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Mhgse 18 + 1
B7

RESIGNATION

LAY COMMUNION.

" It is come to this, that .... plain words mast be put forth
about them," Ward's "Few more Words in support of No. 90."

PRICE ONE SHILLING.

RESIGNATION

LAY COMMUNION:
PROFESSOR KEBLE'S VIEW
OF
Ci^j position anb ©uttt^ of tl)£ CractananS,
AS EXHIBITED IN HIS
" LETTER TO THE HON. MR. JUSTICE COLERIDGE,"
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED TO THE ATTENTION OF
THE MEMBERS OF CONVOCATION, WITH REFERENCE TO THE APPROACHING
VACANCY IN THE POETRY PROFESSORSHIP.

REV. W. SIMCOX BRICKNELL, M.A.
-Ill '
op -WORCESTER COLLEGE ;
INCUMBENT OF GROVE, BERKS ; AND ONE OF THE OXFORD CITY LECTURERS.

LONDON:
F. BATS LER, 124, OXFORD STREET;
SEELEY & SON, FLEET STREET.
OXFORD: GRAHAM; SLATTER ; VINCENT; & WHEELER.
1841.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Just Published, in 8tio, pp. 213, Price 5s. 6d. in cloth,
PREACHING:
ITS WARRANT, SUBJECT, AND EFFECTS,
CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO
THE "TRACTS FOR THE TIMES:"
In Two Sermons, published at the request of the Mayor, Aldermen, and
Councillors of the City of Oxford, and A Sermon, preached before the Univer
sity, at St. Mary's. With an Appendix : containing copious extracts from the
writings of the Archbishops of Dublin and Cashel ; the Bishops of Calcutta,
Chester, Chichester, Exeter, Lincoln, and Ohio ; the Dean of Salisbury ; the
Archdeacons of Ely and Surrey ; Professors Hampden, Turton, Faussett, Blunt,
and Scholefield ; Canons Benson, Faber, Hawkins, Townsend, and Wilson ;
with reference to various doctrines promulgated in the works ofthe Tractarians,
&c. &c.

*^* Any Profits arising from the sale of these Sermons will be given
in aid of the Fund for the erection of the
iBlattjra' iWemotisJ.

ADVERTISEMENT.

As the object of Mr. Keble's Letter to Mr. Justice
Coleridge is to " dispose men to think fairly and
deliberately of the view which he has been led to
take," and "to urge a little more patient reflection
and inquiry before steps are taken which it may
be desirable, but irapossible to retract ; and as the
Letter did not appear in time to effect these objects
in the case of the Hebdomadal Board, to the mem
bers of which its circulation seems to have been
almost entirely confined ; the Professor will, it is
hoped, excuse the present attempt to bring his efforts
under the notice of the members of Convocation
— whose turn for action is yet to come, and may not
perhaps be far distant — lest they also should find
themselves " called to make up their minds in a
hurry."

B 2

RESIGNATION & LAY COMMUNION.

When Dr. Pusey addressed his Letter to the Bishop
of Oxford, he " thankfully acknowledged it as a
great mercy of God," that the opponents of the
Tractarian system "had been able to object only
what they deemed a tendency towards Romanism,
but had not shewn any case in which that tendency
had heen followed out."^ The melancholy instance
of the conversion of Mr. Biden, a Graduate of
Oxford, to the Romish faith, has proved that the
fears entertained on this subject are not without
foundation : and, what is more, this " tendency
towards Romanism" is now virtually admitted by
the Tractarians themselves.
"The age," says Mr. Newman, " is moving towards
something, and most unhappily the one religious
communion among us which has of late years been
practically in possession of this something, is the
Church of Rome. She alone, amid all the errors
and evils of her practical system, has given free
' Dr. Pusey's Letter to the Bishop of O.xford, pp. 234, 235.

scope to the feelings of awe, mystery, tenderness,
reverence, devotedness, and other feelings which
may be especially called Catholic. The question
then is, whether we shall give thera up to the
Roraan Church or claim them for ourselves 
If we do give them up, then we must give up the
MEN WHO CHERISH THEM. We must bc contcut
either TO GIVE UP THE MEN OR TO ADMIT THEIR
PRINCIPLES. Now, I say, I speak of what espe
cially comes under my oivn eye, when I express my
conviction that this is a very serious question at
this time. It is not a theoretical question at all.
.... If we will close the Articles, (as the re
ceived METHOD OF TEACHING CLOSES THEM,) We run
the risk of subjecting persons whom we should least
like to lose or distress, to the temptation of joining
THE Church of Rome, or to the necessity of with
drawing FROM THE Church as established, or to
the misery of subscribing with doubt and hesitation."^
Professor Keble also, alluding to the above state
ment of Mr. Newman, bears witness to the " fact
that persons imbued with Catholic principles, and
desirous of carrying out, in good faith, the views
which they seemed to themselves to have learned
from sacred antiquity, are in some points staggered
by the tone and wording of the Articles."^
It was " with reference to this difficulty" that
' Mr. Newman's Letter to Dr. Jelf, pp. 27, 28.
^ "The Case of Catholic Subscription to the Thirty-nine
Articles considered : with especial reference to the Duties and

