,transcribed from the #ahej ,william ,pickering edition by ,david ,price1 email ccx#jgdpglaf4org ,a ,second ,letter ,,to ,,the ,,rev4 ,,william ,,maskell1 ,m4,a4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,mayow ,,wynell ,,mayow1 ,m4,a4 ,,vicar ,,of ,,market ,,lavington1 ,,wilts1 ,,rural ,,dean1 ,,and ,,late ,,student ,,of ,,christ ,,church1 ,,oxford4 ,,some ,,thoughts ,,on ,,the ,,position ,,of ,,the ,,church ,,of ,,england1 ,,as ,,to ,,her ,,dogmatic ,,teaching4 ,picture3 ,decorative graphic ,,london3 ,,william ,,pickering4 #ahej4 99 99 99 99 99 8,is1 then1 the ,church of ,england so isolated from the ,universal1 that the faith of the ,church ,universal has no influence into its theology80--,a ,letter to the ,right ,rev4 the ,lord ,bishop of ,chichester1 by ,,henry ,,edward ,,manning1 ,m4,a4 ,archdeacon of ,chichester1 p4 #da4 ,,advertisement4 ,i ,,need hardly express my sorrow that the publication of this letter has been delayed so far beyond the time ,i had calculated upon4 ,but ,i hope ,i may be allowed to say1 the delay has been occasioned not so much by idleness as by business2 and that1 chiefly upon subjects akin to those treated of in the letter itself4 ,still ,i cannot but be grieved at the delay1 both on general grounds1 and because during this time1 ,mr4 ,maskell has taken the step which would seem to make the letter wholly useless as regards himself4 ,still my grief would be of a very different and of a deeper character1 did ,i imagine that what ,i have written would have influenced him to any other conclusion than that to which he has come4 ,though ,i fully believe him to have been honest in his seeking an answer to his difficulties1 ,i have not the presumption to suppose that such answer as ,i have here attempted1 would by him have been deemed sufficient4 ,for others who may read this letter1 ,i would only say in justification of even now publishing it1 that certainly the subject has lost none of its interest1 nor is the necessity for some reply1 that ,i can see1 diminished4 ,therefore1 perhaps1 ,i need take up no more time in apologizing for the publication1 even though so late4 ,it may be useful to observe that far the greater part of the manuscript has been written many weeks1 though ,i have not found time earlier to digest it1 and correct the proofs1 which fact1 if borne in mind1 may perhaps explain many expressions1 not recognizing the altered position in which ,mr4 ,maskell now stands1 which certainly ,i do not think it worth while to correct4 ,the reader will perceive that ,i have availed myself largely of portions of ,mr4 ,badeley's speech before the ,committee of ,council1 as well as of other assistance1 wherever ,i found any thing already collected or condensed1 which appeared to me useful in the statement of my argument3--my object being1 7as ,i am certain it will be allowed it ought to be7 to set this forth in the most intelligible manner ,i was able to do1 without being careful as to any charge of want of originality or research4 ,market ,lavington1 ,august #ajth1 #ahej4 ,,letter4 ,,my ,,dear ,,maskell1 ,,one who has known you so long and loved you so well as ,i have1 cannot fail to experience much sorrow of heart in now addressing you4 ,but private sorrows1 and private feelings have little place in the great crisis in which we live4 ,i do not mean that we are required to be stoically indifferent2 but that our duties to ,god and ,god's truth1 are so paramount over any regard to earthly ties1 or private griefs1 that we must needs put them by--so far at least as that they be no hindrance or impediment to the doing ,his will4 ,truly1 in our time does the cycle of the world's course seem to have come round1 and never perhaps since the early days of persecution has there been so much need to remember and apply the warning1 8,he that loveth father or mother more than me1 is not worthy of me40 ,believe me1 ,i acknowledge fully1 and am glad to acknowledge thus openly1 that ,i am as much persuaded you are acting under the constraint of this great law1 as that ,i am desirous to be guided by it myself4 ,i acknowledge your trial 7and have good cause to know how severely you have felt it71 and ,i as much believe in your sincerity as ,i do in my own4 ,i trust1 therefore1 that never by me at any rate shall your anticipation be realized1 when you say1 8,i am prepared to be judged harshly1 and the more harshly by oldest friends40 #f ,though ,i do not come to the same conclusions with you1 and am about to controvert the general argument of your 8,second ,letter10 ,i know you will be the first and readiest to do me justice as to the temper in which ,i write4 ,whatever view the world may have taken of that letter1 or however it may regard its author1 ,i think few will deny it is well it should have some answer4 ,it is a different thing to say1 it were well it had not been written1 or1 not written by one in this or that circumstance1 from saying that being written1 it does not demand a reply4 ,persons may and will judge differently1 as to the propriety of your having published it1 though ,i dare say1 far the greater part of ,english ,churchmen will be against you in that respect1 and say they know not how to reconcile your having done so with either dutifulness or wisdom4 ,for my own part1 however1 ,i must say 7whatever may be thought of me for saying so7 ,i do not condemn you for having published it2 if only you will seek patience to weigh all circumstances indicating the line of duty1 before you shall finally act upon the doubts and difficulties it discloses4 ,i confess1 to my mind1 there is but one justification for any man in the communion of the ,church of ,england1 having written and published such a letter2 viz4--that1 feeling the oppression of the difficulties it sets forth1 he is yet no more than in doubt1 as to the matters debated in it1 and the conclusion to be drawn from them4 ,perhaps in ordinary times even such a frame of mind would not be a sufficient excuse for the unsettling tendency of that which you have written2 but certainly these are not ordinary times2 and1 ,i agree with you in thinking1 many ordinary rules do not apply4 ,enquiries therefore how far the ,church of ,england may have sanctioned error1 or failed to teach the whole ,catholic truth1 pressed even with painful nakedness and pertinacity1 must1 perchance1 now of necessity be instituted1 in order 8to do her good at her latter end40 ,at any rate there is a show of reason on his side1 who says1 8,if her #8grievous wound' be not probed to its full depth1 it will never be more than #8slightly healed2'0 and of this argument1 ,i1 at any rate1 am disposed to allow you the full benefit4 ,moreover1 when it cannot be denied that practically 8the trumpet0 has given 8an uncertain sound10 it seems far more 8tolerable0 to have enquiry pushed even to what some will call the verge of disloyalty1 than would be the case if the cause of uncertainty were only in the writer's mind1 and might not1 with any plausibility or truth be charged upon the ,church herself4 ,still1 after making all due allowance for these disturbing forces1 there is1 ,i think1 no justification at all for such statements as those in your 8,second ,letter10 but in the one consideration that the writer is grievously pressed by the difficulties of the case2 78the archers have hit him1 and he is sore wounded207 yet1 believing it would be sin to let go his hold upon the ,church in which his lot has been cast without the most direct and earnest endeavours to ascertain whether his doubts have not an answer1 and his difficulties a solution somewhere1 he lays them as a duty1 and with great pain1 though with all plainness1 before his brethren of the same communion1 that he may rejoice in such answer and such solution if they can be given4 ,take away this honest motive1 and consider the writer's mind as already made up1 and ,i see no escape from the reproach of his having written as a traitor3 but grant the supposition ,i have made 7and ,i know1 better1 ,i believe1 than most men1 how safely it may be granted you71 and there remains1 to my mind1 no ground for the invective and reproach with which in some quarters you have been met4 #h ,you will not misunderstand me1 if ,i say that ,i approach the task ,i have undertaken with a certain disquietude1 arising from the responsibility ,i appear to take upon myself1 and the consciousness how little qualified ,i am duly to discharge it4 ,these thoughts have made me feel at times uncertain whether ,i do well to attempt it at all4 ,still1 as ,i do not think at present there is any notice of another undertaking it2 and as1 if there be1 my letter will be no hindrance to any one else more worthily occupying the same ground1 and as ,i do seem 7to myself at any rate7 to have something to answer as to the principle on which your difficulties rest1 perhaps ,i better discharge my duty by writing what ,i can1 than ,i should do in withholding my letter1 from the knowledge my ability does not reach to the half that ,i could wish4 ,i trust1 however1 you will remember1 if ,i have not learning or skill to state the ,church of ,england's argument in the way it may best be stated1 that ,i only am responsible2 and it is no fair mode of reasoning1 to argue1 the ,church of ,england can say no more in defence of her position than ,i may be able to set down for her4 ,but ,i proceed to the subject before me4 ,the drift of your whole second letter appears to me to be summed up in this one sentence towards its close1 8,i have resigned my cure of souls1 because ,i have no doctrines and no faith to teach1 as certainly the faith and doctrines of the ,english ,church40 #aj ,plainly this involves the whole point at issue2 for if you have none1 7,i mean as a result not of your own mind1 but from the ,church's defect17 then of course neither have ,i1 nor has any one of her priests2 and if so1 we have all1 7all1 that is to say1 who are enough imbued with the spirit of ,catholic antiquity to know and feel that we must teach as the ,church in all ages has taught17 no other line before us but to follow your example in resignation of our cures4 ,and this again is a sentence of deposition to the ,church of ,england altogether2 for that ,church which drives from her all that is sound and ,catholic1 and can admit none but such as are more or less heretics to minister at her altars1 is manifestly faithless to her trust1 and has forfeited the 8good deposit40 ,she can claim no longer to be a living branch of the true vine2 nor can any man believe that she can bear and convey the grace of life-giving sacraments4 ,to ascertain whether indeed this be so with us1 is the point to which ,i purpose presently to direct my argument1 endeavouring to show the contrary1 inasmuch as ,i think it may be proved1 that where the faith has been directly assailed1 as on the subject of ,baptism by the late decision of the ,privy ,council1 our business is to clear and vindicate it2 and that we have time1 and ,i trust also1 means to do this2 whilst upon all other essential subjects1 not in like manner attacked1 though the ,church of ,england may possibly seem upon some of them more open to objection or assault than upon ,baptism1 we yet have a rule of ,catholic teaching which is dogmatic1 and ought to be received as such by every one of us on the very face of the matter1 until in any like mode it may be brought into question1 when again1 as such cause arises1 the objection must be met1 and the faith vindicated and cleared4 ,before1 however1 ,i proceed to these positions and the proofs of them1 ,i am anxious to say something on one or two preliminary considerations4 ,and first1 ,i must make an observation on my own former letter1 and on the notice taken of it by you1 7in the kindest terms1 but1 as ,i think1 with some little misapprehension of its argument17 in the appendix to your 8second letter40 ,i refer to this1 not merely to clear up the misapprehension1 which might appear a personal matter hardly worth the time1 but also because ,i think the point will be found to have a further and necessary bearing on my present subject as we proceed4 ,after speaking of my letter as to its tone1 you say1 8,but as it was not intended to be an answer to the facts stated in my first letter1 so it seemed to me to fail in meeting the real difficulty of the case40 #ab ,it is quite true it was not intended to be an answer to the facts1 viz4 the positions advanced by you as to the powers of the regal supremacy1 and the jurisdiction of the ,committee of ,privy ,council1 as a court of appeal4 ,rather1 it admitted the facts1 for argument's sake at any rate1 7,i did not intend to commit myself1 and1 ,i think1 did not commit myself to more than this in the way of concession17 in order to show that1 even so1 the conclusions you drew would not follow legitimately from them4 ,its aim1 therefore was1 that even granting the premises to be as you had stated them1 as to the authority of the said court1 and granting also the judgment 7then about to be delivered7 to be heretical1 still the ,church might not be thereby committed to heresy2 and would not be so1 unless it could be reasonably made manifest that she intended such heresy to be permissible2 that her animus was to include the heresy in her teaching4 8,its point was10 7you continue7 8that even granting such an ambiguity to exist in our formularies1 yet it might have been an inadvertence at the time when our ,prayer ,book and ,articles were put forth1 and that we must prove that the ,church of ,england at the ,reformation intended that there should be such an ambiguity4 ,but this is a line of argument which must admit that which has been so energetically denied to bear upon the question at issue1 namely1 the opinions of the reformers and divines of the sixteenth century2 and it is to be remembered that if such are to be referred to as evidence of the animus of our ,church on the subject of ,baptism1 so they must equally be appealed to upon the doctrines1 for example1 of the ,eucharist and sacramental grace4 ,in short1 it is making use of an argument wisely and long repudiated by the ,high ,church party40 #ac ,this statement1 as ,i conceive1 does not represent the argument of my former letter at all1 and therefore is no answer to it4 ,and for this reason it does not represent it2 that it confounds together and then unconsciously interchanges1 two somewhat similar1 but by no means identical propositions1 making me answerable for both1 whereas to one only of them am ,i really committed4 ,observe1 it is one thing to say1 8,it is necessary to take into account the animus of those who sanctioned them1 in order to ascertain the true sense of the documents30 it is another to say1 8,it is necessary to do this1 in order to determine the guilt of the ,church40 ,the first of these propositions ,i have never maintained at all4 ,the second was the very essence of my argument4 ,i never maintained we were to go to the intentions of the compilers in order to arrive at the meaning of the formularies2 but ,i did say1 7and ,i must venture still to think the argument sound1 at any rate not refuted by your remarks17 that we could not condemn our ,church of heresy1 without considering whether she had ever intended to sanction heresy4 ,for 7let me say it once more7 ,i was speaking of the animus1 not to show the sense of the documents1 but to show the guilt or innocency of the ,church4 ,the first1 as ,i understand the matter1 is the ground 8so wisely and long repudiated by the ,high ,church party10 7and which ,i quite agree in repudiating27 the second1 ,i think is1 when fully stated1 almost a self-evident truth wheresoever a moral delinquency is to be affirmed4 ,the first view too1 would not really have agreed with my argument2 for1 ,i said1 8,the only postulate ,i ask is1 that the ,church shall not1 and cannot stand committed to heresy1 without proof that her crime is something not accidental but wilful and deliberate2 something more than a mistake which she is ready and willing to clear up the moment opportunity is given her to do so4 ,in short1 that as a man is not a liar without the intention to deceive1 so a ,church is not heretical1 unless the animus of heresy be proved against her40 #ad;a ,neither would this representation of the drift of my argument agree with the particular illustration1 of the factory act1 by which ,i tried at some length to make my meaning plain3 for certainly ,i never said1 the judges were to have recourse to the animus of the framers of that measure in order to ascertain its legal sense1 though ,i did 7as ,i think justly7 argue1 they who framed or passed it were not to be convicted of cruelty or double-dealing because an inadvertent ambiguity might for a time defeat their object4 #ad;b ,neither should it be forgotten that ecclesiastical history itself furnishes plain instances of the difference of those two propositions1 and ,i think of the justness of that one which alone ,i supported4 ,there was a time when the ,apostles' ,creed was found insufficient to protect the one ,faith1 even on the most sacred subject of the true divinity of the ,son of ,god4 ,arianism crept in1 in spite of its wording3 and had there been a ,judicial ,committee of ,privy ,council to hear the case of ,arius1 no doubt we should have heard there too1 of 8charitable interpretations10 and 8qualified senses10 and the impropriety of 8fixing one meaning upon doubtful words10 and the liberal intention to include as many as possible under an 8hypothetical construction40 ,it might not have been deemed even then1 cogent or sufficient merely to appeal to the known sentiments of the framers to arrive at the sense of the document in question3 at any rate to have done so1 might have been the introduction of a dangerous principle for another day3 but surely then1 and in all times1 it would be a maxim among the faithful1 that the ,church could not be condemned as guilty of the heresy1 7whether of ,arius or any other17 even if there were an ambiguity or want of strict definition in her holy words1 without considering also whether her animus in her sanction of them had been heretical4 ,the absence of any such suspicion1 even had the ,east and ,west been then divided1 would have prevented any from withdrawing from the communion of the ,church at ,constantinople at that time1 even though she might fail for a brief space to enforce the truth4 ,and this very consideration1 as it seems to me1 was sufficient to clear the ,church's faithfulness1 during the rise of ,arianism1 and until the great ,council of ,nicea could be held4 ,it gave her time to pass what we may call a declaratory act of the true meaning of the ,creed1 without in the mean time forfeiting her trust4 #ae ,there can be no doubt the ,nicene ,creed was such an act2 and ,i have asked for ourselves only the patience that we may try to procure such a vindication of ourselves and of our faith1 now in our day1 as to baptism1 in our somewhat parallel circumstances4 ,i have endeavoured to enforce only the similar claim so far as this parallel will hold good3 viz4 not at all the claim to have our formularies interpreted by the known or suspected intentions of their compilers2 but merely1 not to have our branch of the ,church ,catholic hastily adjudged guilty of heresy1 or of forfeiting her name and place in ,christendom1 without consideration had of her real guilt or innocence3 without weighing the point1 whether1 even granting it were true 7though ,i cannot see it7 that her formularies on ,baptism are ambiguous1 she has ever had the guilty intention of permitting heresy within her4 ,the only claim therefore which ,i have made1 is that she has the right to time to throw off the ambiguity1 and re-affirm her faith4 ,if she will neither do1 nor try to do this1 ,i have all along admitted she will 8become bound by the said sentence10 forfeit her claim on our allegiance1 and blot out her name from the kingdom of ,christ3 but she does not appear to me to have done this already1 and our duty is now to see that she do not4 ,as ,i have said1 ,i think we have the time1 and ,i trust we have the means1 effectually1 though it may be gradually1 to vindicate her4 ,i must cite a few lines more from the next paragraph of your appendix1 in order the more directly to mark what ,i feel called upon to do in this letter more than ,i attempted in the last4 ,you say 7,app4 p4 #hf71 8,i cannot refrain from citing one passage more from ,mr4 ,mayow's letter4 ,he says3 #8,let me be well understood4 ,if such ambiguity of language can be shown to be intentional on the part of the ,church2 if she can be proved to have desired in drawing up her articles and services to have admitted two interpretations on baptismal regeneration2 if her view and plan be to include two such opposite parties within her as those represented by ,mr4 ,gorham and the ,bishop of ,exeter1 by such ambiguous and therefore comprehensive language2 ,i most fully admit she stands convicted of unpalliated heresy both in form and matter4'0 ,on which your observation is1 8,instead of baptismal regeneration in the above sentence1 put the ,eucharist or justification60 ,this opens new ground1 and ,i own involves very weighty considerations1 most fairly calling for a reply4 ,it is the application of the whole principle of your second letter1 the want of dogmatic teaching1 to an extension of the subject of my first4 ,you say in fact1 8,if the ,church's animus be sound on baptism1 consider whether it is so likewise1 on justification and the ,eucharist1 and then answer as to her condition40 ,of course in all these cases ,i conceive you exaggerate the grounds against me1 rather1 ,i should say1 against the ,catholic character of the formularies of our ,church1 by having imagined ,i appealed to the opinions of the compilers of our services1 in order to ascertain their meaning2 but1 as ,i have allowed1 nay claimed1 that in one respect1 i4e4 in order to ascertain the ,church's guilt1 such reference to her animus is necessary1 ,i do not think it is a sufficient answer merely to have pointed out the above distinction4 ,a further examination and reply ,i think is needful1 which ,i propose presently to give4 ,here1 however1 ,i wish merely to observe1 that my former letter did not deal with this extension of the subject2 did not go into the general principle of the dogmatic teaching1 or want of dogmatic teaching1 in the ,church of ,england1 because this was not a point embraced or discussed in your first letter2 and mine of course was not an answer by anticipation to your second1 but merely a brief argument as to the one point of the ,catholic doctrine of baptism1 and the way in which the 7then7 expected judgment of the ,committee of ,privy ,council1 should it impugn that doctrine1 would affect our ,church's position3 and ,i think ,i am justified in saying 7even upon your own showing since #ah7 that had that point alone been brought in question1 my argument would have been sufficient2 at any rate1 so far sufficient and satisfactory1 that you would have felt with me we might one and all remain at our posts1 and that the ,church of ,england would not be involved in the heresy of that sentence1 upon the very grounds which ,i enforced1 namely1 that her mind and heart were not proved to be unsound1 and therefore that we have time to strive earnestly to clear her from the ambiguity of her words 7so considered71 and to vindicate her character for ,catholic truth4 ,but it is your feeling1 now since enunciated1 that there are other points of equal importance less clearly defined2 that1 in fact1 baptism was the very best ground for our ,church to stand upon in her conflict with the liberalizing spirit of the day2 and if she could not maintain herself there1 what chance has she elsewhere3--it is this1 which supplies the fuel to your despondency1 and almost despair of her4 ,i say again1 to this argument ,i propose to come in the sequel1 and would only here explain1 what perhaps ,i ought to have stated1 something more definitely1 in my former letter1 7though it is a point on which ,i think you will make no quarrel with me for 8amending the record107 that when ,i say1 if 8the ,church intended to include two such opposite doctrines10 ,i mean1 of course1 8intended to include0 and did include4 ,i should not be shaken in my persuasion of her innocency of heresy1 either as to baptism1 or any other doctrine1 merely by being convinced1 if so it were1 that there was an evil intention of an unlawful comprehension by the ,church of ,england of the sixteenth century1 if yet1 in ,god's mercy1 it were frustrated in the actual settlement of her rule of faith4 ,i hold that both parts must combine to place us in a dilemma now1 that is to say1 both the heretical intention1 7so that it is not merely an inadvertence17 and the actual ambiguity1 7so that the heresy is permitted74 ,if the latter be not found1 she will stand upon her formularies1 in ,god's providence1 enunciating the truth2 if the former be not found1 then1 as ,i have already said1 ,i think she is not so hastily to be pronounced guilty1 as not to be allowed the reasonable time 7so she do but begin to use it7 to vindicate or re-affirm her faith4 ,there is a second preliminary matter on which ,i must likewise ask leave to make some remark before ,i proceed further4 ,it is obvious that any man's view of the catholicity of our ,church's mind on baptism1 will be much affected by the force he may attribute to the argument1 and his general opinion of the soundness of the judgment1 of the ,privy ,council in point of fact4 ,it is true1 even one of the ,judges themselves might say1 8,i believe our decision to be the only correct one2 the one we were obliged to come to upon the wording of the formularies and articles minutely scanned2 but ,i do not believe it represents the mind of the ,church20 and if this were so1 7supposing1 that is1 the words to have this ambiguity really inherent in them1 and the ,court skilfully to have detected it17 the judgment might be called in this sense 8able10 or 8probably correct10 as you have called it1 #bj and yet the whole argument of my former letter still remain intact4 ,but if anywhere it be thought that the late judgment is sound or probably correct as a true representation of the ,church's mind1 then in so far is the force of my letter and its argument diminished or destroyed4 ,of course1 just in so much on the other hand1 if it be thought or proved that it is not 8an able judgment10 or 8a probably correct0 one1 the position ,i have maintained is strengthened1 because it is1 a priori1 to a certain extent probable that the intention is1 as the sound interpretation of the words is2 and consequently that if the words cannot1 without straining them1 or an ignorance of their subject-matter be made to include heresy1 then the animus of the ,church must not be supposed to be heretical4 ,therefore1 although1 if upon mere technical grounds of legal construction1 the late judgment be 8able10 and 8probably correct10 my argument remains still1 as ,i think1 tenable and sound2 yet much more weighty and conclusive is it1 if that judgment can be shown to be neither able nor acute1 neither well considered1 nor fairly apprehensive of the points at issue4 ,on this subject therefore ,i will ask you to bear with me for a few words4 ,i am persuaded that such is the case3--that the judgment is not sound2 nor able2 nor probably right2 regarded merely as an exposition of the documents which the court had before it1 independently of all consideration of the abstract truth or falsehood of the theology involved4 ,i do not indeed mean to go into this subject at large1 or to test the decision throughout in its several parts1 but ,i do desire to direct your attention to two or three particulars1 in the hope even these may make you re-consider your verdict as to its being 8probably a right decision40 ,if in that expression you meant 8probably right10 not merely on the technical ground of verbal criticism1 but as ,i certainly imagine you mean us to understand1 8right0 according to your present view of the likely aim and intention of those who put forth our articles and formularies1 and of the ,church of ,england of the sixteenth century which sanctioned them2 8right0 therefore as to a real intention of leaving baptismal regeneration an open question1 then it becomes all the more important to subject some few points of the judgment to a careful scrutiny1 that we may see on what foundation such an opinion rests4 ,in the first place then1 we find the following declaration of the judges1 presenting their own view of their powers4 8,the ,court10 they tell us1 8has no jurisdiction or authority to settle matters of faith30 #ba that is1 they give us to understand it was by no means its province1 and as little its desire1 to invade the precincts of the ,church's sanctuary and 8determine what ought in any particular to be the doctrine of the ,church of ,england40 #bb;a ,of course the latter part of this sentence is true4 ,their duty was to declare1 7so far as any jurisdiction they had might enable them to declare17 not what ought to be1 but what was the doctrine of the ,english ,church4 ,if they only meant therefore to say1 it was not their business or their wish to enact any new canon on baptism1 one is almost tempted to smile at their simplicity in thinking it necessary so solemnly to enunciate such a truism1 or thus to magnify themselves upon such moderation and forbearance2 but if they thought or meant to disclaim settling any thing concerning doctrine by the powers of interpretation1 which they could not avoid exercising1 one is tempted again to smile1 only more bitterly1 to think of any persons1 and especially judges in so solemn a cause1 entertaining so chimerical a notion as this disclaimer evinces4 ,what6 did they imagine they could escape 8settling doctrine0 by the judgment they gave1 merely by leaving every man to teach what he pleased8 ,did they forget that interpretation itself is a power that settles what it interprets8 #bb;b ,did they suppose a translator assigns no sense to the book which he translates8 ,did they1 or could they for a single moment lose sight of the fact1 that they must 8settle0 whether ,mr4 ,gorham were to be instituted to the living of ,bramford ,speke or not2 and in so doing must determine that 8the doctrine held by him0 was1 or 8was not1 contrary or repugnant to the declared doctrine of the ,church of ,england80 ,one can hardly believe they could lose sight of or misunderstand such a point1 and therefore we seem driven rather to let them take refuge in the truism1 than chase them into the paradox1 however the latter may be the more natural suggestion of their words4 ,but even so1 it must ,i think be allowed that the diction of what ought to have been a most carefully considered document is very clumsily obscure2 as is evident from the number of persons since its publication who keep continually quoting upon us those words of the judgment1 and assuring us that by the showing and declaration of the ,committee of ,privy ,council itself1 8doctrine is not affected40 ,and this obscurity is darkened even more by the aid of the published comment upon1 or perhaps ,i should say reiteration of1 the same view1 given since by an eminent member of the court4 ,lord ,campbell in one of his letters to ,miss ,sellon says1 8,i assure you we have given no opinion contrary to yours upon the doctrine of baptismal regeneration4 ,we had no jurisdiction to decide any doctrinal question1 and we studiously abstained from doing so4 ,we were only called upon to construe the articles and formularies of the ,church1 767 and to say whether they be so framed as to condemn certain opinions expressed by ,mr4 ,gorham40 #bc ,if ,lord ,campbell individually1 or the judges generally1 mean merely that their own personal faith being in agreement or disagreement with ,mr4 ,gorham's opinions1 is not a point decided by their sentence1 ,i most entirely allow this2 but if they mean1 as certainly a large portion of the world has understood them to mean1 that to admit ,mr4 ,gorham to a benefice with cure of souls1 and to say the doctrine held and published by him is 8not contrary or repugnant to the declared doctrine of the ,church of ,england10 does not 8settle doctrine10 so far as that ,church's teaching is concerned1 7and so far as they have authority17 this certainly strikes me as a most marvellous inaccuracy1 bespeaking any thing rather than ability or judicial clearness4 ,yet if they did not mean this1 7though to speak of a matter of personal faith might be in point1 as far merely as regarded ,lord ,campbell's clearing himself with ,miss ,sellon17 how should their judgment tend1 as they seem to have hoped it would1 to peace3--8to heal10 as ,lord ,campbell expresses it1 #bd 8the wounds from which the ,church of ,england has lately suffered80 8,what hast thou to do with peace10 surely we may demand of the judgment itself1 unless