted with " petty brief authority," we should, /or their
own sakes, earnestly urge the salutary counsel of Gamaliel ;
and, by the terrible judgments, as well as by the tender
mercies of God, — by the Herods already smitten, — by the
persecutors already dead, — and by the spirits already damned,
beseech them to refrain from these men, lest haply they
.sliould be found even to fight against God. Blind indeed

PUSEYISM IN POWER. 39
must be the man, who does not perceive that judgment is
already begun : — some, who were most ready to bind the
victims of intolerance, having themselves fallen under " the
flame," at the very mouth of the furnace ; and, " behold,
THE DAY COMETH, THAT SHALL BURN AS AN OVEN ; AND ALL
THE PROUD, YEA, AND ALL THAT DO WICKEDLY, SHALL BE
STUBBLE ; AND THE DAY THAT COMETH SHALL BURN THEM
UP, SAITH THE LoRD OF HOSTS, THAT IT SHALL LEAVE
THEM NEITHER ROOT NOR BRANCH : BUT UNTO YOU THAT
FEAR MY NAME, SHALL THE SuN OP RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISE
WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS."

ROCHE, PRINTER, 25, HOXTON-SQUARE, LONDON.

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