Mr. Newman " was led especially to exert himself,
having had it earnestly set before him, by parties
he reveres, to do all he could to keep members qf our
Church from straggling in the direction of Rome."'
The result of his labours has been now for some
time before the public, in the shape of a new " Tract
for the Times," entitled " Remarks on certain pas
sages in the Thirty-nine Articles," and intended
" as a kind of manual, to assist in what was be
lieved to be the true, legitimate. Catholic exposition
of the Articles ; whereby the scruples which were
known to exist, .... might be removed or al
layed, and adherence to primitive antiquity, so far,
thoroughly reconciled with allegiance to the An
glican Church."^
In putting forth this Tract, Mr. Newman, and
Mr. Keble — who " having seen it in proof, strongly
recommended its publication"' — appear to have pre
sumed too much — as in the case of Mr. Froude's
Difficulties of English Catholics in the present Crisis : in a
Letter to the Hon. Mr. Justice Coleridge. By the Rev. John
Keble, M.A., Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford,
&c.," not published, — pp. 6, 7.
' Letter to Dr. Jelf, p. 29. " The Tablet," a Roman-
Catholic newspaper, gives no very different description of Mr.
Newman's exertions. " His recent publications convince us
that he has unconsciously approached much nearer to Catho
licism than he chooses to acknowledge; and that he is now
painfully casting about for obstacles to any further progress in
this direction."
'' "The Case of Catholic Subscription," &c., pp. 7,
' Ibid. p. 6.

Remains — upon the supposed progress of what they
call " Catholic principles." Judging from the com
parative silence which had hitherto been observed
in the University, with reference to their previous
efforts, " it did not occur to" thera that their present
work " was more likely to cause disgust, and excite
aniraadversion and controversy, than former pub
lications expressing the same views."'
In this, however, they were mistaken; the Tract
had no sooner made its appearance, than it excited,
among those most interested in the subject, the
attention which it deserved. It appeared to them,
" to have a tendency to mitigate beyond what cha
rity requires, and to the prejudice of the pure truth
of the Gospel, the very serious differences which
separate the Church of Rome from our own, and to
shake the confidence of the less learned members of
the Church of England, inthe scriptural character of
her formularies and teaching."^ After full and de
liberate examination, the Tract was condemned both
by Academical and Episcopal authority. It was
officially " Resolved," by the Hebdomadal Board,
" That modes of interpretation such as are sug
gested in the said Tract, evading rather than explain
ing the sense of the Thirty-nine Articles, and recon
ciling subscription to them with the adoption of errors
' "The Case of Catholic Subscription," &c., p. 11.
^ Letter of the Rev. Messrs. Churton, Wilson, Griffiths, and
Tait, to the Editor of " The Tracts for the Times."

which they were designed to counteract, defeat the
object, and are inconsistent with the due observance of
the Statutes"' of the University. While the Bishop
of the Diocese, who had already paid no very flat
tering compliment to the Tractarians as theological
instructors, when he stated that he had " more fear
of the disciples than of the teachers,"^ has further
declared that the Tract is "objectionable, and may
tend to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the
Church."^ His Lordship has seen fit, also, to com
municate to the editor, his " advice that the Tracts
for the Times should be discontinued."^
And now, what is the effect produced upon the
' Tit. iii. sect. 2 ; Tit. ix. sect. § ii. 3 ; sect. v. § 3.
^ Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Oxford, 1888, p. 20.
" We speak," says the Bishop of Ohio, in his elaborate com
parison of ' Oxford Divinity with that of the Romish and An
glican Churches,' — " We speak of the tendency of their system.
It has weaker minds, and more unfixed hearts, and incautious
heads, and reckless hands than theirs to work on. A generation
of unfledged disciples is to swarm around the master of the sen
tences, and suck honey and poison out of his flowers, choosing
which they please ; unfolding principles which the master left
in bud ; applying principles which the master left in abstract ;
marching boldly and proudly, where he feared to tread
but slowly and humbly ; mounting upon his shoulders, and
therefore reacliing higher, and seeing further into reserved
mysteries than he. They may teach a doctrine of Romanism,
from that height, which he thought not of aspiring to. They
may see, by his aid, a need, and a reason, and a fitness, in image-
worship, and purgatory, &c., which he did not dream of. What
the master would revolt at, the school may boast of. There is
such a thing as growing wiser than our teachers'' — p. 134, 135.
" Mr. Newman's Letter to the Bishop of Oxford, p. 3.

10
Tractarians by this additional w^eight of authori
tative testimony against them ?
What the consequence must be, did they fairly
and consistently adhere to their own professed
principles, has been plainly stated by Professor
Keble, in his Letter to Mr. Justice Coleridge.
I. Case of AcADEMiCAT., Subscription.
" There appears to be some chance of an authorita
tive prohibition of the view, which, not this Tract
only, but a whole army of writers, new and old,
recommend : and it becomes a serious question,
what ought to be the line of conduct adopted in
such case, by persons holding that view, and con
cerned in any way with subscription to the Arti
cles."— p. 12.
" Suppose, e. g. that .... the Academical body
in Convocation assembled, had determined that
interpretations such as have been now (not for the
first time) suggested, evade, rather than explain the
Articles, and are inconsistent with the duty of
receiving and teaching them in good faith, to which
the University, by express statute, binds her tutors
and other members ; how would a college tutor
(to take the simplest case first) have to act under
such circumstances, supposing him convinced that
the condemned view is the right one ? Would it
not he a plain breach of a human trust, if he used the
authority committed to him for the purpose of teaching

11
that view? and of a still higher trust, if, in compliance
with the Academical law, he forbore to inculcate it ?"
— p. 13. Such a person would be " met at every turn
hy the recorded sentence ofthe University against" him :
" in" him " it would have been no contumacy, but
plain conscientiousness, to withdraw from an engage
ment which" he " could not religiously fulfil." — pp. 16,
17. . . . " And thereis yet a deeper consideration :"
he " may, perhaps, think that college tuition is a
branch of the pastoral care ; at least, if" he " be"
himself " ordained to serve at God's altar, and
then" he " will have no further alternative ;" he
" must either teach Catholicism, or not teach at all.
"To pass from the case of those engaged in
tuition, (which is also, mutatis mutandis, the case of
those who appoint the University tutors :) it would be
matter of grave inquiry, whether, any person, ad
hering to the Articles in the sense pointed out by the
Tract, could, with an unblemished conscience, become
a member of the University, or even, without dispensa
tion, continue such." — pp. 17, 18.
. . . . " All this depends on the consent, implied
or expressed, of the party imposing subscription. Let
that be once unequivocally withdrawn, and we shall
indeed be liable to the taunts and reproaches which
now affect us so little, were we to go on subscribing
by virtue of our Catholic interpretation  Is it
not so that not only tutors holding the Catholic view
of the Articles, must have resigned their offices to