something real is to be made of this profession of not settling doctrine8 ,by such a mode of writing1 the judges appear to have thought peace could be preserved2 nothing being settled1 but the latitude of interpretation which might1 as they supposed1 include all1 and let every man do 8that which was right in his own eyes30--a scheme that might possibly have answered if the points in question had been mere matters of human opinion1 or if there had been none in the ,church who believed them to be ,god's truth which they had no right to give away3 none also who were sharp-sighted enough to see that to make any doctrine an open question1 is to rule that there is no dogmatic teaching upon it at all4 ,not to have observed these things more distinctly1 and not more distinctly to have expressed themselves as to what they really thought their office was1 appears to me1 in the very outset1 to be not indicative of ability or acuteness in the ,court4 ,secondly1 ,i see no marks of an able view of the subject in the ,court's extraction and representation of the peculiarities of ,mr4 ,gorham's opinions4 ,on the contrary1 the ,committee of ,council appear to me 7,i trust ,i shall stand excused in speaking very plainly2 the matter is of too much importance to permit soft words merely for fashion's sake27 to have been absolutely unable to master the sense of what he wrote4 ,it is so manifest they have not accurately represented it1 in their summary1 that if ,i did think they really understood his book1 ,i should be compelled to believe they knowingly softened down1 and misrepresented his doctrine1 to be able the more easily to pronounce for his institution1 without daring absolutely to say the ,church did not condemn his heresy2 that they made his doctrine into something which it is not1 something1 at any rate1 less glaringly heretical than it is1 in order to satisfy his partizans1 by giving judgment in his and their favour1 at the same time that they trusted to escape the direct assertion of his real opinions being admissible in the ,church of ,england1 by altering them knowingly themselves4 ,but ,i certainly do not make any such charge against the ,committee2 only1 ,i have no alternative but to believe they did not rightly apprehend his book at all4 ,they took it1 in fact1 with many 7perhaps not unnatural7 complaints1 that they should be expected to find out its meaning2 #bg;a and then1 even with all the help of counsel1 and all the advantage of the really able judgment of the ,court below1 7which1 however1 as has been pointed out by the ,bishop of ,exeter1 they appear wholly to have ignored1 and thought unworthy of consideration17 they set down sundry propositions as those maintained by him1 which not only are not in his book1 but which do not even represent what is in it4 ,thus they say1 8,the doctrine held by ,mr4 ,gorham appears to us to be this3 4 4 4 that the grace of regeneration does not so necessarily accompany the act of baptism that regeneration invariably takes place in baptism3 that the grace may be granted before1 in1 or after baptism3 4 4 4 that infants baptized1 and dying before actual sin1 are undoubtedly saved1 but that in no case is regeneration in baptism unconditional20 #bg;b statements not found in his answers1 though perhaps he may hold some of them2 while some of them are actually inconsistent with what he does maintain4 ,thus1 the ,committee of ,privy ,council say1 ,mr4 ,gorham holds the grace of regeneration may be granted 8before1 in1 or after baptism10 apparently never having perceived at all his own words1 which exclude1 as the ,bishop of ,exeter has most justly pointed out1 the possibility1 in his 7,mr4 ,gorham's7 real view1 of justification in baptism1 except by a miracle2 the miracle of one coming to baptism hypocritically1 but being converted at the very moment1 and so receiving the benefit concomitantly with the ,sacrament4 #bh;a ,but the ,privy ,council appear never to have seen1 or seeing1 not to have weighed1 those passages in ,mr4 ,gorham's answers in which he positively asserts that all the benefits which we ascribe to baptism1 through ,god's gift and mercy1 are given neither in nor by baptism1 but in all cases before it1 where baptism is rightly received at all4 ,thus he says1 8,that they 7i4e4 infants7 must have been regenerated by an act of grace prevenient to baptism1 in order to make them worthy recipients of that ,sacrament40 #bh;b ,again1 8,the new nature must have been possessed by those who receive baptism rightly1 and therefore possessed before the seal was affixed40 #bh;c ,again1 8,as the stipulation of faith goes before baptism1 and as the condition of being #8the child of ,god' is a blessing conferred by faith1 hence the blessing of adoption also precedes baptism in its essence40 #bh;d ,again1 8,the blessing is1 #8adoption to be the sons of ,god2' that blessing is undoubtedly to be #8ascribed to ,god4' ,for faith is #8not of ourselves3 it is the gift of ,god3' and to such as possess faith1 to them giveth ,he 7,jesus ,christ7 power to become the sons of ,god4 ,but that faith and that filial state1 though clearly to be #8ascribed to ,god1' was given to the worthy recipient 7for we are all along assuming this worthiness7 before baptism1 and not in baptism0 #bh;e 7sic74 ,again1 8,as faith must precede beneficial baptism1 and as justification is invariably consequent on faith1 therefore justification also precedes beneficial baptism1 and cannot be equivalent to it40 #bi ,thus ,mr4 ,gorham1 when heard for himself1 plainly declares that the gifts of regeneration1 adoption1 remission of sins1 and justification1 so far from being ever given to any one in baptism1 must have been possessed before it1 if it be not hurtful2 and so far from being ever given by baptism1 are always given1 if given at all1 by prevenient grace4 ,i cite these passages here1 however1 not in the least to argue upon the amount of their error or heresy2 but merely to show how very superficially the ,committee of ,privy ,council have regarded them2 how very inadequately they have represented them in their summary of ,mr4 ,gorham's opinions4 ,and ,i must own here again1 ,i am unable to discover any marks of ability or acumen2 of discrimination or accuracy4 ,this unreadiness and slowness to throw their minds into abstruse points of theology1 may be very explainable1 by considerations of the want of previous training2 by the naturally untheological character of their mental habits2 and by a certain very imaginable ignorance of the subjects with which they were compelled to deal4 ,these things may be their personal excuse2 may show it was1 in great measure1 their misfortune1 and not their fault to err2 but yet must necessarily be taken into consideration in determining the moral weight and importance of their judgment4 ,thirdly1 ,i am unable to find any acuteness or probable approximation to a right decision in the manner in which the ,committee of ,council examine1 compare1 and draw conclusions from the various services of the ,church4 ,and first1 as to the burial service3--,they say #cj;a--8,in every case in the burial service1 as the earth is cast upon the dead body1 the priest is directed to say1 and doth say1 #8,forasmuch as it hath pleased ,almighty ,god of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed2 we therefore commit his body to the ground1 earth to earth1 ashes to ashes1 dust to dust1 in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life2' and thanks are afterwards given--#8for that it hath pleased ,almighty ,god to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world2' and this is followed by a collect in which it is prayed that #8when we shall depart this life1 we may rest in ,god1 as our hope is that this our brother doth4' ,the hope here expressed10 7continues the judgment7 8is the same #8sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life1' which is stated immediately after the expression--#8it hath pleased ,almighty ,god of his great mercy to take to himself the soul of our brother here departed4' ,in this service1 therefore1 there are absolute expressions implying positive assertions1 which must0 7the ,court tells us7 8be construed in a qualified or charitable sense40 #cj;b ,thus it will be seen1 not only is 8a hope0 declared to be 8an absolute expression implying a positive assertion20 7,i thought there was good authority to say that hope1 however confident or well founded1 is always to be distinguished from1 not made identical with1 certainty3 8,hope that is seen is not hope307 but even beyond this1 the ,court seems never to have entertained the notion at all2 never to have weighed the matter2 never to have grasped the idea2 never to have had it occur to their minds1 that any one else thought or could think otherwise than they did2 never to have supposed it possible1 that there could be any difference in the object of the hope mentioned in these two places2 that 8the sure and certain hope of the resurrection10 might perhaps mean1 the general resurrection 7a topic not unsuitable to be introduced one would think7 whilst the hope of the other passage might be the hope of the individual's welfare4 ,however1 in each place1 the ,committee of ,privy ,council unhesitatingly assure us1 the hope is the same1 and that1 the hope of the individual's resurrection to eternal life4 ,they are dogmatic enough in their own teaching1 in the construction of the service to suit the conclusion to which they are coming 7this hope is the same as the one before-mentioned72 but1 alas6 all this1 only in order to make away with dogmatic teaching1 of a higher prestige surely than theirs2--to evolve a charitable hypothesis out of the most definite expressions6 and these used in a most solemn religious office6 ,again1 ,i say1 and know not how to avoid saying1 ,i cannot see herein the mark of ability or acumen4 #ca ,further1 it seems as if the judges had never even heard of any other meaning being given to the 8thanks1 that it hath pleased ,almighty ,god to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world10 than that thereby a thanksgiving must be intended that the dead person is taken to heaven4 ,they appear never even for a moment to have entertained the thought that there might be a cause for thankfulness1 even in the cutting off of a soul unprepared1 if this were the cutting off a life of longer and deeper sin1 so that by a further time1 the man would only have plunged himself deeper in misery1 and have 8received greater damnation40 ,they perhaps had never contemplated such things as possible in the depths of the counsels and mercies of ,god2 never thought of any as being possibly so past salvation1 that the only remaining mercy which could be shown them was to cut short a life whose daily continuance was an increase of crime2 whose daily walk a progress1 farther and farther into the wrath of ,god4 ,yet had ,lord ,campbell been as well read in another great poet1 as he seems to have been in ,milton1 he might perhaps have been reminded of these things3-- 8,the longer life1 ,i wot1 the greater sin2 ,the greater sin1 the greater punishment3 ,all those great battles which thou boast'st to win1 ,through strife and bloodshed and avengment1 ,now prais'd1 hereafter dear thou shalt repent3 ,for life must life1 and blood must blood repay4 ,is not enough thy evil life forespent8 ,for he that once hath missed the right way1 ,the further he doth go1 the further he doth stray60 #cc ,god forbid1 indeed1 that we should say this of a man1 because he 8once hath missed the right way20 7nor is ,spenser answerable as implying that doctrine1 as the context will show37 but at least the thought is suggested which might have assisted the ,committee of ,council in considering whether there may not be a time when it will be lawful and reasonable to give thanks to ,god1 if the removal of a man unprepared1 has yet removed him from only fresh sins1 and saved a soul from greater punishment4 ,neither1 let it be observed1 is it in the least necessary to this view to suppose that we are either called upon1 or able1 to determine who among the departed have so fallen past grace1 that an immediate death was the only mercy left for them4 ,it is sufficient that such an explanation can be given1 if perplexity should appear to be involved in the fact that for every one for whom our burial service is used1 thanks are given 8that it hath pleased ,almighty ,god to take unto himself10 or 8to deliver1 this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world40 #cd;a ,again3 there is the treatment of the service for private baptism4 ,in one or two respects this service is unquestionably stronger in its wording than the office for public baptism1 as to regeneration being the gift of baptism1 which made a careful examination of it very important4 ,let us therefore see how the ,committee of ,privy ,council have dealt with it4 ,in the certificate of the due baptism of children privately baptized1 when brought to be received into the ,church1 7and ,sir ,h4 ,j4 ,fust has very properly pointed out that 8this is not the certificate of the minister10 7who had baptized the child17 8but the certificate of the ,church0 7to the congregation7 8founded upon the answers given as to what had been done20 #cd;b in this certificate17 it is stated that the child1 having been 8born in original sin1 and in the wrath of ,god1 is now1 ,,by ,,the ,,laver ,,of ,,regeneration ,,in ,,baptism1 received into the number of the children of ,god1 and heirs of everlasting life2 for our ,lord ,jesus ,christ doth not deny his grace and mercy unto such infants1 but most lovingly doth call them unto ,him20 #cd;c and in the further part of his office1 where the priest is directed to declare what benefits that child hath received1 and how received them1 the words are1 8,seeing now1 dearly beloved brethren1 that this child is by ,,baptism regenerate1 and grafted into the body of ,christ's ,church20 #ce;a where1 in the corresponding place in the public office1 the two words1 8by baptism0 do not occur4 ,mr4 ,badeley had drawn especial attention to this point2 and had most aptly explained why they are introduced in the private office1 and omitted in the public4 8,omitted1 7he says7 not being necessary there1 where the rite was being administered40 #ce;b ,the ,church does not seem to have contemplated any judicial-committee-hypothesis to separate the benefits mentioned1 from the whole service in which their mention occurs2 nor to have provided any safeguard against eyes prying curiously into the point1 whether1 though all these benefits are declared to be given in the very office for the ministration of public baptism1 yet1 perhaps1 it might not be 8by baptism0 after all4 ,but in the office for private baptism1 the very words1 8by baptism10 do occur2 8important here1 7as ,mr4 ,badeley continued17 that the regeneration might be exclusively referred to the previous administration in private20 that no one might be under any possible doubt that it was by no rite or ceremony of admission into the congregation1 by nothing else but by baptism itself1 before administered1 that the child became partaker of all the privileges of a ,christian4 ,i wish to draw out this point a little further1 because it seems to me to bear much upon the ability of the judgment4 ,that judgment acknowledges 7as it cannot help doing7 that the office for private baptism provides for 8a baptism which may have taken place without any prayer for grace1 or any sponsors10 #cf;a but it deals with it 8as exceptional10 as 8intended only for cases of emergency20 and seems to put by the argument to be drawn from it as nothing worth upon that ground4 ,but is it intended by this that the benefits of baptism1 whatever they be1 are not given in cases of emergency1 as well as in cases of leisure8 ,is it meant by the judicial committee that the effects are different1 the blessings less full1 the statements less to be relied upon1 as to what is given the child and how given1 in one case than in the other8 ,it almost seems as if they thought so4 8,the private baptism of infants 7they tell us7 is an exceptional case provided for an emergency1 and for which1 if the emergency passes away1 although there is to be no repetition of the baptism1 a full service is provided40 #cf;b ,i do believe1 if the rubric had not been absolutely too strong for them1 78,let them not doubt but that the child so baptized is lawfully and sufficiently baptized1 and ought not to be baptized again207 that they would have wished well to the idea of some further baptism than this 8exceptional0 proceeding1 and 7,i say1 but for this rubric17 would have tried to make out there was some completion of the sacrament in the latter part of the office used when the child is brought into the ,church1 that the congregation may be certified respecting the baptism4 ,nay1 one almost wonders they have not done so as it is3 for surely there might have been found as much implication1 that there is ground for doubt in the words1 8,let them not doubt20 as there can be for the 8amazing0 assertion in another place1 that the very earnestness of the prayers of the ,church afford an argument 8for thinking that they are not uniformly granted40 ,why should we pray 7is the argument of the judges1 #cg;a7 8for that which ,god has promised to give unconditionally40 8,those who are strongly impressed with the earnest prayers which are offered for the divine blessing and the grace of ,god1 may not unreasonably suppose that the grace is not necessarily tied to the rite1 but that it ought to be earnestly and devoutly prayed for1 in order that it may ,,then1 or ,,when ,,god ,,pleases1 be present to make the rite beneficial40 #cg;b ,such is absolutely a part of the actual judgment delivered by this court1 sitting as a solemn court of appeal1 to weigh and determine the force of words1 and to draw necessary consequences from them4 ,surely they might equally have argued1 8,those who need to be instructed #8not to doubt1' may not unreasonably suppose that there must be some ground for doubt1 or else why should they be thus cautioned20 and so make a reason out of the very rubric in question for supposing a child baptized with this 8exceptional0 baptism1 is not thereby 8lawfully and sufficiently baptized40 ,and in truth the ,judicial ,committee do seem to come very near to believing1 if they do not actually believe1 that something more is essential to baptism than the form appointed in the private office1 provides1 for they tell us1 8,any other conclusion0 7than that the promises of the sureties are implied17 8would be an argument to prove that none but the imperfect and incomplete ceremony allowed in the exceptional case would be necessary in any case0 7sic47 ,this looks as if they had no notion of what are the essentials of baptism at all1 and then it appears they use their ignorance as an argument1 a fortiori1 to establish their heretical conclusion4 ,they are ignorant that 8nothing more is necessary in any case10 and therefore they deem the benefits do not come to the child in and by baptism4 ,i cannot call this able or acute2 quite independently of all view as to the truth or falsehood of the conclusion they arrive at4 ,but still further on this very point2 consider how sharp-sighted they have been to see that the words 8by baptism10 do not occur in another place4 8,it is certain by ,god's word1 that children which are baptized1 dying before they commit actual sin1 are undoubtedly saved40 ,yes6 7says the ,court7 saved no doubt--,mr4 ,gorham does not deny it--by prevenient grace2 7which their death1 he thinks1 proves them to have had2 though this too seems rather a charitable construction than anything else2 founded1 so far as ,i see1 8upon no sure warranty0 of either 8,scripture10 or the ,church's teaching27 saved1 however1 again says the ,court1 but not by baptism4 8,this ,rubric does not1 like the article of #aecf1 say that such children are saved by baptism40 #ch ,thus sharp-sighted are they to see what makes for the side they advocate 7no one can feel it to be too strong a word72 whilst all notice of the very same words occurring where they might be difficult to construe in the same sense is entirely omitted4 8,seeing1 dearly beloved brethren0 7says the office for private baptism71 8that this child is by baptism regenerate40 ,here there is surely a plain statement how1 and when it is1 the regeneration takes place4 ,but the words do not occur in the public office2 and so they are ignored apparently as being 8exceptional10 as if they could mean nothing4 ,let us see1 carefully1 what this amounts to1 if pursued and followed out4 ,instead of taking ,mr4 ,badeley's most reasonable argument into consideration1 that the thing intended is exactly the same in each case1 only it was too plain to require to be stated that the regeneration was by baptism in the public office1 when the declaration 8seeing this child is regenerate0 is made in the very midst of the celebration1 immediately upon the administration of the sacrament2 but that it was stated in the other service to prevent all doubtfulness as to when1 and by what means1 the regeneration was given to the child2--instead1 therefore1 of interpreting the one office by the other2 instead of saying we must suppose regeneration1 and grafting into the body of ,christ to be the same1 and attained by the same means in each case1 the ,court appears to have said simply1 we will ignore the office which is most express1 as an 8exceptional case10 and proceed upon the wording of the other only4 ,but see1 yet again1 what this amounts to2 it is declaring that there is a difference of the gift in these different baptisms4 ,take ten children baptized privately1 who have lived to be brought to church1 and ten baptized publicly1 and of the first ten you will have it said by the ,church that they are 8by baptism regenerate30 of the others that they are regenerate--but1 according to the ,gorham phraseology--by prevenient grace1 and not by baptism2 or1 by the ,privy ,council's exposition of this 7not exactly a correct one1 however71 8taking place either before1 in1 or after baptism40 ,is any man in his senses expected to believe such a mode of interpretation to be sound and true2 or the way to make the ,church's services agree together2 or that it is a due application of the principle to let the services explain each other1 as would be the case in any and all ordinary legal documents4 ,why6 according to this rule1 the right and blessed thing for parents to do1 would be1 not to bring their children to church to be baptized as soon as they can2 not to give any heed to the exhortation of 8the curate of every parish1 often admonishing the people that they defer not the baptism of their children longer than the first or second ,sunday next after their birth1 or other holy-day falling between unless upon a great and reasonable cause20 #dj but in every possible case ,,to defer the baptism1 till the children may be sick1 and then procure them to be baptized privately4 ,then will they have the ,church's assurance that 8their infants are by baptism regenerate1 and grafted into the body of ,christ20--then will they make the exception the rule1 and take all advantage of the 8exceptional case20--then may they feel that knowing when the regeneration took place1 they may be sure it has taken place2--but if they be obedient and faithful to the ,church's exhortation2 and bring their infants soon to church to be baptised1 then indeed1 according to the ,gorham theology1 and the ,privy ,council's judgment upon it1 then will they have no knowledge whether 8remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration0 hath come to their babes at all1 every thing being dependent upon the prevenient grace1 which no one pretends is given to all infants2 and though1 7it is said17 to some1 yet no one can pretend to say1 to which6 ,the ,privy ,council1 although this point of the force of the words 8regenerate by baptism0 in the office for private ministration1 was pressed upon them by ,mr4 ,badeley1 take no notice at all of it ,i think in their judgment2 merging all they had to say on the subject of that office in 8its being exceptional10 and 8intended for an emergency40 ,i cannot deem this clear-sighted and acute4 ,if ,i thought it so1 ,i could not by any compulsion think it honest4 ,i do not impugn their honesty2 but they must 7and will find they must in time7 take the world's verdict as to the ability of such reasoning4 ,one other passage ,i must briefly notice3 8,the whole ,catechism0 7the court tells us7 8requires a charitable construction1 such as must be given to the expression1 #8,god the ,holy ,ghost who sanctifieth me1 and all the elect people of ,god4'0 ,thus it is evident the ,judicial ,committee have lived so out of all theological training and the commonest catechetical instruction1 that it has never occurred to them this passage can have a literal meaning4 ,they seem never to have heard or dreamed of such a thing as 8the elect people of ,god0 being1 the baptized2 never to have supposed that the words 8,,god ,,the ,,holy ,,ghost who sanctifieth10 might be descriptive of the office of the ,,holy ,,spirit1 and mean 7surely an easy and natural sense enough7 who is the ,sanctifier of2 never1 consequently1 to have considered the possibility that the intention of the whole passage might be 7and be thus literally true71 that it is ,god the ,holy ,ghost who is the ,sanctifier of the baptized1 at their baptism at any rate1 although such persons may no doubt afterwards fall away1 grieve or quench him1 and drive him from them4 #db ,again ,i say1 they use their own ignorance on a point upon which any catechumen might have taught them better1 as a cumulative argument to explain the whole ,catechism in an hypothetical and unreal sense1 such as they tell us must be given to these words4 ,truly1 if1 like the boy in the tale1 the ,court had expressed their thankfulness for their ignorance1 7and it is1 ,i fear1 their best friend as to many parts of this decision's merits17 one would be tempted to agree with the response there given1 that they 8have a great deal undoubtedly for which to be thankful40 ,i do not think1 then1 ,i could call this document1 put forth to the world after so long a preparation1 and known by the court itself to be of so much importance1 a clever paper1 even if looked upon merely as the exercise of an advocate1 desired to make up a judgment upon a 8foregone conclusion40 ,but assuredly this is one thing2 to be an able judicial document is another3--another and so different a thing1 that ,i presume there will be little dispute1 whether among lawyers1 or any men of sense1 that for a judicial document to be 7if it be7 but the subtil1 ingenious effort of a partisan1 is so far from even faint praise1 that it is the most disastrous imputation which could rest upon a judge's character1 to have been a party in any such transaction as the framing it4 ,i cannot either call it talent of any high character1 to see all that makes for one view1 and nothing that makes against it4 ,i cannot praise that discrimination which is only great at finding a solution to one-sided difficulties4 ,i cannot consider these as the marks of an able judge1 however they may be the natural characteristics or proceedings of an advocate or partizan4 ,yet let me explain2--even so1 ,i do not say a partizan is by any means necessarily a dishonest man4 ,the habit of being biassed by what we much wish1 is as natural as1 in some cases1 to forecast what we much fear4 ,it works even unconsciously to ourselves1 and is not inconsistent with the most upright intention1 nay1 sometimes1 not with the most earnest endeavour after truth4 ,but certainly he only is to be called a great judge who can master this habit2 whose mental discipline is such1 that he can abstract himself from these circumstances of his wishes1 and in spite of all the promptings of his heart1 preserve the coolness of his head2 who can divest himself1 when he takes his place on his judicial throne1 almost of his personal existence1 and pass judgment as if the world would end to-morrow4 ,the calculation of consequences2 the being guided by what shall make most for peace1 or any other desiderated end1 is one of the snares to be most carefully shunned by any man who would occupy a distinguished place in the temple of justice4 ,he has no pretence to stand upon the roll of fame1 as eminent in his calling as a judge1 whose eyes wander into the future1 whose mind is pondering the consequences which may ensue4 ,such an one shows manifestly that he is unable to separate his judgment from his advocacy2 his judicial character from the wishes and bias of his mind2 and therefore1 though a very honest man it may be1 still that he is deficient in the first of all the qualities necessary to form a great judicial character1 or secure a lasting judicial name4 ,i do not say1 in saying these things1 that ,lords ,campbell and ,langdale1 ,mr4 ,pemberton ,leigh1 ,dr4 ,lushington1 and ,mr4 ,baron ,parke were consciously one-sided in the judgment they delivered3 but ,i do say1 it appears to me1 and ,i believe it will appear to posterity1 when all these things shall be matters of unimpassioned historic reference1 that whatever their judgment in the case of ,gorham v4 the ,bishop of ,exeter may be as to its uprightness1 they lose caste as to ability1 by its delivery4 ,they lose1 and will lose caste1 if only from the fact that they were not able to see1 to remember1 to combine1 to take count of various matters 7some of which ,i have just noticed7 bearing upon the very documents1 7the great things as they themselves allow by which they were to be guided17 and essential to a fair decision2 and this moreover when those very points had been distinctly pressed upon their attention4 ,they deviated likewise1 ,i believe1 from all the ordinary rules of courts of appeal1 in ignoring1 instead of examining1 the judgment of the court from which the appeal came up1 the decision of which they were about to reverse4 ,many will be the hearts that will grieve over these things as time goes on1 first1 generally1 on the ground of the dissatisfaction and distrust which such proceedings cast upon the character of the administration of our law2 but next also1 on the narrower though hardly less painful ground1 of seeing men who might have stood so high1 losing their position in the world's history1 by the too sensitive desire to do the things which1 as they imagine1 make for peace1 rather than boldly daring to adopt the divine motto1 8,be just1 and fear not40 ,to say nothing of others1 how many will think remorsefully of the deed done which cannot now be undone1 when they find 7as find ,i am sure they will7 that this judgment has struck down from the pedestal of honour where he might perchance have stood with few equal and none superior to him1 one1 whose name as a lawyer was promising to fill the world4 ,that learned ,baron's name might perhaps have descended to posterity1 coupled with the very greatest of the judicial names this country has ever boasted2 but now1 7sorrowfully will many hearts attest it17 in spite of all the blind flattery of party feeling1 and all attempts to patch the matter up or smooth it over by party declamation2 now2--for and by this ,gorham judgment1 will he fall from that pre-eminence1 and be found1 to those highest honours1 to have forfeited his claim4 ,before ,i leave this part of my subject there is one further remark ,i must needs make4 ,this is not the first time that the people of this country have had cause to look with suspicion upon the administration of the law1 where the interests of the ,church have been affected4 ,there is1 ,i think1 a growing feeling in the world1 that1 7it may be unadvisedly and unconsciously in those concerned1 still really and practically17 the ,church does not meet with exactly the same measure which would be dealt out in mere legal construction of documents to a railway company or a merchant's clerk4 ,when in the year #ahdh1 in the ,hampden case1 the ,lord ,chief ,justice of the ,queen's ,bench of that day reversed the unvarying practice of his court for #bej years3 #df 7if ,i am mistaken in the fact1 no doubt ,i shall be corrected17 when ,lord ,denman nullified in that case 7and expressly from a regard to consequences2--his own reason1 as stated by himself in his judgment2--7 so general and so just a practice as that when the judges are divided equally in opinion1 8the writ should go10 to give opportunity for further argument1 and consideration by a higher court 7that a writ of error1 ,i believe it is termed1 may lie71 he did a thing so pernicious1 that ,englishmen may well be grieved he should ever have held so high an office4 ,to throw suspicion on the fountains of justice is among the greatest wrongs any man can inflict upon his country4 ,it is high treason against the majesty of law4 ,it is a teaching of rebellion to all who have the