otices

1\ b

NOTICES OF OXFORD
FEOM OXFOED.
[REPRINTED.]

DUBLIN. 1844

DUBLIN
PRINTKD BY J. ». FOLDS, SON, AND PATTOM,
5, Bacliclor's-wnlk.

NOTICES OF OXrOED FROM OXFOED.

OXFORD AND ROME.
The following Letter has been forwarded to us for publi
cation. It is without any signature ; but Ave dare say
some of our Oxford readers will find no difficulty in fixing
upon the name of the writer.' For ourselves, we give it
without note or comment — The Conservative Journal.
TO THE EDITOK.
It is true that I have at various times, in writing against
the Roman system, used, not merely arguments, about
which I am not here speaking, but what reads like decla
mation. 1. For instance, in 1833, La the Lyra Apostolica, I
called it a "lost Church."
2. Also, in 1833, I spoke of "the Papal Apostacy" in
a work upon the Arians.''
3. In the same year, in No. 15 of the series called The
Tracts for the Times, in which Tract the words are often
mine, though I cannot claim it as a whole, I say —
" The Rev. J. H. Newman, whose friends are showing it about iu Oxford
as the production of his pen.
" Arians of the Fourth Century, by the Rev. J. H. Newman.

4 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
" True, Rome is heretical now — nay, gi-ant she has
thereby forfeited her Orders : yet, at least, she was not
heretical in the primitive ages. If she has apostatized, it
was at the time of the Council of Trent. Then, indeed,
it is to be feared the whole Roman Communion bound
Itself, by a perpetual bond and covenant, to the cause of
Antichrist." Of this and other Tracts, a friend, with whom I was on
very familiar terms, observed, in a Letter some time after
wards, though not of this particular part of it : —
"It is very encouraging about the Tracts — but I wish
I could prevail on you, when the second edition comes out,
to cancel or materially alter several. The other day acciden
tally put in my way the Tract on the Apostolical Succes
sion in the English Church, and it really does seem so very
unfair, that I wonder you could, even in the extremity of
olKovofii'a and <f)evaKia/j,os, have consented to be a party to
it." On the passage above quoted, I observe myself^ in a
pamphlet published in 1838 : —
" I confess I wish this passage were not cast in so decla
matory a form ; but the substance of it expresses just what
I mean." 4. Also, in 1833, I said:—
" Their communion is infected with heresy ; we are
bound to flee it as a pestilence. They have established a
lie in the place of God's truth, and by their claim of immu
tability in doctrine, cannot undo the sin they have com
mitted."— Tract 20.
5. In 1834, I said, in a Magazine: —
" The spirit of old Rome has risen again in its former
place, and has evidenced its identity by its works. It has
possessed the Church there planted, as an evil spirit might

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. O
seize the demoniacs of primitive times, and makes her speak
words which are not her own. In the corrupt papal system
we have the very cruelty, the craft, and the ambition of the
republic ; its cruelty in its unsparing sacrifice of the happi
ness and virtue of Individuals to a phantom of public expe
diency. In its forced celibacy within, and its persecutions
without ; Its craft in its falsehoods, Its deceitful deeds and
lying wonders ; and Its grasping ambition In the very
structure of Its policy, in Its assumption of universal do
minion ; old Rome is stUl alive ; no where have its eagles
lighted, but It stlU claims the sovereignty under another
pretence. The Roman Church I will not blame, but pity
— she Is, as I have said, spell-bound, as if by an evil spirit ;
she is in thraldom."
I say in the same paper : —
" In the book of Revelations, the sorceress upon the
seven hills Is not the Church of Rome, as Is often taken for
granted, but Rome Itself, that bad spirit which. In Its former
shape, was the animating principle of the fourth monarchy.
In St. Paul's prophecy, it is not the Temple or Church of
God, but the man of sin In the Temple, the old man or
evil principle of the flesh which exalteth itself against God.
Certainly It is a mystery of iniquity, and one which may
Avell excite our dismay and horror, that in the very heart of
the Church, in her highest dignity, in the seat of St. Peter,
the evil principle has throned Itself, and rules. It seems
as If that spirit had gained subtlety by years ; Popish Rome
has succeeded to Rome Pagan : and would that we had no
reason to expect still more crafty developments of Anti
christ amid the wreck of Institutions and establishments,
which will attend the fall of the papacy ! . . . I deny
that the distinction is unmeaning. Is it nothing to be able
to look on our mother to whom we owe the blessings of

6 NOTlCfiS OF OXFORD FROSi OJ^FORtl
Christianity, with aifection instead of hatred, witli pity
indeed, nay and fear, but not with horror ? Is It nothing
to rescue her from the hard names which interj)reters of
prophecy have put on her, as an idolatress and an enemy of
God, when she is deceived rather than a deceiver?"
I also say :—
" She virtually substitutes an external ritual for moral
obedience ; penance for penitence, confession for sorrow,
profession for faith, the lips for the heart ; such at least is
her system as understood by the many."
Also I say in the same paper : —
"Rome has robbed us of high principles which she has
rertained herself, though in a corrupt state. When we left
her, she suffered us not to go In the beauty of holiness, we
left our garments and fled."
Against these and other passages of this paper the same
friend, before it was published, made the following protest : —
" I only except from this general approbation, your
second and most superfluous hit at the poor Romanists ;
you have first set them down as demoniacally possessed by
the evil genius of Pagan Rome, but notwithstanding, are
able to find something to admire in their spirit, particularly
because they apply ornament to Its proper purposes : and
then you talk of their churches ; and all that is very well,
and one hopes one has heard the end of name-calling, when
all at once you relapse into your Protestantism, and deal in
what I take leaA-e to call slang."
Then, after a remark which Is not to the purpose of these
extracts, he adds : —
" I do not believe that any Roman Catholic of educa
tion would tell }ou that he Identified penitence and pen
ance. In fact I know, that they often preach against this
very error as well a.^ you could do."

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 7
6. In 1834, I also used of certain doctrines of the
Church of Rome, the epithets "unscriptural," "profane,"
"impious," "bold," "unwarranted," "blasphemous/'
"gross," "monstrous," "cruel," " administering deceitful
comfort," and "unauthorized," in Tract 38. I do not
mean to say that I had not a definite meaning In every one
of these epithets, or that I did not weigh them before I
used them.
With reference to this passage the same monitor had
said: —
" I must enter another protest against your cursing and
swearing at the end of the first Via Media as you do,
(Tract 38). What good can it do ? I call It uncharitable
to an excess. How mistaken we may ourselves be on
many points that are only gradually opening on us !"
I withdrew the whole passage several years ago.
7. I said in 1837 of the Church of Rome : —
" In truth she is a Church beside herself, abounding In
noble gifts and rightful titles, but unable to use them
religiously ; crafty, obstinate, wilful, malicious, cruel,
unnatural, as madmen are. Or, rather, she may be said
to resemble a demoniac, possessed with principles, thoughts,
and tendencies not her own ; In outward form and In out
ward powers what God made her ; but ruled within by an
Inexorable spirit, who is sovereign in his management over
her, and most subtle and most successful In the use of her
gifts. Thus, she Is her real self only in name, and till
God vouchsafe to restore her, we must treat her as If she
were that evil one which governs her."
8. In 1837, I also said In a Review : —
"The second and third Gregories appealed to the people
against the Emperor for a most unjustifiable object, and in
apparently a most unjustifiable way. They became rebels,