12
avoid breach of trust, but no academic whatever,
of the like principles, could either subscribe afresh, or
continue his subscription ? Obviously he could not
subscribe, for he could not do so in any sense
allowed by the imposers.
" But since most of those who subscribe the
Articles in the Universities, are too young to have
definite opinions on their meaning, the main im
port of their subscription being, that they receive
them on the authority of the present Church : this
might be thought no very great evil in practice.
Few, it may be thought, would be excluded by it ;
and those who did subscribe, would have greater
security (so this argument would suppose) for sound
education. " But what are those to do who have subscribed
long ago in the Catholic sense, now (by hypothesis)
forbidden ? Can they honestly go on availing them
selves of their former signature, now that the con
sideration is at an end which made that signature
available ? Can they, with clear and untroubled con
sciences, receive the emoluments of an Academical
foundation, or exercise the privileges of a member of
the Academical Senate, while deliberately breaking the
condition on which only they were allowed to share in
those advantages ? As long as they do so, they
seem virtually to continue, or renew their act of
adhesion to the formula ; and if there would be
insincerity in that act, were it now to be per-

13
formed for the first time, surely to go on reaping
the benefit of it, amounts to a constant repetition
of the insincerity.
" 1 am not prepared to say, that under such cir
cumstances, individuals might not honestly go on,
having sufficient reason to know such was the wish of
the imposing body in their own particular case : but if
not sin, it would approach nearly to scandal, unless
they could obtain a public dispensation, express or
implied, to that effect. But as to the general case,
as far as I see my way in it, / own that I have no
alternative: it would be equivalent to the Univer
sity's adopting a new test, which, if you cannot
take, you can but retire from the Society." — pp. 24,25.
II. Case of Clerical Subscription.
" The general principles which regulate Acade
mical subscription, must of course be applicable to
Clerical subscription likewise." .... " li a. candi
date for Holy Orders, or a clerk nominated to
any dignity or cure, were distinctly warned, by
the same authority which calls on him to subscribe the
Articles, that the Catholic mode of interpreting them
would be considered as " evading their sense," and
defeating their object; the act of signature would
evidently amount to a pledge on his part against that
mode of interpretation. If, in virtue of a preceding
signature, he were already exercising his ministry,

14
his going on, without protest, to do so, after such
warning, would virtually come to the same thing : it
would be equivalent, as I said before, to a continued
signature ; unless, indeed, he could obtain from the
imposers, express or implied dispensation for his own
case, which would remove the sin, and, if made public,
would remove the scandal also." — pp, 25, 26.
" But Clerical subscription differs from Academi
cal, in this iraportant respect : that it is not quite so
easy to determine who are the real imposers of it, and
what kind of declaration on their part is to be regarded
as authoritative. Thus far, however, all Catholics
are agreed : that a synodical determination of the
Bishops of the Church of England, with or without
the superadded warrant of the State, (on whose pre
rogative in such causes I would refrain from here
expressing any opinion,) would be endued with
unquestionable authority, and it may seem at first
sight as if nothing less could be so ; as if the sup
posed limitation of meaning could only be enacted
by another synod of London : just as in the
University, it would require an act of the Senatus
Acaderaicus. " But would it not be dangerous, under present cir
cumstances, to press this rule very rigidly ? — to insist
on the literal meaning of the phrase, animus impo-
nentis, so as to demand, that the party modifying
should be formally, as well as substantially, identical,
with the party enacting ?

15
" Would it not be taking unfair advantage of the
unhappy condition of our Church, and of the real, or
supposed inability of her Prelates' to legislate for
her, independently of those who happen to be
ministers of State for the time ?
"It certainly seems as if, to a person really reve
rencing the Bishops as the Apostles' successors, there
might be declarations of opinion not synodical, which
would oblige him morally, if not legally : as, for ex
ample — if all our prelates should severally declare,
ex cathedra, their adhesion to the view which has
just been expressed at Oxford ; or if not all, yet
such a majority, as to leave no reasonable doubt
what the decision of a Synod would be. In such a
case, would it not be incumbent on those who abide
by the Catholic exposition, yet wished to retain their
ministry, to protest in some such way, as that the
very silence of our Bishops permitting them to go
on, would amount to a virtual dispensation as regarded
them ?
" More especially, if the Bishop under whom we
ourselves minister, did^ in any way, lay on us his
commands to the same effect: (as a public official
declaration of his opinion would amount to a vir
tual command, and ought, I imagine, to be obeyed
as such :) these are considerations, which would
' Some persons, perhaps, may recollect how much offence
was said to be given to the Tractarians by the use of this word
in the propoeed inscription for the " Martyrs' Memorial.'"

