BX 5197 .S55 1896 
 
 Sinclair, William MacDonald, 
 
 1850-1917. 
 Leaders of thought in the 
 
 Enalish rhurrh 
 
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 Digitized by 
 
 tine Internet Arcliive 
 
 
 
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LEADERS OF THOUGHT 
 
 IN THI; 
 
 ENGLISH CHURCH 
 
LEADERS OF THOUGHT 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ENGLISH CHURCH 
 
 BY THE VENERABL^E^ 
 
 WILLIAM MACDONALD SINCLAIR, D.D. 
 
 Archdeacon of London, Canon of St. Paul's, Exatnining Chaplain to the Bishop of 
 London, Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen, and formerly Scholar of 
 Balliol College, Oxford 
 
 AUTHOR OF "commentary ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN," " LESSONS ON 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN," "CHRIST AND OUR TIMES," " THE 
 christian's INFLUENCE," "THE SERVANT OF CHRIST," 
 "the CHURCH VISIBLE, INVISIBLE, CATHOLIC, 
 NATIONAL," "the ENGLISH CHURCH AND 
 THE CANON LAW," "WORDS TO THE 
 LAITV," ETC. 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 27, PATERNOSTER ROW 
 
Printed by Hazell, IVatson, <S- Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbn 
 
TO 
 
 HER GRACE LOUISA 
 
 DUCHESS DOWAGER OF ABERCORN 
 
 BORN OF A HOUSE IDENTIFIED IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND 
 WITH THE SACRED CAUSE 
 OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 
 IN MEMORY 
 OF PLEASANT DAYS AT COATES 
 
PREFACE 
 
 T N offering these biographical studies to my 
 readers, I do not suggest that there 
 are not other leaders of thought equally suitable 
 for delineation. But the twelve whom I 
 have taken seem to me typical of the various 
 aspects of the Church of England since the 
 Reformation. I have placed Archbishop Tait 
 among them, although he might be described 
 as a man of action rather than of thought, 
 because to my mind he represents that calm, 
 comprehensive, loyal, and reasonable attitude 
 of mind which is most genuinely characteristic 
 of the English Church. 
 
 I have tried as far as possible to under- 
 stand the point of view of each, and, where 
 criticism could not be avoided, to touch such 
 
 vii 
 
viii 
 
 PRE FA CE 
 
 points with no unfriendly hand. Biographical 
 sketches dealing with such different elements 
 which should pretend to agree with all of 
 them would indeed be dull. My object has 
 been to make as far as might be a faithful 
 picture of the man, and to show his place 
 in the history of the Church. When the 
 Dictionary of National Biography is complete, 
 the details of the lives of all such characters 
 will be available. But so vast a work will 
 be accessible only to a few. When I was 
 beginning ministerial life in the Church, I 
 am certain that some such collection as this 
 would have been useful to myself ; I venture 
 to hope it may be interesting to others. 
 " There cannot be too many biographies," 
 says a pojDular American writer,* " of good 
 men written, nor too few of bad men. 
 In reading the life of a good man, the 
 wish unconsciously rises to be like him, and 
 
 C. N. Bovee. 
 
PRE FA CE 
 
 ix 
 
 insensibly the character is modified by it." 
 " The biographies of great and good men," 
 says Matthew Henry, "like Elijah's mantle, 
 ought to be gathered and preserved by their 
 survivors ; that as their works follow them in 
 the reward of them, they may stay behind in 
 their benefit." There are of course excellent 
 Memoirs to be had of all these worthies ; 
 but possibly when they are brought together 
 in brief in one volume they throw light on 
 each other. The general result, 1 think, 
 illustrates the great width of the Church of 
 England ; which, while it is capable of ex- 
 aggeration and abuse, ought always to be 
 acknowledged and maintained. 
 
 Belonging myself to no party, but following 
 humbly, as well as I may, in the steps of 
 some of my characters, and, as to modern 
 times, especially in those of Tait and Light- 
 foot, I hope that those who look at these 
 pages may be led to see that the teaching 
 of the Church of England itself, in Prayer 
 
X 
 
 PREFA CE 
 
 Book and formularies, is enough for plain 
 Christian men, and that " movements " and 
 "parties" on one side and on the other are 
 sure to lead to unfortunate results. Seeing 
 the Church of England at the present day 
 so unhappily divided, I should indeed greatly 
 rejoice if this series should in any way help, 
 by God's grace, to bring us back to the 
 wise and wholesome standpoint of Holy 
 Scripture, the early Fathers, and the English 
 Reformation. 
 
 WILLIAM M. SINCLAIR. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 I 
 
 CRANMER, THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Difficulties of Cranmer's position ....... 2 
 
 2. Early youth 5 
 
 3. Marriage 6 
 
 4. Meeting with the King at Waltham 6 
 
 5. Embassy to the Emperor ; and appointment to Canterbury . . 7 
 
 6. The Queen's divorce ......... 9 
 
 7. Great influence .......... 10 
 
 8. The Institution of a Christian Man 12 
 
 9. Disappointments 12 
 
 10. Countermines 13 
 
 11. Conspiracy 14 
 
 12. The King's ring .......... 14 
 
 13. Reform of Canon Law . . . . . . • '5 
 
 14. Death of Henry ; charge to Edward ; visitation of whole 
 
 kingdom .......... 15 
 
 15. Advancing reforms 16 
 
 16. Prayer Book of 1549 16 
 
 17. Distinguished foreign guests at Lambeth 17 
 
 18. Cranmer's final view on the Lord's Supper 20 
 
 19. Prayer Book of 1552 20 
 
 20. Articles of Religion 21 
 
 21. Our debt to Cranmer ; his views 21 
 
 22. Strype's summary of his character 24 
 
 3Ci 
 
xii 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 II 
 
 LATIMER, THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. His position in the Reformation 26 
 
 2. Hallam's estimate 26 
 
 3. Early life 27 
 
 4. Cambridge 28 
 
 5. Brought over to the Reformation by Bilney the Martyr . . 29 
 
 6. Inhibited by Bishop of Ely ; encouraged by Wolsey . . 30 
 
 7. In favour with the King 30 
 
 8. Accused before Convocation 31 
 
 9. His opinions not yet finally settled ; submission to the Bishops . 31 
 
 10. Appointed Bishop of "Worcester . . . ' . - 32 
 
 11. Bold sermons .......... 32 
 
 12. Preaches before Convocation 33 
 
 13. The Romish rebellions demand his death or banishment . 34 
 
 14. Destruction of Images and Relics 34 
 
 15. Resignation in consequence of the Six Articles . . -35 
 
 16. Saved from death probably by Crumwell . . . . .36 
 
 17. Crumwell beheaded. Blank of six years . . . . -36 
 
 18. Committed to the Tower. Released on Edward's accession . . 37 
 
 19. His popularity as a preacher in London 37 
 
 20. His habits 38 
 
 21. Mary s accession. Committed to the Tower 38 
 
 22. Sent to Oxford with Cranmer and Ridley for disputations . 39 
 
 23. Final examination and sentence at Oxford 40 
 
 24. Execution 40 
 
 25. Views : 
 
 (1) On the Pope 41 
 
 (2) On the old Roman Catholic Faith 42 
 
 (3) On the Sacrifice of the Mass 43 
 
 (4) On the presence of Christ in Communion . . -44 
 
 (5) On propitiation in the Mass 45 
 
 (6) On Holy Scripture ........ 46 
 
 26. Character 47 
 
 III 
 
 LAUD, AND THE MEDI.EVAL REACTION 
 
 1. Character 49 
 
 2. Differences of estimate 51 
 
 3. Sources of information 51 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTSs xiii 
 
 4. Birth, education, and ecclesiastical standpoint . . . -52 
 
 5. Ordination. Marriage of Lady Rich to Lord Devonshire . . 57 
 
 6. Oxford life 57 
 
 7. Dean of Gloucester 58 
 
 8. Bishop of St. David's 59 
 
 9. Controversy with " Fisher the Jesuit " 59 
 
 10. Confessor to the Duke of Buckingham. Visits his diocese . . 60 
 
 11. Accession of Charles L Laud's predominant influence . . . 60 
 
 12. Controversy on Montague's Sermon. Bishop of London . . 61 
 
 13. Laud and compulsion 63 
 
 14. Chancellor of Oxford 63 
 
 r5. Court of Star Chamber and Court of High Commission. Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury 64 
 
 15. Measures against Puritanism ........ 66 
 
 17. Metropolitical Visitation of the whole province of Canterbury . 67 
 
 18. Juxon, Bishop of London, made Lord Treasurer . -67 
 
 19. The Scottish explosion 68 
 
 20. Canons of 1640 69 
 
 21. The end 70 
 
 IV 
 
 HOOKER, THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 1. Birth 71 
 
 2. Estimate of Pope Clement VIII 72 
 
 3. Estimate of James I., Charles I., and Princess Elizabeth . . 72 
 
 4. Estimate of Hallam 74 
 
 5. Boyhood 78 
 
 6. Corpus Christi, Oxford 79 
 
 7. Sermon at St. Paul's 81 
 
 8. Unhappy marriage 82 
 
 9. Drayton Beauchamp ; visit of former pupils 83 
 
 10. Master of the Temple 85 
 
 1 1 . Controversy with Travers 85 
 
 12. Desire for retirement ; Boscombe, Bishopsbourne . .86 
 
 13. Friendship with Dr. Saravia ........ 88 
 
 14. Sought by many. His character 90 
 
 15. Death 91 
 
 16. Destruction of his papers by his widow -91 
 
 17. Final publication of all the books of the Ecclesiastical Polity . 92 
 
 18. Quotations : 
 
 (1) The Invisible Church ........ 92 
 
 (2) Church of Rome heretical ....... 93 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (3) Episcopal Ordination not without exception . . -95 
 
 (4) Supremacy of Holy Scripture 96 
 
 (5) Presbyter better than Priest 97 
 
 (6) The Real Presence only in the soul of the faithful receiver . 98 
 
 V 
 
 BUTLER, THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 
 
 1. Birth 100 
 
 2. Estimate of Newman 100 
 
 3. Estimate of Matthew Arnold loi 
 
 4. Estimate of Leslie Stephen 103 
 
 5. Estimate of Professor Adamson 105 
 
 6. Butler practically adopts Kant's argument for the existence of God 107 
 
 7. Wantage and Tewkesbury ; correspondence with Samuel Clarke . 108 
 
 8. Conforms to the Church of England ; Oxford .... 109 
 
 9. Friends. Preacher at the Rolls Chapel 109 
 
 10. Rector of Stanhope. The Fifteen Sermons no 
 
 11. Recollections. Publication of the ^«a/u^ in 
 
 12. Prebendary of Rochester. Clerk of the Closet to Queen Caroline . in 
 
 13. Favour of the Queen. Her death. Recommendation to George II. 112 
 
 14. Bishop of Bristol 113 
 
 15. Byrom 114 
 
 16. John Wesley 114 
 
 17. Josiah Tucker ; the madness of nations 116 
 
 18. Offer of the Primacy 1 16 
 
 19. Bishop of Durham I17 
 
 20. Characteristics . . . . . . -117 
 
 21. His Charge ; Extracts: 
 
 (1) Preaching 119 
 
 (2) Religious Forms . .121 
 
 (3) Neglect of the simple institutions of the Reformers . 121 
 
 (4) Repair of Churches 122 
 
 (5) Family Prayers 123 
 
 (6) Mental Daily Prayer 123 
 
 (7) Grace at Meals 124 
 
 (8) Parents and Children 124 
 
 22. Death at Bath ; burial in Bristol Cathedral 124 
 
 23. Professor Ueberweg's summary of his philosophy .... 125 
 
 24. His description of the .^Ka/«^ 126 
 
 25. Henry Reeve on the Analogy 129 
 
 26. Conclusion 131 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xv 
 
 VI 
 
 WATERLAND, THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I- Birth 133 
 
 2. Boyhood 134 
 
 3. Magdalene College, Cambridge 134 
 
 4. Habits of study ; Master of Magdalene 134 
 
 5. Is Avian Subscription Lawful ? 136 
 
 6. Controversies of the Eighteenth Century . . . . .136 
 
 7. Vice-Chancellor 139 
 
 8. Visit of George I. to Cambridge ; difficulty of the University with 
 
 Bentley 142 
 
 9. Life and influence at Cambridge 143 
 
 10. Vindication of Christ's Divinity ....... 144 
 
 11. Eight sermons at St. Paul's Cathedral 144 
 
 12. List of his works 145 
 
 13. Chancellor of York ; Canon of Windsor ; Vicar of Twickenham ; 
 
 Archdeacon of Middlesex 147 
 
 14. Habits 148 
 
 15. Declines Prolocutorship of the Convocation of Canterbury . . 149 
 
 16. Declines the Bishopric of Llandaff 149 
 
 17. Death 150 
 
 18. Character 151 
 
 19. Burial in St. George's Chapel, Windsor 152 
 
 20. Estimate of Archbishop Potter 152 
 
 21. Estimate of Bishop Van Mildert 152 
 
 22. Views : 
 
 (1) True sense in which the Eucharist is a Sacrifice . • '55 
 
 (2) " This Do " not " This Sacrifice " 156 
 
 (3) In what sense the Eucharist is not a Sacrifice . . • IS7 
 
 (4) In what metaphorical sense Ministers may be called Priests 1 59 
 
 (5) Holy Scripture 160 
 
 VII 
 
 JOHN WESLEY, THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 
 
 1. Birth 162 
 
 2. Father and family 163 
 
 3. Charterhouse . . . . . . 163 
 
 4. Christ Church, Oxford 163 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 5. Ordination; P'ellow of Lincoln ....... 164 
 
 6. Law'.s Serious Call 165 
 
 7. Societie.s for the Reformation of Manners ; the " Methodist " Club 
 
 at Oxford ; Whitefield 166 
 
 8. Sermon on the Eucharist 167 
 
 9. The mission to Georgia ......... 168 
 
 10. German Moravian emigrants ........ 169 
 
 11. Savannah; mistakes ......... 169 
 
 12. The Moravian impression, May 1738 170 
 
 13. Sympathy from the Bishop of London (Gibson) and Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury (Potter) 172 
 
 14. Separation from the Moravians 173 
 
 15. Bristol; " The World my parish " 173 
 
 16. Irreligious state of England . . . . . . . -174 
 
 17. Erection of preaching-houses . . . . . . .176 
 
 18. Separation from Whitefield and the Calvinist Methodists . . 176 
 
 19. Methodist Customs ; institution of Lay preachers .... 177 
 
 20. First Annual Conference ; personal supervision . . . .179 
 
 21. The clergy less suspicious ; clerical colleagues .... 180 
 
 22. Ireland 182 
 
 23. The American commission ........ 184 
 
 24. Writings 184 
 
 25. Old age 185 
 
 26. Description 186 
 
 27. Statistics 188 
 
 28. Biographies 189 
 
 VIII 
 
 SIMEON, THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 
 
 1. Estimate of Canon Overton and Macaulay 190 
 
 2. Birth 190 
 
 3. Eton ■ . 191 
 
 4. King's College, Cambridge ; religious impression . . . .191 
 
 5. Servants and family ......... 194 
 
 6. Atkinson and Venn 195 
 
 7. Ordination 195 
 
 8. Vicar of Trinity, Cambridge ........ 197 
 
 9. Persecution 19S 
 
 10. First University Sermon 199 
 
 11. Preparation of sermons ......... 201 
 
 12. Consciousness of personal failings 203 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 13. The parish conquered 205 
 
 14. Tour in Scotland 207 
 
 IS- One of the founders of the Church Missionary Society . . .211 
 
 16. First meeting of the Bible Society at Cambridge .... 212 
 
 17. Society for the Conversion of the Tews ; Trust for Church 
 
 Patronage 214 
 
 18. Influence over undergraduates 215 
 
 19. Old age and characteristics 218 
 
 20. Last sermons ; visit to the Bishop of Ely . . . . . 220 
 
 21. End 220 
 
 22. Funeral 222 
 
 23. Horn: Homileticcs 223 
 
 24. Interview with Wesley ......... 225 
 
 25. Bishop Daniel Wilson's estimate 227 
 
 IX 
 
 NEWMAN, THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 
 
 1. Birth 229 
 
 2. Childhood 229 
 
 3. Religious impressions ; Thomas Scott and Daniel Wilson . . 231 
 
 4. Trinity College, 0.\ford 232 
 
 5. Fellowship at Oriel 233 
 
 6. Contributions of friends to doctrinal development .... 233 
 
 7. Whately, Keble, Fronde 235 
 
 8. Preacher at Whitehall ; Vicar of St. Mary's 238 
 
 9. View of the condition of the Church of England; "Need of a 
 
 Second Refonnation ' 240 
 
 10. The tour abroad ; the illness in Sicily 244 
 
 11. The Irish Bishoprics; Keble 's Assize Sermon; the beginning of 
 
 the Tracts 245 
 
 12. The first Tract (Newman) 246 
 
 13. The St. Mary's Sermons . 248 
 
 14. Pusey 250 
 
 15. " The shadow of a hand on the wall " ; 1839 .... 251 
 
 16. Condemnation of Tract 90, 1841 252 
 
 17. Retirement to Littlemore, 1842 254 
 
 18. Retraction of anti-Roman statements, 1843 255 
 
 19. Reception into Roman Commimion, 1845 255 
 
 20. Results of Newman's crusade ....... 255 
 
 21. Rome, Oscott, Cheadle, Birmingham, Edgbaston .... 257 
 
 22. Rector of Dublin Roman Catholic University .... 257 
 
 23. Estimate of Newman's difficulty 258 
 
 b 
 
xviii 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 X 
 
 PUSEY, THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Birth . . 260 
 
 2. Family 260 
 
 3. Mitcham, Eton, Buckdeii . . 263 
 
 4. Christ Church, Oxford .... . . 264 
 
 5. jMiss Raymond-Barker .... .... 265 
 
 6. Tour in Switzerland ; Byronism 265 
 
 7. Fellow of Oriel ; descriptions 266 
 
 8. Germany .......... 269 
 
 g. Marriage and Ordination ........ 270 
 
 10. Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church at 28 . 271 
 
 11. The Tractarians 272 
 
 12. Newman's description of Pusey's adherence ..... 275 
 '3- 1835; Pusey's Tract on Baptism 278 
 
 14. Difference between Pusey and the Reformers .... 280 
 
 15. Pusey's view of Baptism, and that of the Council of Trent . 282 
 
 16. Confession and Absolution ........ 283 
 
 17. Willingness to accept the Council of Trent if explained satisfactorily 286 
 
 18. 1843; Censure of the sermon on the Eucharist .... 288 
 
 19. Newman's secession 250 
 
 20. Death of Pusey's w ife ........ 293 
 
 21. Asceticism . 294 
 
 22. St. Saviour's, Leeds ......... 295 
 
 23. The Gorham judgment 296 
 
 24. Library of the Fathers ; Minor Prophets 296 
 
 25. Sisterhoods 297 
 
 26. Death . .298 
 
 27. Bir-hop Samuel Wilberforce's remonstrance ... . 299 
 
 28. Cardinal Vaughan on Pusey's movement 299 
 
 29. Personal influence and example 300 
 
 XI 
 
 ARNOLD, THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 
 
 1. Birth 301 
 
 2. Childhood •. 302 
 
 3. Winchester 303 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4. 181 1, Scholar of Corpus, Oxford 306 
 
 5. 1815, Fellow of Oriel 307 
 
 6. 1818, Ordination; difficulties 309 
 
 7. 1 819, Laleham 309 
 
 8. 1820, Marriage to Mary Penrose 309 
 
 9. Stanley's account of his religious principles ..... 309 
 
 10. Bartholomew Price's recollections of Laleham .... 316 
 
 11. 1827, Headmaster of Rugby 318 
 
 12. Opposition 319 
 
 13. His system ......... 320 
 
 14. Prayer for the Sixth 321 
 
 15. Manner in teaching 322 
 
 16. Rugby Chapel 324 
 
 17. Preparation for Confirmation . ....... 327 
 
 18. Extracts from Diary ......... 330 
 
 19. 1841, Professor of Modern History at Oxford .... 333 
 
 20. Death ; effect on his old pupils described by the late Judge Hughes 333 
 
 21. Matthew Arnold's tribute 337 
 
 XII 
 
 TAIT, THE WISE RULER 
 
 1. Birth 341 
 
 2. Childhood 34I 
 
 3. Edinburgh High School ; Edinburgh Academy .... 342 
 
 4. Glasgow University 343 
 
 5. Early religious impressionb ........ 344 
 
 6. Balliol ; prophecies ......... 345 
 
 7. 1834, Fellow of Balliol ; 1835, Tutor 348 
 
 8. Ordination 349 
 
 9. 1839, Bonn 350 
 
 10. Shairp's estimate of his tutorship ....... 350 
 
 11. His attitude to Tractarianism 351 
 
 12. Protest of the Four Tutors against Tract XC 353 
 
 13. Tait's estimate of Newman ........ 353 
 
 14. 1842, Headmaster of Rugby ........ 354 
 
 15. Dean Bradley's estimate of his Rugby influence .... 355 
 
 16. 1843, Marriage to Catherine Spooner 356 
 
 17. 1848, Dean of Carlisle 357 
 
 1850, University Commission 357 
 
 19. 1856, Bishop of London 359 
 
TABLE OF C0N2ENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 20. Ritual troubles 361 
 
 21. Evangelistic work ; first Charge ...... 363 
 
 22. i860, Essays and Revieius 364 
 
 23. Bishop Colenso 366 
 
 24. 1867, First Lambeth Conference 367 
 
 25. Royal Commission on Ritual 368 
 
 26. Bishop of London's Fund 370 
 
 27. 1866, serious illness . 372 
 
 28. 1 868, Archbishop of Canterbury 372 
 
 29. Incidents of his Primacy 373 
 
 30. 1882, the end 374 
 
 31. Estimate by the Duke of Albany 376 
 
 32. Biography, and Monument in Canterbury Cathedral . 378 
 
I 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 
 
 WE have our treasure in earthen vessels " 
 is a fact of which we cannot help 
 being reminded in considering the life and 
 character of Thomas Cranmer, who more than 
 any other man influenced and moulded the 
 English Reformation. He was not lacking in 
 courage, as was shown by his frequent opposition 
 to the wishes of his imperious master, King 
 Henry VHI., as well as by his bearing in times 
 of almost universal opposition and reaction ; yet 
 on more than one occasion he yielded against 
 his better judgment. He could be heroic and 
 truly venerable in face of an agonising death, 
 even to the degree of drawing tears from hostile 
 bystanders ; yet under the influence of cajoling 
 and deceptive kindness, and when there seemed 
 hope of saving his life, he denied his true 
 opinions. In remembering these inconsistencies, 
 
2 CRANMER 
 
 which have greatly injured his reputation v.'ith 
 those who do not agree with his opinions, it is 
 only fair to recollect the circumstances in which 
 he was placed. He was the pioneer of the 
 Reformation on its political as well as on its 
 religious side, and the ground on which he was 
 standing in matters temporal was most uncertain. 
 No human being could altogether oppose the 
 personal tyranny of Henry VIII. and live: the 
 heads of the wisest, best, and noblest of the 
 clay flew off at the order of the King without 
 causing him the slightest concern. On the 
 death of Henry the same personal tyranny was 
 exercised by the more ambitious members of the 
 Council, especially the uncles of Edward VI. ; 
 and Mary inherited all her father's stubborn 
 and arrogant determination. In ecclesiastical 
 matters the supremacy of the Pope, to which 
 the Church had been too long accustomed, 
 passed over to the King, according to the 
 earlier precedents of William the Conqueror 
 and his successors ; and the leaders of the 
 Reformation were not at once able to place 
 that personal authority in its true and proper 
 limits. It was not easy to realise that the right 
 of Mary was not the same as the right of Henry ; 
 or if the right of Henry was legitimate, why 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRTMITIVE TRUTH 3 
 
 the right of Mary was wrong. It was a time 
 of change, transition, perplexity, and incredible 
 difficulty. Under the circumstances it is a 
 matter of marvel that Cranmer was able to 
 achieve what he did, without even greater 
 complications than those in which he was actually 
 involved. It is to his wisdom, moderation, skill, 
 and learning that we owe the appeal of the 
 English Church to Holy Scripture, to the 
 Primitive Church, and to a General Council ; ' 
 the fact that, of all the Reformed Churches, the 
 English almost alone did not break the chain 
 of continuity with the past ; that English eccle- 
 siastical institutions, instead of being open to 
 the reproach of novelty, were the old, but 
 animated by a new, pure, and Divine spirit ; 
 and that the English formularies, instead of 
 being entirely modern, were studiously and 
 laboriously framed on the best and truest lines 
 of Scripture and antiquity. It is easy to say 
 that in different parts of his writings Cranmer 
 contradicted himself ; but that is only an illus- 
 tration of the fact that his mind did not 
 suddenly emerge, like a butterfly from a chrysalis, 
 full-fledged with a new set of opinions, but 
 
 1 It is thought that the same may be said of the Church 
 of Sweden. 
 
4 
 
 CRA NMER 
 
 gradually cast off one by one the old superstitions 
 of the Middle Ages in which he had been 
 brought up, as he became enlightened by further 
 study and meditation. It was not, for instance, 
 till the last year or two of the reign of Henry 
 that he became convinced that the cherished 
 doctrine of the Real Corporal Presence was 
 neither scriptural nor primitive. If there had 
 been no Cranmer, it is obvious that Gardiner 
 and the papal party would have triumphed in 
 the later years of Henry. If there had been 
 no Cranmer, the Reformation, pent up by delay 
 and restriction, would in all probability have 
 taken the same course under the Council of 
 Edward VI. that it took under the Lords of the 
 Covenant in Scotland, English Christianity, 
 except that which was papal, would have become 
 firmly identified with the influences of Geneva ; 
 and it is improbable that Elizabeth and Parker, 
 without the support of the bias which Cranmer 
 had given to the career of the new learning 
 towards truly Catholic and primitive antiquity, 
 would have been able to stem the tide of fervid 
 innovation, which, with Cranmer's Second Prayer 
 Book of Edward VI. in their hands, they 
 successfully checked and guided into safer and 
 surer channels. 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 
 
 It is worth while to give the outlines of his 
 career up to the death of King Edward VI. 
 The rest is well known. 
 
 Thomas Cranmer was born at Aslacton in 
 Nottinghamshire, on July 2nd, 1489, in the reign 
 of Henry VII., three years before the birth of 
 Henry VIII. The facts of his life have been 
 often given ; the most succinct account is by 
 Professor Gairdner in the Dictionary of National 
 Biography. His father was a gentleman of old 
 family, which in earlier times had been settled in 
 Lincolnshire. His first schoolmaster was " a rude 
 parish clerk," " marvellous severe and cruel." 
 In his boyhood he became skilled in shooting, 
 hunting, and hawking, in which, though very 
 short-sighted, he continued to take occasional 
 recreation till far on in life. As Archbishop, he 
 was able to ride the roughest horse in his stables 
 as gracefully and well as any of his household. 
 His mother was Agnes, daughter of Laurence 
 Hatfield, of Willoughby. Losing his father early, 
 he was sent by her, at the age of fourteen, to 
 Cambridge, where, during eight years, he studied 
 the schoolmen, and then took to Erasmus and 
 the classics. He became B.A. in 1511-12, M.A. 
 in 1 5 15, and somewhere about that time Fellow 
 of Jesus. From 1519, as the prelude of the 
 
6 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 Reformation had already begun, and religious 
 questions were being much discussed, he devoted 
 himself for three years to the independent study 
 of the Bible, subsequently to sound authors, 
 ancient and modern. He formed the habit, 
 which in his subsequent momentous controversies 
 he found of inestimable value, of writing out 
 excerpts of all the important passages of his 
 author. He never read without pen in hand. 
 
 Losing his fellowship by marriage, he placed 
 his wife in the Dolphin Inn, the landlady of 
 which was her kinswoman, and became Reader 
 at Buckingham College, now known as Magdalene. 
 She died in childbirth, and he was re-elected to 
 a fellowship at Jesus. About 1523, the thirty- 
 fourth year of his age, he became D.D. Wolsey 
 was now making his great foundation at Oxford, 
 and sent to inquire for some Cambridge scholars 
 for the new institution. Cranmer was invited, 
 but refused. His college made him Divinity 
 Lecturer, and the University one of the public 
 examiners in theology. 
 
 Driven from Cambridge in 1529 by a pesti- 
 lence, he went with two of his pupils to the 
 house of their father, Mr. Cressy, at Waltham 
 Abbey, to whose wife he was himself related. 
 The King came at this time to Waltham, and the 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIAIITIVE TRUTH 
 
 two chief agents in his divorce from Catherine, 
 Gardiner, his secretary, and Fox, his almoner, 
 were lodged at Mr. Cressy's. Cranmer, Gardiner, 
 and Fox were old college friends, and talked 
 together about the difficulty in which the King 
 had been placed by Catherine's appeal to the 
 Pope. It was here that Cranmer made his 
 famous suggestion that it would be better to 
 consult the opinion of leading divines at the 
 Universities on the legality of marriage with a 
 brother's widow and the validity of the papal 
 dispensation. Henry summoned him to Green- 
 wich, commanded him to write out his opinion, 
 and lodged him with the Earl ot Wiltshire, Anne 
 Boleyn's father, in Durham Place. At Cam- 
 bridge, in one day, Cranmer persuaded six or 
 seven theologians to pronounce against the 
 legality and the dispensing power. 
 
 Next year was extremely interesting, for he 
 went with an embassy, of which Lord Wiltshire 
 was head, to meet the Pope and the Emperor 
 Charles V. at Bologna. He was directed to 
 proceed by himself to Rome, where he offered 
 to maintain his thesis ; but in the Court of the 
 Pope his challenge against the dispensing power 
 was not likely to be accepted. The Pope, how- 
 ever, in compliment to his master, made him 
 
8 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 Grand Penitentiary of England. Returning to 
 Lord Wiltshire's household, he was again sent 
 to the Emperor in 1532, and received secret 
 instructions to encourage John Frederick, Elector 
 of Saxony, and other German Princes in their 
 opposition to Charles V. To his intense astonish- 
 ment, while at the Court of the Emperor at 
 Mantua, he was summoned home to be made 
 Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to 
 Warham. He had married in Germany the 
 niece of the reformer Osiander ; and although 
 the marriage of the clergy was already a point 
 accepted by the pioneers of the Reformation, the 
 step would hardly have been taken at that date 
 by an Archbishop of Canterbury. On other 
 grounds Cranmer's reluctance was genuine ; and 
 he was only in his forty-fourth year. Seven 
 weeks he delayed in hopes that Henry might 
 change his purpose ; but on arriving in England 
 he found the King determined. The exact date 
 of his return is not quite certain : Strype believes 
 that he was present at the private marriage ot 
 Henry and Anne in November 1532 ; Gairdner 
 thinks he came back in January 1533. Henry 
 even lent him money to procure his bulls from 
 Rome. On March 30th, 1533, Cranmer was 
 consecrated at Westminster by the Bishops ot 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 9 
 
 Lincoln, Exeter, and St. Asaph. Before taking 
 the usual oath of fidelity to the Pope, he protested 
 that he intended not to bind himself to do 
 anything contrary to the laws of God, the King's 
 prerogative, or the commonwealth and statutes 
 of the kingdom ; nor to tie himself from speaking 
 his mind freely in matters relating to the reforma- 
 tion of religion, the government of the Church 
 of England, and the prerogative of the Crown. 
 He made a similar protest before obtaining the 
 temporalities of his see. 
 
 Cranmer was fully convinced ot the illegality 
 of marriage with a brother's widow and of 
 the invalidity of the papal dispensation. On 
 April iith he wrote to ask the King's leave to 
 take cognisance of the nullity suit. Catherine 
 was summoned to appear before the Archbishop 
 at Dunstable. The Court was opened on 
 May loth, and the Queen pronounced con- 
 tumacious for non-appearance ; on the 23rd the 
 marriage was formally pronounced invalid. On 
 the 28th, after a secret investigation at Lambeth, 
 he pronounced that the King had therefore 
 been lawfully married to Anne Boleyn in the 
 previous November; and on September loth 
 he stood godfather to the Princess Elizabeth. 
 It was a sorry business ; but whatever Henry's 
 
10 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 motives were, and however great the natural 
 sympathy for Catherine, our generation, which 
 has taken so decided a stand on the question 
 of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, can 
 hardly blame Cranmer for his decision against 
 marriage with a deceased brother's wife. 
 
 Cranmer was not, of course, able to control 
 by himself the course of the Reformation in 
 England. Henry VIII. was not inclined to go 
 far with him in the restoration of the scriptural 
 and primitive model. And Gardiner, Bishop of 
 Winchester, at the head of a vigorous papal and 
 anti-reformation party, was exceedingly powerful 
 throughout the reign, and often baffled the 
 attempts of the Archbishop. Many of the clergy 
 of his own cathedral and diocese openly thwarted 
 his teaching and plans. But with mild and gentle 
 patience he persevered, and the formularies of 
 the English Church, many of them penned by 
 his own hand, are in harmony with his final 
 position and views. The first important thing 
 he did was to join the King in an appeal 
 from the Pope to a General Council. In 1534 
 under his inspiration Convocation petitioned the 
 King for a translation of the Bible, which 
 was published by royal authority in 1537, to 
 Cranmer's unbounded joy. The visitation of 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH ii 
 
 the monasteries, which he recommended with a 
 view to their dissolution, in order that " new 
 foundations might spring from them, which 
 should be nurseries of learning throughout the 
 realm," did not result as he had hoped, as a 
 large part of their property was distributed by 
 the King to his courtiers. In 1536 Bucer, in 
 the dedication of a book to Cranmer, indicates 
 the position to which he had already risen : 
 " That all men proclaimed him endowed with a 
 mind worthy of an archbishop and primate of 
 so great a kingdom, and so disposed to the 
 glory of Christ. That he had so attained to 
 this high estate in Christ by his spiritual wisdom, 
 holiness of life, and most ardent zeal to render 
 Christ's glory more illustrious ; that gathering 
 together the humble, and taking pity upon the 
 sheepfold, being indeed dispersed and scattered 
 abroad, he always sought and saved that which 
 was lost, and brought back Christ's poor sheep 
 to His fold, and the pastures of everlasting 
 life, when they had been before most miserably 
 harassed by the servants of superstition, and 
 the emissaries of the Roman tyranny. . . . How 
 easy it would now be for him, and the other 
 archbishops and bishops, who were endued with 
 the spirit and zeal of Christ, from the remainder 
 
12 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 of the ecclesiastical administration, to retain 
 what might contribute to the true edifying of 
 consciences, the saving instruction of youth, and 
 to the just discipline and polity of the whole 
 Christian people. For when once the enemies 
 were removed out of the way, there could not 
 then happen among us (in England) any extra- 
 ordinary great concussion of religion and eccle- 
 siastical discipline, or any dashing one against 
 another, as among them of Germany of necessity 
 came to pass ; striving so many years for the 
 Church of Christ against such obstinate enemies." 
 
 In 1537 the mark that had been reached , by 
 the return towards a scriptural standard is shown 
 by a manual issued by Cranmer and his colleagues, 
 called The Institution of a Christian Man, or 
 the Bishops Book, issued with royal sanction. 
 It distinguishes three sacraments — Baptism, 
 Eucharist, and Penance — as more necessary 
 than the rest of the seven then recognised ; 
 reduces the Ave Maria to the status of a hymn ; 
 explains that good works are the inseparable 
 accompaniment of a justifying faith ; and, while 
 acknowledging purgatory, condemns "pardons" 
 as available for delivering souls from its discipline. 
 
 In 1538 Cranmer met with several dis- 
 appointments. His appeal to the King to give 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 13 
 
 his assent to the marriage of the clergy ended in 
 a proclamation in a contrary sense ; the embassy 
 from Germany to effect a correspondence of 
 doctrine between the English Church and the 
 Reformed Churches of the Continent proved 
 unsuccessful ; and the eftorts of the mediaeval 
 party were redoubled to supplant the ascend- 
 ency which Cranmer held over the mind of 
 Henry. 
 
 The years from 1538 to 154J exhibit Cranmer 
 in his finest aspect, patiently working for good, 
 enduring a succession of the most serious vexa- 
 tions, and bearing them all with quiet faith and 
 hope. The cruel Act of Six Articles was passed, 
 notwithstanding his opposition. Crumwell, his 
 most intimate friend, associate, and ally, was 
 beheaded for the part he had taken in the 
 marriage with Anne of Cleves. An attempt to 
 obtain still more popish articles was only de- 
 feated by Cranmer's intercession with the King. 
 Bonner, whose unfavourable character Cranmer 
 well knew, was made Bishop of London. The 
 King himself, wearied by perpetual discussion, 
 was persuaded to forbid the sale of Tyndale's 
 English Bible, and to limit the permission to 
 read translations of the Scriptures to a few 
 privileged persons. The Primate at this time 
 
CRANMER 
 
 retired more to the country, and worked tran- 
 quilly at his own plans and in his diocese. 
 
 In 1543 a conspiracy seemed likely to ruin 
 Cranmer and undo the Reformation. Gardiner 
 and his friends held a succession of meetings, 
 organised a scheme, and collected a voluminous 
 mass of accusations : that he had arbitrarily dis- 
 charged and restrained preachers who would not 
 agree to the reformed doctrines, that he had 
 ordered the removal of images without warrant, 
 that he had corresponded with the German 
 divines. The King showed the complaints to 
 the Archbishop ; the Archbishop asked for a 
 commission ; the King granted his request, and 
 appointed the Primate the chief commissioner. 
 Cranmer behaved with his usual modesty and 
 dignity, argued each complaint thoroughly, and 
 the whole plot collapsed. 
 
 In 1544 he succeeded in mitigating the Six 
 Articles, and obtained the memorable change of 
 an English Litany. A fresh attempt was made 
 against Cranmer by Gardiner and the opponents 
 of the Reformation in 1545; they hoped to get 
 him committed to the Tower, and that when 
 once there he would not come out again. It 
 was on this occasion that Henry gave him his 
 ring, as in the well-known scene in Shakespeare's 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 15 
 
 King Henry VIII., to be used in any emergency, 
 and himself severely rebuked his friend's enemies 
 for the ceaseless bitterness of their malice. 
 
 In 1545 Cranmer set about the reform of the 
 Canon Law. It was absurd, when the authority 
 of the Pope had been abrogated, that the mediae- 
 val canons, the greater part of which consisted 
 of papal decrees, should remain in force. The 
 result was the Reformatio legtim Ecclesiasticarum, 
 which can still be seen in church libraries. But 
 Henry's life was nearly over, and Cranmer could 
 not get him to go into so large a matter. The 
 King employed him, however, in improving the 
 service books, and in redressing various super- 
 stitions, especially the worship of images ; and 
 Cranmer, by his own influence, induced the 
 laity to a more common use of the Scriptures, 
 and in every way encouraged the preaching of 
 instructive sermons. 
 
 The death of Henry in 1547 was an occasion 
 of great anxiety, as much remained to be done, 
 and Cranmer had hoped that Henry would do 
 it. Edward was but ten years old, and for some 
 time would be in the hands of his Council. 
 The Primate's charge to the King at his coro- 
 nation is full of courage and dignity, and written 
 in that masculine and musical English, to Cran- 
 
 I 
 
i6 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 mer's command of which the whole Prayer Book 
 witnesses. Cranmer's first act was to obtain a 
 proclamation for the visitation of the entire 
 kingdom, with the view of ascertaining the actual 
 condition ot the Church. 
 
 Cranmer's influence became more predominant 
 than ever as the reign advanced, especially with 
 the clergy. He carried an ordinance for re- 
 ceiving the Sacrament in both kinds, repealed 
 the Act of Six Articles and other persecuting 
 statutes, abolished images as objects of worship, 
 secured the marriage of priests, took steps for 
 changing the Mass into a communion service in 
 English, published a useful catechism translated 
 under his own eye from the German, issued a 
 Book of Homilies for the use of such clergy as 
 could not preach, of which he himself composed 
 those of Salvation, Faith, and Good Works 
 annexed unto Faith, and wrote a careful and 
 elaborate treatise against the mediaeval doctrine 
 of Unwritten Verities, confuting the notion that 
 Catholic Tradition was entitled to impose teach- 
 ing not revealed in Holy Scripture. 
 
 In 1549 was published for use the first English 
 Prayer Book of King Edward VI. It retained 
 the words Mass and Altar, the Eastward Position, 
 the Eucharistic Vestments, the mixing of wine 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 17 
 
 and water, the doctrine of the Locahsed Presence, 
 the wafer put into the mouth, prayers for the 
 dead, and the oblation of the Eucharist before 
 participation. Cranmer's answer to the rebels 
 of Devon and Cornwall, who objected to the 
 changes brought about by the Reformation, is 
 one of his most interesting and characteristic 
 compositions. 
 
 At this time Cranmer entertained as residents 
 in his house at Lambeth many distinguished 
 foreign Reformers, who greatly helped his plans : 
 Bucer, John a Lasco, Peter Martyr (afterwards 
 Professor at Oxford), Paulus Fagius (afterwards 
 Professor at Cambridge), Peter Alexander, 
 Bernardine Ochin, Matthew Negelinus, and 
 others. " The labour of the most reverend the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury," wrote Peter Martyr 
 to Bullinger, January 27th, 1550, "is not to be 
 expressed. For whatever has hitherto been 
 wrested from them [the bishops], we have ac- 
 quired solely by the industry and activity and 
 importunity of this prelate." He obtained the 
 abolition of popish books of devotion, and com- 
 pleted the new ordinal. Gentle towards Romish 
 opposition, which he wished to win over by 
 reason and conciliation, he was firm in his 
 opposition to all excessive Puritan scruple and 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 fancy, such as Hooper's refusal to wear the usual 
 episcopal garb of the day. In 1550 the com- 
 munion table was substituted for the mediceval 
 altar, in order to remove the Romish idea of a 
 propitiatory sacrifice. 
 
 In the last two years of the reign of Henry, 
 Cranmer had given up his views of the 
 Localised Presence of Christ in the Com- 
 munion. In 1550 he published a Defence of 
 the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament. 
 In the preface to this he says : " Christ hath 
 made a sacrifice and oblation of His own body 
 on the cross, which was a full redemption, satis- 
 faction, and propitiation for the sins of the whole 
 world. And to commend this His sacrifice unto 
 all His faithful people, and to confirm their faith 
 and hope of eternal salvation in the same, He 
 hath ordained a perpetual memory of His said 
 sacrifice, daily to be used in the Church to His 
 perpetual laud and praise, and to our singular 
 comfort and consolation ; that is to say, the cele- 
 bration of His holy supper, wherein He doth not 
 cease to give Himself, with all His benefits, to 
 all those that duly receive the same supper 
 according to His blessed ordinance. But the 
 Romish antichrist, to deface this great benefit 
 of Christ, hath taught that His sacrifice upon 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 19 
 
 the cross is not sufficient hereunto, without 
 another sacrifice devised by him and made by 
 the priest ... to supply Christ's imperfection ; 
 and that Christian people cannot apply to them- 
 selves the benefits of Christ's passion, but that 
 the same is in the distribution of the Bishop 
 of Rome ; or else that by Christ we have no 
 full remission, but be delivered only from sin, 
 and yet remaineth temporal pain in purgatory 
 due for the same, to be remitted after this life 
 by the Romish antichrist and his ministers, who 
 take upon them to do for us that thing, which 
 Christ either would not or could not do. . . . 
 But what availeth it to take away beads, pardons, 
 pilgrimages, and such other like popery, so long 
 as the two chief roots remain unpulled up .f* . . . 
 The very body of the tree, or rather the roots 
 of the weeds, is the popish doctrine of transub- 
 stantiation of the real presence of Christ's flesh 
 and blood in the sacrament of the altar (as they 
 call it), and of the sacrifice and oblation of Christ 
 made by the priest, for the salvation of the quick 
 and the dead." This work attracted great atten- 
 tion and had extraordinary success. Gardiner, 
 during his imprisonment in the Tower, wrote a 
 reply. This produced another large and careful 
 treatise from Cranmer in 1551, in which he 
 
20 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 answers Gardiner point by point. Gardiner once 
 more rejoined ; and Cranmer occupied himself 
 with a final treatise during his own imprisonment. 
 Then came his martyrdom, and not a trace of 
 this, his maturest work, remains. 
 
 In 1 55 1 Cranmer was also busy in amending 
 the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. He had 
 the help of Bucer and Peter Martyr, as well as 
 of Bishop Ridley, and Cox, afterwards Bishop of 
 Ely. The General Confession and Absolution 
 were added, and the Ten Commandments. The 
 Prayer of Consecration was altered to dis- 
 countenance the idea of a Localised Presence 
 and a Propitiatory Sacrifice. Several points were 
 omitted, as oil in confirmation, extreme unction, 
 and prayers for the dead. The first half of our 
 present words of administration were disused, and 
 the second half substituted. The result was the 
 Prayer Book of 1552, as it was authorised in that 
 year, which is nearly the same as that established 
 by Queen Elizabeth, when the happy union took 
 place of the old and new sentences of admini- 
 stration. He once more thought of assembling 
 representatives of all the foreign Reformed 
 Churches, so as to obtain an agreement in 
 religious doctrine. Once more the project failed, 
 and was now finally abandoned. 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 21 
 
 In the same year Cranmer, by request of the 
 King in Council, laid the foundations of the 
 final expression of the doctrine of the Reformed 
 Church of England in the Articles of Religion. 
 In 1552 the draft was laid before the Council. 
 In September of the same year the Archbishop 
 revised it again, and it was handed over to six 
 of the royal chaplains, one of whom, Grindal, 
 was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. In 
 November Cranmer again revised it. Next year 
 it received the King's authority. In the reign 
 of Elizabeth the Articles were reduced from 
 forty-two to thirty-nine, and received the sanction 
 of Parliament and Convocation. In 1553 Cran- 
 mer's work came to an end by the death or 
 Edward and the accession of Mary. He had 
 strongly opposed the pathetic usurpation of Lady 
 Jane, and the exclusion of Mary ; but she was 
 merciless, and the tragic and melancholy close 
 of his life is familiar to all. 
 
 To Cranmer more than to any other man we 
 owe the accordance of the doctrine of the Prayer 
 Book with that of Scripture and the Primitive 
 Church ; that the presence of Christ in Holy 
 Communion is not localised, but realised by faith 
 in the heart of the believer when he obeys the 
 command of his Master, and receives the pledges 
 
22 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 of His love ; and that in Holy Communion there 
 is no Propitiatory Sacrifice, but a metaphorical 
 sacrihce of praise, prayer, emblems of God's good 
 gifts, and that which is enjoined by St. Paul, the 
 offering of our own bodies. There is no more 
 accurate and learned treatise on the Holy Com- 
 munion than his reply to Gardiner. Every 
 sentence is valuable, but the following are 
 peculiarly in point at the present time : 
 
 " Thus, under pretence of holiness, the papisti- 
 cal priests have taken upon them to be Christ's 
 successors, and to make such an oblation and 
 sacrifice as never creature made but Christ alone, 
 neither He made the same any more times than 
 once, and that was by His Death upon the 
 cross " {Cranmer on Gardiner, p. 345). 
 
 " The very supper itself was by Christ insti- 
 tuted and given to the whole church, not to be 
 offered and eaten of the priest or other men, but 
 by him to be delivered to all that would duly 
 ask it" p. 350). 
 
 " Christ made the bloody sacrifice, which took 
 away sin : the priest with the church made a 
 commemoration thereof with lauds and thanks- 
 giving, offering also themselves obedient to God 
 unto death." " And yet this our sacrifice taketh 
 not away our sins, nor is accepted but by His 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 23 
 
 sacrifice. The bleeding of Him took away our 
 sins, not the eating of Him" {ib., p. 356). 
 
 " And as Christ only made this propitiatory 
 sacrifice, so He made but one, and but once. 
 For making of any other, or of the same again, 
 should have been (as St. Paul reasoneth)^ a 
 reproving of the first as unperfect and insuf- 
 ficient. And therefore, at His last supper, 
 although Christ made unto His Father sacrifices 
 of lauds and thanksgiving, yet made He there 
 NO SACRIFICE propitiatory ; for then either the 
 sacrifice upon the cross had been void, or the 
 sacrifice at the supper unperfect and insufficient " 
 {ib., p. 359). 
 
 " You speak according to the papists, that the 
 priests in their Masses make a sacrifice pro- 
 pitiatory. I call a sacrifice propitiatory, according 
 to Scripture, such a sacrifice as pacifieth God's 
 indignation against us, obtaineth mercy and for- 
 giveness of all our sins, and is our ransom and 
 redemption from everlasting damnation. And, 
 on the other side, I call a sacrifice gratificatory, 
 or the sacrifice of the church, such a sacrifice 
 as doth not reconcile us to God, but is made • 
 of them that be reconciled to testify their duties, 
 
 ' He here assumes that St. Paul was the author of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
24 
 
 CRANMER 
 
 and to show themselves thankful unto Him. 
 And these sacrifices in Scripture be not called 
 propitiatory, but sacrifices of justice, laud, praise, 
 and thanksgiving. But you confound the words, 
 and call one by another's name, calling that 
 ' propitiatory ' which the Scripture calleth but of 
 justice, laud, and thanking. And all is nothing 
 else but to defend your propitiatory sacrifice of the 
 priests in their Masses, whereby they remit sin, 
 and redeem souls out of purgatory " {ib., p. 361). 
 
 Besides the form and language of the Prayer 
 Book, his principal legacy to the Church has 
 been the Homilies on Salvation, Faith, and Good 
 Works; the Preface to the Bible of 1540; the 
 Preface to the Prayer Book, Concerning the 
 Service of the Church ; and that on Ceremonies. 
 His great work on Holy Communion is divided 
 into five parts: (i) Of the Sacrament; (2) 
 Against Transubstantiation ; (3) Of the Presence 
 of Christ; (4) Of the Eating and Drinking; (5) 
 Of the Oblation and Sacrifice of Christ. 
 
 "He was of such temperance of nature, or 
 rather so mortified, that no manner of prosperity 
 or adversity could alter or change his accustomed 
 conditions ; for were the storms never so terrible, 
 or odious, or the prosperous state of the times 
 never so joyous, pleasant or acceptable ; to the 
 
THE RESTORER OF PRIMITIVE TRUTH 25 
 
 face of the world his countenance, diet, or sleep 
 never altered or changed. So that they which 
 were never near and conversant about him, never 
 or seldom perceived by any sign or token of 
 countenance, how the affairs of the Prince or 
 realm went. Notwithstanding privately, with his 
 secret and special friends, he would shed forth 
 many bitter tears ; lamenting the miseries and 
 calamities of the world. 
 
 " Again he so behaved himself to the whole 
 world, that in no manner of condition would he 
 seem to have any enemy ; although in very deed 
 he had both many great and secret enemies, 
 whom he always bare with such countenance and 
 benevolence, that they never could take good 
 opportunity to practise their malice against him 
 but to their great displeasure and hinderance in 
 the end. And as concerning his own regard toward 
 slanders and reproach, by any man to him imputed 
 or impugned, such as entirely knew him can 
 testify, that very little he esteemed or regarded 
 the fruit thereof ; because he altogether travailed 
 ever more from giving just occasion of detraction. 
 Whereupon grew and proceeded that notable 
 quality and virtue he had, to be beneficial unto 
 his enemies. So that in that respect he would 
 not be acknown to have any enemy at all." 
 
II 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 THE rREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 LATIMER was the popular preacher ot the 
 Reformation, as Cranmer and Ridley 
 were its theologians, and Cranmer, Cromwell, 
 Somerset, and Burleigh its statesmen. None 
 contributed more to make the return to scrip- 
 tural simplicity deep and lasting in the hearts 
 of the people than Latimer, by his powerful, 
 direct, homely, and courageous eloquence. 
 
 Speaking of the literature of the Reforma- 
 tion, Hallam says : " No English treatise on 
 a theological subject, published before the end 
 of 1550, seems to deserve notice in the general 
 literature of Europe, though some may be 
 reckoned interesting in the history of our 
 Reformation. The sermons of Latimer, how- 
 ever, published in 1548, are read for their 
 honest zeal and lively delineation of manners. 
 
 They are probably the best specimens of a 
 
 26 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 27 
 
 Style then prevalent in the pulpit, and which 
 is still not lost in Italy, nor among some of 
 our own sectaries — a style that came at once 
 home to the vulgar, animated and effective, 
 picturesque and intelligible, but too unsparing 
 both of ludicrous associations and commonplace 
 invective." 
 
 Hugh Latimer, son of a yeoman-farmer of 
 the same name, at Thurcaston in Leicester- 
 shire, was born about 1485, the last year of 
 King Richard II L, six years before the birth 
 of Henry VIII. "My father," he says in a 
 sermon before King Edward VI., " was a 
 yeoman, and had no lands of his own, only he 
 had a farm ot three or four pound a year by 
 the uttermost, and hereupon he tilled so much 
 as kept half a dozen men. He had walk for a 
 hundred sheep ; and my mother milked thirty 
 kine. He was able, and did find the King a 
 harness, with himself and his horse, while he 
 came to the place where he should receive 
 the King's wages. I can remember that I 
 buckled his harness when he went unto Black- 
 heath Field (where the Cornish rebels were 
 defeated in 1497). He kept me to school, or 
 else I had not been able to have preached 
 before the King's Majesty now. He married 
 
28 
 
 LATIMER 
 
 my sisters with five pound or twenty nobles 
 apiece ; so that he brought them up in godli- 
 ness and the fear of God. He kept hospitality 
 for his poor neighbours, and some alms he gave 
 to the poor." 
 
 From another sermon we learn how his father 
 taught him archery, and how to lay his body to 
 the bow. 
 
 In 1506 he went to Cambridge, and four 
 years later was elected Fellow of Clare Hall, 
 just before taking the degree of B.A. In 
 1 5 14 he became M.A. He was ordained at 
 Lincoln, and in 1522 had the distinction of 
 being one of the twelve preachers licensed 
 by the University to preach in any part of 
 England. He was also appointed to carry 
 the silver cross in all University processions. 
 
 In 1524 he took the degree ot B.D. ; and 
 being a fervent and zealous Papist, and a bitter 
 opposer of all who favoured the Reformation, 
 he directed his oration on that occasion against 
 Melancthon. He was remarkable in the Uni- 
 versity for sanctity of life, as well as for know- 
 ledge of divinity, and studious habits. One of 
 his audience was Thomas Bilney, the future 
 martyr. The result is thus related in a sermon 
 by Latimer : " Master Bilney, or rather Saint 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 29 
 
 Bilney, that suffered death for God's Word's 
 sake ; the same Bilney was the instrument 
 whereby God called me to knowledge ; for I 
 may thank him, next to God, for that know- 
 ledge that I have in the Word of God. For 
 I was as obstinate a Papist as any was in 
 England. . . . Bilney heard me . . . and per- 
 ceived that I was zealous without knowledge : 
 and he came to me afterwards in my study, 
 and desired me for God's sake to hear his 
 confession. I did so ; and to seiy the truth in 
 his confession I learned more than before in 
 many years. So from that time forward I 
 began to smell the Word of God, and for- 
 sook the school-doctrines and such fooleries. 
 Now after I had been acquainted with him I 
 went with him to visit the prisoners in the 
 Tower at Cambridge ; for he was ever visiting 
 prisoners and sick folk." The first time he 
 had an interview with Henry VIII., six years 
 later, he obtained the pardon of a woman whom 
 he had seen unjustly accused at Cambridge. 
 
