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NOTES
ADDED TO THE THIRD EDITION OF
A LETTER TO
HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,
BY THE
REV. DR. PUSEY.

Note C, page 84.
The Charge of the Bishop of Lincoln was delivered in 1837,
in which year the fourth volume of the Tracts appeared.
The Charge being out of print, the writer has been requested
to give tke passage. It contains just what he has now ventured
to ask for, not unmixed praise, but a kind acknowledgment
that the efforts were in the right direction.
" There still remain many interesting topics on which, if
the time would allow, I would gladly enlarge. But they do
not admit of being cursorily treated ; . . . I allude more
particularly to the Romish controversy, — to the various
interpretations of unfulfilled prophecy recently put forth, —
to the Tracts published by a society of learned and pious
men connected with the University of Oxford, whose
object is to recall the minds of men to the contemplation
of primitive Christianity, and to bring back the Church to
a closer resemblance to the form which it bore in its
earliest ages. It may be that they have in some instances
exposed themselves to the charge of being influenced by
too indiscriminate an admiration of antiquity, and of en
deavouring to revive practices and modes of expression
which the Reformers wisely relinquished, because expe
rience had shewn that they were liable to be perverted to

the purposes of superstition. If, however, in the pursuit
of a favourite object they have run into excess, let us not,
on that account, overlook the good which may be derived
from their labours. While we read theiv wi'itings, our
attention can scarcely fail to be directed to certain subjects
especially deserving it at the present juncture — to the
unity, for instance, and the authority of the Church — sub
jects on which we have so long been silent, that the very
terms seem strange to the ears of our congregations, and
the mere mention of them is almost regarded as implying
a wish to invade the right of individual judgment. At a
time, too, when we are told that the care of religion does
not fall within the province of the civil Magistrate, and
that Christianity itself ought to receive no especial favour
at his hands, but only to share his protection in common
with Mahometanism or Heathenism, it cannot but be
beneficial to the Ministers of the Church of Christ to have
their thoughts turned to that period of its history when it
stood in the relation to the State to which they who maintain
the opinions just described would gladly reduce it — when
the civil power either persecuted or neglected it. In the
self-denial, the disinterestedness, the patience, the meek
but uncompromising fortitude of the first converts, we are
fiu-nished with the model which we must strive to copy, in
case it should please God to place us under similar external
circumstances. Let us humbly beseech Him, my brethren,
to infuse into our bosoms some portion of the spirit by
which they were animated — of that spirit which caused
them to regard the loss of every worldly possession, nay,
of life itself, gain, if they could convert it into an occasion
of manifesting their entire, their unreserved, devotion to
His service."

Note D,page 131.
Two points ' in the above statement as to the character
of Lutheran worship have been noticed to me by a Prussian
Ecclesiastic as inaccurate; 1) That I have said, that the
Nicene Creed is " laid aside." 2) That they " never kneel."
On the first point, he remarks that the Nicene Creed is in
the Prussian Agenda, recommended for general use, and (a^
I understand) enjoined to be used in certain districts, where
it had been previously customary : on the other, he states,
that in the Prussian dominions the " Evangehcal" con
gregations kneel during the consecration of the Holy
Eucharist, and that the Lutheran portion commonly use fO'
kneel during the reception; (the Minister being directed
to say, " Kneel down and hear the words of consecra
tion.") Such exceptions appear to me rather to exhibit the un-
ecclesiastical state of the German Congregations in a more
painful light than before. On the first point, the Prussian
Agenda was a service-book compiled not by, nor with the
advice of, the Lutheran body, but by the late king, assisted
by a General-Ofiicer ; it was not willingly accepted by the
people, but new ministers, as they were appointed, were
required to adopt it ; at last, it was generally enforced, on
more than one occasion, by the military, and in one place
at least, where it was resisted, a distressing scene took
place, pregnant women being placed around the doors of
the Church, to prevent the entrance of the soldiery. It
was thus literally enforced at the point of the bayonet.
Many of the stricter Lutherans, among the people, emi
grated to the United States, rather than receive it. It is
then to be regarded as the act of an individual, not of the
^ The omission of the word " universal" in reporting the German
alterations of the Apostles' Creed has been corrected ; to me it does not
seem to make any difference; (see above p. 138,) but it was only
incidentally introduced, not as bearing upon this question. I must say,
generaUy, that my statements rested not on my own recoUections merely,
but on German authority.