16
make our position a very delicate one indeed." — pp.
26, 27, 28.
"It is very possible that I mia.y overlook some
thing which materially affects this question, and
which may be plain enough to other persons ; but it
does seem to me, that in the case supposed, (of a public
censure, and dispensation refused,) loyalty to the
Church, her Creed, and her Order both, could only be
maintained by one of the two following courses : either
we should continue in our ministry, respectfully stating
our case, and making appeal to the Metropolitan, or, as
Archbishop Cranmer did, to the Synod, and that pub
licly — which course one should be slow to adopt,
except in a matter which concerned the very prin
ciples of Faith, and of Church Communion ; — or
else we should tender to our superiors our relin
quishment of the post which we held under them
in the Church, and retire either into some other
diocese,' or, if all our Bishops were agreed, into
Lay Communion.
. ..." It seems on the whole, that .... this
resource of Lay Communion, painful and trying as it
must be in most cases, both in a temporal and
spiritual sense, would be the only one properly open to
us. Farther than it we could not even appear to sepa-
' There to inculcate doctrines which the Bishop, whose juris
diction they renounce, forbids them to teach 1 What a picture
of Church Unity and Church Discipline, what a specimen of
Reverence for Episcopal Authority would such conduct exhibit
to the world !

rate from that which we helieve to be the manifestation
of the Holy-catholic Church in our country. We might
be excommunicated, but we could neither join our
selves to any of the uncatholic communities around
us,' nor form a neiv communion for ourselves. We could
not be driven into schism against our will. We
could only wait patiently at the church doors, wish
ing and praying that our bonds might be taken off,
and pleading our cause as we best might, from
reason, and Scripture, and Church precedents. So
little ground is there for the surmise, that advo
cating the Catholic sense of the Articles is symp
tomatic of a tendency to depart from the English
Church." '—pp. 29, 30, 31.
Such, in the opinion of Professor Keble, is a
" general view of what" the " position and duties"
of the Tractarians would be, " should it ever occur
to any of" them to fall " under authoritative cen
sure ;" in other words, should the interpretation of
the Articles suggested in the last nuraber of the
" Tracts for the Times," be condemned by Acade
mical or Episcopal authority.
And is Mr. Keble serious when he asserts, " It is a
' Surely Mr. Newman adiDits the existence of some such " ten
dency," when he declares that " the received method of teaching''
the Articles subjects those who " abide by the Catholic interpre
tation" of them "to t/ie necessity o/' withdrawing from the
Church as established." What would this be, so long as the
Establishment exists, but " to form a new communion" for
themselves ?

18
consoling, I trust I may say, a providential circum
stance, that no authoritative censure has yet been
passed" ?' Has he really persuaded himself into
the belief, that his party are not labouring under
such a censure at the present moraent ?
How stands the case, in the first place, between
the Tractarians and the Bishop of Oxford? His
Lordship has declared that the Tract, the publica
tion of which has brought on the present crisis in
this important controversy, is " objectionable, and
may tend to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the
Church." This is indeed a mild and courteous
reproof. But is it not exactly that which would
have been anticipated from such a quarter ? Does
not Mr. Keble know enough of the Bishop of
Oxford, to perceive the additional weight which his
character must give to the remark of Mr. Newman,
that " a Bishop's lightest word, ex cathedrd, is
heavy : his judgment on a book cannot be light — it
is a rare occurrence" ?^
And what is it of which the Bishop has expressed
his disapprobation ? Is it the tone or spirit in
which the Tract is written ? Is it any particular
passage contained in it ? Is it anything but that
system of interpretation, the suggestion of which is
the sole object of the Tract -^ a system which is
' The Case, &c., pp. 12, 13.
^ Letter to the Bishop of Oxford, p. 4.
' A singularly unhappy attempt has been made by Mr. Ward,

19
declared, by the Tractarians, to be the " true,
legitimate, Catholic, exposition of the Articles ;'"
which Professor Keble asserts to be " such as
cannot well cease to exist, while men have eyes to
read the Fathers and to corapare them with the Ar
ticles, and hearts to feel the duty of Catholicity ;"^
and which Professor Pusey maintains to be "not
only an admissible, but the most legitimate interpreta
tion of thera. "^
This system of interpretation has been pronounced,
by the Bishop, to be an " objectionable" systera ;
or it is difficult to say to what his Lordship's decla
ration applies. Can Mr. Keble and his friends,
with any propriety, continue to defend it ? It is
proposed by Mr. Newman, as the only effectual
mean of " keeping members of our Church from
straggling in the direction of Rome ;" yet he per
sists in teaching the very views and principles by
which those "members of our Church," "whose
to shew that " nothing can be more pointedly irrespective of
the doctrine of the Tract, than the Bishop's sentence. He
suggests, as an explanation of his Lordship's meaning, that the
Tract may "tend to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the
Church from being ' objectionable' ' in th£ time qf its appearance,
or iu the manner in which it advocated its point, as being indi
rect, or satirical, or ambiguous and incomplete, in its statements;"
and he thinks that he may be even co-operating with his Lord
ship's judgment, in throwing the same positions, so far as may
be, into another shape !'' — A few more Words, &c., p. 85.
' The Case, &c., p. 7. ^ Ibid., pp. 34, 35.
' Letter to Dr. Jelf, p. 148.
B 2

20
Catholic feelings are stronger than their principles
are clear and consistent,'" are brought into that
danger from which, as he himself believes, they
have no chance of deliverance, but by the applica
tion of a remedy which his Diocesan has condemned.
It is difiicult to reconcile such conduct as this with
those earnest aspirations after the unity of the
Church, those loud professions of reverence for
ecclesiastical authority, of which we hear so much ;
especially when we recollect the fact, mentioned by
Mr. Keble, " that our own Bishop's personal direction
is almost the only mode left by which we may
ascertain the mind of the Church on any doubtful
matter of practice."^ If this be so, " the mind of
the Church" has been expressed with regard to that
system of interpretation which the Tractarians are
so eager to establish ; it has been declared to be an
" objectionable" system, and what " consistent
churchman" can venture, under such circum
stances, to raaintain it ?
But there is another feature in the case, as it
respects the interference of the Bishop, which
cannot pass unnoticed. His Lordship, it is well
known, communicated to the Editor his " advice
that the Tracts for the Times should be discon
tinued."^ Such advice can be regarded only in
the light of a command, and must therefore, in the
' The Case, &c., p. 32. ' Ibid., p. 28.
' Mr. Newman's Letter tothe Bishop of Oxford, p. 3.