 In 1525, as he was preaching in Latin in the 
 University Church, Bishop West, of Ely, came 
 in after he had begun, when Latimer changed 
 his subject, and preached on the duties of a 
 bishop. In thanking him West asked him to 
 
30 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 preach against Luther. Latimer said he had 
 not read his works. West was suspicious, and 
 gave him a warning. West then inhibited him 
 from preaching in the diocese of Ely, and to 
 counteract his influence preached himself at 
 Barnwell Abbey; Cambridge. Barnes, Prior of 
 Austin Friars, Cambridge, exempt from epis- 
 copal jurisdiction, invited him to preach in his 
 church. Latimer was ere long called to explain 
 himself before Wolsey as Legate ; he disowned 
 Lutheran tendencies, showed himself more 
 versed in Duns Scotus than Wolsey's chaplains, 
 and was finally dismissed by Wolsey, with per- 
 mission to preach throughout all England. 
 
 In 1529 Latimer's two sermons "on the 
 Card" gave offence. He depreciated voluntary 
 good works, such as pilgrimages and gifts to 
 churches, in comparison of works of mercy. In 
 1530 he was disliked by the Catholic party for 
 his known favour to Henry's divorce. Gardiner 
 came to Cambridge to find out the opinions of 
 the leading divines on this subject, and Latimer's 
 name was sent to the King as propitious. 
 Latimer was sent for to preach before the 
 King, who highly approved his sermon. 
 
 Latimer was now in great favour, and through 
 Cromwell and Dr. Butts, the King's physician, 
 
THE PREACHER OE THE REFORMATION 31 
 
 was appointed to the parish of West Kington, 
 Wiltshire. His plain and strong preaching 
 against idle, incompetent, and unscriptural 
 bishops and clergy provoked, as was natural, 
 vigorous remonstrance. 
 
 In 1 53 1 Latimer was accused with Crome 
 and Bilney before Convocation. Crome re- 
 canted, and Bilney suffered at the stake. 
 Latimer remained a twelvemonth unmolested. 
 A sermon in particular was censured which was 
 preached at St. Mary Abchurch, in which he 
 suggested the possibility that St. Paul, had he 
 lived in that day, might be accused to the 
 bishop as a heretic, and obliged to bear a 
 fagot at Paul's Cross. 
 
 In 1532 Hilley, Chancellor to Cardinal Cam 
 peggio, the Italian Bishop of Salisbury, served 
 a citation on Latimer to appear before the 
 Bishop of London at St. Paul's. The Bishop 
 sent him to Convocation, where certain articles 
 were proposed for him to sign. Latimer was 
 still feeling his way ; Warham was still arch- 
 bishop, and Latimer had not come under the 
 powerful influence of Cranmer. At first he 
 refused to sign, and was committed to custody 
 at Lambeth. Then he wrote declaring his 
 preaching to be quite in accordance with the 
 
32 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 Fathers, and said he did not object to images, 
 pilgrimages, praying to saints, or purgatory. 
 He only considered these things not essential. 
 At last he consented to sign two of the articles, 
 and finally made a complete submission before 
 the assembled bishops. A letter to a friend 
 again inculpated him, and he was forced ulti- 
 mately to admit that he had not erred only in 
 discretion, but in doctrine. 
 
 His peril gained him favour in the West, and 
 in 1533 he preached at Bristol, reviving his old 
 opinions, and declaring that the Virgin Mary 
 was a sinner. In 1534 he was appointed to 
 preach before the King every Wednesday in 
 Lent, and the most famous doctors of Oxford 
 and Cambridge came to hear him. He was 
 made a royal chaplain, and licences to preach 
 were granted at his request. In 1535 he was 
 appointed Bishop of Worcester. 
 
 In 1536 Latimer was at Lambeth examining 
 heretics with Cranmer and Shaxton. He also 
 preached at Paul's Cross, denouncing in homely 
 language the luxury of bishops, abbots, and 
 other " strong thieves." He said in a later 
 sermon that when their enormities were first 
 read in the Parliament House they were so 
 great and abominable that there was nothing 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 33 
 
 but " Down with them ! " But he went on to 
 lament that many of the abbots were made 
 bishops to save their pensions, and that there 
 was no real reformation, but only plunder. He 
 believed to some extent in the evil reports ; but 
 he told the King that it was not well to use as 
 royal stables buildings which had been raised 
 and maintained for the use of the poor. 
 
 On June 9th of that same year Latimer had 
 the singular fortune ot preaching the opening 
 sermon to Convocation, which had so lately tried 
 to suppress him. He denounced the degra- 
 dation of Christ's Word by superstitions about 
 purgatory and images. In the afternoon he 
 preached again, and asked the assembled clergy 
 what good they had done to the people during 
 the last seven years. They had burned a dead 
 man, and tried to burn a living one (himself) ; 
 but the real impulse to preach oftener had come 
 from the King. 
 
 Convocation proceeded to pass acts in accord- 
 ance with some of his suggestions. It drew up 
 a set of articles of religion, and a declaration 
 on Holy Orders, both of which Latimer signed 
 with the others ; and it abrogated a number of 
 superfluous holidtiys. It delivered an opinion, 
 signed by Latimer, that it lay with sovereign 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 princes, and not with the Pope, to summon 
 General Councils. He was now recognised as 
 a great promoter of the reformed opinions in 
 the King's Councils, and in the Lincolnshire 
 and Yorkshire rebellions in the same year the 
 insurgents repeatedly demanded that he and 
 Cranmer should be delivered up to them or 
 banished. 
 
 In 1537 he was in London, helping to bring 
 out the Institution of a Christian Man, known 
 as the Bishops Book. About this time he 
 corresponded with King Henry on the subject 
 of " Purgatory," maintaining that the dissolution 
 of the monasteries could only be justified on 
 the theory that purgatory was a delusion. On 
 his return to his diocese he enjoined his clergy 
 to obtain if possible a whole Bible, or at least 
 a New Testament, in Latin or English. In 
 November he was summoned again to London, 
 as the greatest preacher of the age, to give the 
 funeral sermon of Queen Jane Seymour. 
 
 In February 1538 he was again in London, 
 when the smiling rood of Boxley was exposed 
 and burned, after which he carried in his hand 
 and threw out of St. Paul's a small image which 
 legend declared eight oxen could not move. In 
 his own cathedral he caused an image of Mary 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 35 
 
 to be Stripped of its jewels and ornaments. He 
 was anxious that " our great Sibyl" should burn 
 at Smithfield with her old sister of Walsingham, 
 her young sister of Ipswich, with their two other 
 sisters of Doncaster and Penrice. In the same 
 year he had the painful duty of preaching at 
 the burning ot Friar Forest, for denying the 
 King's supremacy : he asks that he may be near 
 Forest, " for I would endeavour myself so to 
 content the people that therewith I might also 
 convert Forest, God so helping, or rather alto- 
 gether working." He was also at this time 
 head of a commission for examining the " blood 
 of Hales," which was found to be honey, or 
 some yellowish gum. 
 
 In 1539 Latimer had to attend the new 
 Parliament and Convocation. In the face of a 
 papal excommunication it had to be shown 
 how little England had departed from the old 
 principles of the faith ; and Latimer was ap- 
 pointed one of a committee of divines for this 
 purpose. They could not agree within ten days, 
 and under pressure from the King the Act of 
 Six Articles was carried. The next three days 
 Latimer was absent from his place in Par- 
 liament. So severe was the terrible whip 
 that Latimer himself was not safe. He and 
 
36 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 Shaxton, Bishop of Salisbury, at once resigned 
 their sees. 
 
 The reaction which had taken place under 
 the influence of Gardiner was highly unfavour- 
 able to Latimer. His resignation was accepted 
 without reluctance, and he himself skipped for 
 joy on putting off his rochet. Escaping to 
 Gravesend, he was brought back, and remained 
 nearly a year in ward with Sampson, Bishop of 
 Chichester. For some time he daily expected 
 to be called to execution. But that was not to 
 be yet for sixteen years. From that premature 
 martyrdom he was saved by the intervention of 
 a powerful friend, probably Crumwell, who said 
 to the King : " Consider, sir, what a singular 
 man he is, and cast not that away in one hour 
 which nature and art hath been so many years 
 in breeding and perfecting." 
 
 In 1540 Bishop Sampson himself was sent to 
 the Tower. Latimer was not liberated till July. 
 In that month he had the horror of seeing 
 his patron Crumwell beheaded, and his chaplain 
 Garrard and his old friend Barnes burned at 
 Smithfield. He was ordered to remove from 
 London, desist from preaching, and not to visit 
 either of the Universities or his own old diocese. 
 F"or nearly six years his life is a blank. 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 37 
 
 In 1546 he was accused of encouraging his 
 friend Crome " in his folly," when he had got 
 into trouble by preaching. The latter years 
 of Henry's reign were gloomy indeed for the 
 reformers. Latimer appealed to the King, but 
 was committed to the Tower. In 1547 he was 
 released by the general pardon on Edward VI.'s 
 accession, and his eloquence was at once recog- 
 nised as likely to be useful to the new policy. 
 
 On Sunday, January ist, 1548, after eight 
 years' silence, Latimer preached the first of four 
 sermons at Paul's Cross. He also preached at 
 the Shrouds, a covered gallery near St. Paul's, 
 his famous sermon on " the Plough," in which 
 he denounced many public evils, political, ecclesi- 
 astical, religious, and social, especially unpreaching 
 prelates, declaring the devil to be the most 
 assiduous bishop in England. In March a 
 pulpit was set up for him in the King's private 
 garden at Westminster, the Chapel Royal being 
 too small. His Lenten sermon on " Restitution " 
 was followed by large sums of money restored 
 to the King by Bradford, the future martyr. 
 About this time Latimer and Cranmer gave up 
 their belief in Transubstantiation. So popular 
 was he that Parliament petitioned that he might 
 be restored to the See of Worcester ; but he 
 
38 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 preferred to remain a simple preacher. " The 
 seven sermons which he preached before King 
 Edward are a curious combination of moral 
 fervour and political partisanship, eloquently 
 denouncing a host of current abuses, and 
 paying the warmest tribute to the government 
 of Somerset." ^ 
 
 In 1549 he was one of the Commission 
 for reforming the Canon Law, but owing to 
 the death of Edward their labours came to 
 nothing. 
 
 During the next two years he was the guest 
 of John Glover, of Baxterley Hall, Warwickshire, 
 and of the Duchess of Suffolk at Grimsthorpe, 
 Lincolnshire. At this time he is described by 
 his attached Swiss servant, Augustine Bernher, as 
 being, although a sore bruised man, over three- 
 score and seven, most assiduous in preaching, 
 generally delivering two sermons each Sunday, 
 and rising every morning, winter and summer, 
 at two o'clock to study. 
 
 On Mary's accession he expected to be called 
 to account, especially when Gardiner was released 
 from the Tower. There was a strong inclina- 
 tion to let him escape, and the pursuivant was 
 
 ' Mr. Gairdner, in the Dictionarv of National Biography. 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 39 
 
 ordered to allow him to obey or fly. Latimer 
 greeted him as a welcome messenger, and ap- 
 peared before the Council. He was committed 
 to the Tower, where he was not unlikely to die, 
 as the hard life and cold were ill suited to his 
 years. He was comforted by writings from his 
 fellow-prisoner, Bishop Ridley, and both were 
 allowed to prepare their defence in writing. 
 
 In March 1554 Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer 
 were sent down to Oxford to dispute with the 
 ablest divines there. On April 14th proceedings 
 were opened in St. Mary's Church. Latimer 
 appeared with a kerchief and two or three caps 
 on his head, his spectacles hanging by a string 
 at his breast, and a staff in his hand. He was 
 allowed a chair. He protested that, owing to 
 age, sickness, want of practice, and lack ot 
 books, he was almost as meet to discuss theo- 
 logy as to be captain of Calais. On the i8th 
 a discussion was held, in which, while com- 
 plaining of want of memory, he handed written 
 replies to the three propositions suggested. 
 
 It was not for more than a year, September 
 1555, that the Cardinal sent three bishops to 
 Oxford to reconcile the three prisoners, if 
 penitent, or else to hand them over to the 
 secular arm to be burnt. They had been 
 
40 
 
 LATIMER 
 
 confined separately, refused pens and ink, but 
 weli fed. 
 
 The examination was held on September 30th 
 before the three bishops in the Divinity School. 
 Latimer knelt before them, and made a spirited 
 reply to an exhortation to recant. His answers 
 to five articles brought up against him were 
 taken down, and he was held to have confessed 
 to all. 
 
 Next .day, October ist, Ridley and Latimer 
 were brought up for sentence. Latimer declared 
 he acknowledged the Catholic Church, but not 
 the Romish, and adhered to his previous answers, 
 without admitting the competence of the tribunal, 
 which derived its authority from the Pope. 
 Sentence was passed on him by the Bishop of 
 Lincoln, Latimer in vain inquiring whether it 
 were not lawful for him to appeal to the next 
 General Council which should be truly called 
 in God's name. 
 
 On the 1 6th he and Ridley were brought 
 out to execution by the mayor and bailiffs of 
 Oxford at the ditch over against Balliol College. 
 Ridley went first, Latimer following as fast as 
 age would permit. When Latimer neared the 
 place Ridley ran back and embraced him. For 
 a few minutes the two talked together. Dr. 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 41 
 
 Richard Smith preached a sermon in the worst 
 spirit of bigotry. Ridley asked Latimer if he 
 would speak in reply, but Latimer desired him 
 to begin, and both kneeled before the Vice- 
 Chancellor and other Commissioners to desire 
 a hearing. This was refused unless they would 
 recant. After being stripped of some outer 
 garments, they were fastened to the stake by a 
 chain round the middle of both. Ridley's brother 
 brought him a bag of gunpowder, and tied it 
 round his neck, after which at Ridley's request 
 he did the same for Latimer. Latimer lifted 
 up his eyes towards heaven wi'th an amiable 
 and comfortable countenance, saying in Latin : 
 " Fidelis est Deus qui non sinit nos tentari supra 
 id quod possumus " (" God is faithful, which 
 doth not suffer us to be tempted above our 
 strength"). He added: "Be of good comfort, 
 Master Ridley, and play the man ; we shall 
 this day light such a candle in England as I 
 trust shall never be put out." The old man 
 succumbed first to the flames ; his heart burst 
 with the heat, and he died without much 
 pain. 
 
 Here are his opinions on a few points. 
 Of the Pope. — " What have we to do then 
 but epulari in Domino, to eat in the Lord at 
 
42 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 His Supper? What other service have we to 
 do to Him and what other sacrifice have we 
 to offer but the mortification of our flesh ? 
 What other oblation have we to make, but ot 
 obedience, of good living, of good works, and 
 of helping our neighbours ? But as for our 
 redemption, it is done already, it cannot be 
 better ; Christ hath done that thing so well that 
 it cannot be amended. It cannot be devised 
 how to make that any better than He hath 
 done it. But the devil, by the help of that 
 Italian bishop yonder, his chaplain, hath laboured 
 by all means that he might frustrate the death 
 of Christ and the merits of His passion. And 
 they have devised for that purpose to make us 
 believe in other vain things, by his pardons ; as 
 to have remission of sins for playing on hallowed 
 beads (and the like). . . . But woe worth thee, 
 O Devil, that hast prevailed to evacuate Christ's 
 Cross and to mingle the Lord's Supper. These 
 be the Italian bishop's devices, and the devil 
 hath pricked at this mark to frustrate the Cross 
 of Christ. He shot at this mark long before 
 Christ came ; he shot at it four thousand years 
 before Christ hanged on the Cross or suffered 
 His passion." 
 
 Of the old Roman CatJiolic faith. — " Let the 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 43 
 
 Papists go with their long faith. Be you con- 
 tented with the short faith of the saints, which 
 is revealed to us in the Word of God written. 
 Adieu to all Popish fantasies ! The Fathers have 
 both herbs and weeds, and Papists commonly 
 gather the weeds and leave the herbs " ( Works., 
 p. 114). "Learn to abhor the most detestable 
 and dangerous poison of the Papists, who go 
 about to thrust Christ out of His office. Learn, 
 I say, to leave all Papistry, and to stick only 
 to the Word of God, which teacheth that Christ 
 is not only a judge, but a justifier, a giver of 
 salvation, and a taker away of sin. He pur- 
 chased our salvation through His painful death, 
 and we receive it through believing in Him, as 
 St. Paul teacheth us, saying, ' Freely ye are 
 justified through faith.' In these words of 
 St. Paul all merits and estimation of works are 
 excluded and clean taken away. For if it were 
 for our works' sake, then it were not freely : but 
 St. Paul saith freely. Whether will you now 
 believe, St. Paul or the Papists?" (Conferences, 
 Ridley's Works and Latimer's Remains, 1-74). 
 
 Of the sacrifice of the Mass. — " But if Christ 
 may challenge any kind of men for taking His 
 office upon them, He may say to the mass- 
 mongers. Who gave you commission to offer 
 
44 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 up Christ ? Who gave you authority to take 
 thine office in hand ? For it is only Christ's 
 office to do that. It is a greater matter to 
 offer Christ. If Christ had offered His body 
 at the Last Supper, then should we so do too. 
 Who is worthy to offer up Christ ? An abomin- 
 able presumption ! Paul saith, Accepit panem ; 
 postquam gratias egisset, fregit ; et dixit, 
 Accipite et edite : He took bread ; and after 
 that He had given thanks, He brake it, and 
 said. Take ye, eat ye, etc. ; and so said, Hoc 
 est corpus meum. This is My body. He gave 
 thanks ? Well then ; in thanksgiving there is 
 no oblation; and when He gave thanks it 
 was not His body." 
 
 Of the presence of Christ in Communion. — "I 
 say that there is none other presence of Christ 
 required than a spiritual presence, and that this 
 presence is sufficient for a Christian man, as 
 the presence by the which we both abide in 
 Christ, and Christ in us, to the obtaining of 
 eternal life, if we persevere in His true Gospel. 
 And the same Presence may be called a 
 Real Presence, because to the faithful believer 
 there is the real or spiritual body of Christ ; 
 which thing I here rehearse lest some syco- 
 phant or scorner should suppose me with the 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 45 
 
 Anabaptist to make nothing else of the Sacra- 
 ment but a bare and naked sign." 
 
 As to any lively sacrifice in the Alass which 
 is propitiatory as well for the quick as the dead. 
 — " This, as I understand it, seemeth subtilely 
 to sow sedition against the offering which 
 Christ Himself offered for us in His own 
 person, and for all, and never again to be 
 done ; according to the Scriptures written in 
 God's Book, in which Book read the pithy 
 place of St. Paul to the Hebrews, ix. and x., 
 where he saith that Christ His own self hath 
 made a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and never 
 again to be done ; and then ascended into 
 heaven, and there sitteth a merciful intercessor 
 between God's justice and our sins ; and there 
 shall tarry till these transubstantiators and all 
 other His foes be made His footstool ; and 
 this offering did He freely of Himself, as it is 
 written in x. John, ' And needed not that any 
 man should do it for Him.' I will speak 
 nothing of the wonderful presumptions of man 
 that dare attempt this thing without any mani- 
 fest calling : specially that which intrudeth to the 
 overthrowing and fruitless-making, if not wholly, 
 yet partly, of the Cross of Christ. 
 
 " I do not deny that in the Sacrament by 
 
46 
 
 LATIMER 
 
 spirit and grace is the very Body and Blood of 
 Christ ; because that every man, by receiving 
 bodily that bread and wine, spiritually receiveth 
 the Body and Blood of Christ, and is made 
 partaker thereby of the merits of Christ's 
 passion. But I deny the Body and Blood of 
 Christ is in such sort in the Sacrament as 
 you would have it. 
 
 " Christ made one perfect sacrifice for all 
 the whole world ; neither can any man offer 
 Him again ; neither can the priest offer up 
 Christ again for the sins of men, which He 
 took away by offering Himself once for all, as 
 St. Paul saith, upon the Cross ; neither is there 
 any propitiation for our sins, saving His Cross 
 only." 
 
 Holy Scripture. — " Faith is of hearing, and 
 not of all manner of hearing, but of hearing of 
 the Word of God : which faith also is the first- 
 fruit of the Spirit of God ; which Spirit if we 
 have not, so testify ye against us, that we be 
 no Christian men ; and against yourselves, that 
 ye be no ministers and stewards of Christ, 
 but ministers of Antichrist and shepherds of 
 your own bellies. Which Spirit if we have, so 
 beareth us witness St. Paul that we be Christ's 
 men, and St. Peter, that we may understand 
 
THE PREACHER OF THE REFORMATION 47 
 
 the Scripture. Which only is that the lay- 
 people desire ; utterly contemning all men's 
 draughts and all men's writings, how well 
 learned soever they be ; only contented with 
 their old and new schoolmaster, the Holy 
 Spirit of God, and the minister thereto of 
 Him elect and of Him sent." 
 
 Such was Latimer — brave, hearty, courageous, 
 unflinching before kings and rulers, full of 
 humour and pathos, intensely human, typically 
 English in his greatness and his characteristics, 
 a man of the people, loving them and God with 
 the whole of his large heart. "He had the 
 moral earnestness ot a Jewish prophet, and his 
 denunciations of wrong had a prophetic direct- 
 ness and fire. ' Have pity on your soul,' he 
 cried to Henry, 'and think that the day is even 
 at hand when you shall give an account of your 
 office and of the blood that hath been shed by 
 your sword.' His irony was yet more telling 
 than his invective. ' I would ask you a strange 
 question,' he said once at Paul's Cross to a 
 ring of bishops. ' Who is the most diligent 
 prelate in all England, that passeth all the rest 
 in doing of his office ? I will tell you. It is 
 the devil ! Of all the pack of them that have 
 cure, the devil shall go for my money, for he 
 
48 
 
 LA TIMER 
 
 ordereth his business. Therefore you unpreach- 
 ing prelates learn of the devil to be diligent in 
 your office. If you will not learn of God, for 
 shame learn of the devil' But Latimer was 
 far from limiting himself to invective. His 
 homely humour breaks in with story and 
 apologue ; his earnestness is always tempered 
 with good sense ; his plain and simple style 
 quickens with a shrewd mother-wit. He talks 
 to his hearers as a man talks to his friends, 
 telling stories such as we have given of his 
 own life at home, or chatting about the changes 
 and chances of the day with a transparent 
 simplicity and truth that raises even his chat 
 into grandeur. His theme is always the actual 
 world about him, and in his simple lessons of 
 loyalty, of industry, of pity for the poor, he 
 touches upon almost every subject from the 
 plough to the throne."^ Would that every age 
 had its own Latimer ! 
 
 Green's History of the English People. 
 
Ill 
 
 LAUD 
 
 AND THE MED LEVA L REACTION 
 
 EW names in all history are more pathetic 
 
 X than that of William Laud, whose sturdy 
 little figure fills so large a portion of the 
 melancholy reign of Charles I., and whose 
 influence is still felt in that Church which he 
 spent his life in endeavouring to modify. His 
 share in the tragedy of the Great Rebellion 
 was so vital, and we know so much about him, 
 that his presentment is familiar. We see him 
 learned and the patron of learning, devout and 
 sincere, unselfish and self-sacrificing, hard and 
 matter-of-fact in his conceptions, pedantic and 
 inflexible in heart and mind, saturated with 
 the principles of arbitrary and personal author- 
 ity in Church and State, devoted heart and 
 soul to the cause of King and Religion as he 
 understood it, indefatigable in business, inter- 
 vening in affairs with a zest that produced an 
 
 49 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 LAUD 
 
 irritating sense of almost omnipresent meddle- 
 someness, a systematic observer of dreams 
 and omens, self-willed and self-reliant, deter- 
 mined to the degree of obstinacy in his 
 opinions, cold and inexorable in his dealings, 
 calm and courageous in the midst of triumphant 
 hostility and humiliating reverses, and dying at 
 last with a simple and touching dignity. Alas ! 
 his idea of duty was so narrow, his perception 
 of circumstances so blind, his insistence so 
 imperturbable, and his personal power, through 
 the enthusiasm of Charles I. ("a mild and 
 gracious prince," Laud called him, " who knew 
 not how to be or to be made great "), for a 
 time so unbounded, that no surprise can be felt 
 at the part he unconsciously and with the best 
 possible motives played in wrecking the 
 Monarchy and the Church, and producing that 
 state of popular feeling amongst honest, free, 
 God-fearing Englishmen which would only be 
 satisfied with the blood ot King, Primate, and 
 Minister. How dismal the whole story is! 
 How grimly the irony of history shows itself! 
 If the Parliament men had desired to rehabili- 
 tate Charles, Laud, and Strafford, and to 
 surround their names in the eyes of a large 
 section of the successive generations of posterity 
 
AND THE MEDIAEVAL REACTION 51 
 
 with such a halo of affection and reverence 
 as would go far to obscure their fatal mistakes, 
 they could have taken no more efficacious 
 means than giving them the opportunity of 
 dying with the majesty of heroism. 
 
 Controversy will always be active round the 
 memory of Laud. Lovers of liberty, freedom 
 of thought, and the simplicity of scriptural 
 religion, as revived by Cranmer and the Re- 
 formers, will have no sympathy whatever with 
 the policy for which he paid his life. To 
 those who find their ideal in strict ecclesiastical 
 discipline, the active discouragement of dissent, 
 the doctrine of the offering of the sacrifice of 
 Christ by a Priest in Holy Communion, and 
 an elaborate external ritual. Laud will appear 
 little less than a martyr. 
 
 We are indebted to Dr. Gairdner for a 
 careful Life of Laud in the Dictionary of 
 National Biography. There are seven volumes 
 of his own works, republished in the Anglo- 
 Catholic Library as part of the literature of 
 the Oxford movement. A highly eulogistic 
 biography of him was written by his disciple 
 Heylin, under the title of Cyprianus Angliais. 
 His victim and relentless enemy Prynne pub- 
 lished his accusations in his Hidden Works of 
 
52 
 
 LAUD 
 
 Darkness and Canterbury s Doom. The letters 
 and State papers of the time are of course full 
 of references and information, and in every 
 history of the period he supplies a leading 
 character. 
 
 He was born at Reading, October 7th, 1573, 
 twenty-three years after the' death of Cranmer, 
 in the fourteenth year of the reign of Elizabeth. 
 He was the only son of William Laud, a 
 clothier. His mother, Lucy Webbe, had been 
 married before to another clothier, John Robin- 
 son, and had several children. After some 
 years at Reading Free School, William went 
 to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1589, and 
 next year obtained a Reading scholarship. In 
 1593 he became Fellow; 1594, B.A. ; 1598, 
 M.A. ; 1608, D.D. His College tutor was 
 John Buckeridge, afterwards Bishop of Roches- 
 ter, Bath and Wells, and Ely, who had headed 
 the reaction at the Universities against Cal- 
 vinism, and was the life-long friend of Bishop 
 Andrewes ; what would be called now a moderate 
 High Churchman, " standing between Roman 
 Catholicism on the one hand and Puritanism on 
 the other, laying stress on sacramental grace 
 and the episcopal organisation of the Church of 
 England." Under his guidance Laud became 
 
AND THE MEDIAEVAL REACTION 
 
 53 
 
 a patient student of the Fathers ; but although 
 his subsequent Controversy with Fisher the 
 Jesuit became the most famous of his works, 
 he had neither aptitude nor liking for theo- 
 logical inquiry and argument ; he showed little 
 understanding ot the position of the Reformers ; 
 he took the poetical, metaphorical language ot 
 the early Greek fathers in a precise, literal 
 way ; and while repudiating the technicalities 
 of Transubstantiation, became a determined ad- 
 herent of the post-Cyprianic view ot the Real 
 Local Presence in the Holy Communion, not (as 
 the Reformers had held) ot Christ's Presence in 
 the heart of the worthy recipient, but, in a 
 spiritual manner, in the consecrated elements. 
 It followed that a real Priest offered up the 
 sacrifice of Christ at an altar. The third view 
 which distinguished him from the Reformers 
 was, that the Visible Church in his eyes was 
 not chiefly " a congregation of faithful men in 
 which the pure Word of God is preached and 
 the Sacraments duly administered in all things 
 requisite to the same," but rather a hierarchy 
 with the authority of the Apostles handed 
 down by the laying on of hands from gene- 
 ration to generation, and that outside that 
 hierarchy there was no Church. According to 
 
54 
 
 this opinion, the Reformed Churches which had 
 not been able to obtain episcopal ordination 
 were not Churches at all, even in an imper- 
 fect way ; while the Church of Rome, however 
 errant, was a true, and indeed the oldest, 
 largest, and most important branch of the whole 
 Visible Catholic Church of Christ. It is not 
 astonishing that a generation brought up under 
 the influence of the five preceding primates — 
 Parker, Grindal, Whitgift, Bancroft, and Abbot 
 — should view these opinions as Popery. 
 Popery to them meant, not merely the usur- 
 pation of the Bishop of Rome, but a great 
 mass of unscriptural doctrine which had pre- 
 vailed in this country, as in the rest of Europe, 
 with increasing degrees of intensity since, at 
 any rate, the Roman mission of Augustine. 
 There had been enough truth underlying the 
 corruptions to constitute a true Church ; and 
 the work of the Reformation had been simply 
 to compare the corruptions with Scripture, and 
 with the earliest and best ot the primitive 
 Fathers, and deliberately to exclude them as far 
 as it was possible for human words. Through 
 the ambiguity of the word Sacrament, which in 
 some writers meant the Elements, in others the 
 whole Ordinance, Laud was able to quote the 
 
AND THE MEDIEVAL REACTION 
 
 55 
 
 Reformers as if they maintained what alone the 
 Roman Church cared about — the Local Presence 
 of the Body and Blood in the Elements. 
 He argued against Transubstantiation, but 
 Transubstantiation appeared a mere theoretical 
 explanation of such a Presence ; if once the 
 Localised Presence in the Elements was ad- 
 mitted, Transubstantiation was not worth argu- 
 ing about. What the Reformed Church of 
 England in Laud's time believed was that there 
 was a Presence of Christ in the Ordinance, 
 effectual to the faithful recipient, through his 
 faith in receiving the hallowed emblems of the 
 Passion ; when once that point was clear, they 
 did not care how strong the language might be 
 which they used as to the reality of that Presence 
 in the heart. What Laud cared about was 
 the spiritual Presence in the Elements, invoked 
 by the word of the Priest. Again, Laud's 
 generation believed that they had got rid of 
 the doctrine of the Priest offering in the Holy 
 Communion the unbloody sacrifice of Christ's 
 Body and Blood. " Beware, lest it [the Holy 
 Communion] be made a sacrifice," was the 
 language of an authorised homily not long be- 
 fore composed. Metaphorical sacrifices there 
 were ; the unconsecrated bread and wine as 
 
56 
 
 LAUD 
 
 types of God's gifts, money for the poor, 
 prayers, ourselves ; but when Laud spoke of 
 " three sacrifices : one by the priest only ; that 
 is the commemorative sacrifice of Christ's death, 
 represented in bread broken and wine poured 
 out," his language appeared to his contem- 
 poraries as nearly akin to that of the Council 
 of Trent. Laud had no theological acumen ; 
 his doctrinal writings contain many contradic- 
 tions and ambiguities ; and it is probable that 
 he himself was not aware how contrary to the 
 spirit of the Reformation, " Popish," or " Romish," 
 these and other like statements of his would 
 appear. In the same way, to a Church which 
 had been accustomed to be on intimate terms 
 of friendship with the Reformed non-episcopalian 
 Churches of the Continent, which Abbot had 
 delighted by insisting that the Albigenses, the 
 Waldenses, and the like were the truest re- 
 presentatives of Christ's Body, and which con- 
 sidered itself as alien to Rome and akin to the 
 Reformed Churches in all matters except epis- 
 copal government (which was in the eyes of all 
 English theologians since the Reformation a 
 matter of the bene esse, not of the esse of a 
 Church), Laud's doctrine of Episcopacy as an 
 exclusive essential seemed a retrogressive step 
 
AND THE MEDIEVAL REACTION 
 
 57 
 
 to the Romish days from Augustine to Warham. 
 It is necessary to state these contrasts in order 
 to understand the extraordinary opposition which 
 Laud's opinions, which are now very common 
 in the Church, excited in his own day. 
 
 Laud was ordained Deacon on January 4th, 
 1 60 1, and Presbyter on April 5th the same 
 year. In 1603 he became Proctor, and also 
 Chaplain to Charles Blount, Earl of Devon- 
 shire. In 1605 he married his patron to the 
 wife of Lord Rich, with whom Lord Devon- 
 shire had previously committed adultery — a com- 
 pliance for which he was afterwards bitterly 
 penitent. 
 
 At Oxford he won the reputation ot being 
 "a very confident and busy person." As early 
 as 1604, in a thesis for the degree of B.D., he 
 maintained that there could be no true Church 
 without diocesan Bishops, and was reproved 
 by the presiding Professor. In 1606 a Uni- 
 versity sermon was thought by the Vice-Chan- 
 cellor to contain popish opinions. In 1607 his 
 desire for preferment began to be gratified ; he 
 became Vicar of Stanford, Northamptonshire ; 
 in 1608 D.D. and Chaplain to Bishop Neile ; 
 and on September 1 7th that year he preached 
 before James I. at Theobald's. In 1610 he 
 
58 
 
 LAUD 
 
 resigned his Fellowship on being presented by 
 Bishop Neile to the rectory of Cuxton, Kent. 
 
 On May loth, 1614, he was elected Presi- 
 dent of St. John's. The election was disputed ; 
 King James heard the parties, and decided for 
 its validity on the ground that the alleged 
 irregularity had been unintentional. 
 
 In 1 61 4 he was attacked in the University 
 pulpit by Dr. Robert Abbot, brother of the 
 Primate, for a sermon declaring that Presby- 
 terians were as bad as Papists. In the same 
 year Bishop Neile made him Prebendary of 
 Buckden in Lincoln Cathedral, and in 161 5 
 Archdeacon ot Huntingdon. In 161 6 King 
 James appointed him to the deanery of 
 Gloucester. 
 
 It was not only in principles but in methods 
 that Laud offended the men of his time. At 
 Gloucester Cathedral the rubric ordering the 
 Holy Table to be in the middle of the chancel 
 was strictly observed, and the aged Bishop, 
 Miles Smith, learned and strongly Protestant 
 approved the custom. In most cathedrals and 
 in the King's chapels the Table was still at 
 the east. Laud persuaded the Chapter to re- 
 move the Table eastwards, but took no pains 
 to explain and recommend his action in public. 
 
AND l^HE MEDIEVAL REACTION 
 
 59 
 
 " If he had authority on his side, he considered 
 it unnecessary even to attempt to win over by 
 persuasion those who differed from him." 
 
 In 1617 he needlessly made another un- 
 fortunate impression ; he wore a surplice at the 
 funeral of a guardsman when staying with 
 James in Scotland. In 1621 he became Pre- 
 bendary of Westminster ; the same year James, a 
 shrewd observer of character, reluctantly yielded 
 to the entreaties of Charles and the favourite 
 Buckingham, and made him Bishop of St. 
 David's. Although allowed to keep his Head- 
 ship, he conscientiously resigned it. It is char- 
 acteristic of his uncompromising temper that 
 he refused to allow the Primate Abbot to take 
 part in his consecration, as he had accidentally 
 shot a keeper. 
 
 The year 1622 was marked by the contro- 
 versy with Father Percy (Fisher the Jesuit), 
 undertaken at the request of James on behalf 
 of Buckingham's mother. The subject was the 
 Infallibility of the Church. Laud was induced 
 by his desire to escape from the trammels ot 
 Calvinistic dogmatism to take up a wider and 
 nobler position. In what he himself believed 
 he was as arbitrary as any Calvinist ; but the 
 only way out of Calvinistic influence was by 
 
6o 
 
 LAUD 
 
 adopting a position of greater width. He argued 
 that not all points defined by the Church are 
 fundamental ; limited as far as possible the 
 domain and extent of soul-saving faith ; and 
 urged that the foundations of the faith are the 
 Scriptures and the Creeds. In case of doubt 
 about the meaning of the Articles, or super- 
 structures upon them — (" which are doctrines 
 about the faith, not the faith itself, unless when 
 they be immediate consequences ") — then, both 
 in and of these, a lawful and free General 
 Council, determining according to Scripture, is 
 the best judge on earth. 
 
 In the next month after the Conference Laud 
 became Confessor to the Duke of Buckingham, 
 ever afterwards holding him in extraordinary 
 affection. 
 
 This year for the first time Laud spent a 
 month in his diocese. He ordered the erection 
 of a chapel at the Bishop's house at Abergwili, 
 and presented it with rich communion plate. 
 
 On March 27th, 1625, James died, and with 
 the reign of Charles, sacerdotalist and autocrat, 
 Laud's real power began. It lasted fifteen 
 years, and seldom has so short a period been 
 fraught with consequences so momentous or 
 results so permanent. It was Laud's unhappy 
 
AND 2 HE MEDIEVAL REACTION 6i 
 
 fortune that, knowing his opinions to be held 
 by a minority amongst the clergy, and by a 
 still smaller minority amongst the laity, he 
 found in the enthusiastic and idealist King, 
 twenty-seven years his junior, not only a docile 
 pupil who had already for seventeen years drunk 
 in his teaching both in Church and State, but 
 an ardent supporter and coadjutor, burning, 
 without any regard to consequences, to employ 
 the whole force of the royal authority, which 
 he had been taught to regard as absolute, in 
 what appeared to be the glorious campaign 
 for the stern repression of Anti-sacerdotalism in 
 England. 
 
 Charles's first Parliament attacked Montague, 
 a preacher, for using arguments against Rome 
 which seemed to them inconsistent with the 
 Reformation. Charles made him his Chaplain, 
 and afterwards Bishop of Chichester. Laud 
 was one of a Committee of Bishops appointed 
 to report on the sermon. In writing with two 
 other Bishops on his behalf, Laud used these 
 characteristic and significant words : " We can- 
 not conceive what use there can be of civil 
 government in the commonwealth, or of preach- 
 ing or of external ministry in the Church, if 
 such fatal opinions as some which are opposite 
 
62 
 
 LAUD 
 
 and contrary to those delivered by Mr. Montague 
 shall be publicly taught and maintained." The 
 Romanists are fond of quoting Bishop Montague. 
 
 In 1626 Laud advised that no such questions 
 as those raised by the Commons as to Montague 
 should be discussed by public preaching or writ- 
 ing. Preaching before the second Parliament, 
 he magnified the royal authority in State and 
 Church alike. Already the House of Commons 
 regarded him as hostile to civil liberty as well 
 as to religious truth. He prepared Charles's 
 speeches on behalf of Buckingham, and corrected 
 Buckingham's defence. 
 
 The same year Charles promised him the 
 Deanery of the Chapel Royal and the Arch- 
 bishopric of Canterbury. In 1627 he made 
 him a Privy Councillor, promised him the 
 Bishopric of London, and placed him on a 
 Commission for executing the Primacy during 
 Abbot's sequestration. In 1628 he became 
 Bishop of London. 
 
 In 1628 the present preface to the Articles 
 was issued. Parliament struggled for a time ; 
 but in 1629 it was silenced for eleven years, 
 and Laud received no further check till the 
 beginning of the end. 
 
 Laud's great mistake, quite apart from his 
 
AND THE MEDIEVAL REACTION 63 
 
 theological attitude, is summed up in one word : 
 Compulsion. " Ignoring the example of Andrewes, 
 who, without irritating any one, had simply re- 
 commended the observance of the religious 
 usages of which he approved, Laud held it 
 incumbent on him to compel observance even 
 by those who disapproved of them. In his 
 mind the external obligation always took pre- 
 cedence of the spiritual conception. Uniformity 
 to him was the surest propagator of unity of 
 spirit." 
 
 It is characteristic that throughout the awful 
 contest which he had provoked Laud was not 
 hopeful on the one hand and absolutely fearless 
 on the other. To Vossius he wrote in 1629 
 that he had done his best to find a quiet way 
 out of the difficulty ; but his fears outwitted his 
 hopes. In the same year a paper intimated 
 that his life was sought : " I beseech Thee 
 deliver my soul from them that hate me with- 
 out a cause " was his comment. 
 
 This year he was made Chancellor of the 
 University of Oxford. Here again he made 
 his personal rule a reality in new statutes and 
 vigorous discipline. 
 
 The year 1630 introduces us to Laud in his 
 least favourable aspect.- There were two Courts, 
 
64 
 
 LAUD 
 
 the Star Chamber and that of High Commis- 
 sion, which represented the personal powers of 
 the Crown. The Star Chamber was an off- 
 shoot of Henry H.'s Court of Appeal ; it had 
 been systematised by Henry VH., and " had 
 received great development, especially on the 
 side of criminal law, under the Tudors. Forgery, 
 perjury, riot, maintenance, fraud, libel, and con- 
 spiracy were the chief offences cognisable ; but 
 its scope extended to every misdemeanour, and 
 especially to charges where, from the imper- 
 fection of the common law, or the power of 
 offenders, justice was bafifled in the lower 
 courts." ^ The Court of High Commission 
 was established by Elizabeth for dealing with 
 ecclesiastical matters. " All opinions or acts 
 contrary to the Statutes of Supremacy and 
 Uniformity fell within its cognisance. A right 
 of deprivation placed the clergy at its mercy. 
 It had power to alter or amend the statutes 
 of colleges or schools. Not only heresy and 
 schism and nonconformity, but incest or aggra- 
 vated adultery were held to fall within its scope ; 
 its means of inquiry were left without limit, 
 and it might fine or imprison at its will. By 
 
 Green. 
 
AND THE MEDIEVAL REACTION 
 
 6S 
 
 the mere establishment of such a court half the 
 work of the Reformation was undone. The 
 large number of civilians on the board indeed 
 seemed to furnish some security against the 
 excess of ecclesiastical tyranny. Of its forty- 
 four commissioners, however, few actually took 
 part in its proceedings ; and the powers of the 
 Commission were practically left in the hands 
 of the successive Primates. No Archbishop 
 of Canterbury since the days of Augustine had 
 wielded an authority so vast, so utterly despotic, 
 as that of Whitgift, and Bancroft, and Abbot, 
 and Laud. The most terrible feature of their 
 spiritual tyranny was its wholly personal char- 
 acter. The old symbols of doctrine were 
 gone, and the lawyers had not yet stepped in 
 to protect the clergy by defining the exact 
 limits of the new. The result was that at the 
 commission-board at Lambeth the Primates 
 created their own tests of doctrine with an utter 
 indifference to those created by law." ^ Of both 
 these terrible engines of personal despotism Laud 
 was the leading member during the greater 
 part of the reign of Charles till his impeach- 
 ment ; and he exercised his authority with an 
 
 ^ Green's History of the English People. 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 LAUD 
 
 unsparing hand. He had not the perception to 
 see that the machinery was obsolete. When 
 the cruel sentence on Leighton, the Scottish 
 maintainer of the Divine right of Presby- 
 terianism, was passed in the Star Chamber, it 
 is related that Laud took off his cap and 
 gave thanks to God, who had given him the 
 victory over his enemies. In the Court of 
 High Commission he was incessantly active. 
 It was the cruelty of the sentences of these 
 Courts that more than anything else raised 
 popular fury against him. The rest of the 
 facts of his career are soon told. In 1631 he 
 consecrated the church of St. Catherine Cree, 
 in London, where by his bowings and ritual 
 he needlessly offended the Puritans who 
 abounded in the city. In 1633 he was made 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. He believed that 
 he had been offered a Cardinal's hat from 
 Rome ; but, at any rate, the offer was private. 
 
 In 1633 he further checked Puritanism by 
 getting the King to write to the Bishops 
 against ordaining except to a cure of souls, with 
 a view of stopping the Puritan lectureships. 
 He also obtained a decision from Charles that 
 no Holy Table must be moved into the body 
 of the chancel without leave of the Ordinary. 
 
AND THE MEDIEVAL REACTION 67 
 
 He rated Chief-Justice Richardson for inter- 
 fering with the Somerset wakes, and warmly 
 approved of the repubhcation of the Book of 
 Sports. 
 
 In 1635 he was placed on the Committee of 
 the Treasury and that for Foreign Affairs. 
 "His dealings with temporal matters were not 
 successful. . . . All opposition he took as a 
 personal slight." 
 
 From 1634 to 1637 Laud held a metro- 
 political visitation of the whole province of 
 Canterbury. His Vicar-General, Sir Nathaniel 
 Brent, went from diocese to diocese enforcing 
 conformity. There were many abuses and 
 irregularities to be corrected ; but this rigid 
 imposition of one standard hastened the dis- 
 ruption and overthrow of the Church. Much 
 of this was regarded as a deliberate return 
 towards Rome. From 1634 to 1636 the pre- 
 sence of the Pope's representative in England, 
 Panzani, encouraged the idea. Laud knew 
 that Rome would only accept absolute sub- 
 mission ; but his distinction was not appre- 
 ciated by the country. 
 
 In 1636 Charles, at the suggestion of Laud, 
 made Juxon, Bishop of London, Lord Treasurer. 
 " No Churchman," wrote Laud, " had it since 
 
68 
 
 LAUD 
 
 Henry VII.'s time. I pray God bless him to 
 carry it so that the Church may have honour 
 and the King and the State service and con- 
 tentment by it ; and now, if the Church will 
 not hold up themselves, under God, I can do 
 no more." Such a policy made the Church 
 in the eyes of the people a " kingdom of 
 this world," exacting punishment, rather than 
 a helper in a godly life. 
 
 In the same year the Privy Council acknow- 
 ledged his right to visit the Universities. 
 Oxford was already submissive ; he could now 
 rule Cambridge.^ 
 
 The final explosion, after multiplied attacks 
 by the representatives of the old non-sacerdotal 
 Reformation principles, took place over the 
 King's attempts to enforce new Canons and 
 a new Prayer Book on the Scottish Church. 
 Laud had already said that the course taken 
 in Scotland seemed to him not a Reformation 
 but a Deformation ; and when the new system 
 was sent down it was understood to be ani- 
 mated by his spirit, if not his own work. 
 
 1 In 1633 he was elected Chancellor of Dublin University 
 where he also provided new statutes. Through Strafford 
 he exercised a vigorous personal influence over the Irish 
 Church. 
 
AND THE MEDIAEVAL REACTION 69 
 
 Everywhere he was held up as the real author 
 of the Scottish troubles, which ended in the 
 final alienation of the Scottish people from 
 Episcopacy. He was a vehement supporter of 
 his friend Strafford in the second war with 
 Scotland. 
 
 In 1640, as Convocation was still sitting, 
 though Parliament had been dissolved, Laud 
 passed through Convocation those abortive 
 Canons which endeavoured to enforce the 
 Divine right of kings, and to impose upon 
 the many the religion of the few. The oath 
 of obedience to these Canons, which was 
 rendered ambiguous by the words et cetera 
 after the specification of the governors of the 
 Church, was met with inextinguishable ridicule, 
 and was stopped by Charles himself. 
 
 " Laud was now by common consent treated 
 as the source of those evils in Church and State 
 of which Strafford was regarded as the most 
 vigorous defender. Libellers assailed him, and 
 mobs called for his punishment. As the summer 
 of 1640 passed away, he saw the ground 
 slipping from beneath his feet by the mis- 
 carriage of the King's efforts to provide an 
 army capable of defying the Scots. On 
 November 3rd the Long Parliament met. On 
 
70 
 
 LAUD 
 
 December i8th the Commons impeached Laud 
 of treason. He was placed in confinement, and 
 on February 24th, 1641, articles of impeach- 
 ment were voted against him. On March ist 
 he was committed to the Tower." His trial 
 was a foregone conclusion, and after a long and 
 weary imprisonment he was beheaded on 
 Tower Hill on January loth, 1645. No part 
 of his life became him better than the ending 
 of it. He died with courage and dignity, and 
 upheld in a touching speech, as he was well 
 able and entitled to do, his absolute integrity 
 and sincerity in all the mistaken policy which 
 brought about his downfall. 
 
 Laud's tragedy illustrates by way of contrast 
 three principles : i. " My kingdom is not of 
 this world"; 2. The words of our Lord and 
 His Apostles are of more theological import- 
 ance than the whole mass of patristic comments 
 and traditions ; 3. " Be not many masters " : 
 " Domineer not over God's heritage." 
 
IV 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 RICHARD HOOKER, the most renowned 
 of English theologians since the Refor- 
 mation, was born probably in March 1553-54, 
 in the last year of the reign of Edward VI., 
 and two years before the burning of Arch- 
 bishop Cranmer. 
 
 It is said that either Cardinal Allen or 
 Dr. Stapleton, le^irned Romanists in Italy at 
 the time of the publication of the first four 
 books of the Ecclesiastical Polity, sent for 
 them, and after reading them declared to Pope 
 Clement VIII., that though he had lately said 
 he never met with an English book whose 
 writer deserved the name of an author, yet 
 there now appeared a wonder to them, and it 
 would be so to his Holiness if it were in 
 Latin ; for a poor, obscure English priest had 
 written four such Books of Laws and Church 
 
1^ 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 Polity, and in a style that expressed such a 
 grave and so humble a majesty, with such 
 clear demonstration of reason, that in all their 
 readings they had not met any that exceeded 
 him. The Pope begged Dr. Stapleton to read 
 him the first book in Latin ; and when he had 
 heard it, remarked : " There is no learning that 
 this man hath not searched into ; nothing too 
 hard for his understanding : this man indeed 
 deserves the name of an author ; his books 
 will get reverence by age, for there is in them 
 such seeds of eternity, that it the rest be like 
 this, they shall last till the last fire shall 
 consume all learning." 
 
 King James I., on coming to England in 
 succession to Elizabeth, asked Archbishop 
 Whitgift for the author of the Church Polity ; 
 and when he heard that he died a year before 
 Queen Elizabeth, who received the news of 
 his death with very much sorrow, he replied : 
 " And I receive it with no less, that I shall 
 want the desired happiness of seeing and dis- 
 coursing with that man, from whose Books I 
 have received such satisfaction : indeed, my 
 Lord, I have received more satisfaction in 
 reading a leaf, or paragraph, in Mr. Hooker, 
 though it were but about the fashion of 
 
THE WISE 7HE0L0GIAN 
 
 73 
 
 Churches, or Church-musick, or the Hke, but 
 especially of the Sacraments, than I have had 
 in the reading particular large treatises written 
 but of one of those subjects by others, though 
 very learned men ; and I observe there is in 
 Mr. Hooker no affected language, but a grave, 
 comprehensive, clear manifestation of reason ; 
 and that backed with the authority of the 
 Scripture, the fathers and schoolmen, and with 
 all law both sacred and civil. And though 
 many others write well, yet in the next age 
 they will be forgotten ; but doubtless there is 
 in every page of Mr. Hooker's book the picture 
 of a divine soul, such pictures of Truth and 
 Reason, and drawn in so sacred colours, that 
 they shall never fade, but give an immortal 
 memory to the author." ^ 
 
 Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I., 
 says in her Relation at the end of Icon 
 Basilikd, " He bid me read Bishop Andrewes' 
 Sermons, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, and 
 Bishop Laud's book against Fisher, which would 
 ground me against Popery." Charles I. also 
 recommended it to his children " as an excel- 
 lent means to satisfy private scruples, and 
 
 Walton's Lives. 
 
74 
 
 HOOKZR 
 
 settle the public peace of the Church and 
 Kingdom." 
 
 Hallam's estimate of Hooker is worth tran- 
 scribing at length : " While the scenes of pride 
 and persecution on the one hand, and of 
 sectarian insolence on the other, were de- 
 forming the bosom of the English Church, she 
 found a defender of her institutions in one 
 who mingled in these vulgar controversies like 
 a knight of romance amongst caitiff brawlers, 
 with arms of finer temper and worthy to be 
 proved in a nobler field. Richard Hooker, 
 Master of the Temple, published the first four 
 books of his Ecclesiastical Polity in 1594; the 
 fifth, three years afterwards ; and dying in 
 1600, left behind three which did not see the 
 light till 1647. This eminent work may justly 
 be reckoned to mark an era in our literature ; 
 for if passages of much good sense and even 
 of a vigorous eloquence are scattered in several 
 earlier writers in prose, yet none of these, 
 except perhaps Latimer and Ascham, and Sir 
 Philip Sidney in his Arcadia, can be said to 
 have acquired enough reputation to be generally 
 known even by name, much less are read in 
 the present day ; and it is indeed not a little 
 remarkable that England, until near the end 
 
75 
 
 of the sixteenth century, had given few proofs 
 in literature of that intellectual power which 
 was about to develope itself in Shakespeare 
 and Bacon. We cannot indeed place Hooker 
 (but whom dare we to place ?) by the side 
 of these master-spirits ; yet he has abundant 
 claims to be counted among the luminaries 
 of English literature. ' He not only opened 
 the mine, but explored the depths, of our 
 native eloquence. So stately and graceful is 
 the march of his periods, so various the fall 
 of his musical cadences upon the ear, so rich 
 in images, so condensed in sentences, so 
 grave and noble his diction, so little is there 
 of vulgarity in his racy idiom, of pedantry in 
 his learned phrase, that I know not whether 
 any later writer has more admirably displayed 
 the capacities of our language, or produced 
 passages more worthy of comparison with the 
 splendid monuments of antiquity." ^ 
 
 In answer to the narrow dogmatism of the 
 Puritans, who despised all considerations except 
 the mere letter of Scripture, the importance 
 of which was extolled by the strictest theory 
 of verbal inspiration. Hooker " took a far 
 
 ^ Constit. Hist., i., p. 214. 
 