body. Even thus it does not appear that the recom
mendation to use the Creed has been acted upon, so that its
appearing upon the pages of the Prussian Agenda, is rather
a witness against the " Evangelical" body, in that it has
been recommended, but not accepted ; a fact which is
painfully illustrated by the necessity of its " use" being
" enjoined" by the Civil Power, even where it was origin
ally retained. In the declension of Lutheranism, it was
silently laid aside, without any plea that (as in the case of
the Athanasian Creed) there was any thing, distinct from
its character, as a Confession of Faith, which people were
unwilling to take into their mouths. Its disuse can only
have arisen in distaste for the doctrines of the Creed ;
and it has been restored, (where restored,) not through the
restored faith of the people, but by the Civil Power. The
writer certainly never heard the Nicene Creed in any
Lutheran Congregation, nor ever met with any one who
had*"; on the contrary, persons even in the upper ranks,
religiously educated, have grown up, he has reason to
know, without ever having seen or heard it.
On the other point, if the Lutherans do indeed commonly
kneel during the reception of the Holy Eucharist, an im
provement must certainly have taken place since the writer
was in Prussia. In 1825 — 27, certainly no one knelt on
receiving the Holy Eucharist, even in the strictly Lutheran
parts, as at Greifswald, where even the rite of not giving
the elements into the hands of the people, was retained.
And since that period, in places in the very neighbourhood
of Berlin, kneeling had not been introduced. At the very
best, what an unseemly variation of attitude in the same
Congregation, for part to receive It, kneeling, part, erect I
One should fear the effect upon the part which continued
not to kneel must be more pernicious than before; certainly
there is an implanted reverence in the mind, which makes
•> The writer is glad to see it stated that " there are Churches, at
Berlin for instance, where it is used at every Church Festival."
M. Abeken's Letter, p. 39.

it painful to stand, while others kneel. The irreverence
amid which the attitude of standing was originally adopted,
must be aggravated in those who, by adhering to it, now
resist the feelings of reverence, suggested by a holier
attitude. If it be recognised as the attitude of deepest
devotion, then, certainly, the omission of it in receiving
the Holy Communion, becomes the more painful. The
Lutheran attitude of receiving It, (for it is Lutheran, the
change was again the result of the act of the late king only,)
the Lutheran attitude of standing, as it is unexampled
(the writer believes) elsewhere, so it has not the semblance
of plea, which the Calvinist put forth for his position, of
sitting. Both are inventions of men; but the Calvinist,
claiming to adhere to what he found on the surface of the
Bible (for the attitude of kneeling is in a deeper sense
involved in the words, " they have eaten and worshipped")
is at the least consistent. Again, this single instance of
kneeling aggravates its omission at other times. What can
be thought of the reverence of mind in a system which, ac
knowledging " kneeling" to be the lowliest attitude, never
teaches men to humble themselves in public before Almighty
God 1 Or what more striking contrast could there be with our
own Church, which, as its Liturgy is fuller of penitence than
that of any other branch of the Church, so, practically,
is wont to kneel, even in parts where the ancient custom,
or the rubric, implies that people stood ? Certainly, were
the Eastern Church to see us carrying out the spirit of our
daily Service, they would acknowledge us to be a humble
Church; but the contrast of a Prussian Liturgy would
only be the more offensive. Even with regard to the
single exception made, since the congregations were to be
" Evangelical," all which would be gained, would be the
unseemly exhibition of persons receiving the Holy Eucha
rist in this medley way, some kneeling, others standing;
and of a Congregation bid to kneel, to hear the words of
Consecration, as though the act of Consecration also were
a mere preaching or teaching.

The same Ecclesiastic states, that in the new service for
.Jerusalem, the Nicene Creed would be enjoined to be
used on solemn festivals, as the Athanasian Creed [in
addition to it] among ourselves. This, again, as far as it
goes, is an instance of the personal anxiety of the present
king to promote a sound Faith among his subjects. Yet I
know not, whether the very rareness of the introduction of
that Creed do not imply an unfavourable judgment as to
the present state of the Lutheran body. Why introduce it
thus sparingly, if it were thought that it would be gladly
received ? The parallel with our Church is but apparent.
The Nicene Creed does, upon most points, contain the full
statement of saving faith ; and this is by us confessed
weekly ; in the theory of our Church, the Athanasian
Creed is, in addition, to be confessed monthly ; we (it is
to be feared) suffer loss from its practical infrequency ;
in the Lutheran body, Saints' days being altogether laid
aside except two", I believe, in commemoration of the
Blessed Virgin (Marien-Tage), the use of the Nicene would
be more infrequent than that of the Athanasian among
ourselves. But, (which is of the chief and indeed of ex
ceeding moment,) the Lutheran body has no other Creed
to supply this deficiency ; the Creed, which is to be
thus rarely used, — on five festivals in the whole year, —
is the only Creed which the Catholic Church gathered
and received as the safeguard against the heresies which
assailed the Faith : she opposed that Creed to them,
finding the earlier Confessions of faith inadequate: the
Lutheran body, in using only or chiefly the Apostles'
Creed, employs, in times and in the country the most full
of heresy, the Creed in that form only, in which it was found
insnfiicient, except in the purest days of the virgin faith in
the West : in the East, it had been found necessary to
expand it almost from the very first. Such a rare introduc
tion of the Nicene Creed would (it is to be feared) eflfect
' Mr. A. since states, " In many parts of our Church, the Apostles"
days art? kept, and so is St. John the Baptist's very grenerallv."