wit to understand what has been done4 ,it substitutes distrust even in the rightfully condemned1 for the general and generous confidence even of him who may think or know1 in his own case1 the law has erred4 ,let such a persuasion grow but a little1 and we shall find no more instances of the spirit of him who said ,i had my trial ,and must needs say a noble one3 4 4 4 ,the law ,i bear no malice for my death1 ,it has done1 upon the premises1 but justice2 whilst 8every puny whipster0 who thinks himself aggrieved1 will only proclaim 8with outstretched throat10 the impossibility of obtaining equal justice1 and the corruption of the law4 ,no man can doubt it is the paramount duty of those concerned in its administration to 8abstain from all appearance0 of this 8evil10 and give no possible colour to its existence4 ,in truth1 so sacred is the subject ,i have here handled1 that nothing but the most weighty considerations should induce us to mention at all the circumstance of so just a rule having ever been disregarded4 ,these however do exist in reference to the present matter2 and where the question at issue is the preservation of the true faith in our branch of the ,church of ,christ1 we dare not omit the notice of any of the dangers which beset it4 ,we dare not1 for peace' sake1 or for the sake of a worldly expediency1 8keep silence40 ,we dare not1 for fear of casting an imputation 7not1 observe1 a vague one1 but supported by fact and testimony7 on the administration of human law1 run the risk of its being cast upon the truth of ,god1 and the ,church of ,christ4 ,much have these things pressed upon me1 in reference to our present state1 and future prospects3 and many times have ,i weighed them before venturing thus to bring my thoughts to light4 8,my heart was hot within me1 and while ,i was thus musing1 the fire kindled1 and at the last ,i spake with my tongue40 #dh ,but it is more than time that ,i turn from these1 however very important1 yet somewhat preliminary considerations1 to the more direct purport of your letter1 and to the answer ,i may be able to give to the charge contained in it4 ,what this is1 your title-page sufficiently declares3 8,the want of dogmatic teaching in the reformed ,church of ,england30 and my answer is plain and simple3 such as you will not quarrel with for want of distinctness and pertinency1 if only ,i sustain it4 ,i join issue as to the fact4 ,i maintain we have a rule of dogmatic teaching in our ,church's constitution on all those points on which it is essential a ,church should have it4 ,i think1 in and by ,god's good providence over us1 7and if it be so1 you will yourself allow it is a most singular mark of his gracious favour towards us17 this has been preserved as to what we ought to teach1 though ,i acknowledge in practice and in fact1 we fall lamentably short of teaching1 and our people of believing according to it4 ,i imagine1 however1 you will not charge it as any conclusive argument against the catholicity of either ourselves1 or any branch of the ,church of ,christ1 that gross and frequent cases of practical short-comings may be adduced1 if it can nevertheless be shown1 that the ,church's rule requires what is right1 and1 rightly understood1 dogmatically inculcates it4 ,you may be curious to learn upon what basis ,i think myself able to sustain so direct a challenge to the whole principle and bearing of your second letter2 and1 strange to say1 ,i know no one1 whose words so aptly enunciate1 and give expression to my argument as your own4 ,you will think1 ,i doubt not you have disarmed the quotation ,i am about to make1 7which by this time you anticipate17 by having already brought it forward yourself1 and stated you can no longer rely upon it4 ,but you must excuse me for not so easily parting with it1 and for endeavouring to prove you right in your earlier view1 even against your own subsequent change of mind4 8,it is a miserable matter10 7you say1 after having given various authorities among our ritualists to confirm your view of absolution17 8it is a miserable matter merely to be able to escape from condemnation4 ,i am not content to think the interpretation which ,i insist upon is but one of many which may or may not1 according to individual caprice or individual ignorance be held without rebuke by our people1 and taught by our clergy4 ,if any one of the above theories is the true one1 all the rest are false4 ,and are we for ever to remain disputing8 ,is there no voice by which we may learn the truth8 ,i believe that there is a voice1 long neglected and long forgotten1 the voice of the ,church of ,england4 ,let us listen to her teaching1 and we shall find that now1 as of old1 by the great grace of ,god1 she does not speak with a doubting or hesitating tongue40 #ej ,this was your opinion at the close of the year #ahdh1 and this is what ,i still claim4 ,i am prepared1 even against yourself1 to maintain1 and ,i believe ,i can shew1 its soundness4 ,do not suppose that ,i dream of quoting this or a further passage which ,i shall have occasion to extract presently1 merely in order to show a discrepancy between what you asserted then1 and what you hold now4 ,i do not desire to cavil with your right to be inconsistent in search of truth1 if that were all2 and ,i must allow besides such things have 8come to pass in these our days10 between then and now1 as may much diminish our surprise at inconsistency or change of mind in any one4 ,at any rate1 it would be1 ,i am well aware1 a most idle task to endeavour to prove my position in favour of the dogmatic teaching of the ,church of ,england1 merely by convicting you or any man of inconsistency1 and showing that what you think and say now is different from what you thought and said a year and a half ago4 ,in all truth this is not my object2 but ,i cite these passages1 because ,i know not how better1 nay1 not how so well to express my own meaning2 that ,i may also comment a little upon the passages ,i cite1 and your reasons for thinking the position they take up no longer tenable2 and that in so doing ,i may add a few words beyond what you said even in #ahdh1 for believing in their soundness4 ,let me turn to your words4 ,you say1 8,here though open to the charge of repetition1 ,i must again lay down the principle upon which alone we can possibly decide what the judgment of the ,church of ,england really is2 and to which principle we are bound to bring for proof as to a test every doctrine which we assert or deny40 ,then this principle follows1 most clearly enunciated3-- 8,we declare1 therefore1 that the ,church of ,england now holds1 teaches1 and insists upon1 all things whether of belief or practice1 which she held1 taught and insisted on before the year #aedj1 unless she has since that time1 plainly1 openly and dogmatically asserted the contrary4 ,this we declare in general4 ,and in particular1 as regards that most important question1 the right interpretation of the various services in our ,common ,prayer ,book1 we further add3 that whatsoever we find handed down from the earlier rituals of the ,church of ,england1 and neither limited nor extended in its meaning by any subsequent canon or article1 must be understood to signify 7upon the one7 hand fully and entirely all1 and 7on the other hand7 no more than it signified before the revision of the ritual40 #ea 99 99 99 99 99 8,few persons will deny that the existence of a doctrine known1 acknowledged1 and taught in the ,church of ,england at the beginning of the sixteenth century1 coupled with the fact that no reformation or alteration of that doctrine has at any time since been made--and therefore that it was intended to be still known1 acknowledged and taught1 is strong evidence by itself that such a doctrine must be true4 ,the obligation to enquire accurately into it1 and if possible overthrow it1 is in the first place1 upon the shoulders of those who are inclined to doubt or to dispute4 ,it will then be for us to see if it can be defended4 ,one thing only ,i am bound to say before ,i pass on4 ,and it is this3 that1 equally on this matter of absolution1 as upon all other essential portions of the ,one ,faith once delivered to the saints1 ,i believe that the ,church of ,england holds the true and complete doctrine of the holy gospel1 and follows in her practice of it1 the example of the primitive age4 ,our ,church now claims1 in right of her succession1 all the ordinary powers and privileges which the ,apostles received from their and her ,almighty ,lord2 now offers to her children all the means whether in aid of1 or as being necessary to1 the salvation of each one which were offered from the beginning2 and now1 as of old and ever1 either insists upon the reception1 or entreatingly urges the acceptance1 according to their various nature1 of all and every of those means of grace40 #eb ,i think ,i am justified in saying that you admit yourself1 by inference1 in your second letter1 that if the principle of these passages can still be sustained1 the case and position of the ,church of ,england will be tenable against the charge of being without necessary dogmatic teaching4 ,but you explain in your recent letter that you feel you must give up the soundness of these views2 that you cannot now believe the same things concerning our ,church's rule of faith4 ,let me give this comment in your own words3-- 8,here1 very probably1 some one may object against me my own language1 published rather more than a year ago4 ,i allude to my book on the doctrine of absolution4 ,let me quote it40 ,then follows the quotation ,i have already made as to our ,church retaining the teaching she held previous to #aedj1 except where expressly repealed2 upon which you add3 8,when that passage was written1 it was written in entire assurance that every word might be established4 ,i do not think so now4 ,and with whatever pain ,i say this1 it is not because my belief has altered from accepting the fixed principle that all essential ,christian truth is one and eternal2 and that every part of the ,church-,catholic is bound of necessity to hold it whole and undefiled4 ,believing1 as at that time ,i did1 with the strongest confidence and trust that the ,church of ,england was a living and a sound portion of the one holy ,catholic ,church1 ,i could not but assert1 as being capable of undeniable proof1 her claims to teach authoritatively and undeniably every single doctrine of the ,catholic faith4 ,if ,i searched into her foundations it was with no shadow of fear lest they should be seen not to be resting on the rock1 but much rather in the undoubting hope that the more she was tested and examined the more triumphantly she would declare herself to be divine4 8,if the end of long enquiry and consideration has resulted in disappointed hope1 and what seems to be evidence of the fallacy of former expectations2 if ,i am compelled to own that the utmost we are justified in declaring seems to be--not that the ,church of ,england now #8holds and teaches' c41 but--that the ,church of ,england how suffers and permits to be held and taught2 and again1 as to the right interpretation of the prayer book1 not #8must be understood1' but #8may be understood3' let none suppose that ,i have lightly yielded up that ground upon which alone a minister of the ,church of ,england1 as a minister of the ,church ,catholic1 can stand securely40 #ed ,now1 the first observation which hereupon occurs is this3--you state you can no longer think that ground tenable2 but you do not sufficiently give a reason why you thus change your mind4 ,i do not say you give no reason1 because ,i suppose we are to take the whole of your second letter1 as in fact the reason2 but ,i mean1 you do not go into the particulars of the matter1 nor in detail state the grounds why you should think the ,church of ,england does not still appeal to her doctrine before the year #aedj1 wherever unrepealed1 to supply the defect or short comings 7if any7 of her later teaching4 ,you seem to have condemned her on her practical or external deficiencies1 not as going into and proving her to have changed her internal rule4 ,indeed1 it seems to me you have hardly weighed at all1 either in asserting or denying the principle you formerly maintained and now yield up1 the external evidence for its truth4 ,this1 perhaps1 was originally not an unnatural omission1 since you held the view co-ordinately with1 and as an essential part of1 your belief in the ,catholicity of the ,english ,church1 not as a proof of it1 nor as an answer to objections4 ,you then so unhesitatingly believed the ,church of ,england to be 8a living and sound portion of the one holy ,catholic ,church10 7and were not engaged in proving any thing about this at that time1 your argument quite allowing you to assume it27 that1 as you say1 8you could not but assert her claims to teach authoritatively and undeniably every single doctrine of the ,catholic faith40 ,it followed directly as a natural and necessary consequence from the position you assigned her1 that she must be able so to teach2 and1 ,i repeat1 you had no need to do more than assume it1 because none of those with whom you were arguing1 denied it2 and your point was to show what followed from this unquestioned statement as to the particular doctrine you were then treating of1 not to give the proofs of it in detail1 if at all4 ,that the ,church of ,england was a true and living branch of the ,church ,catholic was therefore your premiss3 that she taught necessarily the one essential ,christian truth1 all necessary dogmatic teaching1 was your natural and just inference4 ,and to show what this ,christian truth was on absolution1 you referred to the prior teaching of the ,church of ,england1 and of the ,church ,catholic as received by her before the reformation4 ,but no wonder1 when upon other grounds your premiss was shaken1 the truth 7as ,i still believe it7 of the inference was shaken also in your mind4 ,it could not be its own proof4 ,if you are no longer certain the ,church of ,england is a true and living branch1 you lose your evidence1 ,i mean the evidence adduced by you in that treatise1 and on which you were then resting1 that she embraces all necessary dogmatic teaching4 ,but if ,i can shew by plain reasoning in the nature of things1 or by external proof1 without first assuming her ,catholicity1 that she has this rule of faith2 that she is linked up to1 and holds on by1 the whole of her teaching previous to the reformation1 except where she has 8plainly1 openly1 and dogmatically asserted the contrary10 ,i shall have just so much proof to give that she does not fail in point of dogmatic teaching1 and therefore so far an answer to your difficulty and your enquiry1 8,what am ,i to teach as the faith and doctrines of the ,english ,church80 ,if by this process ,i can make it reasonably clear that1 8by the great grace of ,god10 the ,church of ,england has had preserved to her a strict rule by which she does teach the whole ,catholic faith1 then shall ,i meet all the objection of your recent letter1 so far as principle is concerned1 and sustain1 as my conclusion1 what was your premiss1 that 7in so far1 at any rate1 as her dogmatic teaching is concerned17 we have no right to doubt her claims2 but that she is still what you so unhesitatingly believed her to be in #ahdh1 a living portion 7though it may be now a wounded one7 of the one holy ,catholic ,church4 ,you have touched upon1 though without entering into proofs to sustain it1 7which as ,i have said before1 your argument did not there require17 the principle by which the said dogmatic rule is to be established2 viz4 8the ,church of ,england now holds and insists upon all things1 whether of belief or practice1 which she held1 taught1 and insisted upon before the year #aedj1 unless she has since that time plainly1 openly1 and dogmatically asserted the contrary40 4 4 4 ,again3--8,whatsoever we find handed down from the earlier rituals of the ,church of ,england1 and neither limited nor extended in its meaning by any subsequent canon or article1 must be understood to signify 7on the one hand7 fully and entirely all1 and 7on the other hand7 no more than it signified before the revision of the ritual40 ,you do not say precisely why it must be so received1 unless we are to understand 7a position with which ,i make no quarrel7 that common sense and the nature of things declare it to be a self-evident truth1 immediately the proposition is announced4 ,but ,i venture to think1 beyond this strong support it has other and more particular evidence1 and so rests altogether upon a much wider basis than is overthrown by the general and sweeping rejection of it in your assertion1 that you do not now think it tenable4 ,it appears to me in the first place1 as ,i have said1 to rest on principles of reason and common sense1 and next to admit of particular proof1 that the ,church of ,england does retain such teaching4 ,let me ask you to examine with attention the evidence ,i am about to adduce4 ,i would arrange it under the following heads3-- ,i4 ,common sense1 and the nature of things4 ,,ii4 ,appeals of our ,church to antiquity1 and the teaching of the ,church universal1 as well as to her own previous constitutions and canons4 ,,iii4 ,recognition of such previous teaching by the civil power2 if not proving the same point positively1 yet at least shewing negatively that it is not contradicted4 ,,iv4 ,some confirmation of the above view from considerations of what the ,church of ,england would deprive herself of1 7which no one has ever supposed her to have done7 if the principle were to be carried out that her existence is to be dated from the sixteenth century only2 and nothing to belong to her rule of faith but what was then determined1 and in words set down4 ,i4 ,surely it is most certain on grounds of abstract reason and common sense1 that things will stand as they are1 if they neither fall to decay of themselves1 nor are altered by any external power4 ,no one pretends that the dogmatic teaching of a ,church will fall to decay of itself4 ,the other alternative1 therefore1 is all we have here to consider4 ,i say then that1 of any building1 what you do not destroy1 remains4 ,you find such or such a fabric standing4 ,it is1 in your opinion1 out of repair1 or deformed with unnatural or unsightly excrescences1 which in process of time have overgrown1 or been engrafted upon it4 ,additions you may conceive them to be to the original structure1 and now1 injurious or inconvenient4 ,you resolve that these1 whether accidental or evilly contrived1 shall be removed1 and you address yourself to the task4 ,surely1 your own principle in #ahdh1 that what is not removed1 remains1 is most sound3 ,i know not how to consider it less than axiomatically true4 ,if a tower be taken down here1 or a turret there1 a window blocked up on this side1 or a door opened in that1 still the foundations remain the same as ever1 unless you absolutely root them up4 ,the basis of the building1 except in such case1 cannot be imagined to be moved1 and just so much of the superstructure as you do not throw down1 must stand as heretofore4 ,it may be obscured by something else2 it may be much less noticed1 or noticeable1 than it has been2 it may be disregarded in the public eye2 one whole side of the building may be clothed in shadow1 but yet1 if not destroyed1 there it will remain1 and remain as an integral part of the building to sustain its uses1 and to be claimed for them when need is by the owner of the whole1 and by his servants at his bidding4 ,and so in that 8city set on a hill10 her foundations are the same for ever2 and1 unless the ,church of ,england at the reformation destroyed the foundations2--save where she may have 8plainly and openly0 pulled down any thing which had before-time been built up2--that which was laid1 and that which was built remains1 and is our heritage at this very day4 ,so great is the absolute and essential difference between ,,formation and ,,reformation1 and such the argument in favour of your principle in #ahdh1 from abstract reason and the nature of things6 #ei;a ,but further1 we are not without an abundance of external proof1 if ,i may so call it1 besides this common sense reasoning1 shewing that the ,church of ,england at the reformation1 if we gather her intentions not from opinions of individual reformers1 but from her own authoritative acts1 did not mean to adopt a wide and indiscriminate destruction of her previous teaching1 and did mean to keep all that she did not mark to be destroyed4 ,this point was the foundation of a large part of the most learned and able argument of ,mr4 ,badeley before the ,committee of ,privy ,council1 by which he asserted1 and as it seems to me1 proved 7although the ,court appears to have taken absolutely no notice at all of this part of his speech7 the certain and positive connection of the ,church of ,england with the previous ,church in this country1 and with the ,church universal1 and this1 not only by the links of the same apostolical succession1 but in the maintenance of a connected doctrine4 ,and the general principle as to antiquity1 and the sense of the ,church precedent to the reformation1 which ,mr4 ,badeley laid down expressly with a view to the matter of the suit in which he was engaged1 and in order to apply it immediately to baptism2 that same principle1 be it observed1 is applicable in exactly the same way1 and the same fulness to every other article of the faith1 unless any where it can be shown that the ,church of ,england at the reformation did 8plainly1 openly1 and dogmatically contradict it40 ,it would therefore be very much to my present purpose to cite here nearly the whole of this part of ,mr4 ,badeley's speech1 but as you know it well1 and can easily refer to it1 ,i shall but extract a few of the more important passages1 where the proofs of this principle being the rule of the ,english ,church are given4 8,i shall next appeal0 ,mr4 ,badeley says1 8to antiquity in order to shew more fully that this doctrine for which ,i contend10 7of course the immediate doctrine which ,mr4 ,badeley had in view1 was baptismal regeneration3 but his argument reaches1 as ,i have just said1 to the full purpose for which ,i cite it27 8has always been1 and must necessarily still be1 the doctrine of the ,church of ,england4 99 99 99 ,if there can be any doubt at all about the sense and meaning of our ,church1 if it can be supposed by any criticism or minute construction1 that these ,articles and ,formularies do leave any question open--do omit in any degree to declare with certainty the doctrine of the ,church1 resort must be had not to the writings of the reformers1 not to the opinions of any individuals1 however respectable they may have been2 the only appeal can be to the early ,church1 and the doctrines which that ,church professed4 ,that is indisputably the standard to which we are referred1 not only by our ,prayer ,book and our ,homilies1 but by those who took the most prominent part in the reformation in this country1 and it is natural that this should be so1 because what was in fact the reformation1 and what its object8 ,my friend1 ,mr4 ,turner1 the other day1 spoke of the ,church of ,england in #aeeb1 as being then in its infancy3 but according to my understanding1 it was then at least more than #abjj years old1 for we have evidence of ,british bishops having attended some of the earliest councils4 ,some are supposed to have been present at the ,council of ,nicea1 and it is positively stated that three attended the ,council of ,arles1 which was prior to that of ,nicea4 ,the ,church of ,england1 therefore1 is an ancient and an apostolic ,church1 deriving its succession from the primitive ,church1 and one and the same through all ages4 ,the ,reformation was no new formation1 not a creation of a new ,church1 but the correction and restoration of an old one2 it professed only to repair and reform1 not to found or create--and it assumed to do this1 according to the doctrines and usages of the primitive ,church4 ,the reformers well knew1 that if they did not stand upon that ground1 they had no resting place for the soles of their feet2 they were fully conscious that if they attempted to alter the ,church any otherwise than according to its ancient model1 it would crumble to pieces altogether1 and probably bury them in its ruins4 ,all they professed1 was to strengthen it where it was decayed1 and to strip off those additions1 which have encrusted or grown upon it in the lapse of time1 without the authority of the ,scripture1 or of primitive tradition2 but to this they declared that they adhered2 they bound themselves down by this rule1 and appealed to antiquity for all they did40 #fc ,then having quoted a passage from ,bishop ,jewell's ,apology1 appealing to antiquity as our ,church's guide1 and shewing 7to use ,mr4 ,badeley's words7 8that the intention of our reformers in departing from the ,church of ,rome1 was not at all to depart from the doctrine of the ,catholic ,church10 he goes on to cite confirmatory authority to the same point in even more weighty documents4 8,in the preface to the ,prayer-book1 as well as in the ,articles1 we have frequent references to the ,fathers and the ,primitive ,church4 ,we have the same in the ,homilies2 in almost every page they teem with quotations from the ,fathers1 and support themselves upon the ancient doctrine and the ,catholic tradition2 and therefore1 in inquiring into what was the doctrine of the early ,church upon the question now in issue1 we are following precisely that course of inquiry1 and appealing to that tribunal1 which was marked out for us by the reformers themselves4 ,they referred to the primitive doctrine as an indication of their meaning2 and of course1 if they had departed from that1 they would have departed from the ,church itself1 because the ,church1 and the faith of the ,church1 can be but one40 99 99 99 99 99 8,i can show1 that at the time of the ,reformation there certainly was no intention to depart2 and was no real departure in any respect from the doctrine of the early ,church1 on this or any other matter1 certainly not on the ,sacrament of ,baptism1 or upon the ,sacraments generally2 ,,and ,,whatever ,,was ,,not ,,altered ,,at ,,the ,,period ,,of ,,the ,,reformation1 ,,remains1 ,,and ,,continues ,,to ,,be ,,the ,,doctrine ,,and ,,law ,,of ,,the ,,church ,,to ,,this ,,day40 #fd ,again1 ,mr4 ,badeley says1 8we have authority for looking to antiquity in one or two public documents which are of importance2 for in the canons which were made in the year #aega1 in that very ,convocation which ratified the ,thirty-nine ,articles1 we have this in the directions to preachers3-- 8,imprimis vero videbunt1 ne quid unquam doceant pro concione quod a populo religiose teneri et credi velint1 nisi quod consentaneum sit doctrin veteris aut ,novi ,testamenti1 quodque ex ill ips doctrin1 ,catholici ,patres et veteres episcopi collegerint40--,pp4 #ajj1 #aja4 ,there can be no doubt that what the ,convocation considered to stand not with this foundation1 they lopped off and pulled down3 what1 therefore1 they left1 of what was in their time so taught1 is to be so taught still2 and remains as the dogmatic teaching of the ,church of ,england4 8,again1 we have10 7continues ,mr4 ,badeley1 for ,i know not how to omit these links in his argument1 so much are they to the purpose of my own17 8we have1 in the directions given to the bishops by the lords of the council in the year #aehb1 with a view to their disputations with the ,jesuits and seminary priests1 a similar rule laid down4 #8,if the latter shall show any ground of ,scripture' 7says this order in council71 #8and wrest it to their sense1 you shall call for the interpretation of the old doctors1 such as were before ,gregory ,i41 for that in his time began the first claim of the supremacy1 c4' ,so that in these we have public directions by authority as to the rule to which parties are to conform1--there is that of ,convocation with reference to the clergy in their preaching1 and there is this of the council with reference to public controversies and disputations2 and therefore there is plenty of authority1 as ,i conceive1 for appealing to the early ,church1 for the ,church and ,state both send us to the same source4 ,no doubt it was the case in all the disputations which were held about the period of the ,reformation1 to appeal to primitive doctrine and tradition4 ,in one of the statutes of ,elizabeth 7stat4 #a ,eliz4 c4 #a71 there is a direction as to what is to be regarded as heresy1 and that is to be judged by the authority of the first four general councils1 or any of them1 and any other general councils which declare it heresy in the words of ,scripture4 #ff;a ,we come1 therefore10 7thus ,mr4 ,badeley concludes this part of his argument7 8under such sanction to the ancient ,church1 and to primitive and ,catholic tradition1 and ,i think we shall see beyond question that these prove the doctrine of baptism1 c40 #ff;b ,what ,mr4 ,badeley cites for the special purpose of his particular case1 ,i conceive holds good1 and may be asserted precisely in the same way for the whole range of doctrine which our ,church maintains2 and with this persuasion it is that ,i have so largely cited passages from his most lucid speech4 ,this part of his argument1 though of course limited in its application by him to the special circumstances in which he stood1 and the case then before the ,privy ,council1 is evidently not exclusive2 and ,i think proves thus much at least satisfactorily2 that the ,church of ,england at the reformation never intended for a moment to shut out previous doctrine1 7though she might not actually mention and repeat it17 any more than she could have intended to shut out previous history4 ,whatever may have been said of her1 or for her1 since1 the idea that she was then a new ,church2 making a beginning for herself1 creating herself1 as it were1 and her doctrine2 not being joined to the whole early ,church1 and not acknowledging her own previous existence1 was evidently not only never in her mind1 but the exact contradictory was so entirely an essential part of her life and being1 that it is everywhere felt and assumed1 and the only wonder is1 it is as much stated as it is4 ,i have just said that ,mr4 ,badeley advances these proofs of the character of our ,church as to dogmatic teaching for one particular purpose1 and in order to support one specific doctrine--baptismal regeneration4 ,to that subject he confines himself in the application of what he had said1 and1 of course1 most properly2 because such only was the subject-matter in the appeal on which he was pleading2 such the doctrine which1 on behalf of his client1 the ,bishop of ,exeter1 he was bound to clear4 ,but what ,i venture to say generally1 from all these considerations and proofs as advanced by ,mr4 ,badeley1 is this1--that his mode of meeting the attack on the ,catholic doctrine of baptism is precisely the just mode1 and the right mode for us to meet any assault upon the faith of the ,church of ,england2 because those considerations of the nature of her rule of faith1 and those proofs of her appeal to antiquity1 and to the unrepealed dogmas of preceding ages1 connecting herself with them1 and showing her mind to retain the same teaching1 are general1 and apply not merely to baptism1 or to any one doctrine1 but to all our doctrines4 ,and this defence1 as it appears to me1 is not only legitimate but sufficient3 at any rate sufficient until specific exceptions are made and particular defects named1 and proofs given1 7if they may be17 of a contradictory teaching1 by reference to the later authoritative expression of our ,church's mind2 a position however which1 as ,i shall presently show1 you do not yourself assert4 ,one thing further ,i would here observe before ,i proceed2 that this line of argument and mode of defence of the ,catholic doctrine of baptism not having been successful in this particular instance1 and with this particular court1 7although a reason to stir up all our energies to show the ,church does not and never will acquiesce in the decision of that court17 affords no ground to any man to affirm that it has been authoritatively condemned as an unsound defence1 nay1 shows not at all that it might not even be admitted1 and succeed in another case4 ,the court cannot be said to condemn all the arguments on the losing side1 however it may disregard them4 ,the court is not sitting to try the arguments of counsel1 but the general merits of the case2 and no one1 ,i suppose1 would say that all the arguments of every lawyer who may not gain his cause are judicially pronounced worthless or unsound4 ,what may be justly said of them appears to be no more than that they are not accepted as of weight by that court1 or1 at the most1 that there is an implication of some censure or contempt upon them2 but certainly there is nothing to prevent