21
letter at least, be obeyed. " The notion" may be
" odious," but the Tracts must be given up.'
" Perhaps, however, as much or more good may
be done by grouping those already published into
little pamphlets, and prefacing them with a few
words by way of connexion ;" perhaps " time
would be better spent in circulating the old ones
than in writing new.'" So Mr. Froude consoled
himself five years ago, when he wished "to hear
sorae account of  having backed out of the
Editorship of the .... Tracts ;" for even at that
early period of their existence he judged that there
was " plenty of matter in the present stock to set
people a-thinking, on almost all the subjects" with
which it was necessary " to acquaint them."' Is it
uncharitable to suppose that his friends will carry
out this suggestion ? — that they will consider it no
breach of the spirit of the Bishop's adraonition, to
act thus with respect to publications upon which his
Lordship may be said to have given no decided
opinion, when we see the Tract which he has
positively declared to be "objectionable" in itself,
and " likely to disturb the peace and tranquillity of
the Church," not only not suppressed, but passing
through a second edition, reprinted by the author,
with new matter contained in brackets f when we
' Vide Froude's Remains, vol. i. pp. 331 — 425.
^ Is it quite candid to say, " The corrections in the second
edition are put iu brackets" ? Besides the corrected passages and

22
see pamphlet after pamphlet issuing from the press ;
" The articles treated of in No. 90 reconsidered, and
their Interpretation vindicated ;'" " A few words,"
and then "A few more words''^ published "in
support of that which his Diocesan has disapproved,
by one who professes " really to reverence the
Bishops as the Apostles' successors," who might,
therefore, have been expected to feel and act upon
the consideration, that " there may be declarations of
opinion not synodical, which would oblige him morally,
if not legally."^
With reference to the late proceedings in the
University, great pains have been taken to shew,
that the resolution ofthe Hebdomadal Board was not
an authoritative act. Dr. Hook has been pleased to
denounce it as an exercise of " usurped authority,"*
and a " most unhappy deterraination to censure
Mr. Newman;"^ while Professor Keble thinks it
new quotations, fresh matter has been introduced. The para
graph inserted at p. 81, contains an " additional proof " in
support of the proposed system of interpretation.
' Title of Dr. Pusey s Letter to Dr. Jelf.
^ Those who have read Mr. Ward's " Words in support of
No. 90," will not be surprised to find that he has been relieved
by the Head of his College from all "perplexity" upon the
question of retaining his " office as Tutor, after the condemna
tion passed on the Tract by the Heads of Houses.''
^ The Case, &c., p. 27.
¦* Letter to the Bishop of Ripon, p. 4. Dr. Hook must cer
tainly have mislaid the " Excerpta e Corpore Statutorum," with
which he was presented at his Matriculation, or he never could
have fallen into the first of these errors : as to the " determina-

23
hardly necessary to say, that " a resolution carried
in the Board of Heads of Houses, is not an act of
the University," but "merely the opinion of indivi
dual members of the Board happening to be present ;'"
so that it is not even allowed to be the judgment of
the "Conventus Hebdoraadalis." Surely thisis
attempting to prove too much. Who ever ques
tioned the authority of an Act of Parliament be
cause it passed in a thin House ? especially if the
fact should be notorious that, had all the members
been in their places, it would have been carried by
a much larger majority? But "suppose" — ac
cording to the Professor's hypothesis — " that not
the Heads of Houses, but the Academical body in
Convocation assembled" had agreed to the Resolution
in question ; would it, on Mr. Keble's principle,
have carried any greater weight ? Would it not
have been just as easy to evade its authority, upon
the plea that it was " merely the opinion of individual
members" of Convocation "happening to be present,"
tion to censure Mr. Newmaii," it is well known that every effort
was made to deprive the Resolution of any appearance of per
sonality. Mr. Newman, in his note to the Vice-Chancellor,
says, " I have not given my name hitherto, under the belief that
it was desired thaf I should not ;" and Dr. Pusey, in his Letter to
Dr. Jelf, (p. 149,) speaking ofthe members ofthe Hebdomadal
Board, observes, " Some of them (deceiving themselves, I must
think) thought they were doing what was kindest towards our
friend, by precipitating the condemnation of the Tract, while he
was yet induced by the wishes of friends to withhold his name."
' The Case, &c„ p. 12.

24
unless every raeraber of that venerable body should
have recorded his vote upon the occasion ?
But while few will be found to agree with Mr.
Keble, in denying to the Resolution the authority
of the Hebdomadal Board, many may, perhaps, be
ready to maintain, that it " is not an act of the
University." This, however, is not the point. The
question is, whether such a resolution is not an aot
of Academical censure, — ' ' not an act of the whole
University," — this it never pretended to be ; but,
as Professor Sewell admits, a resolution of " the
appointed Guardians of the Statutes, bound, in the
words of the Statute-book itself, ' de Statutis obser-
vandis tractare deliberare, et consilia inire;'' " put
forth, too, in " the mode usually adopted by the Board,
in calling the attention of the' junior members of the
University to the observance or violation of any parti
cular Statute.'" And yet Professor Keble declares,
that it " lays no definite obligation on the con
science of those in inferior station 1"^ How would
such a declaration as this have been received, had
it proceeded from a different quarter ?
But what, though the Resolution of the Hebdo
madal Board be not an act of the Senatus Acade
raicus ? What, if, as Mr. Keble affirms, it possess
no legal authority, are there not members of the
University, whom such a " declaration of opinion,"
' Professor Sewell's Letter to Dr. Pusey, P.S., pp. 2, 3.
= The Case, &c., p. 12.