75 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 more original course than the ordinary con- 
 trovertists, who fought their battles with 
 conflicting interpretations of scriptural texts on 
 passages from the fathers. He inquired into 
 the nature and foundation of law itself, as 
 the rule of operation to all created beings, 
 yielding thereto obedience by unconscious ne- 
 cessity, or sensitive appetite, or reasonable 
 choice ; reviewing especially those laws that 
 regulate human agency, as they arise out of 
 moral relations, common to our species, or the 
 institutions of political societies, or the inter- 
 community of independent nations ; and having 
 thoroughly established the fundamental dis- 
 tinction between laws natural and positive, 
 eternal and temporary, immutable and variable, 
 he came with all this strength of moral 
 philosophy to discriminate by the same criterion 
 the various rules and precepts contained in the 
 Scriptures. It was a kind of maxim among 
 the Puritans that Scripture was so much the 
 exclusive rule of human actions, that whatever, 
 in matters at least concerning religion, could not 
 be found to have its authority, was unlawful. 
 Hooker devoted the whole second book of his 
 work to the refutation of this principle. He 
 proceeded afterwards to attack its application 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 77 
 
 more particularly to the episcopal scheme 
 of Church government, and to the various 
 ceremonies or usages which those sectaries 
 treated as either absolutely superstitious, or at 
 least as impositions without authority. It was 
 maintained by this great writer, not only that 
 ritual observances are variable according to the 
 discretion of ecclesiastical rulers, but that no 
 certain form of polity is set down in Scripture 
 as generally indispensable for a Christian 
 Church. Far, however, from conceding to his 
 antagonists the fact which they assumed, he 
 contended for Episcopacy as an apostolical 
 institution, and always preferable, when circum- 
 stances would allow its preservation, to the 
 more democratical model of the Calvinistic 
 congregations. ' If we did seek,' he says, 
 ' to maintain that which most advantageth our 
 own cause, the very best way for us, and the 
 strongest against them, were to hold, even as 
 they do, that in Scripture there must needs 
 be found some particular form of Church polity 
 which God hath instituted, and which for that 
 very cause belongeth to all Churches at all 
 times. But with any such partial eye to 
 respect ourselves, and by cunning to make 
 those things seem the truest which are the 
 
78 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 fittest to serve our purpose, is a thing which 
 we neither like nor mean to follow.' '' ' 
 
 Hooker's birthplace was Heavitree, a district 
 of Exeter. The original name of the family 
 was Vowell, but in the sixteenth century this 
 was generally dropped. His great-grandfather 
 and grandfather were both mayors of Exeter 
 (1493, 1537). His father seems to have been 
 in poor circumstances. Richard was educated 
 at Exeter Grammar School, where he made 
 rapid progress. "His complexion (if we may 
 guess by him at the age of forty) was 
 sanguine, with a mixture of choler ; and yet, 
 his motion was slow even in his youth, and 
 so was his speech, never expressing an 
 earnestness in either of them, but an humble 
 gravity suitable to the aged. And it is to be 
 observed (so far as inquiry is able to look 
 back at this distance of time) that at his 
 being a school-boy he was an early questionist, 
 quietly inquisitive, why was this, and that was 
 not, to be remembered ? why this was granted, 
 and that denied ? This being mixed with a 
 remarkable modesty, and a sweet serene quiet- 
 ness of nature ; and with them a quick 
 
 Hallam, Constit. Hist., i., p. 216. 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAA 
 
 apprehension of many perplext parts of learning 
 imposed then upon him as a scholar, made his 
 master and others to have an inward blessed 
 divine light, and therefore to consider him to 
 a- little wonder." ^ 
 
 His parents wished to apprentice him ; but 
 the schoolmaster appealed to his uncle, John 
 Hooker, first chamberlain of Exeter, the editor 
 of Holinshed, who was in a better position. 
 The uncle introduced him to his friend Bishop 
 Jewel of Salisbury, who sent for the boy and 
 his teacher, bestowed an annual pension on 
 his parents to keep him at his books, and in 
 1568 (his fifteenth year) obtained for him a 
 clerk's place at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 
 
 The President of Corpus, Dr. William Cole, 
 interested himself in the boy, and he had a 
 good tutor in Dr. John Reynolds. Here he 
 continued " still increasing in learning and pru- 
 dence, and so much in humility and piety that 
 he seemed to be filled with the Holy Ghost, 
 and even like St. John the Baptist to be 
 sanctified from his mother's womb, who did 
 often bless the day in which she bare him." 
 He often journeyed on foot from Oxford to 
 
 Walton's Lives. 
 
8o 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 Exeter, and paid on the way several visits to 
 Bishop Jewel, one of which is described in 
 detail by Walton. 
 
 Jewel died in 1571 ; but he had already 
 interested his friend Bishop Sandys of London 
 (afterwards Archbishop of York) in this 
 wonderful youth ; and Sandys, though a 
 Cambridge man, sent his son {afterwards Sir 
 Edwin) to be Hooker's pupil at Corpus. 
 Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer (another 
 pupil, grandnephew of the Archbishop, and 
 cousin to Izaak Walton) became his chief 
 friends through life. 
 
 In 1573, when nearly twenty, Hooker was 
 elected Scholar of Corpus, the rule limiting 
 the age to nineteen being relaxed because of 
 his unusual proficiency. He became B.A. in 
 1573-74, and M.A. and Fellow in 1577. He 
 was well acquainted with Greek and Hebrew 
 music and poetry. Henry Savile, afterwards 
 Sir Henry, the mathematician and astronomer 
 was one of his Oxford friends. In 1579 he 
 was appointed by the Earl of Leicester, 
 Chancellor of the University, to be deputy 
 to Dr. Thomeis Kingsmill, Professor of 
 Hebrew. 
 
 In October of that year a curious accident 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 8t 
 
 happened. Barfoot, the Vice-President of 
 Corpus, was an ardent Puritan, and expelled 
 Dr. Reynolds, Hooker, and others, probably 
 through some theological dispute. They were 
 all restored the same month. 
 
 Soon after his ordin^ition he was appointed 
 by Bishop Sandys to preach at St. Paul's 
 Cross. "In order to which sermon to 
 London he came, and immediately to the 
 Shunammite's house ; (which is a house so 
 called, for that, besides the stipend paid the 
 preacher, there is provision also made for his 
 lodging and diet for two days before and one 
 day after his sermon). This house was then 
 kept by John Churchman, sometime a draper 
 of good note in Watling Street. . . . To this 
 house Mr. Hooker came so wet, so weary, and 
 weather-beaten, that he was never known to 
 express more passion than against a friend 
 who dissuaded him from footing it to London, 
 and for finding him no easier an horse ; 
 supposing the horse trotted, when he did not : 
 and at this time also such a faintness and 
 fear possest him that he would not be persuaded 
 two days' rest and quietness, or any other means 
 could be used to make him able to preach 
 his Sunday's sermon ; but a warm bed, and rest, 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 and drink, proper for a cold, given him by 
 Mrs. Churchman, and her diligent attendance 
 added to it, enabled him to perform the 
 office of the day, which was in or about the 
 year 1581." 
 
 The criticisms on the sermon " did not 
 prove of so bad consequence as the kindness 
 of Mrs. Churchman's curing him of his late 
 distemper and cold ; for that was so gratefully 
 apprehended by Mr. Hooker, that he thought 
 himself bound in conscience to believe all 
 that she said : so that the good man came 
 to be persuaded by her ' that he was a man 
 of tender constitution ' ; and that it was best 
 for him to have a wife, that might prove a 
 nurse to him ; such an one as might both 
 prolong his life, and make it more comfortable ; 
 and such an one she could and would provide 
 for him, if he thought fit to marry. And 
 he, not considering that ' the children of 
 this world are wiser in their generation than 
 the children of light,' but, like a true 
 Nathanael, fearing no guile, because he meant 
 none, did give her such a power as Eleazar 
 was entrusted with . . . when he was sent to 
 choose a wife for Isaac ; for even so he 
 trusted her to choose for him, promising upon 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 83 
 
 a fair summons to return to London, and 
 accept of her choice ; and he did so in that 
 or about the year following. Now the wife 
 provided for him was her daughter Joan, who 
 brought him neither beauty nor portion ; and 
 for her conditions, they were too like that 
 wife's, which is by Solomon compared to ' a 
 dripping house ' : so that the good man had no 
 reason to ' rejoice in the wife of his youth,' 
 but too just cause to say with the holy 
 Prophet, ' W oe is me, that I am constrained to 
 have my habitation in the tents of Kedar.' " ' 
 
 On December 9th, 1 584, Hooker was pre- 
 sented to the parish of Drayton Beauchamp, 
 Bucks, by John Cheney. Here Edwin Sandys 
 and George Cranmer visited their former 
 tutor ; " where they found him with a book 
 in his hand (it was the Odes of Horace), he 
 being then, like humble and innocent Abel, 
 tending his small allotment of sheep in a 
 common field, which he told his pupils he 
 was forced to do then, for that his servant 
 was gone home to dine, and assist his wife to 
 do some necessary household business. When 
 his servant returned and released him, then 
 
 1 AValton's Lives. 
 
84 
 
 his two pupils attended him unto his house, 
 where their best entertainment was his quiet 
 company, which was presently denied them ; 
 for ' Richard was called to rock the cradle ' ; 
 and the rest of their welcome was so like 
 this, that they stayed but till the next morning, 
 which was time enough to discover and pity 
 their tutor's condition : and they having in 
 that time rejoiced in the remembrance, and 
 then paraphrased on many of the innocent 
 recreations of their younger days, and other 
 like diversions, and thereby given him as 
 much present comfort as they were able, they 
 were forced to leave him to the company of 
 his wife Joan, and seek themselves a quieter 
 lodging for next night. But at their parting 
 from him, Mr. Cranmer said, 'Good tutor, I 
 am sorry your lot is fallen in no better ground 
 as to your parsonage ; and more sorry that 
 your wife proves not a more comfortable 
 companion after you have wearied yourself 
 in your restless studies.' To which the good 
 man replied, ' My dear George, if saints have 
 usually a double share in the miseries of this 
 life, I, that am none, ought not to repine at 
 what my wise Creator hath appointed for me, 
 but labour (as indeed I do daily) to submit 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 mine to His will, and possess my soul in 
 patience and peace.' " 
 
 Edwin's representations induced Archbishop 
 Sandys to look for something happier for the 
 theologian; and in 1585, the Mastership of 
 the Temple being vacant, the Archbishop 
 being at dinner with the Benchers, persuaded 
 them to nominate Hooker. Other names were 
 pressed, specially Travers, the afternoon 
 preacher at the Temple ; but Archbishop 
 Whitgift seconded the efforts of Archbishop 
 Sandys, and in his thirty-fourth year Hooker 
 very reluctantly became Master of the Temple. 
 
 Travers was a man of learning, ability, and 
 personal worth, who had been ordained by the 
 Presbytery of Antwerp, and was a vehement 
 upholder of many of the doctrines of Calvin. 
 These he expounded with great power in his 
 afternoon sermons ; and in his zeal for their 
 promotion carried on a warm correspondence 
 with the leading Reformers in Scotland and 
 Geneva. Hooker, who followed Cranmer, Ridley, 
 Latimer, and the other great English Reformers, 
 as well iis the Fathers of the Primitive Church, 
 soon found himself, much against his will, in- 
 volved in a public controversy with his colleague. 
 It was observed by a wit that " the forenoon 
 
86 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 sermons spoke Canterbury, and the afternoon 
 Geneva." The controversy at length threatened 
 such evil consequences, that an interdict was laid 
 on Travers' preaching by Archbishop Whitgift. 
 Travers appealed, and petitioned the Privy 
 Council, but without success. He then pub- 
 lished his petition, and found many powerful 
 adherents both in the Temple and elsewhere. 
 Hooker made an able reply, which obtained 
 him many friends amongst the upholders of the 
 Reformed Church against the Puritans : but 
 "that he might unbeguile and win those of 
 Mr. Travers' judgment, he designed to write a 
 sober deliberate treatise of the Church's power 
 to make canons for the use of ceremonies, and 
 by law to impose an obedience to them, as upon 
 her children ; and this he proposed to do in EigJit 
 Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity ' 
 
 Hooker's beautiful unworldliness was again 
 shown by his desire for a country retreat for 
 the composition of this great work. " The 
 foundation of these books was laid in the 
 Temple ; but he found it no fit place to finish 
 what he had there designed ; and he therefore 
 earnestly solicited the Archbishop for a remove 
 
 ' Encycl. Brif., vol. xi., p. 621, 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 87 
 
 from that place, to whom he spake to this pur- 
 pose : ' My Lord, when I lost the freedom of 
 my cell, which was my college ; yet, I found 
 some degree of it in my quiet country parsonage ; 
 but I am weary of the noise and opposition of 
 this place ; and indeed, God and nature did not 
 intend me for contentions, but for study and 
 quietness. My Lord, my particular contests 
 with Mr. Travers here have proved the more 
 unpleasant to me, because I believe him to be 
 a good man ; and that belief hath occasioned 
 me to examine mine own conscience concerning 
 his opinions ; and to satisfy that, I have con- 
 sulted the Scripture, and other laws both human 
 and divine, whether the conscience of him and 
 others of his judgment ought to be so far 
 complied with as to alter our frame of Church 
 government, our manner of God's worship, our 
 praising and praying to him, and our established 
 ceremonies, as often as his and others' tender 
 consciences shall require us : and in this exa- 
 mination I have not only satisfied myself, but 
 have begun a Treatise, in which I intend a 
 justification of the Laws of our Ecclesiastical 
 Polity ; in which design God and his holy 
 Angels shall at the last great day bear me that 
 witness which my conscience now does ; that my 
 
88 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 meaning is not to provoke any, but rather to 
 satisfy all tender consciences ; and I shall never 
 be able to do this but where I may study, and 
 pray for God's blessing upon my endeavour, 
 and keep myself in peace and privacy, and 
 behold God's blessing spring out of my mother 
 earth, and eat my own bread without opposi- 
 tions ; and therefore if your Grace can judge 
 me worthy of such a favour, let me beg it, 
 that I may perfect what I have begun.' " 
 
 Archbishop Whitgift gave him in 1591 the 
 rectory of Boscombe, Wilts, in the diocese of 
 Salisbury, which had fallen to him by lapse ; 
 and in the same year he became a Prebendary 
 of Salisbury. Here he finished four of the 
 books. They were entered at Stationers' Hall 
 in 1592, but not published till 1594. In 1595 
 Queen Elizabeth appointed him Rector of 
 Bishopsbourne, three miles from Canterbury, 
 where he remained till his death. 
 
 On his arrival at Bishopsbourne, "his friend- 
 ship was much sought for by Dr. Hadrian 
 Saravia, then or about that time made one of 
 the prebendaries of Canterbury, a German by 
 birth, and sometimes a pastor both in Flanders 
 and Holland, where he had studied and well 
 considered the controverted points concerning 
 
89 
 
 episcopacy and sacrilege, and in England had a 
 just occiision to declare his judgment concerning 
 both unto his brethren ministers in the Low 
 Countries ; which was excepted against by Theo- 
 dore Beza and others ; against whose exceptions 
 he rejoined, and thereby became the happy 
 author of many learned tracts, writ in Latin ; 
 especially of three ; one of the Degrees of 
 Ministers, and of the Bishop's superiority above 
 the Presbytery ; a second against Sacrilege ; and 
 a third of Christian Obedience to Princes. . . . 
 This friendship being sought for by this learned 
 doctor, you may believe was not denied by Mr. 
 Hooker, who was by fortune so like him as to 
 be engaged against Mr. Travers, Mr. Cartwright, 
 and others of their judgment, in a controversy 
 too like Dr. Saravia's : so that in this year of 
 1595, and in this place of Borne, these two 
 excellent persons began a holy friendship, in- 
 creasing daily to so high and mutual affections, 
 that their two wills seemed to be but one and 
 the same ; and their designs, both for the glory 
 of God and peace of the Church, still assisting 
 and improving each other's virtues, and the 
 desired comforts of a peaceable piety." ^ 
 
 Walton. 
 
go 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 At Bishopsbourne Hooker had not been 
 twelve months before "His Books, and the 
 innocency and sanctity of his Hfe, became so 
 remarkable, that many turned out of the road, 
 and others (scholars especially) went purposely 
 to see the man, whose life and learning were 
 so much admired. . . . An obscure harmless 
 man ; a man in poor clothes, his loins usually 
 girt in a coarse gown, or canonical coat ; of a 
 mean stature, and stooping, and yet more lowly 
 in the thoughts of his soul ; his body worn out, 
 not with age, but study, and holy mortifications. 
 . . . And to this true character of his person, 
 let me add this of his disposition and behaviour : 
 God and nature blessed him with so blessed a 
 bashfulness, that as in his younger days his 
 pupils might easily look him out of countenance, 
 so neither then nor in his age did he ever 
 willingly look any man in the face ; and was 
 of so mild and humble a nature that his poor 
 parish clerk and he did never talk but with 
 both their hats on, or both off, at the same 
 time ; and to this may be added that though 
 he was not purblind, yet he was short or weak 
 sighted ; and where he fixed his eyes at the 
 beginning of his sermon there they continued 
 till it was ended." 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 9' 
 
 He died in the year 1600, in the forty-sixth 
 year of his age. A beautiful description of his 
 Hfe in his parish and of his last days is given 
 by Izaak Walton. A few days before his 
 death his house was broken into and robbed. 
 When informed of this, he merely asked, " Are 
 my books and papers safe?" On hearing that 
 they were, he replied, " Then it matters not ; 
 for no other loss can trouble me." He lived 
 to see the fifth book through the press ; but 
 the other three were not published till 1647, 
 nearly half a century after his death. 
 
 About a month after he was gone. Archbishop 
 Whitgift sent one of his chaplains to inquire 
 of his widow for the three remaining books, 
 " of which she would not, or could not give 
 any account. About three months later the 
 Archbishop sent for her to London (she was 
 already married again) to be examined by some 
 of the Queen's Council concerning the disposal 
 of the three Books. By way of preparation for 
 the next day's examination he invited her to 
 Lambeth ; and after some friendly questions she 
 confessed to him ' that one Mr. Clarke, and 
 another minister that dwelt near Canterbury, 
 came to her, and desired that they might go 
 into her husband's study, and look upon some 
 
92 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 of his writings ; and that there they two burnt 
 and tore many of them, assuring her that they 
 were writings not fit to be seen ; and that she 
 knew nothing more concerning them.' Her 
 lodging was then in King Street, Westminster, 
 where she was found next morning dead in her 
 bed, and her new husband suspected and ques- 
 tioned for it ; but he was declared innocent of 
 her death." 
 
 Dr. Spenser, who had married the sister of 
 George Cranmer, Hooker's friend, and who 
 became President of Corpus, recovered rough 
 notes of the remaining books. George Cranmer 
 himself died at the battle of Carlingford, Novem- 
 ber 13th, 1600, only eleven days after his old 
 tutor. Careful inquiry inclines to show that the 
 seventh and eighth are genuine, but that the 
 sixth has been unskilfully, and possibly erro- 
 neously, put together. 
 
 A few quotations from his writings may be 
 added on points which are being discussed at 
 the present time. 
 
 I. — The Invisible Church. 
 " That Church of Christ, which we properly 
 term His body mystical, can be but one ; 
 neither can that one be sensibly discerned by 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 93 
 
 any man, inasmuch as the parts thereof are 
 some in heaven already with Christ, and the 
 rest that are on earth (albeit their natural 
 persons be visible) we do not discern under 
 this property, whereby they are truly and 
 infallibly of that body. Only our minds by 
 intellectual conceit (imagination) are able to 
 apprehend that such a real body there is, a 
 body collective, because it containeth a huge 
 multitude ; a body mystical, because the mystery 
 of their conjunction is removed altogether from 
 sense. Whatsoever we read in Scripture con- 
 cerning the endless love and the saving mercy 
 which God sheweth towards His Church, the 
 only proper subject thereof is this Church. Con- 
 cerning this flock it is that our Lord and Saviour 
 hath promised, ' I give unto them eternal life, 
 and they shall never perish, neither shall any 
 pluck them out of My hands.' " ' 
 
 2. — The Church of Rome Heretical. 
 " He which saith, ' Depart out of Babylon, 
 lest ye be partakers of her sins,' sheweth plainly 
 that he meant such sins, as, except we separate 
 ourselves, we have no power in the world to 
 
 1 Ecd. Pol., Book III.. I, 
 
94 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 avoid ; such impieties, as by their law they 
 have established, and whereunto all that are 
 among them either do indeed assert, or else 
 are by powerable means forced in shew and 
 in appearance to subject themselves. As for 
 example, in the Church of Rome, it is main- 
 tained that the same credit and reverence which 
 we give to the Scriptures of God, ought also 
 to be given to unwritten verities ; that the Pope 
 is supreme head ministerial over the universal 
 Church militant ; that the bread of the Eucharist 
 is transubstantiated into Christ ; that it is to be 
 adored, and to be offered up unto God as a 
 sacrifice propitiatory both for quick and dead ; 
 that images are to be worshipped, saints to be 
 called upon as intercessors, and such like. Now 
 because some heresies do concern things only 
 believed, as transubstantiating of sacramental 
 elements in the Eucharist ; some concern things 
 which are practised also, and put in use, as 
 adoration of the elements transubstantiated ; we 
 must note that erroneously the practice of that 
 is sometimes maintained, whereof the doctrine 
 which teacheth it is not heretically maintained. 
 They arc all partakers in the maintenance of 
 heresies who by word or deed allow them, 
 knowing them, although not knowing them to be 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 95 
 
 heresies ; as also they, and that most dangerously 
 of all others, who knowing heresy to be heresy, 
 do notwithstanding, in luorldly 7'espects, make 
 semblance of allowing that, which in heart and 
 judgment they condemn ; bid heresy is heretically 
 maintained, by such as obstinately hold it after 
 wholesome admonition." ^ 
 
 3. — Episcopal Ordination not Without 
 Exception. 
 
 " Men may be extraordinarily, yet allowably, 
 two ways admitted unto spiritual functions in 
 the Church. One is, when God Himself doth 
 raise up any, whose labour He useth without 
 requiring that men should authorise them ; but 
 then He doth ratify their calling by manifest 
 signs and tokens Himself from heaven. . . . 
 Another extraordinary kind of vocation is, when 
 the exigence of necessity doth constrain to 
 leave the usual ways of the Church, which 
 otherwise we would willingly keep : where the 
 Church must needs have some ordained, and 
 neither hath nor can have possibly a bishop 
 to ordain ; in case of such necessity, the 
 ordinary institution of God hath given often- 
 times, and may give, place. And therefore we 
 
 ^ Sermon II. xi. 
 
96 
 
 HOOKER 
 
 are not simply and without exception to urge 
 a lineal descent of power from the Apostles by 
 continued succession of bishops in every effec- 
 tual ordination." ^ 
 
 4. — Supremacy of Holy Scripture. 
 "There is in Scripture therefore no defect, 
 but that any man, what place or calling soever 
 he hold in the Church of God, may have 
 thereby the light of his natural understanding 
 so perfected, that the one being relieved by 
 the other, there can want no part of needful 
 instruction unto any good work which God 
 Himself requireth, be it natural or super- 
 natural, belonging simply unto men as men, or 
 unto men as they are united in whatsoever kind 
 of society. It sufficeth therefore that Nature 
 and Scripture do serve in such full sort, that 
 they both jointly and not severally either of 
 them be so complete, that unto everlasting 
 felicity we need not the knowledge of anything 
 more than these two may easily furnish our 
 minds with on all sides ; and therefore they 
 which add traditions as a part of supernatural 
 necessary truth, have not the truth, but are 
 in error.'' - 
 
 ' Book VII., chap, xiv., ii. * Book I., chap, xiv., 5. 
 
'I HE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 97 
 
 5. — Presbyter better than Priest. 
 
 " Let them use what dialect they will, 
 whether we call it a Priesthood, a Presbyter- 
 ship, or a Ministry, it skilleth not ; although in 
 truth the word Pixsbyter doth seem more fit 
 and in propriety of speech more agreeable than 
 Priest with the drift of the whole Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ. For what are they that embrace 
 the Gospel but sons of God ? What are 
 Churches but PI is families ? Seeing therefore 
 we receive the adoption and state of sons by 
 their ministry whom God hath chosen out for 
 that purpose, seeing also that when we are the 
 sons of God our continuance is still under their 
 care which were our progenitors, what better 
 title could there be given them than the 
 reverend name of Presbyters or fatherly 
 guides ? The Holy Ghost, throughout the 
 body of the New Testament making so much 
 mention of them, doth not anywhere call them 
 Priests." 
 
 " The Fathers of the Church of Christ . . . 
 call usually the Ministry of the Gospel Priest- 
 hood in regard of that which the Gospel hath 
 proportionable to ancient sacrifices, namely the 
 Communion of the blessed Body and Blood 
 
 7 
 
HOOKER 
 
 of Christ, although it have properly now no 
 sacrifice." ^ 
 
 6. — The Real Presence only in the Soul 
 OF THE Faithful Receiver. 
 
 "The real presence of Christ's blessed Body 
 and Blood is not to be sought for in the 
 Sacrament, but in the worthy receiver of the 
 Sacrament ; and with this the very order of our 
 Saviour's words agreeth ; first ' Take and eat,' 
 then ' This is My Body which is broken for 
 you ' ; first, ' Drink ye all of this ' ; then fol- 
 loweth, ' This is My Blood of the New Testa- 
 ment, which is shed for many for the remission 
 of sins.' I see not which way it should be 
 gathered by the words of Christ, when and 
 where the Bread is His Body, or the cup His 
 Blood, but only in the very heart and soul of 
 him that receiveth them. ... It appeareth 
 not that of all the ancient Fathers of the 
 Church any one did ever conceive or imagine 
 other than only a mystical participation of 
 Christ's both Body and Blood in the Sacrament, 
 neither are their speeches concerning the 
 change of the elements themselves into the 
 
 Book v., chap, Ixxviii., 3, 2. 
 
THE WISE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 99 
 
 Body and Blood of Christ, such that a man 
 can thereby in conscience assure himself that 
 it was their meaning to persuade the world 
 either of a corporal consubstantiation of Christ 
 with those sanctified and blessed elements 
 before we receive them, or of the like transub- 
 stantiation of them into the Body and Blood 
 of Christ." ^ 
 
 Book v., chap. Ixvii., 6, 12. 
 
V 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 
 
 OSEPH BUTLER, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 author of the Analogy of Religion, the 
 
 Dissertations, and the famous Fifteen 
 Sermons, was born in 1692, in the fourth year 
 of the reign of William and Mary, and 
 forty-seven years after the execution of Arch- 
 bishop Laud. 
 
 Before giving the brief sketch of his un- 
 eventful life, it may be well to know what a 
 few great critics and thinkers have said about 
 his celebrated writings. 
 
 Cardinal Newman, writing of the year 1823, 
 says: "It was at about this date, I suppose, 
 that I read Bishop Butler's Analogy ; the 
 study of which has been to so many, as it 
 was to me, an era in my religious opinions. 
 . . . For myself, if I may attempt to deter- 
 mine what I most gained from it, it lay in two 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER loi 
 
 points. . . . First, tiie very idea of an analogy 
 between the separate works of God leads to 
 the conclusion that the system which is of less 
 importance is economically or sacramentally 
 connected with the more momentous system. 
 . . . Secondly, Butler's doctrine that Probability 
 is the guide of life led me ... to the logical 
 cogency of Faith, on which I have written .so 
 much." ' 
 
 Matthew Arnold writes of him as follows : 
 " Butler deserves that one should regard him 
 very attentively, both on his own account, and 
 also because of the immense and confident 
 laudation bestowed upon his writings. Whether 
 he completely satisfies or no, a man so pro- 
 foundly convinced that ' virtue — the law of 
 virtue written on our hearts — is the law we 
 are born under ' ; a man so staunch in his 
 respectful allegiance to reason, a man who 
 says : ' I express myself with caution, lest I 
 should be mistaken to vilify reason, which is 
 indeed the only faculty we have wherewith 
 to judge concerning anything, even revelation 
 itself ; a man, finally, so deeply and evidently 
 in earnest, filled with so awful a sense of the 
 
 Apologia, Part III. 
 
102 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 reality of things and of the madness of self- 
 deception : ' Things and actions are what they 
 are, and the consequences of them will be 
 what they will be ; why then should we desire 
 to be deceived?' — such a man, ev^en if he was 
 somewhat despotically imposed upon our youth, 
 may yet well challenge the most grave con- 
 sideration from our mature manhood. And 
 even did we fail to give it willingly, the strong 
 consenting eulogy upon his achievements would 
 extort it from us. It is asserted that his three 
 sermons on Human Nature are, in the depart- 
 ment of moral philosophy, ' perhaps the three 
 most valuable essays that ever were published.' 
 They are this, because they contain his famous 
 doctrine of conscience — a doctrine which, being 
 in those sermons ' explained according to the 
 strict truth of our mental constitution, is irre- 
 sistible.' Butler is therefore said, in the words 
 of another of his admirers, ' by pursuing pre- 
 cisely the same mode of reasoning in the 
 science of morals as his great predecessor 
 Newton had done in the system of nature, to 
 have formed and concluded a happy alliance 
 between faith and philosophy.' And again : 
 ' Metaphysic, which till then had nothing to 
 support it but mere abstraction or shadowy 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 
 
 speculation, Butler placed on the firm basis of 
 observation and experiment.' And Sir James 
 Mackintosh says of the Sermons in general : ' In 
 these sermons Butler has taught truths more 
 capable of being exactly distinguished from the 
 doctrines of his predecessors, more satisfactorily 
 established by him, more comprehensively 
 applied to particulars, more rationally connected 
 vi^ith each other, and therefore more vv^orthy of 
 the name of discovery than any with which we 
 are acquainted, if we ought not, with some 
 hesitation, to except the first steps of the 
 Grecian philosophers towards a theory of 
 morals.' The Analogy Mackintosh calls ' the 
 most original and profound work extant in any 
 language on the philosophy of religion.' Such 
 are Butler's claims on our attention." ' 
 
 Leslie Stephen, while criticising from an 
 adverse point of view some of Butler's intel- 
 lectual positions and methods, gives him a high 
 place amongst moral and religious thinkers : 
 "Joseph Butler belonged to the exceedingly 
 small class of men who find in abstract specu- 
 lation not merely the main employment, but 
 almost the sole enjoyment of their lives. He 
 
 1 " Bishop Butler and the Zeit-geist," in Last Essays on 
 Church and Religion, p. 64. 
 
104 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 Stands out in strange contrast to the pushing 
 patronage-hunters of his generation. Amongst 
 the clergy, Berkeley alone was his equal, as, 
 in some respects, Berkeley was greatly his 
 superior in speculative power. But Berkeley 
 was impelled by his ardent benevolence into 
 active occupations, whilst Butler passed his 
 days ... in profound meditation. . . . Butler 
 stood apart from the world. ... As against 
 Deism, the force of Butler's argument is un- 
 deniable. Nature has its dark side. It is not 
 the amiable power which fluent metaphysicians 
 constructed out of a priori guesses. . . .. No 
 religion can be powerful which does not give 
 forcible expression to men's conviction of the 
 prevalence of natural and moral evil, and of 
 their intimate connection. The shallow optim- 
 ism of the Deists blinked the obvious facts. 
 Butler recognised them manfully, in spite of 
 the additional horrors of the nightmares which 
 haunted his imagination. There is such a thing 
 as evil in the world, he seems to say, and the 
 worst of evils is vice. The philosophy might 
 be improved ; but the very want of a philosophy 
 makes his vigorous grasp of such truths the 
 more impressive. . . . Butler has been compared 
 to Pascal. Infinitely inferior in beauty of style, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 105 
 
 and greatly inferior in logical clearness and 
 width of view as Butler is to Pascal, there is 
 a certain reseniblance. Butler and Pascal are 
 both sensible, as the noblest minds are alone 
 sensible, of the sad discords of the universe. 
 To both of them it seemed to be a scene of 
 blind misery and confusion. Pascal, in despair, 
 pronounces man's intellect to be helpless, and 
 does his best to prostrate himself before an 
 earthly idol. Butler, trained in a manlier school, 
 refused to commit intellectual suicide. Reason, 
 he says, is feeble ; he disdains to conceal how 
 feeble ; and yet he resolves painfully and hesi- 
 tatingly to grope out a path by this feeble 
 guidance." ^ 
 
 And Professor Adamson's estimate in the 
 Encyclopcedia Britaiinica should be quoted : 
 " He was an earnest and deep-thinking Chris- 
 tian, melancholy by temperament, and grieved 
 by what seemed to him the hopelessly irreligious 
 condition of his age. His intellect was pro- 
 found and comprehensive, thoroughly qualified 
 to grapple with the deepest problems of meta- 
 physics, but by natural preference occupying 
 itself mainly with the practical and moral. 
 
 ^ Eriglish Thought in the Eighteenth Century, Vol. I., 
 " Butler's Analogy." 
 
io6 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 Man's conduct in life, not his theory of the 
 universe, was what interested him. ... It would 
 be unfair to Butler's argument to demand from 
 it answers to problems which had not in his 
 time arisen, and to which, even if they had 
 then existed, the plan of his work would not 
 have extended. . . . What that work has done 
 is to prove to the consistent Deist that no 
 objections can be drawn from reason or ex- 
 perience against natural or revealed religion, 
 and, consequently, that the things objected to 
 are not incredible, and may be proved by 
 external evidence. . . . Throughout the whole 
 of the Analogy it is manifest that the interest 
 which lay closest to Butler's heart was the 
 ethical. His whole cast of thinking was 
 practical. The moral nature of man, his con- 
 duct in life, is that on account of which alone 
 an inquiry into religion is of importance. The 
 systematic account of this moral nature is to 
 be found in the famous Sermons, especially in 
 the first three. In these sermons Butler has 
 made substantial contributions to ethical science, 
 and it may be said with confidence, that in 
 their own department nothing superior in value 
 appeared during the long interval between 
 Aristotle and Kant. To both of these great 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 107 
 
 thinkers he has certain analogies. He re- 
 sembles the first in his method of investi- 
 gating the end which human nature is intended 
 to realise ; he reminds of the other by the 
 consistency with which he upholds the absolute 
 supremacy of moral law." 
 
 " As against Deism, the force of Butler's 
 argument is unanswerable." What we have 
 to do is to support Butler by a satisfactory 
 basis for the belief in God and the soul. 
 " The belief in God and the belief in a soul 
 are with Butler the primary articles of natural 
 religion. The first is assumed, the validity 
 of the second is examined in the first chapter 
 of the Analogy." But Butler's position is 
 more than an assumption ; although he does 
 not formulate it, it is really the same as that 
 taken up in later days by Kant. Without 
 the two regulative principles of belief in God 
 and the soul, morality, as a matter of fact, is 
 impossible ; without morality man cannot, as a 
 matter of fact, pursue his true end, or attain 
 to what is deserving of being called happiness. 
 This, when fully stated, is a sufficient ground ; 
 and it was throughout in Butler's mind. Had 
 his opponents been other than Deists, he would 
 
BUTLER 
 
 have had to state his ultimate ground ; and that 
 he could have stated it as profoundly and con- 
 vincingly as Kant cannot reasonably be doubted. 
 
 Butler's birthplace was Wantage, and his 
 birthday May i8th, 1692. His father was a 
 retired Presbyterian draper, who lived in a house 
 called " The Priory " on the outskirts of the 
 town, which can still be seen. Joseph was the 
 youngest of eight children. At the Latin 
 School at Wantage his master was the Rev. 
 Philip Barton, to whom long after, when Dean 
 of St. Paul's, he had the gratification of giving 
 one of his first pieces of patronage, the rectory 
 of Hutton, Essex. His father, intending him 
 for the Presbyterian ministry, sent him to a 
 Nonconformist school, kept by Samuel Jones, 
 at Gloucester, and afterwards at Tewkesbury. 
 Among the pupils were Seeker, afterwards 
 Archbishop of Canterbury ; Maddox, afterwards 
 Bishop of Worcester ; and Samuel Chandler, a 
 well-known Nonconformist divine. There were 
 sixteen pupils in logic, Hebrew, mathematics, 
 and classics.^ While still at Tewkesbury Butler 
 carried on a correspondence with Samuel Clarke, 
 the a priori theological philosopher, offering 
 
 ^ Letters from Seeker to Ur. Isaac \Vatts. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER log 
 
 acute objections to some of his positions, which 
 he subsequently withdrew. Butler did not give 
 his name, but got the letters posted through 
 Seeker at Gloucester. 
 
 Deciding to conform to the Church of Eng- 
 land, he succeeded in persuading his father to 
 allow him to enter at Oriel College, Oxford, 
 with a view to taking orders ; and he matri- 
 culated in March 1714-15. Oxford seems to 
 have been at that time uncongenial to his mind ; 
 he tells Clarke, with whom he corresponded 
 under his own name, that he is so " tired 
 out " by " frivolous lectures " and " unintelligible 
 disputations " that he thinks of migrating to 
 Cambridge. However, he took his B.A. degree 
 on October i6th, 1718, in his twenty-seventh 
 year, and that of B.C.L. on June 10th, 1721. 
 
 One of his chief college friends was Edward 
 Talbot, afterwards Archdeacon of Buckingham, 
 son of the Bishop of Salisbury, and younger 
 brother of Lord Chancellor Talbot. In 1717 
 Edward became Vicar of East Hendred, near 
 Wantage, and the parish registers contain 
 traces of Butler's ministrations. In October 
 and December 1718 Butler was ordained 
 Deacon and Presbyter by Bishop Talbot at 
 Salisbury, and was appointed to the Preacher- 
 
no 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 ship of the Rolls Chapel. Edward the Arch- 
 deacon died in 1 720, and it is interesting to 
 notice that his widow and daughter became 
 inmates of Seeker's family, and that Butler re- 
 mained their constant friend through life. On 
 his deathbed Talbot recommended both Butler 
 and Seeker to his father. 
 
 In 1 72 1 Butler became Prebendary of 
 Salisbury, and in 1722 Bishop Talbot, who 
 had been transferred to Durham, placed Butler 
 in the rectory of Houghton-le-Skerne, where 
 he improved the house. In 1722 the Bishop 
 ordained Seeker, and in 1724 made him Rector 
 of Houghton-le-Spring. Seeker, in his turn, 
 persuaded the Bishop to present Butler to the 
 rectory of Stanhope, famous at that time and 
 long afterwards for its abundant income. Be- 
 coming thus at last independent, Butler re- 
 signed the Preachership of the Rolls in 1726, 
 and published the famous Fifteen Sermons, the 
 selection of which, he says in the preface to 
 the second edition, was in great measure 
 accidental. 
 
 Butler remained thirteen years at Stanhope, 
 leading a very quiet life. Bishop Philpotts, 
 late of Exeter, one of his successors in the 
 parish, learned that he rode a black pony, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER iii 
 
 and rode very fast. Another authority relates 
 that he sometimes fell into reveries, and allowed 
 the pony to graze at will. Beggars he could, 
 only resist by shutting himself into the rectory. 
 The Analogy was published in 1736, and dedi- 
 cated to Lord Chancellor Talbot, elder brother 
 of Edward, who obtained the woolsack in 1733. 
 The Chancellor had made him his chaplain on 
 his appointment, and Butler had at the same 
 time proceeded to the degree of D.C.L. 
 
 In July 1736 Lord Talbot made him Pre- 
 bendary of Rochester, and in the same month 
 he became Clerk of the Closet to Queen 
 Caroline, the able, witty, and philosophical wife 
 of George IL ; Seeker on these occasions was 
 again helpful. Queen Caroline gave philoso- 
 phical parties in - the evenings at Kensington 
 and St. James's ; " the controversy between 
 Clarke and Leibnitz had been carried on through 
 her, and Clarke, Berkeley, Hoadly, and Sherlock 
 had held conversations in her presence."^ It 
 is possible that while Preacher at the Rolls 
 Butler, as a friend of Clarke, may have been 
 introduced to these reunions ; but it must be 
 remembered that he did not become Clerk of 
 
 ^ Adamson, Did. of Nat. Biog. 
 
112 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 the Closet till the year of the publication of 
 the Analogy. Mark Pattison assumes that the 
 Preachership of the Rolls must have led to 
 intimacy at Court : " The Deistical writers 
 formed the atmosphere which educated people 
 breathed. The objections the Analogy meets 
 are not new and unreasoned objections, but 
 such as had worn well, and had borne the 
 rub of controversy, because they were genuine. 
 It was in society, and not in his study, that 
 Butler learned the weight of the Deistical 
 arguments. ... At the Queen's philosophical 
 parties, where these topics were canvassed with 
 earnestness and freedom, Butler must often have 
 felt the impotence of reply in detail, and seen, 
 as he says, ' how impossible it must be in a 
 cursory conversation to unite all into one argu- 
 ment, and represent it as it ought to be.'" 
 
 Butler had given up the Preachership, it will 
 be remembered, in 1726; and it was in 1733 
 that Seeker, having become Chaplain to King 
 George II., mentioned his friend to the Queen. 
 Her reply, " she thought he had been dead," 
 she afterwards repeated to Archbishop Black- 
 burne of York, who answered, " No, Madam, 
 he is not dead, but he is buried." After his 
 appointment as Clerk of the Closet, the Queen 
 
THE CHRIST! A N PHIL OSOPHER 1 1 3 
 
 commanded his attendance every evening from 
 7 to 9 when in London. Dying next year 
 (November 20th, 1737), she recommended 
 Butler to Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury ; 
 her attendant, Lord Hervey, says it was the 
 only instance of a recommendation by name 
 during her illness. A month after her death, 
 Butler preached before the King on profiting 
 by affliction ; he was much moved, and under- 
 took to do " something very good for him." 
 
 Next year, 1738, the See of Bristol fell 
 vacant, on the transference of Dr. Gooch to 
 Norwich. Bristol, with all the claims on a 
 bishopric for hospitality and charity, could only 
 be held by a man who had other means, as 
 the endowment was only ^400 a year ; and 
 this was prudently put forward by Butler, who 
 had no private income, when he sent a grateful 
 acceptance in reply to Walpole's letter offering 
 him that diocese. "It is not very suitable 
 either to the condition of my fortune or the 
 circumstances, nor, as I should have thought, 
 answerable to the recommendation with which 
 I was honoured." It is clear that Butler, who 
 had no ambition, was alarmed by the prospect 
 of struggling with poverty in a high and re- 
 sponsible position. He was allowed to hold 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 his prebend at Rochester (he gave up that 
 at Sahsbury) and the rectory of Stanhope until 
 1740, when he was made one of the long series 
 of illustrious Deans of St. Paul's. On that 
 appointment (May 24th) he gave up his other 
 preferments, except the bishopric. For excuse, 
 not justification, of these old pluralities, it may 
 be said that population was then small, and 
 duties were more easily performed ; and, in the 
 case of Butler, that it would have been difficult 
 in that artificial and polished age to do his duty 
 as bishop without some help besides what was 
 not more than the salary of a head clerk. 
 As a matter of fact, he spent the whole in- 
 come of the see for twelve years (^4,800) on 
 repairs to the bishop's house at Bristol. 
 
 Some personal glimpses of Butler belong to 
 the Bristol period. Byrom, the clerical rhymer, 
 was introduced to him by David Hardey, the 
 moral philosopher, at whose house they met, in 
 March 1737. In a long argument Butler de- 
 fended reason, Byrom authority. Byrom wished 
 he had Butler's temper and calmness, but 
 thought him a litde too vigorous. In 1749 
 Byrom dined with Butler in a party of fifteen, 
 and found him " very civil and courteous." 
 
 In August 1739 John Wesley had an inter- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 
 
 view with the Bishop. Wesley was beginning 
 his great career, and already some of those 
 phenomena had followed his sermons which 
 he attributed to Divine power, Butler to 
 morbid and misdirected enthusiasm. There had 
 been complaints, and the Bishop, so strongly 
 on the side of reason, could not sympathise 
 with the young zealot ; Wesley was then thirty- 
 six, Butler forty-seven. Butler was shocked at 
 " a horrid thing, a very horrid thing, pretend- 
 ing to extraordinary gifts and revelations of the 
 Holy Ghost." Wesley disclaimed administering 
 communion to his societies, and believed he 
 never would. On hearing of fits, and prayers 
 over persons in strong anguish, Butler re- 
 marked : "Very extraordinary indeed! Well, 
 sir, since you ask my advice, I will give it 
 freely. You have no business here. You are 
 not commissioned to preach in this diocese. 
 Therefore I advise you to go home." Neither 
 of the two great men appreciated the splendid 
 gifts of the other. It is one of the tragic 
 ironies of history that they were not in a 
 position to learn from each other. David 
 Hume also intended to call on Butler ; un- 
 happily the visit was never achieved. 
 
 A friend of Butler's at Bristol was Josiah 
 
;6 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 Tucker, afterwards celebrated as Dean of 
 Gloucester. Butler gave him a prebend in his 
 cathedral, and made him domestic chaplain. It 
 is Tucker who tells how Butler used to walk 
 for hours at night in the gardens behind his 
 house ; and once suddenly asked him whether 
 nations might not go mad as well as indi- 
 viduals, for nothing else could account for most 
 of the transactions in history. 
 
 In 1746, on the death of Egerton, Bishop 
 of Hereford, Butler was made Clerk of the 
 Closet to the King, and in 1747, on the 
 death of Archbishop Potter, he received the 
 offer of the primacy. A nephew, John Butler, 
 a rich bachelor, came up to town prepared to 
 advance ;^20,ooo for the heavy expenses neces- 
 sary to taking up that exalted and responsible 
 position in Church and State, in first-fruits, 
 tenths, and the furniture and apparatus of so 
 vast a house as Lambeth. Butler, however, 
 who was naturally of a melancholy and de- 
 sponding disposition, was deeply impressed with 
 the worldliness, viciousness, and scepticism ot 
 the age : he replied that " it was too late for 
 him to try to support a falling Church." It is 
 said that another Joseph, Bishop of Durham 
 (Dr. Lightfoot), was considered for the See of 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 117 
 
 Canterbury, but was not selected because he 
 was unmarried ; on being informed of which 
 report, he said, " Will arguments in favour of 
 celibacy never cease to accumulate ? " Both 
 were men absolutely devoid of ambition ; but 
 the later Joseph did not share the pessimism 
 of the former. 
 
 In 1750 Butler was transferred from the 
 poorest to the wealthiest of English sees, and 
 became Bishop and Prince Palatine of Durham. 
 It was proposed that the Lord- Lieutenancy of 
 the County, which was part of the episcopal 
 office, should be separated from the see, and 
 given to a layman ; and other arrangements 
 were also suggested which Butler did not ap- 
 prove. He was appointed without condition, 
 and the Lieutenancy was not separated till the 
 next vacancy. 
 
 " During the short time he held the see," 
 says Surtees, the historian of Durham, " he 
 conciliated all hearts. In advanced years, and 
 on the episcopal throne, he retained the same 
 genuine modesty and native sweetness of dis- 
 position which had distinguished him in youth 
 and in retirement. During the ministerial 
 performance of the sacred office, a Divine 
 animation seemed to pervade his whole manner, 
 
n8 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 and lighted up his pale, wan countenance, already 
 marked with the progress of disease/' 
 
 From another source we have a personal 
 description : "He was of a most reverend 
 aspect ; his face thin and pale, but there w-as 
 a Divine placidness in his countenance which 
 inspired veneration and expressed the most 
 benevolent mind. His white hair hung grace- 
 fully on his shoulders, and his whole figure 
 was patriarchal." 
 
 Although the revenues of the see were 
 enormous, he lived in a style of saintly sim- 
 plicity. His private expenses w^ere exceedingly 
 small ; he was unmarried ; his relatives were 
 well off; he gave away almost the whole of his 
 income. When some great man came to dine 
 with him, Butler apologised for the simplicity 
 of his table — only two courses, and one plain 
 dish at each — saying that this w^as what was 
 right for his habits and office. Throughout 
 his tenure he was consistently generous, im- 
 proving Auckland Castle, receiving the principal 
 gentry three times a w^eek, subscribing largely 
 to charities, and regularly visiting his clergy. 
 In answer to some application for a subscrip- 
 tion, he asked his steward how much money 
 he had in the house. " Five hundred pounds," 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 119 
 
 was the reply. "Five hundred pounds!" said 
 Butler ; " what a shame for a bishop to have 
 so much money ! Give it away ! give it all 
 to this gentleman for his charitable plan ! " 
 
 In 1 75 1 he gave his first Charge to the 
 clergy of the diocese of Durham, on the im- 
 portance of forms as a help to religion, on the 
 maintenance of churches, and regular services. 
 It begins with a melancholy note : " It is 
 impossible for me, my brethren, upon our first 
 meeting of this kind, to forbear lamenting with 
 you the general decay of religion in this nation; 
 which is now observed by every one, and has 
 been for some time the complaint of all serious 
 persons. The influence of it is more and 
 more wearing out the minds of men, even of 
 those who do not pretend to enter into specu- 
 lations upon the subject ; but the number of 
 those who do, and who profess themselves 
 unbelievers, increases, and with their numbers 
 their zeal. Zeal ! it is natural to ask — for 
 what ? Why, truly, for nothing, but against 
 everything that is good and sacred amongst us." 
 
 A few passages from this Charge will illus- 
 trate Butler's position in matters where it is 
 not commonly known : 
 
 I. Preaching. — " Your standing business, and 
 
120 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 which requires constant attention, is with the 
 body of the people ; to revive in them the spirit 
 of reHgion, which is so much declining. And 
 it may seem, that whatever reason there be for 
 caution as to entering into any argumentative 
 defence of religion in common conversation, yet 
 that it is necessary to do this from the pulpit, 
 in order to guard the people against being 
 corrupted, how ever, in some places. But 
 then surely it should be done in a manner as 
 little controversial as possible. . . . To hear 
 religion treated of, as what many deny, and 
 which has much said against it as well as for 
 it ; this cannot but have a tendency to give 
 them ill impressions at any time ; and seems 
 particularly improper for all persons at a time 
 of devotion ; even for such as are arrived at 
 the most settled state of piety : — I say, at a 
 time of devotion, when we are assembled to 
 yield ourselves up to the full influence of the 
 Divine Presence, and to call forth into actual 
 exercise every pious affection of heart. For 
 it is to be repeated, that the heart and course 
 of affections may be disturbed, when there is 
 no alteration of judgment. Now, the evidence 
 of religion may be laid before men without 
 any air of controversy." 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 121 
 
 2. Necessity of Forms, and of making them 
 real. — " Nor does the want of religion, in the 
 generality of the common people, appear owing 
 to a speculative disbelief, or denial of it, but 
 chiefly to thoughtlessness, and the common 
 temptations of life. Your chief business there- 
 fore is to endeavour to beget a practical sense 
 of it upon their hearts, as what they acknow- 
 ledge their belief of, and profess they ought 
 to conform themselves to. And that is to be 
 done, by keeping up, as well as we are able, 
 the form and face of religion with decency 
 and reverence, and in such a degree as to 
 bring the thoughts of religion often to their 
 minds ; and then endeavouring to make this 
 form more and more subservient to promote the 
 reality and poivcr of it. The form of religion 
 may indeed be where there is little of the 
 thing itself; but the thing itself cannot be 
 preserved without the form." 
 
 3. Neglect of the simple instittitions of the 
 Reformers. — " Our reformers, considering that 
 some of these (Roman Catholic) observances 
 were in themselves wrong and superstitious, 
 and others of them made subservient to the 
 purposes of superstition, abolished them, reduced 
 the form of religion to great simplicity, and 
 
122 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 enjoined no more particular rules, nor left 
 anything more of what was external in religion, 
 than was, in a manner, necessary to preserve 
 a sense of religion itself upon the minds of 
 the people. But a great part of this is 
 neglected by the generality amongst us ; for 
 instance, the service of the church, not only 
 upon common days, but also upon saints' days ; 
 and several other things might be mentioned. 
 Thus have they no customary admonition, no 
 public call to recollect the thoughts of God 
 and religion from one Sunday to another." 
 
 4. The repair of churches. — " Doubdess under 
 this head must come into consideration a proper 
 regard to the structures which are consecrated 
 to the service of God. In the present turn 
 of the age, one may observe a wonderful 
 frugality in everything that has respect to 
 religion, and extravagance in everything else. 
 Hut amidst the appearances of opulence and 
 improvement in all common things, it would 
 be hard to find a reason why these monuments 
 of ancient piety should not be preserved in 
 their original beauty and magnificence. But in 
 the least opulent places they must be preserved 
 in becoming repair ; and everything relating 
 to the Divine service be, how ever, decent and 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 123 
 
 clean ; otherwise we shall vilify the face of 
 religion while we keep it up." 
 
 5. Family prayers. — " Since the body of the 
 people, especially in country places, cannot be 
 brought to attend (public service) oftener than 
 one day in the week ; and since this is in no 
 sort enough to keep up in them a due sense 
 of religion ; it were greatly to be wished they 
 could be persuaded to anything which might, 
 in some measure, supply the want of more 
 frequent public devotions, or serve the like 
 purposes. Family prayers, regularly kept tip 
 in every house, would have a great good effect T 
 
 6. Mental daily prayer. — " Truly, if besides 
 our more set devotions, morning and evening, 
 all of us would fix upon certain times of the 
 day, so that the return of the hour should 
 remind us, to say short prayers, or exercise 
 our thoughts in a way equivalent to this ; 
 perhaps there are few persons in so high and 
 habitual a state of piety as not to find the 
 benefit of it. If it took up no more than a 
 minute or two, or even less time than that, 
 it would serve the end I am proposing ; it 
 would be a recollection that we are in the 
 Divine presence, and contribute to our ' being 
 in the fear of the Lord all the day long.'" 
 
:24 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 7. Grace at meals. — " A duty of the like 
 kind, and serving to the same purpose, is the 
 particular acknowledgment of God when we 
 are partaking of His bounty at our meals. 
 The neglect of this is said to have been 
 scandalous to a proverb in the heathen world ; 
 but it is without shame laid aside at the 
 tables of the highest and the lowest rank 
 amongst us." 
 
 8. Parents and children. — " And as parents 
 should be admonished, and it should be pressed 
 upon their consciences, to teach their children 
 their prayers and catechism, it being what they 
 are obliged to on all accoimts ; so it is proper 
 to be mentioned here, as a means by which 
 they will bring the principle of Christianity 
 often to their own mind, instead of laying 
 aside all thoughts of it from week's end to 
 week's end." 
 
 Of the rest of the life of this truly great 
 and exemplary English bishop and philosopher 
 there is little to tell. He had not been many 
 months in the See of Durham before symptoms 
 of decay disclosed themselves. He went to 
 Bath in 1752 in the hope of recovering his 
 health, where he died, June i6th, in the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 
 
 125 
 
 sixtieth year of his age. He was buried in 
 Bristol Cathedral. 
 
 Butler's system of ethical philosophy is 
 thus summed up by Professor Ueberweg, of 
 Konigsberg : " These doctrines are practical 
 rather than speculative in form, but are positive 
 and well-argued propositions in opposition to 
 Hobbes, Mandeville, Shaftesbury, and other 
 free-thinkers : 
 
 "I. Man is capable of disinterested affections. 
 
 " 2. Man is a social as truly as he is an 
 individual being in his relations and suscep- 
 tibilities. 
 
 " 3. Man is possessed of conscience, which 
 by its very nature is endowed with authority, 
 and in this particular differs from the other 
 impulses and springs of action. This authority 
 he defines still further as that obligation which 
 is implied in the very idea of reflex appro- 
 bation. 
 
 " 4. Virtue is activity according to nature, 
 when nature is thus ideally interpreted as 
 enforcing the natural supremacy of certain 
 principles of action. 
 
 " 5. Conscience is a complex endowment, 
 including both ' a sentiment of the under- 
 standing ' and 'a perception of the heart.' 
 
126 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 " 6. Virtue, or a life according to (this true 
 and ideal) nature or reason, does not consist 
 solely of benevolence, but respects also our 
 duties to ourselves ; also the duties to others 
 of truth and gratitude and justice. 
 
 "7. As there is a natural sentiment of 
 interest in or compassion for others, so there 
 is a natural tendency to resentment against 
 those who injure us, called by Butler sudden 
 resentment, which is provided to defend us 
 against injury ; when this is excessive or mis- 
 directed, it is called deliberate resentment. 
 
 " 8. Man is capable of love to God — that 
 is, of the several affections of reverence, 
 gratitude, etc., which a good man would 
 naturally exercise towards a moral person of 
 infinite moral excellence." 
 
 The same acute critic thus describes the 
 Analogy. "The Analogy of Religion to the 
 Constitution and Course of Nature was 
 directed against the Free-thinkers of Buder's 
 time, whose positions he briefly describes in 
 the advertisement and introduction. Its lead- 
 ing doctrine is that we find the same difficulties 
 in the Scriptures which we find in the opera- 
 tions of nature, and this should lead us not 
 only to reject all arguments against the 
 
THE CHRIST/ AN PHILOSOPHER 127 
 
 Scriptures which are founded on these diffi- 
 culties, but to infer that probably both pro- 
 ceed from the same Author. It is divided 
 into two parts. The first treats of Natural 
 Religion, the second of Revealed. In the 
 first the following topics are treated : 
 " I. A Future Life. 
 