little towards embodying its faith in the hearts of the
people. It would, too likely, be listened to with apathy
as a new Confession; Germans themselves lay stress on the
habit of our people to repeat the Creeds after the Minister,
as impressing their truths upon them " ; they imply that
the Creed which they do weekly use, has the less hold
upon the minds of their own people, because only recited
before them ; as it is indeed the act of confessing it with
our own lips, which makes it our own Faith. How much
less could one expect any result from the recitatipn ,of. a
Greed, to them new, which does not enter into their cate
chetical instruction, or in any way into their devotional
Hfe, of which they would hear nothing, think nothing,
except, at most, for the brief period of its unfamiliar
recitation before them on five festivals in the year ! Such a
practice could give us no guarantee as to their soundness,
for whom we should be making our Church responsible.
This statement, also, however valuable as indicating
the private feelings of the king, certainly goes beyond the
only authentic statement, that put forth by his own
Minister of Public Worship, which speaks of developing
the German Church " according to the Confession, and with
theuseof the Liturgy of that Church." (See above, p. 108,
and the paper itself in Mr. Hope's Pamphlet theje quoted.)
Since the above was in type, Mr. Abeken, the Ecclesi
astic alluded to, has thought it necessary to remark publicly
on the points upon which he had communicated privately
to me. On his letter it would hardly be right to remark,
since, well as he has mastered our language, it still might
be, that expressions one should except against, may convey
an erroneous impression as to his meaning. Its general
tone is also highly satisfactory; it is cheering to find the
word "Catholic" recognised and "loved;" (p. 14. 31.)
" new and particular teaching," and " the assembling round
the standard of some peculiar doctrine," excepted against,
as " the way in which sects and heresies are formed
and gathered together," (p. 24.) the claim set up to be the
• See NoteB.

8
" ancient, estabhshed, ecclesiastical, bodies of the different
German provinces," " only correcting eiTors, and abolish
ing abuses," (ib.) " unwillingness to separate" expressed,
and the denial that the German bodies " did actually
separate themselves," (p. 11.) but that they were rather " cut
off by the Church of Rome ;" (p. 13.) a wishful longing that
they could " have remained one undivided German Church,
preserving within herself a complete organization ;" (p. 11.)
the statement that Presbyterian ordination was but an
expedient " to prevent the establishment of the threatening
principleof Independentism,"(p. 37.)andastrongsuspicion,
that there is something really spiritual in Episcopacy ;
that " there is spirit and life in it," " realizing the idea of
the Church more perfectly than any other form," " that
with it and through it the Church will have freedom and
liberty to move and to work and to develope all her
powers,'' that it is " an organ for the expression, for the
developement, for the increase and strengthening of the
union" " between man and his God and Saviour." (p. 54.)
It is cheering to find such sentiments within the German
body, even as the expression of an individual mind; it is a
hopeful sign, that they have been planted there. Had one
indeed any hope that these were more than the feelings of
an individual, one might have hoped also for an earlier
restoration of the body to which he belongs.
With regard, however, to the question now at stake, this
pamphlet contains nothing in any way to change the view
put forward in my own, as to our present relation to that
body. Rather, it states explicitly, what I had asserted
on other authority, that they do not as yet ask any
thing of our hands. The writer says at the outset,
" We called upon her [our Church] not to accept any
thing from us, not to exchange any thing with us, nor
even to impart any thing to us, but simply to come
forward and act in common with us for the exten.sion of
Ihe kingdom of heaven." (p. 3, 4.) This being so, our
own course with regard to the Bishopric of Jerusalem
seems the more clear. It must be painful, even while it

IS an imperative duty, to withhold what is in itself a
spiritual blessing, from tho.se unprepared to receive it.
It is painfi^il to have to take upon one's self to decide in
any such case, that it would not be a blessing to the indi
vidual who applies for it. Were the Bishopric of Jerusalem,
(as was commonly reported,) a preparation for the intro
duction of Episcopacy into Prussia, and the chief interest
of the king of Prussia in the scheme, to accustom his
subjects to " live under its shadow," the responsibility of
accepting or declining his cooperation, would be, in either
case, considerable. As this scheme was put forth, its
ulterior bearings were those in which its chief importance
lay. Accordingly as persons felt hopeful or no about the
immediate prospects of the Lutheran body ; or, again, ac
cording to their ^'iews whether good would be likely to
accrue from the introduction of Episcopacy unsought, or
in a compromising way, they would feel much to be at
stake, in that good or evil must, on a large scale, result.
There was no measure to calculate the magnitude of the
results wrapt up in this first step. We should have had a
very painful and self-denying duty to perform, in seeming to
retard a restoration, which all must desire. But if nothing is
asked for, except that we should " act in common" in a reli
gious undertaking, our Bishops may surely feel no scruple in
preferring, for the time, to carry on our work alone. Setting
apart all internal anxieties, there is no question but that,
for all the objects which our Church has at heart, we
should be but embarrassing them by mixing up any foreign
body with ourselves. Whether in the conversion of the
Jews, or in cultivating a better understanding with the
Orthodox Greek Church, our simplest form, as the ancient
British Church, is obviously the best calculated to attain
those ends. It must be felt that we should not be so likely
to gain the Jews, or conciliate the Greeks, if we present
ourselves to them in connection with a body, in a more
imperfect state than ourselves, and which the Greeks have
anathematized. If there are not great ulterior objects, we
should be sacrificing our domestic peace, our estimation