25
though " not synodical," ought " morally.to oblige" ?
Why in the case of Academical any more than in
that of Clerical subscription, is it safe or necessary
"to insist on the literal meaning of the phrase,
' animus imponentis,' so as to demand that the
party modifying should be formally, as well as sub
stantially, identical with the party enacting" ?' Must
it not be matter of surprise, that any " calm and
conscientious persons" of the Tractarian party
should be otherwise than " seriously perplexed whe
ther they" can " retain their offices, as tutors, after
the sentence of condemnation passed by the Heads
of Houses" r
Then again ; as to the purport of the Resolution.
It is not, nor was it ever meant to be, " a formal
decision on a Theological question ;'" it is not ne
cessary to regard it as an " implied censure^ ....
on any publication but the single Tract" to which it
refers ; Mr. Keble has most correctly described it,
when he supposes, for the sake of arguraent, " the
Acaderaical body in Convocation asserabled" to
have declared " that interpretations such as have
been now suggested evade, rather than explain the
Articles, and are inconsistent with the duty of receiv
ing and teaching them in good Faith, to which the Uni
versity, by express statute, binds her tutors and other
' The Case, &c., p. 27.
^ Professor Pusey's Letter to Dr. Jelf, pp. 2, 3.
^ Professor Sewell's Letter to Dr. Pusey, P.S., pp. I — 3.

26
members.'" In a word, it is precisely such a Reso
lution as must lead all those " tutors and other
members of the University interpreting our Formu
laries on," so-called, " Catholic principles,'^ to adopt
the course which Professor Keble has suggested, if,
at least, they concur in his view of their present
" position and duties," and are consistent with
their own professions.
And now, to corae to the raore immediate object
with which I have presumed to obtrude these pages
upon the notice of the members of Convoca
tion. If it be inconsistent in persons thus circum
stanced to retain the situations which they hold in
the University ; if it be something more than
inconsistent to persist in defending principles which
have been condemned by the recorded judgment of
those from whom they have received their several
appointments, (I refer, of course, to the case of
College tutors ;) what shall be said of the attempt
to possess themselves of fresh offices, offices not of
emolument, for such sordid considerations have, I
am fully persuaded, no place in their rainds, and no
influence upon their conduct, but situations which
must of necessity add weight and influence to their
party, and be made subservient to the dissemination
of their favourite views ?
The full period for which Mr. Keble can retain
the Professorship of Poetry expires at the close of
' The Case, &c., p. 13.

27
next Term. Is it true that the author of Tracts
Nos. 80 and 87, on the principle of "Reserve in
communicating Religious Knowledge, "—di principle de
clared to be inconsistent, " not only with the general
duty of the Christian minister, hut also with the special
and distinct requirement of our own Church;'" and in
voking the " exercise of that kind of authority which
belongs properly to a divine instructor, and which it is,
therefore, most presumptuous for a human instructor,
even were he a prophet, to assume, unless he can sheio
that he is expressly commissioned to exercise it"l^ — is it
true that the Rev. Isaac Williams, M.A., Fellow
and Tutor of Trinity College, is to be put forward
as a candidate for the vacant chair ?
Should it prove that there is no foundation for
this report, that no intention of the kind ever
existed, or, having existed, is abandoned ; the as
surance that such is the case will abundantly com
pensate for the charge of officiousness under which
I inight, perhaps, justly labour.
But if the contrary be the fact — and that it is so,
there is every reason to believe, — then the merabers
of Convocation will have a duty to perform, from
which no personal considerations, surely, will induce
them to shrink ; in the discharge of which they will

' Charge of the Bishop of Exeter, p. 84.
^ Archbishop Whately 's " Essays on some of the Dangers to
Christian Faith which may arise from the Teaching or the
Conduct of its Professors." — Essay III. sect. i. p. 120.

28
not be influenced by the high moral character, or the
acknowledged ability of an individual, who, under
other circurastances, perhaps, raight fill, with credit
to hiraself and the University, the situation in
which, if report be true, it is the object of the
Tractarians to place him. It will then be seen
how far Dr. Hook is correct in so confidently pre
suming that, " if suranflSned, Convocation would
reverse the censure" passed by " the raost unhappy
determination of the Hebdomadal Board." '
The country will then have an opportunity of
judging whether Oxford is sincere in her " grateful
comraemoration" of those honoured " servants of
God," who, in their glorious struggle for the esta
blishment of true religious liberty, " loved not their
lives unto the death," but " yielded their bodies to
be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths
w-hich they had affirmed and maintained, against
the errors of the Church of Rorae, and rejoicing
that to them it was given, not only to believe in
Christ, but also to suffer for his sake ;"^ or whether
she is content to hear their memory reviled, and
their "names cast out as evil" by those " who sit
in the Reformers' seat," content that there should
be among her raembers men, who within sight of
the very spot on which the martyred Prelates
" witnessed" their " good confession," can delibe-
' Letter to the Bishop of Ripon, p. 5.
^ Inscription for the Martyrs' Memorial.