8 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
to establish image worship. However, even in this trans
action, we trace the original principle of Church power,
though miserably defaced and perverted, whose form
' Had yet not lost
All her original brightness, nor appeared
Less than Archangel ruined, and the excess
Of glory obscured.'
Upon the same basis, as is notorious, was built the Eccle
siastical Monarchy. It was not the breath of princes, or
the smiles of a court, which fostered the stem and lofty
spirit of Hlldebrand and Innocent. It was the neglect of
self, the renunciation of worldly pomp and ease, the appeal
to the people."
I must observe, however, upon this passage, that no
reference Is made In It (the idea is shocking) to the subject
of Milton's lines, who ill answers to the idea of purity and
virtue defaced, of which they speak. An application is
made of them to a subject which I considered, when I so
wrote, to befit them better, viz. the Roman Church as
viewed In a certain exercise of her power In the person
of two Popes.
Perhaps I have made other statements In a similar tone,
and that, again, when the statements themselves were
unexceptionable and true. If you ask me how an indi
vidual could venture, not simply to hold, but to publish
such views of a communion so ancient, so wide-spreading,
BO fruitful in saints, I answer, that I said to myself, "lam
not speaking my own words, I am but following almost
a consensus of the divines of my Church. They have
ever used the strongest language against Rome, even the
most able and learned of them. I wish to throw myself
Into their system. While I say what they say, I am safe.

NOTICES or OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 9
Such views, too, are necessary for our position." Yet I
have reason to fear still, that such language is to be
ascribed, in no small measure, to an impetuous temper, a
hope of approving myself to persons' respect, and a wish
to repel the charge of Romanism.
An admission of this kind Involves no retractation of
what I have written In defence of Anglican doctrine.
And as I make It for personal reasons, I make It without
consulting others. I am as fully convinced as ever. Indeed
I doubt not Roman Catholics themselves would confess,
that the Anglican doctrine Is the strongest, nay, the only
possible antagonist of their system. If Rome is to be
withstood, it can be done In no other way.
Secemlier 12, 1842.

TO THE REV. J. H. NEWMAN.
Rev. Sir — As it is the policy of your party to pass over
without notice the arguments of your opponents, and
" treat them as if they had never been urged," I cannot
wonder that you should not have replied to an appeal
which I made to you a few weeks ago in reference to your
Letter to the Conservative Journal ; nor should I again
trouble you upon the subject of that Letter, were It not
for a paragraph in It, Involving principles, In the judgment
of many, dangerous to the morality of the University.
The paragraph I allude to is the following, in which
you excuse yourself for the strong language which you
had suffered yourself to use against the Church of Rome :
" If you ask me how an individual could venture, not

10 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
simply to hold, but to publish such views of a communion
so ancient, so wide- spreading, so fruitful In saints, I
answer, that I said to myself, ' I am not speaking my own
words, I am but following almost a consensus of the
divines of my Church. They have ever used the strongest
language against Rome, even the most able and learned of
them. I wish to throw myself into their system. Wliile
I say what they say, I am safe. Such vIcavs, too, are
necessary for our position.' "
Now here, Sir, you avow, that at the very time you
were passing the severest censures upon Rome, pronounc
ing her " wilful, malicious, cruel," and the like, you were
doubting, to say the least, whether such language was
justifiable. You were "not using your own words," i.e.
words of the propriety of which you were satisfied In your
own judgment, and your mind misgave you as to whether
they were really applicable to a Church " so ancient, so
wide-spreading, so fruitful in saints." But you set your
conscience at rest by the consideration, first, that others
whom you looked up to had used the same before ; and
again, that It was "necessary for your position," (your
" position," I presume, as the leader of a party, whose
object It is to " unprotestantize the Anglican Church,")
that you should mask your designs by the " strongest lan
guage against the Church of Rome."
On re-considering the principles Involved in these ex
cuses. It occurred to me that I had before met with them
in an account of the casuistry of the Jesuits, at 1. viii.
chap. 1 1. of Ranke's History of the Papacy, and on refer-
ing to the volume I found the following direction extracted
fiom the Aphorisms of Emmanuel Sa, which precisely
meets your case : —
"In a doubtful matter It is lawful to do wiuit one

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 11
Imagines to be right upon the ground of a probable reason
or authority, even if the opposite be the safer course ; It Is
sufficient if one has on one's side the opinion of a writer
of weight, or the example of good men.""
Here we have precisely your own position. You doubted
whether your language towards Rome was justifiable; you
Avere not called upon to use It; silence was the safer
course. But you had on your side the practice of writers
whom you looked up to (graves doctores, exemplum bono-
rum), and — -your scruples gave way.
Now, Sir, I do not mean to deny that the coincidence of
your opinion upon such a point of morality with that of a
Jesuit casuist, may have been fortuitous ; I think most
likely It was. But I am Induced to address you by the
following consideration. The Bishop of Oxford said '' long
ago, (though, probably, if he has seen your letter, his
Lordship would not say so now,) that he had "more fear
of the disciples than the teachers ;" and you have yourself
remarked,' that there are In this place "a number of per
sons of practised Intellects, who, with or without unfriendly
motives, are ever drawing out the ultimate conclusions In
which your principles result." Well, let us anticipate the
following, alas ! I fear no imaginary, case. A young man,
an admirer of the 90th Tract, meditates taking Orders, but
scruples at subscription to the Articles, and the Oath of
Supremacy. He doubts whether he can conscientiously
declare that "no foreign prelate ought to have any Jurif-
diction. Power, Superiority, Pre-eminence, or Authority,
' Protest quis facere quod probabili ratione vel auctoritate putat licere,
etiamsi oppositum tutius sit ; sufficit autem opinio alicujus gravis doctoris,
aut bonorum exemplum. — Emm. Sa Aphorismi Confess ariorum in verba
" Dubium." <> Charge, 1838.
° Letter to the Bishop of Oxford, p. 17.