individuals still believing in their soundness2 nothing to prevent their being advanced again as occasion may again arise2 nothing to prevent them at another time1 before even the same1 and1 much more1 before another tribunal1 being weighed1 being allowed1 and being successful4 #fi ,under such sanction then it is that we claim the ,catholic teaching of the universal ,church1 and the teaching of the ,church of ,england prior to the reformation as our dogmatic teaching still1 in all points save where it may be shewn 7if it may7 to be since plainly and expressly contradicted or repealed4 ,and let us observe1 more particularly1 to what this principle will reach4 ,mr4 ,badeley's beautifully connected statement has given as many grounds to think we know the ,church's mind upon the matter3 it has also touched upon the injunction of the ,state looking in the same direction3 7to this point1 however1 ,i shall have occasion to return74 ,but ,i say at once1 observe to how much doctrine this principle will take us2 how much1 at the very outset1 it will claim and secure for us4 ,surely1 every matter of faith embraced in the first four general councils is retained2 for no one ,i presume will dare to say that the ,church of ,england at the ,reformation repealed1 or intended to repeal1 any single article1 canon1 or doctrine of those four councils4 8,yea1 even as it were a thing unreasonable10 says ,hooker1 8if in civil affairs the king 7albeit the whole universal body did join with him7 should do any thing by their absolute supreme power for the ordering of their state at home1 in prejudice of any of those ancient laws of nations which are of force throughout the world1 because the necessary commerce of kingdoms dependeth on them2 so in principal matters belonging to ,christian religion1 a thing very scandalous and offensive it must needs be thought1 if either kings or laws should dispose of the affairs of ,god1 without any respect hath to that which of old time had been reverently thought of throughout the world1 and wherein there is no law of ,god which forceth us to swerve from the way wherein so many and so holy ages have gone4 ,wherefore1 not without good consideration1 the very law itself hath provided10 he continues1 quoting the section of the same act of parliament 7#a ,eliz4 c4 #a1 #cf17 already referred to by ,mr4 ,badeley1 8#8that judges ecclesiastical appointed under the king's commission shall not adjudge for heresy any thing but that which heretofore hath been so adjudged by the authority of the canonical ,scriptures1 or by the first four general councils1 or by some other general council wherein the same hath been declared heresy by the express words of the said canonical ,scriptures1 or as hereafter shall be termed heresy by the high court of parliament of this realm1 with the assent of the clergy in the convocation4' ,by which words of the law10 ,hooker adds as his comment1 8who doth not plainly see how that in one branch of proceeding by virtue of the king's supreme authority1 the credit which these four general councils have throughout all churches evermore had1 was judged by the makers of the foresaid act a just cause wherefore they should be mentioned in that case as a requisite part of the rule wherewith dominion was to be limited40 #ga ,the admission1 then1 of the decrees of these four general councils1 which ,i see not how any man can dispute to be admitted and received by the reformed ,church of ,england1 will surely give us a certain large1 definite1 important body of theology from and by which to teach our people2 not perhaps all that we may want1 explicitly set forth1 however implicitly contained1 because it was of course not until 8emergent heresies0 pressed upon the ,church that she saw1 or could see1 in what direction her declaratory acts required to be put forth4 ,but certainly in the adoption of these councils and their decrees1 the ,church of ,england both indicates her love and reverence for antiquity2 and clears herself from all suspicion of attempting to begin 8a new thing0 at the reformation2 as well as establishes a wide and satisfactory basis1 on which to rest her further teaching4 ,can you yourself deny that so far we build upon a good and sure foundation8 ,or will you say that1 after all this is but a semblance8 that whatever the ecclesiastical appearance or tendency of these matters may have been1 the erastian current swept them practically away8 ,will you say8 8,even if ,i grant you the first four general councils1 yet this is all2 and this is insufficient2 at the reformation1 whatever her own wish1 the ,church was so grievously oppressed by the civil power 7as she is now7 that all the further links connecting her with the doctrine held previously to #aedj were snapped asunder3 the enormous jurisdiction claimed by1 and conceded to1 and used by1 ,king ,henry ,,viii4 swept away that ,catholicity which you are bent to shew1 and which the ,church herself might have been glad to keep40 ,will you say8 8,whatever may be the vague expressions of some at that time or afterwards appealing to antiquity1 yet look at the acts of ,parliament of that date1 and you will see all this is a delusion1 and no real adherence to the prior doctrine is sustainable40 ,even this charge ,i am not afraid to meet4 ,i promised to return in order to consider a little more fully the secular recognition1 at the least1 non-condemnation of the principle1 that whatever previous teaching is 8not plainly1 openly1 and dogmatically contradicted0 at the reformation or since1 remains to us2 and ,i will endeavour to fulfil my pledge4 ,i think ,i shall be able to show1 that whatever claims of an erastian nature might be made or might be conceded in the sixteenth century 7,i am not arguing how great they were71 yet they did not reach to the point1 and were not used to the end1 you now suppose1 but in ,god's good providence over us1 left your own principle of #ahdh still untouched4 ,by whatever constraint or chance it may seem to man's eye to have occurred1--with whatever view1 or by whatever mind devised1 there is something where we should least have expected to find it1 in the famous statute called 8,the ,submission of the ,clergy10 so much and often lately brought under notice 7#be ,henry ,,viii4 c4 #ai71 which1 if it do not expressly prove the point in hand in favour of the ,catholicity of the ,english ,church1 yet at any rate1 to my mind1 much supports it2 and1 at the very least1 shows that the law of that day leaves the matter as it found it2 and therefore does not militate against the position of our ,church as it stands and is maintained in ,mr4 ,badeley's statement1 nor exclude any of the general arguments from abstract reasoning on the point4 8,hast thou appealed unto ,csar8 unto ,csar shalt thou go40 ,i turn to the ,submissio ,cleri--the statute #be ,hen4 ,,viii4 c4 #ai4 ,the first section recites that several canons have been made in time past prejudicial to the king's prerogative as well as to the laws and statutes of the realm2 and thereupon refers to the petition of the clergy that the king's highness with two-and-thirty commissioners may examine1 confirm1 or abolish such canons1 ordinances1 and constitutions4 ,it provides also that henceforth the clergy shall not enact or promulge any constitutions or ordinances without the king's assent2 and that convocations 8alway shall be assembled by authority of the king's writ40 ,the second section empowers the king to name the two-and-thirty commissioners1 and makes provision for the supply of the said number in case of the death of any of them4 ,it also further prescribes their duties4 ,then after sundry enactments in the third1 fourth1 fifth1 and sixth sections as to the courts and modes of appeal1 and 8the restraint of appeals0 to ,rome1 the seventh section contains a proviso1 thus stated1 and commented upon by ,lord ,coke1 in his fourth ,institute3 8,but by the said act of #be ,henry ,,viii4 their jurisdiction and power0 7i4e4 the clergy's in convocation7 8is much limited and straitened concerning the making new canons2 for they must have both licence to make them1 and after they be made1 the royal assent to allow them1 before they be put in execution4 ,but in the end of that act there is an express proviso that such canons as were made before that act1 which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the king's prerogative1 the laws statutes or customes of the realm1 should be still used and executed as they were before the making of that act40 #ge ,this is ,lord ,coke's comment1 and it is much to be noted that he should stop where he does in citing the words of the proviso2 because1 as thus given1 no one would entertain a doubt that all previous canons and ordinances1 so far from being abrogated1 were by this very act specially confirmed1 except just in so far as they might be found contrariant or repugnant to the king's prerogative1 or the laws of the realm4 ,it is manifest1 too1 that this is no oversight 7lawyers will smile even at the supposition7 on the part of ,lord ,coke1 but that such indeed is his reading of the proviso2 for he immediately applies it to a matter which he wishes to show was not binding in law before that time1 to bar it1 as it were1 from claiming under the powers of that very act1 which evidently it could not do1 unless that proviso were understood to confirm precedent canons4 8,but before that time10 he continues1 8a disme0 7i4e4 a tenth7 8granted by the clergy at the convocation1 did not binde the clergy before the king's royal assent40 ,the argument of ,lord ,coke in this place appears to determine the point1 that he so read the proviso1 as to make it absolutely confirmatory1 even under the terms of this very act 8for the submission of the clergy and restraint of appeals10 of all 8canons1 constitutions1 ordinances1 and synodals provincial being already made1 which be not contrariant or repugnant to the laws1 statutes1 and customes of this realm1 nor to the damage or hurt of the king's prerogative royal10 and that these should1 as the proviso directs1 8now still be used and executed as they were afore the making of this act40 ,i repeat that this view of the force of the said proviso1 and this method of quoting it1 is certainly remarkable--remarkable because there are further words in the latter part of the section appearing to qualify the sense1 which yet are wholly passed over by ,lord ,coke1 not merely in his quotation1 but actually in his argument4 ,i mean that his argument touching the previous power of the clergy to grant a disme1 implies his belief that the general previous powers of the canon law still prevailed and this1 7whether he considered the said disme to infringe the king's prerogative or not7 shews that the remaining apparently qualifying words of the proviso are by him advisedly set aside4 ,nevertheless1 ,i will here add them1 lest1 in spite of such authority for the omission1 ,i should be1 or seem to be1 acting unfairly1 and not making the most of the adverse argument4 ,the words ,i allude to are these3 8,the previous canons1 constitutions1 c4 shall now still be used and executed as they were afore the making of this act1 till such time as they be viewed1 searched or otherwise ordered and determined by the said two-and-thirty persons1 or the more part of them1 according to the tenor1 form1 and effect of this present act40 #gf ,it would no doubt appear from these words1 as well as from ,section #b of the act1 that there was an intention at that period of reviewing the whole body of the canon law1 with a view to the obliteration of everything in the previous enactments which might appear to those commissioners unsound or inconvenient4 ,this design1 however1 was never carried into effect4 ,i know not how to regard it as other than a special mark of ,god's great mercy and gracious goodness to this branch of his ,church that it was frustrated4 ,perhaps it is not quite clear that the powers of these commissioners were intended directly to touch doctrine1 or to reach beyond the abolition of canons and constitutions appearing to be contrariant to the king's prerogative1 or repugnant to the laws and customs of the realm1 though ,i think the terms employed embrace a wider field1 and at any rate in the temper of that day1 might very probably have been understood and used to a wider purpose4 8,great and manifold0 indeed would have been the perils attendant on so sweeping a reformation of all the previous doctrine and discipline received by the ,english ,church2 and not without a trembling thankfulness as well as1 to my mind1 a heart-felt acknowledgment of the divine mercy1 are we to think of our escape from so great a danger4 ,to have had only so much of the laws and usages1 doctrine and discipline of the primitive ,church1 or of the distinctive teaching of our own ,church previous to the passing of this act1 as such a board of commissioners might have thought good to leave us1 would indeed have been to be put to the utmost hazard as to the measure of dogmatic teaching left us at all1 and to the greatest risk of our being cut off from ,catholic antiquity altogether4 ,of course even then1 the mere act of parliament1 and its authority to the commission could not have effected this4 ,the ,church might1 theoretically at any rate1 have broken from the bondage1 and severing her connexion with the ,state at whatever cost1 have preserved her purity and freedom4 #gh;a ,but1 considering how little likely any such resistance appears to have been1 if that commission's work had been carried out1 we may well thank 8the ,lord our defence10 that in another mode we were delivered from the danger2 and that although in the reign of ,king ,edward ,,vi4 the two and thirty persons 7at any rate one and thirty of them7 were appointed1 yet they never accomplished the review in question4 8,it is not necessary10 says ,mr4 ,gladstone1 8to discuss the wisdom or propriety of this petition of the clergy10 7i4e4 to have such a commission appointed7 8since the enactments passed in consequence of it never took final effect2 and however material they may be as illustrating the spirit and tendencies of the day1 they have not in any direct manner entered into the constitution of the ,english ,church40 #gh;b 8,the review of the laws ecclesiastical1 indeed10 he says again in a further passage1 8has no longer any effect for us1 as the scheme ultimately failed of effect1 and has now no legal or practical being40 #gh;c ,it is not1 indeed1 that the whole act is repealed4 ,as we well know this is not the case4 ,it was repealed by the #a #b ,philip and ,mary1 but revived by the #a ,eliz4 c4 #a1 so that1 if it bind some things upon us now which the ,church might wish otherwise1 we yet have the advantage of that proviso in its last section1 establishing previous canons and constitutions of the ,church of ,england1 7with the exception of such as may be contrariant to the king's prerogative1 or repugnant to the laws17 until a contingency should arise1 which has never been fulfilled4 ,that it never was fulfilled1 may perhaps explain ,lord ,coke's comment upon the proviso in question as an absolute assertion of the previous canon law1 and his having apparently passed over as entire surplusage the1 at first sight1 qualifying words with which it concludes4 ,and thus we may see there is an actual statute of the realm declaring1 however unintentionally1 yet really and practically1 the authority1 so far as statutes can declare it1 of that very rule of the ,church's teaching previous to #aedj1 which you yourself so happily1 as it seems to me1 explained and enforced in #ahdh4 ,thus the very act of parliament1 and the very proviso in it which threatened to be the destruction of the ,catholic character of our ,church1 7i4e4 if those commissioners had done the work contemplated17 become not only a witness in its favour1 but actually declaratory by law of its connection with the ,church previously existing4 ,henry ,,viii41 and his act 8for the submission of the clergy10 become the one1--really 8,defender of the ,faith10 and the other1--so far as the temporality can effect it1 absolutely a charter1 securing the ,church's dogmatic teaching by legally binding upon us the general body of the canons and constitutions1 ordinances and synodals provincial of the previous ages4 ,surely we should be slow to say it is a straining of the eye of faith if herein it seems to see an accomplishment of the prophet's word1 8,no weapon that is formed against ,thee shall prosper1 and every tongue that shall rise against ,thee in judgment1 ,thou shalt condemn3 ,this is the heritage of the servants of the ,lord40 ,i have spoken of the proviso in this act of parliament 7#be ,hen4 ,,viii4 c4 #ai7 as confirming generally the canons precedent to its enactment4 ,of course ,i have not forgotten that the statute itself makes two exceptions1 or rather1 excepts two classes of canons and constitutions from that confirmation4 #a4 ,such as may be 8contrariant or repugnant to the laws and customes of the realm40 #b4 ,such as may be 8to the damage or hurt of the king's prerogative royal40 ,it may be well to pause a few moments1 just to point out1 though it is so plain it will require only to be mentioned to be allowed1 that these limitations in no wise affect the argument as to the dogmatic teaching of the ,church on doctrine4 ,they point evidently to the claims of the papacy1 and the powers of the supremacy4 ,indirectly1 no doubt1 the question of the supremacy may come to affect doctrine1 as we plainly see at this time1 but ,i mean that1 as to previous canons upon doctrine1 properly so called1 these limitations of the act do not touch our assertion1 that they remain as they were1 except they may be shown to be plainly and openly repealed4 ,thus the two exceptions made have no bearing upon those great doctrinal points1 whereon you and ,i alike desiderate dogmatic teaching2 for no man will contend that the doctrine of the ,church ,catholic on baptism1 on justification1 on confirmation1 on the holy eucharist1 or on absolution1 though carried ever so far1 will in any wise clash with the king's prerogative1 78that only prerogative which we see to have been given always to all godly princes in ,holy ,scriptures by ,god himself307 nor are we asking that any doctrine shall be received which may be1 if it be1 repugnant to the laws and customs of the realm4 ,all that we assert is1 that where previous canons be not so1 7and we fully believe those for which we contend do not come into collision with either law or prerogative at all17 and where the ,church has not herself directly annulled them1 there these same doctrines remain1 as they have ever been received by the ,church ,catholic1 and by the ,church of ,england as a branch thereof2--as indeed she has1 and had received them from primitive times and sources2--as she had accepted1 guarded1 and enforced them prior to the year #aedj4 ,of course in matters of law and legal construction ,i desire to speak with all deference and submission4 ,here1 less than any where1 should ,i wish to argue with over-confidence4 ,i trust ,i shall not be doing so1 if ,i sum up this part of my argument by saying1 that it appears to me we are entitled to believe that the proviso in the #be ,henry ,,viii4 c4 #ai 7the condition stated in the 8until10 c4 never having been fulfilled71 either actually asserts the force of the general body of previous canons and constitutions of the ,church of ,england2 or1 at any rate1 and at the very least1 that it offers no bar1 even secularly1 to the general reasons as stated before1 from common sense and the nature of things1 as well as from the ,church's own appeals to previous teaching that those canons must remain in force1 and that1 to use again ,mr4 ,badeley's words3 8,whatever was not altered at the period of the ,reformation1 remains and continues to be the doctrine and law of the ,church to this day40 #hb ,,iv4 ,i have said that there appears to be another confirmation of this view1 from the consideration of what the ,church of ,england would deprive herself of1 if the contrary principle were to be carried out1 and her existence dated only from the sixteenth century1 and if it were ruled that nothing could belong to her faith and doctrine1 but what was then determined and in words set down4 ,it will not be necessary to enlarge upon this topic1 but a few instances it may be well to give4 ,what then could we say is the teaching of our ,church upon the inspiration of ,scripture1 if we had no appeal to ancient law1 usage1 or belief8 ,the whole1 which it was thought necessary to declare upon this matter at the reformation1 is contained in the sixth ,article1 and that deals not with the inspiration of ,scripture at all1 a point not in dispute1 but with its sufficiency1 as containing all things necessary to salvation1 as opposed to a particular view of tradition4 ,that article also enumerates the canonical books1 and speaks of their 8authority20 7the ,church also1 we may remember1 is said to have 8authority10 in another article1 but many who assent to that would scruple perhaps to say they believe in her inspiration72 and ,i do not think any man can say that there is in the article in question any declaration either that those books which are canonical are inspired1 or those which are uncanonical are uninspired2 not of course1 in the least1 that it was intended to throw a doubt upon the inspiration of the ,scriptures1 but that the articles1 and even the formularies of the ,church of ,england were not drawn up to declare all points of belief1 because the ,church unhesitatingly threw herself upon all previous doctrine1 except where in any particular case she saw cause to alter1 correct1 or repeal4 ,just in the same way consider many other points4 ,what strict belief should we have1 upon the other hypothesis1 as to the existence and power of evil spirits2 or the eternity of punishment2 or what rule for the observance of the ,lord's ,day 7save just as any other holy-day72 or what mode of ascertaining the ,church's mind upon very many other subjects which have arisen or may arise1 especially with regard to the pantheistic tendencies and theories of modern times1 not treated of because utterly unknown and uncontemplated in the sixteenth century1 if we were tied down to the mere wording of the reformation documents1 but which are all of them capable of refutation in the broad expanse of doctrine preserved from the beginning6 ,it will1 ,i think1 be plain to any one who will pursue this subject into its details1 that the connexion of our ,church with the ,church previous to the reformation1 is a fact necessarily to be assumed by us all1 unless we would bring the whole question of her doctrine into a manifestly false position4 ,to suppose this connexion to be wholly dissolved1 is in truth such an evident reductio ad absurdum1 as amounts to a full proof that no party of men1 ,i do not say of great ability1 but of an ordinary reason1 could have intended to adopt that theory4 ,therefore it is impossible to believe that our reformers1 in drawing up articles of religion1 8to avoid diversities of opinions1 and for the establishing of consent touching true religion10 and which treated of course of the diversities which then prevailed2 and in putting forth practical offices of devotion1 could1 ,i say1 have designed to ignore all that previous body of doctrine1 which happened not to come into direct mention in those documents4 ,if they had not purposed to retain the provincial ordinances of their own country1 they might be expected plainly to have said so2 but even if they had done this1 they must have cast themselves upon the general teaching of the ,church ,universal1 in a manner from which after all we should have nothing to fear1 or1 they would have left the ,church they were reforming in such a bareness and nakedness of doctrine altogether1 as no opponent of the ,catholic character of our ,church has ever pretended to imagine or assert4 ,on this ground therefore1 once more1 ,i cannot but believe that the conclusion which you held and so lucidly expressed in #ahdh is tenable and sound2 and therefore that what we are still bound to teach1 is the exclusive doctrine of the ,church ,catholic1 unless the further explications on any matter at the reformation render it not merely ambiguous1 as far as the documents of the reformation are themselves concerned1 7this is insufficient to harm us1 and nothing to the purpose17 but positively heretical1 and absolutely contrariant to 8the faith once delivered to the saints40 ,you will see what ,i mean by saying that mere ambiguity in our reformation documents will not harm us1 is this1 that we have a prior and superior rule to appeal to1 7if the preceding argument be sound17 by which such ambiguity will be corrected4 ,no one pretends there can be any hurtful ambiguity or insufficiency in the connected teaching of the ,church ,catholic2 and therefore wheresoever we may take refuge in that to cover any omissions or defects1 if such there be1 on essential doctrine in our later rule1 we shall take no damage4 ,the only thing which would really harm us1 would be absolute contradiction of the truth1 or positive assertion that such or such essential points were intended to be left vague and ambiguous4 ,but this would be harmful1 because in fact such declarations would not be merely declarations of vagueness or ambiguity1 but would be heresy2 would not be to assert1 of two conflicting doctrines1 that the ,church teaches both1 but1 in fact1 to rule that she teaches neither4 ,no one however will1 ,i think1 pretend to say that the ,church of ,england has said any where1 in so many words1 that she means to leave open such or such a doctrine1 which the ,church ,catholic has closed4 ,perhaps you will say1 8,not in so many words3--but by inference she does it2 by her undecided manner where she has dealt with the topic1 by the laxity which her words too evidently permit1 by the known bias and opinions of many of those who framed them40 ,this1 however1 is just what ,i have been saying amounts to nothing against the previous unrepealed doctrine to which she is to be referred1 and the consent of ,catholic antiquity1 by which she is really bound4 ,i do assert such a repeal1 if it be no more1 is no repeal at all4 ,no statute law can be so set aside1 and assuredly not this1 the law of ,christ and his ,church4 ,if1 indeed1 we had only what the ,reformation left us2 if we were constrained to think all needful doctrine was there treated1 and fully treated of2 if any document of authority of that period had declared that no previous doctrine was admissible1 unless then repeated and specially recognized2 that nothing was important as a matter of faith beyond what the writings of that time included in their summaries1 or embraced in their definitions2 if the reformation had thus pronounced itself ap1 and thus separated its ,church and doctrine from primitive antiquity and the faith of ,christendom1 then indeed should we see that we were 8in evil case10 to be required 8to make bricks10 and yet to have 8no straw given us40 ,but1 since there is no such document1 and no plausible evidence of even any such design1 we trust we may put aside all fear that we are in this dilemma1 and still build up our doctrine upon the sure foundation of 8that which hath been from the beginning40 ,will you say8 8,i allow you have the old teaching upon points not mentioned at the reformation1 but on no others3 where any thing is treated of at all1 it is definitely settled by whatever is set down2 and thereupon no regard must be paid to any complement of doctrine derived from earlier teaching40 ,i answer1 on what authority are we to receive this arbitrary distinction8 ,surely not upon the shewing of any direct evidence3 if so1 produce it4 ,not on the implied injunction or animus of the ,church at the reformation1 for she is full of appeals to precedent teaching on all points4 ,not on that of the state1 for1 as ,i have been shewing1 at the very least1 and if it do not enjoin the direct contrary1 it enforces no such prohibition4 ,and if the reformers of the ecclesiastical polity of that day intended any such restriction in their appeals to earlier times1 7which ,i do not think they did7 yet in that case1 as it appears to me1 ,god has overruled their intention1 and brought to nought their counsel1 by their having left no record to bind any man's conscience in the ,church of ,england to such a denial of ,catholic theology4 ,and who shall say1 if they 8intended to include0 but 8did not include01 the latitudinarian rule2 #hg if these things be so indeed1 it was not for this very purpose they have fallen out after such a fashion2 that even after so many practical abuses as we know have crept in among us1 after so many years when the ancient landmarks have been well nigh removed from sight1 after so much deadness of heart among mere formal religionists1 and so much running after novelties among the more earnest1 enthusiastic1 or self-willed1 after all these things1 and after so long a period of darkness on the land1 yet now when there has been again a brightening1 an awakening1 8a zeal0 more 8according to knowledge10 a regard to antiquity1 and a longing for the religion of apostles and apostolic men of old time1 that now we might indeed have that to fall back upon which should prove our safety3 might find the landmarks were only buried1 not removed3 might experience indeed and in truth that 8heaviness may endure for a night1 but joy cometh in the morning10 and might in that morning's light be able to clear the path again which leadeth 8into all truth10 and so walk onward into the 8bright shining of the perfect day40 ,here too you will perceive why ,i said in the early part of this letter that it was important to state plainly what it was to which ,i had committed myself with respect to the animus of the reformers1 and that this matter of intention being clearly understood1 would be found to have a necessary bearing upon our present subject as we proceeded4 ,if ,i had asserted the authority of the animus of the reformers to explain the meaning of the documents they put forth1 interminable questions might be raised as to the subjects on which there could or could not be considered enough of ambiguity to allow the appeal to the previous ,church4 ,but1 as ,i have before explained1 not any where intending to assert that the sense of those documents was to be determined by the intentions or opinions of their framers1 ,i trust ,i am in no dilemma here when ,i cannot admit the animus of the reformers1 even if it were proved to have been to exclude such appeals1 to be a reason for their exclusion4 ,even if the animus of ever so large a body of them could be absolutely shewn to have been to conciliate all parties by leaving open questions on essential doctrines in the formularies they put forth2 if even they believed of themselves they had attained this end1 yet as they forgot 7if we may use the term7 to break asunder the bond which connected the ,church of ,england at that date with herself in the preceding ages1 and with the ,church ,catholic1 they left us all we want1 to maintain the one faith once delivered1 the faith of ,christ our ,lord1 and of his ,church from the beginning4 ,if this result came by inadvertence1 7as perhaps they might say7 but of ,god's great mercy1 and the stretching forth of his arm over us1 7as ,i should affirm7 i4e4 not by the oversight of man1 but by the overseeing of ,god1 still1 any way1 the rule of a ,catholic theology has been retained1 and their counsel has been brought to nought1 so as merely to give us1 as perhaps ,i may allow1 from one point of view the semblance1 but in no wise the reality of a lax rule of faith4 ,there is one argument indeed which1 if it could be supported1 might prove the rule to be really lax4 ,i mean if it might be maintained with truth1 that there are declarations in our articles1 or doctrines in our formularies not merely ambiguous1 or less clearly defined on the ,catholic side than we might wish1 but actually repugnant to the faith and contradictory to it4 ,of course this would be a fatal objection to the whole line of argument ,i have been using2 for it would show1 so far at any rate1 a repeal of the previous doctrine1 and preclude our gaining that reference to it on which ,i have been insisting4 ,but ,i shall need take no great time or toil to show that this is not the case4 ,you grant me the point yourself1 not merely in your treatise on absolution1 in #ahdh1 but in the very letter to which ,i am now replying4 ,thus you concede it in the passage already quoted1 and even in the very charge you make--8,i am compelled to own that the utmost we are justified in declaring seems to be--not that the ,church of ,england now #8holds and teaches1 c42' but--that the ,church of ,england now suffers and permits to be held and taught2 and again1 as to the right