 " 2. The Government of God by Rewards 
 and Punishments, and particularly the last. 
 
 "3. The Moral Government of God. 
 
 "4. A State of Probation as implying Trial, 
 Difficulties, and Danger ; also as intended for 
 Moral Discipline and Improvement. 
 
 " 5. The Doctrine of Necessity considered as 
 influencing Practice. 
 
 "6. The Incomprehensibleness of the Gov- 
 ernment of God considered as a Scheme or 
 Constitution. 
 
 "In the second part the following are the 
 divisions : 
 
 " I. The Importance of Christianity. 
 
 " 2. The Supposed Presumption against a 
 Revelation considered as miraculous. 
 
 " 3. Our incapacity to judge of what is to 
 be expected in a Revelation, and the Credi 
 bility from Analogy that it must contain things 
 appearing liable to objections. 
 
128 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 " 4. Christianity as a Scheme is imperfectly 
 comprehended. 
 
 "5. The Appointment of a Mediator. 
 
 " 6. The Want of Universality and supposed 
 Deficiency in the Proof of Revelation. 
 
 " 7. The particular Evidence for Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 " 8. The Objections against arguing from 
 the Analogy of Nature to Religion, being the 
 conclusion of both parts, and the application 
 of the argument in both. 
 
 " A Dissertation on Personal Identity, and 
 another on the Nature of Virtue, are appended 
 to the Analogy, and are both succinct state- 
 ments of arguments and considerations of the 
 highest importance." 
 
 " The influence of Butler upon Ethical 
 and Religious philosophy," says Professor- 
 Ueberweg, "has been powerful wherever the 
 English language is spoken and read, and 
 probably surpasses that of any other single 
 writer. This is not owing to the originality of 
 his doctrines, so much as to the compact form 
 in which he has presented the reflections which 
 had been suggested to many minds, and to 
 the cautious and reverent spirit in which he 
 mediates between the claims of independent 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 129 
 
 thought and a revealed communication of truth. 
 His Analogy has been extensively studied and 
 read as a text-book in all seminaries of higher 
 learning, and has largely served to shape and 
 strengthen the religious convictions of the 
 English people. The Sermons, though less 
 generally read or studied, have exerted a 
 pervading influence upon ethical philosophy. 
 The Analogy and Sermons have also been 
 efficient in introducing into Christian theology 
 the ethical element, which sometimes it has 
 greatly needed." 
 
 The scope and effect of the Analogy have 
 also been sketched by Henry Reeve, the 
 Edinburgh Reviewer and author of the Eclipse 
 of Faith^ : "The immortable Analogy has 
 probably done more to silence the objections 
 of infidelity than any other ever written from 
 the earliest 'apologies' downwards. It not 
 only most critically met the spirit of unbelief 
 in the author's own day, but it is equally 
 adapted to meet that which chiefly prevails in 
 all time. In every age some of the principal, 
 perhaps the principal, objections to the Christian 
 Revelation have been those which men's pre- 
 
 Encydopadia Britaiinica, i860. 
 
130 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 conceptions of the Divine character and ad- 
 ministration — of what God must be, and what 
 God must do — have suggested against certain 
 facts in the sacred history, or certain doctrines 
 it reveals. To show the objector, then 
 (supposing him to be a Theist, as nine-tenths 
 of all such objectors have been), that the very- 
 same or similar difficulties are found in the 
 structure of the universe and the Divine 
 administration of it, is to wrest every suck 
 weapon completely from his hands, if he be a 
 fair reasoner, and remain a Theist at all. He 
 is bound by strict logical obligation either to 
 show that the parallel difficulties do not 
 exist, or to show how he can solve them, 
 while he cannot solve those of the Bible. In 
 default of doing either of these things, he 
 ought either to renounce all suck objections 
 to Christianity, or abandon Theism altogether. 
 It is true, therefore, that though Butler 
 leaves the alternative of Atheism open, he 
 hardly leaves any other alternative to nine- 
 tenths of the Theists who have objected to 
 Christianity." 
 
 As to Atheism : "He has, also, with his 
 accustomed acuteness and judgment, shown that, 
 even on the principles of Atheism itself, its 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER 131 
 
 confident assumption that if its principles be 
 granted, a future life — future misery, future 
 happiness — is a dream, cannot be depended on ; 
 for since men have existed, they may again ; 
 and if in a bad condition now, in a worse 
 hereafter. It is not, on any such hypothesis, 
 a whit more unaccountable that man's life 
 should be renewed or preserved, or perpetuated 
 for ever, than that it should have been 
 originated at all. On this 'point he truly 
 says : ' That we are to live hereafter is just as 
 reconcileable with the scheme of Atheism, and 
 as well to be accounted for by it, as that we 
 are now alive, is ; and therefore nothing can 
 be more absurd than to argue from that scheme, 
 that there can be no future state.' " 
 
 To any one who has not read the Analogy 
 or the Sermons, it must be obvious by this 
 account that it discusses problems of the 
 greatest possible moment. It has already been 
 said that a direct and deliberate argument for 
 the Being of God must be sought elsewhere ; 
 but when faith in that supreme principle has 
 once been acknowledged, there is hardly 
 any subject connected with religion and duty 
 which is not analysed with penetrating 
 acumen by Butler, and placed in its proper 
 
132 
 
 BUTLER 
 
 position in the great scheme of religious 
 thought. Butler should be read again and 
 again. The style is not difficult ; merely the 
 language is exceedingly concise, and the 
 reasoning close. Butler's argument, properly 
 understood, is not only an enormous help 
 against difficulty and doubt, but it is also a 
 most wholesome and invaluable check to rash- 
 ness, presumption, arrogance, Pharisaism, and 
 disproportion in religious belief There can 
 hardly be a more bracing exercise either in 
 close mental application, or in the strengthening 
 of the logical faculty, or in the discipline of 
 religious thought, than these powerful works 
 on the greatest of all subjects. Butler wrote 
 specially for his own generation ; but he has 
 left for all time a treasure-house of thought, 
 help, suggestion, and reasoning. He has cleared 
 the dust of prejudice away from before the steps 
 to the throne of God, and taught men the proper 
 spirit in which to approach the awful mystery 
 of His Being and Revelation. 
 
VI 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 
 
 DANIEL WATER LAN D,> the standard 
 exponent of the Church of England 
 doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and the most 
 eminent defender in the eighteenth century of 
 orthodox teaching on the subject of the Divinity 
 of our Lord, was born at Walesby, in the 
 Lindsey division of Lincolnshire, on February 
 14th, 1683, nine years before the birth of 
 Bishop Butler, and two years before the death 
 of Charles II. He died December 23rd, 1740, 
 shortly before the close of his fifty-seventh year, 
 twelve years before the death of Bishop Butler. 
 
 He was the second son, by a second wife, of 
 Henry Waterland, Rector of Walesby and of 
 the neighbouring parish of Flixborough. 
 
 ^ The details of this sketch are taken from the Bioi:;raphia 
 Britauuica, and from Bishop Van Mildcrt's Introdiiifioii to 
 Waterland's Works. 
 
 133 
 
134 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 His ability was shown early ; he could read 
 well at four. His first tutor was Mr. Sykes, 
 curate of Flixborough ; his father taught him 
 grammar ; and he went to school at Lincoln, 
 under Samuel Garmstone and Anthony Reade. 
 Here he displayed " uncommon diligence and 
 talents " ; besides his regular work, his masters 
 asked him to do other exercises, which were 
 so brilliant that they were "handed abroad for 
 the honour of the school." 
 
 Soon after completing his sixteenth year, 
 March 30th, 1699, he was admitted to Mag- 
 dalene College, Cambridge. His tutor was 
 Samuel Barker, " a very worthy gentleman." 
 On December 24th, 1702, he obtained a 
 scholarship ; in the Lent term following he 
 took his degree, B.A., and on February 15th, 
 1703, he was elected Fellow. 
 
 He became a " great support to the Society," 
 took pupils, was alternately Tutor or Dean, and 
 resided constantly in term time ; the number 
 of admissions greatly increased. In 1706 he 
 became M.A. ; and in 1713, on the death of 
 Dr. Gabriel Ouadring, the Master of the College, 
 he was appointed his successor by Henry, sixth 
 Earl of Suffolk and Earl of Bindon, in whose 
 family the nomination lay. This right, on the 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 135 
 
 extinction of a branch of the House of Suffolk, 
 subsequently passed through Lady Essex Howard, 
 Baroness Griffin, of Braybrooke, daughter of the 
 third Earl, to the Lords Braybrooke, with whom 
 it now rests. Lord Suffolk also presented him 
 to the rectory of Ellingham in Suffolk, almost 
 the whole income of which he gave to his curate. 
 
 He was a zealous and diligent reader ; Dean 
 Cyril Jackson, of Christ Church, Oxford, used 
 to say how his father, when an undergraduate 
 at Magdalene, was accustomed to see the lights 
 in his study burning till far on in the night. 
 His health was much impaired, and his life 
 probably shortened, by this intense application. 
 
 In 1 7 10 he was Public Examiner for the first 
 time, and again next year. About the same 
 time he was member of many important 
 University syndicates. In 171 2 he preached 
 the University Commemoration Sermon, the first 
 in his published works; in 1713 the Assize 
 Sermon before the University. 
 
 On his appointment as Master of Magdalene, 
 he did not proceed to the degree of D.D. by 
 mandamus, as was customary for Heads of 
 Houses, but went through the usual exercises 
 for both divinity degrees. His thesis for that 
 of B.D. in 1 714 was his celebrated treatise 
 
136 
 
 WA7ERLAND 
 
 Whether Avian Subscription zuas Lawftd ; he 
 completely answered the Professor, Dr. James, 
 who was bound to oppose him ; and he was 
 also happy in his other temporary opponent for 
 the occasion, Dr. Sherlock, afterwards Bishop 
 of London. " There were several members of 
 the University of Oxford there, who remember 
 the great applauses he received, and the un- 
 common satisfaction which he gave." 
 
 The men of the eighteenth century, whose 
 leading principle was reasonableness, naturally 
 entered into many and protracted religious 
 controversies. There was the Deistical cam- 
 paign, on the means of Revelation, the nature 
 and authority of Holy Scripture, and the evi- 
 dence of God's existence and dealings, in which 
 the leading figures were Lord Herbert of 
 Cherbury, Toland, Lord Shaftesbury, Collins, 
 Woolston, Tindal, Chubb, and Bolingbroke. 
 These were answered by Butler in his Analogy, 
 Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, Ber- 
 keley's Mimtte Philosopher, and Leland's View 
 of the Deistical Writers. This was followed, 
 as might be expected, by the Trinitarian con- 
 troversy ; and it was in reference to this that 
 Waterland entered the field of public disputation. 
 
 There are four principal heads under which 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 137 
 
 views on the mysterious subject of the Trinity 
 may be ranged. 
 
 1. Christ is merely human : Socinianism. 
 
 2. Denial of the distinct personality of the 
 Second and Third Persons of the Trinity : 
 Sabellianism. 
 
 3. Christ more than man, but less than God : 
 Arianism. 
 
 4. "There is but one living and true God," 
 but " in the Unity of this Godhead there are 
 Three Persons, of one substance, power, and 
 eternity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost": Catholicism — called by its opponents 
 Athanasianism. 
 
 After the suppression of Arianism by Theo- 
 dosius in the East, by Clovis in Gaul, and by 
 Justinian in Africa and Italy, this great question 
 remained substantially at rest till the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, when Faustus Socinus 
 in Poland revived the heresy of the Ebionites 
 and Cerinthians in the time of the Apostles, 
 that Christ had no pre-existence before He was 
 born of Mary. Towards the end of the century 
 these opinions found their way into England by 
 means of foreigners ; but at first their English 
 representatives were men of little note. They 
 produced Bishop Bull's great work Defensio 
 
'38 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 Fidei Niccrncv, a learned and powerful historical 
 treatise in Latin, followed by his Judicium 
 Ecclesice Catholicce and Primitiva et Apostolica 
 Traditio. 
 
 Dr. Sherlock, Dean of St. Paul's, entered on 
 the same difficult ground, but with less success ; 
 his treatise was opposed by Dr. Wallis, Savilian 
 Professor at Oxford, a most profound scholar, 
 and censured by the University of Oxford as 
 savouring of Tritheism. Dr. South, the famous 
 preacher, as well as Dr. Wallis, criticised Dr. 
 Sherlock ; but they were both charged with 
 leaning to Sabcllianism. So much heat was 
 imported into the controversy, that each party 
 was restrained by Royal Authority from using 
 new terms, and confined to those already 
 sanctioned by the Church. 
 
 Cudworth's Intellectual System was held to 
 favour Arianism. Stillingfleet, in his Vindication 
 of the Trinity, kept to safe and solid ground. 
 The real reviver of modern Arianism in England 
 was Dr. Samuel Clarke, whose Scripture Doc- 
 trine of the Trinity was long a text-book of 
 the Arians. He collected 1,251 texts bearing 
 on the nature of the Godhead, and explained 
 them on the principle that the Father alone is 
 the one supreme God ; the Son is a Divine 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 139 
 
 being as far as divinity is communicable by 
 this supreme God ; and the Holy Ghost is 
 inferior both to the Father and to the Son, not 
 in order only, but in dominion and authority. 
 
 As Dr. Clarke had been a theologian of 
 repute, these positions were indeed starding. 
 Dr. Wells complained that he had neglected 
 the Old Testament, failed to show how the 
 true sense of Scripture was to be obtained, 
 and disparaged alike creeds, confessions of faith, 
 and fathers. Mr. Nelson, Founder of the 
 S.P.C.K., justly criticised his unfair treatment 
 of Bishop Bull. Dr. Gastrell, afterwards Bishop 
 of Chester, pointed out that, out of Dr. Clarke's 
 fifty-one propositions, there was only one that 
 an Arian would refuse to subscribe. 
 
 With reference to the Liturgy of the Church 
 of England, and to public formularies of faith 
 in general, Clarke had assumed as a maxim 
 " That every person may reasonably agree to 
 such forms, whenever he can in any sense at 
 all reconcile them with Scripture." It was in 
 reference to this dangerous and subversive 
 position that Waterland propounded his thesis 
 for his B.D. degree, Whether Arian Subscription 
 was Lawful. 
 
 On November 14th, 1715, he was elected 
 
[40 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 Vice-Chancellor according to the usual rotation, 
 when he was only in his thirty-third year. 
 During his tenure of office he had the pleasure 
 of receiving from King George I., for the 
 University collection, Bishop Moore's library of 
 thirty thousand volumes, for which ^6,000 had 
 been paid by the Crown. In the housing and 
 arrangement of the books he took great per- 
 sonal interest. He also protected the University 
 graduates in medicine from being required to 
 obtain a licence from the College of Physicians 
 before practising in London. The conflict 
 between Whigs and Tories, Hanoverians and 
 Jacobites, found loud echo in the University. 
 On King George's birthday, in 1715, the under- 
 graduates had made great disturbances ; the 
 preceding Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Sherlock, a Tory, 
 was supposed rather to connive ; but Waterland, 
 a staunch Hanoverian, took measures to allay 
 these troubles. On the day after his election, 
 November 5th, 171 5, Dr. Bentley preached his 
 celebrated sermon against Popery at St. Mary's. 
 Another sermon on the same subject in January 
 next year was printed by desire of the Vice 
 Chancellor. In the same year an address of 
 congratulation to the King was carried through 
 the Senate on the suppression of the Rebellion 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 141 
 
 in Scotland. " The fury of the whole disaffected 
 and Jacobite party here," writes Dr. Bentley, 
 "against me and Mr. Waterland is unexpres- 
 sible : one would think that the late Address 
 had given them a mortal blow, by the desperate 
 rage they are in." Waterland's moderation and 
 good temper appear, says Bishop Van Mildert, to 
 have protected him in this affair against much of 
 that obloquy and ill-will which were so strongly 
 shown towards Bentley. And probably it was 
 in consequence of his conduct on this occasion 
 that he was, in the year following, 1717, ap- 
 pointed to be one of the Chaplains to the King. 
 Waterland himself strongly deprecated clerical 
 interference in politics and parties. In the 
 Thanksgiving Sermon he preached this year he 
 said : " As there are none more sensible of these 
 things than ourselves, or more likely to suffer by 
 them ; so I beg leave to intimate how becoming 
 and proper a part of our profession and business 
 it is to do what in us lies to prevent the growth 
 and increase of them. While animosities prevail, 
 arts and sciences will gradually decay, and lose 
 ground ; not only as wanting suitable encourage- 
 ment, but also as being deprived of that freedom, 
 quiet, and repose, which are necessary to raise 
 and encourage them. As divisions increase. 
 
142 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 Christian charity will decline daily, till it be- 
 comes an empty name, or an idea only. Dis- 
 cipline will of course slacken and hang loose ; 
 and the consequence of that must be, a general 
 dissoluteness and corruption of manners. Nor 
 will the enemy be wanting to sow tares to 
 corrupt our faith, as well as practice, and to 
 introduce a general latitude of opinions. Arian- 
 ism, Deism, Atheism, will insensibly steal upon 
 us, while our hearts and heads run after politics 
 and parties." 
 
 Early in 171 7 Dr. Bentley was elected Regius 
 Professor of Divinity, on the death of Dr James. 
 It is stated in the Biographia Britannica (on 
 the authority of Waterland's elder brother) that 
 Waterland was generally pointed out as the 
 fittest person to fill the chair ; but that he was 
 prevented from exerting his interest to obtain 
 the situation by his esteem for Dr. Bentley. 
 This year George I. visited Cambridge and 
 created thirty-two Doctors of Divinity, three of 
 them being Heads of Houses, of whom Water- 
 land was one. Waterland's friendship for Bentley 
 was severely tried on this occasion. Bentley 
 demanded a large additional fee for himself as 
 Regius Professor of Divinity from each of the 
 other twenty-nine newly made Doctors on ac- 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 143 
 
 count of the royal visit. He was first suspended 
 by the Vice-Chancellor, and then degraded by 
 a vote of the Senate. Waterland seems to 
 have avoided taking any active part. The 
 contest ended in 1724 by the restoration of 
 Bentley, on the recommendation of a syndicate 
 of which Waterland was a member. 
 
 The remaining acts of Waterland in connection 
 with the University, such as the vindication 
 of the dignity and validity of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury's Lambeth Degrees, against the 
 attack of Bishop Gastrell of Chester ; the 
 thanks of the University to Heneage, fourth 
 Earl of Nottingham, for his treatise on the 
 Trinity against Whiston ; his defence of the 
 rights of the University Press ; his protection 
 of the jurisdiction of the University against 
 civic encroachments, — all exhibit him as a leading 
 character at Cambridge, zealous for the best 
 interests of the University, unremitting in active 
 service on its behalf ; as a person generally 
 looked up to by -his contemporaries, and one 
 whose judgment, temper, and talents for business, 
 as well as his learning and zeal, entitled him to 
 the fullest confidence. 
 
 His early treatise against Arian subscription 
 was followed in 1719 by a more important 
 
144 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 work, the Vindication of Christ's Divinity. His 
 hand had been somewhat forced by a country- 
 clergyman, John Jackson, who had submitted 
 questions to him, obtained answers, and then 
 insisted on pubHshing the correspondence. 
 There is not space here to follow the great 
 Trinitarian controversy ; it is enough to quote 
 Bishop Van Mildert's encomium, that the work 
 brought Waterland into high estimation. It 
 manifested a vigorous understanding, acute dis- 
 cernment, laborious research, a clear conception 
 even of the most intricate points, and a com- 
 plete mastery of his whole subject. It 
 obtained for him general confidence as a fit 
 leader in the cause he had undertaken ; and 
 notwithstanding the acknowledged ability of 
 many who had already entered the list on 
 the same side, it seemed as if all were willing 
 to transfer to him its chief direction. 
 
 In 1 719 he was appointed by Dr. Robinson, 
 Bishop of London, to preach eight sermons 
 on the Divinity of our Lord, by a new founda- 
 tion of Lady Moyer. They were delivered in 
 St. Paul's Cathedral. The author regar-ded 
 them as a Supplement to his Vindication, and 
 strengthening the arguments already adopted. 
 
 Of the rest of his more important works it 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 145 
 
 is impossible to give more than the titles, ex- 
 cepting those on the Eucharist, from which it 
 is important to supply some short quotations. 
 They are published by Bishop Van Mildert in 
 the following order : 
 
 1720. Answer to Dr. Whitby. 
 
 1 72 1. The Case of Arian Subscription con- 
 
 sidered. 
 
 1722. A Supplement to the above. 
 
 1723. A Second Vindication of Christ's 
 
 Divinity. 
 
 1730-32. Scripture vindicated: in answer to 
 Tindal's Christianity as Old as 
 the Creation. 
 
 1 730. Advice to a Young Student. 
 
 1740. Regeneration stated and explained ac- 
 cording to Scripture and Antiquity. 
 
 1724. A Farther Vindication of Christ's 
 
 Divinity. 
 
 1723. A Critical History of the Athanasian 
 Creed. 
 
 The Scriptures and the Arians com- 
 pared. 
 
 1734. The Argument a priori for proving 
 the Existence of a First Cause. 
 
 1734. The Importance of the Doctrine of 
 the Holy Trinity. 
 
 10 
 
46 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 1723. Remarks upon Dr. Clarke's Exposition 
 of the Church Catechism. 
 
 1730. The Nature, Obligation, and Efficacy 
 
 of the Christian Sacraments con- 
 sidered. 
 Supplement to the above. 
 
 1737. A Review of the Doctrine of the Holy 
 
 Eucharist. 
 
 1731. Charges: i. The Wisdom of the An- 
 
 cients borrowed from 
 Divine Revelation. 
 
 1732. ,, 2. Christianity vindicated 
 
 against Infidelity. 
 
 1735. ,,' 3 and 4. Discourse on Fun- 
 
 damentals. 
 
 1736. ,, 5. Doctrinal Use of the 
 
 Christian Sacraments. 
 
 1738. ,, 6. The Christian Sacrifice 
 
 explained. 
 
 1739. ,, 7. The Sacramental Part of 
 
 the Eucharist explained. 
 
 1740. ,, 8. Distinctions of Sacrifice. 
 Six Occasional Sermons, including one 
 
 on Religious Education. 
 Thirty-three Sermons on several im- 
 portant subjects of Religion and 
 Morality. 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 147 
 
 Summary View of the Doctrine of 
 Justification. 
 
 Inquiry concerning the Antiquity of 
 the Practice of Infant Communion. 
 
 Letters on Lay Baptism. 
 
 Various Series of Letters on important 
 subjects to different Correspondents. 
 Soon after the publication (1720) of the 
 Eight Sermons preached at St. Paul's Cathedral 
 on Lady Moyer's Foundation, he was presented 
 by the Dean and Chapter to the rectory of 
 St. Augustine and St. Faith, in St. Paul's 
 Churchyard. The Dean was at that time 
 Dr. Godolphin, Provost of Eton, and among 
 the Residentiaries were Dr. Stanley, Dean of 
 St. Asaph, and Dr. Hare, afterwards Bishop of 
 Chichester. This year he also preached the 
 anniversary sermon at the Festival of the 
 Sons of the Clergy. He only kept the rectory 
 a few years, not long enough to become Pre- 
 sident of Sion College. 
 
 Two years later a compliment was paid him 
 in the Northern Province. He was appointed 
 Chancellor of the diocese of York by Sir 
 William Dawes, the Archbishop. In 1727, on 
 the recommendation of Lord Townshend, Secre- 
 tary of State, and Dr. Gibson, Bishop of 
 
148 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 London, the King gave him the interesting 
 and agreeable post of Canon of Windsor. 
 In 1730 the Dean and Chapter of Windsor 
 made him Vicar of Twickenham, in Middle- 
 sex, on which he resigned the rectory of 
 St. Augustine and St. Faith, in the City of 
 London. In the same year Bishop Gibson, 
 of London, made him Archdeacon of Middle- 
 sex, in which capacity he delivered, as Charges 
 to the Clergy, some of his most important 
 works on the Eucharist. 
 
 He now had ten years of life before him, 
 and passed his time in an atmosphere of 
 ceaseless intellectual and ecclesiastical activity. 
 "His residence was pretty equally divided 
 between Windsor, Twickenham, and Cam- 
 bridge ; and his labours in religion and litera- 
 ture were carried on with unabated ardour. . . . 
 Yet in the midst of these almost incessant 
 avocations we are assured by his personal 
 friends (and his letters bear testimony to the 
 same effect) that he was not averse from 
 habits of social intercourse, but freely cultivated 
 and improved his acquaintance with those 
 around him, and found leisure to assist and 
 encourage others in every laudable undertaking." 
 
 In 1734 the clergy of the Lower House of 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 149 
 
 the Convocation of Canterbury determined to 
 make him their Prolocutor ; but owing to his 
 sedentary habits and the uncertain state of his 
 health (as he says in his letters) he could not 
 undertake it. The Archdeacon of London, Dr. 
 Cobden, had already prepared the speech to 
 be delivered on presenting him to the Upper 
 House, and afterwards printed it, with some 
 other works, in a volume. " Whom ought we 
 to appoint more fitted to this office, what 
 better champion could we find, than he who 
 has so often toiled in the theological arena, 
 and has brought back such great trophies from 
 all the bands of the enemies of Christ ? him, 
 I mean, the most celebrated defender of the 
 Articles of the Church of England, that is of 
 the Catholic Faith ; I had almost said a second 
 Athanasius ? " 
 
 He was also offered the See of Llandaff, 
 either in 1738 or 1740; but the same reasons 
 which made him decline the Prolocutorship 
 were even more decisive against a Bishopric. 
 
 At Easter, in 1740, he delivered his last 
 Charge to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of 
 Middlesex ; and from that time till July he 
 was stationary in the IVlaster's Lodge at Cam- 
 bridge. He thus describes his life in a letter 
 
WA TERLA ND 
 
 dated July 6th, 1740: "It will not be long 
 before I must return to Twickenham, there to 
 stay for a month or two in the neighbourhood 
 of the town. In the mean season I am here, 
 in an agreeable situation, amidst plenty of 
 books, printed and manuscript, entertaining 
 myself, and serving distant friends in a literary 
 way. We have lately lost here an excellent 
 man, who lived and died in that pleasurable 
 kind of toil : I am just come from hearing a 
 fine panegyric of him from St. Mary's pulpit. 
 Mr. Baker is the person I mean, as you would 
 have imagined without my naming him. He 
 lived to a great age, but so lived as to make 
 it necessary for those he leaves behind him to 
 think he died too soon." 
 
 In five months he was himself dead. Not 
 long after his Easter visitation, "a complaint 
 which he had many years too much neglected 
 (the nail growing into one of his great toes) 
 obliged him in July to call in the assistance 
 of a surgeon at Cambridge (Mr. Lunn), under 
 whose hands finding no relief, and his pain 
 still increasing, he removed to London, and 
 put himself under the care of Mr. Cheselden. 
 But it was now too late. A bad habit of 
 body, contracted by too intense an application 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 15 1 
 
 to his Studies, rendered a recovery impossible ; 
 and after undergoing several painful operations, 
 to which he submitted without reluctance, and 
 bore with an exemplary patience, everything 
 tending to a mortification, he expired with the 
 same composure that he had lived, December 
 23rd in that year." ' 
 
 His curate, Mr. Seed, who preached his 
 funeral sermon, thus describes him : " The meek 
 and candid Christian was not lost in the dis- 
 putes of this world. I never saw him in a 
 different humour — no, not in his last illness. 
 The same unaffected cheerfulness, the same 
 evenness and sedateness, which was his distin- 
 guishing character, appeared from the first com- 
 mencement of our acquaintance to the last. . . . 
 He was very amiable in a domestic light. 
 Though he felt great uneasiness, he gave 
 none but what arose from a fellow-feeling of 
 his sufferings. Even then, humane and bene- 
 volent to all iibout him, but especially to her 
 with whom he had lived in an uninterrupted 
 harmony for twenty-one years ; bringing forth 
 valuable things out of the good treasures of his 
 head and heart ; communicative of anything that 
 
 Biogn I ph it i Brita n n tea . 
 
15^ 
 
 WATEkLAND 
 
 was good, he would have engrossed nothing to 
 himself, but his sufferings." 
 
 His body was buried, by his own request, in 
 St. George's Chapel, Windsor, in a small adjunct 
 on the south side, called Bray's Chapel, under 
 a plain black marble slab, with his arms and 
 this simple inscription: "Daniel Waterland, 
 S.T.P. Hujus Ecclesia; Canonicus, ob. Decemb. 
 xxiii. MDCCXL., aetat. lvii." His widow survived 
 him many years. She was Jane, daughter of 
 John Tregonwell, Esq., of Anderston, Dorset, 
 of an old family, one of whom, Sir John 
 Tregonwell, lived in the reign of Henry VUI. 
 They were married in 1719, and she died on 
 December 8th, 1761. They left no issue. 
 
 Archbishop Potter paid him a very high tribute 
 at the opening of Convocation in 1741. "I 
 seem to see the adversaries retiring, and although 
 reluctant and unwilling, yet not obscurely con- 
 fessing the force of truth. Certainly, already 
 has that Arian impiety almost become dumb, 
 which a few years ago had so insolently reared 
 its head, that it did not fear openly to boast 
 (vain augury !) that in a short time not more 
 would be found to defend the Nicene faith than 
 any obsolete dogmas of Calvin." 
 
 " The full extent," says Bishop Van Mildert, 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 153 
 
 " of the obligations which the Church owed, 
 and still owes, to his labours, it is not easy to 
 calculate ; since besides their own intrinsic value, 
 they have doubtless contributed greatly to form 
 the principles, and to direct the judgment, of 
 many distinguished writers who have succeeded 
 him. No controversial writings, perhaps, have 
 done more for the general good in this respect. 
 It is characteristic of them that they treat of 
 the most profound subjects, not only with great 
 powers of reasoning and great extent of know- 
 ledge, but also with a perspicuity which never 
 leaves it doubtful what impression was intended 
 to be left upon the reader's mind, and with a 
 just confidence in the strength of his cause which 
 sets the author above every unworthy artifice to 
 persuade or convince others." 
 
 " He was," says Mr. Seed,^ " very tender of 
 men's characters : he guided his words, as well 
 as regulated his actions, with discretion ; and 
 at the same time that his sagacity enabled him 
 to discover, his charity prompted him to cover 
 and conceal a multitude of fazilts. ... He was a 
 man of cool wisdom and steady piety ; fixed in 
 his principles, but candid in his spirit ; easy of 
 
 Funeral Sermon. 
 
154 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 access, his carriage free and familiar ; cautious, 
 but not artful ; honest, but not unguarded ; glad 
 to communicate, though not ambitious to display 
 his great knowledge. He hated all party as 
 such ; and would never have gone the length of 
 any. He was not one of those narrow-spirited 
 men, who confine all merit within their own pale : 
 he thought candidly, and spoke advantageously, 
 of many who thought very differently from him. 
 He had nothing violent in his nature : he 
 abhorred all thoughts of persecution : cool and 
 prudential measures entirely suited his frame of 
 mind." 
 
 " This happy disposition," says the Biograpliia 
 Britannica, " recommended him to the notice of 
 the late Queen Caroline, before whom, when 
 Princess of Wales, he held some conferences 
 with Dr. Clarke ; and though these dropped 
 after our author declared his full conviction of 
 the truth and the importance of the doctrine 
 of the Trinity, and his resolution to maintain 
 it, yet there continued a personal friendly ac- 
 quaintance between them till the death of 
 Dr. Clarke, who, in one of his last journeys 
 to Norwich, paid a \isit to Dr. Waterland at 
 Cambridge." 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 155 
 
 I. 
 
 The True Sense in which the Eucharist is a 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 " The service, therefore, of the Eucharist, on 
 the foot of ancient Church language, is both a 
 true and a proper sacrifice, and the noblest that 
 we are capable of offering, when considered 
 as comprehending under it many true and evan- 
 gelical sacrifices : i . The Sacrifice of Alms to 
 the Poor, and Oblations to the Church, which, 
 when religiously intended, and offered through 
 Christ, is a Gospel Sacrifice. Not that the 
 material offering is a sacrifice to God, for it 
 goes entirely to the use of man ; but the service 
 is what God accepts. 2. The Sacrifice of Prayer, 
 from a pure heart, is evangelical incense. 3. The 
 Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to God the 
 Father, through Christ Jesus our Lord, is another 
 Gospel Sacrifice. 4. The Sacrifice of a Penitent 
 and Contrite Heart, even under the Law (and 
 now much more under the Gospel, when explicitly 
 offered through Christ), was a Sacrifice of the 
 New Covenant. ... 5. The Sacrifice of Our- 
 selves, our Souls and Bodies, is another Gospel 
 Sacrifice. 6, The offering up of the mystical 
 
'56 
 
 WATERLAND 
 
 body of Christ, that is, His Church, is another 
 Gospel Sacrifice : or rather, it is coincident with 
 the former ; excepting that there persons are 
 considered in their single capacity, and here 
 collectively in a body. I take the thought from 
 St. Austin, who grounds it chiefly on i Cor. x. 
 17.. . . 7. The Offering up of True Converts, 
 or sincere penitents, to God, by their pastors, 
 who have laboured successfully in the blessed 
 work, is another very acceptable Gospel Sacrifice. 
 8. The Sacrifice of Faith and Hope, and Self- 
 himiliaHon, in covimemorating the Grand 
 Sacrifice, and resting finally tipon it, is another 
 Gospel Sacrifice, and eminently proper to the 
 Eucharist." ^ 
 
 II. 
 
 " This Do " not " This Sacrifice!' 
 
 " The plea from hoc facite, when first set up, 
 was abundantly answered by a very learned 
 Romanist : I mean the excellent Picherell, who 
 wrote about 1562, and died in 1590. Protestants 
 also have often confuted it ; and the Papists 
 themselves, several of them, have long ago given 
 it up." - 
 
 ^ The Eucharist considered in a Sacrificial View, chap. xii. 
 2 The Christian Sacrifice explained, Appendix, chap. iii. 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF 'J HE LORD'S SUPPER 157 
 
 III. 
 
 In what Sense the Eucharist is Not a Saadjice. 
 
 ' "No one has any right to offer Christ as a 
 sacrifice (whether really or symbolically), but 
 Christ Himself. ... i. If Christ in the institu- 
 tion offered Himself under these symbols (which, 
 however, does not appear). He might have a 
 right to do it : we have none, and so can only com- 
 memorate what He did, and by the same symbols. 
 2. If we symbolically offer anything in the 
 Eucharist, it is only in such a sense as St. Austin 
 speaks of ; where he considers the bread and 
 wine as symbols of the united body of the Church. 
 We may symbolically offer up, or sacrifice, our- 
 selves, but that is all : more than that cannot 
 comport with Scripture, or with the principles 
 of the ancients, that all our sacrifices are made in 
 and by Christ. He is not the matter or subject 
 of our Sacrifices, but the Mediator of them : we 
 offer not Him, but we offer what we do offer by 
 Him. 3. If the thing symbolically offered in 
 the Eucharist were Christ Himself, then the 
 offerer or offerers must stand in the place of Christ, 
 and be as truly the symbols of Christ in their 
 offering capacity as the elements are supposed 
 
158 
 
 WA TERLAND 
 
 to be in their sacrificial capacity. Then not only 
 the priests, but the whole Church, celebrating 
 the Eucharist, must symbolically represent the 
 person of Christ, and stand in His stead : a 
 notion which has no countenance in Scripture or 
 antiquity, but is plainly contradicted by the whole 
 turn and tenor of the ancient Liturgies, as well 
 as by the plain nature and reason of the thing. 
 4. I may add, lastly, that all the confusion in this 
 article [point] seems to arise from the want of 
 distinguishing the sacrificial part of the Eucharist 
 from a sacramental one, as before noted : we do 
 not offer Christ to God in the Eucharist, but God 
 offers Christ to us in return for our offering 
 ourselves. We commemorate the grand sacriff^ce, 
 but do not reiterate it ; no not so much as uncter 
 symbols But God applies it by those symbols 
 or pledges : and so, though there is no 
 symbolical sacrifice of that kind, neither can 
 be, yet there is a symbolical grant, and a 
 symbolical banquet, which is far better, and 
 which most effectually answers all purposes. 
 In short, there is, as the Apostle assures us, 
 a communion of Christ's body and blood, in the 
 Eucharist, to every worthy receiver." ' 
 
 1 The Eucharist considered in a Sacrificial Point of View, 
 cliap. xii. 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER 159 
 
 IV. 
 
 In what Metaphorical Sense Ministers may be 
 called Priests. 
 
 " From hence likewise may we understand 
 in what sense the officiating authorised ministers 
 perform the office of proper evangeHcal priests 
 in this service. They do it three ways: i. As 
 commemorating in solemn form the same sacrifice 
 here below which Christ our High Priest 
 commemorates above. 2. As handing up (if 
 I may so speak) those prayers and those services 
 of Christians to Christ our Lord, who as High 
 Priest recommends the same to God the Father. 
 3. As offering up to God all the faith/til who 
 are under their care and ministry, and who are 
 sanctified by the Spirit. In these three ways 
 the Christian officers are priests, or liturgs, to 
 very excellent purpose, far above the legal 
 ones, in a sense worth the contending for, 
 and worth the pursuing with the utmost zeal 
 and assiduity." ' 
 
 " The whole body of Christian people are 
 equally sacrificers, though the clergy only are 
 commissioned to preside and officiate in a 
 
 ^ Eucharist considered in a Sacrificial Viezv, chap. xii. 
 
WATERLAND 
 
 public character. The sacrifice is the common 
 sacrifice of the whole body, and so the name 
 of sacrificer is also common : but the leading 
 part, the administration of the sacrifice, is 
 appropriate to the commissioned officers ; and 
 so are also the names of Bishops, Presbyters, 
 and Deacons." ' 
 
 V. 
 
 Holy Scripture. 
 
 " Scripture alone is our complete rule of 
 faith and manners, containing all things necessary 
 to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read 
 therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be 
 required of any man, that it should be believed 
 as an article of faith, or be thought requisite 
 or necessary for salvation." 
 
 " Whatever Scripture contains, either 171 
 express words rightly understood, or by con- 
 sequence justly deduced, is Scripture doctrine, 
 and ought to be religiously believed and 
 obeyed ; allowing only for the different degrees 
 of importance belonging to different Scripture 
 truths, or Scripture precepts. For the right 
 understanding of Scripture, it is of great 
 
 Distinctions of Sacrifice. 
 
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE LORD'S SUPPER i6i 
 
 moment to know what the most eminent writers, 
 or teachers, ancient and modern, have thought 
 before us on the same subject ; and more 
 especially to observe what they unanimously 
 agreed in. For as they had the same Scriptures 
 before them, and the same coninion reason to 
 direct them, and used as much care and diligence, 
 and were blessed with as great integrity as any 
 of us can now justly pretend to, their judg- 
 ment is not to be slighted, nor their instructions 
 to be despised." ^ 
 
 1 Review of the Doctri)ie of the Eucharist, Introduction. 
 
 J I 
 
VII 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 
 
 OHN WESLEY was born at Epworth in 
 
 Lincolnshire, at his father's vicarage, in 
 
 1703, in the first year of the reign of 
 Queen Anne, about six years before the com- 
 pletion of St. Paul's Cathedral, and fifty-eight 
 years after the death of Archbishop Laud. He 
 belonged to the same family as the Wesleys 
 of Dangan in Ireland, one of whom, Garret 
 Wesley, left his estate at that place to his first 
 cousin (the son of his maternal uncle), Richard 
 Colley, or Cowley, on condition of his taking 
 the name of Wesley. Richard Colley, or 
 Wesley, created Lord Mornington, was grand- 
 father of the illustrious Duke of Wellington. 
 Thus (after undergoing a slight change in the 
 spelling) the name associated with the apostolical 
 labours of the great preacher became ennobled 
 in the person of the greatest of warriors, although 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 163 
 
 in the Mornington and Wellington families 
 there was not a drop of Wesley blood. The 
 preacher's own branch was settled in Dorset- 
 shire, had affinities with the University of 
 Oxford, and gave many ministers to the 
 Church. 
 
 Samuel, the father, was a servitor at Exeter 
 College, Oxford, severed himself from the 
 Puritans, to whom his family had belonged for 
 two generations, married Susanna, daughter 
 of Dr. Annesley, an ejected clergyman, and 
 worked as a High Churchman. The mother 
 was a woman of high character, strong will, 
 earnest piety, and great ability, and to her 
 influence her children owed a lasting debt. 
 The children who lived to grow up were three 
 sons — Samuel (master at Westminster School), 
 John, and Charles the hymn-writer — and three 
 daughters. The chief reminiscences of John's 
 childhood are the fire at the vicarage when he 
 was with difficulty saved from the nursery 
 window, and the story of the Epworth ghost. 
 
 John went to school at Charterhouse, where 
 he was diligent, studious, and well behaved, 
 and in 1720, his eighteenth year, matriculated 
 at Christ Church, Oxford. Having been often 
 obliged to give up some of his food to older 
 
JOHN WESLEY 
 
 boys at school in accordance with the bullying 
 customs then in vogue, he had formed very 
 abstemious habits. At college he studied absti- 
 nence as a medical question ; it suited his 
 finances, the poverty of the family, and his 
 own love for seclusion, study, and thought. 
 
 It was the wish of his father and the family 
 that led him first to think of taking Orders ; 
 the father was in failing health, and needed 
 help. A difficulty about the damnatory clauses 
 of the Athanasian Creed was surmounted by 
 paternal counsel. An influence was also created 
 by the hnitation of Christ, and by Jeremy 
 Taylor's devotional works. He began to find 
 religious friends. The tendency of his life was 
 altered. 
 
 In 1725 hie was admitted deacon by Potter, 
 Bishop of Oxford, afterwards Primate, whom 
 he calls " a great and good man." Potter's 
 advice he recalled long after : " not to spend 
 his time in contending for or against things of 
 a disputable nature, but in testifying against 
 vice, and in promoting real essential holiness." 
 The pulpit in which he preached his first 
 sermon is preserved at the little church of 
 South Leigh, near Witney. In March 1726, 
 as a native of Lincolnshire, he was elected to a 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 
 
 fellowship at Lincoln College, and in November 
 of the same year became Greek Lecturer and 
 " moderator of the classes " in the college. 
 Disputations were held daily, and he acquired 
 great expertness in arguing and exposition. 
 
 1727 was a critical year. He read Law's 
 Serious Call and Christian Perfection. Feeling 
 that he had been too much of a mere moralist, 
 depending mainly on forms and observances, 
 he said : "I was convinced more than ever of 
 the impossibility of being half a Christian, and 
 determined to be all devoted to God, and to 
 give Him all my soul, my body, and my sub- 
 stance." More than .before he studied the 
 Bible ; he longed for the mind that was in 
 Christ, and for the first time understood reli- 
 gion to be "inward and outward conformity 
 to the Master." He now insisted on a high 
 standard of religious consecration and personal 
 holiness, both active and passive. He pre- 
 .sently united with these views not a little of 
 the High Church doctrine and discipline.' 
 "The light flowed in so mightily on his soul 
 that everything appeared in a new view." 
 
 The same year, in July, he was admitted 
 
 ^ Rigg's H'estey, p. 22. 
 
i66 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 presbyter by the same bishop, while serving in 
 one of his father's two little parishes, called 
 Wroote. In 1729. at the urgent request of 
 Dr. Morley, Rector of Lincoln, he returned to 
 his tutorial duties at Oxford, where he remained 
 for six years. Irreligious opinions were abroad 
 in the country and even amongst the clergy. 
 Three undergraduates had been expelled for 
 Deism ; a learned, conscientious, and religious 
 teacher such as Wesley was much needed. 
 
 At the close of the previous century the 
 well-known " Societies for the Reformation of 
 Manners " had sprung up in various places for 
 the correction of profligacy, ignorance, and 
 irreligion. Robert Nelson was one of their 
 warmest supporters. The foundation of the 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 
 1699, in which he shared, was part of this 
 movement. One of these societies existed at 
 Oxford, chiefly amongst undergraduates. It 
 was sometimes called the "Godly Club," some- 
 times the " Sacramentarian." Whitefield, then 
 a servitor at Pembroke, seeing the members 
 forcing their way through a ridiculing crowd 
 to take Communion at St. Mary's, joined them. 
 Until John Wesley's return from Lincolnshire, 
 his brother Charles was the most prominent 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF IHE MASSES 167 
 
 member. John was now chosen leader. They 
 were from twenty to thirty in number ; they 
 received the Communion every Sunday, and 
 during the week took opportunities for visiting 
 the poor, the workhouse^ the gaol, the school, 
 and for engaging in other works of charity. 
 John limited his personal expenditure to ^30 
 a year, and his hours of sleep to five, rising 
 every morning at 4 a.m. Among other nick- 
 names the term "Methodist" was applied to 
 this society, from its strictness in observing the 
 rules and rubrics of the Church ; and the word 
 has remained as the proper legal designation 
 of that vast and world-wide society which was 
 founded by the club's two most prominent 
 members. 
 
 About this time (1732) he wrote his sermon 
 on the Eucharist, which he republished fifty 
 years later, and in a" letter to his mother 
 defined his view on the subject : disavowing 
 transubstantiation and consubstantiation, he held 
 a union of God with the believer in that sacra- 
 ment, the manner of the union being a mystery. 
 At this time he also became personally ac- 
 quainted with William Law. " His philosophy 
 and theology," says Dr. Rigg, " were perma- 
 nently elevated and enriched through the 
 
:68 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 familiarity which he had gained with some at 
 least of the writers to whom Law had intro- 
 duced him, as well as through the direct 
 influence of Law himself" 
 
 The family wishing the father to resign and 
 John to be appointed Vicar of Epworth, he 
 wrote to his father explaining that his oppor- 
 tunities for evangelistic work were greater at 
 Oxford than in a small country parish ; and on 
 consulting the Bishop, the Bishop replied : "It 
 cloth not seem to me that at your ordination 
 you engaged yourself to undertake the cure of 
 any parish, provided you can as a clergyman 
 better serve God and His Church in your 
 present or some other station." The father 
 having died, Dr. Burton of Corpus, who had 
 long taken an interest in the colony of Georgia, 
 asked John and Charles to go there as mission 
 clergy. In 1735 they started under the leader- 
 ship of General Oglethorpe, Charles going as 
 the General's secretary, John for the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel, which had 
 been founded thirty-four years before. The 
 brothers were just the rising, eager, conscien- 
 tious, self-denying, able young Churchmen who 
 would be selected. 
 
 On board the ship were thirty German 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 169 
 
 Moravian emigrants, headed by their bishop, 
 Nitschmann, and bringing their wives and 
 families. Wesley was struck by their Christian 
 conduct, simplicity of mind and life, and by 
 the contrast between their fearless calm in an 
 awful storm and the shrieks of the English. 
 In their discipline, obedience, courage, fidelity, 
 earnestness, and singleness of heart, he found 
 people whose conversation was in heaven. He 
 began to learn German, and longed to see 
 more of the Moravians. 
 
 Their station was Savannah in Georgia, and 
 the mission was not successful. The Wesleys 
 were " unworldly and precise, destitute of tact, 
 firm even to obstinacy, and at that time unfit 
 for rough work on uncultivated soil." ' They 
 insisted on immersion in baptism ; they required 
 sponsors to be communicants ; they refused 
 Communion to those who had received either 
 irregular or lay baptism, and to those who had 
 sent no previous notice ; they divided the 
 usual old-fashioned morning service into separate 
 portions. These pedantries gave universal 
 offence. Charles quickly returned to England. 
 John remained another year. But a climax 
 
 Uriin, p. 30. 
 
[70 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 came when he refused Communion to a young 
 person who had jilted him. The enraged father 
 embodied all the accumulated complaints in an 
 accusation of twelve counts, which he brought 
 before the local court. Nothing was done ; but 
 Wesley found the position intolerable, and in 
 November . 1 737 determined to return to Eng- 
 land. At this time he was in a state of morbid 
 depression at his failure. A frightful storm 
 at sea brought home to him the fear of death. 
 He even dreaded that he did not possess true 
 Christian faith. 
 
 Landing at Deal at the end of the year, he 
 joined Charles in London, and sought out the 
 Moravians in the metropolis. May 1 738 was 
 a memorable month for the brothers. They 
 made the acquaintance of Peter Bohler, an 
 earnest young Moravian immigrant, whom 
 Law described as "an extraordinary good young 
 man," who impressed them with his views, 
 and added so greatly to their spiritual fervour 
 that the effect seemed like a second and more 
 real conversion. The principal point was that 
 living faith is always given in a moment, and 
 that its recipient is conscious of a great and 
 vital change, without which consciousness he 
 is no true Christian. Law, when consulted, 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 171 
 
 thought this an exaggeration, and contrary to 
 the teaching of the Gospel, especially to the 
 text, " If any man will come after Me, let him 
 take up his cross and follow Me." Wesley 
 afterwards admitted that he had possessed 
 saving faith before ; but Bohler certainly touched 
 his heart with an electric spark, and Wesley 
 had henceforth a far larger share of the Holy 
 Spirit than in his former life. It was on 
 May 24th. He attended St. Paul's Cathedral 
 in the afternoon, where the anthem was " Out 
 of the deep I have called." In the evening, at 
 a Church society for reading the Bible, while 
 he was studying the Epistle to the Romans, a 
 deep peace fell on his soul. Bohler recom- 
 mended him to preach as often as he could. 
 But his sermons were too unconventional and 
 burning for the London clergy ; invitations 
 became fewer ; and he resolved to visit Herrn- 
 hut, the headquarters of Moravianism. " The 
 witness of the Spirit," he said at this time, 
 " I have not, but I wait patiently for it." The 
 Moravian "full assurance" he disclaimed, but 
 felt sure of "a measure of faith." 
 
 The visit to Herrnhut and Zinzendorf was 
 full of interest and encouragement, and Wesley 
 returned refreshed to London in September. 
 
JOHN WESLEY 
 
 On his arrival he preached at St. George's- 
 in-the-East, St. Antholin's, and the Savoy. 
 To some the teaching of the brothers seemed 
 strange doctrine, and they had an interview 
 with Gibson, Bishop of London. " If by 
 assurance," said the Bishop, " you mean an 
 inward persuasion whereby a man is conscious 
 in himself, after examining his life by the law 
 of God, and weighing his own sincerity, that 
 he is in a state of salvation and acceptable, I 
 do not see how any good Christian can be 
 without such assurance." The Bishop was 
 very kind, and promised to listen to no pre- 
 judiced stories against them. At a second 
 interview he was still friendly and fatherly, 
 speaking of Whitefield as "pious and well- 
 meaning, but too enthusiastic." Archbishop 
 Potter, formerly Bishop of Oxford, now become 
 Primate, also gave them sympathetic advice. 
 
 The Wesleys now preached frequently in 
 London — John especially at Islington Church. 
 The religious club to which they belonged, 
 which was somewhat under Moravian influences, 
 met in Fetter Lane. The brethren there sent 
 him to preach in Bristol. The Bristol visit 
 led to the first erection of a "preaching-house" 
 (that was the name used), and to Wesley's first 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 
 
 sermon in the open air. Then came a crisis. 
 The Moravians began to make light of worship, 
 ordinances, even the study of Holy Scripture. 
 Separation between them and the Methodists 
 was only a question of time. On July 20th, 
 1 740, Wesley read a paper of differences between 
 his views and the Moravians, and then left the 
 room. In 1763 he wrote: "I have not for 
 many years thought a consciousness of accept- 
 ance essential to justifying faith." His opinions 
 of the Moravians were greatly changed. Some 
 were "simple and artless," their teachers "no 
 better than Protestant Jesuits ; Zinzendorf half 
 an impostor, potent for mischief"; even Bohler 
 was guilty of " profane balderdash." Before 
 Bohler's death in 1775 he received an affec- 
 tionate letter from Wesley. 
 
 The visit to Bristol (the year 1 739 was chiefly 
 spent there) brought him to the Kingswood 
 collieries in its neighbourhood. Here he con- 
 tinued a mission to the colliers begun by White- 
 field (who had gone to America), and started 
 open-air preaching. This raised the question 
 as to his future life. Was he to settle down 
 in one place, or journey about evangelising 
 wherever the Spirit seemed to call him ? 
 Church order, he decided, which forbade in- 
 
74 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 trusion into other parishes, must be disregarded 
 at a time of prevailing wickedness, with which 
 the Church was quite unable to grapple : " God 
 commands me, according to my power, to 
 instruct the ignorant and reform the wicked. . . . 
 / look upon all the zuorld as my parish ; thus 
 far, I mean, that in whatever part of it I am, 
 I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty 
 to declare unto all that are willing to hear the 
 glad tidings of salvation." 
 
 The state of the masses in England at this 
 time was deplorable. Nothing that the Wesleys 
 and Whitefield could do would be too much to 
 bring them back to a sense of religion and the 
 fear of God. Oliver Goldsmith wrote thus : 
 " No person who has travelled will contradict 
 me when I aver that the lower orders of man- 
 kind in other countries testify on every occasion 
 the profoundest awe of religion, while in England 
 they are scarcely awakened to a sense of its 
 duties, even in circumstances of the greatest 
 distress. This dissolute and fearless conduct 
 foreigners are apt to attribute to climate and 
 constitution. May not the vulgar being pretty 
 much neglected in our exhortations from the 
 pulpit be a conspiring, cause ? Our divines 
 seldom stoop to their mean capacities ; and they 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 175 
 
 who want instruction most find least in our 
 religious assemblies." A committee of the 
 House of Lords sat to inquire into the present 
 notorious immorality and profaneness. The 
 evidence was such that some of it could not 
 be printed. They found a greater neglect of 
 worship and a greater desecration of Sunday 
 than had ever been known in England. Idle- 
 ness, gambling, intoxication, had increased 
 alarmingly. Beyond a full measure of crimes 
 of the kind found all over Europe, England 
 had special disorders of her own — luxury, 
 profanity, open apostasy from the Christian 
 faith. 1 
 
 The phenomena of violent agonies or con- 
 vulsions which accompanied the fervent sermons 
 of the three great mission preachers certainly 
 alarmed the bishops. Bishop Butler expressed 
 his disapproval to John Wesley at Bristol, Bishop 
 Gibson gave a warning against certain extra- 
 vagant utterances of Whitefield in London, and 
 other learned men grew alarmed. But the work 
 was steadily developing. It drew into itself the 
 religious societies scattered up and down the 
 country, and so merited the name commonly 
 
 ^ Tyerman's Wesley, pp, 174, 503. 
 
176 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 given it in the last century — " The United 
 Societies." From 1 739 large simple preaching- 
 houses began to be erected, as rooms became 
 too small for the crowds, and it was not always 
 possible to preach in the open air. Wesley 
 bought an extensive ruinous shed in Windmill 
 Street, Finsbury Square, formerly used for the 
 casting of guns, known as the Foundry. This 
 became his headquarters, the centre of London 
 Methodism. Here he lived when in London 
 for more than thirty years. 
 