12 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
Ecclesiastical or Spiritual, within this realm." He knows
that there is not a Bishop of our Church who approves of
the interpretation of the Articles advocated In the 90th
Tract, and accordingly begins to feel something of the
" misery," which you have yourself " alluded to, of looking
forward to subscription "with doubt and hesitation." But
then he calls to mind your principles, and those of
Emmanuel Sa. To be sure the safer course is not to take
Orders at all ; but you have subscribed the Articles, and
taken the Oath of Supremacy, and so has Dr. Pusey, and
you keep your Living and Dr. Pusey his Canonry, let the
Bishops say what they will ; and he Is told in the British
Critic that "almost a consensus" of the leading divines of
our Church agree with you. Besides, it is " necessary for
his position." If he wishes for a Fellowship or Living, he
must do as you have done. And accordingly, with falter
ing voice, and trembling hand, he takes the Oath, and
subscribes the Articles, and— so perishes thy weak
BROTHER, FOR WHOM ChRIST DIED.
" It IS IMPOSSIBLE BUT THAT OFFENCES WILL COME,
BUT WOE UNTO HIM THROUGH WHOM THEY COME. It
WERE BETTER FOR HIM THAT A MILL-STONE WERE
HANGED ABOUT HIS NECK, AND HE CAST INTO THE SEA,
THAN THAT HE SHOULD OFFEND ONE OF THESE LITTLE
ONES."'' I have the honour to be. Sir,
Your obedient, humble servant,
A MEMBER OF CONVOCATION.
March 24, 1843.

" Letter to Dr. Jelf, p. 26.
>¦ Luke xvii. 2, 3.

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 13

TO THE REV. J. H. NEWMAN.
Rev. Sir — In the Oxford Herald of Saturday last there
appears a Letter, which, claiming you for its author,"
although without any name attached to It, has naturally
created a great sensation in theUniversIty, by Its retractation
of several of the passages In your published writings, in
which you were considered to have " pledged yourself the
most strongly" (to borrow your own expression'') " against
the Church of Rome." Allow me to point out to you one
or two difficulties which have occurred to me in the perusal
of your Letter, which have probably suggested themselves
to other persons as well.
You refer to a series of passages penned by you, between
the years 1833 and 1838, in which you denounce the
Church of Rome as "a communion Infected with heresy,
crafty, obstinate, cruel, malicious, and as having bound
itself, you feared, at the Council of Trent, by a perpetual
bond and covenant to the cause of Antichrist ;" and you
further cite, with an apparent acknowledgment of their
justice, the observations of a friend, in which he blames you
for this language, and remarks upon some of your expres
sions that they were " so very unfair," that he wondered
you could "even In the extremity of o'lKovo/iia and
(pevaKitxfios'^" have permitted yourself to use them.
" i. e. in the following passage : — " Also in 1833 I spoke of ' the Papal
Apostacy' in a work upon the Arians," the title of the work being, " The
Arians of the Fourth Century, by the Rev. J. H. Newman."
* Letter to Dr. Jelf, p. 30.
° (jiivxxiirfios in Donnegan's Lexicon is rendered " imposture ; deception
by a false appearance ; delusion ; deception.'* Of the olx-omfcla you have
yourself given the following account in your work upon the Arians : —
" The Alexandrian Father who has already been referred to (Clement)
accurately describes the rules which should guide the Christian in speaking

14 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
At the close of your Letter you say, " If you ask me
how an individual could venture, not simply to hold, but
to publish such views of a communion so ancient, so wide-
spreading, so fruitful in saints, I answer that I said to
myself, ' I am not speaking my own words, I am but fol
lowing almost a consensus of the divines of my Church.
They have ever used the strongest language against Rome,
even the most able and learned of them, I wish to throw
myself into their system. While I say what they say, I
am safe.'" You add, " Such views too are necessary for
our position."
Now, Sir, in your Letter, which is dated Dec. 12, 1842,
you make no reference (why, I shall not stop to Inquire) to
your Letter to Dr. Jelf, dated March 13, 1841, in which,
and therefore not quite two years ago, you used the fol
lowing language, which I am wholly unable to accoimt for
by the foregoing explanation: —
" As to the present authoritative teaching of the Church
of ^ovae^to judge by lohat we see of it in public, I think it
goes very far indeed to substitute another Gospel for the
true one : instead of setting before the soul the Holy
Trinity, and Heaven, and Hell, It does seem to me as a
popular system, to preach the Blessed VIrgia, and the
Saints, and Purgatory. Or, to use words in which I have
only a year ago expressed myself, when contrasting
Romanism with the teaching of the ancient Church, ' That
and acting economically. ' Being ever persuaded of the omnipresence of
God,' he says, ' and ashamed to come short of the truth, he is satisfied
with the approval of God, and of his own conscience. Whatever is in his
mind, is also on his tongue ; towards those who are fit recipients, both in
speaking and living, he harmonizes his profession with his opinions. He
both thinks and speaks the truth ; except when consideration is necessary,
and then, as a physician for the good of his patients, he will be false, or
utter a falsehood, as the Sophists say.' " p. 81.

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 15
a certain change in objective and external religion has come
over the Latin, nay and in a measure the Greek Church,
WE CONSIDER TO BE A PLAIN HISTORICAL FACT ; a change
sufficiently startling to recall to our minds with very
unpleasant sensations the awful words, ' Though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than
that you have received, let him be accursed.' "
Now, Sir, when you here say that the corruption of the
Romish system Is a "plain historical fact," and "you
JUDGE BY what YOU SEE OF IT IN PUBLIC," that It "gOCS
far to substitute another Gospel for the true one," do you
reaUy mean that these are not your own words, and that
you are " merely following almost a consensus of the divines
of your Church ?" Is this olKovofula or ^evaxta/ios, to speak
Greek, or, In plain English, Is it common honesty ?
But you inform us that you satisfied your conscience with
another reflection, viz. that "such views were necessary for
your position." I am at a loss to understand you here. Is
your excuse that of Bishop Montague, when the Pope's
agent' reproached him with his censures of the Church of
Rome, " Oh, they are things of form, chiefly to humour
the populace, and are not to be too much regarded ?" And
if you do not mean this, allow me to ask what you do
mean? At all events, you now abandon the language which you
had been in the habit of using for not less than eight years,
and acknowledge that in using it you were In "no small
measure Influenced by an impetuous temper, a hope of ap
proving yourself to persons' respect, and a wish to repel the
charge of Romanism." It is thus that you have shifted
from point to point through every stage of your erratic
course. First, those who agreed with you were Anglo-
* Panzani. See his Memoirs by Berington.

16 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
Catholic, now they are Catholic ; those who differed from
you were ultra-Protestant, now Protestant ; first the
Council of Trent was " atrocious," then only "unhappy,"
at last quite orthodox. And now, you have fulfilled Dr.
Wiseman's prediction, addressed to you upon the repetition
in your Letter to Dr. Jelf of the language which you now
disclaim. " Why not suspect your own judgments, if you
find that they vary ? If there ever was a time when you
did not see many of our doctrines as you now view them,
when you utterly rejected all comprecation with, as well as
prayers to, Saints ; all honour without reserve to images
and relics; when you did not practise prayers for the
departed, nor turned from the congregation in your ser
vices ; when you did not consider bodily mortification
necessary, or the Breviary so beautiful ; when in fiue you
were more remote from us in practice and feeling than your
writings now show you to be ; why not suspect that a
further approximation may yet remain ; that further disco
veries of truth in what to-day seems erroneous, may be
reserved for to-morrow, and that you may be laying up
FOR YOURSELF THE PAIN AND REGRET OF HAVING BEFORE
HAND BRANDED WITH OPPROBRIOUS AND AFFLICTING
NAMES THAT WHICH YOU NOW DISCOVER TO BE GOOD AND
HOLY ?" I have the honour to be. Sir,
Your obedient, humble servant,
A MEMBER OF CONVOCATION.
Feb, 21, 1843.