interpretation of the ,prayer ,book1 not #8must be understood1' but #8may be understood1' to mean all that was meant before the year #aedj40 #hi ,your charge against the present state of the ,church1 you will observe is no more than that questions are left open2 it is not that heresy is exclusively maintained or enforced4 ,again1 to the same purport are the following passages3 8,remember1 ,i am in no degree withdrawing from the full extent of the assertion1 repeated more than once1 that the ,church of ,england leaves #8open' so many deep and important questions40 #ij;a ,so1 in another passage1 where you speak of the ,eucharistic sacrifice--8,again ,i remind you that ,i am very far from saying now that the ,catholic doctrine is denied and repudiated 4 4 4 for ,i have for many years taught 7and as you know1 have lately published in a sermon7 that in the blessed ,eucharist the body and the blood of our ,lord are truly offered as a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead40 #ij;b ,it is plain you do not think this denied by the ,english ,church2 but your complaint is1 that the articles and liturgy do not peremptorily enforce it4 ,again1 in commenting upon the 8real presence10 and the words of the ,catechism1 that the body and blood are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful1 you say1 8,at the risk of weary repetition1 let me once more say1 that of course this place of the ,catechism does not assert that the body and blood of ,christ are not verily and indeed taken by all2 and if there were in other places of our formularies anything even approaching to a statement of the reality of the presence of our blessed ,lord in the consecrated bread and wine1 independently of any qualifications or dispositions in the soul of the receiver1 we might be able to show at once and distinctly that these passages in the liturgy and catechism cannot justly mean what they are generally brought forward to prove40 #ia ,i need not multiply quotations on this head1 though ,i believe ,i have not nearly exhausted the passages ,i might cite4 ,in short1 your whole letter merely charges the heresy of 8open questions0 upon our ,church1 not the heresy of our being forbidden on any point to teach the catholic truth4 ,and ,i say again1 if this be all1 we fall back at once upon your own former principle1 though now by you abandoned and forsaken4 ,we say1 that we are not left to these the documents of the reformation alone1 and therefore1 if there are in them deficiencies merely negative1 which is all your charge1 we can supply the necessary teaching from those deeper wells of truth from which1 whether intentionally or otherwise1 the promoters and managers of the reformation have not debarred us4 ,neither the ,church nor ,state enactments hinder1 as ,i contend1 this appeal2 and observe1 if we ,,may make it1 we ,,must4 ,we are not at liberty to use it if we please1 and discard it if we please1 for it is 8,,the ,,voice ,,of ,,the ,,church ,,of ,,england10--a voice1 as ,i firmly believe1 which1 if duly listened for1 and scrupulously obeyed1 will clear up every open question which the ,church ,catholic demands should be cleared up1 and will answer every charge which a shallow observation of only the later documents1 of the reformation1 might bring against us4 ,so fair and strong from these considerations do the grounds of hope and confidence appear1 that ,i am tempted to paraphrase1 though in a contradictory sense1 one of the most despairing pages of your letter4 ,you argue1 8,it is not necessary to pretend to know the dealings of ,almighty ,god with men and nations so accurately1 as to attempt to lay one's finger upon the one1 two1 or three special acts which may avail to cut off any portion of the one holy ,catholic ,church20 #ib;a and then you further bid us think whether with us the actual cutting off may not have been at the reformation1 although a certain life may have been found for a time even in the severed limb4 ,i am not concerned indeed to deny that there may have been much in the reformation to wound the branch2 but ,i also maintain that its connection with the parent stem never having been severed1 the life remains1 and the wound may be wholly healed4 #ib;b #8,as regards the ,church of ,england in particular1 it may be that the so-called reformation contained--perhaps unknown to the original promoters of it'--precious #8seeds' of good #8to bring in a certain though slow' revival of all vital powers weakened by so great a shock2 #8and that then either' old principles were secretly preserved1 which in their after development would most surely avail to the restoration of all essential truths1 or new principles were1 unintentionally perhaps1 so guarded and circumscribed that #8the gradual course of time1' as they came to be applied1 would show them to be harmless4 #8,or1 once more1 it may be with portions of the ,church ,catholic as with the vine her mysterious type4 8,i am the vine1 ye are the branches10 were the words of our blessed ,lord1 speaking of his body the ,church1 of which he is himself the ,head4 ,and we may well conceive how a branch1' partially injured by some disease or canker1 may suffer from the pruning-knife which endeavours to eradicate it2 and yet in a period1--longer or shorter1 as the case may be1--never having been severed from the stem1 but deriving from ,,it the fulness of its life and sap1 may wholly recover from the wound which the knife has made1 and after a time flourish again in its pristine vigour1 even as in its days of early youth1 before any corruption had laid hold upon it1 and bring forth fruit again an hundredfold for its master's use2 though requiring time to heal its wound1 yet certain to be restored1 if no fresh accident befall it1 because of its union with the parent tree4' ,i know well1 analogies and similitudes may be made on all sides1 and in support of almost anything4 ,i know also1 however useful as illustrations to clear our meaning1 and to answer objections taken in limine1 yet how little they can be relied upon as proofs3 but ,i venture upon this antagonistic paraphrase of your illustration1 that ,i may ask the question1 whether perchance the view sustained by mine may not as probably be the truth as that sustained by your's2 and that ,i may express my trust we shall none of us be led astray from doing all that duty bids us do1 in the tendance of our branch of the vine1 by any such similitudes as those you have advanced1 if the principle of your letter may be supposed to have found an answer2 if1 upon the grounds ,i have endeavoured to draw out1 we may claim our union with the parent tree2 in short1 if the fact of the severance of the reformed ,church of ,england from the ,church ,catholic be not made out beyond question or dispute4 ,until it be so proved1 ,i at any rate feel it to be my duty stedfastly to cleave to her2 not being blind to practical shortcomings1 not refusing to acknowledge the dangers which beset her1 even to the extent that she may so bend to the spirit of the world1 and recognize the erastian liberalism of this day and age1 that she may1 instead of rising up again1 be wofully and entirely cast down1 but certainly not seeing that ,god hath so cast her down as yet4 ,i do not1 and ,i cannot take this as proved1 or as done already1 and therefore cannot accept the statements of your letter1 nor the conclusions to which they lead4 ,for you ought to have proved in detail1 not that our ,church's articles or formularies since the middle of the sixteenth century1 taken by themselves1 or interpreted by cotemporary opinions1 admit a double meaning1 but that they actually exclude the sense and meaning of the ,church previous to #aedj2 because if they do less than this1 the admission in themselves of open questions 7if it be so7 is qualified and overruled by the earlier unexcluded dogmatic teaching2 and ,i say it boldly1 in spite of the scorn and contumely with which the liberalism of the day will greet such a sentiment1 the present ,church of ,england must thereby be understood to require all those ancient dogmas to be enforced1 as the ,,one ,,only ,,true ,,sense of documents1 themselves perhaps1 by themselves1 capable of a doubtful interpretation4 ,nothing less than the having 8plainly1 openly1 and dogmatically asserted the contrary0 will annul this obligation1 and herein1 as ,i believe1 and as ,i have endeavoured now to show1 will be found1 in ,god's providence1 the safeguard and shield which ,he has thrown over this branch of his ,church1--a safeguard and a shield1 under the which we may rest a little while1 8until this tyranny be overpast10 until she shall be able not merely to claim1 but again to use1 8the whole armour of ,god10 and convince the world practically of her teaching as well as holding 8the ,catholic faith whole and undefiled40 ,i do not1 ,i dare not1 shrink from the thought that further proof1 shall ,i say trial1 on this point awaits us4 ,in ,god's time and in ,god's way ,i expect it4 ,humbly and reverently ,i trust ,i may add1 8,let it come40 ,perhaps it may be nearer than we think2 for it is evident those who agree with me at all in the defence ,i have here set up against the charge of want of dogmatic teaching1 must1 in these days1 as the assault upon catholic truth grows fiercer1 be even more and more distinct1 earnest1 and plain-spoken in its assertion4 ,as we claim1 so will we1 if it please ,god1 more and more use the ancient faith1 whether men 8will hear1 or whether they will forbear40 ,not indeed as a process of tentation upon the ,church1 but as a simple matter of duty1 and as a safeguard to our people1 lest unawares1 and step by step1 they 8forfeit all their creed40 ,but this1 one way or another1 is likely to bring us to a trial1 and to a very practical solution of the questions raised1 perhaps ,i may say somewhat speculatively1 in your letter4 ,if the ,church of ,england then 8will not endure sound doctrine10 let her say so4 ,it may be we shall have immediately to distinguish between the voice of the ,church and the voice of the establishment2 but at any rate1 let the ,church speak out4 ,our perils are too great and too pressing on the side of acquiescence in heresy1 to give us any option now as to speaking or keeping silence4 ,will you tell me that the bishops of our ,church neither hold nor will tolerate these ancient doctrines2 that they will soon settle this matter1 8make a short work10 speak out1 and show us the true ,anglican faith2 and drive from the ,church of ,england those whose walk and whose heart are with a faith older than three hundred years8 ,god forbid that ,i should sin against them by believing you4 ,god forbid that ,i should believe any such thing1 unless ,i live to see it4 ,but if it should be so indeed2 if the erastianism and latitudinarianism of the day should so have eaten1 or should ever so eat their way into the heart of our episcopate1 that such assertion of our ,church's catholicity1 such clinging to ancient doctrine1 such walking with the ,church of the ,apostles1 and the religion derived in uninterrupted succession from them1 shall be no longer endured among us1 then let them know assuredly that they who bring this to pass1--they who drive the matter to such a point1--they who take the aggressive against sound doctrine1 and ancient faith1 will be responsible for that which shall follow1 and will excite and evoke a spirit1 with the which they and all their's will in vain contend4 ,they will do that which will provoke1 not dribbling secessions1 here a few and there a few1 but that which1 setting up the mark of ,jeroboam in the land1 as the symbol and banner of the establishment1 will drive from it and them all the true priesthood and really ,church feeling of the country4 ,then will there be1 either a return to the ,roman communion such as 8neither their fathers nor they0 have ever dreamed of1 or a free ,episcopacy1 which shall cast aside the establishment as an 8accursed thing10 throw itself upon ,christendom for communion1 and appeal to a general council of ,christendom for approval1 and1 shaking to the very centre the whole religion of this country1 shall gather into its own bosom1 ,i will not say all that is good and holy1 but all that is good and holy1 and has with this goodness and this holiness any distinctive ,church knowledge or ,church feeling4 ,men who calculate consequences1 if there be such1 may well ponder these things1 before they tremble 8at the fear of man10 or think any way safer than the old paths1 and the ancient faith4 ,let no man say ,i threaten wrongly1 or threaten vainly4 ,i desire not to threaten at all2 but ,i know what ,i write2 and truly1 8is there not a cause80 ,let all1 friends and foes alike1 know and well weigh on what a sea they are now embarked4 ,let them be prepared for what must come1 if there be anything like faint-heartedness or cowardice among us1 anything like treason to the ,catholic faith in those in high place4 ,let it be known well that we1 who are firmest and plainest in declaring the duty of cleaving to the ,church of ,england now1 and so are fighting her battle against you1 and those like you1 who take the easier perhaps1 at any rate the shorter1 road to escape from her embarrassments1 that we do not pretend if the difficulty should arise that we cannot remain members of the ,english ,church1 and members of the ,church catholic at the same time1 we can hesitate as to our duty4 ,neither can we unlearn all that we have learned from the ancient fountain-heads of doctrine1 and believe the catholic faith to be a thing of yesterday1 or square it by the liberal theories of modern schools4 ,we have drunk too deeply from the well-heads of antiquity for this to be possible4 ,we can no more go back and believe the catholic truths we have imbibed to be no more than superstitious inventions and human figments1 than we could return to the system of ,ptolemy1 and believe this earth to be the centre round which the sun and the stars revolve4 ,these things we cannot do2 but certainly we can1 in mind and theory1 and we do in fact1 separate the ideas of the ,church and the establishment1 and can contemplate the possible arrival of a time and circumstance when the one must be kept to at the expense of the total abnegation of the other4 ,and here foreseeing1 we also count the cost4 ,we compute whether we be able1 8with ten thousand1 to meet him that cometh against us with twenty thousand10 and in ,his name1 and with ,his presence1 who has promised to be 8with ,his ,church always10 we are not fearful1 and shall not be careful if we must let the establishment go4 ,we sit down to 8build our tower10 not without considering whether we have 8sufficient to finish20 and again1 in the riches of ,his grace1 we deem we have4 ,we would make it 8after the pattern which has been showed us10 and know then full well it will be a building which shall be able to shelter1 and an ark which shall be able to save1 all that are committed to us1 all who will take refuge in it4 ,to attain this1 we are ready to sacrifice all but truth1 to fight against all but ,,god6 ,but ,i say once more1 our perils are too great at the present time to allow of silence in the ,church1 to admit of any compromise or uncertainty1 when inquisition is made as to what we hold1 or teach our people4 ,let the ,church of ,england speak1 and speak unequivocally1 and we shall know what to think4 ,let her courts1 duly constituted1 and especially her synods if they may meet1 pronounce what she will bear1 and what she will not bear2 what she will recognize as her own with a mother's love2 what she will repudiate and put from her with a step-mother's aversion4 ,then shall we know our duties1 and see our way4 ,then perchance will it be found the ,state has reckoned unwarily1 and counted upon too much4 ,then1 if it try to bind her with the chains of the spirit of the day1 may it be seen of all men that they are but as 8green withs10 or 8as threads of tow touched by the fire10 to bind the mighty4 ,even should the ,state prevail in mere numbers1 who shall say but there shall be found some high in authority1 and endowed with the powers of the ,apostolate1 who will stand 8valiantly for the truth10 and 8be of good courage1 and behave themselves valiantly for their people1 and for the cities of their ,god10 and use their powers1 and the authority received from ,christ1 to shake1 as ,i have said1 the establishment to its fall1 if there be any effort1 by means of it1 to take from us 8one jot or tittle0 of the faith8 ,if they do this1 even but six1 or three1 or two1 or one among them1 with the ,creeds and ,christendom to back them1 surely we shall know what to do also4 ,if they do not1 we shall again know both what to think and what to do6 ,surely then ,god will 8make a way under us for to go10 and at his word alone1 we shall go forth2 not certainly1 as ,i should go forth now1 were ,i to follow your steps1 and remove from the place where ,he has cast my lot1 with no light upon my path1 no assurance1 no conviction1 no belief that ,i was proceeding under his guidance1 or doing that which is according to his will4 ,rather1 ,i cannot but adopt1 and with it ,i will conclude this part of my present subject1 the noble profession of thankful confidence made by yourself at the close of your treatise on absolution1 where1 acknowledging the singular preservation to us of a very minute particular1 7involving1 as you considered1 important doctrine17 even a single letter in one of our rubrics1 you thus expressed yourself3-- 8,the more ,i consider this circumstance1 with the more heartfelt thankfulness and confidence do ,i look upon it as a token among many hardly to be unseen of the care and guiding with which the ,almighty ,head of the ,universal ,church ceaselessly has guarded1 to his own wise ends and purposes1 this our ,church of ,england4 ,these considerations1 and such as these1 bring their especial comfort4 ,some men1 perhaps1 may be indifferent about them4 ,for myself1 at one time in one thing1 and at another in another1 light and trivial as alone or singly they may or might have been together in their accumulation they supply--not arguments merely1 for that in comparison would be a poor result1 but--patience1 in days of dispute and difficulty1 in days of trial and obloquy and reproach2 motives1 again1 to exertion and untiring labour in our ,church's cause2 constant confirmation of the sacred truths which ,i believe she holds2 and above all1 with ,god's most gracious help1 an undoubting determination to endeavour by all means1 and in every possible way1 under her own holy shadow and protection1 still and for ever to defend her against avowed enemies from without1 and against mistaken friends within40 #aja ,although these remarks have extended far beyond the length which ,i contemplated when ,i began them1 ,i am unwilling to bring my letter to a close without adverting to one or two points further1 connected with the whole subject of which ,i have been treating1 and the prospects which are before us4 ,i have said1 8,i think we have the time1 and ,i trust we have the means1 effectually1 though it may be gradually1 to vindicate our ,church40 #ajb ,you may ask1 perhaps1 8,what are these means80 ,you may say1 8,deeply as many may feel the present crisis2 earnest as they are to disclaim the decision of the ,judicial ,committee1 that ,mr4 ,gorham is fit to hold a benefice with cure of souls in the ,church of ,england2 determined as they may be to leave nothing undone which may be done to shake off the grasp of state interference with her spiritual rights and jurisdiction2 yet what can they do more than uselessly agitate1 or hopelessly complain8 ,i know well10 you may say1 8you are looking to the revival of the ,church's synodical functions2 to the restoration of her convocation1 to set all these matters right2 to clear her doctrine1 and consolidate her freedom4 ,but these things are too uncertain and too distant to be accounted of4 ,if you have nothing nearer and more direct than these1 or such hopes as these for remedies1 ,i can but reckon them #8as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal4' ,you will sooner be committed to the denial of the whole faith1 than regain from the ingrained superstitious erastianism of this day and this people1 the slightest approach to #8the churchmen' being permitted in their convocation to #8do the work which is proper unto them4'0 ,now1 ,i do not think this1 yet ,i will not argue it3--but will rather come to something nearer and more direct as1 at any rate1 the beginning of a remedy4 ,this1 then ,i say1 is nearer3--direct to clear ourselves individually from blame1 and1 it may be1 competent in time to work for us an efficient cure either with or without the consent of the ,state1 as ,god in his providence shall order4 ,this ,i say3--to break communion with the ,archbishop1 and with those who uphold him in upholding the judgment of the ,privy ,council4 ,this is a course open to us all2 and is a direct course towards one part1 at any rate1 of our objects--the freeing ourselves from blame4 ,perilous1 however1 as our position is1 ,i do not say the time has come for this to be done as yet2 much less that ,i am competent to decide when such time shall have arrived4 ,but ,i mention the thought1 that you may perceive men's minds are not without the suggestion of something immediate1 practical1 and real4 ,however fearful the thought of such a course2 however loth we may be to contemplate it2 however startling it may sound in many ears to hear a priest in the ,church of ,england speak such words1 as of cutting himself off from communion with the primate of his ,church2 yet it is so far more fearful to think of that ,church coming to deny an article of the creed1 falling into such a condition that no ,christian ,church in ancient times would have communicated with her2 7and this1 ,i will plainly say1 is what ,i think we are in danger of coming to1 and shall come to if we acquiesce in the present state of things2 and7 this is so much more fearful than the alternative ,i have suggested1 that ,i feel it is only right to call attention to that alternative1 as a means by which we may escape being 8partaker of other men's sins40 ,your difficulty is1 whether a man may lawfully remain a member of the ,church of ,england and trust his soul to her keeping4 ,mine would be to justify myself in leaving her whilst such a remedy remained in my hand unused4 ,surely if we are able to separate ourselves from all responsibility in the latitudinarian guilt1 it will be sufficient for us1 for the time at any rate1 and may besides result in further good4 ,if our archbishops or archbishop should bring things to that pass that no early ,church would have communicated with them1 then1 no doubt1 if we cannot escape from implication with what they have done1 we shall be ourselves involved in the desert of excommunication2 but if we can do what those very ,churches would have done1 we may hope this will avail to show we should not have been cast out of the communion of ,christendom4 ,if we can so separate ourselves from their deed1 and the erastian influences which admit heresy1 that we should have been received by all early ,churches as 8the orthodox10 or 8the ,catholics0 of the ,english ,church--then ,i do not think we shall have any excuse for deserting our spiritual mother for the blandishments of another communion1 for anything that has been done as yet4 ,thoughts of this method of proceeding1 and musings whether the time has not come openly to disclaim communion with all those who support the ,judgment of the ,privy ,council in the recent case1 have been now for many months in the minds of some4 ,thus ,i may cite the very passage quoted by yourself1 at the close of your first letter1 from ,mr4 ,keble's first number of 8,church matters in #ahej40 8,if the decision be adverse1 it needs to be distinctly proved that a bishop or archbishop acting on that decision would not involve in heresy both himself and all in communion with him40 p4 #bf4 ,again1 the same author has said3 8,in old time1 such a step0 viz4 as the archbishops have taken1 8would have been met by the ,christian people withdrawing from their communion for a time40 #aje;a ,it is true the writer did not appear then to contemplate such a measure as possible for us2 and added some explanations at a later date on this point1 showing what were our peculiar difficulties in reference to it3 yet he added1 at the same time1 8,i do not say that such interruption of communion may not even now be an orthodox bishop's duty2 although1 as yet1 by ,god's good providence1 the contingency which we have been told would make it so has not occurred40 7,i presume this means the ,archbishop's institution of ,mr4 ,gorham47 8,i do not say that it may not ere long be a priest's1 or even a layman's1 duty2 ,i only say that it is not the step for priests or laymen to take just now40 #aje;b ,again1 let it be remembered1 that as might be expected1 he who has borne the brunt of this battle1 who has waged the ,church's war after the pattern of a soldier and bishop of ancient time1 was among the very first to suggest this remedy2 nay1 more1 to encourage and cheer us by openly saying he should in a certain contingency1 himself adopt it4 ,even so far back as last ,march1 immediately upon the delivery of the judgment1 the bishop of ,exeter thus sounded the note of warning3-- 8,i have to protest10 he said at the close of his letter to the ,primate1 8against your ,grace's doing what you will speedily be called upon to do1 either in person1 or by some other exercising your authority4 ,i have to protest1 and ,i do hereby solemnly protest before the ,church of ,england1 before the holy ,catholic ,church1 before ,him who is its ,divine ,head1 against your giving mission to exercise cure of souls within my diocese to a clergyman who proclaims himself to hold the heresies which ,mr4 ,gorham holds4 ,i protest that any one who gives mission to him 7,mr4 ,gorham7 till he retract1 is a favourer and supporter of those heresies4 ,i protest1 in conclusion1 that ,i cannot1 without sin1 and by ,god's grace ,i will not1 hold communion with him1 be he who he may1 who shall so abuse the high commission which he bears40 #ajf ,what1 then1 do such weighty passages press home upon us1 but that the time for such action may come8 ,perchance even now it is drawing very near4 ,one almost trembles to write it2 so fearful and awful a thing it is to contemplate openly breaking the unity of the ,church of ,england1 and interrupting communion with its primate1 if he proceed to consummate1 or permit to be consummated by his authority1 7nay1 without his most deep and solemn protest on behalf of ,god's truth1 the ,catholic faith1 and his own high office17 the institution of ,mr4 ,gorham4 ,if he make no disclaimer1 and throw no impediment in the way1 the ,rubicon indeed is passed1 and there must come the counter-action of all earnest-minded ,catholics in this 8city of our ,god40 ,i1 at least1 am desirous to say that ,i stand prepared 7not indeed to act alone and upon my own mere judgment1 but if those who may best advise us sanction the proceeding1 as ,i verily believe in no long time they will17 to withdraw openly from communion with the archbishop4 ,you will ask what ,i mean by the term4 ,i do not pretend to answer for other persons' meaning3 but what ,i mean is at least this1 that ,i will say openly and solemnly ,i would refuse him the holy communion in my parish church1 were he to come into it1 and offer himself at the altar1 and equally refuse to receive it at his hands1 or with him4 ,nay1 more1 ,i think we have it as a weapon in our armoury1 to be used1 were it well advised and sanctioned1 7and certainly to be used before one would think of giving up the ,church of ,england as forsaken by ,god17 to extend this same withdrawal from communion1 from him who is 8the head and front10 even to all those1 at any rate of the clergy1 who refuse thus to join in breaking off communion with him4 ,however strange1 however painful1 however solemn1 however awful it may be to say such things1 ,i esteem it now an absolute duty not to withhold them1 both that those whose steps are faltering1 whose hands are made weak1 whose feet are sliding1 whose hearts are 8failing them for fear1 and for looking for those things that are coming upon the earth10 may know to what resources some among us at any rate are looking1 and also 7with all humility and due reverence would ,i say it17 that he who has been set as the highest ecclesiastic in our branch of the ,church of ,christ1 may at least know to what extremities he is driving matters by such efforts for peace1 at the expense of an article of the creed1 and the faith once for all delivered4 ,it may be well to draw out even a little further still1 some of the thoughts suggested by the foregoing observations4 ,it is plain that1 if it shall come to pass that we have to withdraw from communion with the archbishop1 it will immediately and at once become also our duty to withdraw from all societies retaining him as their head4 ,rather1 it will be their duty to remove his ,grace's name from their committees1 and refuse to act under his presidency4 ,if we may not hold communion with him1 we may not acknowledge him as fit to preside over1 or be a manager in1 our church societies4 ,in such societies as he now holds the post of president by annual election1 or by some standing rule1 the proceeding will be comparatively easy1 because the next general meeting of the society can elect some other in his room1 or annul the rule by which he is ex officio the president1 or a member of the committee4 ,in cases1 if there be such1 where he holds such position by charter1 the matter may be more difficult and more perplexing1 but ,i believe myself it will then be any and every such ,church society's duty to apply for an alteration in its charter under the new and unforeseen circumstance of the ,archbishop of ,canterbury having abetted heresy4 ,but if such societies1 or any of them1 neglect or refuse to take these steps1 it will immediately become the imperative duty of individuals to withdraw their names1 and 7so far as it may depend upon them17 break up their parochial or district associations in support of such societies as refuse to recognise the importance of keeping the faith of the ,church of ,england pure1 and thus become partakers in the guilt of allowing it to be stained4 ,many will say1 no doubt1 8,how can you contemplate1 much more counsel1 so violent and destructive a policy8 ,what is the ,church to do in missions and promotion of ,christian knowledge1 if such a plan be put in execution80 ,i can but answer1 if things come to that point1 that we must break communion with the archbishop1 in order to save our name and keep our place in ,christendom1 then these consequences necessarily follow1 and we have no choice4 ,we shall never come to such resolve but upon the weightiest grounds3--grounds that will leave us no option as to following them out4 ,we shall have no right to make matters of principle into matters of expediency or calculation of consequences4 ,but if ,i did look to such1 ,i should come to the same conclusion3 for1 whether is it better to paralyze our efforts for the present1 if so it be1 by the weakening such societies1 or to aid them when they1 those very societies themselves1 will be actually spreading no longer truth1 but error and sinful compromise8 ,whether is it better for us all that we be stopped in a career of sin1 or that we run on in it1 in a seeming prosperity perhaps1 but in reality spreading wherever we go1 and whatever we do1 the heresy that the ,church in which we live and serve1 has no doctrine on baptism1 and we think it best to take no notice of the fact2 but still to hold willingly in the post of chief honour and authority him who has 8concurred0 in1 who justifies1 who acts upon the decision which thus assails the faith8 ,no6 indeed and in truth1 if we do look to consequences1 the very confusion1 perplexity and distress which may ensue1 do but bind upon us the more this line of action3 they are the very things probably to 8bring us to ourselves40 ,if we prove that our ,church cannot do her work under the charge of heresy1 surely it is well4 ,no doubt all this is full of dismay and sorrow2 but any thing is better than to be easy in or under heresy4 ,and it is by distress1 by suffering1 by being made 8to go through fire and water10 that we may afterwards be 8brought out into a wealthy place40 ,it is by being exposed to any amount of misery and degradation that we are to be purified4 ,if we never feel 8the mighty famine10 and even be driven 8into the fields to feed swine10 and have to 8fill our bellies with the husks that the swine do eat10 and 8no man10 perchance1 8give unto us10 or pity us1 it may be we shall never be brought to say1 8,i will arise and go to my ,father20--,i will seek again in all its purity