 He impressed his own early habits on his 
 followers. Daily the bell rang for early service 
 at 5 a.m., and again at nine in the evening. 
 On Sundays the hours were arranged not to 
 interfere with Church worship. Methodists were 
 all expected to attend their churches, especially 
 when there was Communion. Of certain in- 
 fringements of this rule Wesley said : " We 
 have profited nothing by our service in Church 
 hours. ... I do not know that it has done 
 more good \i.e., increased our usefulness] any- 
 where in England." 
 
 About this time occurred an inevitable diver- 
 gence between the Calvinists who followed 
 Whitefield and the Arminians under the Wesleys. 
 Whitefield held in the strictest sense to Election 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 177 
 
 and Predestination ; Wesley protested against 
 " the decrees." After a prolonged controversy, 
 in 1 74 1 the two separate camps were formed. 
 The Calvinist Methodists have been strong in 
 Wales. Those who held with Wesley that all 
 men may be saved if they will are strong in 
 England. 
 
 In 1740-42 Wesley was engaged in com- 
 pleting his discipline, reorganising the "classes" 
 into which his adherents were divided, and ap- 
 pointing leaders. The leaders collected a weekly 
 contribution from each member of a class. 
 
 Finding some of the clergy doubtful about 
 admitting them to their churches, Wesley ad- 
 dressed them thus: "We do not desire any of 
 you to let us preach in your church, either if 
 you believe us to preach false doctrine, or if 
 you have the least scruple." But their inability 
 to preach in the churches left them, as they 
 considered, no choice but to preach in the open 
 air or in private houses. At Sheffield the mob 
 pulled down the preaching-house on the visit 
 of Charles Wesley ; at Leeds five of the clergy 
 at the old church treated him with marked 
 attention and asked him to help in Communion. 
 
 One of the institutions was the " watch- 
 night," — at first held every month; finally, 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 on account of gossip, only the last day of 
 the year. 
 
 The dispensary, the loan fund, and the pub- 
 lishing department were now added to the 
 Foundry. John's Journals, sermons, tracts ; 
 Charles's hymns ; numerous compilations and 
 abridgments, — these became popular throughout 
 the country. Wesley had an unparalleled talent 
 for organising. 
 
 At that time anything new in religion was 
 immediately called Popish. The Methodists 
 were by many supposed to be Popish. At the 
 time of the rising for Prince Charles Edward 
 in 1745, Wesley himself was examined by some 
 magistrates as to supposed complicity with 
 St. Germains, and as to his readiness to take 
 the declaration against Popery. In 1749 Bishop 
 Lavington of Exeter published a book against 
 the " dangerous and presumptuous sect." He 
 and Wesley afterwards became reconciled. 
 
 The employment of lay preachers was first 
 begun by Whitefield in 1739. Enough of 
 clerical assistants could not be obtained by the 
 great missioners. The first of Wesley's own 
 lay friends to preach was Thomas Maxfield. 
 Then the idea spread rapidly ; the clergy were 
 standing aloof ; the W esleys saw nothing for it 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 
 
 but to choose "men of suitable gifts and graces, 
 laborious and zealous, fitted to give help to the 
 poor sheep whose shepherds heeded them not." 
 The number increased speedily, and soon Wesley 
 distributed them all over England. London, 
 Bristol, and Newcastle were the head centres. 
 
 The first annual Conference took place in 
 London in June 1744. Communion was ad- 
 ministered to the London members, estimated 
 at two thousand. Among the resolutions passed 
 was one binding them to loyalty to the 
 Church. 
 
 The growth and stability of Methodism de- 
 pended greatly on Wesley's own supervision. 
 He made tours to all parts of England, besides 
 Ireland and Scotland. In addition to London, 
 Bristol, and Newcastle, he found great delight 
 in Macclesfield. Congenial soil for the system 
 was also found in Cornwall. For twenty years 
 or more he made his tours on horseback, encoun- 
 tering wonderful adventures and escapes. Often, 
 besides the reins, he held a note-book in one 
 hand and a pencil in the other. Wherever he 
 arrived he preached the same evening in town- 
 hall or market-place, visited the classes, and 
 held interviews. His correspondence was enor- 
 mous. " As long as he lived Wesley was the 
 
i8o 
 
 JOHN ]VESLEY 
 
 autocrat and arbiter, to whom everything was 
 referred, and whose decision was accepted 
 always with willingness, and during his last 
 years without a parallel in English history."^ 
 " Firmly knit and strong in texture, bodily and 
 mental, he had a capacity for hard and con- 
 tinuous work such as is rarely met with." One 
 of his correspondents, under the name of " Mr. 
 Smith," was Dr. Seeker, Bishop of Oxford, 
 afterwards Primate: he and Wesley wrote to 
 each other on all kinds of matters doctrinal 
 and practical. 
 
 By 1 747 the clergy were less suspicious. 
 Convulsions and shoutings were now rare. 
 When he was invited to preach by the Rector 
 of St. Bartholomew's, the churchwarden con- 
 sulted the Bishop. The Bishop replied that 
 Mr. Wesley was a regular clergyman, and under 
 no ecclesiastical censure. No inhibition was 
 ever issued in any diocese. People began to 
 notice that there was visible improvement in 
 the populace. 
 
 Of course here and there came persecution. 
 The destruction of the preaching-house at 
 Sheffield followed riots in Staffordshire and at 
 
 1 Urlin. 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES i8i 
 
 St. Ives in Cornwall. At Hull in 1752 Wesley's 
 lodgings were attacked till midnight. There 
 were riots at Manchester, Dublin, Gloucester, 
 Epworth, and Halifax. In 1768 six students 
 were expelled from St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, 
 for sympathy with Methodism, and the suppo- 
 sition that they were helped by Selina, Countess 
 of Huntingdon, the friend of Whitefield. 
 
 Among the clergymen who joined Wesley 
 were Henry Piers, Vicar of Bexley, Kent ; 
 Meriton, of the Isle of Man ; Taylor, Vicar 
 of Quinton ; Hodges, Rector of Wenvoe ; 
 Vincent Perronet, Vicar of Shoreham, Kent ; 
 Peard Dickenson ; William Grimshaw, Vicar 
 of Haworth, Yorkshire ; John Fletcher, Vicar 
 of Madeley ; John Berridge, Vicar of Everton ; 
 John Richardson, who gave up a curacy in 
 Sussex to help in the New Chapel ; and David 
 Simpson, of Macclesfield. John Jones, a lay 
 preacher, was ordained as a helper to Wesley, 
 first by a Cretan bishop, and afterwards by 
 the Bishop of London. Lawrence Coughlan 
 followed the same course. James Creighton 
 was secured with Peard Dickenson as clerical 
 helpers at New Chapel. E. Smith took charge 
 of the chapel at Bath. Dr. Coke became in 
 1776 one of Wesley's closest advisers. He was 
 
l82 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 mainly responsible for the policy of the ordina- 
 tions for America. 
 
 Wesley was a close student of primitive 
 antiquity, and he found that the idea that 
 preaching is the exclusive right of the ordained 
 officers of the Church is quite modern. In 
 primitive days every Christian might preach 
 outside the congregation, and selected and 
 approved laymen were accustomed to preach 
 in the church, and even in the presence of the 
 clergy and bishops. Wesley, after much con- 
 sideration, approved the appointment of lay 
 preachers, as supplemental to the ordained 
 ministry of the Church of England : at his 
 death there were four hundred of the itinerant 
 order alone. Wesley considered them as raised 
 up for an emergency ; but of course there was 
 always the tendency to claim for themselves 
 the fuller ministerial duties and responsibilities. 
 Before the year 1760 a distinction was made 
 between the itinerant and the local preachers : 
 the former gave their whole time, and were 
 maintained by contributions ; the latter could 
 remain in business. 
 
 Wesley's first visit to Ireland was in 1747, 
 and he regularly repeated his visits in alternate 
 years till the time of his death. The connection 
 
 ■5 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 183 
 
 between the Irish Church and Methodism 
 became closer than the corresponding tie in 
 England. There were great annual communions 
 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which continued 
 long after Wesley's death. Of late years the 
 larger section of Irish Methodists has been 
 absorbed into the distinct Wesleyan body ; but 
 the " Primitive Church Methodists " remain loyal 
 to the original plan, and faithful to the con- 
 nection with the Church of Ireland. 
 
 It was in 1760 that a few Methodists em- 
 barked from Limerick for America. The 
 English Church was prevented by legal and 
 political difficulties from doing its duty to the 
 States. The Bishop of London, in whose 
 diocese the States were considered up till the 
 Declaration of Independence, was unable, it 
 appeared, to ordain even one missionary for 
 the American continent. The Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel was doing what it 
 could ; but Asbury the missionary wrote in 
 1784, " We are greatly in need of help." Letter 
 after letter came with the same appeals. If 
 only the orderly consecration of a bishop to 
 organise a Church in the United States might 
 not have been postponed so long ! Wesley 
 was persuaded early one morning, at Bristol 
 
i84 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 and in his own room, to go through a form of 
 laying on of hands, after which his friend Dr. 
 Coke considered himself a bishop, and Whatcoat 
 and Vasey regarded themselves as presbyters. 
 This was Wesley's first distinct departure from 
 the order of the Church of England. He wrote 
 that King, a writer on the Primitive Church, 
 held that originally presbyters could ordain 
 as well as bishops ; and he was persuaded that 
 the emergency of America justified the step. 
 On reading the letter, the Conference at 
 Baltimore determined that they should call 
 themselves the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 which title they have ever since maintained. 
 With regard to Coke and Asbury, to whom he 
 gave a like commission, Wesley called them 
 superintendents, and not bishops ; but the word 
 in the Greek is the same. In 1785 also he 
 "set apart" three preachers to be ministers 
 in Scotland. Later on he commissioned some 
 for Antigua and other distant places. Those 
 he thus raised by his own authority from 
 preachers to ministers were about nine in all. 
 
 Wesley was a voluminous writer ; and it is 
 impossible in this brief sketch to give an account 
 of his long series of sermons, his compilations, 
 class-books, journals, and articles. In 1790, 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 185 
 
 in his Arminiaii Magazine, he protested against 
 all idea of secession from the English Church : 
 " I never had any design of separating from 
 the Church. I have no such design now. I 
 do not believe the Methodists in general design 
 it, when I am no more seen. I do, and will do, 
 all that is in my power to prevent such an 
 event. Nevertheless, in spite of all that I can 
 do, m^my of them will separate from it. ... In 
 flat opposition to these, I declare once more 
 that I live and die a member of the Church 
 of England, and that none who regard my 
 judgment or advice will ever separate from it." 
 
 In his old age Wesley had outlived all enmity, 
 and was revered by his fellow-countrymen. 
 George III. spoke of him with enthusiasm. 
 Charles Simeon and William Wilberforce were 
 among his friends. His brother Charles, who 
 had always been more conservative than John, 
 but with whom he had always remained in the 
 closest possible affection, died in 1788. Wesley's 
 last journey to Scodand and the north of 
 England was in 1790. Wherever he went he 
 was received with extraordinary honour and 
 interest. On March 2nd, 1791, in his eighty- 
 ninth year, he died "of old age" in perfect 
 peace. 
 
i86 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 He vested the control of Methodism, its in- 
 terests and property, in a Council of one hundred, 
 whom he nominated, and who afterwards co- 
 opted new members. In 1795 the Conference 
 took the first step towards secession by allowing 
 the preachers to administer the sacraments if the 
 congregations so desired. In 1836 ordination 
 by the hands of senior ministers was adopted. 
 
 Wesley is described as low in stature, of 
 slight figure, but well proportioned. His frame 
 was muscular, being capable of great exertion, 
 and he exhibited all the symptoms of a sound 
 constitution. His features were clear cut and 
 fine, and his complexion was singularly fresh 
 and healthy, even to the end of his life. His 
 countenance was expressive and benign ; and it 
 was a common thing for persons who were 
 much prejudiced against him to change their 
 opinion on seeing him for the first time, and 
 from that moment to become admiring friends.^ 
 
 "His attitude in the pulpit was graceful and 
 easy. His action calm and natural, yet pleasing 
 and expressive. His voice not loud, but clear 
 and manly. His style neat, simple, and per- 
 spicuous, and admirably adapted to the capacity 
 
 ^ Urlin, from Hampson, Whitehead, Coke and Moore. 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 187 
 
 of his hearers. His discourses in point of 
 composition were extremely different on different 
 occasions. When he gave himself sufficient time 
 for study he succeeded ; but when he did not 
 he frequently failed. ... His sermons were 
 always short, seldom more than half an hour, 
 and sometimes not so long. . . . 
 
 " For fifty-two years or upwards he generally 
 delivered two, frequently three or four sermons 
 in a day. But calculating at two sermons a day, 
 and allowing, as a writer of his life has done, 
 fifty annually for extraordinary occasions, the 
 whole number during this period will be 40,560. 
 To these might be added an infinite number of 
 exhortations to the society after preaching, and 
 in other occasional meetings at which he assisted. 
 
 " In social life Mr. Wesley was lively and 
 conversable. . . . Having seen much of the 
 world in his travels, and read more, his mind 
 was well stored with an infinite number of 
 anecdotes and observations ; and the manner in 
 which he related them was no inconsiderable 
 addition to the entertainment they afforded. 
 And in private life among his friends his manner 
 was equally sprightly and pleasant. It was im- 
 possible to be long in his company, either in 
 public or private, without partaking of his placid 
 
;88 
 
 JOHN WESLEY 
 
 cheerfulness, which was not abated by the infir- 
 mities of age or the approach of death, but was 
 conspicuous at fourscore and seven as at one 
 and twenty."^ 
 
 Dr. Johnson wrote of him : " Mr. Wesley's 
 conversation is good. He talks well on any 
 subject. I could converse with him all night." 
 
 When Wesley died, the number of members 
 was 76,968. Since then the increase has been 
 so great that above 18,000,000 people are now 
 receiving Methodist instruction in various parts 
 of the world. The Wesleyan Methodist body 
 in the United Kingdom has now 459.569 
 members, and 955,518 Sunday scholars. 
 
 The Methodist New Connexion was started 
 in 1797 by Alexander Kilham. It has 30,526 
 members, and 84,474 Sunday scholars. 
 
 The Primitive Methodists began in Stafford- 
 shire in 1 8 10 under Hugh Bourne. They have 
 195,750 members, and 456,331 Sunday scholars. 
 
 The Bible Christians were founded in 181 5 by 
 William O'Bryen. They have 26,336 members, 
 and 41,086 Sunday scholars. 
 
 The United Methodist Free Churches repre- 
 sent three secessions, amalgamated in 1857. 
 
 1 Whitehead. 
 
THE EVANGELIST OF THE MASSES 
 
 They number 68,017 rnembers, and 193,464 
 Sunday scholars. The number of Sunday 
 scholars in all these cases probably suggests a 
 little inquiry. 
 
 The chief biographies of Wesley are : 
 
 Hampson : Sunderland, 1791. 
 
 Whitehead, 2 vols. : Dublin, 1805-6. 
 
 Coke and Moore (reprinted) : Derby, 1843. 
 
 Southey, 2 vols, (reprinted): London, 1864. 
 
 Watson : 183 1 . 
 
 Jackson (3rd ed.) : London, 1862. 
 
 Wesley's Journals, 4 vols: London, 1864. 
 
 Urlin, Wesley s Place in Church Histoiy : 
 London, 1870. 
 
 Hockin, Wesley and Modern Methodism. 
 
 Rigg, Churchmanship of John Wesley : London, 
 1879. 
 
 Tyerman, 3 vols. : London. 
 
 Urlin, Churchman s Life of Wesley: London 
 (to which I am indebted for most of the facts 
 in the foregoing sketch). 
 
VIII 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 
 
 THERE is only one man at Cambridge," 
 says Canon Overton, the historian of 
 the English Church in the eighteenth century, 
 and of the Evangelical Movement, " whose 
 services to Evangelicalism at all equalled those 
 of Isaac Milner. It need scarcely be said that 
 that man was Charles Simeon, the voluntary 
 performer of that work for which, of all others, 
 our universities ought most carefully to provide, 
 but which, at least during the eighteenth century, 
 they most neglected — the training of our future 
 clergymen." And Macaulay ascribes to him, 
 through his wonderful power over generations 
 of young students and ministers, an influence 
 greater than that of an archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 Charles Simeon was, like William Laud, born 
 at Reading; on September 4th, 1759, thirty- 
 two years before the death of John Wesley. 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 191 
 
 His father, Richard, belonged to a landed 
 family in the counties of Oxford and Stafford. 
 Richard's father and grandfather had both been 
 vicars of Bucklebury, in Berkshire ; his wife 
 was Elizabeth Hutton, of a family which had 
 given two archbishops to York. Charles was 
 the fourth and youngest son. One of the elder 
 sons, John, became Senior Master of the Court 
 of Chancery, and was one of the commissioners 
 with Sir Herbert Taylor and Count Munster 
 for managing the private property of George HI. 
 Having represented Reading in Parliament for 
 many years, he was made a baronet in 181 5, 
 and was grandfather of the present Sir John 
 Simeon, of Swainston, in the Isle of Wight. 
 
 Charles was sent at an early age to Eton, 
 where he became a King's scholar, and passed 
 on in due time to a scholarship and fellowship 
 at King's College, Cambridge. He seems to 
 have been of a most lively, volatile, candid, -and 
 impulsive disposition. " The energy and vigour 
 which so remarkably distinguished him through 
 life were much noticed in his youth. Horse- 
 manship was his favourite exercise ; and few 
 persons, it is well known, were better judges 
 of the merits of a horse, or more dexterous 
 and bold in the management of one. In feats 
 
192 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 of Strength and activity he was surpassed by 
 none." Although, from the deep religious point 
 of view of his subsequent life, he referred to 
 his schooldays with self-condemnation, " with 
 regard to his moral character and habits there 
 is every reason to believe, from observations 
 that occasionally escaped from him, that he was 
 by no means profligate or vicious in the usual 
 sense of the terms. It would rather appear 
 that, though exposed to scenes and temptations 
 which he often spoke of with horror, he was 
 on the whole in early life regular in habits and 
 correct in his general conduct. His failings 
 were principally such as arise from a constitu- 
 tional vehemence and warmth of temper, the 
 more easily provoked from certain feelings of 
 vanity and self-importance, which during the 
 whole of his life were a subject of conflict and 
 trial to him. These feelings would display 
 themselves at school in too great attention to 
 dress, and in little peculiarities of manner, which 
 quickly attracted the notice and provoked the 
 ridicule of his companions." 
 
 A national fast, ordered in 1776, when he 
 was still at Eton, and about seventeen years 
 old, made a solemn impression on his mind. 
 The thorough change of heart took place in 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION _ 193 
 
 1779, at King's College, when he had received 
 a message from the Provost that he would be 
 expected to attend the Lord's Supper about 
 three weeks later. Feeling his unfitness, he 
 took in hand The Whole Duty of Man. " I 
 began," he says, " to read it with great diligence, 
 at the same time calling my ways to remem- 
 brance, and crying to God for mercy ; and so 
 earnest was I in these exercises that within the 
 three weeks I made myself quite ill with reading, 
 fasting, and prayer." He would have to com- 
 municate again at Easter : he began to make 
 restitution to any he thought he had wronged. 
 His sense of sinfulness pressed so hard on him 
 that he sometimes envied the very dogs their 
 mortality. "In proportion," he continues, "as 
 I proceeded in this work, I felt somewhat of 
 hope springing up in my mind, but it was an 
 indistinct kind of hope, founded on God's mercy 
 to real penitents. But in Passion week, as I 
 was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord's 
 Supper, I met with an expression to this effect, 
 that the Jews knew what they did when they 
 transferred their sins to the head of their offer- 
 ing. The thought rushed into my mind, 
 ' What ! may I transfer all my guilt to another ? 
 Has God provided an offering for me, that I 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 may lay my sins upon His head ? Then, God 
 willing, I will not bear them on my own soul 
 one moment longer.' Accordingly I sought to 
 lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus, 
 and on Easter Day, April 4th, I awoke early 
 with those words on my heart and lips, ' Jesus 
 Christ is risen to-day, Hallelujah ! ' From that 
 hour peace flowed in abundance into my soul, 
 and at the Lord's table in our chapel 1 had 
 the sweetest access to God through my blessed 
 Saviour." 
 
 With his accustomed energy he set about at 
 once to put his new experience into practice. 
 He established a meeting for instruction and 
 prayer on Sunday evenings for the College 
 servants. In the vacation he persuaded his 
 eldest brother, Richard, to join him in establish- 
 ing family prayers in their father's house. The 
 brother died in 1782, three years afterwards, 
 in the genuine faith of a Christian ; and as to 
 the other two, John and Edward, who first 
 joined their aged father in ridiculing and dislik- 
 ing Charles's change of life, " Blessed be God," 
 he afterwards wrote, " both these brothers lived 
 to embrace and honour that Saviour whom I 
 had commended to them." 
 
 For three years he met no one at Cambridge 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 195 
 
 like-minded. At length he was invited to tea 
 by Mr. Atkinson, Vicar of St. Edward's, whose 
 ministry he attended, and also became acquainted 
 with Jowett of Magdalene, and John Venn of 
 Sidney ; and Venn introduced him to his father, 
 the celebrated Henry Venn, Rector of Yelling, 
 near Huntingdon. " In this aged minister," 
 he wrote, " I found a father, an instructor, and 
 a most bright example, and I shall have reason 
 to adore my God to all eternity for the benefit 
 of his acquaintance." 
 
 "On May 20th, 1782 (Trinity Sunday), I 
 was ordained by the Bishop of Ely, and began 
 my ministry in St. Edward's Church (in good 
 old Latimer's pulpit), serving that parish for 
 Mr. Atkinson during the long vacation. . . . 
 In the space of a month or six weeks the 
 church became crowded, the Lord's table was 
 attended by three times the usual number of 
 communicants, and a considerable stir was 
 made among the dry bones. I visited all the 
 parish from house to house, without making 
 any difference between Churchmen and Dis- 
 senters." After a discussion with a dissenting 
 minister on the doctrine of election, " I soon 
 learned that I must take the Scriptures with 
 the simplicity of a little child, and be content to 
 
[96 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 receive on God's testimony what He has re- 
 vealed, whether I can unravel all the difficulties 
 that attend it or not ; and from that day to this 
 I have never had a doubt respecting the truth 
 of that doctrine, nor a wish, as far as I know, 
 to be wise above that which is written. I feel 
 that I cannot even explain how it is that I 
 move my finger, and therefore I am content 
 to be ignorant of innumerable things which 
 exceed not only my wisdom, but the wisdom 
 of the most learned men in the universe. For 
 this disposition of mind I have unbounded 
 reason to be thankful to God ; for I ha.ve not 
 only avoided many perplexities by means of -it, 
 but actually learned much which I should 
 otherwise never have learned. I was not then 
 aware that this simple exercise of faith is the 
 only way of attaining Divine knowledge ; but 
 I now see it is so ; and, in fact, it is the 
 true way in which we attain human knowledge 
 also." 
 
 He is thus described at the time by Henry 
 Venn : "In less than seventeen Sundays by 
 preaching for Mr. Atkinson in a church at 
 Cambridge he filled it with hearers — a thing 
 unknown there for near a century. He has 
 been over to see me six times within the last 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 197 
 
 three months : he is calculated for great use- 
 fulness, and is full of faith and love. My 
 soul is always the better for his visits. Oh to 
 flame as he does with zeal, and yet be beauti- 
 fied with meekness ! ... It is amazing what 
 success he has met with." 
 
 His Cambridge life was very nearly coming 
 to a sudden close, for on the death of his 
 brother Richard it was thought he ought to 
 take his place in presiding over his father's 
 household. At this moment died the Vicar 
 of Trinity Church, Cambridge. Simeon had 
 wished for this parish ; his father knew the 
 Bishop of Ely, with whom lay the nomination, 
 and the Bishop appointed him. The parishioners 
 wanted Hammond, the curate, and immediately 
 presented him to a lectureship, to which they 
 had the right of election, and which the late 
 vicar had held with the vicarage, writing at 
 the same time to the Bishop to ask him to 
 make him vicar. Simeon had wished to stand 
 aside, but the Bishop told him he certainly 
 should not appoint Hammond. Simeon ac- 
 cepted, and preached his first sermon in Trinity 
 Church on November loth, 1782. He held 
 the parish fifty-four years, till his death on 
 November 13th, 1836. 
 
SIMEON 
 
 The disappointed parishioners began a per- 
 secution of their new vicar which his kindness 
 and goodness did not overcome for eight years. 
 They absented themselves from his ministra- 
 tions and locked up their pews. For the sake 
 of peace Simeon refrained from standing on 
 his rights, and filled the aisles with benches. 
 " To visit the parishioners in their own homes," 
 he writes, " was impracticable, for they were so 
 embittered against me that there was scarcely 
 one who would admit me to his house. In this 
 state of tilings I saw no remedy but faith and 
 patience. The passage of Scripture which 
 subdued and controlled my mind was, ' The 
 servant of the Lord must not strive.' It was 
 painful to see the church, with the exception 
 of the aisles, almost forsaken ; but I thought 
 if God would only give a double blessing to 
 the congregation that did attend, there would 
 be on the whole as much good done." 
 
 Simeon was at this time the object of much 
 persecution. Cambridge was full of a mere 
 worldly and professional religion. Simeon's 
 exemplification of the faith of the New Testa- 
 ment as a living power was deeply resented. 
 Godless undergraduates attended his church 
 for the purposes of ridicule. He became a 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 199 
 
 by-word. On one occasion, when a fellow of 
 his own college ventured to walk up and down 
 with him for a short time on a grass-plot, he 
 was quite astonished, as he was accustomed to 
 consider himself an outcast. Of these days 
 he wrote long after : " Many years ago, when 
 I was the object of much contempt and derision 
 in this University, I strolled forth one day, 
 buffeted and afflicted, with my little Testament 
 in my hand. I prayed earnestly to my God 
 that He would comfort me with some cordial 
 from His Word, and that, on opening the 
 book, I might find some text which should 
 sustain me. The first text which caught my 
 eye was this: 'They found a man of Cyrene, 
 Simon by name ; him they compelled to bear 
 His cross.' (You know Simon is the same 
 name as Simeon.) What a word of instruction 
 was here ! To have the cross laid upon me 
 that I might bear it after Jesus : what a privi- 
 lege ! It was enough. Now I could leap 
 and sing with joy as one whom Jesus was 
 honouring with a participation in His suffer- 
 ings." 
 
 Towards the close of 1786 he preached his 
 first University sermon in the pulpit of St. 
 Mary's. The scene is thus described by Mr. 
 
200 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 Carus-Wilson, of Casterton Hall : " The greatest 
 excitement prevailed on this occasion. St. 
 Mary's was crowded with gownsmen ; and at 
 first there seemed a disposition to disturb and 
 annoy the preacher in a manner at that period 
 unhappily not unusual. But scarcely had he 
 proceeded more than a few sentences, when 
 the lucid arrangement of his exordium, and his 
 serious and commanding manner, impressed 
 the whole assembly with feelings of deep 
 solemnity, and he was heard to the end with 
 the most respectful and riveted attention. The 
 vast congregation departed in a mood very 
 different from that in which it had assembled ; 
 and it was evident from the remarks that were 
 heard at going out, and the subdued tone in 
 which they were made, that many were seriously 
 affected, as well as surprised, at what they 
 had heard. Of two young men who had come 
 among the scoffers, one was heard to say to 
 the other, ' Well ! Simeon is no fool, however ! ' 
 ' Fool ! ' replied his companion ; ' did you ever 
 hear such a sermon before ? ' " 
 
 A friend who at this time shared his room 
 for three months says : " Never did I see such 
 consistency and reality of devotion, such warmth 
 of piety, such zeal and love ! Never did I see 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 201 
 
 one who abounded so much in prayer!" 
 Though it was winter, Simeon used to rise at 
 four o'clock, Hght his own fire, and then spend 
 four hours in private prayer and in the devo- 
 tional study of the Scriptures. He would then 
 ring his bell, and, calling in his friend, with his 
 servant, engage with them in what he termed 
 his family prayer. 
 
 Of his sermons Simeon writes : "It was not 
 till ten or twelve years after I had entered into 
 the ministry that 1 ever saw Claude's Essay on 
 the Composition of a Sermon, and I was per- 
 fectly surprised to find that all ■ the chief rules 
 which he prescribes for the composition of a 
 sermon had not only been laid down by myself, 
 but practised for some years. This shows that 
 his rules are founded in nature. . . . From 
 seeing my own rules thus reduced to system 
 I was led to adopt the resolution of endeavour- 
 ing to impart to others the little knowledge I 
 possessed of that species of composition, and to 
 adopt Claude as the groundwork of my private 
 lectures. . . . For the space of about twenty 
 years I have persevered in having a few young 
 men to assist in thus preparing for that which 
 is generally esteemed so difficult— the writing of 
 their sermons ; and from the many acknowledg- 
 
202 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 ments which have been made by ministers from 
 time to time, I have reason to hope that my 
 labours have not been in vain in the Lord." 
 
 " This," says his biographer, WiUiam Carus, 
 "was one of the most important services which 
 Mr. Simeon rendered to the younger members 
 of the University. He had himself felt keenly 
 from the outset of his ministry the want of 
 some direction in the composition of his sermons ; 
 and he was therefore the more anxious to 
 remedy this want, as far as he could, by im- 
 parting to others the results of his own 
 experience and care. . . . ' When I began to 
 write at first, I knew no more than a brute how 
 to make a sermon — and after a year or so I 
 gave up writing, and began to preach from 
 notes. But I so stammered and stumbled that 
 T felt that this was worse than before — and so 
 I was obliged to take to a written sermon 
 again. At last, however, the reading a sermon 
 appeared to be so heavy and dull that I once 
 more made an attempt with notes, and deter- 
 mined if I did not now succeed to give up 
 preaching altogether.' This method of preach- 
 ing from notes, carefully arranged and prepared, 
 he pursued till within a few years of his death. 
 ... His style of delivery, which to the last 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 203 
 
 was remarkably lively and impressive, in his 
 earlier days was earnest and impassioned in no 
 ordinary degree. The intense fervour of his 
 feelings he cared not to conceal or restrain : his 
 whole soul was in his subject, and he spoke 
 and acted exactly as he felt. Occasionally, 
 indeed, his gestures and looks were grotesque, 
 from the earnestness and fearlessness of his 
 attempts to illustrate or enforce his thoughts in 
 detail ; but his action was altogether unstudied 
 — sometimes remarkably striking and command- 
 ing — and always sincere and serious. At that 
 period such manifestations of feeling were very 
 unusual in the pulpit ; and it is therefore highly 
 probable that the opposition and ridicule he 
 encountered in the earlier part of his ministry 
 may be attributed as much to the manner as 
 to the matter of his preaching." 
 
 His natural weaknesses of self-importance and 
 irritability he constantly struggled against, with 
 increasing success. In his old age he writes : 
 " There are but two objects that I have ever 
 desired for these forty years to behold — the one 
 is my own vileness, and the other is the glory 
 of God in the face of Jesus Christ ; and I have 
 always thought that they should be viewed 
 together. By this I seek to be not only humbled 
 
204 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 and thankful, but humbled in thankfulness before 
 my God and Saviour continually. This is the 
 religion that pervades the whole Liturgy, and 
 particularly the Communion Service ; and this 
 makes the Liturgy inexpressibly sweet to me." 
 One of his favourite texts was, " The servant 
 of the Lord must not strive." " Many hundreds 
 of times has that one word tied my hands." 
 Two of his favourite mottoes were :. " Talk not 
 about myself" ; " Speak evil of no man." Thus 
 he writes in after-years to a friend : " Such 
 conduct is observed towards me at this very 
 hour by one of the fellows of the College as, 
 if practised by me, would set not the College 
 only, but the whole town and University in a 
 flame. But the peace and joy which I experi- 
 ence from lying as clay in the potter's hands 
 are more than I can express. The example of 
 our blessed Lord, who, .as a lamb before its 
 shearers, was dumb, and without either threaten- 
 ing or complaint committed Himself to Him 
 that judgeth righteously, appears to me most 
 lovely." 
 
 The following sentences are from rules which 
 he laid down for himself : "To hear as little 
 as possible what is to the prejudice of others ; 
 to believe nothing of the kind till I am abso- 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 205 
 
 lutely forced to it ; always to moderate, as far 
 as I can, the unkindness which is expressed 
 towards others ; always to believe that, if the 
 other side were heard, a very different view 
 would be given of the matter. I consider, too, 
 that persons are cast in different moulds ; and 
 that to ask myself, ' What should / do in that 
 person's situation?' is not a just mode of 
 judging. I think that religious people are too 
 little attentive to these considerations." 
 
 A famine towards the close of 1 788 gave 
 him an opportunity of exemplifying his Christian 
 activity and benevolence on a large scale. After 
 helping to supply the poor of Cambridge with 
 bread at half price, he inquired what was to 
 become of the poor of the neighbouring villages. 
 Nothing was being done. " That," said he, 
 " shall be my business." He made a plan for 
 relieving twenty-four villages, and took the 
 leading part in carrying it out himself " This," 
 says a friend, "made a great impression on 
 the University, and was one of the first 
 things to open their eyes to the character 
 of the man who had been so much ridiculed 
 and opposed." 
 
 In 1790 Trinity parish began to yield to his 
 personal attraction. The churchwardens had 
 
206 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 refused to allow a Sunday evening service, and 
 Simeon had hired a lecture-room for the pur- 
 pose ; now they gave way, and the evening 
 service was transferred to the church. In 1794 
 the lectureship was vacant for the third time, 
 and Simeon was quietly elected to it. The 
 evening services excited afresh the indecent 
 behaviour of thoughtless and profane under- 
 graduates ; and this Simeon was at once wise, 
 firm, and courageous in repressing. " I always," 
 he writes, " went down from my pulpit the 
 moment the sermon was finished, and stood at 
 the great north door, ready to apprehend any 
 gownsman who should insult those who had 
 been at church. I requested those who with- 
 stood my authority not to compel me to demand 
 their names, because, if once constrained to do 
 that, I must proceed to further measures. This 
 kindness usually prevailed. Where it did not, 
 I required the person to call on me the next 
 morning, nor did one single instance occur of a 
 person daring to refuse my mandate." 
 
 On one occasion the Vice-Chancellor ordered 
 the culprit to read a written apology before the 
 congregation ; and as he did not read it in a 
 voice which all could hear, Simeon read it again 
 in a clear and impressive manner, which had a 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 207 
 
 desirable effect. In 18 10, when a brawler re- 
 fused to apologise, he had him committed to 
 prison, and kept there till he submitted. But 
 these offenders were but a small proportion of 
 the increasing crowds of undergraduates who 
 came to learn from this loving man of God, full 
 of the Holy Ghost, the truths of personal religion. 
 
 In 1796 he made the acquaintance of Dr. 
 Buchanan, a well-known clergyman of the 
 Established Church in Scotland. With him he 
 made a tour, preaching alike in Presbyterian 
 and Episcopalian churches. Differences of 
 Church government were not at that time 
 insisted on so strongly as is now the case, 
 and the two Churches were on excellent terms. 
 Some extracts from Simeon's diary will illustrate 
 his objects and methods in travelling : 
 
 " Sunday, June ^th. — -I went to hear Dr. 
 Erskine, of the New Greyfriars, Edinburgh. 
 His appearance and zeal reminded me much of 
 my dear friend Mr. Venn. In the afternoon I 
 preached at the Canongate, and conducted the 
 service in the usual manner. In the evening 
 I preached at Mr. Dickson's new chapel in the 
 Canongate to a very crowded audience, and, 
 through mercy, with much liberty and comfort. 
 Sir John Stirling supped with us. He came in 
 
208 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 while Dr. Buchanan, in his usual manner, was 
 catechising his niece and servants. I was 
 astonished at their readiness in answering his 
 questions, and giving an account of what they 
 had heard in the day. Sir John is a remarkably 
 pleasing man, and a truly pious Christian. 
 
 ''June gth. — Mr. B. has been unwearied in his 
 endeavours to introduce me to the most godly 
 people, to show me everything that can be seen, 
 and to provide me a companion for my northern 
 tour. I desire to give glory to my God for all 
 the love I meet with, and ardently wish that it 
 may be the means of humbling me, and not of 
 puffing me up. 
 
 "' Friday, June lot/i. — How wonderful is the 
 goodness of God to me ! Everything that I 
 could wish has taken place. On Thursday Sir 
 John Stirling offered me his own mare for my 
 northern tour, and this day Mr. Haldane ^ has 
 offered to accompany me. Surely goodness and 
 mercy are following me all the way ! 
 
 " Sunday, June igt/i. — Communion Sunday. 
 Went with Messrs. Innes and Campbell to 
 
 1 James Haldane, who with his brother Robert laboured 
 with great success as lay evangelists in Scotland. Alexander 
 Haldane wrote their biography, and was the father of the 
 present Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 209 
 
 St. Ninian's. Mr. Sheriff began the service, and 
 preached a useful sermon from Heb. x. 10. 
 After preaching above an hour, besides prayer 
 and singing, he left the pulpit and wrent to the 
 head of the tables. There he gave an exhorta- 
 tion which to me was more excellent than the 
 sermon. I communicated at the second table, 
 where Mr. Campbell exhorted. His exhortation 
 was exceedingly precious to my soul. I was 
 quite dissolved in tears. I made a full, free, 
 and unreserved surrender of myself to God. I 
 walked home alone by choice, and met numbers 
 coming to the Sacrament, which, as I understood, 
 lasted till about eight in the evening. 
 
 " Tuesday, June 2\st. — Lord Balgownie ac- 
 companied us to Melville, the seat of Lord 
 Leven, his father, who has for nine years been 
 Commissioner — that is, the representative of the 
 King in the General Assembly. Our conver- 
 sation was altogether spiritual, and the whole 
 family evidently took pleasure in it. They 
 wished me to speak in the evening, and assem- 
 bled about a dozen, besides all their own family, 
 to hear. The house is large, but not grand ; 
 the furniture is old and plain ; the pictures are 
 few. There was, however, what is infinitely 
 better than pomp and grandeur — a peace and 
 
 14 
 
210 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 harmony, the offspring of well-regulated habits 
 and affections. 
 
 " Sunday, June 26th. — Sacrament Sunday at 
 Moulin. The congregation was numerous, and 
 the communicants about one thousand. I 
 preached a short sermon, and while they were 
 partaking I spoke a few words of encourage- 
 ment, and bade them depart in peace. I 
 expressed to them in my former exhortation my 
 fears respecting the formality which obtains 
 among all the people, and urged them to devote 
 themselves to Jesus Christ. On the whole this 
 Sabbath was not like the last. Then I was 
 very much affected, now I was barren and dull. 
 God, however, is the same, and His Word is 
 unchangeable, and in that is all my hope. In 
 the evening Mr. Stewart, the minister of Moulin, 
 came up into my room, and we had much 
 conversation about the ministry." 
 
 This began a warm and brotherly friend 
 ship. 
 
 " Mr. Stewart was a man in high repute 
 both for amiableness of manners and for learn- 
 ing, but he was very defective in his views of 
 the Gospel and his experience of its power. 
 When we were retiring, I had him alone with 
 me in my chamber, and spoke such things as 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 211 
 
 occurred to my mind with a view to his spiritual 
 good. And it pleased God so to apply them 
 to his heart that they were made effectual in 
 bringing him into the marvellous light of the 
 Gospel of Christ. From that moment he 
 changed the strain of his preaching, and God 
 has now for the last fifteen years made his 
 instructions eminently useful for the salvation 
 of souls." 
 
 The year i8oo was important in the life of 
 Simeon, for during it he became one of the 
 founders of the Church Missionary Society, 
 which has since been blessed by God to the 
 life of the Church in such an extraordinary 
 degree. It was settled at a meeting of the 
 Eclectic Society on March i8th of that year. 
 John Venn introduced the subject, and Simeon 
 seconded him. He asked three plain questions : 
 "'What can we do? When shall we do it? 
 How shall we do it ? ' His answer to the second 
 was characteristic. ' Directly. Not a moment 
 to be lost.' The meeting decided unanimously 
 that a new missionary society should be con- 
 stituted without delay, and this decision was 
 carried into effect on the 1 2th of the following 
 month." Two of Simeon's own curates, to 
 whom he was devotedly attached, and who had 
 
212 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 both learnt much from his teaching, were 
 among the earliest missionaries to India: Thomas 
 Thomasson, who sailed in 1803, and the more 
 famous Henry Martyn, in 1805, 
 
 In 181 1 the first meeting of the Bible Society 
 was held in Cambridge. The idea seemed to turn 
 the University upside-down. " A great alarm 
 was excited, and every person without exception 
 threw cold water upon it from this principle 
 — that if they were allowed to proceed in this 
 way about the Bible, they would soon do the 
 same about politics." Simeon persuaded the 
 young men who had originated the movement 
 to leave it to him. He was joined by Dr. 
 Jowett, of Magdalene ; John Brown, Fellow of 
 Trinity ; and Professor Parish. Professor Parish 
 persuaded the Vice-Chancellor to summon a 
 meeting of University, town, and county. Dr. 
 Marsh, Margaret Professor of Divinity, after- 
 wards Bishop of Peterborough, wrote a hostile 
 pamphlet, and " with incredible industry put it 
 in the hands of all the great men of the 
 county and all the leading members of the 
 University. Application was made to Lord 
 Hardwicke, who agreed to take the chair; but 
 this very circumstance augmented our difficulties. 
 No head of a college would come forward. 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 213 
 
 Dr. Milner^ was in town, and would not come 
 forward unless the Bishop did. The Bishop 
 would not, because it was in the Bishop of 
 Ely's diocese, and he did not like to interfere 
 with him. We all trembled lest Lord H., 
 when he came to take the chair, should complain 
 that he had been deceived by us. On Tuesday 
 we heard, however, with joy that Lord F. 
 Osborne would come and support Lord 
 Hardwicke. Mr. Wilberforce had done all he 
 could to get the Chancellor (the Duke of 
 Gloucester) to give us his name and aid us 
 with his presence, but in vain. At last, however, 
 we had joyful tidings. The Duke was willing 
 to be president. And then the day arrived. 
 But how ? Truly God showed that He reigns 
 in the earth. The Earl of Bristol gave us his 
 name. Dr. Milner had come down during the 
 night. The Dukes of Bedford and of Rutland 
 gave us their names. The Bishop of Bristol 
 permitted us to use his also. And, to crown 
 the whole, Mr. Nicholas Vansittart sent down 
 a printed letter to Dr. Marsh in answer to his. 
 Dear Mr. Steinkopff was applauded for a great 
 
 ^ President of Queens' College. 
 
 ^ Dr. Mansel, Bishop of Bristol and Master of Trinity 
 College. 
 
214 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 length of time, and all he said was most affect- 
 ing. Mr. Owen was brilliant beyond measure. 
 Professor Parish, with all his placidity, was 
 animated and bold as a lion. Dr. Clarke, the 
 Professor of Mineralogy, was extremely eloquent. 
 He was aware that by taking an active part 
 he was likely to cut himself off from all hopes 
 of the Mastership of Jesus College, but avowed 
 his determination to do what he thought most 
 acceptable to God. Dr. Milner spoke nobly 
 and manfully, and took shame to himself for 
 having been so long in making up his mind. 
 Lord Francis also spoke well, though short." 
 
 " I consider our beloved and honoured friend 
 Mr. Wilberforce as very eminently instrumental 
 in this great and wonderful work. I believe 
 we owe it chiefly to his exertions that both 
 the Duke and Dr. Milner were induced to 
 take the part they did." 
 
 " To the Society for the Conversion of the 
 Jews," writes Bishop Wilson, of Calcutta. 
 " Mr. Simeon was pre-eminently attached. In 
 truth he was almost from the commencement 
 the chief stay of that great cause." In 1815 
 he and his friend Mr. Lewis Way rescued it 
 by their strenuous exertions from shipwreck. 
 He frequently travelled for it : once to Holland. 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 215 
 
 His companion was often Dr. Marsh, of 
 Colchester, father of the beloved Catherine 
 Marsh, the navvies' friend. After one tour of 
 five weeks he writes : " Mr. Marsh and I brought 
 home eight hundred guineas clear gain, the 
 journey having cost the Society nothing." To 
 his Trust for Church Patronage he devoted 
 much labour and money. "In the charge which 
 he left to his trustees he most solemnly warns 
 and beseeches them for the Lord's sake in 
 every appointment to be guided by one con- 
 sideration only — namely, that of the welfare 
 of the people whose spiritual interests have 
 been confided to them ; to be influenced by no 
 desire to provide for a needy clergyman, nor 
 by any solicitation of the great and powerful, nor 
 even by petitions of the parishioners ; but to 
 appoint only ' one who is a truly pious and 
 devoted man, a man of God in deed and in 
 truth, who with his piety combines a solid 
 judgment and an independent mind.' " 
 
 It is of course by his marvellous influence 
 over undergraduates that he will be most 
 remembered. Through them he has been the 
 father of modern evangelical life in the Church 
 of England. In 1818 he says: "As for the 
 gownsmen, never was anything like what they 
 
2I6 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 are at this day. I am forced to let them go 
 into the galleries, which I never suffered before ; 
 and notwithstanding that multitudes of them 
 are forced to stand in the aisles, for want of 
 a place to sit down. What thanks can I render 
 to the Lord for a sight of these things ! " Of 
 a sermon which he delivered in St. Mary's 
 Church, November 13th, 1831, Bishop Wilson, 
 of Calcutta, says : " The writer can never forget 
 the impression made on his mind by the appear- 
 ance of the church when Mr. Simeon delivered 
 one of his sermons on the Holy Spirit before 
 that learned University. The vast edifice was 
 literally crowded in every part. The Heads of 
 the Houses, the Doctors, the Masters of Arts, 
 the Bachelors, the Undergraduates, the con- 
 gregation from the town, seemed to vie with 
 each other in eagerness to hear the aged and 
 venerable man." 
 
 He encouraged the young men who attended 
 his church to cultivate intimate personal relations 
 with himself Himself a bachelor, he treated 
 them all with fatherly affection. Mr. Thomasson 
 writes about the year 1793 : " Mr. Simeon watches 
 over us as a shepherd over his sheep. He 
 takes delight in instructing us, and has us 
 continually at his rooms." And again : " Mr. 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 217 
 
 Simeon has invited me to his Sunday evening 
 lectures. This I consider one of the greatest 
 advantages I ever received. The subject is 
 ' Natural and Revealed Religion.' We write 
 after him ; he then dismisses us with prayer." 
 Instead of Sunday evening gatherings, he had 
 at a later period a tea-party on Friday evenings, 
 to which all might come without invitation (in 
 1826 he states that more than forty were 
 sometimes present), and where they might 
 propose questions on which they wished to have 
 his opinion. A writer who used to attend 
 these parties says : 
 
 " Such practical or critical difficulties as had 
 been met with during the preceding week were 
 brought by us gownsmen to the Friday evening 
 tea-party, to be propounded to Mr. Simeon ; 
 and much do I err in judgment if many will 
 not have reason to praise God with eternal 
 praises for benefits received at these instructive 
 meetings. 
 
 " At the entry of each gownsman he would 
 advance towards the opening door with all that 
 suavity and politeness which you know he 
 possessed in a remarkable degree, and would 
 cordially tender his hand ; and I assure you we 
 deemed it no small honour to have had a 
 
2l8 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 hearty shake of the hand and a kind expression 
 of the looks from that good old man. As soon 
 as the ceremony of introduction was concluded, 
 Mr. Simeon would take possession of his 
 accustomed seat, and would commence the 
 business of the evening. After a pause, he 
 would encourage us to propose our doubts. 
 Presently one and then another would venture 
 with his interrogatories, till our backwardness 
 and reserve were entirely removed. 
 
 Here is a glimpse of him at Cambridge in 
 his old age, given by his friend Joseph John 
 Gurney, of Earlham, the eminent member of 
 the Society of Friends, in 1811 : 
 
 "We sent a note to our dear friend Charles 
 Simeon, to propose spending part of the evening 
 with him. While we were absent from the 
 inn, there arrived a small characteristic note 
 written in pencil : ' Yes. yes, yes. Come 
 immediately and dine with me.' Simeon has 
 the warm and eager manners of a foreigner, 
 with an English heart beneath them. We 
 declined his invitation to dinner ; but as we 
 were walking near King's College, we heard 
 a loud halloo behind us, and presently saw our 
 aged friend, forgetful of the gout, dancing over 
 the lawn to meet us. He then became our 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 219 
 
 guide, and led us through; several of the 
 colleges." 
 
 After minute and interesting details of a charac- 
 teristic religious conversation, he continues : 
 
 " The hour of the evening was advancing, 
 and these beautiful remarks formed a happy- 
 conclusion to familiar conversation. His elderly- 
 servants were now called in, and I was re- 
 quested to read the Scriptures. A very precious 
 solemnity ensued, during which the language 
 of prayer and praise arose — I humbly hope with 
 acceptance. I believe both my dear wife and 
 myself were ready to acknowledge that we had 
 seldom felt with any one more of the unity of 
 the Spirit in the bond of peace." 
 
 Carus thus describes him : " There was a 
 remarkable combination of opposite qualities in 
 Simeon's character. For dealing with cases 
 requiring tenderness and sympathy, nothing 
 could exceed his gentleness and deep feeling ; 
 whilst on occasions demanding firmness and 
 vigorous speech and action, he would employ 
 very strong language in rebuking error or 
 enforcing truth. Amidst all his thoughts about 
 his various great works, he was very particular 
 about little things. Indeed, in everything he 
 was a pattern of neatness and punctuality. He 
 
220 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 was an uncommonly social man, delighting in 
 the company of his friends ; whilst he charmed 
 them with his lively and original conversation, 
 full of striking illustrations, accompanied often 
 with much action, sometimes so amusing that 
 it was almost impossible to refrain from a 
 smile, even when he himself was speaking most 
 seriously. But his striking action and devout 
 appearance at all times in the pulpit can never 
 be forgotten by those who knew him." 
 
 His last two sermons were preached on 
 Thursday, September 1 5th, and on Sunday, 
 September i8th, 1836, on the texts respectively, 
 " Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear 
 much fruit : so shall ye be My disciples," and 
 "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord." 
 On Wednesday, the 21st, he went to Ely to 
 pay his respects to the new Bishop. The 
 Bi.shop received him with marked kindness and 
 attention, and proposed that they should go 
 together to see the Cathedral. Here they 
 lingered too long ; the coldness of the building, 
 increased by the rawness of the day, soon began 
 sensibly to affect Simeon, and was the direct 
 cause of the severe illness from which he never 
 recovered. He died a little more than seven 
 weeks afterwards, on November 13th. His 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 221 
 
 illness was an exemplary instance of natural 
 Christian genuineness and honest humility : 
 there was nothing for show ; his whole thoughts 
 were occupied with his own soul's health and 
 the good of others. Death-bed scenes he 
 abhorred. The following words, spoken ten 
 days before his death, may serve to indicate 
 his state of mind : "If you want to know what 
 1 am doing, go and look in the first chapter 
 of Ephesians, from the third to the fourteenth 
 verse. There you will see what I am enjoying 
 now." 
 
 This is from the pen of Carus : " When his 
 servant, Mrs. C, came into the room on one 
 occasion to arrange the fireplace, he said : 
 ' When C. is going out, tell her to come to 
 my bedside, and let me give her a last look.' 
 When she came, he looked at her most affec- 
 tionately and said, ' God Almighty bless you, 
 my dear C. ; now go.' Both his servants left 
 the room overwhelmed at the sight of their 
 dying master, from whom they had received 
 so many kindnesses. He then turned his eyes 
 towards me and said : ' Dear faithful servants ! 
 No one ever had more faithful and kind servants 
 than I have had. And to have such dear 
 creatures to attend me when 1 am such a poor 
 
222 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 wretch and deserve nothing but perdition ! ' 
 The tears trickled down his face, and he 
 appeared quite overwhelmed at a sense of God's 
 mercies towards him." 
 
 His body was laid in the vaults of King's 
 College, Cambridge. The funeral was an 
 extraordinary contrast to the early opposition 
 which he had experienced. All the shops of 
 the principal part of the town were closed, 
 though it was market day ; and, what was an 
 unusual mark of respect in the University, in 
 almost every college the lectures were sus- 
 pended. The following is from the pen of a 
 distinguished eye-witness : 
 
 " The persons who made up the procession 
 (heads of colleges and professors, and men of 
 all classes and ages in every college in the 
 University, eight senior fellows bearing the 
 pall), walking three or four abreast, nearly 
 extended round the four sides of the quad- 
 rangle. On entering the west door of the chapel, 
 I was struck with the multitude of persons 
 who filled the nave, men, women, and children, 
 all so far as I observed in mourning, and many 
 giving proof that they were real mourners by 
 their sighs and tears. These I understood to 
 be the parishioners and hearers of Mr. Simeon. 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 223 
 
 . . . Nor was it the least interesting circum- 
 stance to see the young men of the University, 
 as they stood during the service between the 
 cofifin and the communion-rails, all in mourn- 
 ing ; and all, in appearance at least, feeling 
 deeply the loss which had brought us together. 
 . . . Taking under review all the circumstances 
 and accompaniments — the affectionate respect 
 for the departed, himself the Luther of Cam- 
 bridge, the sorrowing multitudes, including 
 several hundreds of University men — I should 
 think that no person present would ever fail, 
 so long as he remembers anything, to carry 
 with him a powerful remembrance of that day. 
 . . . Turning to my old recollections, I could 
 scarcely believe it possible that Mr. Simeon 
 could thus be honoured at his death ! His 
 very enemies, if any of them lived so long, 
 seemed now to be at peace with him." 
 
 Simeon's great literary monument was the 
 Horce Homileticce, in twenty-one volumes, con- 
 taining two thousand five hundred skeleton 
 sermons, extending over the whole range of 
 the books of the Bible, and on every conceiv- 
 able subject. Although it is best for every 
 preacher to think out his own subject, for 
 many in these days of incessant interruptions 
 
224 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 and countless sermons it is simply impossible ; 
 it would be an immense help to every young 
 clergyman if he could have Simeon's two 
 thousand five hundred outlines. This great 
 work effectually disposes of the foolish sneer, 
 adopted from his love of piquant humour by the 
 late eminent Canon Liddon without reflection 
 or inquiry, that the Evangelicals confined their 
 preaching to two chapters of the Romans. 
 Wherever Simeon's innumerable pupils went, 
 to their vicarages and rectories in town and 
 country, there went Simeon's methods and 
 Simeon's infinitely broad and varied treatment. 
 
 The following is condensed from some of his 
 rules : 
 
 " This is the great secret, so to speak, of all 
 composition for the pulpit. Every text, whether 
 long or short, must be reduced to a categorical 
 proposition first, in order to preserve a perfect 
 unity in the subject ; and, secondly, in order 
 to take it up and prosecute it in an orderly 
 manner. If the passage contains a great 
 variety of matter, the simple proposition should 
 declare its main scope only, and the other 
 points should be no further noticed than as 
 they elucidate the one great point which is to 
 be considered. 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 225 
 
 " Take for your subject that which you be 
 Heve to be the mind of God in the passage 
 before you. Be careful to understand the 
 passage thoroughly, and regard nothing but 
 the mind of God in it. Mark the character 
 of the passage ; mark the spirit of the passage. 
 The soul should be filled with the subject, and 
 breathe out the very spirit of it before the 
 people. As God's ambassadors we should 
 speak all that He speaks, and as He speaks ; 
 God Himself should be heard in us and 
 through us." 
 