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. \7

TO THE REV. E. B. PUSEY.
Regiua ProfeGsor of Hebrew.
Rev. Sir— "A Member of Convocation," In a public
letter, dated February the 21st, which has hitherto been
" treated as though It had never been written," has very
distinctly Indicated the character of Mr. Newman's recent
retractation of certain "statements" and "views" by which
he some years since wished persons to understand him as
" pledging himself strongly" against Rome.' Allow me
to suggest that your own position is materially affected by
the terms of this retractation.
You will recollect the publication in 1836, by an eminent
divine, now no more, of a Satire, entitled " The Pope's
Pastoral Letter to Certain Members of the University of
Oxford," which, among other passages, contained the fol
lowing, addressed to your party, and which I transcribe
as extracted by yourself:'' —
" We make allowance for those difficulties which impede your perception
or your avowal of the truth, (p. 6.) We pardon some expressions towards
us ; compelled, no doubt, partly by the unhappy circumstances of your
country. Ton have indeed sometimes employed terms which we well know
our adversaries use in derision of us; but, we repeat, we can pardon these,
whether they are the result of prejudices still entertained by you, or are
employed for some other reason, (pp. 6, 7.) That communion, of which the
present circumstances of your country have made you, almost unavoidably
members, (p. 11.) While we perceive with delight that you have always
spoken, in your own persons, in accordance with our sentiments on this
head, you have, at the same time, selected some tracts from early writers
of your communion, in which our sentiments are impugned. These old
tracts will not be read with much attention, compared, at least, with your
own more lively productions : they can, too, be readily withdrawn when it in
" Newman's Letter to Jelf, page 30.
" Pusey's Earnest Remonstrance, page 32. B

18 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
expedient ; for they are not a pledge of your opinions as strong as your
own writings. In the mean time, you may appeal to your republication of
them as a proof that you have not leagued yourselves with us.*'
To these Insinuations you thought fit to rejoin, in "An
Earnest Remonstrance to the Author" of the Satire; in
which, after Indignantly charging the writer with "sacrifice
of truth," " false insinuation, and consequently slandering,"
" want of honesty," and " evil desertion of the truth,"
and indulging in many just expressions on the beauty of
truth, sincerity, and simplicity, you thus conclude : —
" Now of all this, Sir, you do not believe one syllable ; you do not think
that, either in the republication of the older, or the protests of the more
modern tracts against Popery, their editors or authors were actuated by any
such motives; whUe you impute insincerity, you have reason to believe
them as sincere as yourself. It is an ill tree which brings forth fruit thus
corrupt." I arn by no means Inclined (unless your silence should
force on me a conviction to the contrary) to dispute, that
this " Remonstrance" was at the time as sincere as it was
energetic. But — now that we have in ]Mr. Newman a
^ _confitentem reum" now that he has (whether sponta
neously, or In deference to some eager follower) admitted
that there were "difficulties impeding his avowal of the
truth,"' such perhaps as "the unhappy circumstances of
our country," — that the terms he employed luere " employed
for some other reason than on account of prejudices still
entertained by him,"'' — now that he has, in effect, '• with
drawn the tracts selected from early writers of our commu-
* " Sucli views, too, are necessary to our position." — Newman's Letter to
the Editor of the Conservative Journal.
*¦ " Such language is, I fear, to be, in no small measure, ascribed to an
impetuous temper, and a hope of approving myself to persons' respect." 
Ibid.

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 19
nion. In which the sentiments of the Bishop of Rome arc
impugned;" — and has availed himself of the distinction
that they were " not a pledge of his opinions as strong as
his own writings,"' although he, "In the mean time,
appealed to his republication" of such views, as a proof
that he had not "leagued himself" with Rome;'' — permit
me. Rev. Sir, with all deference, to adopt this means of
conveying to you an opinion, extensively shared by others,
that your colleague has left you no alternative but that of
" earnestly remonstrating" against confessions, which I
cannot characterize In stronger language than you did,
when they were advanced, in the form of charges, by an
opponent, unless you would dispute his claim to be con
sidered the most accomplished adept in the revived arts of
"economy" and "phenaclsm." I remain. Rev. Sir, yours, &c.
ANOTHER MEMBER OF CONVOCATION,
Oaiford, March 15, 1843.

* " I said to myself, I am not speaking my own words, I am but following
a consensus of the divines of my Church," — Ibid.
' Newman's Letter to Jelf, page 30. " I pledged myself most strongly
against the Church of Rome.'' Also, vide Appendix to Pusey's Letter to
the Bishop of Oxford, containing " Extracts from the Tracts for the Times,
the Lyra Apostolica, and other publications, shewing that to oppose Ultra-
Protestantism is not to favour Popery, 1839." — Ihid.

My Lord,
I venture to call your Lordship's attention to the
accompanying documents, viz —
1. Romish Testimonies to Tractarianism.
2. Extracts from Mr. Newman's last volume of Sermons.
3. A Letter to the Univers from the pen of J. D. Dalgairns, Esq. M.A.
of Exeter College, and now an inmate of Mr. Newman's house at Little-
more. 4. A list of the conversions through Tractarianism to Romanism, known
to have taken place since September, 1841.
I have the honour to be.
My Lord, your most obedient servant,
A RESIDENT MASTER OF ARTS.
Oifc.ril.Fcb. 12th, 1844,

ROMAN CATHOLIC TESTIMONIES TO
TRACTARIANISM.

DANIEL O CONNELL.
" The noble Lord (Lord Morpeth) had Imputed the
opinions of the Puseyites to several Professors of Oxford,
and he had stated that those doctrines were contrary to the
oaths they had taken. That charge the Honourable
Gentleman (Sir Robert Inglls) did not deny, and he could
not ; and, blessed be heaven, their doctrines were very
close to those of the ancient Catholics."
House of Commons, March 2, 1841.

DR. WISEMAN, BISHOP OF MELIPOTAMUS.
" It seems to me impossible to read the works of the
Oxford Divines, and especially to follow them chronolo
gically, without discovering a daily approach towards our
holy Church, both in doctrine and affectionate feeling.
Our Saints, our Popes, have become dear to them by
little and little ; our rites and ceremonies, our offices, nay
our very rubrics, are precious in their eyes, far, alas ! be
yond what many of us consider them ; our monastic insti
tutions, our charitable and educational provisions, liave
become more and more objects with them of earnest study ;
and to suppose therti to love the parts of a system, and
wish for them, while they would reject the root, and only
secure support of them — the system itself — Is to my mind
revoltingly contradictory." Letter on CathoUc Unity, pp. 13, 14.