10
with the extensive Churches which are beginning to look
favourably upon us, for nothing. There would not even
be a plea for a step, which, as far as its influence extends,
one must look upon as suicidal.
While, however, I must retain my conviction that our
Church cannot, for the time, benefit the Lutherans directly
except by our prayers, and it seems to me inconsistent to
think of the introduction of Episcopacy into a body, where
avowed Rationalists are still continued as the authorized
teachers of her future Ministers, I may again repeat (in
rnemory of the kindness I have received from individuals
in that body, and the love which one must needs bear
them) that I trust that it is a question of time only.
Attempted now, it would be very dangerous to our own
Church, pernicious, probably, to them ; let us each labour
on in the task, for the present assigued respectively to each
of us, we in building up our Church, they in restoring the
very fundamentals of the Christian Faith, and He who,
in our different ways, has begun a good work in us, will,
I trust, in either carry it on to the end, and in His time
and way, " supply what" in each "is lacking."
Note Y.,page 152.
Extracts from Mr. Alexander Knox in 1816, on the Situation
and Prospect of the Established Church. Remains,
vol. i. p. 48 sqq.
The following extracts from a very thoughtful Essay
of a very remarkable man must, of course, like all an
ticipations of the future, be but partially correct. They do,
however, anticipate a course appointed for our Ciiurch,
sufficiently corresponding to that which has, or, in part,
is being fulfilled in her, to give them great value, and
that the more, as being founded on the observation of
God's former dealings with our Church. They, also, in
their way, may be consoling to those who view with anxiety
what they account approximations to Romanism. It is
also an additional ground of thankfulness to Almighty

11
God, that He has been working for her through tem
porary difficulties only, what one so far-sighted as Mr.
Knox, thought could only be produced by " a downfall,"
a " catastrophe." " He hath done great things for us
already, whereat we rejoice."
" It cannot be dissembled, that, in what concerns the
Established Church, the House of Commons seems to feel
no other principle, than that of vulgar policy. The old
high Church race is worn out. The conscientious mem
bers are too generally under an opposite bias ; and the
majority are mere men of the world, if not men of yester
day, and, therefore, on every account, ' caring for hone
of these things.' So soon, therefore, as the majority of
the active public (which, unfortunately, is a very different
thing from that of the thinking public) are seen to desert
the Church, the House of Commons will, I suspect, no
longer shelter her. The crisis may be resisted, for a
time, by the still remaining habits of the House of Lords ;
but it can be only for a time  We actually see the
reverence for both aristocracies, (the ecclesiastical and the
political,) scarcely by slow, but certainly by sure, degrees,
going down together; and, amongst other causes, this
similar one has clearly operated in both, that the aris
tocratic character has been injured by a neutralizing
blendure ; that is, by making men of low descent, Peers,
and by making men of low Church principles, Bishops.
 That the present state of things, in our twofold
constitution, is, in part, attributable to the choice of
Bishops since 1714, and to the choice of Peers since, at
least, 1783, might, I think, be not hard to demonstrate.
 It was no doubt necessary, that England should
remain undisturbed within, until she had been the means
of restoring order to the world. But, that the deep anti-
ecclesiastical spirit, which has been working for half a
century, and now works more strongly and extensively
and on a higher level than ever, will go off in mere
noiseless, insensible evaporation, is more, I confess, thati

12
either the reason of the thing, or the signs of the times,
authorize us to conclude.
" But, amid these apprehensions, I am comforted by
. the persuasion, that, whatever befalls the English Church,
will be for its greater good. If ' gold be tried in the
fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity,' it
is natural to suppose a like discipline necessary, for the
perfection of collective bodies, and corporate institutions.
Such has been the lot of the Church at large ; and the
same may, of course, be reckoned upon, in its subordinate
portioiis, and perhaps the more, in proportion as they
partake of the essential spirit of the whole. That the
Church of England eminently possesses the spirit, we are
happy to be assured ; but that she has yet attained the
faculty of diffusing it through her members, daily expe
rience forbids our asserting. No Church on earth has
more intrinsic excellence, yet, no Church, probably, has
less practical influence. Her excellence, then, I conceive,
gives ground for confiding, that Providence never will
abandon her ; but her want of influence, would seem no
less clearly to indicate, that Divine Wisdom will not
always suffer her to go on, without measures for her
improvement. 'Temporary adversity is that, to which, in all such cases,
as far as we know, the providence of God has hitherto
resorted; and we can form a clear idea of the manner in
which a temporary depression of the English Church
might exalt its moral qualities. It is now an object with
worldly men, for the sake of worldly considerations : —
'The birds of the air come and lodge in the branches.'
Let, then, its worldly honours and opulence be withdrawn,
and its adherents will be those alone, who love it for its
own sake. ' The hireling will flee, because he is an
hireling.' But the genuine votary will not only ' stand
in the evil day,' but he will experience affections of which
till then he was unconscious. The Church of England
has hitherto been too prosperous to call forth our finest