 Simeon thus describes an interview he had 
 with John Wesley : " A young minister, about 
 three or four years after he was ordained, had 
 an opportunity of conversing familiarly with 
 the great and venerable leader of the Arminians 
 in this kingdom, and, wishing to improve the 
 occasion, he addressed him nearly in the follow- 
 ing words : ' Sir, I understand that you are 
 called an Arminian ; and I have been some- 
 times called a Calvinist ; and therefore I sup- 
 pose we are to draw daggers. But before I 
 consent to begin the combat, with your permis- 
 sion I will ask you a few questions.' Permission 
 being very readily and kindly granted, the 
 young minister proceeded to ask, ' Pray, sir, 
 
 15 
 
226 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so 
 depraved that you would never have thought 
 of turning to God, if God had not first put 
 it in your heart?' 'Yes,' says the veteran, 
 ' I do indeed.' ' And do you utterly despair of 
 recommending yourself to God by anything 
 that you can do, and look for salvation solely 
 through the blood and righteousness of Christ ? ' 
 ' Yes, solely through Christ.' ' But, sir, sup- 
 posing you were at first saved by Christ, are 
 you not somehow or other to save yourself 
 afterwards by your own works ? ' ' No, I must 
 be saved by Christ from first to last.' ' Allow- 
 ing, then, that you were first turned by the 
 grace of God, are you not in some way or 
 other to keep yourself by your own power ? ' 
 ' No.' ' What, then, are you to be upheld 
 every hour and every moment by God, as 
 much as an infant in its mother's arms ? ' 
 ' Yes, altogether.' ' And is all your hope in 
 the grace and mercy of God to preserve you 
 unto His heavenly kingdom?' 'Yes, I have 
 no hope but in Him.' ' Then, sir, with your 
 leave I will put up my dagger again, for this 
 is all my Calvinism — it is in substance all that 
 I hold and as I hold it.' " 
 
 Wesley thus alludes to the interview : " De- 
 
THE TEACHER OF VITAL RELIGION 227 
 
 cember 20th, 1784. — 1 went to Hinxworth, 
 where I had the satisfaction of meeting Mr. 
 Simeon, Fellow of King's College in Cam- 
 bridge. He has spent some time with Mr. 
 Fletcher at Madeley : two kindred souls much 
 resembling each other, both in fervour of spirit 
 and earnestness of their address." 
 
 Simeon's place in the Church is thus summed 
 up by Bishop Wilson, of Calcutta : " The mind 
 is indeed astonished at the amount of this 
 remarkable man's ultimate usefulness. As a 
 Preacher he was unquestionably one of the first 
 of his age — as a Divine one of the most truly 
 Scriptural — as a President in the University 
 the most useful person beyond all doubt which 
 these latter times have known — as a Writer 
 he began early in life, and accomplished after 
 forty years' persevering labour a most exten- 
 sive and valuable collection of discourses on 
 every part of Scripture for the guidance of 
 divinity students — as a Churchman he devoted 
 all his property to perpetuate in numerous 
 populous parishes the selection of devoted and 
 able ministers — as a Man and a Christian he 
 eminently lived to the glory and died in the 
 peace of Christ his Lord." 
 
 A valuable biography of him, extending to 
 
228 
 
 SIMEON 
 
 588 pages, was written by his friend and dis- 
 ciple William Carus, Senior Dean of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge. A smaller and more 
 modern Life has come from the sympathetic 
 hand of Principal Moule, of Ridley, an admir- 
 able work more within the reach of the general 
 reader. And Charles Simeon of Cambridge is 
 the seventy-fifth of the excellent series of penny 
 biographies of the Religious Tract Society, 
 compiled from Carus's Memoirs by Horace 
 Noel, a monograph deserving of the widest 
 circulation. 
 
IX 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 
 
 OHN HENRY NEWMAN, the creator of 
 
 the movement in the Church of England 
 
 now symbolised by the various societies 
 known generally as Anglo-Catholic/ was born 
 in the city of London, February 21st, 1801, 
 thirty-five years before the death of Charles 
 Simeon. His father was of Dutch extraction 
 (the name was originally spelt Newmann), a 
 partner in the banking-house of Ramsbottom, 
 Newman, & Co. ; and his mother, Jemima 
 Fourdrinier, had, like Dr. Pusey, Huguenot 
 ancestors. 
 
 " I was brought up from a child," he writes, 
 "to take great delight in reading the Bible; 
 
 ' The name is misleading, as all sections of the Church of 
 England claim to be Catholic, though they explain the word 
 differently. 
 
230 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 but I had formed no religious conviction till I 
 was fifteen. Of course I had a perfect know- 
 ledge of my catechism."^ 
 
 " I used to wish the Aj^abian Nights were 
 true ; my imagination ran on unknown influences, 
 on magical powers and talismans. ... I thought 
 life might be a dream, or I an angel, and all 
 this world a deception, my fellow-angels by a 
 playful device concealing themselves from me, 
 and deceiving me with the semblance of a 
 material world." - 
 
 " I was very superstitious, and for some 
 months previous to my conversion (when I was 
 fifteen) used constantly to cross myself on going 
 into the dark." " 
 
 " When I was fourteen, I read Paine's Tracts 
 against the Old Testament, and found pleasure 
 in thinking of the objections contained in them. 
 Also I read some of Hume's Essays ; and per- 
 haps that on miracles. . . . Also I recollect 
 copying out some French verses, perhaps V^ol- 
 taire's, in denial of the immortality of the soul, 
 and saying to myself something like ' How- 
 dreadful, but how plausible ! ' " 
 
 The impulsive and impressionable character 
 
 Apologia j]}. 2. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 n>id. 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 231 
 
 of Newman's mind is illustrated by the next 
 extract from the Apologia. 
 
 "When I was fifteen (in the autumn of 18 16), 
 a great change of thought took place in me. I 
 fell under the influence of a definite creed, and 
 received into my intellect impressions of dogma, 
 which through God's mercy have never been 
 effaced or obscured. Above and beyond the 
 conversations and sermons of . . . the Rev. 
 Walter Mayers, of Pembroke College, Oxford, 
 who was the human means of this beginning of 
 Divine faith in me, was the effect of the books 
 which he put into my hands, all of the school 
 of Calvin. One of the first books I read was 
 a work of Romaine's. ... I received [the doc- 
 trine of final perseverance] at once, and believed 
 that the inward conviction of which I was con- 
 scious (and of which I still am more certain than 
 that I have hands and feet) would last into the 
 next life, and that I was elected to eternal glory." 
 
 " The detestable doctrine last mentioned is 
 simply denied and abjured, unless my memory 
 strangely deceives me, by the writer who made 
 a deeper impression on my mind than any other, 
 and to whom (humanly speaking) I owe my 
 soul — Thomas Scott, of Aston Sandford. I so 
 admired and delighted in his writings that when 
 
232 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 I was an undergraduate I thought of making a 
 visit to his parsonage, in order to see a man 
 whom I so deeply revered. ... I hung upon 
 the Hps of Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta, 
 as in two sermons at St. John's Chapel he gave 
 the history of Scott's life and death." 
 
 After being deeply impressed by Law's Serious 
 Call, he came upon " Joseph Milner's Church 
 History, and was nothing short of enamoured 
 of the long extracts from St. Augustine, St. 
 Ambrose, and the other Fathers which I found 
 there. I read them as being the religion of 
 the Primitive Christians ; but simultaneously 
 with Milner I read Newton on the Prophecies, 
 and in consequence became most firmly con- 
 vinced that the Pope was the Antichrist pre- 
 dicted by Daniel, St. Paul, and St. John. My 
 imagination was stained by the effects of this 
 doctrine up to the year 1843." . 
 
 He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, 
 December 14th, 181 6, when he was yet two 
 months short of sixteen — a premature step which 
 was a great misfortune to him. His logical 
 faculty, excessively subtle and often perversely 
 wayward, was precociously forced before his 
 judgment could be cultivated by wide reading 
 or matured by experience. His tutor was 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTA RIANISM 233 
 
 Thomas Short. In 18 18 he gained a Trinity 
 scholarship, thrown open to competition — ^60 
 for nine years. In the same year his father's 
 bank stopped payment, all the creditors being 
 satisfied in full. Entering at Lincoln's Inn, he 
 kept a few terms, as his father intended him for 
 the Bar. His want of deliberate precision and 
 steady purpose was shown in his final examina- 
 tion at Oxford. He read hurriedly towards the 
 end, broke down, and was placed in the second 
 division of the second class. 
 
 Obtaining his B.A. degree in 1820, he took 
 pupils in Oxford, and on April 12th, 1822, was 
 elected Fellow of Oriel — a day which he "ever 
 felt as the turning-point of his life, and of all 
 days most memorable." 
 
 Next year Edward Bouverie Pusey was also 
 elected Fellow of Oriel, and Newman's friend- 
 ship with him began. On Trinity Sunday, June 
 13th, 1824, he was ordained deacon, and became 
 curate of St. Clement's, Oxford. He remained 
 twenty-one years an English clergyman, but 
 during the last two years of the time he did 
 not preach. 
 
 Different doctrines were supplied to Newman's 
 mind by different friends, and assimilated by 
 him with rapid docility. Edward Hawkins, then 
 
234 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 Fellow, afterwards Provost, of Oriel, gave him 
 (as he supposed) the doctrine of Baptismal Re- 
 generation (in a very modified form ; but New- 
 man did not care for modifications) in Sumner's 
 Treatise on Apostolical Preaching. From a 
 sermon of Hawkins's on " The Use and Im- 
 portance of Unauthoritative Tradition" Newman 
 deduced the full mediaeval doctrine of Tradition. 
 The Rev. William James, another Fellow, 
 " taught me the doctrine of Apostolical Suc- 
 cession, in the course of a walk, I think, round 
 Christ Church meadow ; I recollect being some- 
 what impatient of the subject at the time." In 
 Butler's Analogy he thinks all must be struck 
 by " its inculcation of a visible Church, the 
 oracle of truth and a pattern of sanctity " ; but 
 that is certainly not a prominent feature to 
 most. Whately "taught me to see with my 
 own eyes, and walk with my own feet " ; but 
 with this, the most powerful and masculine 
 among all Newman's friends, he could not get 
 on. Whately's contributions to Newman's col- 
 lection of opinions were " the existence of the 
 Church as a substantial body or corporation " ; 
 and "those anti-Erastian views of Church polity 
 which were among the most prominent features 
 of the Tractarian movement." The thoughts 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 2,35 
 
 which these different writers and thinkers sug- 
 gested to Newman's mind took vastly different 
 shapes, and developed in that rich and prolific 
 soil into growths not easily recognised. 
 
 Whately, who was Principal of Alban Hall, 
 made Newman Vice-Principal in 1825. Newman 
 held the office till in 1826 he was appointed 
 Tutor at Oriel. 
 
 " At this time I began to have influence, 
 which steadily increased for a course of years. 
 I gained upon my pupils, and was in particular 
 intimate and affectionate with two of our pro- 
 bationer Fellows — -Robert Isaac Wilberforce 
 (afterwards Archdeacon) and Richard Hurrell 
 Froude. Whately then, an acute man, perhaps 
 saw around me the signs of an incipient party, 
 of which I was not conscious myself. And 
 thus we discern the first elements of that 
 movement afterwards called Tractarian." 
 
 He had a hero-worship for Keble before he 
 knew him. " I bore [congratulations on my 
 Fellowship] till I came to Keble, and then 
 seemed so abashed and unworthy of the honour 
 done me that I seemed desirous of quite 
 sinking into the ground. ... He was shy of 
 me for years in consequence of the marks which 
 I bore upon me of the Evangelical and Liberal 
 
236 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 schools. . . . Hurrell I'Voude brought us to- 
 gether about 1828: it is one of the sayings 
 preserved in his Remains, — ' ... if I was ever 
 asked what good deed I had ever done, I 
 should say that I had brought Keble and 
 Newman to understand each other.' " 
 
 " The Christian Year made its appearance 
 in 1827. . . . When the general tone of religious 
 literature was so nerveless and impotent, as it 
 was at that time, Keble struck an original 
 note, and woke up in the hearts of thousands 
 a new music, the music of a school long 
 unknown in England. . . . The two main 
 intellectual truths it brought home to me were 
 ... in a large sense of the word the Sacra- 
 mental • System ; that is, the doctrine that 
 material phenomena are both the types and 
 the instruments of real things unseen, — a doctrine 
 which embraces not only what Anglicans as 
 well as Catholics believe about Sacraments 
 properly so called ; but likewise the article of 
 ' the Communion of the Saints,' and the 
 Mysteries of the Faith." The other principle 
 was the doctrine of Probability, as assented 
 to by faith and love, which give it a force 
 which it had not in itself Newman added 
 to this that our certitude of belief was the 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 2^7 
 
 result of an assemblage of concurring and 
 converging probabilities. Here the dangerous 
 point would be, what you admitted into this 
 assemblage. 
 
 " Hurrell Froude was a pupil of Keble's, 
 formed by him, and in turn reacting upon him. 
 I first knew him in 1826, and was in the 
 closest and most affectionate friendship with 
 him from about 1829 till his death in 1836. . . . 
 His opinions arrested and influenced me, even 
 when they did not gain my assent. He pro- 
 fessed openly his admiration of the Church of 
 Rome, and his hatred of the Reformers. He 
 delighted in the notion of an hierarchical system, 
 of sacerdotal power, and of full ecclesiastical 
 liberty (independence of secular control). He 
 felt scorn of the maxim ' The Bible and the 
 Bible only is the religion of Protestants ' ; and 
 he gloried in accepting tradition as a main 
 instrument of religious teaching. He had a 
 high, severe idea of the intrinsic excellence of 
 Virginity ; and he considered the blessed Virgin 
 its great pattern. He delighted in thinking of 
 the Saints ; he had a vivid appreciation of the 
 idea of sanctity, its possibility and its heights ; 
 and he was more than inclined to believe a 
 large amount of miraculous interference as oc- 
 
238 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 curring in the early and middle ages. He 
 embraced the principle of penance and mortifi- 
 cation. He had a deep devotion to the Real 
 Presence, in which he had a firm faith. He 
 was powerfully drawn to the Mediaeval Church, 
 but not to the Primitive. ... It is difficult 
 to enumerate the precise additions to my 
 theological creed which I derived from a friend 
 to whom I owe so much. He taught me to 
 look with admiration towards the Church of 
 Rome, and in the same degree to dislike the 
 Reformation. He fixed deep in me the idea 
 of devotion to the blessed Virgin, and led me 
 gradually to believe in the Real Presence." 
 
 In 1827 Newman was appointed by Bishop 
 Howley, of London, Oxford Preacher at White- 
 hall. In 1827-28 he was public examiner in 
 classics in the final examination for honours. 
 In 1828 came a most important event — the 
 election of Hawkins to be Provost of Oriel, 
 in preference to Keble, through Newman's 
 influence ; without that election, he said later, 
 there would have been no Movement, no Tracts, 
 no Library of the Fathers. Hawkins vacated the 
 vicarage of St. Mary's (the University Church) ; 
 and Newman, in succeeding him, obtained 
 command of that famous and influential pulpit. 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 239 
 
 In 1829 his vigorous opposition to Peel's 
 re-election as representative of the University 
 in Parliament led to a break with Whately, 
 and his association with Keble and Froude 
 grew closer. About 1830 he began reading 
 the Fathers systematically, with a view to 
 writing a history of the principal councils at 
 the request of Hugh Rose and Lyall, afterwards 
 Dean of Canterbury. The work appeared in 
 1S33 as The Avians of the Fourth Century — 
 422 pages, of which 117 were introductory, 
 and only 20 on the Council of Nicaea. Critics 
 have said that he wrote before he had digested. 
 
 In 1830 he was " turned out of the Secre- 
 taryship of the Church Missionary Society 
 at Oxford " because of a pamphlet in which 
 he attacked its constitution. This marked his 
 final break with the adherents of Reformation 
 principles. 
 
 A significant passage in the Apologia refers 
 to this period, and exhibits the fundamental 
 bias which Newman, in his process of collecting 
 doctrines from friends, adopted in attributing a 
 kind of personality to the Church, and confusing 
 the glories of the Invisible with the necessary 
 imperfections of the Visible Body. The Visible 
 Church can only be the aggregate of living 
 
240 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 Christians, assorted on whatever principle, and 
 more or less willing to be led by the Holy 
 Spirit. Their decisions are liable to error, 
 and the perfection of their conduct as a 
 whole depends on the perfection of the con- 
 duct of the individuals. All this is a funda- 
 mental principle of the English Church ; and 
 had Newman appreciated it, he would not 
 have been led to attribute the predominant 
 importance which he did to the authority and 
 (as he imagined) personality of the outward 
 body. He did not see that if the Church was 
 not vigorous, it needed more of the Spirit of 
 God in its members, and that this could only 
 come by faith and prayer. Dissatisfied with 
 the existing condition of the Church of England, 
 and fascinated by something which he thought 
 grand in the third and fourth centuries, he did 
 not inquire whether the Church of England's 
 principles were true while Church of England 
 men might be inert, but (under the impulse 
 of Froude) he jumped to the conclusion that 
 the principles were faulty, and that something 
 else was needed. The current questions which 
 stirred his indignation seemed historically in- 
 adequate to justify a crusade that was to undo 
 the Reformation ; nor would they have acted 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARTANISM 
 
 on him in that way had not his docile, plastic, 
 and receptive mind already been poisoned against 
 the Reformation by Froude. " The Reform 
 agitation was going on around me as I wrote. 
 The Whigs had come into power ; Lord Grey 
 had told the Bishops to set their house in order " 
 (it gready needed it), " and some of the Prelates 
 had been insulted and threatened in the streets 
 of London." (They were mostly against reform.) 
 " The vital question was. How were we to keep 
 the Church from being liber^ilised There was 
 such apathy on the subject in some quarters, 
 such imbecile alarm in others ; the true prin- 
 ciples of Churchmanship seemed so radically 
 decayed" (Newman's were at any rate different 
 from those taught by the formularies of the 
 English Church), "and there was such dis- 
 traction in the councils of the clergy. Blomfield, 
 the Bishop of London of the day, an active 
 and open-hearted man, had been for years 
 engaged in diluting the high orthodoxy of the 
 Church by the introduction of members of the 
 Evangelical body into places of influence and 
 trust. He had deeply offended men who agreed 
 in opinion with myself by an off-hand saying 
 (as was reported) to the effect that belief in 
 the Apostolic Succession had gone out with the 
 
 i6 
 
242 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 Nonjurors. ' We can count you,' he said to 
 some of the gravest and most venerated persons 
 of the old school. And the Evangelical party 
 itself, with their late successes, seemed to have 
 lost that simplicity and unworldliness which I 
 admired so much in Milner and Scott." (He 
 did not look for it : he had only to go to 
 Cambridge and find it in Simeon and his in- 
 numerable disciples.) "It was not that I did 
 not venerate such men as Ryder, the then 
 Bishop of Lichfield, and others of similar senti- 
 ments, but I thought little of the Evangelicals as 
 a class. I thought they played into the hands 
 of the Liberals. With the Establishment thus 
 divided and threatened, thus ignorant of its true 
 strength, I compared that fresh vigorous power of 
 which I was reading in the first centuries " (third 
 and fourth). " In her triumphant zeal on behalf 
 of that Primeval Mystery, to which I had had so 
 great a devotion from my youth, I recognised 
 the movement of my Spiritual Mother. ' In- 
 cessu patuit Dea ' (' She was plainly a Goddess 
 as she walked '). The self-conquest of her 
 Ascetics, the patience of her Martyrs, the irre- 
 sistible determination of her Bishops, the joyous 
 swing of her advance, both exalted and abashed 
 me. I said to myself, ' Look on this picture and 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 243 
 
 on that ' ; I felt affection for my own Church, but 
 not tenderness ; I felt dismay at her prospects, 
 anger and scorn at her do-nothing perplexity. I 
 thought that if Liberalism once got a footing 
 within her, it was sure of victory in the event. 
 I saw that Reformation principles were powerless 
 to rescue her. As to leaving her, the thought 
 never crossed my imagination ; still I always 
 kept before me that there was something greater 
 than the Established Church, and that was the 
 Church Catholic and Apostolic, set up from the 
 beginning, of which she was but the local 
 presence and organ.^ She was nothing unless 
 she was this. She must be dealt with strongly, 
 or she would be lost. There was need of a second 
 Reformation^ 
 
 It is difficult, with all possible admiration for 
 Newman's genius and character, to say whether 
 the want of discrimination or the confidence of 
 this passage is the greater. Here is a young 
 man of about thirty, ready to set to rights the 
 Church of Cranmer, Ridley, Parker, Whitgift, 
 Jewell, Cosin, and Andrewes. He makes no 
 attempt to understand what Reformation prin- 
 ciples are ; he simply puts them aside with a 
 
 1 The Churches of the early ages were mutually inde- 
 pendent. 
 
NEWMAN 
 
 wave of his hand, and disparages every influence 
 of the day except his own. He does not know 
 what the principles of the " CathoHc " Church 
 are which were not acknowledged at the Refor- 
 mation (he is prepared to dig them out by search 
 from the Fathers) : he has a profound attraction 
 towards Romish Christianity ; and he has so 
 consummate a belief that he is right, and will 
 be right, that when others do not agree with 
 him he exclaims, " Hippocleides doesn't care!" 
 Here are all the elements for grave mischief 
 
 In 1832 and 1833 he was travelling with 
 Froude and Froude's father in the south of 
 Europe for Froude's health. When himself very 
 ill, he conceived that he had a mission. " ' I 
 shall not die, for I have not sinned against 
 light.' I have never been able to make out at 
 all what I meant." Another day : "I sat down 
 on my bed and began to sob bitterly. My 
 servant, who had acted as my nurse, asked what 
 ailed me. I could only answer, ' I have a work 
 to do in England.' " 
 
 In this vague and mystic condition he reached 
 his mother's house at Ififley on June 9th, 1833, 
 and five days afterwards Keble preached his 
 assize sermon at St. Mary's on National 
 Apostasy. It was in reference to the dealings 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 245 
 
 of the Whigs with the Church. " Ten Irish 
 bishoprics had been at a sweep suppressed, 
 and Church people were told to be thankful 
 that things were no worse. It was time to 
 move if there was to be any moving at all." 
 The Irish Church was overloaded with rich 
 bishoprics ; and if it would not reform itself, 
 it does not seem unreasonable that the Crown 
 should be advised by Parliament to carry 
 out the reform. No doctrine was touched. 
 However, the reform seemed in the highest 
 degree Erastian, and the panic amongst Keble, 
 Froude, William Palmer, Hugh Rose, and 
 others produced the Tracts for the Times. To 
 Rose, Newman characteristically dedicated one 
 of his volumes of sermons as the man who 
 " when hearts were failing bade us stir up the 
 gift that was in us, and betake ourselves to 
 our true Mother." To betake ourselves to the 
 Lord of the Church would have been the true 
 course and right expression. Newman's phrase 
 seems to put the Church in the place of 
 Christ. 
 
 The first meeting of the friends was between 
 July 25th and 29th at Rose's rectory at 
 Hadleigh. It was resolved to fight for the 
 doctrine of Apostolical Succession and the 
 
246 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 integrity of the Prayer Book. Two things 
 are significant : the Church of England knows 
 ApostoHcal Succession as a valuable fact, but 
 not as a doctrine ; and in the present day it is 
 the supporters of Reformation principles who 
 desire to maintain the integrity of the Prayer 
 Book. The leaders of the extreme wing of 
 the Oxford movement have written a book 
 {The Lord's Day and the Holy Eucharist) with 
 the express object of altering the Prayer Book 
 ^ to bring it into line with the medieeval and 
 Romish Use of Sarum. 
 
 Newman, who was not present at Hadleigh, 
 wrote the first Tract. It was on the topic, 
 " I fear we have neglected the real ground on 
 which our authority is built — our apostolical 
 DESCENT." But that is not by any means the 
 ground of the Prayer Book. The Church of 
 England's view of the first requisite of the 
 Visible Church is purity of preaching. This 
 Newman neglects altogether. All historical 
 Episcopal Churches (m.any would say Presby- 
 terian also) may be credited with Apostolical 
 Descent. Then why did we break off from 
 the Roman ? Because in it the pure Word 
 of God was not preached. The strangely un- 
 scriptural tone of the address may be gathered 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 247 
 
 from the following: "They have been deluded 
 into a notion that present palpable usefulness, 
 produceable results, acceptableness to your flocks, 
 that these and suchlike are the tests of your 
 Divine Commission. Enlighten them in this 
 matter. Exalt our Holy Fathers the Bishops, 
 as the Representatives of the Apostles, and 
 the Angels of the Churches ; and magnify your 
 office as being ordained by them to take part 
 in their Ministry." " By their fruits shall ye 
 know them," said Christ. " Call no man your 
 father on the earth," was His command. The 
 Church of England teaches that her officers 
 receive their commission from Christ through 
 the ministry of the e.\isting generation of 
 officers, as they through that of the preceding. 
 Newman had an unfortunate and incurable 
 tendency to take some side-issue, to distort it, 
 and then to exaggerate it into the first place, 
 sometimes into sole and exclusive importance. 
 The same tendency runs through many of the 
 Tracts. Many of the distinctive subjects which 
 they take up are warped with the purpose of 
 undoing the principles of the Reformation. 
 The series ended with the celebrated No. 90, 
 which asserted that there was nothing in the 
 Thirty-nine Articles which, if properly explained, 
 
248 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 could not be signed in a Roman sense. The 
 protest of Archibald Tait, Tutor of Balliol 
 (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), and three 
 other tutors of colleges at Oxford brought the 
 publication to an abrupt close. 
 
 " The Tracts for the Times" says Dean 
 Church very justly, " were not the most 
 powerful Instruments in drawing sympathy to 
 the movement. Without Mr. Newman's four 
 o'clock sermons at St. Mary's, the movement 
 might never have gone on, certainly would 
 never have gone on, certainly would never 
 have been what it was. While men were 
 reading and talking about the Tracts they were 
 hearing the sermons, and in the sermons they 
 heard the living meaning and reason and bearing 
 of the Tracts, their ethical affinities, their moral 
 standard. The sermons created a moral atmo- 
 sphere in which men judged the questions in 
 debate." But at this distance of time it is 
 quite possible to detach the sermons altogether 
 from the Tracts. You can extract from the 
 sermons all that is distinctive of the Tracts as 
 apart from the principles of the Reformation, 
 and their sublime beauty in moral and religious 
 truth remains intact. That beauty consists in 
 the gras]) of the truths of Christianity, apart 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 249 
 
 from a narrow and more lately developed 
 ecclesiasticism — in a concentrated enthusiasm for 
 a lofty moral standard which is quite independent 
 of views of Church Government, or of the 
 nature of Christ's presence in Holy Communion, 
 or of belief in a priestly mediatorial sacrifice, 
 or of the various items of mediaeval teaching. 
 In all the passages in the sermons where such 
 allusions occur, put the simpler teaching of 
 Scripture and the Reformers in their place, 
 and the sermons would suffer no loss in their 
 dignity and impressiveness. Above all, their 
 beauty consists in an almost matchless purity 
 and strength of English style, which alone 
 would make Newman a classic. Their defect 
 is the same as in his other writings — a tendency 
 to go off on some side-issue or minor con- 
 sideration, and treat it as if it was the main 
 line of thought and predominant argument. It 
 is often very irritating, and to those who are 
 not on the watch highly misleading. To 
 Newman it was quite unconscious, and indeed 
 the natural habit of his mind. Strong eccen- 
 tricity was hereditary in his family, and in 
 him it took the form of this want of logical 
 judgment in combination with extreme argu- 
 mentative acuteness and an overpowering 
 
250 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 imagination. It should be noticed that knowledge 
 of the Bible and skill in marshalling its facts 
 and precepts are a prominent characteristic of 
 these wonderful sermons. It is by the sermons 
 that Newman obtained the almost unparalleled 
 influence which for some years he wielded, and 
 it is by them that he will live. 
 
 In 1835 Dr. Pusey, Regius Professor of 
 Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church, formerly 
 known as a rather liberal theologian, joined the 
 movement, and " became, as it were, its official 
 chief in the eyes of the world." In 1836 the 
 appointment of Dr. Hampden by Lord John 
 Russell to the Regius Professorship of Divinity 
 roused a passionate storm of indignation, and 
 did much to rally the friends of the movement 
 and consolidate its forces. Hampden was a 
 rather clumsy writer of a mildly liberal tendency, 
 who delivered a set of Bampton Lectures to 
 show that the Schoolmen had exercised con- 
 siderable influence in the settlement of the 
 terminology of doctrinal statement. He after- 
 wards made a quiet, conscientious, loyal, and 
 unobjectionable bishop. Newman took a lead 
 in this opposition, isolated passages of Hampden's 
 writings, and certainly made the worst of them. 
 To define his position he published a series 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 251 
 
 of theological treatises, originally delivered as 
 lectures in a chapel of St. Mary's : The Pro- 
 phetical Office of the Church viewed relatively 
 to Romanism and Popular Protestantism ; 
 Justification; Disquisition on the Canon of 
 Scripture; and a Tractate on Antichrist. In 
 these ways Newman was forming a school of 
 opinion which " grew stronger and stronger 
 every year, till it came into collision with the 
 nation, and with the Church of the nation, 
 which it began by professing especially to 
 serve." Newman now also became editor of 
 the British Critic, henceforth the chief Tractarian 
 organ. " Compared with him," says Froude, 
 all the rest were "but as ciphers, and he the 
 indicating number." 
 
 It was in 1839 that Newman began to be 
 doubtful about the truth of his Via Media. 
 Reading about the Monophysite controversy, 
 he began to fear that, as far as the organisation 
 of the Catholic Church was concerned (to him 
 a matter of such tremendous and overwhelming 
 importance and difficulty ; to the adherents of 
 Reformation principles so wide and simple), the 
 Anglican position was false. " 1 had seen the 
 shadow of a hand on the wall. He who has 
 seen a ghost cannot be as if he had never 
 
252 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 seen it. The heavens had opened and closed 
 again. The thought for the moment had been, 
 ' The Church of Rome will be found right after 
 all,' and then it vanished. My old convictions 
 remained as before." Something else happened : 
 he read a review by Cardinal Wiseman. The 
 words of St. Augustine against the Donatists 
 there quoted, " Securus judicat orbis terrarum " 
 (" The united world makes no mistake in 
 judgment "), seemed to him to pulverise the 
 theory of the Via Media. The words "decided 
 ecclesiastical questions on a simpler rule than 
 that of antiquity." " From this time," says Dean 
 Church, "the hope and exultation with which, 
 in spite of checks, he had watched the movement 
 gave way to uneasiness and distress." 
 
 The general condemnation of Tract 90 in 
 1 84 1, especially by the Board of Heads of 
 Houses, showed Newman that his place in 
 the movement was gone. He gave up the 
 British Critic. " Confidence in me was lost, 
 but I had already lost full confidence in myself. 
 The question was. What was I to do ? I 
 determined to be guided not by my imagination, 
 but my reason. Had it not been for this severe 
 resolve, I should have been a Catholic sooner 
 than I was." 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 253 
 
 In 1841, too, it occurred to him, with regard 
 to the Arians, that the Arians were the 
 Protestants, the Semi-Arians the Anglicans, and 
 that Rome was now what it was then. Further, 
 the bishops, one after another, directed their 
 charges against this combination of un-Reformed 
 or Roman teaching with the principles of the 
 Reformation. The Tractarian writers have 
 constantly complained of the bishops for this ; 
 they think they ought to have accepted 
 Newman's teaching with docility. But as they 
 were themselves loyal sons of the Reformation, 
 and as they probably understood the position 
 and principles of the English Church better 
 than was possible for Newman with his early 
 bias towards Rome, they took the only course 
 open to conscientious men in a responsible and 
 authoritative position. Nothing is more pathetic 
 than the calm and unhesitating manner in which 
 Newman's great but tortuous intellect assumed 
 all through that he was right and the bishops 
 wrong, Lastly came the shock of the fraterni- 
 sation of the English Church with the Lutheran 
 Church of Prussia in the matter of the Jerusalem 
 bishopric, which to Newman was monstrous 
 and horrible. 
 
 " From the end of 1841 I was on my death- 
 
254 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 bed as regards my membership with the Anglican 
 Church, though at the time I became aware 
 of it only by degrees." Next year he withdrew 
 from Oxford and settled at Littlemore, a few 
 miles out, " with several young men who had 
 attached themselves to his person and to his 
 fortunes, in the building which was not long 
 in vindicating to itself the name of the Littlemore 
 Monastery." " Here he passed the three years 
 of painful anxiety and suspense which preceded 
 his final decision to join the Roman Church, 
 leading a life of prayer and fasting and of 
 monastic seclusion."^ "On the one hand I 
 gradually came to see that the Anglican Church 
 was formally in the wrong, on the other that 
 the Church of Rome was formally in the right ; 
 then that no valid reason could be assigned 
 for continuing in the Anglican, and again that 
 no valid objections could be taken to joining 
 the Roman." If only he could have put 
 scriptural purity of doctrine before mere 
 " formal " legitimacy and historical continuity ! 
 Or if he had really been a historian instead of 
 dipping into history here and there, and could 
 have seen how far nearer the English Church 
 
 ' W. S. Lilly, Dictionary of N'ational Biography. 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 255 
 
 of the Reformation is to the truly Primitive 
 Church than the perpetually self-developing 
 Church of Rome ! 
 
 In February 1843 he published in the 
 Consei'vative Journal a retractation of all the 
 hard things he had said in controversy against 
 Romanism. In September he resigned St. Mary's. 
 In 1845 he began his Essay on the Development 
 of Christian Doctrine. Ward of Balliol — a 
 grotesque but exceedingly brilliant person, with 
 an abnormal and prodigious aptitude for deductive 
 logic, but not caring so much how he obtained 
 his premisses, and with a contempt for history 
 — was constantly pressing him with inconvenient 
 questions and forcing him to make important 
 admissions. As he went on with his essay his 
 doubts about Rome disappeared. He was re- 
 ceived in his house at Littlemore on October 9th 
 by Father Dominic, the Passionist. 
 
 The lead of the Oxford movement passed 
 into the hands of Dr. Pusey. In after-years it 
 took the form of what is known as Ritualism 
 or Sacerdotalism. About three thousand persons 
 of education and influence have followed Dr. 
 Newman's example in joining the Church of 
 Rome. His influence on the Church of England 
 has been even greater. When he died, the 
 
256 
 
 NEWMAN 
 
 Guardian claimed that the Church of England as 
 we know it was the work of Newman. That 
 is an exaggerated statement ; but when once 
 Dr. Pusey had taught his followers to reconcile 
 Roman doctrines with the Reformed doctrine 
 of the Prayer Book and the Articles, there was 
 no limit to which Newman's " new Reformation " 
 might not spread amongst men who received 
 a bias at some theological college or from some 
 pious and impressive teacher. The English 
 Church Union — the most powerful body in the 
 Church of England, deriving its strength as much 
 from the piety as the opinions of its members — 
 which is the principal organisation of the Oxford 
 movement, contains 29 bishops (chiefly colonial), 
 and upwards of 35,000 men, 4,200 of whom 
 are in Holy Orders. They have published 
 their President's appeal for union with Rome. 
 The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament 
 has more than 15,000 members, of whom more 
 than 1,600 are priests. There are upwards of 
 1,200 churches where the mediaeval vestments 
 are used. In a considerable number of churches 
 the ritual is not easily distinguished by the 
 observer from that of Rome. It is necessary 
 to record these facts from the historical point 
 of view, without any notion of criticism or com- 
 
7HE FOUAWER OF TRACTARTANISM 257 
 
 ment. I desire to place myself in Newman's 
 position as an Anglican, and to measure the 
 extent of his extraordinary influence. 
 
 Newman left Oxford on February 23rd, 1846, 
 not to return for thirty-two years. Dr. Wiseman 
 called him to Oscott. The same year he was 
 ordained as a Roman priest at Rome, and made 
 D.D. In 1847 he returned to England with a 
 commission from Pope Pius IX. to introduce 
 into England the institute of the Oratory, founded 
 in the sixteenth century by St. Philip Neri. 
 His successive residences were Mary vale, Old 
 Oscott ; St. Wilfrid's College, Cheadle ; Alcester 
 Street, Birmingham; and Edgbaston. In 1850 
 he founded the London Oratory, the head of 
 which was subsequently Faber. 
 
 In 1854 he went to Dublin as rector of the 
 new Roman University, at the earnest invitation 
 of the Irish Roman bishops, especially Arch- 
 bishop Cullen. He was not suited for such 
 work, and returned to Birmingham in 1858, 
 In 1859 he established a school at Edgbaston 
 for the sons of Roman Catholic gentlemen. 
 
 In 1868 was begun the new and uniform 
 edition of his works, extending to thirty-six 
 volumes, and concluded in 1881. In 1877 he 
 was made Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 MEWMAN 
 
 Oxford. In 1879 he was made Cardinal by 
 Pope Leo XIII., by the title of St. George in 
 Velabro. He died at Edgbaston on August 
 iith, 1890. 
 
 The rock which sundered Newman's life was 
 the demand for an authoritative exponent of 
 precise dogmatic statement. The words of Christ 
 and His Apostles are what have been given us 
 by God, and the ecclesiastical societies of which 
 Christendom is composed have for themselves 
 drawn up outlines of belief for the union of 
 individual Christians and the avoidance of error. 
 Most important of these are the creeds of the 
 undivided Church. More our Church does not 
 expect. This did not satisfy Newman, who 
 wanted a complete and definite system. " We 
 have tried the Book," he wrote, "and it dis- 
 appoints, because it is used for a purpose for 
 which it was not given. Either no objective 
 revelation has been given, or it has been pro- 
 vided with a means of impressing its objective- 
 ness on the world." To the believer in Scriptural 
 and Apostolical Christianity Christ Himself is 
 the Revelation, and we need nothing more than 
 to accept His work, person, and teaching as it 
 was accepted by the Apostles ; we realise His 
 Divine influence in our own hearts, lives, and 
 
THE FOUNDER OF TRACTARIANISM 259 
 
 consciences. "I am the Way, the Truth, and 
 the Life." " No man cometh unto the Father 
 but by Me." We are content if our organisation 
 is framed on Apostolic principles, and if there has 
 been no historic break in the transmission of 
 our commission from generation to generation. 
 Newman wished to give the Church that homage 
 and devotion, or part of it, which our own com- 
 munion repudiates, and gives to Christ alone. 
 It was long before he became convinced of the 
 absolute incongruity of his position. There was 
 much in the Church of Rome which it was 
 difficult for him to accept. The claims of the 
 Papacy were his greatest hindrance. But his 
 conclusion was: "There is no help for it; we 
 must either give up the belief in the Church 
 as a Divine institution altogether, or we must 
 recognise it in that communion of which the Pope 
 is the head ; we must take things as they are ; 
 to believe in a Church is to believe in the Pope." 
 It was characteristic of Newman that he was 
 convinced by a dilemma that did not exist. 
 
 A complete list of his numerous writings, and 
 of the biographical sketches of him, is given in 
 Mr. W. S. Lilly's excellent article on him in the 
 Dictionary of National Biography. 
 
X 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 
 
 EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY was bom 
 August 22nd, 1800, in the fortieth year 
 of the reign of George III., nine years after 
 the death of Wesley, at Pusey House, Berk- 
 shire. He was about six months older than 
 Newman. His father was the Hon. Philip 
 Bouverie, son of Jacob, first Viscount Folkestone, 
 by Elizabeth, daughter of the first Lord Romney, 
 and granddaughter of the famous Admiral Sir 
 Cloudesley Shovell. Dr. Pusey's mother was 
 Lady Lucy Sherard, daughter of Robert, fourth 
 Earl of Harborough, Canon of Salisbury, and 
 widow of Sir Thomas Cave. 
 
 The Bouverie family were Walloons from 
 the Low Countries of Holland. Their religion 
 was that of the French Reformed Confession, 
 and for that they had been driven from their 
 
 fatherland. In 1568 Laurence des Bouveries 
 
 260 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 261 
 
 took up his abode at Canterbury. In 1713 
 Sir William des Bouveries, a Turkey merchant 
 in the City of London, was created a baronet ; 
 and it was his son, Sir Jacob, who was made 
 a peer. One of Sir William's daughters married 
 the fourth Earl of Shaftesbury, and was grand- 
 niother of the celebrated philanthropist, so that 
 Dr. Pusey and Lord Shaftesbury were second 
 cousins. Dr. Pusey was conscious of his Walloon 
 extraction, and used to say, " You know I am 
 phlegmatic, and indeed Dutch." 
 
 The Bouveries escaped giving their name 
 to the vast ecclesiastical movement in the 
 Church of England in the present century only 
 by accident. Dr. Pusey's grandmother, the 
 first Lady Folkestone, had two sisters-in-law, 
 co-heiresses of the estate of Pusey in Berkshire, 
 about twelve miles from Oxford ; and to her 
 second son, Philip, they left that property, and 
 with it the name of Pusey, though the two 
 families were not related in blood. Dr. Pusey's 
 uncle, William, second Viscount Folkestone, 
 was created Earl of Radnor in 1765, and was 
 great-great-grandfather of the present popular 
 holder of that title. 
 
 Dr. Pusey was the second son ; his elder 
 brother, Philip (who was many years member 
 
262 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 for Berkshire, and the lirst country gentleman 
 who was a free-trader), and his wife, Lady 
 Emily Herbert (aunt of the late Lord Carnarvon, 
 the Secretary of State), were throughout their 
 lives on such intimate terms of affection with 
 him that Pusey House never ceased to be his 
 home. Dr. Pusey had a younger brother. 
 William, Rector of Langley, in Kent ; and two 
 sisters, — Elizabeth, who married a clergyman, 
 the son of Bishop Luxmoore, of St. Asaph ; 
 and Charlotte, wife of the well-known Evan- 
 gelical Provost of Worcester, Dr. Cotton. 
 
 Dr. Pusey's father was a stern Tory, some- 
 what stiff, silent and unbending, an old- 
 fashioned Churchman of a hard type, repressive 
 in his treatment of children. The mother. 
 Lady Lucy, the daughter of the peer-canon of 
 Salisbury, was always spoken of by her son 
 with great affection. She taught her children 
 their religious principles in a plain, orthodox, 
 Church of England way. " She used to talk 
 to her son as if she represented a religious 
 temper which had belonged to her race in 
 earlier days. ' All that I know of religious 
 truth,' Pusey used to say, ' I learnt, at least in 
 principle, from my mother.' " 
 
 At the age of seven Pusey was sent to the 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 263 
 
 school of the Rev. Richard Roberts at Mitcham, 
 Surrey, who made him a sound classical scholar, 
 flogged him for cutting a pencil at both ends, 
 flogged him for false quantities, made him 
 proficient in Greek and Latin verses, and at 
 the age of eleven forwarded him thoroughly- 
 equipped to Eton. Dr. Pusey used in after- 
 life to say that he could have passed the 
 Oxford Little-go before he went to Eton. 
 
 At Eton his master was the famous Dr. 
 Keate, of whom the story is told that, finding 
 one morning a row of boys in his study, he 
 began, as usual, to flog them. They were 
 too terrified at the awful little man to remon- 
 strate till he had gone half-way down the row, 
 when one plucked up courage to falter out, 
 " Please, sir, we're not up for punishment : 
 we're a confirmation class!" "Never mind," 
 said Dr. Keate ; "I must be fair all round, 
 and it will do you good." So he finished 
 them off At Eton Pusey was no less diligent 
 than at Mitcham. Edward Coleridge sat on 
 the same bench with him, and afterwards 
 wrote : "He did not engage in sports, did 
 long exercises, and was very obscure in his 
 style." Throughout life he was " a portentous 
 student" and a heavy and clumsy writer. His 
 
264 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 training in an English country house made 
 him a fair shot and a good rider across country. 
 His time at Eton coincided with Napoleon's 
 later victories, the culmination of" his power, 
 and his overthrow ; and his observation of all 
 this "contributed to develop that sense of the 
 presence of God in human affairs, as attested 
 by swift and awful judgments, which coloured 
 so largely his religious convictions."^ 
 
 His Eton days were quiet and studious, 
 and he gained no special honours. Before 
 matriculating at Oxford he went to Buckden, 
 near Huntingdon, where was the ancient palace 
 of the Bishops of Lincoln, to read with a 
 private tutor — Dr. Maltby, afterwards Bishop 
 of Durham. He was " very happy with 
 Maltby ; there were no black sheep at Buckden." 
 
 In January 18 19 he entered Christ Church. 
 At the same college was his second cousin, 
 Lord Ashley, eight months his junior, the 
 future philanthropist and Evangelical leader ; 
 but for some reason Pusey declined to read 
 for lectures with him, and there was no ripen- 
 ing of intimacy. In 1822 he took a First 
 Class in Classics. Throughout his career as 
 
 Liddon's Lije of Dr. Pusey. 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 265 
 
 an undergraduate his life was clouded by his 
 father's opposition to an engagement which he 
 wished to make with Maria Raymond- Barker, 
 daughter of a Mr. Raymond, who took the 
 additional name on the estate of Fairford Park, 
 Gloucestershire, being left him by a Miss 
 Barker, whose grandfather had bought it from 
 the Traceys. Miss Raymond-Barker was bap- 
 tised as a Dissenter. But, whatever the reason 
 was, there was opposition on both sides ; and 
 it was not till her father's death, in 1827, 
 that the engagement was permitted in form. 
 This trouble threatened to interfere with his 
 preparation for the schools ; but by prodigious 
 and superhuman work during the last year, 
 reading sometimes sixteen or seventeen hours 
 a day (he described his life as " that of a 
 reading automaton who might by patience be 
 made a human being"), he succeeded. His 
 strength "lay in accurate verbal scholarship 
 rather than in philosophy." 
 
 After taking his degree he went for a, tour of 
 three months with a friend in Switzerland, where 
 his depression from thwarted affection and an 
 enthusiastic admiration for Byron produced a 
 somewhat unhealthy tone. " The extreme force 
 and beauty of Byron's poetry, combined with a 
 
266 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 habit of deep, and in some degree morbid, feeling, 
 which had always more or less a shade of gloom, 
 induced us to give our assent to, and even in 
 some measure exult in, feelings of whose full 
 extent we were either at the time not aware, or 
 at least against which we half, and but half, shut 
 our eyes." About this time he conducted an 
 argumentative correspondence with an atheistical 
 friend from Eton, which produced the " convic- 
 tion that the faith of Christ had, in the very heart 
 of Christendom, implacable enemies, just as ready 
 to crush it out of existence, if they could, as any 
 who confronted the Apostles or the Church of 
 the first three centuries." 
 
 In the same year, 1822, he was elected Fellow 
 of Oriel, and obtained the Chancellor's medal 
 for Latin Essay. Oriel was the first college 
 that threw its Fellowships open, and thus for 
 a time it held an intellectual pre-eminence. In 
 these days it was specially brilliant : Copleston 
 (afterwards Bishop of Llandaff and Dean of St. 
 Paul's) was Provost ; Davison and Arnold had 
 lately given up their Fellowships ; among the 
 Fellows were William James, John Keble, Tyler. 
 Whately {afterwards Archbishop of Dublin), 
 Hawkins (afterwards Provost), and Jelf (after- 
 wards Principal of King's College, London). 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 267 
 
 Newman was in his year of probation ; two 
 years afterwards were elected Robert Wilber- 
 force (the Archdeacon, brother of Samuel, Bishop 
 of Oxford) and Richard Hurrell Froude (till his 
 death the fugleman of the Oxford movement). 
 
 Newman gives a description of Pusey when 
 an undergraduate, and guest of Jelf at the Oriel 
 high table : "His light curly head of hair was 
 damp with the cold water which his headache 
 made necessary for his comfort ; he walked fast, 
 with a young manner of carrying himself, and 
 stood bowed, looking up from under his eye- 
 brows ; his shoulders rounded, and his bachelor's 
 gown not buttoned at the elbow, but hanging 
 loose over his wrists. His countenance was very 
 sweet, and he spoke little." 
 
 I remember him fifty years afterwards, in 1872, 
 when I paid him a visit in his study at Christ 
 Church, with a view to learning Hebrew. H(^ 
 seemed then rather below middle height, inclined 
 to be stout, with long upper lip, and heavy cheeks 
 hanging over a short, thick neck. His eyebrows 
 were prominent, and he did not raise his eyes 
 above the ground as he spoke. He wore a black 
 velvet skull-cap at the back of his head, from 
 which his white hair escaped in long wisps. He 
 did not shave his whiskers, and wore the usual 
 
268 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 white stock or neckcloth of old clergymen in 
 those days. The mouth was long and heavy, 
 but with much expression. On that occasion, 
 and whenever he appeared, his look was one 
 of the utmost gravity and seriousness. The 
 study was not precise in arrangement, with books 
 and papers piled on chairs, on the floor, in every 
 available place and direction, even in the space 
 of the bookshelves above the books. 
 
 During the Fellowship Examination he broke 
 down from headache, and tore up his essay. 
 Jenkyns, an examiner, put the pieces together, 
 and showed them to the Fellows, who approved 
 it. Later on Pusey retired altogether ; but the 
 Fellows sent for him, begged him to return, and 
 he was elected. 
 
 " It must be owned," says Dr. Liddon, " that 
 the Society of Oriel did not endow Dr. Pusey 
 with its characteristic excellence of clear writing." 
 Pusey described himself as shy, and expressing 
 himself with hesitation and obscurity. He was 
 not a logician. " To the end of his life Pusey 's 
 sermons were marked by a complete indifference 
 to method and rhetorical effect." At the time 
 of his preaching his first sermon, in 1828, a 
 relation of his wife's describes him : " He is 
 entirely engrossed with the subject of Divinity, 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 269 
 
 and unless upon that point is a silent man ; he 
 listens and makes great observation on character, 
 and always leans to the most amiable side in 
 his judgment ; but he is not by the generality 
 thought agreeable." 
 
 At this time people were saying that the new 
 German theology of which they began to hear 
 was full of interest. Dr. Lloyd, afterwards 
 Bishop of Oxford, was then Regius Professor 
 of Theology. One day he remarked to Pusey, 
 " I wish you would learn something about those 
 German critics." " Pusey set himself to learn 
 German, and afterwards went to Germany him- 
 self. There he made acquaintance with Eichhorn, 
 Tholuck, Schleiermacher, Neander, Freytag, 
 Liicke, Sack, and others ; attended lectures at 
 Gottingen, Berlin, Bonn, and elsewhere ; paid 
 particular attention throughout to Hebrew and 
 Arabic studies; and finally returned in 1827, 
 after spending the greater part of two years in 
 that country. The visit largely determined the 
 after-course of his life. ' My life,' he said to 
 Liddon, ' turned on that hint of Lloyd's.' " 
 
 While Pusey was in Germany, the Rev. H. 
 J. Rose, afterwards one of the precursors of 
 the Oxford movement, published four lectures, 
 delivered at Cambridge in May 1825, on The 
 
270 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 State of Protestantism in Germany, attributing 
 German heterodoxy largely to three causes : 
 (i) want of diocesan episcopacy ; (2) absence 
 of binding articles ; (3) need of a liturgy such 
 as that of the English. Pusey took up the 
 cudgels for his German friends. He returned 
 to Oxford in 1827, and published his reply, An 
 Historical Inquiry into the Probable Causes of 
 the Rationalist Character lately predominant in 
 the Theology of Germany, in two parts, in 1828 
 and 1830. He writes as a moderate Churchman 
 of liberal tendencies ; speaks habitually of the 
 reformed communions of the Continent as 
 "Churches"; never uses "Catholic" to dis- 
 tinguish episcopal communities ; speaks en- 
 thusiastically of "the immortal heroes, the 
 mighty agents of the Reformation " ; objects 
 that Rose's view " involved the abandonment 
 of the fundamental principles in Protestantism, 
 and derogates from the independence and the 
 inherent power of the Word of God." 
 
 In 1828 he married the young lady of whom 
 he had so long thought, Maria Raymond- Barker, 
 who had, with her family, been attending the 
 teaching of Mr. Close at Cheltenham, afterwards 
 Dean of Carlisle. She and Pusey had long 
 corresponded at great length on all kinds of 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 271 
 
 subjects, religious, ecclesiastical, social, and moral. 
 Eventually she joined the Oxford movement 
 heart and soul, and helped her husband by 
 writing, and in other ways. She died in 1839, 
 after eleven years of devoted married life. 
 
 In 1828 also Pusey was ordained Deacon, and 
 Hawkins was elected as successor to Copleston 
 as Provost of Oriel. The other candidate was 
 Keble, and it was largely through Newman's 
 influence that Hawkins was chosen. Newman 
 thought him academically more suited for the 
 post. In Keble the Tractarians would have had 
 a sympathetic Head of a House ; in Hawkins 
 they subsequently found, when the movement 
 developed, a critic and an antagonist. 
 
 In the same year, while only twenty-eight, 
 Pusey was appointed Regius Professor of 
 Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church, in suc- 
 cession to Dr. Nicoll. His connections, attain- 
 ments, high character, studious habits, his 
 knowledge of Hebrew and Arabic, his visit to 
 Germany, his account of German theology, all 
 combined to point him out. He entered the 
 house in " Tom Quad," looking on one side 
 into the great court, on the other upon the street 
 of St. Aldate's as it slopes towards the river, 
 which was to be his for the remainder of his 
 
272 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 life. During the next seven years he led a 
 quiet scholarly life, devoting himself to the 
 work of his Chair, providing classes in Hebrew, 
 senior and junior, holding a weekly gathering of 
 clergy, a Theological Society, of which he was 
 the Moderator, for the reading of papers and 
 discussion, and taking into his house theological 
 students who were preparing for Orders. This 
 afterwards issued for a time in a Divinity Hall. 
 While his wife lived his house was a centre of 
 much pleasant hospitality. He had ample means, 
 and was known for his generous benefactions to 
 the poor. 
 
 Then came that period of excitement which 
 resulted in the Tracts for the Times. There 
 was a feeling amongst the ardent young Oxford 
 men, particularly some of the Oriel circle, that 
 the Church was in danger, through being re- 
 garded too much as a political organism, to be 
 moulded and modified at the will of politicians, 
 without consent or consultation of the members 
 of the Church. This led them to look at the 
 Church more as a visible structure than as a 
 spiritual principle. And when they had once 
 regarded the external machinery as of the essence 
 of the Church, they very easily turned towards 
 the one largest section of Christendom which 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 27,^ 
 
 had never passed through the cataclysms of the 
 Reformation, nor become Protestant, but which 
 had marched peacefully on from one stage of 
 development to another, from the days of 
 Cyprian to contemporary Roman Catholicism. 
 In their endeavour to discover and bring forward 
 what they believed to be true Church principles, 
 they dived here and there into earlier ecclesiastical 
 history with the best possible intentions, but 
 showed little critical power in distinguishing true 
 from false. Whatever they found in the Fathers 
 they adopted, not seeing that the F"athers are 
 frequently contradictory to themselves, to each 
 other, and to Holy Scripture. Not being men 
 of long-tried learning like the Reformers, they 
 held the Reformers cheap, credited them with 
 results for which they were in no way respon- 
 sible, and shut their eyes to the real meaning 
 and authority of their principles. Their leaders 
 were a saintly Poet, a hot-headed Enthusiast, 
 and an imaginative dreamer — Keble, Froude, 
 Newman. They looked for a centre of unity 
 more tangible than Christ, and for a source of 
 authority other than the written words of Christ 
 and His Apostles. It was of Sibthorp that 
 Bishop Wilberforce said that "he held the 
 TTpuiTov i//€i)So9 that unity is to be gained by 
 
 i8 
 
PUSEY 
 
 members of the Catholic Church through union 
 with one visible centre": the charge of exag- 
 gerating the importance of external machinery 
 applied to them all. They were dazzled by the 
 picture of visible ejiternal unity (which never 
 really existed) as inculcated by the writings of 
 the Fathers of the third and fourth centuries, 
 who had themselves begun (as they had in 
 other points) to depart from the spiritual sim- 
 plicity and majesty of St. Paul's teaching as to 
 the Church. They made little of that only unity 
 which is possible to imperfect human beings, 
 the unity which necessarily comes from close 
 personal union with Christ through a living faith. 
 They made the Church an antecedent to grace 
 instead of a consequent, a necessary condition 
 of salvation instead of a relation arising out of 
 baptism. They forgot the difference between 
 the Jerusalem which is above, which is the 
 mother of us all, the true invisible unmixed 
 body of Christ, and the Jerusalem of the unre- 
 formed Catholic Church, from Cyprian down- 
 wards, which is in bondage with her children. 
 