the early faith1 even though it be through the sufferings also of those who early held it4 ,and 8who knoweth but ,god may be gracious unto us10 to forgive us our sins1 especially the sin of lax holding1 or practical denial of that early faith on so many sides2 who knoweth but ,he may bring us back into our good place in his favour1 that ,he may give us 8beauty for ashes1 the oil of joy for mourning1 the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness20--even the place of favoured children in our ,father's house1 for the isolation of a 8far country20--nay1 that ,he may even say1 8,bring forth the best robe and put it on him1 and put shoes on his feet1 and a ring on his hand2 and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it1 and let us eat1 and be merry1 for this0--this ,church of ,england so long1 as it were1 estranged from ,christendom1 is again at one with her2 whereof let ,christendom rejoice together6 ,the thoughts of such results as possible in ,god's providence1 if now we stand firm1 and fight for the truth1 must not make us forgetful of our present state and our present danger4 ,i must repeat it1 if these be so evil1 we must look for sorrows before we expect relief2 we must be ready to go through it2 we must1 like our divine ,master1 8set our face like a flint20 whatever reproaches be cast upon us1 we must be prepared not to hide it 8from shame and spitting40 ,we must not care for any loss or confusion in this time of rebuke1 if only we may preserve the faith for and in our ,church1 whole and undefiled4 ,so strongly do ,i feel these things1 that ,i can deliberately say ,i could even wish we might be laid under an interdict2--no baptisms1 no marriages1 no communions1 no christian burials1 rites1 or ordinances be performed or celebrated among us1 until we humble ourselves1 and return unto our ,god1 rather than the ,church among us fell asleep1 and all our zeal and fervour cool down1 and we lose an article of the creed1 and merely cry despairingly1 8what can we do80--recognising in all this no real difference1 and believing in no real loss4 ,such an affliction1 if there were any to put it on us1 7and it may be it would be laid upon those who are hardened or careless1 as the result of what we are now doing1 if we be still and tranquil1 supposing only an cumenical council could be held to pass its judgment on these things1 ,i say1 such an affliction7 might purge and purify us1 might separate the wheat from the chaff1 might prove who were infidels1 and who believers in that other article of the creed1 8the one ,catholic and ,apostolic ,church10 and might show we were not without such 8a remnant0 at any rate1 as might cause ,,him to look upon us with some favour who is all mercy to those whom ,he perceives to be really bent1 to bow no knee to ,baal4 ,i cannot bring myself to leave these things unsaid1 much as1 on many accounts1 ,i should be glad to do so2 because they serve to show what kind of action ,i think we have it in our power to use1 and prove of course how light a matter it must be to withdraw from this or that voluntary society2 nay1 comparatively how easy to strike off an archbishop's name from a committee2 nay1 even to withdraw from communion with him1 and those who may uphold him1 when placed in the scale with such a tremendous infliction as ,i have named4 ,and although the effects of such withdrawal1 if done by but one priest here and there1 may be little indeed2 yet1 whatever line of action shall be deemed necessary1 if it be taken by many in different parts1 separated by distance and circumstance1 but one in heart and action1 this will1 ,i think1 produce so great a difficulty in the position of affairs1 that the restoration of a convocation will be the only remedy4 ,whatever may be the difficulty1 if it prove the ,church of ,england cannot do its work whilst under the curse of heresy1 that is1 not until it shake it off1 7for the which we trust we shall be found to strive unto the death17 it cannot be amiss4 #aab ,i cannot leave this subject without adding a few words1 to explain how it is ,i feel compelled to say these things1 and yet continue to hold preferment in the ,church of ,england2 how 8,i justify my deeds unto myself10 in contemplating and speaking of the possibility of refusing the holy communion to her highest ecclesiastic1 were he to present himself for it1 in my parish church1 and yet retain any parish or parish church at all4 ,i have no doubt this will strike some persons as requiring1 some perhaps as not admitting1 explanation4 ,but since what ,i have here said is not the result of petulant feeling or hasty resolve1 but is said with thought and deliberation1 it may be better to state the grounds on which ,i feel bound both thus to speak and to retain my living1 than leave it to be supposed ,i have never considered whether there is any inconsistency in my conduct1 and to each man's own mind to guess my motives1 and supply my reasoning4 ,honestly1 if ,i know my own heart at all1 can ,i say1 ,i do not think still to hold my cure of souls in the ,church of ,england for the sake of the loaves and fishes to be obtained by so doing4 ,i am ready and willing1 if any man can show me my duty requires it in consequence of what ,i have written1 to resign my living to-morrow4 ,but ,i do not resign it1 because ,i am fully persuaded there are times when1 much as we should delight to pay to those in highest place superabundant honour and the most glad submission without scrutiny or question of any kind1 yet we are bound to institute inquiry whether we can do this1 and not betray ,,her 8who is the mother of us all20--times when it is a duty to 8withstand to the face0 those who inherit even an ,apostle's robe2--times when we are forbidden to 8flee away10 even if it were 8to be at rest40 ,then we must learn to bear not only the reproach of 8envious tongues10 and the 8evil report0 of such as are adversaries to the whole cause we have at heart2 not only the hard thoughts of those whose utmost charity is only able 8in see-saw strain to tell ,of acting foolishly1 but meaning well20 but even the misconstruction and condemnation of some1 who do go with us on the catholic side a certain way1 but who are alarmed when anything is proposed or done beyond the ordinary routine of a gentle resistance4 ,nay1 even more than bearing these things from others1 we are constrained to become1 yet in no ill sense of the word1 casuists ourselves1 and weigh minutely what that is which in principle we are bound to give to them 8who sit in ,moses' seat10 and where we must stop1 lest we should be found to break a higher command than theirs 8by doing after their works40 ,there are1 no doubt1 difficulties on the side of action1 lest we be not sufficiently observant of the 8powers that be40 ,there are difficulties on the side of inaction1 lest1 while we sleep1 8tares may be sown0 which we shall never be able to eradicate4 ,so we come to be obliged1 even against our will1 to consider what deference1 what authority1 what guidance of affairs1 must needs be given to a chief ruler1 simply for his office' sake4 ,and the first thought which meets one is1 that undoubtedly no ,archbishop in the ,english ,church can claim to be to us a ,pope2 the second1 that matters are much simplified as to compliance1 if it be any fundamental of ,christianity1 any article of the creed1 which is brought in question4 ,for then1 history1 and the uniform tradition of the ,church1 alike teach us that it is not merely the right1 but the duty1 not merely of the priest1 but of the lay people also1 to contend for the faith openly and uncompromisingly1 by whomsoever it may have been assailed1 and under whatever circumstances4 ,the word1 too1 which is above all words1 speaks not of gentle resistance1 or moderate opposition1 or needful quiet1 or charitable construction3 but is1 8contend earnestly20--8resist unto blood20--8quit you like men1 be strong20--8accept no man's person0--fear no man's rebuke2--regard no man's favour2--consult no mans feeling2--8wish him not so much as ,god speed10 be he who he may1 who would give away ,god's honour and ,god's truth4 8,if thy brother1 the son of thy mother1 or thy son1 or thy daughter1 or the wife of thy bosom1 or thy friend which is as thine own soul1 entice thee secretly1 saying1 ,let us go serve other gods1 which thou hast not known1 thou1 nor thy fathers30--7let us make a new faith other than that once for all delivered3--let us change the creeds of the ,church ,catholic7 4 4 4 8thou shalt not consent unto him1 nor hearken unto him2 neither shall thine eye pity him1 neither shalt thou spare1 neither shalt thou conceal him40 ,well1 surely1 have we been reminded1 8,it was a simple bishop who addressed the ,first ,patriarch of the ,church with the ,anathema tibi1 prvaricator ,liberi1 when that ,pope had tolerated ,arianism2 they were simple priests who appealed against the ,second ,patriarch of the ,church1 and him too a saint1 when ,dionysius of ,alexandria appeared to deny the ,catholic faith concerning the ,son of ,god2 it was a simple layman who attacked the then ,second ,patriarch of the ,church for heresy when ,nestorius broached his errors on the ,incarnation2 and both bishop1 priest1 and layman have received eternal honour1 as having been #8valiant for the truth upon the earth4' ,in our ordination oath1 to #8be ready with all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines1 contrary to ,god's word1' ,i find no proviso1 #8except they shall be supported by superiors4'0 #aaf ,surely1 then1 to refuse communion to one1 however high in station1 is no such great thing1 where the faith is put in peril4 ,alas6 ,i fear those who talk most of peace and quiet1 who are1 more than anything else1 afraid lest ,churchmen should do too mush1 forget1 or it may be have never realized1 that it is no less than the faith which is now endangered4 ,and if there is one thing more than another which now disquiets and disheartens thoughtful1 earnest-minded1 far-seeing men1 it is this2--to perceive that there are numbers who are not themselves in the least heretical on baptism1 who yet say that all we need is rest2 whose great anxiety is that excitement should cease1 and quiet be restored2 who believe all would be well if these 8unhappy differences10 as they call them1 could be forgotten2 these 8sad animosities10 as they appear to them1 could be laid aside1 and all things return into a peaceful current4 ,alas6 8,peace1 peace1 when there is no peace10 is the order of the day1 ,i fear1 with only too many4 ,oh6 that ,i could 8lift up my voice like a trumpet10 to arouse such1 before they give up1 step by step1 to the encroaching liberalism of the day the very vantage ground it covets1 and be only turned at last1 and made to stand at bay1 when they find they can recede no further without being pushed absolutely down the gulph2 discovering this1 however1 only when it is too late1 because they will already have surrendered their strongholds1 and yielded up ,god's armour1 and then find1 to their sorrow and dismay1 that even such weapons as they may still have left are profitless and vain1 the space in which they are pent up being all too strait to allow them rightfully to wield them4 ,oh6 that ,i could awaken the sleeping heart of this ,english people to feel for ,god's honour as for their own1 or for their country's6 and to know1 if they would indeed win ,his battle1 they must1 one and all who have ,catholic hearts1 throw themselves into the very midst of the fight1 and strain every nerve1 and use every weapon1 now whilst there is time1 as ,i believe1 in ,god's might1 and by ,his help1 to win it4 ,oh6 that we all knew we may not leave our cause to fight for itself alone1 7which is to desert it17 and so provoke ,him our ,saviour and ,defence to forsake us1 and permit us to become at last as ,ephesus and ,smyrna1 as ,pergamos and ,thyatira1 as ,sardis1 ,philadelphia1 and ,laodicea4 ,i do not1 then1 resign my cure of souls1 because ,i feel ,god has appointed me to be one in this warfare1 and ,i may not give away anything ,he has put into my hand wherewith to bear my part in it4 ,i do not resign my cure1 because ,i think ,i should not be doing my ,lord's work2--,i should not be fighting his ,church's battle2--,i should not be using his weapons2--,i should not be feeding his flock2--,i should not be avouching his truth2--,i should not be bearing1 in any appreciable degree1 the same testimony to it1 were ,i to resign my cure of souls1 and then say1 8,i would not admit such or such to holy communion if ,i had a parish40 ,no6 let it be known and felt that as a priest1 in the exercise of the priestly office1 ,i do what ,i do1 and promise what ,i promise4 ,and although ,i have allowed even herein ,i am but speaking prospectively of what may become our duty1 ,i repeat that ,i dare not withhold my thought of what possibly is coming upon us1 both that we may all be prepared if it come1 and that those who have most power to avert any such necessity1 may see how very urgent and extreme is the crisis in which our 7and their7 lot is cast4 ,i know well how the world will take my saying1 and meet my argument4 ,it will say this at least1 if it say no worse1 8,granting what you urge has a certain force and consistency in itself1 if you were merely a priest2 how is it reconcileable with being a priest in the diocese of ,sarum1 and province of ,canterbury8 how is to say these things1 compatible with the canonical obedience which you have sworn80 ,i might answer1 perhaps1 that ,i know not that ,i have sworn anything to the ,archbishop1 since ,i never was in his diocese1 either in ,chester or ,canterbury2 but this answer would be possibly insufficient1 even for my own case1 as there may be an implied canonical obedience through the suffragan bishop to the metropolitan4 ,moreover1 if it cleared other dioceses1 and the priests in them personally1 it would be no general answer1 but leave a burden on the consciences of those who minister in the diocese of ,canterbury4 ,i will therefore make a further1 and1 ,i trust1 a more complete reply4 ,i say1 that what ,i myself1 and every priest among us1 has subscribed to1 is obedience to his bishop 8in things lawful and honest40 ,can this ever bind me to acquiesce in expunging an article of the ,nicene creed8 in not contending to the utmost against the heresy that our ,church has no dogmatic teaching on baptism at all8 ,you may tell me1 the law will take another view of what is 8lawful10 and compel me to subscribe to it4 ,when it does1 it will be time enough for me to think what ,i shall next do2 and ,i trust ,i shall not be forgetful that there is an authority higher than the law of man4 #abj ,therefore this ,i will say even now1 7indeed ,i have already said it17 if the time ever come when this ,church and realm shall so receive doctrine that we cannot hold the ,catholic faith1 and remain members of the ,church of ,england too1 one thing at least will be clear1 that we must then give up the ,church of ,england1 and ,i will join with you in seeking somewhere else a purer faith4 ,but ,i do not believe as yet1 whatever this realm may think1 that this ,church hath acknowledged the ,gorham theology to be her faith2 and ,i will say this besides1 if ever it shall come to pass that it is about to be ruled1 not to be 8lawful and honest0 to separate from any that openly abet or foster heresy2 that our subscription to 8obey in things lawful and honest10 binds us to a bishop or an archbishop so committing himself1 so aiding and abetting the permission of heresy1 then will a new phase open upon our ,church2 then will that great argument of the day be ranged on our side1 8,take heed what you do1 or three thousand priests will resign their cures1 and seek some other shelter60 ,yes6 then indeed will it be1 7,i doubt it not7 that some of our spiritual fathers will make it plain to all men wherein our great 8strength lieth10 and show that we depend not upon 8an arm of flesh20 that there are men of all ranks and circumstances among us1 willing to 8count all things but loss10 so they may 8keep the faith10 and that in deed and in truth the ,church is separable from the establishment4 ,in the mean time1 as ,i have said1 ,i find myself1 not as yet bound down to the decision of the ,privy ,council1 nor ensnared1 by having undertaken to minister in my cure as 8this ,church and realm hath received0 doctrine1 because1 even though this realm may have received that judgment as legal1 ,i think the ,church has not ratified it as valid4 ,i find no burden upon my conscience in having subscribed to obey my ordinary 8in things lawful and honest10 nor do ,i perceive how ,i shall find it1 even though ,i may come to think it unlawful to hold communion with the ,primate4 ,and ,i find no cause to resign my cure1 though ,i have deemed it necessary to say these things4 ,there is one subject more1 which ,i cannot make up my mind to pass over4 ,i have said the very struggles which we make for freedom1 will1 in their making1 test our ,church4 ,this itself is used as an argument by some1 against exertion2 at least against exertion for the objects which most ,churchmen now advocate--the regaining for her1 her free synod or convocation4 8,convocations and ,synods4--,are they remedies for existing evils80 is the title of a thoughtful pamphlet which ,i have seen4 ,the 8,anglican ,layman0 7such is the author's description of himself on his title page7 says1 the remedies which he has heard suggested appear to him 8one and all of a dilatory and inconclusive character1 in part hopeless1 in part useless1 and in part of doubtful propriety40 #abb ,i will not swell what ,i have already written by any comment on the first two of these objections2 on the last ,i must say something2 and1 to introduce it1 ,i will make a further extract from the pamphlet in question3-- 8,suppose the convocation assembled with universal consent1 or even suppose a properly constituted synod to be convened with the approbation of the ,state1 or suppose the united episcopate to be assembled without it1 would the decision of any or either of these be really authoritative8 ,in what sense would it be so8 ,would any or either of the parties in the ,church consent to be bound by it8 ,what is meant by an authoritative decision8 ,what do the #8,resolutions' ,i have quoted mean by an #8authoritative declaration'8 ,what does the ,metropolitan ,church ,union mean by #8the only body possessing authority in controversies of faith'8 ,what does the ,bishop of ,london mean by #8finally settling the question by a synodical decree'8 ,would you be bound by it8--,should ,i be bound by it8--,would the minority of such an assembly be bound in conscience by the majority8--,would the majority itself be bound by the decision in any permanent sense1 because they were the majority8 ,in fact1 who can doubt that there is on both sides a determined foregone conclusion on the point in dispute1 and that no one individual on either side would hold himself bound in conscience to abide by the decision40 99 99 99 99 99 8,but it will be said--it is said1 #8although the decision1 if wrong1 will not bind us1 it will bind the ,church1 and if the ,church should commit itself to heresy1 our course would be plain4' ,now1 a great deal of very solemn and serious language is used in speaking of the ,church of ,england1 and of the duty1 and allegiance we owe her1 much too solemn indeed1 and too serious1 unless we mean what we say2 she is #8the ,church of our ,baptism1' we are her #8children1' we call her #8our ,sion1' #8our beloved ,church1' #8our holy ,mother1' we profess to be jealous that any one should intrude upon her office as a #8teacher of the ,truth1' or speak in her name without her commission4 ,all this implies respect1 deference1 an admission of her right to guide us4 ,now1 if it be true that whatever our ,mother may say1 we shall one and all turn a deaf ear to her voice1 unless she speaks in accordance with our own previous convictions1 that we are reserving our objections to her authority till we hear her judgment--that we intend to test her authority by her judgment1 is not our language of reverence and affection somewhat unreal8 8,to assemble the ,church in ,convocation or ,synod1 for such a purpose as this1 would be to place her in a most undignified position1 that of exhibiting herself for approbation4 ,we should be treating her as a mob would treat a popular leader2 if she should speak our language--#8hosanna1' if not--#8crucify4' ,we should have the air of enquiring of an oracle1 whereas we should only be questioning a suspected delinquent4 ,we should seem to ask advice1 but approbation of our own predetermined opinions would be all the answer we should condescend to receive4 99 99 99 99 8,if the assembling of the convocation or synod would in any real sense #8settle the question1' if its declaration would be really #8authoritative1' if the members of the ,church would be religiously bound to listen to its voice as that of the teacher of truth1 or even if it would be a step towards a decision by a higher tribunal1 that may be a reason for assembling it2 but if it is to bind no one1 and its decision is only sought for as a test of its own vitality1 then ,i should be disposed to ask whether such a proceeding is not of very doubtful propriety4 8,no doubt1 it might be quite right to force a subordinate court to speak1 in order to arrive at a decision by a higher tribunal1 but to force a final court of appeal to speak when you have no intention of obeying it1 seems to me to be an act of the same kind as pleading before1 or sitting upon1 a tribunal1 against the authority of which you intend to protest1 should its decision displease you40 #abd ,i have cited this somewhat lengthy passage3 but it will enable me to make my own remarks the briefer that ,i have thus fully stated the objection4 ,the answer to its whole drift seems to me to be this1 that no synod or convocation of the ,english ,church is1 or can be1 a 8final court40 ,this writer seems to have let it escape him that1 though we may have among ourselves no higher appeal1 yet there is one in the world4 ,the ,church ,catholic1 and especially ,it in council1 is an authority to which all provincial synods are subject1 and to which our deepest reverence is due4 ,the writer in question does say indeed1 if a decision by convocation would be 8a step towards a decision by a higher tribunal10 it would be a reason3 for convocation being assembled2 not however1 ,i think1 as contemplating any higher tribunal than our convocation1 but merely as shewing the impropriety of its being called together at all4 ,in the next paragraph he explains this3--8,no doubt it might be quite right to force a subordinate court to speak1 in order to arrive at a decision by a higher tribunal2 but to force a final 7sic7 court of appeal to speak10 7evidently assuming this quality to belong to the ,english synod or convocation7 8when you have no intention of obeying it1 seems to me to be an act of the same kind as pleading before1 or sitting upon1 a tribunal1 against the authority of which you intend to protest1 should its decision displease you40 ,now1 my view certainly is not merely that we should protest against 7though we will not contemplate7 any heretical decision by convocation2 but1 if it were so1 should also appeal from it to the voice of ,christendom4 8,the only superior known to the local ,church is the authority of the ,church universal40 #abe;a ,surely of that authority we must not be forgetful1 whatever be the difficulties at present in the way of an appeal to it4 8,is the ,church of ,england so isolated from the ,universal1 that the faith of the ,church universal has no influence unto its theology80 #abe;b ,and yet this point seems to be forgotten by the otherwise careful writer of the pamphlet in question4 ,and in forgetting this1 of course he must do wrong to the position of the ,church of ,england1 as well as1 ,i fear1 discourage those who are labouring for her freedom4 ,we are but a part of ,christendom1 but this claim to allow no appeal from our convocation1 seems to arrogate to ourselves to be either the whole1 or so capable of standing by ourselves1 that we desire to be freed from any subordination to the whole1 which would be1 in fact1 no less than to make ourselves 8guilty of a formal schism from the universal ,church of ,christ40 #abf ,we must not allow ourselves to forget there is such a thing as an cumenical council of ,christendom1 and whatever the difficulties in the way of its assembling1 yet to it1 as ,i believe1 all true hearts should turn4 ,certainly1 for myself ,i can say that this1 as the great remedy for all our troubles and distractions1 and 8not for ours only10 but for those of ,christendom at large1 has been constantly present to my mind these many years4 ,that ,god of his mercy1 and in ,his good time1 would grant us a general council to ease and compose our differences1 and to restore the unity of ,christendom1 and1 if it come1 grant us all the due mind of submission to it1 has been now for no short period a portion of my daily prayers2 and ,i think there is no just ground to decry the petition as either fanciful or wrong2 at least we have the warrant of some among us of great name who have not thought so4 8,that ,i might live to see the re-union of ,christendom10 says ,archbishop ,bramhall1 8is a thing for which ,i shall always bow the knees of my heart to the ,father of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ40 99 99 99 99 8,howsoever it be1 ,i submit myself and my poor endeavours10 he continues1 8first to the judgment of the ,catholic cumenical essential ,church1 which1 if some of late days have endeavoured to hiss out of the schools1 as a fancy1 ,i cannot help it4 ,from the beginning it was not so40 99 99 99 99 8,likewise ,i submit myself to the representative ,church1 that is1 a free general council1 or so general as can be procured1 and until then to the ,church of ,england1 wherein ,i was baptized1 or to a national ,english synod40 #abg ,i do not say whether the confidence with which ,bramhall trusted an ,english synod1 was excessive in his day1 or would be excessive in ours1 but assuredly he recognises the appeal to a higher court2 and this is exactly what ,i affirm we must bear in mind there is1 if we seem to put our own ,church to the test1 by demanding that her convocation shall again be allowed to meet4 ,it may be supposed1 indeed1 that an cumenical council is at present hopeless1 and therefore that all mention of an appeal to it is out of place2 but ,i do not think this1 and for two reasons2 in the first place that there are certain points of doctrine which have been so definitely ruled by general councils1 that we know on them there could be no variation2 and in the second1 that ,i see no ground to despair of another such council in ,god's good time being called together4 #abh ,even in the mean time the thought of such a council is neither impertinent1 nor unpractical3 for ,i suppose no one will hold that a national synod or convocation may determine anything as to its ,church's doctrine1 and yet no man be justified in leaving her communion4 ,such course however must be taken1 to be taken rightly1 not on the impulse of a man's own will1 or the bent of his own mind2 but only in obedience to what ,christendom has definitely ruled1 and in implicit submission to what she would now say1 could she meet in free and general council4 ,such right of action1 so guarded1 ,i think must be allowed1 for if not1 it would follow that1 during the suspension of the voice of the ,church ,universal1 any provincial ,church might commit herself to ,socinianism1 nay1 to ,deism1 or ,pantheism1 under the name of ,christianity1 and yet no man have even his individual remedy against a body so lapsing from the faith1 until a general council could pronounce upon the matter4 ,this is clearly a reductio ad absurdum1 and therefore we may and ought1 7though we will never contemplate our ,church authorising or affirming heresy in her synods or convocation17 yet not to be afraid to strive for their revival1 as though there were no appeal above her1 and no solution if she should fail under the trial4 ,when too we remember what we are in danger of sanctioning by acquiescence1 and in what a position we may thus place ourselves for the judgment of an cumenical council upon us when it may come1 we see all the greater cause to wish for the restoration of our synods and convocations1 nay1 to account it an absolute duty which1 thank ,god1 needs no calculation of results at all1 to run the risk1 if risk it be considered1 of what our ,church will say1 and positively claim by them4 ,in order to clear herself1 she must be allowed to speak4 ,further1 the 8,anglican ,layman0 admits if convocation's meeting 8would be a step towards a decision by a higher tribunal1 that may be a reason for assembling it40 ,i take him at his word2 ,i ask him especially to consider if this be not one of the results to be expected1 and1 7if he shall1 upon consideration1 be satisfied on the point7 then ,i ask him further to join in the efforts which are being made to obtain the revival of our ,church's synodical functions4 ,i have said what the higher tribunal is4 ,i have said ,i think we ought to work even now with a view to its judgment4 ,suppose a general council were to be held2--say then1 whether the determination of these questions1 which now distract us1 would not be a step towards a final resolution of them all by its authority4 ,for1 say first1 the ,english ,synod or ,convocation boldly asserted the catholic verity on ,baptism1 would not this be a great step towards our being received openly and unhesitatingly into the bosom of ,christendom1 when her council shall meet1 and say1 as say it must1 in what light the ,anglican communion is to be regarded4 ,or suppose 7let me be forgiven for the supposition in the way of argument1 and here necessary to it17 that the result of her counsel were an ambiguous or heretical determination4 ,surely even this would not be without its use in limiting the points in issue1 and help 7no small consideration7 all ,catholic-minded men among us to acquiesce in any censure which ,christendom might pass upon us4 ,this1 ,i cannot regard as an unimportant gain1 since owing to our isolation1 and ,i fear ,i must say1 our national prejudices1 there might be great danger1 that even the decision of an cumenical council upon our position and our duties1 would hardly be received as it ought to be even by all those who are striving humbly after truth4 ,but if then we must be condemned 7,i am not saying it would be so2 again and again ,i must repeat it2 but if it were so17 it would surely be something for the comfort and guidance of us all1 that it should be on plain and undisputed grounds2 that our ,church had spoken1 and spoken amiss2 that she had tampered with the ancient faith1 and changed the primval creeds4 ,though ,i do not say any of these things will come upon us1 yet ,i do think the position in which we stand without convocation1 and the dangers of1 what would be called in human affairs1 a downward policy1 are so great that they justify us in speaking out very plainly1 and in looking to help from ,christendom in case of need4 ,i do believe never till we get to look out of ourselves to ,christendom at large1 never till we remember our due place in it1 never till we are ready to accept its decrees better to define our position1 and help us in the practical restoration of our teaching to what it ought to be1 shall we be in that right mind and heart1 which is waiting duly for the ,bridegroom's call4 ,i am quite prepared to have these remarks called visionary and unreal2 and all dependence on1 nay all reference to1 the ,universal ,church1 unpractical and absurd4 ,but 8none of these things move me10 and ,i am1 though ,i trust1 no fanatic1 yet hopeful of the help of ,god for those who will try to help themselves4 ,as ,i have said before1 ,i cannot think the expectation of a general council is chimerical4 ,i cannot believe if it come it will be useless4 ,i agree with you in saying1 8we have no right to expect an audible or visible interposition of ,almighty ,god10 to direct us in our difficulties4 8,we must not wait to see his handwriting on the wall1 or to hear his voice among us20 #aca but ,i have yet faith enough in miracles to believe1 if that be one1 that ,god may grant us the miracle of ,christendom again in council1 and make it the means to heal all our distempers1 and bind up all our wounds4 ,of this hope and this faith1 no man shall deprive me by the mere calculations of human policy1 or by the perverseness of an un-,catholic despair4 ,and now1 my dear ,friend1 if you have followed me through these pages1 as ,i know with all kindness and attention you will have done1 you will see1 in some measure at any rate1 why ,i must bitterly lament and utterly condemn the steps