24 ROMAN CATHOLIC TESTIMONIES
DR. M'HALE, TITULAR ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM.
" The silent religious revolution that has commenced at
Oxford, and that is spreading with an active rapidity
throughout all parts of England, must convince every dis
passionate Inquirer, that the term of the reign of error is
now drawing to Its close. The stagnant Intellect of the
nation has been stirred by the descent of a mighty spirit,
and without any enthusiastic reliance on prophecy, I should
not be surprised that even the present generation would
witness the august temple of Westminster Abbey again
lit up with the splendours of that pure and ancient wor
ship, to which It was raised and consecrated.
Evidences and Doctrines of the Catholic Church.

HON. AND REV. G, SPENCER.
" When the Catholic movement first began to exhibit
itself In so striking a manner at Oxford, which is the very
heart of the Anglican Church, I never doubted but that
it was the sign of a great regeneration about to take
place in our country ; but I did not understand the posi
tion which those learned ecclesiastics wished to take up,
who are now guiding the most Influential spirits of the
Anglican Church. I was well aware that they still
strongly repudiated all Idea of geing over from their
Church to our own ; but then I supposed this objection
on their part to be a remnant of prejudices which would
naturally lead them to hesitate a considerable time before
taking so decisive a step. Indeed quite lately I still held
to the idea, that in a short time we should see them pre
pared to quit their Church In considerable numbers, and
unite with us in labouring to effect the conversion of their
brethren. But the nearer the approaches they make to

TO TRACTARIANISM. 25
Catholic sentiments, the more resolved they appear to be to
rectify their position, not by quitting the vessel as If they
despaired of its safety, but by guiding it together with
themselves into the harbour of unity. They insist upon it
that we are mistaken in supposing that the succession of
their Orders has ever been Interrupted. They constantly
maintain, that although the XXXIX Articles, which are
the confession of faith of the Anglican Church, were the
work of men, like Cranmer, iafected with heresy, yet that
God did not permit that there should be Inserted In them
any declarations absolutely contrary to the Catholic faith.
Still further they openly avow, that they themselves have
no objection to urge against the decisions of the Council of
Trent, and that It Is in the sense of the Catholic faith, as
agreed upon at that Council, that they profess to under
stand the formularies of their Church.
" I beg you to observe, that I do not take upon myself
either to justify these notions, or refute them. ... It
is not for me to judge their cause. I leave this to the head
of the Church, to whom I keep myself attached as to the
bark of St. Peter, and whose decisions are a law to me.
But thinking that I see the day dawning which shall
behold England returning to the true faith, and convinced
that an abundant outpouring of the grace of God would
suffice to realize our wishes In a manner more remarkable
than we can figure to ourselves, I think that I may appeal
to Catholics not only in France, but in all Europe, and
entreat them by the mercies of God to look with deep
Interest upon the efforts which our separated brethren are
making to reunite to the Catholic Church one of the
noblest of her branches, which has been severed from her
for so long a time." Letter to the Univers, 1841.

26 NOTICES OF OXFORD KKOM OXFORD.
Obs  The Univers has been advertised in the following
terms in a London Paper :
" L'Unlvers" qui compte douze annees d'existence, a par
sa position exceptionnelle dans la presse, attire des son
origlne 1' attention des Catholiques de I'Eurppe entiere. La
Feuille Catholique de Paris s'occupe avec une attention
particullere du mouvement rellgleux et des affaires poli-
tiques de I'Angleterre ; les grandes questions qui s'agltent
a Oxford parmi les Puseyites trouvent dans ses colonnes
un utile retentissement. Le nom de " I'Univers" peut
etre cite sans eloges ; la bienveillance dont 11 est I'objet k
la cour de Rome, et le haut patronage que lul accorde
I'episcopat Fran^ais, sont des titres qui recommandent sa
lecture aux Chretiens de tons les pays.

EXTRACTS FROM MR. NEWMAN'S "SERMONS BEARING ON
SUBJECTS OF THE DAT."

I. TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
Comparing the marriage feast of Cana In Galilee with
the Last Supper, Mr. Newman observes :
"What was that first miracle by which He manifested
His glory in the former, but the strange and awful change
of the element of water into wine ? And what did He in
the latter, but change the Paschal Supper and the typical
lamb into the Sacrament of His Atoning Sacrifice, and the
creatures of bread and wine into the veritiej of His most
precious Body and Blood ? He began His ministry with
a miracle : He ended it with a greater." — p. 43.

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 27
II. THE MEDIATORIAL CHARACTER OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
"As at His first feast, He had refused to listen to His
Mother's prayer, because of the time, so to His Apostles
He foretold, at His second feast, what the power of their
prayers should be, by way of cheering them on His depar
ture. ' VerUy, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father In My name, He shall give It you.' In the
gifts promised to the Apostles after the resurrection, we
may learn the present influence and power of the Mother of
Gorf."_pp. 42, 3. III. WORKS OF MERIT.
" Those great surrenders which Scripture speaks of {e. g.
such as those of the first converts at Jerusalem, who
' having lands, sold them,' and had all things common) are
not Incumbent on all Christians. They could not be
voluntary if they were duties ; they could not be meritorious
if they were not voluntary. But though they are not
duties to all, they may be duties to you ; and though they
are voluntary, you may have a call to them. It may be a
duty to pursue merit." — pp. 329, 330.
IV. THE MONASTIC SYSTEM.
" If the truth must be spoken, what are the humble
monk, and the holy nun, and other regulars, as they are
called, but Christians after the very pattern given us In
Scripture ? . . . Where shall we find the image of
St. Paul, or St. Peter, or St. John, or of Mary the
mother of Mark, or of Philip's daughters, but in those
who, whether they remain in seclusion, or are sent over
the earth, have calm faces, and sweet plaintive voices, and
spare frames, and gentle manners, and hearts weaned from
the world, and wills subdued ?" — p. 328.

28 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
V. SACRAMENTAL CONFESSION AND THE CELIBACY OF THE
CLERGY.
"What though we grant that Sacramental Confession
and the Celibacy of the Clergy do tend to consolidate the
body politic in the relation of rulers and subjects, or, In
other words, to aggrandise the Priesthood, for how can the
Church be one body without such relation, and why
should not He, who has decreed that there should be
unity, take measures to secure it ?" — p. 346.
VI. THE NECESSITY OF REUNION WITH ROME.
" We cannot hope for the recovery of dissenting bodies,
while we are ourselves alienated from the great body of
Christendom. We cannot hope for unity of faith, if we,
of our own private will, make a faith for ourselves in this,
our small corner of the earth. We cannot hope for the
success among the heathen of St. Boniface, or St. Augus
tine, unless like them we go forth with the Apostolical
benediction," I. e. the Pope's blessing  p. 150.