 It would have been happy for the English 
 Church if the youthful Professor of Hebrew- 
 could have watched the Tractarian movement 
 from the responsible position of his Chair, and 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 275 
 
 from time to time corrected its errors and 
 extravagances from his attitude of learned 
 orthodoxy and former sympathy for the Refor- 
 mation. But he was captivated by the eiScoXoz/ 
 of the essential unity and authority of the 
 visible Church, and was ready with the Trac- 
 tarians to confuse the attributes of the true 
 spiritual invisible Church, as described by St. 
 Paul, with those of the mere collection of 
 genuine and spurious Christians in episcopal 
 communities who make up the visible set of 
 episcopal churches on earth, the mixed societies 
 which aim in their different ways and degrees 
 at reproducing on earth, for their part, as 
 far as may be, the attributes of the true 
 Holy Catholic Church, which is itself neces- 
 sarily wider than any one of them. Speaking 
 of the dangers of the Church of England from 
 contemporary political movements, Cardinal 
 Newman writes in his Apologia : 
 
 " It was under these circumstances that Dr. 
 Pusey joined us. I had known him well since 
 1827-28, and had felt for him an enthusiastic 
 admiration. I used to call him 6 //eyas. His 
 great learning, his immense diligence, his scholar- 
 like mind, his simple devotion to the cause of 
 religion, overcame me ; and great, of course was 
 
2/6 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 my joy when, in the last days of 1833, he showed 
 a disposition to make common cause with us. 
 His Tract on Fasting appeared as one of the 
 series with the date of December 21st. He was 
 not, however, I think, fully associated in the 
 movement till 1835 and 1836, when he published 
 his Tract on Baptism and started the Library of 
 the Fathers. He at once gave to us a position 
 and a name. Without him we should have had 
 no chance, especially at the early date of 1834, 
 of making any serious resistance to the Liberal 
 aggression. But Dr. Pusey was a Professor and 
 Canon of Christ Church ; he had a vast influence 
 in consequence of his deep religious seriousness, 
 the munificence of his charities, his Professorship, 
 his family connections, and his easy relations 
 with University authorities. 
 
 "Such was the benefit which he conferred on 
 the movement externally ; nor was the internal 
 advantage at all inferior to it. He was a man of 
 large designs ; he had a hopeful, sanguine mind ; 
 he had no fear of others ; he was haunted by no 
 intellectual perplexities. People are apt to say 
 that he was once nearer to the Catholic Church 
 than he is now ; I pray God that he may be 
 one day far nearer to the Catholic Church than 
 he was then ; for I believe that, in his reason 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 277 
 
 and judgment, all the time that I knew him, he 
 never was near to it at all. When I became 
 a Catholic, I was often asked, ' What of Dr. 
 Pusey ? ' When I said that I did not see 
 symptoms of his doing as I had done, I was 
 sometimes thought uncharitable. If confidence 
 in his position is (as it is) a first essential in 
 the leader of a party, Dr. Pusey had it. 
 
 " Dr. Pusey's influence was felt at once. He 
 saw that there ought to be more sobriety, 
 more gravity, more careful pains, more sense 
 of responsibility, in the Tracts and in the 
 whole movement. It was through him that the 
 character of the Tracts was changed. When he 
 gave to us his Tract on Fasting he put his initials 
 to it. In 1835 he published his elaborate 
 Treatise on Baptism, which was followed by 
 other Tracts from different authors, if not of 
 equal learning, yet of equal power and apposite- 
 ness. The Catenas of Anglican divines which 
 occur in the series, though projected, I think, 
 by me, were executed with a like aim at greater 
 accuracy and method. In 1836 he advertised his 
 great project for a Translation of the Fathers." 
 
 As late as 1835 Pusey was able, in an inaugural 
 Address to his Theological Society, to lay stress 
 on the benefits of the Reformation, and to speak 
 
278 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 of the Lutheran and Reformed " Churches." 
 He is still a little afraid of Newman, and tells 
 his wife that he will " scare people." But 
 Newman's influence over him rapidly increased, 
 and the two soon became the Castor and Pollux 
 of the movement. 
 
 Pusey's first contribution to the Tracts was 
 one on Fasting, signed with his initials, which 
 contains nothing specifically characteristic of 
 Tractarianism. It was in 1835, five years after 
 the publication of the second part of his Inquiry 
 in answer to H. J. Rose, that he gave in a 
 thorough adherence by the unsigned Tract on 
 Baptism. It is not quite clear whether this or 
 the sermon in Christ Church Cathedral on " Sin 
 after Baptism " came first ; but they taught the 
 same doctrine. The sermon was on Heb. vi. 4-6, 
 where the inspired writer gives as a reason for 
 not spending time in laying again the foundation 
 principles of Christianity, that it is impossible 
 for those " who were once enlightened ... if 
 they shall fall away, to renew them again unto 
 repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the 
 Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open 
 shame." This obviously refers to apostate 
 Hebrews, who gave up Christianity, and went 
 Ixick to the Law, joining hands with the crucify- 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 279 
 
 ing Jews. Them it was quite hopeless to 
 attempt to convert over again, and therefore it 
 was unnecessary then and there to speak about 
 the elementary principles of Christianity. All 
 whom the writer intended to be addressing must 
 be supposed to know and to hold them. But 
 Pusey, with calm confidence and uncritical 
 exegesis, takes "enlightened" to mean "bap- 
 tised," and apostasy or falling away to mean 
 wilful sin after baptism. "As if to bring every 
 baptised Christian on his knees before him, he 
 preached from a well-known startling text in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, drawing from it the 
 doctrine, so at least he was understood, that 
 wilful sin after baptism is never wholly forgiven. 
 The burden of the sermon was the word ' irre- 
 parable,' pronounced every now and then with 
 the force of a judgment. ... In his anxiety to 
 bring his hearers to the very verge of the pit 
 of destruction, he seemed to be pushing them 
 into it without a way of escape." ' 
 
 What Pusey was expected immediately to 
 define was the nature of wilful sin after baptism, 
 and the means, if any, of restoring those who had 
 fallen into wilful sin. He himself intended to 
 
 Mozle)', " Times " Bioi^ra/'/iy, and Remi/iisixiia's. 
 
28o 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 write a second part to the Tract on Baptism 
 (which he afterwards enlarged into a book called 
 The Doctrine of Holy Baptism). But the second 
 part never appeared. It was in his subsequent 
 ceaseless inculcation of the Roman system of the 
 Confessional, and of the ministry of Recon- 
 ciliation through Priestly Absolution, that he 
 supplied the deficiency. He himself said in 
 after-years, " From the moment of my completing 
 the Tract on Baptism, 1 felt that I should have 
 written on Christian repentance, on confession 
 and absolution." 
 
 His cramped and mechanical view of Chris- 
 tianity led him into what was practically the 
 teaching of the Council of Trent on Baptism. 
 The Reformers define Baptism as "a sign of 
 Regeneration or New Birth, whereby, as by an 
 instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly 
 are grafted into the Church ; the promises of the 
 forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the 
 sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly 
 signed and sealed ; Faith is confirmed, and Grace 
 increased, by virtue of prayer unto God." They 
 teach that of persons to be baptised two things 
 are required : " Repentance, whereby they for- 
 sake sin ; and Faith, whereby they steadfastly 
 believe the promises of God made to them in 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MO YEMENI 281 
 
 that Sacrament." These requirements are their 
 explanation of the word rightly. In other 
 words, the benefits of Baptism (as of Holy 
 Communion) are dependent on the repentance 
 and faith of the recipients (or their sponsors). 
 Grace may be given us before Baptism, may lead 
 us to submit to Baptism, may establish our faith 
 before Baptism. Baptism is a necessary act 
 of faith and obedience, of initiation into the 
 Church, of making covenant on our part with 
 God, and of receiving the seal of His promises 
 on His. But it does not confine His grace, 
 which is as free, unlimited, and infinite as 
 Himself Cornelius received the Holy Ghost 
 before he was baptised. The disciples on the 
 Day of Pentecost, when they received the Holy 
 Ghost, had not been baptised according to the 
 new Christian formula. Some of them, like our 
 Lord Himself, had been baptised by John. 
 Throughout St. Paul's Epistles there is not the 
 faintest shadow of a tendency to confine grace 
 to Baptism and subsequent rites. It is only an 
 arbitrary and a biassed exegesis that can put such 
 a strain on the abundant freedom of St. Paul's 
 words. However necessary and important Holy 
 Baptism is, it is not the exclusive channel of 
 grace which it appeared to Pusey. Baptismal 
 
282 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 Regeneration is to the English Church a change 
 of state, not a change of nature. 
 
 Many passages would illustrate Pusey's doctrine 
 of Baptismal Regeneration. Here is one which 
 shows how he gathered together into it as far 
 as he could the varied and wide processes of 
 that Divine Being who is as the wind that 
 bloweth where it listeth : 
 
 " No change of heart, then, or of the 
 affections ; no repentance, however radical ; no 
 faith, no life, no love, comes up to the idea 
 of this ' birth from above ' ; it takes them all 
 in and comprehends them all, but itself is 
 more than all : it is not only the creation of 
 a new heart, new affections, new desires, and, 
 as it were, a new birth, but it is an actual 
 birth from above or from God, a gitl coming 
 down from God, and given to faith, through 
 Baptism ; yet not the work of faith, but the 
 operation of ' water and the Holy Spirit.' " 
 
 This reminds us of the words of the Catechism 
 of the Council of Trent. In baptism " the 
 soul is replenished with Divine grace. But 
 grace is not only that whereby sin is remitted, 
 but is also a Divine quality inherent in the 
 soul, and as it were a certain splendour and 
 light, that efface all the stains of our souls, and 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 28j 
 
 render the souls themselves brighter and more 
 beautiful. To this is added a most noble train 
 of all virtues, which are Divinely infused into 
 the soul with grace." How different all this 
 imaginative exaggeration and confusion of many 
 Divine processes from the true, simple, reasonable 
 view expressed by the words of the Reformers 
 in our Baptismal Office ! " Baptism doth 
 represent unto us our profession ; which is, to 
 follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and 
 to be made like unto Him ; that as He died, 
 and rose again for us, so should we, who are 
 baptised, die from sin, and rise again unto 
 righteousness, continually mortifying all our evil 
 and corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in 
 all virtue and godliness of living ! " 
 
 Pusey's view of baptism being of this kind, 
 those who have committed wilful sin after 
 baptism have lost the life imparted, have fallen 
 from grace and Christ, and incurred an " irre- 
 parable " forfeiture. "In the Preface to his 
 first sermon on ' Entire Absolution to the 
 Penitent,' referring to penitents, he says : ' They 
 wish to be, and to know that they are, in a 
 state of grace. God has provided a means, 
 however deeply they have fallen, to replace 
 them in it.' And then he explains what is the 
 
284 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 means so provided of God. ' By His absolving 
 sentence,' he says, ' God does efface the past.' 
 But inasmuch as they ' cannot estimate their 
 own repentance and faith, God has provided 
 physicians of the soul to relieve and judge 
 for those who " open their griefs " to them.' 
 Such was Dr. Pusey's doctrine. It is not the 
 Spirit of God, the ' Spirit of adoption,' im- 
 parted from above to the penitent and believing 
 suppliant, that delivers from the ' spirit of 
 bondage unto fear.' It is the voice of the 
 priest-physician, declaring ' the absolving sen- 
 tence ' of God, whereby He ' effaces the past.' 
 It is the priest-physician judicially ' estimating 
 the repentance and faith ' of the penitent, who 
 'judges for' and, when he is satisfied, 'relieves 
 those who open their griefs ' to him. As the 
 priest, under the Mosaic Law, examined the 
 leper, and either pronounced him clean, or sent 
 him back to his seclusion as unclean, so the 
 Anglican priest, the Anglican ' physician,' ac- 
 cording to Dr. Pusey's doctrine of faith and 
 salvation, examines and judges as to the state 
 of the penitent, and either ' estimates ' his 
 repentance and faith to be sufficient, and 
 accordingly restores him to the congregation 
 of the faithful, declaring, as God's voice, that 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 285 
 
 the ' past is effaced,' or else judges them to 
 be insufficient, and sends him back to pro- 
 longed penance, with directions to return and 
 submit himself for judgment on a future day. 
 Thus the penitent may get comfort from the 
 priest, but from him alone can receive any 
 sure or lawful comfort. Here, in this ' sacra- 
 ment of confession and absolution,' and here 
 alone, is the rightful source of consolation for 
 the troubled conscience. For venial sin, indeed, 
 for hasty and unconscious transgression, the 
 daily confession in the public prayers at church, 
 and the public absolution from the priest 
 following thereupon — the whole service being 
 read and interpreted under high Anglo-Catholic 
 light — might be sufficient. But for all wilful 
 sin that troubled the conscience the one true 
 and legitimate remedy was the confessional." 
 
 In the published works of Dr. Pusey five 
 of the Tracts for the Times are printed : two 
 on Fasting (the i8th and 66th), two, on Baptism 
 (the 67th and 69th), and one on the Danger 
 of Ridicule in Religion. In 1841 and 1842 he 
 took a very active part in defending Newman 
 on his publication of the famous Tract No. 90, 
 which upheld the view that the Thirty-nine 
 Articles, though written to repudiate Roman 
 
286 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 doctrine, might be subscribed by men holding 
 the chief doctrines of the Roman Church. Dr. 
 Pusey's own view is expressed in these words : 
 
 " I have long been convinced that there is 
 nothing in the Council of Trent which could 
 not be explained satisfactorily for us, if it were 
 to be explained authoritatively. . . . This in- 
 volves the conviction that there is nothing in 
 our Articles which cannot be explained rightly 
 as not contradicting anything to be held de fide 
 in the Roman Catholic Church." ^ 
 
 He was an adept at casuistical argument, and 
 he employed such reasoning as the following : 
 
 " Our reformers, our canons, and the com- 
 bined teaching of our approved divines, all refer 
 us to antiquity, and to the authority of the 
 Primitive Church. If we find anything in the 
 Church's formularies which, according to any 
 received interpretation, is inconsistent with that 
 model, are we not bound to inquire whether 
 that is the only possible interpretation ? And 
 if of two possible interpretations one, even 
 though it be a little strained, is in accordance 
 with antiquity, while the other is not, ought we 
 not to choose the former ? " 
 
 ^ Letter to the Tablet, November 22nd, 1865. 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEAIEJVT 28; 
 
 Ten years afterwards Dr. Pusey published 
 an Historical Preface to Tract No. 90, which 
 was edited by Mr. Keble, in which he justified 
 its principal positions.' 
 
 His mind, with its characteristic defect of 
 logical force and training, does not see that, 
 before this argument can be of any weight 
 whatever, you have to determine what are the 
 limits of antiquity and of the Primitive Church. 
 Most writers of the Reformed Church would 
 say, with Bishop Lightfoot, that when Cyprian 
 had introduced the principles of sacerdotalism 
 into Christianity from pagan sources, then 
 antiquity, though an interesting witness, is not 
 a safe guide. They would also hold that 
 amongst the writers of antiquity by far the most 
 important are the Apostles and Evangelists, 
 who wrote the inspired and living message of 
 God, and who are quite clear enough with the 
 help of the Holy Spirit. They would hold, 
 with the English Reformers, that the Fathers 
 contain both weeds and herbs, and that it 
 was the duty of the Christian to choose the 
 herbs and avoid the weeds. But Dr. Pusey, 
 with a quiet and meek persistence, carefully 
 
 Record, September 22nd, 1882. 
 
288 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 selected what the Reformers considered the 
 weeds. 
 
 After taking a vigorous part in the opposi- 
 tion to Dr. Hampden, on his appointment as 
 Regius Professor of Divinity, for his views 
 on the growth of dogmatic phraseology, which 
 resulted in Hampden being prevented from 
 taking any part in the nomination of select 
 preachers, Dr. Pusey himself, in 1843, fell 
 under the censure of the University for a 
 sermon called " The Holy Eucharist a Com- 
 fort to the Penitent," in which he seemed to 
 go as near to the doctrine of the Church of 
 Rome as could be. The Times biography 
 gives the following account of the episode : 
 
 " The Vice-Chancellor sent for the sermon, 
 with an intimation that action would be taken 
 upon it. No doubt Dr. Pusey immediately 
 set to work elaborating his defence, and add- 
 ing to his pile of testimonies from all ages of 
 the Church. Soon, however, he heard that 
 the Vice- Chancellor had revived for the 
 occasion a long-forgotten statute empowering 
 the Vice-Chancellor to create a tribunal of 
 six Doctors for the trial of any person preach- 
 ing or teaching contrary to the received 
 doctrines of the University. What was more, 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD M0VEMEN7 289 
 
 he was informed that the sermon was all they 
 required ; they had it, and therefore did not 
 want the presence of the writer. Dr. Pusey 
 remonstrated pubHcly, officially, and through 
 one who claimed to be a friend in the Board 
 of six Doctors. The Board, however, had its 
 difficulties. The sermon was guarded from the 
 Romish doctrine. It savoured not of Transub- 
 stantiation, but of Consubstantiation, and one 
 of the members of the Board reminded his 
 colleagues that Consubstantiation was preached 
 in the precincts of St. James's Palace to the 
 German members of the Royal Household, 
 and was, in fact, the creed of Luther and of 
 such as still hold to him, including some of 
 the reigning German families. The Board 
 must therefore take care what it was about. 
 It did. It said not a word about the sermon, 
 but suspended Dr. Pusey from the use of the 
 University pulpit for two years. The actual 
 result was to put the six Doctors and their 
 adherents in the wrong, and make a martyr of 
 Dr. Pusey, who went on writing and publish- 
 ing more than ever, and was now much more 
 read than he had ever been. His first sermon 
 after the expiration of the sentence was on 
 • The Entire Absolution of the Penitent.' This 
 
 19 
 
2Q0 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 sermon caused a very general outcry among 
 the clergy, and the heads of houses generally 
 disapproved of it ; but nothing further was done 
 to censure it in positive terms. From that 
 time forward Dr. Pusey began to hear the con- 
 fessions of those who were willing to come to 
 him in order to ' open their griefs ' and to 
 administer the comfort of absolution. In fact, 
 from that day forward the confessional has held 
 a place in the practical system of the Church 
 of England as administered by its Anglo- 
 Catholic sons, and the bishops have been 
 either unable or unwilling to suppress it." 
 
 In October 1845 Newman was received 
 into the Roman Church. The blow was very 
 heavy to Pusey ; but he never entertained any 
 idea of following his friend's example. His 
 office was to unprotestantise the Church of 
 England, to undo what he regarded as the 
 mischief of the Reformation, and to bring back 
 the standards of doctrine and practice which 
 prevailed in the mediaeval Church. Newman, 
 Manning, and their friends desired to bring 
 over individuals to the bosom of the unre- 
 formed Church ; Pusey formed the larger con- 
 ception of bringing the whole reformed Church 
 of England into line with Rome. Newman 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 291 
 
 had long meditated the step, but Pusey was 
 so determined not to believe it that Newman 
 found it difficult to convince him. He wrote 
 letters to be shown to Pusey. 
 
 " On receiving these letters, my correspon- 
 dent, if I recollect rightly, at once communi- 
 cated the matter of them to Dr. Pusey, and 
 this will enable me to state, as nearly as I 
 can, the way in which my changed state of 
 opinion was made known to him. I had from 
 the first a great difficulty in making Dr. 
 Pusey understand such differences of opinion 
 as existed between himself and me. He 
 would not take any hints which I gave him 
 on the subject of my growing inclination to 
 Rome. When I found him so determined, I 
 often had not the heart to go on. And then 
 I knew that, from affection for me, he so 
 often took up and threw himself into what 
 I said that I felt the great responsibility I 
 should incur if I put things before him just 
 as I might view them. And, not knowing 
 him so well as I did afterwards, I feared lest 
 I should unsettle him. A common friend of 
 ours broke it all to him in 1841, as far as 
 matters had gone at that time, and showed him 
 clearly the logical conclusions which must lie in 
 
292 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 propositions to which I had committed myself ; 
 but, somehow or other, in a Httle while his 
 mind fell back into its former happy state, and 
 he could not bring himself to believe that he 
 and I should not go on pleasantly together to 
 the end. But that affectionate dream needs 
 must have been broken at last ; and two years 
 afterwards that friend to whom I wrote the 
 letters which I have just now inserted set him- 
 self, as I have said, to break it. Upon that, I 
 too begged Dr. Pusey to tell in private to any 
 one he would that I thought in the event I 
 should leave the Church of England. How- 
 ever, he would not do so, and at the end of 
 1844 had almost relapsed into his former 
 thoughts about me, if I may judge from a 
 letter of his which I have found. Nay, at the 
 Commemoration of 1845, a few months before 
 I left the Anglican Church, I think he said 
 about me to a friend, ' I trust, after all, we 
 shall keep him.' " 
 
 Newman's secession left Pusey as sole head 
 of the Tractarian, Oxford, Anglo-Catholic, or 
 Mediaeval movement. " Pusey," says a dis- 
 criminating writer, " took his position as the 
 great spiritual teacher and preacher of the 
 patristic revival. The solemnity of his tone 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 293 
 
 continually deepened ; his consecration of life 
 was more and more recognised ; his earnest- 
 ness was profound and contagious ; sin and 
 holiness, the solemnities of life and death, were 
 the themes of his awakening sermons. The 
 great sorrow of his life — the loss of his wife — 
 came upon him before the excitement occa- 
 sioned by his baptismal utterances had passed 
 away. Even in connection with her death 
 there is a touching, but surely also a painful, 
 example in which his legal and, in honest 
 truth, Pharisaic teaching had taken hold of the 
 wife he so passionately loved, and who seems 
 to have been so worthy of his love. As we 
 have already noted, Mrs. Pusey had been 
 baptised by a Dissenter. In her last lingering 
 illness this matter disturbed her peace. She 
 could not find ' rest to her soul ' simply in her 
 Saviour ; she could find no peace till ' conditional 
 baptism ' had been administered to her. New- 
 man accordingly re-baptised her. . . . Her 
 death (in 1839) left Pusey disconsolate. Not 
 only so : he regarded this sorrow and bereave- 
 ment as a chastisement laid on him for his 
 sins, and himself as only fit to be regarded as 
 a lifelong penitent, who was to take his place 
 alongside of guilty sinners at the feet of Jesus, 
 
294 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 his duty through Hfe being facere pcenitentiam. 
 This feeling deepened the sombre tone of his 
 saintliness . . . and increased the severity of 
 his discipline both towards himself and others. 
 From this time he lived an absolutely secluded 
 life. He shut up the drawing-room at his 
 Christ Church house, never to open it again : 
 he did not go into public ; he shunned society." 
 
 The mediaeval character of his self-discipline 
 is indicated by the following letter written in 
 1844 to his friend Hope (afterwards Hope- 
 Scott, of Abbotsford) when travelling on the 
 Continent : 
 
 " There is yet a subject on which I should 
 like to know more, if you fall in with persons 
 who have the guidance of consciences — what 
 penances they employ for persons whose tempta- 
 tions are almost entirely spiritual, of delicate 
 frames often, and who wish to be led on to 
 perfection. I see in a spiritual writer that, 
 even for such, corporal severities are not to be 
 neglected, but so many of them are unsafe. 1 
 suspect the ' discipline ' to be one of the safest, 
 and with internal humiliation the best. . . . 
 Could you procure and send me one by B. ? 
 What was described to me was of a very sacred 
 character — five cords, each with five knots, in 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 295 
 
 memory of the five wounds of our Lord. . . 
 I should be glad to know also whether there 
 were any cases in which it is unsafe, e.g. in a 
 nervous person." 
 
 One of the least pleasing phases in the life 
 of Pusey is the story of St. Saviour's, Leeds 
 Almost immediately after the death of his wife 
 in order to carry out his plan of penitent self- 
 sacrifice, he thought of building this church 
 and combining in it all the results of his teaching 
 and opinions. It was to be the concrete model 
 of all that was meant by the Oxford movement 
 His friend Hook was Vicar of the Parish Church 
 and the way seemed clear. Pusey took an 
 enthusiastic interest in it from the beginning ; 
 it was to be the completest and richest type 
 in all respects. The famous Church windows 
 (probably painted by Holbein) in his wife's 
 home at Fairford were to be rivalled ; his 
 friends were to contribute their jewels for en- 
 riching chalice, paten, and cross : unfortunately 
 Keble had none. There were difiiculties from 
 the beginning even about the consecration ; 
 the amiable Bishop of Ripon (Longley, after- 
 wards Archbishop of Canterbury) foresaw what 
 was coming, and was particularly cautious about 
 images and inscriptions. The whole story is 
 
296 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 told at length by Dr. Liddon in the biography : 
 the indignation of Dr. Hook at the Romanising 
 ways of the new clergy ; his plain-dealing with 
 Pusey for his hair-splitting, " reserve," and 
 "economy"; the secessions to Rome. Perhaps 
 the example of St. Saviour's strengthened for 
 the time by the influence of reaction the preach- 
 ing of the true Gospel of Christ. There were 
 men in Leeds capable of turning all the excite- 
 ment and scandal to the best ends, and to the 
 true glory of God. 
 
 In 1850 Dr. Pusey remonstrated against the 
 Gorham judgment on Baptismal Regeneration. 
 He also wrote vigorously against Essays and 
 Reviews ; and it is curious to note that the 
 main positions of that work with regard to the 
 Old Testament are now adopted by his own 
 school. He took the lead in a committee formed 
 to see what could be done to prevent Dr. 
 Temple, who is now trusted as much by High 
 Churchmen as by any other party in the 
 Church, from being made a bishop. He pro- 
 tested also against Dean Stanley being appointed 
 Select Preacher. 
 
 He was a voluminous writer. His Library 
 of the Fathers was a great work, and so was 
 his Commentary on the Minor Prophets. His 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 297 
 
 defence of the Book of Daniel was specially 
 learned and valuable. 
 
 Dr. Pusey's share in the revival of Sister- 
 hoods in the English Church was thus sketched 
 by the Standard : Dr. Pusey's eldest daughter, 
 Miss Lucy Pusey, had long entertained a de- 
 sire to become a Sister of Mercy, and after her 
 death, which occurred before she had been able 
 to put her aspiration into practice, it became 
 a sacred obligation with her family to en- 
 deavour to give effect to her wishes. A few 
 years afterwards Miss Sellon was invited by 
 the then Bishop of Exeter to make a similar 
 attempt, and this at once brought her into 
 communication with Dr. Pusey, who saw in 
 her the instrument of accomplishing what his 
 daughter had so earnestly desired. The two 
 together founded the first Sisterhood, and in 
 process of time Dr. Pusey became its warden 
 and chaplain. Nor did he shrink, when neces- 
 sary, from taking a personal share in the self- 
 imposed labours of the Sisterhoods. In 1866, 
 when the cholera was so bad in the north-east 
 parts of London, Dr. Pusey took lodgings 
 near the City Road, to be in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the outbreak, and to cheer 
 with his presence and counsel the charitable 
 
PUSEY 
 
 women who spent their days and nights among 
 the sick. In his later days Dr. Pusey would 
 leave Oxford during the vacation, and in a 
 single room, in a small cottage, in the pine 
 woods of Ascot, pursue his studies alone. 
 Miss Sellon had with him built a Convalescent 
 Hospital in the middle of some forty acres of 
 heath and pines which she purchased not far 
 from Ascot. The sick poor came from the 
 East of London, where Miss Sellon's Sisters 
 worked, and from the London hospitals, to reap 
 such good as he could provide for them. It 
 was his pleasure to be near them, to join in 
 their services, to witness the devoted work of 
 the Sisters ; and it was here he passed away. 
 
 The Sisters have everywhere been enthu- 
 siastic promoters of the mediaeval movement ; 
 let us add, of much Christian philanthropy. 
 
 Dr. Pusey died quietly on Saturday, Sep- 
 tember 1 6th, 1882, in his eighty-third year, 
 of no specific illness, but decay of nature. He 
 was never robust, and had been enfeebled by 
 several severe illnesses — bronchitis, pleurisy, 
 weakness of the heart. He lived a life of the 
 greatest self-devotion of the Roman type, and 
 his work may be summed up by the fact that 
 Lord Halifax, the President of the English 
 
THE GUIDE OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 299 
 
 Church Union, is able at the present day to 
 say, without contradiction from the thirty-six 
 thousand members of that society, that there 
 is now no difference of sentiment or opinion be- 
 tween themselves and the Church of Rome. 
 
 Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, himself a High 
 Churchman of the modern type, was obliged 
 to write to him : "I firmly believe the in- 
 fluence of your personal ministry does more 
 than the labours of a personal enemy to wean 
 from the pure faith and simple ritual of our 
 Church the affections of many amongst her 
 children. . . . You seem to me to be habitually 
 assuming the place and doing the work of a 
 Roman confessor, and not that of an English 
 clergyman." 
 
 Pusey's influence, continuing that of Newman, 
 has been thus described by an adverse critic, 
 Cardinal Vaughan : " The very Establishment 
 which was set up in rivalry to the Church, 
 with a royal supremacy triumphantly pitted 
 against a Papal supremacy — this very Estab- 
 lishment has changed its temper and attitude. 
 [A section of its] . . . ministers eind people 
 are busily engaged in ignoring or denouncing 
 those very Articles which were drawn up to 
 be their eternal protest against the old religion. 
 
300 
 
 PUSEY 
 
 The sacramental power of orders, the need of 
 jurisdiction, the Real Presence, the daily sacri- 
 fice, auricular confession, prayers and offices 
 for the dead, belief in purgatory, the invoca- 
 tion of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, 
 religious vows, and the institution of monks 
 and nuns — the very doctrines stamped in the 
 Thirty-nine Articles as fond fables and blas- 
 phemous deceits — all these are now openly 
 taught from a thousand pulpits in the Estab- 
 lishment, and as heartily embraced by as many 
 crowded congregations." This somewhat un- 
 discriminating statement is made in language 
 which in some details none of us inside the 
 English Church would adopt : but many High 
 Churchmen sincerely lament the extremes into 
 which a section of the movement has drifted. 
 
 From a good man, however, whether we 
 agree with him or not, we know that good 
 must come. The self-sacrificing zeal of Dr. 
 Pusey's followers has in instances past count- 
 ing been an example to the Church ; and the 
 influence of his work, in combination with 
 the revival of Romantic a;stheticism, in adding 
 beauty to churches and church services, is 
 universally acknowledged. 
 
XI 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 
 
 HE name of Dr. Arnold is a household 
 
 X word in England, not only as the great 
 typical Christian schoolmaster, but as the leader 
 of modern Liberal or Broad Church theology. 
 Much that is called Liberal or Broad Church 
 at the present time would be utterly abhorrent 
 to his mind ; but he was certainly a pioneer of 
 freedom of thought in the Church of England, 
 within the limits of the New Testament. 
 
 Thomas Arnold, seventh child and youngest 
 son of William Arnold and his wife Martha 
 Delafield, was born on June 13th, 1795, at 
 West Cowes, Isle of Wight, five years before 
 Dr. Pusey. His family had lived there for 
 two generations, but had migrated from Suffolk. 
 His father was a collector of customs, and died 
 (as Dr. Arnold afterwards died) from spasm 
 of the hearti on March 3rd, 1801. 
 
302 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 Little Tom, a dearly cherished favourite in 
 the family, was prepared for school by his 
 aunt, Miss Delafield. At Cowes he learned 
 to delight in the sea, to know the flags of 
 the many Continental ships that floated in the 
 Solent during the great war, and was roused 
 to a sense of the greatness of history by the 
 mighty events that were happening. His in- 
 tense love of local association received its 
 first stimulus and creation from his father's 
 grounds at Slatwoods, Cowes. 
 
 In 1803 he went to Dr. Griffiths' preparatory 
 school at Warminster, Wilts. At the age of 
 three he had been presented by his father 
 with Smollett's History of England as a reward 
 for accuracy in going through the stories about 
 the portraits and pictures which illustrated the 
 reigns ; he was also notably quick with his 
 games of geographical cards. A Warminster 
 schoolfellow writes of him : " Arnold's delight 
 was in preparing for some part of the siege of 
 Troy : with a stick in his right hand, and the 
 cover of a tin box or any flat piece of wood 
 tied upon his left arm, he would come forth 
 to the battle, and from Pope's Homer would 
 pour forth fluently the challenge or the re- 
 proach. His whole soul seemed full of the 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 303 
 
 exploits both of Greeks and Trojans, and his 
 memory amply stored with the poet's verse. 
 Every book he had was easily recognised as 
 his property by helmets and shields, and 
 Hector and Achilles, on all the blank leaves ; 
 many of mine had some token of his graphic 
 love of those heroes." 
 
 In 1807 he entered as a commoner at Win- 
 chester, afterwards becoming scholar of the college. 
 He was successively under Dr. Goddard, who had 
 great tact in managing boys, and Dr. Gabell, 
 famous for skill in imparting scholarship. 
 
 Dean Stanley says that he was then, as 
 always, of a shy and retiring disposition ; but 
 his manner as a child, and till his entrance at 
 Oxford, was marked by a stiffness and formality 
 the very reverse of the joyousness and simplicity 
 of his later years. His family and schoolfellows 
 both remembered him as unlike those of his 
 own age, and with peculiar pursuits of his 
 own ; and the tone and style of his early 
 letters, which have been for the most part 
 preserved, were such as might naturally have 
 been produced by living chiefly in the company 
 of his elders, and reading, or hearing read to 
 him before he could read himself, books suited 
 to a more advanced age. 
 
304 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 Both as a boy and as a young man, says 
 his biographer, he was remarkable for a tendency 
 to indolence, amounting almost to a constitutional 
 infirmity ; and though his after-life showed how 
 completely this was overcome by habit, yet he 
 often said that early rising was a daily effort 
 to him, and that in this instance he never 
 found the truth of the usual rule of all things 
 being made easy by custom. With this, however, 
 was always united great occasional energy ; and 
 one of his schoolfellows gave it as his impression 
 of him that he was stiff in his opinions, and 
 utterly immovable by force or fraud, when he 
 had made up his mind, whether right or wrong. 
 
 He did not like the Winchester custom of 
 reciting with action. He thought it " un- 
 commonly useless." " What use can it be of," 
 he wrote, "to be able to get up and spout 
 like an Actor? If we were all designed for 
 the Stage, I should think such lessons very 
 necessary ; but as Gentlemen, I do think the 
 whole totally useless. For the only three sorts 
 of Eloquence in Practice in this country are 
 those of the Senate, the Law, and the Pulpit. 
 The Pulpit only requires simple reading, and I 
 apprehend that a person will be but little 
 qualified for the Senate or the Law by having 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 305 
 
 learnt at school to spout Milton and Gray, 
 accompanied with action which is frequently 
 ridiculous. If they would teach their scholars 
 to read, they would be of some service to them ; 
 as it is my firm belief there are not tibove 
 thirty fellows in this school that can read 
 tolerably. Indeed, I think that this neglect 
 of teaching Boys to read is the Reason that 
 we so often see Clergymen in the Pulpit 
 whose reading would disgrace a Child of seven 
 years old." He was evidently somewhat con- 
 fident in his boyish opinions. About reading 
 he was clearly right ; as to the principles of 
 rhetoric and declamation, it is generally acknow- 
 ledged that they are of real importance in the 
 three professions he names. The audience was 
 " Officers, Prebend[arie]s, the Warden, Fellows, 
 Masters, Tutors, and I don't know who besides." 
 " I was drest as follows : Breeches (cords), with 
 their strings tied in my very best manner (bad, 
 I am sure, is the best, you will .say), white 
 cotton stockings, clean shoes, my best blue 
 Waistcoat and best Gown, a clean neckcloth 
 and Band, and hands washed as white as ever 
 Lydia's are ! " 
 
 At Warminster he had read Priestley's Lectures 
 on History ; at Winchester, Russell's Modern 
 
 20 
 
3o6 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 Europe \ and Gibbon and Mitford twice. He 
 thought half Roman history false or scandalously 
 exaggerated, and preferred Herodotus, Thucy- 
 dides, and Xenophon as " modest, unaffected, 
 and impartial." 
 
 In 1811, at the early age of sixteen, he was 
 elected Scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 
 In 1 8 14 he obtained a First Class in Literae 
 Humaniores ; in 181 5 he was elected Fellow 
 of Oriel ; and he gained the Chancellor's prize 
 for the two University Essays in 181 5 and 1817. 
 
 Corpus contained twenty fellows, twenty 
 scholars, four exhibitioners, and six gentlemen 
 commoners. The most distinguished of Arnold's 
 collegiate friends were John Keble and Justice 
 Coleridge. Coleridge says of him: "He was 
 ready to take part in our discussions (in the 
 junior common-room) ; he was fond of con- 
 versation on serious matters, and vehement in 
 argument ; fearless, too, in advancing his opinions 
 ■ — which, to say the truth, often startled us a 
 good deal ; but he was ingenuous and candid ; 
 and though the fearlessness with which, so 
 young as he was, he advanced his opinions 
 might have seemed to betoken presumption, 
 yet the good temper with which he bore retort 
 or rebuke relieved him from that imputation ; 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 307 
 
 he was bold and warm, because, so far as his 
 knowledge went, he saw very clearly, and he 
 was an ardent lover of truth, but I never saw 
 ui him even then a grain of vanity or conceit. 
 . . . In the end a considerable modification of 
 his opinions was produced ; and in one of his 
 letters to me, at a much later period, he 
 mentions this change. . . . He became attached 
 to young men of the most different tastes and 
 intellects, his love for each taking a different 
 colour, more or less blended with respect, 
 fondness, or even humour, according to those 
 differences ; and in return they all uniting in 
 love and respect for him." 
 
 In 181 5 he was elected Fellow of Oriel. 
 Four years he resided on his fellowship, amidst 
 a group of some of the ablest men in the 
 University : Copleston,^ Davison, Whately,^ 
 Keble,^ Hawkins,* Hampden.*' Newman and 
 Pusey were elected soon after he left. 
 
 Arnold felt the same difficulty which most 
 young, ardent, independent, intellectual, and 
 active minds experience, from one point of 
 view or another, in subscribing the large num- 
 ber of propositions contained in the Thirty-nine 
 
 ' Provost, Bishop of Llandaff. ^ Archbishop of Dublin. 
 'I'hc poet. ■* Provosi. Bishop of Hereford. 
 
308 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 Articles, which was a step necessary to Holy 
 Orders. "His was an anxiously inquisitive 
 mind, and a scrupulously conscientious heart. 
 His inquiries, previously to his taking Orders, 
 led him on to distressing doubts on certain 
 points in the Articles ; these were not low nor 
 rationalistic in their tendency, according to the 
 bad sense of that term ; there was no indis- 
 position in him to believe merely because the 
 Articles transcended his reason ; he doubted 
 the proof and the interpretation of the textual 
 authority. His state was very painful, and I 
 think morbid ; for I remarked that the two 
 occasions on which I was privy to his distress 
 were precisely those in which to doubt was 
 against his dearest schemes of worldly happiness, 
 and the consciousness of this seemed to make 
 him distrustful of the arguments which were 
 intended to lead his mind to acquiescence. 
 Upon the first occasion to which I allude he 
 was a Fellow of Oriel, and in close intercourse 
 with one of the friends I have before mentioned, 
 then also a Fellow of the same college. To 
 him, as well as to me, he opened his mind, and 
 from him he received the wisest advice, which 
 he had the wisdom to act upon. He was bid 
 to pause in his inquiries, to pray earnestly for 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 309 
 
 help and light from above, and turn himself 
 more strongly than ever to the practical duties 
 of a holy life. He did so, and through severe 
 trials was finally blessed with perfect peace of 
 mind and a settled conviction."' 
 
 In 1818 he was ordained deacon, and in 1819 
 he settled at Laleham, a quiet village in the 
 valley of the Thames, near Staines, below the 
 heights of Windsor, to take private pupils in 
 preparation for the University. In 1820 he 
 married Mary, daughter of the Rev. John 
 Penrose, and sister of one of his earliest friends. 
 
 His religious principles and life are thus 
 described by Stanley : 
 
 " From this time forward the peculiarities of 
 his boyhood and early youth entirely disappear ; 
 the indolent habits — the morbid restlessness and 
 occasional weariness of duty — the indulgence of 
 vague schemes without definite purpose — the 
 intellectual doubts which beset the first opening 
 of his mind to the realities of religious belief, 
 when he shared at least in part the state of 
 perplexity which in his later sermons he feelingly 
 describes as the severest of earthly trials, and 
 which so endeared to him throughout life the 
 
 Justice Coleridge. 
 
310 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 story of the confession of the Apostle Thomas 
 — all seem to have vanished away, and never 
 again to have diverted him from the decisive 
 choice and energetic pursuit of what he set 
 before him as his end and duty. From this 
 time forward no careful observer can fail to 
 trace that deep consciousness of the invisible 
 world, and that power of bringing it before him 
 in the midst and through the means of his most 
 active engagements, which constituted the pecu- 
 liarity of his religious life, and the moving 
 spring of his whole [existence]. It was not that 
 he frequently introduced sacred names in writing 
 or in conversation, or that he often dwelt on 
 Divine interpositions ; where many would have 
 done so without scruple, he would shrink from 
 it ; and in speaking of his own religious feelings, 
 or in appealing to the religious feelings of others, 
 he was, except to those most intimate with him, 
 exceedingly reserved. But what was true gene- 
 rally of the thorough interpenetration of the 
 several parts of his character was peculiarly 
 true of it in its religious aspect. His natural 
 faculties were not unclothed, but clothed upon ; 
 they were at once coloured by, and gave a colour 
 to, the belief which they received. It was his 
 common acts of life, whether public or private, 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 311 
 
 that most exhibited the depth of his rehgious 
 convictions ; it was in his manner of dwelHng 
 on rehgious subjects that the characteristic ten- 
 dencies of his mind chiefly displayed themselves. 
 
 " Accordingly, whilst it is impossible, for this 
 reason, to understand his religious belief except 
 through the knowledge of his life and writings, 
 it is impossible, on the other hand, to understand 
 his life and writings without bearing in mind how 
 vivid was his realisation of those truths of the 
 Christian revelation on which he most habitually 
 dwelt. It was this that enabled him to undertake 
 labours which, without such a power, must have 
 crushed or enfeebled the spiritual growth which 
 in him they seemed only to foster. It was the 
 keen sense of thankfulness consciously awakened 
 by every distinct instance of his many blessings 
 which, more than anything else, explained his 
 close union of joyousness with seriousness. In 
 his even tenor of life it was difficult for any one 
 who knew him not to imagine ' the golden chain 
 of heavenward thoughts and humble prayers by 
 which, whether standing or sitting, in the in- 
 tervals of work or of amusement, he linked 
 together his more special and solemn devotions ' ; ^ 
 
 Sermons, iii. 277. 
 
ARNOLD 
 
 or not to trace something of the consciousness 
 of an invisible Presence in the collectedness with 
 which, at the call of his common duties, he rose 
 at once from his various occupations ; or in the 
 calm repose which, in tRe midst of his most active 
 labours, took all the disturbing accidents of life 
 as a matter of course, and made toil so real a 
 pleasure and relaxation so real a refreshment to 
 him. And in his solemn and emphatic expres- 
 sions on subjects expressly religious ; in his 
 manner of awful reverence when speaking of 
 God or of the Scriptures ; in his power of 
 realising the operation of something more than 
 human, whether in his abhorrence of evil or 
 in his admiration of goodness, — the impression 
 on those who heard him was often as though 
 he knew what others only believed, as though 
 he had seen what others only talked about. ' No 
 one could know him even a little,' says one who 
 was himself not amongst his most intimate 
 friends, ' and not be struck by his absolute 
 wrestling with evil, so that, like St. Paul, he 
 seemed to be battling with the wicked one, and 
 yet, with the feeling of God's help on his side, 
 scorning as well as hating him.' 
 
 " Above all, it was necessary for a right 
 understanding, not only of his religious opinions. 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 313 
 
 but of his whole character, to enter into the 
 peculiar feeling of love and adoration which he 
 entertained towards our Lord Jesus Christ — 
 peculiar in the distinctness and intensity which, 
 as it characterised almost all his common im- 
 pressions, so in this case gave additional strength 
 and meaning to those feelings with which he 
 regarded not only His work of redemption, but 
 Himself, as a living Friend and Master. ' In 
 that unknown world in which our thoughts 
 become instantly lost,' it was his real support 
 and delight to remember that ' still there is one 
 object on which our thoughts and imaginations 
 may fasten, no less than our affections ; that 
 amidst the light, dark from excess of brilliance, 
 which surrounds the throne of God, we may 
 yet discern the gracious form of the Son of 
 man.' ' In that consciousness which pressed 
 upon him at times even heavily, of the difficulty 
 of considering God in His own nature, believing 
 as he did that ' Providence, the Supreme Being, 
 the Deity, and other such terms repel us to 
 an infinite distance,' and that the revelation 
 of the Father, in Himself unapproachable, is 
 to be looked upon rather as the promise of 
 
 Sermons, iii. 90. 
 
314 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 another life, than as the support of this, it 
 was to him a thought of perhaps more than 
 usual comfort to feel that ' our God ' is ' Jesus 
 Christ our Lord, the image of the invisible 
 God,' and that 'in Him is represented all the 
 fulness of the Godhead, until we know even 
 as we are known.' ^ And with this full con- 
 viction both of his conscience and understanding 
 that He of whom he spoke was 'still the self- 
 same Jesus in all human affections and Divine 
 excellences,' there was a vividness and tenderness 
 in his conception of Him, on which, if one may 
 so say, all his feelings of human affection and 
 friendship seemed to fasten as on their natural 
 object, bringing 'before him His actions, imaging 
 to himself His very voice and look ' — there 
 was to him (so to speak) a greatness in the 
 image thus formed of Him, on which all his 
 natural instincts of reverence, all his range of 
 historical interest, all his admiration of truth and 
 goodness, at once centred. ' Where can we 
 find a man so holy as that we may surrender 
 our whole soul to it, before which obedience, 
 reverence without measure, intense humility, 
 most unreserved adoration, may all be duly 
 
 1 Sermons, v. 222. 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 315 
 
 rendered ? ' was the earnest inquiry of his whole 
 nature, intellectual and moral, no less than 
 religious, and the answer to it in like manner 
 expressed what he endeavoured to make the 
 rule of his own personal conduct, and the 
 centre of all his moral and religious convictions. 
 ' One name there is, and one alone, one alone 
 in heaven and earth — not truth, not justice, not 
 benevolence, not Christ's mother, not His holiest 
 servants, not His blessed sacraments, nor His 
 very mystical body the Church, but Himself 
 only who died for us and rose again, Jesus 
 Christ, both God and man.' ' " 
 
 He had by instinct large wishes as to position 
 and usefulness. " I believe that naturally I am 
 one of the most ambitious men alive ; the three 
 great objects of human ambition " (to which 
 alone one could look as deserving the name) 
 " are to be the prime minister of a great 
 kingdom, the governor of a great empire, or 
 the writer of works which should live in every 
 age and in every country." But he learnt from 
 God that the true aim is to do whatever has 
 to be done as well as it possibly can be achieved. 
 " I have always thought with regard to ambition 
 
 Sertnons, iv. 210. 
 
316 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 that I should like to be aut Ccpsar aut nullus ; 
 and as it is pretty well settled for me that I 
 shall not be Caesar, I am quite content to live 
 in peace as nullus T 
 
 Canon Bartholomew Price, one of his pupils 
 at Laleham, now Master of Pembroke College, 
 Oxford, thus describes the life of the tutor and 
 his pupils : 
 
 " Everything about me I immediately found 
 to be most real ; it was a place where a new- 
 comer at once felt that a great and earnest 
 work was going forward. Dr. Arnold's great 
 power as a private tutor resided in this — that 
 he gave such an intense earnestness to life. 
 Every pupil was made to feel that there was a 
 work for him to do — that his happiness, as well 
 as his duty, lay in doing that work well. Hence 
 an indescribable zest was communicated to a 
 young man's feelings about life ; a strange joy 
 came over him on discovering that he had the 
 means of being useful, and thus of being happy ; 
 and a deep respect and ardent attachment sprang 
 up towards him who had taught him thus to 
 value life and his own self, and his work and 
 mission in the world. . . . Thus pupils of the 
 most different natures were keenly stimulated ; 
 none felt that he was left out, or that, because 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 317 
 
 he was not endowed with large powers of mind, 
 there was no sphere open to him in the honour- 
 able pursuit of usefulness. This wonderful 
 power of making all his pupils respect themselves, 
 and of awakening in them a consciousness of 
 the duties that God had assigned to them per- 
 sonally, and of the consequent reward each 
 should have of his labours, was one of Arnold's 
 most characteristic features as a trainer of youth. 
 His hold over all his pupils, I know, perfectly 
 astonished me. It was not so much an 
 enthusiastic admiration for his genius, or 
 learning, or eloquence that stirred within them ; 
 it was a sympathetic thrill, caught from a spirit 
 that was earnestly at work in the world — whose 
 work was healthy, sustained, and constantly 
 carried forward in the fear of God — a work that 
 was founded on a deep sense of its duty and 
 its value ; and was coupled with such a true 
 humility, such an unaffected simplicity, that 
 others could not help being invigorated by the 
 same feeling and with the belief that they too, 
 in their measure, could go and do likewise." 
 
 After eight happy years at Laleham, where 
 he pursued his favourite study of history, 
 became acquainted with Niebuhr's great work, 
 and published a very striking, original, and 
 
318 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 spiritual volume of sermons, he was elected 
 Headmaster of Rugby in August 1827, on the 
 resignation of Dr. Wooll, who had held the 
 post for twenty-one years. The electors were 
 the twelve Warwickshire gentlemen who formed 
 the body of trustees. He did not send in 
 his application and testimonials till quite late 
 in the competition ; but his recommendations 
 were so strong that he was at once appointed. 
 Dr. Hawkins predicted in his letter that if 
 he were elected to the Headmastership of 
 Rugby he would change the face of education 
 all through the public schools of England. 
 
 The public schools were not at this time in 
 good odour. They were considered hotbeds 
 of vice ; what was taught in them was little 
 but classics ; the religious influence was small, 
 formal, and dry. Bullying and rough manners 
 were universal characteristics. The reforming 
 spirit had begun to investigate every national 
 institution in turn with a view to improve- 
 ment or eradication, and criticism was being 
 turned on the public schools. Arnold came to 
 Rugby determined to make it at all costs a 
 place of Christian education. He relied (i) on 
 the careful selection of his assistant-masters, for 
 character rather than for scholarship ; (2) on 
 
THE ADVOCATE OE LIBERAL THEOLOGY 319 
 
 trusting to the discretion, authority, and loyalty 
 of the sixth form ; (3) on putting all the boys 
 on their honour, and believing what they told 
 him ; (4) on making Christian principle pene- 
 trate every part of the school and its teaching ; 
 (5) on widening the studies, and making the 
 boys take an interest in his own favourite sub- 
 jects, history and geography ; (6) on humanising 
 the punishments, and reserving the more brutal 
 for brutal offences ; (7) on his weekly sermons, 
 when, after three years, he got himself ap- 
 pointed chaplain ; (8) on masters' meetings, held 
 every three weeks, when the affairs of the 
 school and the characters of the boys were 
 freely and frankly discussed ; (9) on asking the 
 parents to remove boys who were either incor- 
 rigible leaders of mischief, incurably thoughtless 
 and idle, or overgrown and stupid, or doing no 
 good to themselves or the school. 
 
 He met at first with great opposition, and 
 was for years attacked and maligned in the 
 local as well as in the London press. This 
 opposition he himself increased by constantly 
 taking part in the Liberal movements of that 
 critical era, and attacking abuses wherever 
 abuses were to be found. He went strongly 
 for Church Reform, and the inclusion of Non- 
 
320 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 conformists ; he wished the Christian State and 
 the Christian Church to be synonymous, and 
 that no infidels or Jews should have any 
 share in national or municipal government. 
 The whole Tory party in Church and State 
 distrusted him, and the extreme Liberals had 
 no sympathy with his desire that all the in- 
 stitutions of the country should be broadly 
 Christian. When he discovered that he could 
 not persuade the founders of the University 
 of London to take this view, he sorrowfully 
 left that body. It was not for many years 
 that the wonderful success of his system at 
 Rugby won for him the trust and popularity 
 that he deserved. 
 
 This is what one of the boys afterwards 
 wrote of his system : 
 
 "He certainly did teach us — thank God for 
 it ! — that we could not cut our life into slices 
 and say, ' In this slice your actions are in- 
 different, and you needn't trouble your heads 
 about them one way or another ; but in this 
 slice mind what you are about, for they are 
 important ' — a pretty muddle we should have 
 been in had he done so. He taught us that 
 in this wonderful world no boy or man can 
 tell which of his actions is indifferent and 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL 2HE0L0GY 321 
 
 which not ; that by a thoughtless word or look 
 we may lead astray a brother for whom Christ 
 died. He taught us that life is a whole, 
 made up of ,eictions, and thoughts, and long- 
 ings, great and small, noble and ignoble ; 
 therefore the only true wisdom for boy or 
 man is to bring the whole life into obedience 
 to Him whose world we live in, and who 
 has purchased us with His blood; and that, 
 whether we e^it or drink, or whatsoever we 
 do, we are to do all in His name and to 
 His glory." 
 
 This is the prayer which he used daily 
 with the sixth form, before the first lesson : 
 
 " O Lord, who by Thy holy Apostle hast 
 taught us to do all things in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus, and to Thy glory, give Thy 
 blessing, we pray Thee, to this our daily 
 work, that we may do it in faith and heartily, 
 as to the Lord, and not unto men. All our 
 powers of body and mind are Thine, and we 
 would fain devote them to Thy service. 
 Sanctify them and the work in which they are 
 engaged ; let us not be slothful, but fervent 
 in spirit ; and do Thou, O Lord, so bless our 
 efforts that they may bring forth in us the 
 fruits of true wisdom. Strengthen the faculties 
 
 2 1 
 
322 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 of our minds, and dispose us to exert them, 
 but let us always remember to exert them for 
 Thy glory, and for the furtherance of Thy 
 kingdom ; and save us from all pride and 
 vanity, and reliance upon our own power or 
 wisdom. Teach us to seek after truth, and 
 enable us to gain it ; but grant that we may 
 ever speak the truth in love — that while we 
 know earthly things, we may know Thee, 
 and be known by Thee, through and in Thy 
 Son Jesus Christ. Give us this day Thy 
 Holy Spirit, that we may be Thine in body 
 and spirit, in all our work and all our re- 
 freshments, through Jesus Christ Thy Son, 
 our Lord. Amen." 
 