29
rately sit down to justify the abuse which has been
poured upon their heads, and declare that " it is
necessary in self-defence, that they should be
spoken of in a harsh and disrespectful manner.'"
But, above all, an occasion will be given to the
appointed rainisters of the Gospel of Christ, who
form so large a majority of the Members of Convo
cation, for an express avowal of their opinion, at
least, upon that particular and most important principle
in the Tractarian Theology which the proposed suc
cessor of Mr. Keble has been at so rauch pains to
elucidate — the principle, of Reserve, — if not upon the
general character of a systera which has already been
alluded to by many of " those who have autho
rity," in no raeasured terras of disapprobation :
which has been declared by one Bishop^ of our
Church " to generate an inadequate, and superfi
cial, and superstitious religion " and likely "to
make way for an apostasy in the Church of England
as in that of Rome, unless, indeed, the evangelical
piety, the reverence for Holy Scripture, the theo
logical learning, and the forethought and fidelity
' " A few more Words in support of No. 90 of the Tracts for
the Times. By the Rev. W. G. Ward, M. A., Fellow of Balliol
College." " It is come to this, that either plain words must be
put forth about them, or all vi'ho agree with Mr. Froude and his
Editors in their estimate of them, and yet subscribe the Articles,
must be accused, without the power of self-defence, of dishonesty,
and unfair dealing." — p. 32.
^ Bishop of Calcutta.

30
of our Divines of dignified station and established
repute at home, interpose, by distinct cautions, to
prevent it :" which, in the judgment ofa second,'
" threatens a revival of the worst evils of the Romish
system:" which, to a third,^ appears "founded
upon mistaken views of the general tenour and cha
racter of Scripture ;" and from which he considers
it " incumbent upon every sincere friend to the prin
ciples of the Protestant Reformation, and of evange
lical truth, openly to declare his dissent .-" while a
fourth^ " deplores the rashness which has prompted"
the teachers of this system " to recommend" the
very practices which the Reformers " deliberately re
jected" "laraents the encouragement given by the
same writers to the dangerous practice of prayer for the
dead;" " the tendency of" their "language to encou
rage the pernicious and perilous habit of distinguishing
between such sins as may destroy our state of grace, and
such as we may think still leave that state secure ;" and,
' ' however it may be explained, to rob the Gospel of the
Blessed Jesus of much of that assurance of the riches
of the goodness and mercy of God in Christ, which is
its peculiar message, its glad tidings of great joy ;" to
" rob Baptism itself of its full and genuine efficacy ;"
a systera, which — to quote but one other authority —
has been characterized by the prelate of a sister
Church,* after an examination, to the carefulness of
' Bishop of Chester. ^ Bishop of Chichester.
' Bishop of Exeter. '' Bishop of Ohio.

which his work bears ample testimony, as "little
else than Popery restrained."
Nor must it be forgotten, that the opportunity
thus afforded for the expression of the sentiments
of Convocation would be forced upon it by the
Tractarians themselves. Were it otherwise, no cry
of unnecessary agitation or excitement, no charge
of individual persecution, could be raised by those
who appeal to Convocation, as the only corapetent
authority in the matter, so far as the University is
concerned, and who were themselves araong the
foremost in promoting the adoption of the same
course under— (as the event has most happily and
satisfactorily proved) — less urgent, though not very
dissimilar circumstances.
How far, instead of leaving it to be thus indi
rectly brought under its notice, it would be more
expedient formally to submit the iraportant ques
tion which now agitates the University, to the
deliberate judgment of Convocation assembled for
the express purpose of considering it, is a question
which, I cannot but think, must have been decided
in the affirmative, could all that has transpired since
the meeting of the Hebdomadal Board, have been
then foreseen. And, painful as the alternative
must be to which, according to Professor Keble's
view of their " position and duties," the Tractarians
would be obliged to resort, should the decision of
Convocation be against thera, it raay yet be ques-

32
tioned, without entertaining, I trust, in the least,
the spirit " of that most uncatholic sentiment, too
often lightly uttered in such debates,'" but of which
it is indeed matter for congratulation, "that we
have heard so little during the progress" of the
present controversy — it may yet be questioned,
without any breach of Christian charity, and in the
exercise of the kindliest feelings of personal regard
for the individuals themselves, whether, so long as
they maintain their present opinions, their retire
ment frora the offices which they hold in the
Church and in the University, would not confer the
raost essential benefit upon both.
The publication of the last Number of the "Tracts
for the Times" has brought on a crisis in the history
of their school : they have coraraitted themselves to
a principle by which they raust either stand or fall ;
and the iraportance of bringing the subject to an
issue, by the decision of authority from which there
would be no appeal, seems to be daily more deeply
felt and acknowledged. To quote the eloquent lan
guage of the Margaret Professor of Divinity, whose
voice was early raised against the errors of the
Tractarian system, — " Should a persevering adhe
rence to their views of subscription fail to be met
by a corresponding vigilance on the part of the
' " If a man cannot sign, let him go, we ean do without him ;
if he does not like our Church, let him go to another." — The
Case, &c., p. 37.

33
Church herself; should any ill-timed spirit of for
bearance, or compromise, or indifference, silently allow
her tests to be rendered null and void, by forced
and evasive interpretations, till at length it might be
plausibly urged that the, so-called, Catholic sense
was at least one of the senses notoriously recognised
by those who imposed subscription, then would our
case be hopeless indeed. What could then remain
to stem the returning tide of error and corruption,
against which, by the good providence of God, our
Articles have hitherto been found an insurmount
able barrier and defence ? Far better would it be
to seek for Christian unity in the wide field of
Scripture itself, (with what prospect of success we
can all readily anticipate,) than continue to affect
the mere semblance of unity, by a hollow and
delusive subscription to Articles thus become a
dead letter and a disgrace. Under such unhappy
circumstances, to say that they were utterly void of
use, would be the least of their condemnation.
They would be infinitely worse than useless. To the
sincerely attached friends of our Reformed and
Protestant Faith, they would be an afflicting memo
rial of past blessings and present degradation ; to
the clear in intellect and the upright in heart, they
would be an object of loathing and disgust ; to the
weak and wavering, a deadly snare ; a cloak for
hypocrisy, an encouragement to sin.'"
' " The Thirty-nine Articles considered as a Standard aud
c