FROM THE CATHOLIC MAGAZINE, MAY, 1841.
"Important Letter. — The Univers of 13th April, con
tains the following very extraordinary and interesting
communication from ' a young member of the University
of Oxford,'' dated ' Oxford, Passion Sunday, 1841,' re
specting the movement to Catholicism now in progress at
* J. D. Dalgairns, Esq, M,A, Exeter College, and resident with Mr,
Newman at Littlemore. The anthor of the Life of St. Stephen, Abbot,
edited l)v Mr, Newman,

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 29
Oxford. The editor of the Univers vouches for the
authenticity of the letter, but Is precluded, for reasons
which must be obvious, from giving the name of the
writer. " ' The charity which you have always shown towards
the Anglican Church, makes me think you will not refuse
to find room In your Catholic journal for the letter of one
of the children of that afflicted Church which has drunk
to the dregs the bitter cup which is the lot of all the
Churches of Christ. The eyes of all Christendom are at
this moment turned to England, so long separated from
the rest of Catholic Europe ; every where a presentiment
has gone abroad that the hour of her reunion Is at hand,
and that this Island, of old so fruitful in saints, Is once
more about to put forth new fruits worthy of the martyrs
who have watered it with their blood. And truly this
presentiment is not ungrounded, as I shall prove to you
by a detail of what is now passing In the University of
Oxford. This detail is the more important. Inasmuch as
this University is indeed the heart of the Anglican
Church, the beatings of which make the remotest members
of this great body quiver. The only end I propose to
myself is to give you a just Idea of the present position
of the Anglican Church, so that the French Catholics
may share the emotions of our souls. And I do not
believe that It is possible to give you an idea of them
otherwise than by an exposition of a small treatise which
has lately appeared. I do not flatter myself that you will
approve of all the opinions which I am about to mention.
I do not defend them. I am their historian — not their
author. " ' Mr. Newman, one of our theologians, published, a
few days since, the 90th number of the " Tracts for the

30 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
Times," In which he designs to demonstrate that the
Church of Rome has fallen Into no formal error in the
Council of Trent ; that the Invocations of saints, (the Ora
pro nobis for example,) purgatory, and the supremacy of
the Holy See of Rome, are in no way contrary to the
Catholic traditions, or even to our authorized formularies ;
in fine, that the dogma of transubstantiation should be no
obstacle to the union of the Churches, as In this article
there is only a verbal difference between them. At the
same time he Is but little satisfied with our Thirty-nine
Articles, although he maintains throughout that the pro
vidence of God hindered the Reformers from openly insert
ing in them the Protestant dogmas to which they were
but too much attached. You will perceive, Sir, all the
importance of those opinions, and the more so, as they are
not the opinions of an isolated theologian. I can assure
you, that at the same time that an opposition was raised
by the elder members of the University, (as might be
expected, seeing that they lived under the system of the
eighteenth century,) that very opposition gave me an
opportunity of observing that even the most moderate of
the Catholic party at Oxford were ready to sustain the
author of the tract.
" ' You see, then, Sir, that humility, the first condition
of every sound reform, is not Avanting In us. We are
little satisfied with our position. We groan at the sins
committed by our ancestors in separating from the Catholic
world. We experience a burning desire to be reunited to
our brethren. We love with unfeigned affection the
apostolic See, which we acknowledge to be the head of
Christendom, and the more because the Church of Rome
Is our mother, which sent from her Iwsom the blessed St.
Augustine, to bring us her Immovable faith. We admit,

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 31
also, that it is not our formularies, nor even the Council
of Trent, which prevent our union. After all these con
cessions, you may ask me, why, then, do you not rejoin
us ? What is It that prevents you ? Is It your formu
laries ? — But, according to yourself, you do not look upon
them with a very favourable eye. Is It ours ? — But, In
your opinion, they do not contain any error. My reply
to this question will develope to you still more clearly our
present position. In the first place. Sir, while Mr. New
man expresses himself thus clearly on the purity of the
formularies authorized by the Church of Rome, he always
makes a distinction between the sys'tem of the Council of
Trent, and another system which exists In that Church.
Willie he returns thanks to God for having preserved that
Council from all formal error In matters of faith, he, at the
same time, maintains that In practice there are corruptions
in the Church against which the Council itself raises Its
voice, but which nevertheless still exist, and call loudly
for reform. Thus, he says, that "notwithstanding the
errors In the practical system, there is no Church but that
of Rome which has given free course to the emotions
of adoration, of mystery, of tenderness, of reverence, de
votion, and to the other sentiments of that kind, which
may so entirely be called Catholic." He maintains that
the theory of the Church Is pure ; but according to certain
books of piety which are too widely spread, according to
the statements of enlightened travellers, free from all the
prejudices of vulgar Protestantism, he fears that there is a
system authorized, which, practically, "instead of pre
senting to the soul of the sinner the Holy Trinity, heaven
and hell, substitutes for that the Holy Virgin, the saints,
and purgatory." It Is true that all that does not form an
essential part of the faith of the Church, but he avows

32 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
that the system loudly calls for reform, and that it would
be impossible for the Anglican Church yet to cast itself
into the arms of that of Rome.
" ' In the second place, we have a sacred duty to dis
charge towards the members of our Church. We cannot
yet bring ourselves to believe that our dear England is in
the same position as the heretics who boast in the names of
Luther and Calvin. Of a truth, Sir, Is not the episcopal
order still worth something? A sacrilegious king may,
indeed, have stolen from the altars of Canterbury the
sacred bones of St. Thomas, but think you he had the
power to drive away the great soul, who, from his throne
In the skies, ever watches over the See which he has illus
trated by his life, and consecrated by his blood? God
forbid that the august line of Lanfranc and of Anselm
should ever cease. If we have not preserved it, It is no
more ; for of a truth you will not say that its succession
has been kept up by you. There is no archbishop in
partibus of Canterbury or of York, as there is of Camby-
sopolis or of Siga. But perhaps you may say, that the
moment an archbishop ceases to be in communion with
Rome, he also ceases to exist. But permit me here to
become a little scholastic, and to borrow the terms with
which the schools supply me, In order to give more pre
cision to my Ideas.
" ' The Papacy, according to us, Is rather the accidental
than the essential form of the Church ; it resembles rather
the vital heat than the life of the Church. The absence of
heat Is a mark of sickness. Without it, the limbs, power
less, are dragged sorrowfully about, and the functions of
life languish ; but life may still be there. Thus, union
with the Pope is a necessary result of the perfect health
of the Church. The retrenching of this union is a proof

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 33
that all does not go well. It is a symptom of the presence
of a malady which gnaws the entrails of the Church. Her
priesthood is perhaps deprived of some of Its functions,
or, as, alas ! Is too certainly the case with us, the episcopacy
Is subjected to the powers of this world. But the life,
that is to say, the essence, of the Church is not yet
extinct. We have, then, still a duty to perforin towards
our brethren.
" ' There are at this moment in the Anglican Church, a
crowd of persons who balance between Protestantism and
Catholicism, and who, nevertheless, would reject with
horror the very Idea of a union with Rome. The Protes
tant prejudices, which for three hundred years have
Infected our Church, are unhappily too deeply rooted
there to be extirpated without a great deal of address.
We must, then, offer iu sacrifice to God this ardent desire
which devours us of seeing once more the perfect unity of
the Church of Christ. We must still bear the terrible
void which the Isolation of our Church creates in our
hearts, and remain still till it pleases God to convert the
hearts of our Anglican confreres, especially of our holy
fathers, the bishops. We are destined, I am pei-suaded, to
bring back many wandering sheep to the knowledge of the
truth. In fact, the progress of Catholic opinions
IN England, for the last seven years, is so incon
ceivable, THAT no hope should APPEAR EXTRAVA
GANT. Let us, then, remain qoiet for some years,
TILL, BY God's blessing, the ears of Englishmen
are become accustomed TO HEAR THE NAME OF RoME
pronounced WITH REVERENCE. At THE END OF THIS
TERM YOU WILL SOON SEE THE FRUITS OF ODR PATIENCE.
" ' But, moreover, I venture to say that we have besides
a sacred duty to fulfil towards Rome. Far from us be that