13
feelings ; where there was nothing but wealth and power,
tenderness and sympathy could have no place. But
generous minds would contemplate their dismantled
church, with sensations never felt before 
" But I conjecture, that other valuable results, per
haps not otherwise to be arrived at, are to be hoped
for from the apprehended reverse. Hitherto, the Church
of England, though more temperate in her measures than
any other portion of the reformed body, has manifested
no sentiment with such unremitting intensity, as dread
of whatever could be deemed popery. I deny not the
expediency, perhaps necessity, of this feeling, in such
circumstances as have hitherto existed. But it has given
safety to the Church of England, at the expense of
perfection ; which last can be attained only by proving
all things, and holding fast what is good; and this dis
crimination can be practised, only in the absence of
prejudice. As matters are, dread of transubstantiation
has made the Sacrament a ceremony; and to ward off
infallibility, every man has been encouraged to shape a
creed for himself. The most certain cure for this extreme,
will be to experience its fruits. Another fall by dis-
senterism will make it be felt, that, if Popery can be a
Charybdis, there is a Scylla, on the other side, not less
dangerous. But it will be still more useful to learn, that,
in the mixed mass of the Roman Catholic religion, there
is gold, and silver, and precious stones, as well as wood,
hay, and stubble; and that every thing of the former
nature is to be as carefully preserved, as every thing of
the latter nature is to be wisely rejected.
"This was the principle on which our Reformation
commenced; but, as Dryden remarks in his Preface to
the Religio Laici, it ' was continued by Edward VI. on
other principles than those on which it was begun.'
The line, thus made to diverge, has since, again and
again, been bent inward, but always with extreme caution,
lest apparent ground should be given, either for the
alarm of the timid, or the outcry of the zealous ; I doubt

14
not, that it was thus strictly ordered hy Divine Provi
dence; the purposes of which might, for a season, require
preponderance of pure Protestantism, even though a lower
rate of pious excitement, within the Establishment, should
be the consequence. But a most remarkable fact is, that
the greatest bend was given to the line, immediately
after the period of deepest depression. The distress of
the English Episcopal Church, during the Usurpation,
had more than ever endeared her to her genuine children;
and the hand which inflicted the discipline, served to
abate all undue protestant zeal. A revision, therefore,
of the Liturgy, being called for, the revisers seized the
opportunity (contrary to what the public was reckoning
upon) to make our formularies not more Puritanic,
but more Catholic. They effected this, without doubt,
stealthily, and to appearance, by the minutest alteration ;
but to compare the Communion Service, as it now stands,
especially its rubrics, with the form in which we find it
previously to that transaction, will be to discover, that,
without any change of features which could cause alarm,
a new spirit was then breathed into our Communion Ser
vice, principally by a few significant circumstances, in the
manner of conducting the business, which were fitted to
impress the devout, though certain to be fully understood
only by the initiated.
" Who can doubt of this transaction being, in all its
bearings, providential ? And yet it was clearly insufficient
to produce any extended or striking effect. It has actually
escaped general observation. Wheatly on the Liturgy,
notices the changes: but, though himself a high Church
man, overlooks their import. Nichols, if I remember
right, scarcely adverts to the fact; and Shepherd, who
meant to take pains, seems not to have known any thing
of the matter. What, then, can we suppose, but that
those changes were meant by Providence to subserve
ulterior movements; to lie dormant, as it were, until
nearer 'the time of the end,' — when it might suit the
order of Providence, that what was before deposited as

15
seed, should grow up into a rich and luxuriant harvest.
But how, so naturally, can we suppose this result to be
accomplished, as by a repetition of a process, which pro
duced the pledge and outline? If a remarkable disen
gagement from the prejudices of high Protestantism,
through a painful experience of its unchecked tendencies,
was necessary to form instruments for that incipient cor
rection of antecedent excesses, is it unreasonable to con
jecture, that the agency destined to carry on, what was
then begun, will be trained to its vocation by a similar
instruction ? The dread of Popery, and the cdhseqtient
prejudice against every thing vulgarly branded with that
stigma, is even more powerful now, than when England
was alarmed by the prospect of the Spanish match ; and
among those, who, if an opening were given, would think
themselves solely qualified to mend the Established Church,
(I mean the persons called Evangelicals,) the antipathy
rises to rancour. Nothing, therefore, would be less con
ceivable, than that, if a revision of the Liturgy were
undertaken now, the line pursued, or the result accom
plished, would resemble, in any respect, what was done in
1622. In fact, without other lights, and other tastes,
than we see at this day in any quarter, the work would
be done mischievously, or done at random.
" But were the Church of England once more to fall,
through the efforts of Protestant assailants, a new view of
things would infallibly follow. The causes of the down
fall would be sharply and deeply investigated, and much
would, be seen, till then unattended to, both in the friends
and in the enemies of the Church, which would serve to
account for the catastrophe. There would be no motive,
in such a state of things, to escape truth; there would be
every motive to discover it, and circumstances, past and
present, would reflect it upon them like so many mirrors. It
would not be strange, if there were a rebound of feeling ;
a self-reproach, for having been so hostile to Roman
Catholics, and so unsuspicious of Protestants. This took