34
The extent of evil likely to ensue from the pro
posed alternative of Lay Communion must depend,
almost entirely, upon the conduct of the Tracta
rians, should they place themselves in such a posi
tion. Could the leaders of the party be content
with " sitting still ;" were they to retire, simply as
a relief to their own consciences, ceasing to preach,
or otherwise inculcate their peculiar views ; the
mischief that might follow would be probably of
small amount, and short duration : but if, upon the
contrary, they continue in their retirement to form
the nucleus of a particular school ; if "a genera
tion of unfledged disciples," is to be ever hovering
around them ; if relinquishing the " Tracts for the
Times," they persevere in upholding their system
by publications of a more popular and influential
character ; if they, whose " Call to Union''' has
been proclaimed from one end of the country to the
other, are to " nail their colours to the mast,'" and
" take their side,''' and " become party men ;"" then as
suredly the issue will be that which many have
Test of the Doctrines of the Church of England, chiefly with re
ference to the views of No. 90, of the Tracts for the Tinies."
A Lecture, delivered before the University of Oxford, in the
Divinity School, on Thursday, June 3, I84I, by Godfrey
Faussett, D.D., the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, and
Canon of Christ Church. — pp. 43, 44.
' See Dr. Hook's Speech at the Meeting of the Leeds Dis
trict Committee of tlie Society for the Propagation of the Gos
pel, March 31, 1841.
' Dr. Hook's Letter to the Bishop of Ripon, p. 6.

35
anticipated from the very beginning of the move
ment, and for which Mr. Keble himself appears to
be prepared.
The present teachers may indeed remain firm in
their attachment to the Church, and continue in its
Communion and Fellowship ; but " it will be much"
indeed, " if in the course of years, human infirmity
do not cause some of" the disciples " to lapse into
open schism.'" It is impossible to think otherwise
with the least knowledge of human nature, or the
slightest acquaintance with Ecclesiastical History.
They who have been accustomed to teach, will not
long be content to remain hearers only ; they will
nauseate the food which they are not permitted to
dispense ; tired of starving at " the Church door,"^
they will become impatient to feed themselves ;
weary of " praying that their bonds may be
taken oflF"^ they will conteraplate the necessity of
self-deliverance, until one more adventurous than
his brethren shall propose to lead thera forth from
their Egyptian bondage,*' m. search of that " Ache-
loides"* — which " the waters" of strife may, ere
long, " throw up,"* and towards which the hearts of
some have already yearned, — where, separated from
" that raother upon" whora, " even now, no small
number of her children >ic^ difficulties in recognising
' The Case, &c., p. 34. ^ Ibid., p. 31.
^ Ward's "Few more Words in support of No. 90, &c.," p. 72.
* Froude's Remains, vol. i. p. 405.

36
the Lord's mark as really a living branch of His
Church,'"" "beyond the blighting influence of our
Upas Tree,'" and unfettered by a " Church System,"
which " is an incubus upon the country,'" they may
erect a See'" and establish a Communion of their
own. And who will be responsible for such a result ?
One word more, and I leave the subject to abler
hands, satisfied that they will deal with it as its im
portance requires. It may be said, perhaps, " you
are carrying your responsibility as an elector much
too far ; what connexion can there be between
Poetry and the " Oxford Tracts" ? what have Mr.
Williams' theological opinions to do with the office
for which he is to be proposed ? Professor Keble
hiraself shall answer the inquiry.
" Considerate Catholics well know, that there is,
practically, no separating the high and comprehensive
vie'ws which that name imports from any ofthe moral
branches of education. Silence them as you may on
directly theological questions, how are they to dedi
with Ethics, or Poetry, or History, so as not to guide
their disciples by the light which the Church System
reflects on all ?"^
' Froude's Remains, vol. i. p. 405. ' The Case, &c.,'p. 17.

T. C. Savin, Priutcr, 107, St. Martin's Lane.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

THE GRIEVANCE OF CHURCH RATES : A Letter
to Philip Pusey, Esq., M.P. Tn which the arguments of the Aboli
tionists are exarained, their misrepresentations exposed, and their conduc.
towards the Establishment compared with that of honest and conscientious
Dissenters. With an Appendix ; containing a correspondence between
the Author and Dr. Bennett, of Silver Street Chapel, Cheapside, upon
the desecration ofthe Lord's Supper, and the " sin committed" by the
members of the Establishment in the " affair" of Church-rates &c. &c.
— Svo, pp. 72.
London: J. Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadili-t.

A WORD TO HIS PARISHIONERS, on their Duty to
the Church, with referenee to the Church-rate question. — Svo, pp. 16.
London : J. Hatchabd and Son, 187, Piccadilly.

THE DUTY OF WALKING IN THE LIGHT. A Sermon
preached at St. Martin's, Oxford, before the late Corporation, on Sunday>
January 1 Ith, 1835, the day following the election of W. Hughes Hughes
and Donald Maclean, Esqs., the Protestant candidates for the repre
sentation of the city in the second Reformed Parliament.
NATIONAL JUDGMENTS THE CONSEQUENCE OF
NATIONAL SINS. A Sermon, preached as above, on Friday, Ja
nuary 30th,1835, being the anniversary ofthe Martyrdom of King Charle
the First.
N.B. The above Sermons are published in numbers 3 and 42 of the
" Protestant Preacher ;" a work the profits of which are devoted entirely
to the promotion of Scriptural Education in Ireland.
London : F. Baislek, 124, Oxford Street.

3 9002 085bl 6044

^