34 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
vulgar Protestantism which dares to open its profane
mouth, and utter its calumnies against the See of St.
Peter. Yes, if I could once be convinced that the Spirit
of God had quitted the Church of Rome, I should think at
the same time that Christianity was about to be extin
guished all over the world.'
[" The writer then goes on to state the third, as it
would appear, and the least efficient cause which withholds
the Anglican Church from the bosom of Rome ; and that
is no other than a political one. Ireland and her political
movements are the great obstacle in the eyes of the
Oxford writer ; and while the cause of Catholicism is
associated and identified with the cause of Ireland, the
odium of the latter, in the minds of Englishmen, must
revert with all its force on the interests of the former.]
" ' Permit me to offer you, in conclusion, one or two
remarks. Permit me to point out a sure means of re
uniting England to the Church of Rome— a means which
I dare to call irresistible. Let the Roman Catholics in
England labour to reform themselves ; let them break the
bands of worldly policy which unite them to our schis
matics ; let them cease to favour sedition and treason.
These are not the arms of the Church. No ; she has
vanquished the world by her sufferings, fastings, and
prayers. We are told that two orders of monks are just
established In England to labour at our conversion. Let
them, I beseech you, leave to God the care of touching
our hearts ; let them abstain from those unfortunate efforts
which have been made against the peace of our flocks ; let
them avoid all endeavour to gain over individuals. It is a
long task to gather up a nation bit by bit, atom by atom,
I aim at pointing out to them the means of harvesting the
whole realm, and heaping up its fruits In the granaries of

NOTICES OP OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 35
the Church. Let them labour among the Roman Catholics.
Let them show us that which we have not, the Image of a
Church perfect in discipline and in morals; let her be
chaste and beautiful, as becomes the divine spouse of
Jesus Christ ; let her chant night and day the praises of
her Saviour ; and let even her outward garments be glo
rious, that the spectator, struck with admiration, may
throw himself at her feet, seeing clearly in her the well-
beloved of the King of Heaven. Let them go Into our
great towns to preach the Gospel to that half pagan popu
lace ; let them walk bare-footed ; let them be clothed in
sackcloth ; let them carry mortification written on their
brow ; let them. La fine, have amongst them a saint, like
the seraph of Assisslum, and the heart of England Is
already gained.
" ' And this great heart, once so Catholic, this poor heart,
so long torn by the vigour of its own life (dechire par la
vigueur de sa proprie vie), exhausted In vain efforts to fill up
the frightful void which reigns there, does It not merit
some sacrifices on your part, that it may find consolation
and healing ? Oh, how sweet it was for us to learn that
our Catholic brethren prayed for us. The triumphant army
in heaven prays also for us. It has prayed, I am sure,
from the beginning of these three centuries of schism and
of heresy. Why have not the prayers of St. Gregory, St.
Augustin, and St. Thomas been heard ? Because of our
sins ; the sins, not only of England, but of Rome. Let
us go and do penance together, and we shall be heard.
During this holy time, in which the Church retires to the
depth of the solitude of her soul, following the bleeding
feet of her divine Master, driven by the Spirit into the
desert, know that many of us stretch out our hands day
and night before the Lord, and beg of him with sighs

Sfi NOTICES OF OXFORD FRO.M OXFORD.
and groans, to reunite them to their Catholic brethren.
Frenchmen ! fail not to aid us In this holy exercise ; and
I am persuaded that many Lents will not have passed
before we shall chant together our Paschal hymns in those
sublime accents which have been used by the divine spouse
of Christ for so many ages.' "

CONVERTS TO ROMANISM THROUGH TRACTARIANISM,
SINCE SEPTEMBER, 1841.
Rev. R. W. Sibthorpe, Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford.
Rev. Bernard Smith, late Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford.
Johnson Grant, Esq. St. John's College, Oxford.
Edward Douglas, Esq. Christ Church, Oxford.
Peter Renouf, Esq. Pembroke College, Oxford.
Rev. Daniel Parsons, M.A. Oriel College, Oxford.
Rev. C. Seager, M.A. Worcester College, Oxford.
Rev. G. Talbot, M.A. St. Mary Hall, Oxford.
W. Lockhart, Esq. Exeter College, Oxford.
T. H. King, Esq. Exeter College, Oxford.
Rev. W. Wackerbarth.
A Tradesman of Oxford.
A Boy at Shrewsbury School.
Miss Elliott.
Miss Young.
Miss Young's Sister.
A Daughter of J. Watts Russell, Esq.
Scott Murray, Esq. (M.P.) B.A. Christ Church, Oxford.
Frederick Lucas, Esq. Editor of the Tablet.
Miss Gladstone.

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 37

EXTRACT FROM THE BRITISH CRITIC,
NO. LIX. page 45.
" It ought not to be for nothing ; no, nor for any thing
short of some very vital truth ; some truth not to be re
jected without fatal error, nor embraced without radical
change ; that persons of name and Influence should venture
upon the part of ' ecclesiastical agitators ;' Intrude upon
the peace of the contented, and raise doubts in the minds
of the uncomplaining ; vex the Church with controversy,
alarm serious men, and interrupt the established order of
things ; set the ' father against the son, and the mother
against the daughter ;' and lead the taught to say, ' I have
more understanding than my teacher.' All this has been
done ; and all this Is worth hazarding in a matter of life
and death; much of it Is predicted as the characteristic
result, and therefore the sure criterion, of the Truth. An
object thus momentous we believe to be the unpro-
TESTANTIZING (to use an offensive, but forcible, word)
of the NATIONAL CHURCH ; and accordingly we are
ready to endure, however we may lament, the un
deniable, and in themselves disastrous, effects of the
pending controversy. But If, after all, we are not to be
carried above the doctrine and tone of the English
Reformers ; if we are but to exchange a congenial enthu
siasm for a timid moderation, a vigorous extreme for an
unreal mean, an energetic Protestantism for a stiff and
negative Anglicanism, we see but poor compensation for
so extensive and Irreparable a breach of peace and charity.
The object, important as it may be in Itself, Is quite
inadequate to the sacrifice. We cannot stand where
WE ARE ; ive must go backwards or forwards ; and

38 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
it will surely be the latter. It is absolutely necessary
towards the consistency of the system which cer
tain PARTIES are LABOURING TO RESTORE, that
truths should be clearly stated, which as yet have been
but intimated, and others developed which are now but
in germ. And, as we go on, we must recede more
AND MORE FROM THE PRINCIPLES, IF ANY SUCH THERE
BE, OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION."