16
place, in the former depression, to such a degree, as to
suggest strong wishes for reunion with the Roman Catholic
Church. William Forbes wrote his Dissertations, and
Herbert Thorndike his Weights and Measures, with the
prospect of effecting such a measure, on terms not wholly
inconsistent with their Church- of-England feelings. This,
however, was visionary : it was, in truth, the fruit of
despair ; and, perhaps, cherished by insidious assurances
from Roman Catholic emissaries. At this day, whatever
self-crimination there might be for disproportionate dis
like, there could be no thought of re-submitting to the
long-dissolved chains 
"But this very firmness in their own Christian privileges,
would qualify them for an unprejudiced view of the
system, by which they were no longer in danger of being
enthralled. In an earlier stage, the fence of prejudice
might be necessary, in default of settled judgment. But
when internal principle is established, external restraint
may be withdrawn. And were prejudice wholly gone, what
copious matter for profound and interesting study, would
that wonderful concrete of truth and error, of greatness
and meanness, of beauty and deformity, the Roman
Catholic Church, afford ! Viewed from without, and
indiscriminately, nothing having the Christian name,
could be more uncouth and revolting. Still, under that
rubbish, must be all the rich results of a providential
training of Christ's mystical kingdom, for fourteen cen
turies ; that is, from the close of the canon of Scripture,
until the Reformation. Perhaps some of the grossest
errors might, on close examination, be found to point us
to valuable, but hitherto neglected truths ; and we should
possibly, in several instances, discover, that there was a
providential necessity for questionable practices to con
tinue, until there was a disposition, somewhere, to extract
the entire spirit, from the unworthy, but, till then,
indispensable vehicle."

17

Note F, page 153.
Meaning of the title heresy as applied to Wesleyanism.
Having been infoi-med, that some have been offended by
my having said that "Wesleyanism is degeneratew^ into
developed heresy," and been requested to explain my
meaning, it seems right to do it, although the statement
was made too incidentally to justify in the first instance an
explanation, which would have been only a prolonged
censure. I may say, then, at once, that the conviction
on my mind was, that the result of the present move
ment in the Wesleyan body would be, that the better
part would, sooner or later, return to the Church, the
remainder were in the course of " degenerating into
developed heresy." ' The root of that heresy consists in
the way in which the doctrine of Justification is held, being
in fact and practically, a " Justification by feelings."
" Believe" (not " in Christ" but) " that you will be saved,
and you will be saved," w-as early a Wesleyan doctrine ;
but its character was long held in check, partly by the
Church-system, in which those who adopted it, had been
educated, partly by the continued use of the Sacraments
of the Church. In the section of the Wesleyan body,
which is becoming more alienated from the Churchy and
ceases to communicate with it, the original error has been
more fatally developing itself They who go over to it,
are taught to look for " present salvation," i. e. a sensible
assurance of salvation, such as is vouchsafed often to
God's servants on then- dying beds, probably but rarely
iintil the close of life, and still less at the first conversion
of a sinner. What, (if true,) would be a direct revelation
from Almighty God, persons are taught indiscriminately
to expect, as the infallible accompaniment and test of a
sincere conversion ; so that they may not hope that they
are really converted, or will be saved, unless they obtain
it; what God, when He is pleased to vouchsafe it,
ordinarily bestows as the reward at the end, the Wesleyan

18
is taught to look for at the outset, as the very condition of
his ultimate salvation, and as securing it. Practically
he is taught to hold his salvation to be assured, as soon
as he has obtained this first persuasion. The persuasion
that a person will be saved is made the condition, and,
virtually, the only condition of his salvation. As long as
he believes he is saved, so long, according to them, he
is so. The workings of repentance and penitence are
thus suddenly checked in the convert, as being thought
to b& attained. It is with them made an object to check
the strong emotions of compunction which God has raised
in the sinner. To feel " the burthen of our sins to be
intolerable" is accounted want of faith". The mind is
worked up, until it lose its fear, and gain what it thinks
an assurance of salvation. In other words, permanent
repentance and anxiety and giief for sin are accounted
contrary to the Gospel. The penitence of the Psalms or
that praised by St. Paul, — " Behold this self-same thing
that you soiTOwed after a godly sort, what carefulness it
wrought iri you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what
indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire,