which you have taken4 ,i cannot see that the ,church of ,england has forfeited her trust4 ,i cannot1 therefore1 believe ,god has forsaken her4 ,i cannot think that ,he bids us leave her4 ,i have not indeed concealed my opinion of the dangers which beset her4 ,humanly speaking1 her safety lies in their being known and felt by her children2 but ,i firmly believe there is yet a battle to be fought in her1 and for her1 which is worth all our energies and should engage all our hearts4 ,no man knows better than you what is to be done3 no man better how great is the stake3 no man better how glorious the result1 if ,god grant the battle to be won4 ,alas6 that it should be bitter now to say it1 no man has fought more nobly in the ranks of the ,english ,church3 no man more distinctly or with less hesitating lips has enunciated her dogmatic teaching3 no man has contended more boldly on the side of ,god1 and the creeds1 and the ,catholic faith than you have done in this our battle for life and death6 ,oh6 that you might even now once more 8cast in your lot among us20 confess you believe you have been blinded by care and grief1 and so been at least over-hasty in your resolves2 and throw yourself once more into the ranks of the chosen warriors among us1 and into the battle with us4 ,believe me1--nay1 rather judge it for yourself--great things are coming on apace3 things which will make men's course plain before their face1 without their being over-forward to decide them in isolation for themselves by the mere act of their private judgment2 and perchance if we may but be wisely guided1 and have patience to endure1 we may both come out ourselves 8as silver purified seven times in the fire10 and be the means1 though all unworthy1 to unite ,christendom again in one4 ,oh6 what heart can exaggerate the beauty with which our ,church shall again shine forth1 if she can retain the good that is in her and discard the evil6 ,how nobly will then appear the characteristic virtues of the ,english mind2--its love of honesty and truth2--its conscientiousness and repudiation of pious frauds2--its loathing disbelief in the avail of expiation of sin by mere formal observances1 the sinner remaining unrepentant all the while6 ,if these qualities may be fostered1 and its characteristic vices2--its arrogancy and pride2--its unbounded reliance upon itself1 and the miserably ignorant as well as utterly destructive habit and abuse of private judgment3 therefore its refusal of ,catholic teaching1 and practical denial of sacramental grace2 if these can be eradicated1 how fairly indeed shall the ,church of ,england shine forth once more1 as 8clothed in white raiment10 as able 8to save alive the souls0 committed to her1 as 8the ransomed0 and 8well-beloved0 of the ,lord6 8as a fountain of gardens1 a well of living waters1 and streams from ,lebanon40 ,but for this 7though we know ,god needeth no man's help1 and can spare whom he pleaseth1 and his work not the less be done1 and his counsel stand17 yet we seem to be able to spare no man from our ranks who has ever fought upon our side4 ,oh6 7with a breaking heart1 one is almost tempted to exclaim37 ,oh6 that we could but have with us now1 all those who in these last five or ten years have 8lost patience0 in our camp4 ,what with them1 could they be restored to us1 might we not seem ready to attain1 even against all the 8principalities and powers0 that latitudinarian indifference or infidel philosophy may array against us8 ,but1 ,i may not indulge in such longings4 ,i may not ask1 nor think of1 nor hope1 even your return4 ,i do not ask it1 for ,i know it is a thing you may not grant for asking4 ,i will not think of it1 for 8vain are the thoughts of man60 ,i will not even hope it2 for why should 8the heart be made sick10 when so much work is to be done4 ,but ,i may and will pray for it1 if it be ,his gracious will1 who is able to give more than we know how either to ask or to think1 8whose way is in the sea1 and whose paths in the great waters1 and whose footsteps are not known40 ,believe me1 my dear ,maskell1 yours1 though in sorrow1 still in affection1 ,,mayow ,,wynell ,,mayow4 ,,appendices4 ,a4 p4 #ae4 ,,it should be observed1 that as to the point of encouragement to 8patient waiting10 ,i have in the text much understated the force of the argument to be drawn from the ecclesiastical history of the fourth century1 inasmuch as even after the ,council of ,nicea1 there were fresh troubles and disturbances upon the same doctrine1 which were not settled for more than fifty years4 ,to use ,mr4 ,keble's words 7on ,july #bcrd71 8,the ,church waited till the ,council of ,constantinople1 ,a4,d4 #cha1 under all sorts of interruptions and anomalies1 charges of heresy1 and breaking of communion40 ,my purpose1 however1 in referring to that period of history being chiefly to point to the ,nicene ,creed as an instance of a declaratory act1 explanatory of the ,apostles'1 ,i did not think it necessary to pursue the matter further than ,a4,d4 #cbe4 ,b4 p4 #bb4 8,,it is plain that the meaning of a mute document1 if it be tied to follow the utterance of a living voice1 which shall claim the supreme right of interpretation1 must vary with its living expositor40--,,manning',s ,rule of ,faith1 7#ahch74 ,app4 p4 #he4 8,but neither can it be admitted that if the justification of the reformers is to rest on such grounds as the foregoing1 their reputation can owe thanks to those who would now persuade the ,church to acquiesce in a disgraceful servitude1 and to surrender to the organs of the secular power the solemn charge which she has received from ,christ1 to feed his sheep and his lambs3 for the real feeder of those sheep1 and those lambs1 is the power that determines the doctrine with which they shall be fed4 ,whether that determination shall profess to be drawn straight from the depths of the mine of revealed truth1 or whether it shall assume the more dangerous and seductive title of construction only2 of a license of construction which disclaims the creation1 the declaration1 or the decision of doctrine1 but which simultaneously with that disclaimer has marked out for itself a range of discretion which has already enabled it to cancel all binding power in one of the articles of the faith1 and will hereafter as certainly enable it to cancel the binding power of all those which the first fell swoop has failed to touch40--,letter to the ,lord ,bishop of ,london1 by the ,right ,hon4 ,w4 ,e4 ,gladstone1 ,m4,p4 p4 #fj4 ,see also ,archdeacon ,manning's recent letter to the ,bishop of ,chichester1 where the same subject is again treated in the most convincing manner1 pp4 #ce1 #cg4 ,c4 p4 #cd4 ,,it will immediately occur to the reader that this particular point as to the burial service1 as well as many others here touched upon1 have been already handled in the most masterly way by the ,bishop of ,exeter1 in his letter to the ,primate4 ,i suppose ,i hardly need say ,i have entertained no so absurd notion as that ,i could surreptitiously plagiarize from such a source2 but ,i may perhaps be allowed to explain1 that ,i should not have ventured upon the same ground at all1 had it not been for a further object in my remarks than that which appears to have been most prominently before his ,lordship's mind in writing4 ,i have been concerned in my particular argument1 not so much to clear our services from being supposed to require the 8charitable construction0 asserted by the ,privy ,council1 as to draw out in somewhat greater detail the points which show the marvellous inapprehensiveness 7as it appears to me7 displayed by the ,court on the whole subject-matter with which they had to deal4 ,d4 p4 #ce4 8,,the question must be decided10 says the ,court1 7,judgment1 p4 #i17 8by the articles and liturgy1 and we must apply to the construction of those books the same rules which have long been established1 and are by law applicable to the construction of all written instruments4 ,we must by no means intentionally swerve from the old established rules of construction1 or depart from the principles which have received the sanction and approbation of the most learned persons in time past1 as being on the whole1 the best calculated to determine the true meaning of the documents to be examined40 ,it may be worth while1 in reference to their treatment1 especially of the office for private baptism1 to append here a few words of the rule of construction as laid down by ,blackstone4 8,the construction shall be upon the entire deed1 and not merely upon disjointed parts of it1 so that every part1 if possible1 shall take effect1 and no word but what may operate in one shape or another40 7,comm4 ii4 #cgi47 ,it is manifest there was no impossibility1 nay1 no difficulty1 in such a construction of the office for private baptism as should allow 8every part0 to 8take effect20 such also that there might be 8no word but what should operate10 so far as merely making that service agree with the other2 the only difficulty was to give every word its effect1 if both were to lead to a particular conclusion4 ,e4 p4 #df4 ,,on a matter of so grave a character as that referred to in this place it seems necessary to give at rather more length that part of ,lord ,denman's judgment 7in the case of ,dr4 ,hampden in the ,queen's ,bench7 delivered on the #ast of ,february1 #ahdh1 which states his reasons for refusing to let the writ issue1 when two of the judges of his court were in favour of doing so4 8,now comes the question which presses most on my mind4 ,having stated my reasons for the opinion which ,i deliberately form1 and conscientiously entertain that this has never been at any time the law in the ,church of ,england1 ,i must be of opinion that the court ought to refuse the writ of mandamus2 but upon that opinion ,i have had the greatest difficulty1 and have felt the greatest possible hesitation in acting1 because ,i feel the authority of my two learned brothers1 and the ungracious appearance of refusing the opportunity of inquiry4 ,in any ordinary set of circumstances1 in the case of an inclosure1 of a railway1 or matter of property1 we should have no question what ever that the doubt of any one on the bench would have made further inquiry desirable4 ,i should have instantly agreed4 ,a writ of error would lie in that case to correct any opinion that might be shown on more discussion to be erroneous4 ,but every judge must act on his own conviction4 ,i own that my opinion is so entirely settled1 and1 ,i must say1 so entirely unchanged by what ,i have heard of the argument to-day1 that feeling the utmost disposition to do all that can be done to show my respect for my learned brothers1 ,i do not think that ,i can consent to say for my part that this writ ought to go4 ,i think it ought not4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i am satisfied that the only effect would be to keep alive the dreadful agitation and frightful state of religious1 or rather1 let me say1 theological animosity1 which it is impossible not to observe in this country4 ,there would be a delay of at least two years2 probably four more days would be consumed in argument1 and we cannot tell how much more when it would come into the court of error4 ,the bishopric all that time would be vacant1 perhaps other vacancies might occur1 and no doubt the example here set would be followed2 and in every case ,i should expect1 in the excited state of men's minds1 that the archbishop would be called upon to summon all mankind1 to hear whether they had anything to say against the bishop elect1 and to open a court1 that would probably never be closed40 99 99 99 99 99 8,now1 under all these considerations1 feeling the utmost respect for my learned brethren1 and the greatest regret that we do not take the same view1 ,i must own that ,i feel some deference is due also to the high person who is named as the defendant in this rule4 ,some deference is due to those who certify the fitness of ,bishop ,hampden for the office to which he is elected4 ,still more deference is due to the peace of the ,church1 and to the tranquillity of the ,state4 ,it seems to me that we should be putting every thing to hazard and leading to consequences which it is impossible to foresee1 if we1 who are firmly convinced that there is no such law as that upon which these parties seek to act1 encouraged the smallest doubt as to its existence4 ,reserving my opinion on that point till ,i had heard all the observations of my learned brothers1 and keeping my mind open to the last1 and free to say that this is a question which ought to be discussed1 ,i must fairly say1 with all respect for my brother ,coleridge's admirable argument1 that it has confirmed me in the opinion of the danger of exposing the ,act of ,parliament1 and the most simple construction of the plainest language1 and the most inveterate and universal opinion on its effect1 to the speculations of those who will bring their forgotten books down1 and wipe off the cobwebs from decretals and canons1 before they can find one argument for disturbing the settled practice of three hundred years4 8,in my opinion this rule ought to be discharged40--,rule discharged4 ,lord ,denman's ,judgment in the ,hampden case4 ,report1 by ,r4 ,jebb1 ,esq4 pp4 #die1 #dif4 ,i have no doubt at all1 that the honest conviction of the ,lord ,chief ,justice was1 that his view of the law was the sound one2 nor any1 that he thought he was doing rightly in using his power to refuse the writ2 but there can be no doubt on the other hand 7for he explicitly avows it7 that the reasons upon which he arrived at such conclusion1 and reversed the universal practice not only of his own court but of every court in ,westminster ,hall1 were a calculation of consequences1 and a regard to future contingencies1 as they seemed dangerous or advantageous to his eye3 and this is precisely the point of view in which ,i have desired to lay the matter before my readers in the body of my letter4 ,it will be observed that in nothing which ,i have here said am ,i impugning ,lord ,denman's ,law1 or giving any opinion as to the soundness of his view of the matter then in question before the ,court of ,queen's ,bench4 ,i appeal not to any matter of opinion1 but to matter of fact2 to the incontestible fact1 that all the precedents of that and every other court of law in this country for a very long period1 were set aside by his ,lordship on that occasion4 ,i give no opinion at all1 save that to do such a thing upon a ground of expediency1 applying1 as it appeared to him1 to the individual case1 was a course calculated to shake persons' confidence in the administration of the law in cases where the ,church is affected4 ,let no man therefore say1 8,what are you1 to set up your opinion against the ,chief ,justice of the ,queen's ,bench80 ,i say1 again1 ,i set up no opinion1 ,i appeal to no matter of opinion at all1 but to the undisputed matter of fact1 that the usage of the court was at any rate so set aside and set at naught4 ,f4 p4 #dh4 ,i ,,cannot refrain from quoting here a few lines from the very able speech of the ,chairman of the ,meeting of ,july #bc1 so singularly apposite and illustrative do they seem to me of this passage in my letter written some time previously4 8,an instinctive reverence for the law1 and a well-founded confidence in the judges of our land exclude from the minds of some men even the thought of questioning the propriety of this judgment0--7i4e4 of the ,committee of ,privy ,council74 8,it is painful to shock this natural sentiment--but when such grave interests are at stake1 we must not allow them to escape the responsibility to which they are summoned40--,speech of ,j4 ,g4 ,hubbard1 ,esq4 at ,st4 ,martin's ,hall1 ,july #bc1 #ahej4 ,g4 p4 #ga4 ,i ,,am aware it may be said this act 7#a ,elizabeth1 c4 #a7 was repealed when the ,high ,commission ,court was abolished2 but it has been held1 ,i believe by ,lord ,coke 7,i know ,i have lately seen it referred to1 though ,i have not marked the reference17 that though no longer binding as law1 it would be accounted probably of some authority to show the mind in which law would deal with heresy1 and as a guide to a judge in any such matter4 ,add to which1 this law indicating what was1 at any rate1 and at the least1 to be adjudged heresy was restrictive1 not augmentative of the offence4 ,even so1 as we see1 it allowed the authority of those first four general councils1 and therefore by its enactment is a special witness for their reception by the ,english law4 ,and its repeal by no means destroys the force of this argument in their favour1 because the law itself having been1 as ,i have said1 restrictive1 and no other act being passed upon its repeal to limit again the judgment of the courts1 they would revert at once to the former rule1 and the ,church gain instead of losing by the proceeding4 ,in other words1 the statute 7#a ,eliz4 c4 #a7 shows what at all events the law1 when most bent upon restriction1 acknowledged as to those general councils1 whilst its repeal only removes a limitation1 and restores things again to their ancient footing4 ,this is well stated in the following extract3-- 8,our church law acknowledges many other heresies besides those which were condemned by the four first cumenical councils4 ,the clause in #a ,eliz4 c4 #a1 which ,i quoted as the least stringent measure of heresy ever allowed among us1 was repealed when the court which was restrained by it 7the ,high ,commission ,court7 was abolished2 and now1 whatever was heresy before the reformation is still heresy1 7by #be ,hen4 #h1 c4 #ai1 s4 #g17 unless there have been special enactment to the contrary4 ,now there can be no question that the ,african canons were in force here before the reformation2 for1 whether received at ,chalcedon or no1 they had been severally received by the whole ,church1 both east and west4 ,therefore it still remains to be proved1 #8that a bishop or archbishop1 acting on the late decision1 will not involve in direct heresy both himself and eventually all in communion with him1' by the very law of the ,church as at present existing40--,letter1 ,j4 ,k4 ,guardian1 ,may #ast4 #ahej4 ,h4 p4 #abh4 ,i ,,will venture to print in this place1 as illustrative of several points touched upon in the preceding letter1 and as showing that many of the views there set forth have not been of recent growth1 or merely taken up as the readiest expedients to suit an emergency1 part of a sermon preached 7in my turn1 as ,master of ,arts7 before the ,university of ,oxford4 ,the sermon was preached upon ,st4 ,barnabas' day1 #ahde4 ,the early part1 of which ,i do not here print more than a few sentences1 was occupied with some considerations relating more immediately to the particular festival1 and to the thoughts suggested as to conduct under ministerial discouragements by the 8sharp contention0 between ,barnabas and ,paul4 ,the latter part is taken up more directly with general topics1 as to our own difficulties and trials1 and with some mention of the hope of a remedy by means of a general council4 ,these few remarks will sufficiently introduce the extract which follows4 8,ye have need of patience40 ,hebrews x4 #cf1 former part4 ,,patience would be unnecessary if there were no trial3 consolation would be out of place if there were no affliction4 ,without these1 8the son of consolation0 would not have found his office1 nor received his distinctive name1 in being added to the number of the apostles4 ,but ,he who knew that he came1 8not to send peace1 but a sword20 whose advent was marked with blood1 and his very birth1 though it were 8glad tidings of great joy which should be to all people10 yet gave occasion for the voice of 8lamentation1 and weeping1 and great mourning20 whose own end was even of a piece with this beginning1 when ,he had 8blood sprinkled upon his garments10 and all his 8raiment stained0 therewith2 the intermediate time1 too1 of whose mortal life was one of such hardship and privation that ,he had 8not where to lay his head20 ,he who foretold that if men called 8the ,master of the house ,beelzebub1 much more would they so call them of the household20 who warned his disciples that they should be 8as their ,master10 and promised them that they should indeed 8drink of his cup1 and be baptized with his baptism20 ,,he did not fail to supply grace and consolation2 a fitting and sufficient ,paraclete for the nature which was thus to be tried1 and the circumstances which should try it4 ,and though1 in the only full and perfect sense1 the ,,holy ,,ghost is the ,,comforter1 and that divine ,,paraclete2 yet also in a true1 though inferior sense1 as an instrument to the same end1 such as the ever-blessed ,son of ,god saw to be needed1 it was appointed there should be one1 even called by the same name1 8a son of consolation10 in that ,joses1 surnamed by the ,apostles1 ,barnabas4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but here ,i would extend our subject1 and come more particularly to consider some of the trials and discouragements which we 7weak and unworthy followers of the holy apostles7 meet with in our ministry4 8,ye have need of patience10 says the apostle4 ,let me then speak to-day1 brethren1 upon some of those trials and discouragements which beset the ,church 8in these last days when perilous times have come40 ,it is far too wide and large a subject to be fully treated of4 ,i shall but touch on one or two points as ,i have found their pressure1 and in so doing shall speak familiarly of the parochial charge4 ,now we know well that a distinctive character of the ,church's teaching is this1 that she instructs her members that ,god's grace1 and therefore salvation1 is not given 7as we may say7 at random1 and by a mere inner motion of each man's heart or mind2 that our grafting into ,christ1 and our growth in ,christian stature and grace 7,i mean1 of course1 according to ,god's ordinary mode of dealing with us1 which is what only we have practically to consider27 that these blessings are not given according to a mere inner motion of each man's heart or mind1 but that 7of ,god's will and commandment1 and for our good7 they are1 ,i say1 in ordinary rule1 linked and tied to ordinances3 to a certain method of bestowal1 and a certain method of reception2 to his ,church1 and to the ministry of his word and sacraments4 ,in other words1 he saves us1 not after a manner of each man's own heart's devising1 but by covenant4 ,if we would have his promises and his grace1 we must seek them in the way of1 and according to the terms of that covenant4 ,so it is1 we must teach2 8,except any one be born of water and of the ,spirit1 he cannot enter into the kingdom of ,god40 ,by the terms of the covenant3 no promise of salvation to the unbaptized6 ,again3 8,except ye eat the flesh of the ,son of ,man1 and drink his blood1 ye have no life in you40 ,no promise of salvation to the non-communicant6 ,again3 8,whosesoever sins ye remit1 they are remitted unto them2 and whosesoever sins ye retain1 they are retained20 and1 8,he that despiseth you1 despiseth me1 and he that despiseth me1 despiseth him that sent me40 ,no warrant1 then1 to any one to think he has a share in the gospel covenant1 if he despise ,god's ministry1 and forsake his ,church4 ,without these1 where are the valid sacraments8 ,without these1 where are the channels of saving grace8 ,without these1 where are the sure promises of the covenant8 ,alas6 for the hardness of heart and unbelief of this our day1 and this our country6 ,are such indeed ,god's ways8 are such his words8 are such his works8 7,yea1 8,he worketh1 and no man regardeth407 ,but is it not written 7let us fear1 lest it be for us71 8,behold1 ye despisers1 and wonder1 and perish3 for ,i work a work in your days1 a work which ye shall in no wise believe1 though a man declare it unto you80 ,if ,god indeed be strict with the despisers1--with those who deride the power of his sacraments1 and their necessity1--how shall we abide it8 ,if he come1 and make inquisition with us of our faith1 and question with us of our unbelief1 shall not some one take up his parable against us as a nation1 and say1 8,alas6 who shall live when ,god doeth this80 ,for indeed and in truth1 if this be truth touching the nature of ,god's covenant1 who are there among us that believe it8 8,who hath believed our report1 and to whom is the arm of the ,lord revealed80 ,to a scanty few1 ,i fear6 ,surely1 comparatively to no more2 even among those who have been baptized into the ,church1 and received the ,church's teaching4 ,let any man try seriously any approach1 7which is all ,i profess to have tried17 any approach to the dealing with a parish upon the belief and system1 that of those who are not partakers of the sacraments of the ,church--of those who1 though baptized1 are not communicants1 we have no right to hope1 according to the terms of the ,gospel covenant2 and not only how arduous and discouraging a work will he find before him1 from the practical neglect of these things1 but how direct and open-mouthed will be the opposition of many1 and how utter the disbelief of how many more1 ay1 even among such as call themselves members of the ,church4 ,alas6 the truth is1 7let me say it1 however sad1 however startling6 it may be useful17 the real truth is1 that the belief of there being a ,,one ,,holy1 ,,catholic1 ,,and ,,apostolic ,,church1 is almost gone from among us6 ,the belief in ,,one ,,baptism ,,for ,,the ,,remission ,,of ,,sins1 is almost gone from among us6 ,the belief in the ,,real ,,power ,,of ,,the ,,sacraments is almost gone from among us6 ,the belief of there being ,,any ,,christian ,,priesthood1 and any value in it1 as such1 is almost1 7nay1 among the mass17 quite gone from among us6 ,alas6 how many of our people do not believe these things2 will not endure them to be said2 will risk their souls upon the chance of their being false2 will sooner condemn the 8quod semper1 quod ubique1 quod ob omnibus0 of the ,church for #aejj years1 as an idle fable1 than give the least reception into their hearts of such doctrines4 ,and alas6 even among us ourselves1 the ,christian ministry1 there is1 as men phrase it1 difference of opinion4 ,instead of unity of sentiment1 7rather1 we should say1 the one faith1 once delivered17 there is 8contention so sharp0 that we all but depart1 or do 8depart one from the other30 and this gives the most frequent occasion both for enemies to blaspheme1 and for the ignorant to be bewildered4 ,instead of our ,church 7i4e4 by her ministers1 and in her practical teaching3 ,i speak not of her formularies17 with one mind and one mouth glorifying ,god1 these bring railing accusation the one against the other2 and that speaks well-nigh the language of ,babel3 and the consequence is1 as might be expected1 the lay people1 if pressed with the ,church's doctrines1 and the neglect of the ,church's commands1 7which are ,christ's7 find1 of course1 an easy solution of their difficulty by observing that many clergymen think otherwise1 and attach no importance to these views1 7as they call them7 either wholly neglecting them1 or even speaking against them4 ,and if a man thus pressed with the objection of diversity of opinion now-a-days1 and at home1 appeal to the concordant sense of the early ,church1 and to the even now united and distinct voice of separate branches of the ,church1 on such points as the nature and power of the ,christian priesthood1 and ,christian sacraments3 the distinct voice1 ,i say1 of all the ,church1 except ourselves1 7for our's1 surely1 practically in expression as heard among us1 is uncertain and confused1 though in itself it really have and bear the ,catholic meaning17 if any one thus appeal to the voice of the ,church at large on such points2 a voice in some respects a more sure witness1 as coming from those who are not agreed among themselves in others1 what happens but the immediate cry of how many8 8,the man is false1 and falleth away to the ,chaldans40 ,thus the truth is stifled and borne down by clamour1 and the authority of the ,church is yet more set at nought1 neglected1 and despised4 ,many of those too1 it is to be feared1 who really are sound and orthodox upon the doctrines themselves1 have yet been too fearful of stating the truth plainly1 dreading the gainsaying of the multitude1 or else the imputation of magnifying themselves1 if they should endeavour to 8magnify their office40 ,nor1 ,i suppose1 will any man maintain 7not ,i myself of myself1 ,god knoweth17 that he has kept clear of such offence1 though he may have tried somewhat where his lot has been cast1 to make these doctrines of the ,church and sacraments1 and salvation by the terms of a covenant1 not according to each man's private feeling1 or each man's private judgment1 the basis on which to give the knowledge that might 8make wise unto salvation40 ,yet who will dare to say other than that he has failed grievously1 and fallen short miserably1 both in the due development of such views1 and in the effects which they are intended to produce3 partly1 no doubt1 from his own deficiencies1 but partly it may be also from lack of those weapons to carry on the warfare with which the ,church intended to supply her soldiers2 but which1 alas6 we are hardly allowed to wield6 ,for1 let us notice next1 the most serious loss the ,church sustains in the almost total suspension of her discipline1 of her power of inflicting censures4 ,surely it is not wholly our people's fault that they do not know the sinfulness of sin2 nor our ministers' fault that they cannot make them believe it1 when the weapon with which they should smite they are obliged to leave rusting in the scabbard1 and the pen with which they should write on a man's forehead the penalty of his sin1 7that he is excluded from the house of ,god1 and cut off from ,christian brotherhood17 is cast aside1 and never used4 ,our people sin1 and no note is taken of it6 ,our people sin1 and the ,church does not bear her witness against them6 first1 of private rebuke1 next of openly censuring1 and lastly of exclusion from her worship and sacraments1 including herein 7what would be a plain mark also for the living to see17 the refusing burial to those who refuse to seek reconciliation with her4 ,she almost abdicates1 as it were1 her office of binding and loosing1 and shall we wonder that men know not or care not whether they are bond or free8 or1 that with all ease and security they consider they are all free1 though committing sin1 which1 in any period of effective discipline1 would have received the solemn warning and most sure witness to its sinfulness1 of excommunication4 ,and how again1 ,i say1 does this work upon our familiar intercourse and daily teaching1 and attempts to make our people believe the ,church's doctrines8 ,they regard not what we say1 because we act as though we did not ourselves believe it4 ,those who would be excommunicate1 were the canons but in half their measure carried out1 who die perchance in open schism1 or other notorious sin1 have yet claimed for them the offices of the ,church in their burial1 and so1 receiving these1 the great witness of the ,church against such courses of living1 is rendered nugatory1 or even worse4 ,she even seems to witness for them4 ,how1 then1 shall the mass of the careless and self-willed1 be persuaded the ,church thinks ill of the state in which those have lived1 who have received no public censure1 who have made their claim1 and had it1 at least passively allowed1 to be buried1 as her faithful children8 ,further still1 regard this lack of discipline1 as it affects the obedience of the people to the ,church's voice1 if she speak1 or were to speak again1 with her just authority4 ,who supposes that any real heed would be given to a censure of the ,church1 declaring such or such a man to be 8rightly cut off0 from its fellowship1 8and excommunicate10 so that he 8ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as an heathen man1 and a publican1 until he be openly reconciled by penance80 ,who1 ,i say1 supposes that such a sentence would now be regarded8 ,are such indeed regarded when rarely they do occur8 ,or1 again1 look at the state of things among us1 as to the confession of sin2 ,i speak not of regular systematic confession2 nor of self-sought confessions on the part of a disturbed and awakened mind1 with the view to the benefit of absolution1 together with ghostly counsel and advice2 but merely with regard to such points as the ,christian priest feels it often necessary to enquire into1 lest a man wholly forget his sins1 and so1 wholly forget to repent of them4 ,what is the awful result at which we arrive here also4 ,why1 so entirely are people unused to be charged with their sins2 so entirely are they accustomed to be let remember what they please1 and let forget what they please1 that they are only too apt consider all such helps to self-examination 7,i mean when it comes to particulars7 to be an unwarrantable