'WE MUST RECEDE MORE AND MORE FROM THE PRINCIPLES,
IF ANY SUCH THERE BE, OF
THE ENGLISH REFORMATION"!!!

" Whoso readeth, let him understand.'' — " Surely in vain the net is spread
in the sight of any bird."

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 39

1 PJmct'B Letter to
Golightly, p. 9,

"WHAT IS TRACTARIANISM?"
It is to " utterly reject and anathematize the
principle of Protestantism as a heresy, with all
its forms, sects or denominations (1) ;" " to
hate the Reformation and the Reformers more
and more (2) ;" to mourn under " the miserable '^"'^^'i.J'S^
and soul- sickening feeling of being cut off from
Christendom (3);" to hold that "our church s Bntai, criu.!, voi.
\ / ' nil. p. 357.
is Ichabod, the glory is departed (4) ;" indulg- * ^SJ^;^"'
ing merely a faint hope, " should the pure
light of the gospel be ever, by God's grace,
restored to this beiughted land (5)." " "'"wifJ'So.""-
It is to denounce " the present Church sys
tem as an incubus upon the country (6);" to '"^°^;"i,^l!'"'
declare that "the Church is in captivity (7) ;" 7TT.rt.fcjthsKn,a,
that it is " in bondage," and " working in
chains (8) ;" that " the English Church Is in
complete in its formal doctrine and disci
pline (9) ;" that " at the rebellion of 1688 she
threw, as it were, out of her pale, the doctrine of
Christ crucified (10) ;" that " the mark of being ^"^'isrs^^;'^"'
Christ's kingdom is obscured, and but faintly
traced on the English Church (11) ;" and that "^"^"..i,™.^."'
" we must recede more and more from the
principles of the English Reformation (12)." uBiituhcriidc, jd,.
It is to declare that "our articles are the
offspring of an uncatholic age (13) ;" and that '""l;^,^^".'^™''
the communion service is "a judgment upon
the church (14) ;" it is to teach that the Rom- """"v'o^ ?:'"ir*'

40 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
i5Tr.ci.forth.Ti™,, ish rltual was "a precious possession (15);''
that the mass book is "a sacred and most
16 Newoim'. Letter to prccIous mouumeut of the apostles (16) ;" that
" Rome has preserved in her services, that
' beauty of holiness,' of which we had lost
uBriti.kcritie. My, sight (17);" aud that the discarding of the
1841, p, 1L8, ' O \ / ' O
mass by our Reformers, gives rise to " a feeling
18 Nemn.n. Letter to of Indlgnatlou aud Impatleut sorrow (18)."
Fimsset, p, 47, ~ L \ /
It Is to assert that " Scripture, it is plain,
is not, on Anglican principles, the rule of
i9Tract^fortheii™„ fftlth (19) ;" that " thc tradltlou of the Church
Catholic Is the legitimate Interpreter of Scrip-
OTr.cgjo, the Time., ture (20);" and that "we must demand the
ascertainment and teaching of the whole body
2iPdmer.,ud.tojBe- of Cathollc tradltlou (21)."
tlectioD, p 116. *• '
It Is to teach that " baptism, and not faith,
jjN.wm.n „„ jn.tij- Is thc primary Instrument of justification (22) ;"
and that " the prevailing notion of bringing
forward the doctrine of the atonement, explicitly
and prominently on all occasions, Is evidently
MT„et,t<,rthPime., quItc opposcd to thc tcachiug of Scripture (23)."
It is to assert that, in the Lord's Supper,
" the bread and wine are changed by the con
secration of the priest, and the operation of the
Holy Ghost, and become the very body and
Mp.in,er, Lett-, to » vcry Wood of OUT Lord (24) ;" " that the power
set;.,/ '¦ ^f jnaking the body and blood of Christ is vested
2s Proud.'. i,.„™. inthe successors of the apostles (25) ;" that the
Vol, i p, 326 ^ ^ ^ ^
table is properly an altar, and that " altars pre-
MBriti,h;c,it,e. July, suHiB 3, propItlatory sacrifice (26)."
1841, p, 24, _ ^ ^
It Is to assert "the cleansing efficacy of suf-
"' " "w„„l',':;,av°"''^"^^'^°g (^^) '" ^"'^ *° assert " that a person may
believe that there Is a ])urgatory;" that relics

NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD. 41
may be venerated ; that saints may be invoked ;
that there are seven sacraments ; that the mass
is an offering for the quick and dead for the re
mission of sins ; and that he may yet with a
good conscience subscribe the 39 articles of the
church of England (28). ""^'"No'rM.'p,"!",
It Is to speak of the English Reformers, as
" persons not to be trusted on ecclesiastical and
theological questions (29) ;" but of Pope HIl-'^'^°"S.ee!™S:
debrand as " that celebrated man, who reigns
in the Church without vestige of a rival (30) :" """''Z.i'fS'-
of Thomas a Becket, as " one of the blessed
saints and martyrs of the Most High (31) ;" ''""5^, 'J'Jf •'"¦>¦•
and of Hlldebrand, Becket, and Innocent," as
" the lights of the Church in the middle
ages (32);" to hold that "divine providencC'="\Si,''p"iS"'""'
mercifblly interposed, by cutting short the life
of King Edward VI ;" and that " tJie accession
and reign of Queen Mary were great and positive
advamtages to the Church of England (33)." "* •¦¦^S,"p';''iS-
Finally, It Is to maintain, that "Rome was
our mother, through whom we were born to
Christ (34);" that "the Reformation was a "^'"NL'^i.tS""'
limb badly set. It must be broken again. In order
to be righted (35):" that in "lacking visible ''"""vrip^jS""'
union with the Church of Rome, we forego a
great privilege (36):" that Rome "has been, 3«Br.tw,^criue, j,uy,
even in her worst times, on most points, a firm
and consistent witness in act and word for or
thodox doctrine (37) :" and "that the Prayer- 3'W"^;',^^«;^»»«
Book has no claim on a layman's deference, as
the teaching of the church, which the Breviary

42 NOTICES OF OXFORD FROM OXFORD.
and the Missal have not in a far greater de-
MFroud.'. Remain., aree (38):" heucc Tractarianism, "as on the
Vol, ,, p, 40J ¦' ^ '
one hand it begins with the utter repudiation of
Protestantism, so on the other it will stop
at nothing short of the restoration of unity
*"'"Ero;"p,?7,'''"t^''0'^g'^o"*' CathoUc Christendom (39)."
Of which the commencement is already
seen. In the cases of Mr. Sibthorp, Mr.
Wackerbarth, Mr. Biden, Mr. Douglas,
Mr. Johnson Grant, jun. ; besides very
many others whose names have not come
before the public.

THE END.

PKI^¦TKD BY J. 8, FOLDS, SON, ANDPATTOJI,
h, Bochelor'B-walk.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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