» The following, whichhas beenfumished me out of a very popular Wes-
leyaribook, " The Life of Carvosso, a class-leader," may serve as an illus
tration of what is taking place daily. The writer knows of similar cases,
where the ultimate effect, (as was to be expected,) was very injurious.
" I found a poor heavy-laden penitent. I laboured to encourage her;
but such were her strong crying and tears, that I thought best to pray
with her. Her mind apparently becoming a little more composed, I
asked her how she felt? she said, ' I see I must go home and pray
more.' Aware that this was a snare of Satan's, [!] I replied, ' There is
no necessity for that : the Lord is here, and is now waiting to bless you.
There is nothing wanting but for you to believe in Jesus as your Saviour.
And if He died for you, ought you not at once to believe in Him and to
love Him?' The light of faith soon appeared, and her soul found
liberty through the blood of the Lamb. Full of the assurance of faith,
she cried out, ' Now I know my sins are forgiven.'" Belief in Christ,
and belief in the individnal's~a,ssured personal salvation, are represented
as equivalent.

19
yea, what revenge ! In all things ye have approved your
selves to be clear in this matter," — has no place in this
system, except to be effaced. Then, the first persuasion
having been obtained by the feelings, these thenceforth, —
not " good works, which are the fruits of faith," Art. xii. — are
prominent mthe mind of the Wesleyan as ^Ae" fruits of The
Spirit," and the test of a " Hvely faith." Confession, with
him, is not a sorrowful acknowledgment of sins, but a re
counting of the high feeHngs, inspired, (as he thinks,) by God
within him ; " experiences" are not the result of" patience,"
which " the trial of our faith worketh," not the victory won
by Christ's strength in our weakness, but what, if real,
would be revelations of God's love; " the means of grace"
are with him, not the Sacraments, but the " class-meeting,
bands, love feasts." The writer has known such a meeting
preferred by a body of Wesleyans, to the Holy Commu
nion, where this could not have been celebrated for nearly
a year in a language which they understood, and there was
no prospect of its being again for some time administered.
" We relate the state of our feelings," was the uniform answer
to his enquiry as to the subject of their class-meetings. It is
too certain that in this way, much dangerous self-deceit and
unconscious hypocrisy has been fostered, people being led
to work themselves up to imagine that they had feelings,
equal in spirituality, or yet more spiritual than those of their
neighbours, or inventing them when they could not. And
this, unhappily, is almost essential to this system. Self-
deceit must come in, whenever the feelings are directly
acted upon. People have, for a time at least, the power of
exciting their own feelings, of making themselves for the
time feel what they habitually do not. And this, with the
Wesleyan, is the test of his faith. If he loses these
feelings, his faith is for the time supposed to be lost ; if he
regain them, it is restored, and he is again in a perfect
state of justification and acceptance as before. But such
a state, as being mostly artificial, must be unreal. Yet
further, by substituting another test of acceptance, it even

20
takes people off' from considering their practical duties
towards God and man, and how they perform these, which
our Lord gives us as the test of our love for Him, — " If ye
love Me, keep My commandments." Instead of this, it
sets them watching for certain feelings only, which un
happily man has it in his power, in a great degree, to
produce in himself, without their being any criterion of his
habitual state, or permanently influencing it, — except for
evil, in drugging the conscience. There will, of course, be
eveiy where individuals, better than their system ; it is hot
therefore judging individuals, to say, that the Wesleyan
standard of morals and holiness is, of necessity, low.
The state of their feelings, not God's commandments, are
the standard, whereby they try themselves. Hence it has
been observed, how very eminent among them have been
individuals, known, in no ordinary degree, to be ambitious
and worldly. One need but refer to the case of the indi
vidual to whom Wesley deputed the organization of their
missions. He was known to be ambitious, affecting high
titles of honour, to which he had no claim ; was con
secrated to the Episcopal Office and took its highest
spiritual titles; since his death, it has been discovered,
that he made application for a Bishopric in the Church,
being ready on such terms to abandon his Wesley
anism. All this is knovrai, yet he is not disowned, but
held in high repute as before. In more private cases,
persons, of no very stiict lives, have been able to profess
that they have been without a sinful thought for weeks
together, others, for even twenty years. Again, persons
esteemed sober-minded among them, have held " that
by one act of faith a person may become perfectly
sanctified, and that it is the privilege of believers, when
ever they choose to claim it." These things are not said
as any reflection on the body, but as pointing out the
germ, whence an heretical system is springing, which
threatens to be more desolating, because more delusive
than open Antinomianism. For all these things follow

21
from the first principle, that the feelings, or persuasion that
a man is saved, are the test of his faith. He has no need
then to examine himself, except as to this one point ; he
may take it for granted that he is obedient, humble, meek,
has all " the fruits of the Spirit." Since then life is a daUy
struggle against the powers of evil, since watchfiilness is
enjoined as essential, since habitual self-denial and bearing
the Cross is a test of our Lord's tnie disciples, how must
not such a system, in the end, be a delusion.
Wesleyanism then was said to be " degenerating into a
developed heresy," in that it substitutes for the Catholic
teaching, a doctrine of justification, for which there is "no
warrant in the Word of God," involving the principle of
Antinomianism, and in many cases, practically leading into
it, effacing the doctrine of Repentance and the real cha
racter of good works, and virtually superseding the Sacra
ments. Painful as it is to say it, on account of the many
good men, doubtless, still entangled in it, it " preached
another Gospel from that which has been delivered unto
us," substituting practically the feelings and experiences
for repentance, good works, and the Sacraments.