intrusion3 at least this would be so1 were the thing much attempted3 and at any rate1 so wholly are they used to justify themselves1 and bent upon doing it1 and determined to do it1 that it sometimes requires the greatest caution and circumspection before we can believe even a dying man's account of his previous life4 ,men will confess indeed what is notorious2 what they know is known2 but where they think a matter hidden1 there they will deceive4 ,alas6 ,i fear1 people will speak untruly1 even when spoken to most solemnly on such points4 ,they will speak untruly to ,god's minister4 ,they will speak untruly to him on their sick bed4 ,they will speak untruly even on their death-bed4 ,they will speak untruly1 ,i fear1 even when they know it is their death-bed4 ,they will desire to receive the ,holy ,communion1 without having spoken the truth1 but whilst persisting in their lie4 ,i do not say such extreme things are common1 or wholly attributable to any condition of want of discipline1 but ,i am certain they exist1 and ,i do fear they are much owing to our having no system of discipline1 by which in health1 persons are made aware1 that the priest of ,god is in any wise to be had recourse to1 as an adviser1 and ghostly counseller1 or that he has any thing to do with their sins1 or practically with the mode of remitting them in the name of ,god4 ,so the fear and shame attendant on speaking to any one whom they have never considered in his true relation to their sin1 and to their souls1 and with whom1 it may be1 they have always had the natural desire to stand well1 as with other respectable persons in their parish2 these things overpower all other considerations1 even in sickness and in death2 and we not only very scantily attain to true accounts1 but have hardly even the power to keep back from communion those who we may feel sure are thus attempting to deceive us4 ,now ,i think it is plain1 these defects rest not entirely 7surely we may say1 not chiefly7 on individuals4 ,what is1 as a nation1 our great reproach1 is1 as individuals1 our best excuse4 ,the fault lies in our system3 in that practically worked and working system which we have among us4 ,we have well-nigh no weapons to fight with--and we wonder that we gain no victory4 ,we have no means to make people believe the ,church system1 as it exists in theory1 is true1 or is important1 and we wonder men neglect the sacraments4 ,we cannot grapple with the wants of our people2--hardly with the cravings of the earnest-minded on the one hand1 and not at all adequately with the mass of irreligion1 infidelity1 and schismatical proceeding on the other4 ,these are but a few thoughts1 on a small part1 of a most large and painful subject4 ,but truly1 8enough10 it may be said1 8we have of ministerial trials and discouragements4 ,every one knows it4 ,to what end then1 merely to enumerate1 and bewail them8 ,where1 rather is the remedy2 and what is the drift of these observations80 ,i will very briefly address myself to this point1 before ,i conclude4 ,first1 then1 surely1 these things being so3 it is well to know them4 ,if they are so1 we have need of patience1 but surely we have need also of fear4 ,in the days of ,jehoiachim1 ,king of ,judah1 when iniquity abounded1 and wickedness came to that pass1 that the ,word of the ,prophet's ,roll1 was not honoured1 but 8cut with the penknife10 and 8burned in the fire10 what was even the additional sign of the hardness of heart then prevailing8 ,when this was done1 8yet they were not afraid1 nor rent their garments3 neither the king1 nor any of his servants that heard all these words40 ,the utmost that was done was only this3--that 8,elnathan1 and ,delaiah1 and ,gemariah1 made intercession to the king1 that he would not burn the ,roll1 but he would not hear them40 ,and1 if now in our day our evil state be such1 that1 as ,i have said1 if we do not discard1 yet we much disbelieve ,god's teaching2 following any teacher of heresy or schism1 whom we please1 or following just the rule of our own private spirits2 if thus doing1 we have lost practically from among us1 that is1 from among the great bulk of our people1 the belief of there being any ,christian priesthood3 the true doctrine of the nature1 power1 and importance of the sacraments3 7,i speak not of places where1 under peculiarly advantageous circumstances1 ,catholic truth has been more closely brought home1 but of the general state1 if you 8numbered the people0 throughout the land1 in our dense city populations and crowded manufacturing towns2 nay1 in our wild rural districts and sequestered villages also17 if throughout the country generally our evil state be such1 that not one in a hundred of our population ever dreams of coming to communion2 if1 again1 when we1 as ,god's ministers2 press upon them their duties1 and privileges in such matters1 speaking plainly1 boldly1 and without circumlocution the ,church's language2 if then 8bye and bye they are offended20 if1 being offended1 they will1 as it were1 excommunicate themselves1 and think nothing of it2 if1 indeed1 we seem to be living especially in that time and place where men 8will not endure sound doctrine10 surely there is need of fear6 yet1 for all this1 where are our fears8 where are our lamentations8 where are the signs of our repentings6 ,nay1 on the contrary1 we have not feared2 we have not mourned2 we have not humbled ourselves2 rather we have boasted1 and been puffed up1 as if we were better than our neighbours6 ,oh6 ,i ask again1 where indeed are our prayers2 where our sorrows2 where our fastings1 for the sin and misery of our state8 ,where are our 8supplications offered up with strong cryings and tears unto him that is able to save us10 with the hope 8that we may be heard in that we fear40 8,mine eye runneth down with rivers of water10 says the prophet1 8for the destruction of the daughter of my people40 8,oh6 that my head were waters10 he says again1 8and mine eyes a fountain of tears1 that ,i might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people40 ,but1 alas6 is it so with us8 ,rather is it not--that we are not humbled3 we are not ashamed3 we are not alarmed4 ,we are in evil case1 but we see it not4 ,we are in awful blindness2 and yet so blinded1 we find not our want of eyes4 ,we are dull and heavy with sleep1 yet so inapprehensive1 that we think ourselves in light and vigour3 we cannot see the signs of woe1 nor hear the sounds of warning6 ,and where are our means or hope of our remedy8 ,the remedy for such a state of things8 ,surely1 if any where1 first1 in being awakened1 next in humiliation1 and then in patience4 ,we 8have need of patience10 and all other things will fail without it4 ,but with humility1 and with patience there may be hope2 8a hope that maketh not ashamed40 ,oh6 if we seek ,god rightly1 8surely there must be hope in thine end1 that thy children shall come again to their own border10 as saith the prophet4 ,if ,i humbly may1 without going through other hopes1 or ways of remedy1 however nearer1 more immediate1 and more depending upon ourselves1 7such for instance as the remedies that might come from the godly gathering together again of the ,church's ,national ,synod72 without dwelling upon such topics1 ,i will direct your thoughts to one source of consolation and hope of remedy yet wider1 more general1 and more complete2 more powerful and direct 7if ever it please ,god to grant it us7 than any other means1 to salve our wounds1 and restore the efficiency of our ,church's working for the salvation of souls4 ,surely there may be hope to heal our distractions1 and to restore true faith and doctrine among us1 7nay1 even to do more than this17 by a general council of the ,church1 if it please ,god to allow such to be again assembled4 ,i know not what should forbid the hope4 ,a general council of ,christendom1 ,east and ,west together might do such things for us1 that 8then should our mouth be filled with laughter1 and our tongue with joy20 till it should 8be told out among the heathen1 the ,lord hath done great things for them whereof they may0 well 8rejoice40 ,why should we not pray1 and hope1 that universal ,christendom might meet again in council4 ,i do not mean now1 at once4 ,i fear we are not fit for such a council1 if it came4 ,we should refuse to submit to it4 ,we should despise its authority2 and too probably1 at once repudiate its decrees4 ,if it were to come so1 and we so to receive it1 we might only be filling up the measure of our iniquity4 ,but1 if we prepare for it1 ,god may give it us1 when we can receive it in a better temper4 ,if we prepare for it1 hoping for it1 longing for it1 and being ready to submit rightly1 and give due weight to it1 ,god may make it our remedy1 and the healing of all our distractions1 heart-burnings1 and disorders4 ,we may become again a united people among ourselves3 or even if all the nation will not be re-absorbed into the ,church1 yet we who are of the ,church may be again of one mind1 and re-union in ,christendom might follow6 ,oh6 if this were so indeed1 8who should express the noble acts of the ,lord1 or shew forth all his praise80 8,then10 indeed1 8should the earth bring forth her increase1 and ,god1 even our own ,god should give us his blessing4 ,god should bless us1 and all the ends of the world should fear him60 ,oh6 then1 let him who would deserve well of the ,church of ,england1 pray yet for such a day2 and set forward constantly and continually the mind and temper which shall first long for1 and next be prepared for1 such a council4 ,the temper which would not presumptuously reject1 but gladly accept such appeal to smooth our differences and sharp contentions1 is perhaps our best defence against the danger1 or the charge of schism2 and when we are in such a mind1 let us not fear1 but rather let us humbly hope1 that the general council will come4 ,nay1 be not impatient3 be content to wait for years upon years1 seeking to grow towards it1 in love1 and preparation for it4 ,perchance it would be of the ,lord1 even were it now ordered by authority that one day weekly1 besides the ,church's continued rule of a weekly fast1 should be set apart2 7and gladly by many would it be observed7 as a day of humiliation1 and of prayer3 if it were appointed1 for seven1 for fourteen1 nay1 for forty years1 7it may be needful a generation should pass away1 as was the case in those that came up out of ,egypt27 whilst we earnestly continued to supplicate and beseech our ,god that it might please him thus to grant us peace and consolation3 that what we lack might be restored to us1 even 8the years which the locust1 and the caterpillar1 and the canker-worm have eaten20 a renewed strength1 a good courage1 a sound discipline1 a believing heart2 surely all things are possible with him1 8,he bloweth with his wind1 and the waters flow40 ,to ,,him let us pray1 and in ,,him let us trust1 who can 8renew our strength as eagles30 who is 8mighty to save30 8who only doeth wondrous things30 who can 8make a way under us for to go10 even when there seemeth no path1 and disentangle all the knots1 even of men's evil hearts1 and evil passions4 ,but 8we have need of patience40 8,let us run with patience the race that is set before us40 8,in our patience possess we our souls40 ,in this spirit1 therefore1 let us then thank ,god1 and hope in ,god1 and proceed upon our way6 99 99 99 99 99 ,,finis4 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,c4 ,whittingham1 ,chiswick4 ,,footnotes4 #f ,second ,letter1 p4 #d4 #h ,the above was written several weeks before ,mr4 ,maskell took the final step which he has since taken4 ,possibly many will point to this1 and wonder at my blind credulity1 as it will seem to them4 ,but1 ,i neither cancel1 nor wish to cancel1 any part of my remarks4 ,all ,i will venture to do1 is to add 7and ,i trust ,i shall have ,mr4 ,maskell's forgiveness1 under these peculiar circumstances1 for quoting from a private letter7 one or two extracts which may perhaps help to justify what ,i have said1 and do him at the same time no wrong4 ,in a letter to me1 bearing date1 8,easter ,eve1 #ahej10 not long before the publication of the 8,second ,letter10 he says--8,i wish1 for my own present comfort1 that ,i had your now faith1 hope1 trust and determination2 but ,i have not--yet let me think that we may yet be1 as we ever have been1 true friends2 you will not repudiate me1 even if ,i do find that for a while we must be separate in communion2 for you will know1 surely1 that ,i am not one who #8would change his faith like a garment unsuited to the clime in which he dwells4' 4 4 4 ,all this is sad enough--sad for it will break up many ties near and very dear4 4 4 4 ,well6 it is ,god's will--now one1 now another2 here a few2 there many3 as ,he sees fit1 so ,he calls1 and so we ought to obey4 4 4 4 ,i am very1 very sad3 sad especially1 because of seeming to desert and forsake one acting so nobly and so bravely as my ,bishop4 ,he has no doubt about the ,church of ,england3 yet ,i know that1 at whatever cost and pain1 ,god's truth alone must be fought for4 ,yet for all this1 do not conclude that ,i have decided3--only1 you will be prepared to know that the first step has been taken1 ,i mean resignation--and with it my second letter4 4 4 4 ,pray do not judge me harshly4 4 4 4 ,what an ,easter6 yet one day there will be the rising of the morning of the resurrection3 may ,god grant to you and me1 and all whom we love1 so to do our duty here towards him1 and to his ,church1 and to the faith1 that we may be glad to look upon the brightness of those beams4 ,here all seems trouble and anxiety and fear2 sorrows1 and regret1 and parting4 ,i have had sorrows before this3 scarcely any1 nay ,,none1 7can it be true87 more bitter4 ,there is now responsibility2 before1 endurance only4 ,god ever bless you1 my dear ,friend1 ever yours affectionately--,w4 ,m40 ,and in a letter somewhat later1 written ,i believe on my first intimating my intention to publish a second letter to him3 he says--8,clear up these doubts2 not one or two1 but generally the subject of the dogmatic teaching2 say1 especially1 with reference to justification and the ,holy ,eucharist1 and no man will bless you more fervently than ,i shall40 ,those who do not know ,mr4 ,maskell may judge him hardly4 ,i trust ,i shall never have that guilt upon my conscience1 however ,i differ from him1 or combat his conclusions4 ,and perhaps some even of those who may have been least indulgent to him heretofore1 will not now so much question my remarks1 and may possibly believe ,i know him at least as well as they do4 #aj ,second ,letter1 p41 #gg4 #ab ,second ,letter1 ,app41 p41 #he4 #ac ,second ,letter1 ,app41 pp41 #he1 #hf4 #ad;a ,letter to ,maskell1 p4 #g4 #ad;b ,ibid4 pp4 #ad1 #ae4 #ae ,see ,appendix ,a4 #ah ,second ,letter1 pp4 #gh1 #gi4 #bj ,second ,letter1 p4 #ai1 note2 p4 #ge4 #ba ,judgment of the ,privy ,council1 p4 #ah4 #bb;a ,judgment of the ,privy ,council1 p4 #ah4 #bb;b ,appendix ,b4 #bc ,lord ,campbell's first letter to ,miss ,sellon1 ,guardian1 ,april #agth4 #bd ,lord ,campbell in his second letter to ,miss ,sellon1 7,guardian1 ,ap4 #ag17 has these words1 which are likewise remarkable4 8,no reproach can be brought upon her 7the ,church of ,england7 by a misconstruction of her articles and formularies2 and it must be a very slight reproach to her if she has omitted to denounce one false doctrine as heretical1 considering that no ,christian ,church has professed to settle dogmatically all points of doctrine40 ,the beginning of this sentence is a tolerably bold assumption1 ,i think1 unless ,lord ,campbell will allow a few words to be supplied1 to explain what ,i trust he will feel to be an omission2 that no reproach will come upon her1 by a misconstruction of her formularies1 by that court1 if only with all her heart and soul1 she set herself to correct it1 and cast the misconstruction from her3 but the latter part of the above quotation seems to admit of no palliation by any possible addition1 and is surely a most marvellous slip for a mind of any acuteness to have made4 8,a very slight reproach10 ,lord ,campbell says it must be1 8to have omitted to denounce one false doctrine as heretical20 without apparently a single thought as to what the doctrine in question may be4 ,that it is an article of the creed which is expunged1 and therefore denied1 appears never to have crossed his ,lordship's mind1 as worthy of the slightest consideration4 8,it is but one doctrine out of many3--reckon them up by tale1 and you will never miss one3--no ,churches settle everything3--why then so uneasy80 ,what hope1 what possible chance that a mind constituted so as to be able to write such a sentence1 can ever have appreciated1 or believed1 or understood1 the meaning or importance of dogmatic teaching at all4 ,had he lived in the time of the ,arian controversy1 could the writer of the above sentence have believed it was possible any matter of moment was1 or could be1 involved in so minute a distinction as in the two letters of the 1 that it could be worth the toil of ,athanasius's life1 to contend for so slight a point8 and repay all the labours and persecutions of a host of saints to win it8 and in truth ,lord ,campbell's method of arguing1 or consolation to an afflicted ,church1 would apply just as much1 had it been the doctrine of the atonement1 or of the divinity of the ,son of ,god1 which had been brought in question by ,mr4 ,gorham's examination4 8,no need to settle every thing4 ,so one open question can be no great matter1 and no great reproach60 #bg;a ,judgment1 p4 #h4 #bg;b ,judgment1 p4 #i4 #bh;a ,bp4 of ,exeter's ,letter1 p4 #eb4 #bh;b ,efficacy of ,baptism1 p4 #he4 #bh;c ,p4 #hh4 #bh;d ,p4 #aab4 #bh;e ,p4 #aac4 #bi ,p4 #aig4 #cj;a ,judgment1 p4 #ad4 #cj;b ,ibid4 #ad4 #ca ,a letter in the ,guardian1 of ,march #acth1 signed 8,solicitus10 has placed this statement in a very intelligible point of view4 ,as it is brief ,i will venture to quote it4 8,it has been asserted by the ,privy ,council that the baptismal and burial offices are parallel cases3--we hope that the child is regenerate3 we hope the dead brother is to rise to eternal life8 8,but are the cases parallel8 ,is it not a notorious fact1 that at the ,savoy ,conference in consequence of the ,puritan objections1 the words #8in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life' were altered into #8in sure and certain hope of the' 7i4e4 the general7 #8resurrection to eternal life4' ,and on the other hand when the words #8it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant by thy ,holy ,spirit1' were objected to by the same parties 7on the ground that the #8regeneration of every child that is baptised1' is at least' a #8disputable point1'7 no alteration was made4 ,how came this to pass8 ,surely the ,church of ,england wanted to show that her language with regard to the dead was only that of charitable hope2 but that she held the doctrine of regeneration in baptism absolutely and without qualification4--,yours1 faithfully1 8,,solicitus40 ,as ,i have said1 the notion of the general resurrection being the object of the hope alluded to1 appears never to have presented itself to the mind of the ,court4 ,if it did not2 where was their ability8 ,if it did2 where their honesty2 so entirely to suppress all mention of it1 and force this service to one construction only1 in order to open the door to many constructions in another8 #cc ,faery ,queen1 ,book ,i4 ,c4 ,,ix4 ,st4 #dc4 #cd;a ,see ,appendix ,c4 #cd;b ,judgment of ,sir ,h4 ,j4 ,fust1 p4 #dh4 #cd;c ,office for ,private ,baptism of ,infants4 #ce;a ,office for ,private ,baptism of ,infants4 ,see also ,appendix ,d4 #ce;b ,badeley's ,speech1 pp4 #eh1 #ei4 #cf;a ,judgment1 p4 #af4 #cf;b ,ibid4 #cg;a ,see ,bishop of ,exeter's ,letter1 p4 #hh4 #cg;b ,judgment1 p4 #ag4 #ch ,judgment1 p4 #ag4 #dj ,rubric in ,office for private ,baptism4 #db ,it is obvious1 sanctified1 or hath sanctified would not express the sense intended2 just as the ,holy ,ghost who comforted1 or hath comforted1 would not convey the meaning of the words 8,the ,holy ,ghost0 7who is17 8the ,comforter40 #df 8,in any ordinary set of circumstances1 in the case of an enclosure1 of a railway or matter of property1 we should have no question whatever that the doubt of any one on the bench would have made further enquiry desirable4 ,i should instantly have agreed1 c40 ,lord ,denman's judgement in the ,hampden case2 ,report of the ,case of the ,right ,rev4 ,r4 ,d4 ,hampden1 ,d4,d4 by ,r4 ,jebb1 ,esq4 p4 #die4 ,see also ,appendix ,e4 #dh ,appendix ,f4 #ej ,maskell on ,absolution1 p4 #di4 #ea ,maskell's ,doctrine of ,absolution1 pp4 #di1 #ej4 #eb ,maskell's ,doctrine of ,absolution1 pp4 #ej1 #ea4 #ed ,maskell's ,second ,letter1 pp4 #da1 #db4 #ei;a ,it may be worth while to observe here also how entirely this principle is acknowledged in the foundations of ,english law4 ,i should indeed soon get beyond my depth1 were ,i to attempt an analysis of this part of the subject2 but ,i gladly avail myself of the labours of another whose pen and legal knowledge the present crisis has put in motion1 to bring into juxtaposition with my own observations1 one or two of the acknowledged maxims by which the construction of legal documents among us is governed4 ,mr4 ,chambers1 #ei;b in his recent letter to the ,bishop of ,salisbury1 has several times referred to this subject4 ,thus he quotes ,mr4 ,dwarris 7himself quoting ,lord ,coke73-- 8,to know what the common law was before the making of a statute1 whereby it may be seen whether the statute be introductory of a new law1 or only affirmatory of the common law1 is the very lock and key to open the windows of the statute4 ,for it is not to be presumed that the ,legislature intended to make any innovation upon the common law further than the case absolutely required2 the law rather infers that the act did not intend to make any alteration other than what is specified1 and beside what has been plainly pronounced3 for if the ,parliament had had that design1 it is naturally said they would have expressed it40 #fj;a ,it appears to me that in some sense1 i4e4 in reference1 at any rate1 to posterior legislation1 the pre-reformation doctrines may be called the common law of our ,church2 and if so1 we shall readily see the analogy of the civil law1 and the authoritative declaration of its rule of construction of statutes1 is1 that no alteration is made by subsequent enactments1 but what is specified1 or beside what is plainly pronounced2--that is to say1 what is not 8openly1 plainly1 and dogmatically0 altered1 remains as it was before4 ,to the same purpose exactly ,mr4 ,chambers adds another passage1 stating again 8the canon of construction appropriate to statutes10 and again quoting ,mr4 ,dwarris3-- 8,affirmative words do not take away the common law1 former custom1 or a former statute40 #fj;b ,and again1 a little further on1 citing further authorities3-- 8,when particular words are followed by general ones1 the latter are to be held as applying to persons and things of the same kind only which precede10 #fa;a so that 8if a particular thing be given or limited in the preceding parts of a statute this shall not be altered by the subsequent general words of the same statute20 #fa;b an observation surely of much weight to show how definitely any part of a statute must be examined1 and how directly mentioned in order to its repeal1 according to the usage of ,english law4 ,once more1 to quote but one further passage to the same effect3-- 8,unless the intention be apparent for that purpose1 the general words of another and later statute shall not repeal the provisions of a former one40 #fa;c ,such is the testimony from rules of ,english law to the principles ,i desire to maintain1 that the pre-reformation dogmatic teaching remains to us1 except where it has been 8openly1 plainly1 and dogmatically0 repealed4 ,i need hardly say1 these extracts very inadequately represent the force of ,mr4 ,chambers's argument4 ,a reference to the pamphlet itself will well repay the trouble4 #ei;b ,a ,review of the ,gorham ,case1 by ,john ,david ,chambers1 ,m4,a4 ,recorder of ,new ,sarum4 #fj;a ,chambers' ,review1 pp4 #bc1 #bd4 ,lord ,coke1 #b ,ins4 #cj2 #c ,rep4 #ca1 per ,dwarris1 #efd4 #fj;b ,chambers1 p4 #cd4 ,dwarris1 #fje4 #fa;a ,chambers1 p4 #dd4 ,sandeman v4 ,breach1 #g ,b4 and ,c4 #if4 #fa;b ,ibid4 ,stanton v4 ,university of ,oxford1 #a ,jon4 #bf4 #fa;c ,ibid4 p4 #de4 ,gregory's ,ca4 #f ,rep4 #aif2 ,dwarris1 #ead4 #fc ,speech of ,edward ,badeley1 ,esq4 pp4 #ie-ig4 #fd ,badeley1 p4 #ii4 #ff;a ,badeley's ,speech1 pp4 #aja1 #ajb4 #ff;b ,ibid4 p4 #ajb4 #fi ,the objection to be drawn from the sentence of the court in the case in question1 with reference to ,mr4 ,badeley's argument from antiquity1 and the teaching of the ,church previous to the reformation1 is even of less real weight than ,i have here implied2 because that court does not appear at all to have applied itself to the principle for which ,mr4 ,badeley contended4 ,it seems rather to have forgotten its existence1 than seriously to have examined and condemned it2 and though it may be said1 perhaps1 that such passing it over affords a presumption of its unsoundness1 yet this1 ,i think1 is all that can be made out of its treatment by that tribunal4 ,whatever1 therefore1 be the presumption1 it is certainly no proof and no sentence as to the unsoundness of the position taken up by ,mr4 ,badeley even for the purpose of the particular case1 much less of its unsoundness generally4 ,so many other causes may be conceived to have operated upon the ,judges' minds in coming to the conclusion they did2 for instance1 they may have admitted ,mr4 ,badeley's principle1 but thought the doctrine in question1 as maintained by the ,bishop of ,exeter1 was not sufficiently identified with the universal teaching of the ,church2 or that that very teaching was itself vague2 or that posterior documents of the ,english ,church absolutely contradicted the earlier doctrine2 7however improbable1 such reasons are conceivable as influencing the actual decision27 and thus we are not warranted in supposing there is any sentence unfavourable to the soundness of ,mr4 ,badeley's principle of catholic tradition1 by the proceedings of this court of appeal in reference to it4 ,i am persuaded no lawyer will contradict what ,i have here said1 as to secular affairs1 and ,i see no reason why the same measure should not be dealt forth in causes ecclesiastical and spiritual4 ,i mean1 that no lawyer will contradict the principle1 that because a certain argument or line of defence has not been taken into consideration1 or not admitted as conclusive upon the side on which it is advanced in any given instance1 it should be looked upon as judicially condemned1 or not be used again if occasion should arise4 ,if even the reasons of a court of law on which it founds its sentence are really no formal part of the judgment1 much less can the mere overlooking or ignoring a particular line of argument1 disable or disfranchise that line of argument1 so as to render it for ever unavailable4 #ga ,eccles4 ,polity1 book viii4 ch4 ii4 #ag1 vol4 iii4 pp4 #ddg-h1 ,keble's ,edit4 ,see also ,appendix ,g4 #ge ,coke's #dth ,inst4 p4 #cbc4 #gf #be ,henry ,,viii4 c4 #ai1 #g4 #gh;a ,this1 however1 in the particular case1 is an almost impossible supposition1 because it was from the petition of the clergy themselves1 however obtained1 that the scheme emanated1 and in accordance with its prayer that this board of two-and-thirty persons was to be appointed4 #be ,henry ,,viii4 c4 #ai1 s4 #a4 ,see also ,gladstone's ,letter to the ,bishop of ,london1 p4 #i4 #gh;b ,gladstone1 p4 #i4 #gh;c ,ibid4 p4 #fb4 #hb ,badeley1 p4 #ii4 #hg ,see p4 #ai4 #hi ,second ,letter1 p4 #db4 #ij;a ,second ,letter1 p4 #eg4 #ij;b ,ibid4 p4 #fa4 #ia ,second ,letter1 p4 #fc4 #ib;a ,second ,letter1 p4 #gb4 #ib;b 8,as regards the ,church of ,england in particular1 it may be that the so-called reformation contained--perhaps unknown to the original promoters of it--poisonous seeds of evil1 bringing in certain though slow decay2 and that either new principles were then secretly established1 which in their development would most surely lead to the destruction and confusion of essential truths1 or old principles were1 in ignorance1 given up1 which the gradual course of time would prove to be necessary1 because they lie at the very foundation of ,christianity itself4 ,or1 once more1 it may be with portions of the ,church ,catholic as with the vine1 her mysterious type4 #8,i am the vine1 ye are the branches1' were the words of our ,blessed ,lord1 speaking of ,his body1 the ,church1 of which he is himself the ,head4 ,and we may well conceive how a branch1 full of sap and vigour1 may be severed from the stem1 and yet for a period--longer or shorter--still continue to put forth leaves1 and perhaps the blossoms of fruit also2 nevertheless1 cut off all the while1 and severed2 requiring time to die1 but death itself inevitable at last40--,second ,letter1 pp4 #gb1 #gc4 #aja ,maskell's ,doctrine of ,absolution1 p4 #bia4 #ajb ,letter1 p4 #af4 #aje;a ,letter in ,guardian1 ,march #bjth1 #ahej4 #aje;b ,guardian1 ,may #hth1 #ahej4 #ajf ,bishop of ,exeter's ,letter1 p4 #ij4 ,i am not unaware that ,mr4 ,keble has recently further explained his views on this matter in a second number of his 8,church ,matters in #ahej20 and of course ,i am not forgetful that the ,bishop of ,exeter has repeated his protest and declaration on the point3 but as these authorities serve only to confirm and strengthen the substance of what ,i had previously noted down1 ,i do not see any occasion to withdraw or alter it4 #aab ,it may be useful to observe here1 that nothing affecting our ,church at large seems to me to result from the correspondence published in ,may last1 between the ,archbishop and ,mr4 ,maskell4 ,however unsatisfactory the answers given by the ,archbishop to ,mr4 ,maskell's queries may be deemed1 they do not1 as it appears to me1 commit the ,church of ,england to anything1 but himself only4 ,i cannot but think his ,grace is quite right when he says he cannot be understood1 in an unofficial correspondence of that kind1 to speak for the ,church1 but only for himself4 ,therefore1 however his answers may serve as evidence of his own opinion1 and be a help in determining how far he stands committed to having1 personally1 little or no dogmatic teaching on the subjects brought under his notice by ,mr4 ,maskell2 however1 therefore1 those answers may be valuable in the settlement of the question whether we are morally bound to withdraw from communion with his ,grace1 they prove nothing as to our ,church at large1 and can commit her to nothing unless accepted1 confirmed1 and adopted by herself2 that is to say1 they have no bearing at all in reference to the argument of this letter1 and being unauthoritative statements1 are no refutation of any proofs ,i may have given of our rule of dogmatic teaching4 ,if the intentions of our reformers are not to be taken as evidence of the meaning of our various formularies1 much less the construction of them by an individual archbishop4 #aaf ,neale's ,few ,words of ,hope1 p4 #bb4 #abj ,no doubt there are persons whose habitual view is so absorbed in the majesty of human law1 that they appear to forget there is any higher law with which we have to do4 8,sir1 ,i have had the honour to receive your letter1 in which you intimate to me your intention of violating the law10 was an answer of some celebrity in its day4 ,perchance the question had not presented itself to the writer's mind1 8,what law is that8 ',tis not the law of ,god1 nor yet above it40 #abb ,convocations and ,synods1 by an ,anglican ,layman1 p4 #f4 #abd ,convocations and ,synods1 p4 #aa-ad4 #abe;a ,archdeacon ,manning's ,letter1 p4 #bc4 #abe;b ,ibid4 p4 #da4 #abf ,manning1 p4 #bc4 #abg ,bramhall's ,works1 p4 #ada4 ,see also ,manning's ,sermon on the ,rule of ,faith4 8,the ,church of ,england so far from submitting either the rule1 or her decisions according to the rule1 to the judgment of her individual members1 will not submit them even to the judgment of particular ,churches1 or to any tribunal less than that to which all particular churches are subject1 that is1 a general council1 of which either the members shall truly represent the ,church ,catholic1 or the decrees be universally received4 99 99 8,we therefore no more submit the doctrinal decisions of the ,church to the judgment of individual minds1 than the canon of ,scripture itself4 ,we do acknowledge an authority higher than either the ,church of ,england1 or of ,rome in particular4 ,what hinders an appeal to that tribunal1 ,dr4 ,wiseman knows as well as we4 ,but if such a council1 truly general1 freely assembled1 should meet to-morrow1 the rule of its decisions would be1 #8non sua posteris tradere1 sed a majoribus accepta servare4'0--,pp4 #be1 #bf1 note4 #abh ,see ,appendix ,h4 #aca ,second ,letter1 p4 #hj4