Addition to Note D.
On the Mode of Subscription to Creeds and Articles in tke
Lutkeran Body.
Mr. .A.beken (p. 47) says, that I seem to accuse the
Lutheran Candidates, "that would come to the Bishop of
Jerusalem for ordination, of double-mindedness and in
sincerity," because I say that they will "engraft the
Thirty-nine Articles on the Confession of Augsburg, with
out our Catholic Liturgy whereby to interpret them,
accepting either in so far as (quatenus) they individually
found them to correspond with their views of Holy Scrip
ture."

22
This was not at all my meaning. I have, as he mentions,
formerly vindicated the original honesty of that mode
of subscription, and 1 maintained that, however dis
honestly it may subsequently have been used, the melan
choly downfall of Lutheran Theology was not owing to
that substitution of the formula, " so far as they agree with
Holy Scripture,'' for the older "because they so agree."
The same downfall took place in Denmark, where the
original form " because" was retained, although in time
understood in the sense of " so far as." I was concerned
only with the fact, and did not think of motives. I
am persuaded that this mode of subscription is honestly
used now; or rather that the way of subscribing generally
(whichever formula is used, for I believe that it makes
no difference) is honest, and its meaning, with those who
so use it, is of this sort, that a person by subscribing
to the symbolical books, takes them as a whole, looking
to their general tenor, but does not bind himself to
their letter, to particular expressions, or the details of
their statements, in which human infirmity and error may
have crept in. Such, I believe, to be the meaning of
subscription in Protestant Germany, whichever form is
used ; and such is the only way in which the German
symbolical books can be subscribed. Their day is past ; and
few, probably, if any, would now contend for the correct
ness of particular expressions, or even for their uniform
soundness. But in this way a great change has come over
the German mind. It has, in no case, any authority
exterior to itself, which it adopts, " because it is agreeable to
Holy Scripture ;" nothing which it accepts as authority, or
to which it submits. It did submit formerly unduly to its
mass of symbolical books, as an authority without it; they
were entitled "inspired," &c. ; it now does not submit
duly to any, even the Creeds. The principle which was
unavoidably applied to their symbolical books, has been
wrongly extended to the Creeds of the Catholic Church.
And this principle is the more formidable, because it is

23
honest. Want of submission has become a principle. It
is recognised that persons are not subject to the strict letter
of any authority. Their view of Holy Scripture, and so
ultimately their own minds, are their standard. There is no
subjection of the mind of a whole Church to a Creed, because
it is true, objectively, independently of the conviction of
each who receives it. What is accepted, is accepted, subjec
tively, in as far as it is conformable to the individual's views
of truth. The difference will manifest itself thus : among
ourselves, if any saw not the proof of any article in the Nicene
Creed, the habit of mind would be to believe it, without seeing
it, and so through believing, people come, in the end, to see
it ; people are taught to confess it, as their belief, before
and independently of their seeing it to be true. This, and
the depth with which they embrace it, is to be the reward
of the temper of mind, continually formed in them by
doing the will of God. Among the German Protestants,
the Nicene Creed stands, with the other Creeds, at the
head of the symbolical books, and is subscribed with them.
It is not engrafted into the mind, as the substance of the
faith into which persons are baptized. It has no authority
over individuals, as being the faith of the Church Catholic,
but is accepted according to their own views of its truth.
If any see not the proof of any article, there is, with them,
no ground for accepting it. And thus the Nicene Creed,
among such as are acquainted with it, is received in different
degrees; its articles are insensibly more or less modified ;
it is accepted, not strictly in its original meaning, but with
" grains of allowance." The Creed thus takes as many
forms as the peculiarities of individual minds. I fear it
would be very rare to find one to acknowledge that the
Creeds are to be believed in all their details, or, as I said,
" still confessed from the heart, undisputed and unquali
fied, as saving truth, in the same sense in which they were
and are in all branches of the Church Catholic." For this
we must long, for this pray ; but until we dare hope that
it is so, our Church dares not contribute to give a solid

24
form to those, who do not implicitly accept the One Faith
of the Church Catholic. Now, so far from accepting it,
one must even fear that it is a principle with them, not to
accept it as suck; their subscription is honest; but that
very honesty implies the principle, that they do not think
it need be accepted to the letter. They feel that they may
receive it, each modifying it according to his own mind,
because the whole body does not acknowledge that it
ought to be received as an authority to which individuals
must submit; which is the very notion of a Creed,

THE END,

BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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