 He could be very severe when things went 
 wrong. " The monthly examinations, lasting 
 ' for one long, awful hour,' were looked forward 
 to with dread by boys who had been idle or 
 careless about their work. Such a scene has 
 been graphically described by the pen of the 
 ' Old Boy ' to whom we owe so many descrip- 
 tive touches of Dr. Arnold at Rugby. He tells 
 us of the boys ' being all seated round, and 
 the Doctor standing in the middle, talking in 
 whispers to the master,' then ' of the Doctor's 
 under-lip coming out, and his eye beginning to 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 323 
 
 burn, and his gown getting gathered up more 
 and more tightly in his left hand.' No doubt 
 he had not heard a good report of the work 
 of the form, and a boy who looked up from 
 his book for a moment saw the Doctor's face 
 looking so awful that he ' wouldn't have met 
 his eye for all he was worth, and buried himself 
 in his book again.' " 
 
 His manner with the sixth is thus described 
 by Dean Stanley : 
 
 " The recollections of the Headmaster of 
 Rugby are inseparable from the recollections 
 of the personal guide and friend of his scholars. 
 They will at once recall those little traits which, 
 however minute in themselves, will to them 
 suggest a lively image of his whole manner. 
 They will remember the glance with which he 
 looked round in the few moments of silence 
 before the lesson began, and which seemed to 
 speak his sense of his own position, and of 
 theirs also, as the heads of a great school ; the 
 attitude in which he stood turning over the 
 pages of his book, with his eye fixed upon 
 the boy who was pausing to give an answer ; 
 the well-known changes of his voice and manner, 
 so faithfully representing the feeling within ; 
 the pleased look and the cheerful ' Thank you ' 
 
324 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 which followed upon a successful answer or 
 translation ; the fall of his countenance, with 
 its deepening severity, the stern elevation of 
 the eyebrows, the sudden ' Sit down ! ' which 
 followed upon the reverse ; the courtesy and 
 almost deference to the boys, as to his equals 
 in society, so long as there was nothing to 
 disturb the friendliness of their relation ; the 
 startling earnestness with which he would check 
 in a moment the slightest approach to levity 
 or impertinence ; the confidence with which he 
 addressed them in his half-yearly exhortations ; 
 the expressions of delight with which, when 
 they had been doing well, he would say it 
 was a constant pleasure to him to come into 
 the library." 
 
 Here is a description of the memorable 
 Sunday afternoons in Rugby Chapel by the 
 sympathetic author of Tom Browns School 
 Days : 
 
 " More worthy pens than mine have de- 
 scribed that scene. The oak pulpit standing 
 out by itself above the school-seats ; the tall, 
 gallant form, the kindling eyes, the voice (now 
 soft as the low notes of a flute, now clear and 
 stirring as the call of the light infantry bugle) 
 of him who stood there Sunday after Sunday, 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 325 
 
 witnessing and pleading for his Lord, the King 
 of righteousness, and love, and glory, with 
 whose Spirit he was filled, and in whose 
 power he spoke ; the long lines of young faces, 
 rising tier above tier down the whole length 
 of the chapel — from the little boy's who had 
 just left his mother to the young man's who 
 was going out next week into the great world, 
 rejoicing in his strength. It was a great and 
 solemn sight, and never more so than at this 
 time of year (November), when the only lights 
 in the chapel were in the pulpit and at the 
 seats of the praepostors of the week, and the 
 soft twilight stole over the rest of the chapel, 
 deepening into darkness in the high gallery 
 behind the organ. 
 
 " But what was it, after all, which seized 
 and held these three hundred boys, dragging 
 them out of themselves, willing or unwilling, 
 for twenty minutes, on Sunday afternoons 
 True, there always were boys scattered up and 
 down the school who in heart and head were 
 worthy to hear and able to carry away the 
 deepest and wisest words there spoken ; but 
 these were a minority always, generally a very 
 small one. often so small an one as to be 
 countable on the fingers of your hand, What 
 
326 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 was it that moved and held us, the rest of the 
 three hundred reckless, childish boys, who feared 
 the Doctor with all our hearts, and very little 
 besides in heaven and earth ; who thought 
 more of our sets in the school than of the 
 Church of Christ, and put the traditions of 
 Rugby and the public opinion of boys in our 
 daily life above the laws of God ? We couldn't 
 enter into half that we heard ; we hadn't the 
 knowledge of our own hearts, or the knowledge 
 of one another ; and little enough of the faith, 
 hope, and love needed to that end. But we 
 listened, as all boys in their better moods will 
 listen (ay, and men too, for the matter of that), 
 to a man whom we felt to be, with all his 
 heart and soul and strength, striving against 
 whatever was mean and unmanly and un- 
 righteous in our litde world. It was not the 
 cold, clear voice of one giving advice and 
 warning from serene heights to those who 
 were struggling and sinning below, but the 
 warm, living voice of one who was fighting 
 for us and by our sides, and calling on us to 
 help him and ourselves and one another. And 
 so, wearily and litde by little, but surely and 
 steadily on the whole, was brought home to 
 the young boy, for the first time, the meaning 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 327 
 
 of his life ; that it was no fool's or sluggard's 
 paradise into which he had wandered by chance, 
 but a battle-field ordained from of old, where 
 there are no spectators, but the youngest must 
 take his side, and the stakes are life and death. 
 And he who roused this consciousness in them 
 showed them at the same time, by every word 
 he spoke in the pulpit and by his M'hole daily 
 life, how that battle was to be fought, and stood 
 there before them their fellow-soldier and the 
 captain of their band. The true sort of captain, 
 too, for a boys' army ; one who had no mis- 
 givings and gave no uncertain word of command, 
 and, let who would yield or make truce, would 
 fight the fight out (so every boy felt) to the 
 last gasp and the last drop of blood. Other 
 sides of his character might take hold of and 
 influence boys here and there, but it was this 
 thoroughness and undaunted courage which, 
 more than anything else, won his way to the 
 hearts of the great mass of those on whom he 
 left his mark, and made them believe — first in 
 him, and then in his Master." 
 
 This is a description of how he would help 
 a boy who had difficulties about offering himself 
 for Confirmation : 
 
 "Well, I just told him all about it. You 
 
328 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 can't think how kind and gentle he was, the 
 great grim man whom I've feared more than 
 anybody on earth. When I stuck, he hfted 
 me just as if I'd been a little child. And he 
 seemed to know all I'd felt, and to have gone 
 through it all. And I burst out crying — more 
 than I've done this five years ; and he sat 
 down by me, and stroked my head ; and I went 
 blundering on, and told him all;] much worse 
 things than I've told you. And he wasn't 
 shocked a bit, and didn't snub me, or tell me 
 I was a fool, and it was all nothing but pride 
 or wickedness, though I daresay it was. And 
 he didn't tell me not to follow out my thoughts, 
 and he didn't give me any cut-and-dried ex- 
 planation. But when I'd done, he just talked 
 a bit — I can hardly remember what he said, 
 yet ; but it seemed to spread round me like 
 healing, and strength, and light ; and to bear 
 me up, and plant me on a rock, where I could 
 hold my footing and fight for myself I don't 
 know what to do, I feel so happy." 
 
 That is a description from "Tom Brown"; 
 this is what an actual pupil wrote of him : 
 
 "I am sure that I do not exaggerate my 
 feelings when I say that I felt a love and 
 reverence for him as one of quite awful great- 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 329 
 
 ness and goodness, for whom I well remember 
 that I used to think I would gladly lay down 
 my life. ... I used to believe that I, too, had 
 a work to do for him in the school, and did 
 for his sake labour to raise the tone of the 
 set I lived in, particularly as regarded himself." 
 And he himself said : 
 
 " I am trying to establish something of a 
 friendly intercourse with the sixth form by 
 asking them, in succession, in parties of four, 
 to dinner with us, and I have them each sepa- 
 rately up into my room to look over their 
 exercises," 
 
 And after speaking of his hope to rule by 
 gentle methods, he adds : 
 
 " I have seen great boys, six feet high, shed 
 tears when I have sent for them up into my 
 room and spoken to them quietly, in private, 
 for not knowing their lesson, and I have found 
 that this treatment produced its effects after- 
 wards in making them do better." 
 
 This is the kind of ideal he had for the 
 teaching office : 
 
 " The qualifications which I deem essential 
 to the due performance of a master's duties 
 here may, in brief, be expressed as the spirit 
 of a Christian and a gentleman ; that a man 
 
330 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 should enter upon his business ... as a sub- 
 stantive and most important duty ; that he 
 should devote himself to it as the especial 
 branch of the ministerial calling which he has 
 chosen to follow ; that, belonging to a great 
 public institution, and standing in a public and 
 conspicuous situation, he should study things 
 ' lovely and of good report ' — that is, that he 
 should be public-spirited, liberal, and entering 
 heartily into the interest, honour, and general 
 respectability and distinction of the society 
 which he has joined ; and that he should 
 have sufficient vigour of mind and thirst for 
 knowledge to persist in adding to his own 
 stores, without neglecting the full improvement 
 of those whom he is teaching. I think our 
 masterships here offer a noble field of duty, and 
 I would not bestow them on any one whom I 
 thought would undertake them without entering 
 into the spirit of our system heart and hand." 
 
 The following passages, written at different 
 times, show the depth and strength of his feel- 
 ing of responsibility for the moral and religious 
 health of the boys : 
 
 August 1830. — " Last half-year I preached 
 every Sunday in Lent, and for the last five 
 Sundays of the half-year also, besides other 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 331 
 
 times ; and I had to write new sermons for 
 all these, for I cannot bear to preach to the 
 boys anything but what is quite fresh, and 
 suggested by their particular condition. I never 
 like preaching anywhere else so well ; for one's 
 boys are even more than a parish, inasmuch 
 as one knows more of them all individually 
 than can easily be the case in a parish, and has 
 double authority over them — temporal as well 
 as spiritual. . . . 
 
 "It is quite awful, though, to watch the 
 strength of evil in such young minds, and how 
 powerless is every effort against it. It would 
 give the vainest man alive a very fair notion 
 of his own insufficiency to see how little he 
 can do, and how his most earnest addresses 
 are as a cannon-ball on a bolster; thorough 
 careless unimpressibleness beats one all to 
 pieces. And so it is, and so it will be ; and 
 as far as I am concerned, I can quite say that 
 it is much better that it should be so ; for it 
 would be too kindling, could one perceive 
 these young minds really led from evil by one's 
 own efforts ; one would be sorely tempted to 
 bow down to one's own net. As it is, the net 
 is so palpably ragged that one sees perforce 
 how sorry an idol it would make." 
 
332 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 November 1838. — " Here, thank God, I have 
 not suffered from faiHng health, but I have 
 been much annoyed with the moral evils which 
 have come under my notice. And then a great 
 school is very trying. It never can present 
 images of rest and peace ; and when the spring 
 and activity of youth is altogether unsanctified 
 by anything pure and elevated in its desires, 
 it becomes a spectacle that is as dizzying and 
 almost more morally distressing than the shouts 
 and gambols of a set of lunatics. It is very 
 startling to see so much of sin combined with 
 so little of sorrow. In a parish amongst the 
 poor, whatever of sin exists, there is sure also 
 to be enough of suffering ; poverty, sickness, 
 and old age are .mighty tamers and chastisers. 
 But with boys of the richer classes one sees 
 nothing but plenty, health, and youth ; and 
 these are really awful to behold when one must 
 feel that they are unblessed. On the other 
 hand, few things are more beautiful than when 
 one does see all holy and noble thoughts and 
 principles, not the forced growth of pain or 
 infirmity or privation, but springing up as by 
 God s immediate planting, in a sort of garden of 
 all that is fresh and beautiful ; full of so much 
 hope for this world, as well as for heaven." 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 333 
 
 In 1 84 1 he was appointed Professor of Modern 
 History at Oxford, a post in which he greatly 
 delighted : but in June 1842 he was suddenly 
 called away by the same disease which had 
 carried off his father, angina pectoris. He was 
 conscious for some hours, and his end was very 
 touching and beautiful. Its effect is thus described 
 by the late Judge Hughes. " Tom Brown " has 
 hurried from Scotland to Rugby at the news, 
 and has thrown himself on the turf in the close, 
 half expecting to see the Doctor's private door 
 open, and the revered figure in cap and gown 
 come striding under the elm trees towards him : 
 
 " No, no ! that sight could never be seen 
 again. There was no flag flying on the round 
 tower ; the school-house windows were all 
 shuttered up ; and when the flag went up again, 
 and the shutters came down, it would be to 
 welcome a stranger. All that was left on earth 
 of him whom he had honoured was lying cold 
 and still under the chapel floor. He would 
 go in and see the place once more. ... So 
 he got up, and walked to the chapel door and 
 unlocked it, passed through the vestibule, and 
 then paused for a moment to glance over the 
 empty benches ; then he walked up to the seat 
 which he had last occupied as a sixth-form 
 
334 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 boy, and sat himself down there to collect his 
 thoughts. 
 
 " And, truth to tell, they needed collecting 
 and setting in order not a little. The memories 
 of eight years were all dancing through his 
 brain, and carrying him about whither they 
 would ; while beneath them all his heart was 
 throbbing with the dull sense of a loss that 
 could never be made up to him. The rays 
 of the evening sun came solemnly through the 
 painted windows above his head, and fell in 
 gorgeous colours on the opposite wall ; and 
 the perfect stillness soothed his spirit by little 
 and little. And he turned to the pulpit, and 
 looked at it, and then, leaning forward with 
 his head on his hands, groaned aloud, ' If he 
 could only have seen the Doctor again for 
 one five minutes — have told him all that was 
 in his heart, what he owed to him, how he 
 loved and reverenced him, and would by God's 
 help follow his steps in life and death — he 
 could have borne it all without a murmur. 
 But that he should have gone away for ever 
 without knowing it all was too much to bear.' 
 ' But am I sure that he does not know it all ? 
 The thought made him start. ' May he not 
 even now be near me, in this very chapel ? 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 335 
 
 If he be, am I sorrowing as he would have 
 me sorrow — as I should wish to have sorrowed 
 when I shall meet him again ? ' 
 
 " He raised himself up and looked round ; 
 and after a minute rose and walked humbly 
 down to the lowest bench, and sat down on 
 the very seat which he had occupied on his first 
 Sunday at Rugby. And then the old memories 
 rushed back again, but softened and subdued, 
 and soothing him as he let himself be carried 
 away by them. And he looked up at the great 
 painted window above the altar, and remembered 
 how, when a little boy, he used to try not to 
 look through it at the elm trees and the rooks, 
 before the painted glass came ; and the sub- 
 scription for the painted glass, and the letter 
 he wrote home for money to give to it ; and 
 there, down below, was the very name of the 
 boy who sat on his right hand on that first 
 day, scratched rudely in the oak panelling. 
 
 " And then came the thought of all his old 
 schoolfellows ; and form after form of boys — 
 nobler, and braver, and purer than he — rose 
 up and seemed to rebuke him. Could he not 
 think of them, and what they had felt and 
 were feeling ; they who had honoured and 
 loved from the first the man whom he had 
 
336 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 taken years to know and love ? Could he 
 not think of those yet dearer to him who were 
 gone, who bore his name and shared his 
 blood, and were now without a husband and 
 father ? Then the grief, which he began to 
 share with others, became gentle and holy, and 
 he rose up once more, and walked up the 
 steps to the altar ; and, while the tears flowed 
 freely down his cheeks, knelt down humbly and 
 hopefully, to lay down there his share of a 
 burden which had proved itself too heavy for 
 him to bear in his own strength. Here let us 
 leave him. Where better could we leave him 
 than at the altar before which he had first 
 caught a glimpse of the glory of his birthright, 
 and felt the drawing of the bond which links 
 all living souls together in one brotherhood — 
 at the grave beneath the altar of him who had 
 opened his eyes to see that glory, and softened 
 his heart till it could feel that bond ? " 
 
 In 1 850, eight years after Dr. Arnold's death, his 
 successor, Dr. Tait (afterwards Bishop of London 
 and Archbishop of Canterbury), thus writes on 
 leaving Rugby for the Deanery of Carlisle : 
 
 " I cannot but remember at this time who 
 was my predecessor in the place where these 
 sermons were preached, and what memorials 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 337 
 
 he has left of the wise and earnest spirit in 
 which he strove to guide those whom his 
 death left under my care. I wish to take this 
 opportunity of testifying how great the religious 
 work was which he had accomplished ; how 
 little remained for his successor but to labour 
 if by any means he might maintain it. . . . 
 Finally, for all connected with the school I can 
 scarcely have a better prayer than that they 
 may be enabled always to love Christ and 
 truth and goodness with the simplicity of 
 Dr. Arnold, and that as years advance they 
 may grow in the power of tempering zeal with 
 charity, and in those gradually deepening feelings 
 of a spiritual mind which the later volumes of 
 his sermons so remarkably unfold." 
 
 One of the most beautiful tributes of filial 
 affection is the poem called Rugby Chapel, by' 
 Matthew Arnold. A few passages from those 
 stirring lines may fitly close this sketch : 
 
 " O strong soul, by what shore 
 Tarriest thou now ? P'or that force 
 Surely has not been left vain ! 
 Somewhere, surely, afar 
 In the sounding labour-house vast 
 Of being is practised that strength 
 Zealous, beneficent, firm. 
 
338 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 Yes, in some far shining sphere 
 Still thou performest the word 
 Of the spirit in whom thou dost live- 
 Prompt, unwearied, as here ! 
 Still thou upraisest with zeal 
 The humble good from the ground, 
 Sternly repressest the bad ! 
 Succourest ! This was thy work, 
 This Vvas thy life upon earth. 
 
 * » * » * 
 
 And there are some whom a thirst 
 Ardent, unquenchable fires — 
 Not with the crowd to be spent, 
 Not without aim to go round 
 In an eddy of purposeless dust — 
 Effort unmeaning and vain. 
 
 Thou wouldst not alone 
 Be saved, my father ! alone 
 Conquer and come to thy goal. 
 Leaving the rest in the wild. 
 
 ^\'e were weary, and we 
 Fearful, and we in our march 
 Fain to drop down and to die. 
 Still thou turnedst, and still 
 Beckonedst the trembling, and still 
 Gavest the weary thy hand. 
 If in the paths of the world 
 Stones might have wounded thy feet. 
 Toil or dejection have tried 
 Thy spirit, of that we saw 
 Nothing — to us thou wast still 
 Cheerful, and helpful, and firm, 
 
THE ADVOCATE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY 339 
 
 Therefore to thee it was given 
 Many to save with thyself, 
 And at the end of thy day, 
 
 0 faithful shepherd ! to come 
 Bringing thy sheep in thy hand. 
 ***** 
 
 1 believe that there lived 
 Others like thee in the past, 
 Fervent, heroic, and good 
 Helpers and friends of mankind. 
 Servants of God ! or sons 
 Shall I not call you ? because 
 Not as servants ye knew 
 
 Your P\ather's innermost mind — 
 His, who unwillingly sees 
 One of His little ones lost — 
 Yours is the praise, if mankind 
 Hath not as yet in its march 
 Fainted, and fallen, and died. 
 
 Then, in such hour of need 
 
 Of your fainting, dispirited race, 
 
 Ye like angels appear 
 
 Radiant with ardour divine ! 
 
 Beacons of hope ye appear ! 
 
 Languor is not in your heart ! 
 
 Weakness is not in your word ! 
 
 Weariness not on your brow ! 
 
 Ye alight in our van ! at your voice 
 
 Pain, despair, flee away ! 
 
 Ye move through the ranks, recall 
 
 The stragglers, refresh the outworn, 
 
 Praise, reinspire the brave ! 
 
 Order, courage return ! 
 
340 
 
 ARNOLD 
 
 Eyes rekindling and prayers 
 Follow your steps as ye go ! 
 Ye fill up the gaps in our files, 
 Strengthen the wavering line, 
 Stablish, continue our march 
 On ! to the bound of the waste ! 
 On ! to the City of God ! " 
 
 S 
 
XII 
 
 r AIT 
 
 THE WISE RULER 
 
 ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL TAIT was 
 born on December 21st, 181 1, in Park 
 Place, Edinburgh, now the site of the new 
 University buildings. His father, , Crauford 
 Tait, Writer to the Signet, and afterwards 
 Sheriff, belonged to an estimable family of 
 "bonnet lairds," the Taits of Ludquharn, in 
 Aberdeenshire. Crauford's father, John, had 
 been Episcopalian, but was brought over by 
 his wife to the Established Church of Scot- 
 land. Crauford married Susan, daughter of 
 Sir Hay Campbell, Lord President of the 
 Court of Session, who held the highest judicial 
 office in Scotland. 
 
 Archie was born club-footed, and his good 
 and gentle mother died suddenly when he was 
 three years old. His health needed the greatest 
 care, and this was ably given by an experi- 
 
 141 
 
342 
 
 TAIT 
 
 enced old Scottish nurse, of kind heart, strict 
 discipline, and rigid principles, named Betty- 
 Morton. When he was seven, his eldest 
 married sister, Susan, Lady Sitwell, of Reni- 
 shaw, Derbyshire, insisted that he and an 
 elder brother, Campbell, who had a shrunk 
 leg, should be sent with Betty Morton to 
 Whitworth, near Rochdale, in Lancashire, to 
 be treated by a noted bone-setter, named 
 Taylor. Both boys were perfectly cured. 
 
 In October 1821 Archie was admitted to 
 the celebrated High School of Edinburgh, 
 which was under Dr. Carson, with seven 
 hundred boys. Here his progress was remark- 
 ably rapid. In 1824 his father removed him 
 to the Edinburgh Academy, then newly 
 founded for the promotion of classical educa- 
 tion in Scotland. The first headmaster was 
 the famous scholar John Williams, afterwards 
 Archdeacon of Cardigan. Archie proved a 
 brilliant and successful pupil ; on Exhibition 
 Day, 1827, Lord Cockburn, who gave away 
 the prizes, concluded his address of congratu- 
 lation to him as Dux, and winner of six of 
 the foremost competitions, by the words, " Go 
 forth, young man, and remember that wherever 
 you go the eyes of your country are upon you." 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 343 
 
 That year Tait matriculated in the Univer- 
 sity of Glasgow. The principal was Dr. Mac- 
 farlane, the leading professor (Greek) was 
 Daniel Sandford, and there were about twelve 
 hundred students. Of Sandford, Tait said : 
 " He possessed in a wonderful degree the 
 power of quickening into life the latent intellect 
 of his pupils. That he inspired and kept alive 
 the spirit of absolute enthusiasm which stimu- 
 lated a class of three hundred not very clever 
 lads to press forward in their studies, as in a 
 race, is no slight evidence of the ability and 
 character of the man. To him and to Arch- 
 deacon Williams I owe more than to any other 
 teachers." Betty Morton took charge of Tait's 
 lodgings near the Old College, and was firm 
 in repelling friends who wished to intrude on 
 hours of study. 
 
 His father, whose financial affairs were in a 
 state of great difficulty, wrote him numerous 
 acute and interesting letters of instruction and 
 advice, encouraging him in the habit of writing 
 a journal, in which the Archbishop found great 
 advantage throughout his life. The neighbour- 
 hood of Garscube, the family place of his uncle, 
 Sir Archibald Campbell, gave an agreeable 
 variety to the life of the hard-working student ; 
 
344 
 
 TAIT 
 
 Sir Archibald was hospitable to the college 
 professors and the best college society. After 
 a brilliant career at Glasgow, the professors 
 finally elected him as one of the exhibitioners 
 from Glasgow to Balliol College, Oxford, on 
 the foundation of John Snell, of the date 1679. 
 
 From a certain seriousness of demeanour 
 even from childhood, from the age of six Tait 
 was called in the family "The little bishop"; 
 but he was first brought back to the Episco- 
 palian creed of his grandfather, John Tait, by 
 his cousin, Ramsay Campbell, of Garscube, 
 son of Sir Archibald, one of the companions 
 of his boyhood in Edinburgh, with whom he 
 attended St. John's Episcopal Church, at the 
 end of Prince's Street, then under the pastorate 
 of Bishop Sandford. Writing in 1879, the 
 Archbishop thus refers to his first strong con- 
 viction of faith : " The earliest recollection I 
 have of a deep religious impression made on 
 my mind has often since recurred to me with 
 a vividness of having heard a voice from 
 above. I suppose I must have been some ten 
 or twelve years old. I had ridden over with 
 my brother Crauford from Harviestoun " (their 
 country home) " to Glendevon, to visit old 
 Miss Rutherford, and stayed the night in her 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 345 
 
 house. I distinctly remember, in the middle 
 of the night, awaking with a deep impression 
 on my mind of the reality and nearness of 
 the world unseen, such as, through God's 
 mercy, has never since left me. I have fallen 
 into many sins of omission and commission ; 
 I have had many evil desires, and have grati- 
 fied them ; but this sense of the reality of the 
 world unseen has remained with me through 
 God's mercy. What the value of the impres- 
 sion was it is difficult to say ; but that it was 
 made by God the Holy Ghost working on 
 my soul I have no doubt. O Lord, give me 
 grace to preserve it to the end ; and may 
 that guiding and guarding Spirit of holiness 
 and purity, from whom I believe it came, ever 
 be with me, to give me an unfeigned repent- 
 ance for the sins which have defaced the holy 
 image of God in my soul, and worked on my 
 natural corruption, leading me into evil ! O 
 Lord, keep me to the end, washing me in 
 Christ's blood, and making me fit for that 
 glorious and holy presence which at that early 
 age I faintly realised ! " 
 
 As soon as his residence at Balliol began, 
 Tait applied to his tutor, Mr. Moberly (after- 
 wards Bishop of Salisbury) as a candidate for 
 
346 
 
 TAIT 
 
 Confirmation, and, after being duly prepared, re- 
 ceived the laying on of hands from the Bishop 
 of Oxford. He had not been a month in the 
 college before he won the Balliol scholarship, 
 the greatest distinction open to new-comers. 
 Even in these early days his character stood 
 so high, his ability and good sense were so 
 marked, and his habits were so serious and 
 grave, that "at least a score of references" to 
 the probability of his becoming Archbishop 
 of Canterbury " might be culled from the corre- 
 spondence of his early years, and from the 
 recollections of his friends." It became a sort 
 of recognised quiet pleasantry, a familiar touch 
 of dry humour, in the home circle. '' On his 
 first visit to London he came in one evening 
 from a walk. ' Where have you been to, 
 Archie ? ' he was asked. ' Walking through 
 Lambeth,' he replied. 'Through Lambeth!' 
 was the astonished answer ; ' why, whatever 
 possessed you to walk in Lambeth ? ' ' Well, 
 I wanted to see how I shall like the place 
 when I get there.' " A few years later, after 
 the burning of the Houses of Parliament, one 
 of his friends wrote to him (October 21st. 
 1834): "I was seriously alarmed that I should 
 have had to conununicate to you the intelli- 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 347 
 
 gence that your palace at Lambeth was burned 
 to the ground. It gives me great pleasure, 
 however, to be able to state that the only 
 serious loss that you have incurred consists 
 in the total destruction by fire of the Bishops' 
 Bench in the House of Lords." And when 
 Tait and some friends were on a reading-party 
 in 1833 at Seaton, in Devonshire, a local 
 Nonconformist minister, describing them each 
 in a poem, wrote : 
 
 "And if Lavater rightly has defined, 
 From sign external, features of the mind, 
 He whom near yonder chfif we see recline 
 A mitred prelate may hereafter shine ; 
 That youth who seems exploring nature's laws 
 An ermined judge may win deserved applause." 
 
 The one was Tait, the other Roundell Palmer. 
 
 In 1832 Tait was inexpressibly grieved by 
 the sudden death of his father, with whom he 
 had always been on terms of most affectionate 
 and intimate friendship. In 1833 obtained 
 a first class in Classics, a few months after 
 Keble had begun the Tractarian movement 
 by his Assize Sermon, and returned to Edin- 
 burgh, where he attended the deathbed of the 
 faithful old nurse Betty Morton. " Grant," 
 he wrote in his diary twelve years later, " that 
 
348 
 
 TAIT 
 
 no length of years may make me forget what 
 I owe to Thee for having given me in infancy 
 and childhood, when motherless and helpless, 
 so good and kind a friend." 
 
 After taking pupils, travelling abroad with 
 his friend Oakeley (afterwards the Roman 
 Catholic Canon), and other congenial pursuits, 
 he was elected Fellow of Balliol in 1834, 
 the same day as William George Ward, the 
 eccentric Tractarian, and subsequently Roman 
 Catholic Professor. " Do I feel sufficiently 
 the weighty responsibility which has devolved 
 on me, to use my utmost exertions that the 
 increased means placed in my hands may be 
 made subservient in all things to God's glory, 
 the good of my fellow-men and of my own soul ? 
 O God, do Thou enable me to keep these 
 things more in view ! . . . I have now not 
 even the poor excuse of being forced to spend 
 so much of my time in worldly concerns. 
 Henceforward my worldly business, as well as 
 my Christian duty, is God's service." 
 
 In 1835 he succeeded to Moberly's tutorship 
 at Balliol. Of older pupils he had Arthur 
 Stanley, James Lonsdale, and Wickens (after- 
 wards Vice-Chancellor) ; of younger, Walde- 
 grave (afterwards Bishop of Carlisle), Goulburn 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 349 
 
 (afterwards Dean of Norwich), Lake (Dean 
 of Durham), Sir Benjamin Brodie, Jowett, and 
 Hugh Pearson (Canon of Windsor). 
 
 On Trinity Sunday 1836 he was ordained 
 deacon by Bishop Bagot, of Oxford, the sermon 
 being preached by his beloved friend Oakeley. 
 " To-morrow will see me an ordained minister 
 of Christ, bound to labour in season and out 
 of season for the good of souls. O God, give 
 me strength, by Thy grace, never for one in- 
 stant to lose sight of my spiritual duties to my 
 pupils ! Some of them are more fitted to teach 
 me in heavenly things than I to teach them. 
 ... I must live more a life of prayer. I must 
 pray for them. ... I rejoice in the prospect that 
 to-morrow I shall be authorised, bound, to teach 
 and exhort. I trust there is no presumption 
 in saying that my dedication to the ministry 
 is prompted by the Holy Ghost. O God, 
 give me a greater measure of Thy Spirit ; 
 enable me to labour in Thy service, giving 
 myself wholly to it!" For five years he was 
 also the earnest and devoted curate of Baldon, 
 five miles from Oxford. 
 
 In 1838 his friends tried much to persuade 
 him to stand first for the Chair of Moral 
 Philosophy, and then for that of Greek, at the 
 
350 
 
 TAIT 
 
 University of Glasgow. Many Episcopalians 
 had held such professorships ; all that was re- 
 quired of them was subscription to the West- 
 minster Confession of Faith. Though strongly 
 pressed, Tait remained firm, and withdrew from 
 the contest. 
 
 In 1839 he spent three months at the 
 University of Bonn, becoming intimately ac- 
 quainted with the German language, literature, 
 and professors. About this time he began to 
 take a spiritual charge of the college servants 
 — an effort thus recorded : "I have spent much 
 of this day in prayer, though I fear it has 
 come too little from the heart. I have begun 
 to-day a most important work in the teaching 
 of the boys amongst the college servants. O 
 God, send Thy blessing on this endeavour. 
 Above all, lead my own heart right, or how 
 can I teach others ? Lord, I thank Thee that 
 Thou hast smoothed the way for carrying out 
 this plan for the college servants. . . . Grant 
 Thy Spirit to teacher and taught, that it may 
 not all end in dead formality." 
 
 Principal Shairp thus describes his power as 
 a college tutor: "He was by far the most 
 influential of the then Balliol tutors. ... He 
 was the Master's Prime Minister, on whom he 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 351 
 
 leant, to whom he looked for advice and support 
 with absolute confidence. . . . The other tutors 
 all felt there was in Tait a manliness and sense 
 and a weight of character to which they could 
 not but defer. The undergraduates all respected 
 and liked him. They felt there was no getting 
 round him. His shrewdness, his dry and not 
 unkindly humour, were too much for them ; 
 and if any one, more forward than the rest, 
 tried to cross swords with him, he had in his 
 calm presence of mind an impregnable defence." 
 
 His attitude to the Tractarian movement was 
 defined in 1838 in a letter about the Glasgow 
 professorship : " There is a party in this Uni- 
 versity who have become somewhat famous of 
 late {vide the last Edinburgh Review), persons 
 who hold extremely High Church doctrines 
 about episcopal authority, and who regard the 
 Kirk of Scotland as the synagogue of Baal. 
 With these it would be peculiarly hard if I 
 were at all identified on the present occasion, 
 as I have spent my breath and influence for 
 a long time back in protesting against their 
 (what I conceive to be) most dangerous and 
 superstitious opinions." And Principal Shairp 
 wrote : "His Scotch nature and education, his 
 Whig principles, and, I may add, the evangelical 
 
TAIT 
 
 views he had imbibed, were wholly antipathetic 
 to this movement ; so entirely antipathetic that 
 I do not think he ever, from first to last, caught 
 a glimpse of the irresistible attraction it had 
 for younger and more ardent natures, or of the 
 charm which encircled the leaders of it, especially 
 the character of John Henry Newman. To his 
 downright common sense the whole movement 
 seemed nonsense, or at least the madness of 
 incipient Popery. Evening by evening, in 
 Balliol common-room, he held strenuous debate 
 with Ward, who was a champion of the new 
 opinions. To Tait's stout reassertion of the 
 old Protestant fundamentals, momentum was 
 added by his high personal character and the 
 respect in which he was universally held." 
 
 Tait's view was accurate. " There was about 
 this time a considerable accession to the ranks 
 of the party of men with directly Romish 
 sympathies. . . . Mr. Ward's party commenced 
 its action with a new and startling programme. 
 . . . Rome was directly looked on by them 
 as in many respects the practical model ; 
 the Reformation was a deadly sin ; restoration 
 to the Papal communion the ideal — even if 
 unattainable — aim" {Ward and the Oxford 
 Moveiucnt\ 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 353 
 
 In February 1841 the celebrated Tract XC. 
 was published by Newman, with the view of 
 enabling his followers to hold the Thirty-nine 
 Articles of the Church of England in a Rome- 
 ward sense. A calm and strong protest was 
 issued by Tait, in conjunction with three other 
 tutors — Churton of Brasenose, Wilson of St. 
 John's, and Griffiths of Wadham. The result 
 was that the Hebdomadal Board resolved " that 
 modes of interpretation, such as are suggested 
 in the said tract, evading rather than explaining 
 the sense of the Thirty-nine Articles, and 
 reconciling subscription to them with the adop- 
 tion of errors which they were designed to 
 counteract, defeat the object, and are incon- 
 sistent with the due observance of the above- 
 mentioned statutes." The Bishop of Oxford 
 recommended that the series should be dis- 
 continued, and the Tracts came to an end. 
 
 This is Tail's view of Newman's character : 
 " I have always regarded him as having a 
 strange duality of mind : on the one side is 
 a wonderfully strong and subtle reasoning faculty, 
 on the other a blind faith, raised almost entirely 
 by his emotions. It seems to me that in all 
 matters of belief he first acts on his emotions, 
 and then he brings the subtlety of his reason 
 
 23 
 
354 
 
 TAIT 
 
 to bear, till he has ingeniously persuaded himself 
 that he is logically right. The result is a con- 
 dition in which he is practically unable to dis- 
 tinguish between truth and falsehood." 
 
 Arnold of Rugby died on Sunday, June 12th, 
 1842. Ten days later Tait, impelled by Lake 
 (afterwards Dean of Durham) and Stanley, 
 declared himself a candidate for the vacant 
 headmastership. " O Lord," he wrote in his 
 diary, " I have this day taken a step which 
 may lead to much good or much evil. Do 
 Thou suffer me to succeed only if it be to the 
 good of my own soul and to Thy glory." 
 
 He heard of his election — out of eighteen 
 candidates, Dr. Vaughan being the closest com- 
 petitor — on July 29th. " This day my election 
 at Rugby has dissolved my connection with 
 Balliol. O Lord, when I look back on the 
 seven and a half years that have passed since 
 I was elected Fellow, what mercies have I to 
 thank Thee for !• Yet how little have I improved ! 
 God be merciful to me, a miserable sinner! . . . 
 When entering on this new situation, let no 
 worldly thoughts deceive me. The sudden death 
 of him whom I succeed should be enough to 
 prevent this. Grant me, Lord, to live each 
 day as I would wish to die. Let me view this 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 355 
 
 event not as success, but as the opening up of 
 a fresh field of labour in Thy vineyard. Now 
 I may look forward to dedicate my whole life 
 to one object — the grand work of Christian 
 education. Let me never forget that the first 
 requisite for this is to be a true Christian 
 myself Give me a holy heart ; give me bold- 
 ness and firmness in Thy service ; give me 
 unfailing perseverance ; banish all indolence ; 
 give me freedom from worldly ambition. O 
 Lord, I have much labour before me — much 
 to do of a secular character : grant that this 
 may never draw me from regular habits of 
 devotion, without which the Christian life cannot 
 be preserved within me." 
 
 Of his eight years at Rugby, Dean Bradley 
 says : " His sermons were very earnest and 
 devout. No one could sneer at them ; no one 
 did, I think. They were sometimes really 
 impressive. More than this I can hardly say. 
 But I feel sure that he exercised a great deal 
 of religious influence on the school. . . . He 
 was very hospitable, and fond of society ; and 
 I often dined there, and met various people 
 from the outer world. I remember Cotton 
 summing up his position by applying to him 
 Tertullus' words to Felix : ' Seeing that by 
 
356 
 
 TAIT 
 
 thee we enjoy great quietness, and that many 
 worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy 
 providence.' . . . When the Deanery of Carlisle 
 came in 1849, then I think every one felt what 
 a loss he would be, and the feeling of the boys 
 especially rose to enthusiasm. He left in the 
 middle of the year 1850, and the carriage was 
 drawn down by the boys, and there was the 
 greatest possible excitement." 
 
 In .1843 he was married to Catherine, youngest 
 daughter of Archdeacon Spooner, Vicar of 
 Elmdon. Originally an Evangelical, she had 
 become an enthusiastic votary of the Oxford 
 movement. " She could scarcely bear," wrote 
 Archbishop Tait after her death, "that it 
 should be opposed and spoken against. She 
 has often told me how, when she heard that 
 one of the four protesting tutors who helped to 
 bring to a sudden close the series of the Oxford 
 Tracts was a candidate for the headmastership 
 of Rugby, she earnestly hoped he would not be 
 successful. ... It was a strange turn of fate 
 which made her open her heart next year to 
 the very candidate whose success she had depre- 
 cated, and become the happy partner of his 
 life at Rugby, Carlisle, Fulham, Lambeth ; 
 sharing in all his deepest and truest interests ; 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 357 
 
 helping forward for thirty-five years every 
 good work which he was called to promote ; 
 united to him in the truest fellowship of soul ; 
 while still tempering, by the association of 
 her early Oxford bias, whatever might other- 
 wise have been harsh in his judgments of the 
 good men from whom on principle he differed." 
 
 In 1848 he had a severe and dangerous 
 illness, an attack of rheumatic fever, of which 
 he nearly died, and which impaired his health 
 for the rest of his life. The retirement to the 
 Deanery of Carlisle was, from this cause, not 
 unwelcome. At Carlisle his health returned, 
 though he was never again robust, and the 
 action of his heart was always irregular. Be- 
 sides reforms in the cathedral, he was summoned 
 in 1850 by Lord John Russell to take part in 
 a Royal Commission to examine into the state 
 of the Universities. His fellow-commissioners 
 were Hinds, Bishop of Norwich ; Jeune, Master 
 of Pembroke (Bishop of Peterborough) ; Liddell, 
 Headmaster of Westminster (Dean of Christ 
 Church) ; Professor Baden Powell ; Mr. J. L. 
 Dampier ; and the Rev. G. H. S. Johnson 
 (Dean of Wells) ; with Stanley (Dean of West- 
 minster) as secretary, and Goldwin Smith as 
 assistant. After encountering much opposition, 
 
358 
 
 TAIT 
 
 they issued their report on April 27th, 1852. 
 Their recommendations were chiefly these : 
 revival of the House of Congregation (the 
 teaching staff of the University) as the govern- 
 ing body ; the reconstruction and re-endowment 
 of the professorial system, with the creation of a 
 new body of lecturers ; the relaxation of the obli- 
 gation of all Fellows to take Orders ; permission 
 to Fellows to marry when engaged in Univer- 
 sity work ; the removal of social distinctions 
 amongst undergraduates ; the opening of most 
 local scholarships ; the admission of unattached 
 students ; and the relaxation of terms of sub- 
 scription. The report was written by Stanley, 
 and largely influenced by Tait, who was greatly 
 congratulated on the result. 
 
 His tenure of the Deanery of Carlisle was 
 very busy, as it included the transfer of the 
 cathedral estates to the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners, and the rebuilding of the dilapidated 
 fabric. On the death of Bishop Percy in 1856, 
 his Liberal friends recommended him for the 
 See of Carlisle ; but Lord Palmerston, under 
 the influence of Lord Shaftesbury, nominated 
 Montagu Villiers, Rector of Bloomsbury. Tait's 
 diary breathes the admirable and self-renouncing 
 spirit in which all matters of personal advance- 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 359 
 
 ment must be met by the minister of Christ. 
 Indeed, throughout his Hfe the diary is a most 
 touching model of earnest, devout Christian Hfe. 
 The same year saw the devastation of the 
 deanery by scarlet fever. In the course of a 
 month five little daughters were carried off " I 
 have not had the heart," says the diary of 
 May 8th, " to make any entry in my journal 
 now for about nine weeks. When last I wrote, 
 I had six daughters on earth ; now I have one, 
 an infant. O God, Thou hast dealt very 
 mysteriously with us. We have been passing 
 through deep waters : our feet were well-nigh 
 gone. But though Thou slay us, yet will we 
 trust in Thee. . . . They are gone from us, 
 all but my beloved Crauford and the babe. 
 Thou hast reclaimed the lent jewels. Yet, O 
 Lord, shall I not thank Thee now ? I will 
 thank Thee not only for the children Thou 
 hast left to us, but for those Thou hast reclaimed. 
 I thank Thee for the blessing of the last ten 
 years, and for all the sweet memories of their 
 little lives — memories how fragrant with every 
 blissful, happy thought ! " 
 
 In September of the same year Lord Palmer- 
 ston nominated him for the See of London, 
 vacant by the resignation of the famous Bishop 
 
36o 
 
 TAIl 
 
 Blomfield. "I am now (ii a.m.) about to take 
 an hour of prayer. The subjects on which to 
 pray are these : that I may not act rashly, 
 seeing that I have no doubt of accepting the 
 offer — that I may have the grace of the Holy 
 Spirit of God abundantly poured down upon 
 me during my time of holding this office — that 
 I may be kept from worldliness in every form 
 — that I may have a single eye to the glory 
 of God and the good of His Church — that I 
 may have such health as is requisite for so great 
 a post. O Lord, grant that Thy Church may 
 take no injury through my fault ! Give me 
 vigilance over myself first, next over others. 
 Enable me to arrange my days and all my 
 time, so as to have ample time for prayer and 
 the study of Thy Word. Give me wisdom — 
 give me holiness — give me strength of mind 
 and body — give me kind consideration for the 
 feelings of all around me — give me boldness — 
 give me decision. This is certainly not the 
 post which I should have ever dreamed of for 
 myself The preparation which Thou hast given 
 me for it has been deep affliction. May the 
 memory of these afflictions help to sanctify my 
 heart ! . . . May I undertake this office in the 
 spirit of a missionary ! " (JDiary). 
 
36i 
 
 On November 23rcl, 1856, he was conse- 
 crated with Cotterill (a senior wrangler, ap- 
 pointed to Grahamstown) in the Chapel Royal, 
 Whitehall, by Archbishop Sumner, assisted by 
 Bishops Gilbert, Jackson, and Villiers, his old 
 friend and colleague Cotton (afterwards Bishop 
 of Calcutta) preaching the sermon. 
 
 The troubles about unauthorised changes in 
 ritual, which lasted throughout his life, began 
 at once. The St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, case 
 (Westerton v. Liddell) he inherited from 
 Bishop Blomfield. Judgment was delivered by 
 Lord Kingsdown, the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury and Bishop of London concurring. It 
 forbade a stone altar, an altar cross, and 
 certain embroidered altar linen ; and allowed 
 coloured frontals, a credence table, and crosses 
 as architectural ornaments. The Bishop pre- 
 served friendly relations with Mr. Liddell, 
 and preached in his church. A correspond- 
 ence with Mr. Stuart, of St. Mary Magda- 
 lene, Munster Square, who refused to desist 
 from lighting candles on the holy table, in 
 spite of the clear declaration of the law, 
 indicates the Bishop's wise and fatherly tone, 
 and personal courtesy and kindness. From 
 Mr. Poole, a curate of St. Paul's, Knights- 
 
362 
 
 TAIT 
 
 bridge, he felt compelled to withdraw his 
 licence, for adopting a Romeward view and 
 practice of confession. His view on the sub- 
 ject he gave in his first charge: " If any 
 clergyman so preaches to his people as to 
 lead them to suppose that the authorised way 
 of a sinner's reconciliation with God is through 
 confession to a priest, and by receiving priestly 
 absolution ; if he leads them to believe . . . that 
 our Church has hitherto been much to blame 
 for not leading her people more habitually to 
 private auricular confession ; if he thus stirs 
 up the imagination of ardent and confiding 
 spirits to have recourse to him as a mediator 
 between their souls and God ; and when they 
 come to seek his aid, receives them with all 
 the elaborate preparation which is so likely 
 unduly to excite their feelings, and for which 
 there is no authority in the Church's rules of 
 worship — taking them into the vestry of his 
 church, securing the door, putting on the 
 sacred vestments, causing them to kneel before 
 the cross, to address him as their ghostly 
 father, asking a string of questions as to 
 sins of deed, word, and thought, and imposing 
 penance before he confers absolution : the 
 man who thus acts, or — even if some of those 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 363 
 
 particular circumstances are wanting — of whose 
 general practice this is no exaggerated picture, 
 is, in my judgment, unfaithful to the whole 
 spirit of the Church of which he is a 
 minister." 
 
 The story of the riots at St. George's-in- 
 the-East against the changes introduced by 
 Mr. Bryan King illustrates the Bishop's 
 charity and patience. Finally, Mr. King retired 
 abroad, the Bishop undertook at his own cost 
 to provide for the charge of the parish, and 
 harmony returned. The Bishop received an 
 address signed by two thousand one hundred 
 and seventy-six of the parishioners, including 
 churchwardens, overseers, guardians, vestrymen, 
 and every resident lawyer and doctor but one. 
 They desired to convey " our deep sense of 
 the obligation we are under for the restoration 
 of peace to this long-distracted parish through 
 your lordship's instrumentality." 
 
 In all evangelistic work he took a prominent 
 lead. Within a few days of his consecration 
 he presided at a great meeting at Islington for 
 building twelve new churches. He encouraged 
 the Young Men's Christian Association, preached 
 constantly in the open air, sanctioned mission 
 services on Sunday in Exeter Hall and the 
 
364 
 
 TAIT 
 
 theatres, prevailed on the Deans of St. Paul's 
 and Westminster to hold popular services in 
 the Cathedral and the Abbey on Sunday 
 evenings, and fostered every religious effort 
 for the conversion of souls. His first charge 
 took nearly five hours in delivery, was listened 
 to with unbroken attention by over a thousand 
 clergy, and received the notices and comments 
 of the Press for several weeks. 
 
 In i860 appeared Essays and Reviews. Dr. 
 Temple's paper on the Education of the 
 World was one of much truth and beauty, 
 but he became necessarily mixed up with the 
 other writers, some of whom startled the 
 whole Church by their heterodoxy. The storm 
 raged with great vehemence ; and next year 
 the Bishops put out an address in which they 
 said: "We cannot understand how these 
 opinions can be held consistently with an 
 honest subscription to the formularies of our 
 Church, with many of the fundamental doc- 
 trines of which they appear to us essentially 
 at variance." Dr. Temple and Jowett had 
 previously visited Tait at Fulham, and had 
 gathered from him that he saw little to dis- 
 like in their essays. They would not, however, 
 dissociate themselves from the other writers ; 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 36s 
 
 and it was the partnership with unsound 
 views that Tait viewed with distrust. When 
 the wholesale condemnation of the book ap- 
 peared, with Tait's name appended, and 
 without any discrimination between the articles 
 such as he had made in private. Dr. Temple 
 was exceedingly hurt, and a long correspond- 
 ence ensued. Dr. Temple protested against 
 such a condemnation by the united Bench 
 without any hearing from the men condemned. 
 Subsequently, in a debate in Convocation, Tait 
 defended Temple's essay : "It is totally different 
 in character from other passages which occur in 
 this volume." The two men were placed by 
 circumstances in a position of great difficulty, 
 the one by his chivalrous refusal to throw over 
 the essayists in whose company he had ap- 
 peared, the other by his desire to act with the 
 united episcopate in allaying public agitation. 
 In the end, when Dr. Temple became Bishop 
 of Exeter, he dissociated himself from opinions 
 with which he was not in agreement. Two of 
 the essayists, Williams and Wilson, were sub- 
 sequently prosecuted, and acquitted by the 
 Privy Council, Tait concurring that the charges 
 were " not proved." The excitement was in- 
 tense : addresses were presented to the Arch- 
 
366 
 
 TAIT 
 
 bishop signed by twelve thousand of the clergy 
 and a hundred and thirty-seven thousand lay- 
 men. Tait held his own way calmly, and the 
 trouble has long ago died away. 
 
 Similar excitement arose over the case of 
 Bishop Colenso, who dealt with great freedom 
 with the historical statements of the Old Testa- 
 ment. He was excommunicated by his metro- 
 politan, Bishop Gray, of Capetown. Bishop 
 Temple, with great courage, dissuaded Con- 
 vocation from joining in this excommunication. 
 He dreaded the establishment of an ecclesiastical 
 tyranny unsuited to the conditions of modern 
 thought and life. Speaking of Bishop Gray, he 
 said : "I consider him to hold very strong 
 opinions on one side, differing from myself and 
 more than one-half the Bishops of the Church 
 of England. He is fully entitled to hold these 
 opinions ; but I think there is this fault in his 
 character — that he is not content with merely 
 holding these opinions, but that he wishes to 
 make every other person hold them too. And 
 therefore I do not wish to endow him with any- 
 thing like absolute authority over the Church in 
 the colony in which he presides." Changes 
 in ecclesiastical currents are very surprising. 
 The critical attitude of Bishop Colenso with 
 
2 HE WISE RULER 
 
 367 
 
 regard to the Old Testament is now shared by 
 a large and increasing number of Dr. Pusey's 
 own followers. 
 
 The controversy had shown the relations be- 
 tween the Church of England and the Colonial 
 Churches to be confused and undefined. Bishop 
 Tait asked Archbishop Longley to send a circular 
 letter to the Colonial Bishops, asking their 
 opinions on these relations. The Archbishop 
 and his adviser, Bishop Wilberforce, of Oxford, 
 thought such an inquiry unnecessary ; so. Bishop 
 Tait issued one himself The points to which 
 the questions referred were : canonical obedience 
 to the See of Canterbury ; appeal to some 
 authority in England from the decision of 
 Colonial Church courts ; the royal supremacy ; 
 and unity of doctrine in the scattered branches 
 of the English communion. This led to the 
 first Lambeth Conference of Bishops, which 
 took place in 1867. The action of Bishop Tait 
 and others restrained the impulsive Bishop of 
 Capetown, and secured, for a long time to 
 come, the close connection between the Colonial 
 Churches and the Church of England. 
 
 The Ritual question continued to disturb the 
 Church. There were long debates in Convo- 
 cation, both Houses of Canterbury finally 
 
368 
 
 TAIT 
 
 agreeing, on February 13th, 1867, that no 
 innovations should be introduced without the 
 consent of the Bishop. The matter was fre- 
 quently discussed in Parliament, and a Royal 
 Commission was promised. Lord Shaftesbury 
 brought a Bill into the House of Lords to 
 eliminate the eucharistic vestments, but it was 
 thrown out by sixty-one votes to forty-six. The 
 report of the Commission expressed the opinion 
 that "it is expedient to restrain, in the public 
 services of the United Church of England and 
 Ireland, all variations in respect of vesture from 
 that which has long been the established usage 
 of the said United Church ; and we think that 
 this may best be secured by providing aggrieved 
 parishioners with an easy and effectual process 
 for complaint and redress." In discussing this 
 report, Bishop Tait illustrated his own practice : 
 " For my own part I think I may say that I 
 have always endeavoured to act in a large and 
 kindly spirit towards those who are advocates 
 of these practices. I desire that my own con- 
 science shall be respected, and I desire also that 
 the consciences of others shall be respected ; and 
 whether in matters of doctrine, or in allowable 
 matters of practice, I think that within due 
 limits in the National Church we ought, as 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 369 
 
 carefully as we possibly can, to act upon that 
 principle. I certainly have had very kindly 
 intercourse during the time of my episcopate 
 with persons of almost every shade of opinion 
 in my diocese, and I believe that if any blame 
 is to be attached to me in these matters it is 
 rather the blame of having allowed people to 
 act for themselves than of having interfered, 
 where I might have been expected to interfere, 
 to restrain and curb their liberty." This would 
 be abundantly shown by the account of his 
 patient dealing with All Saints', Margaret Street ; 
 St. Alban's, Holborn ; St. Peter's, London 
 Docks ; St. Matthias', Stoke Newington ; and 
 St. Michael's, Shoreditch. 
 
 In a letter to the clergy he said: "Certain 
 persons have taken upon themselves so to alter 
 the whole external appearance of the celebration 
 of the Lord's Supper as to make it scarcely 
 distinguishable from the Roman Mass, and they 
 endeavour on all occasions to introduce into the 
 other services some change of vestment or orna- 
 ment quiet alien to the established English 
 usage of three hundred years. . . . The number 
 of those who are so committed is, I am confident, 
 very small. The Church of England from the 
 Reformation has allowed great liberty as to the 
 
 24 
 
3/0 
 
 TAIT 
 
 doctrine of the sacraments ; and though I fear 
 it cannot be denied that a few are engaged in 
 a conspiracy to bring back our Church to the 
 state in which it was before the Reformation, 
 I fully believe that most of those who advocate 
 what we deem an excessive ritual would indig- 
 nantly deny that they had any such purpose." 
 
 The establishment of one of Bishop Tait's 
 greatest works, the Bishop of London's Fund, 
 arose from the charge of 1862. The population 
 of London, as he pointed out, was annually in- 
 creased by about forty thousand souls, and all 
 the efforts which had been made were inadequate 
 to overtake these steadily advancing needs. 
 Between 1851 and 1861 sixty-six permanent 
 and twenty-one temporary churches had been 
 opened, providing accommodation for about 
 one-sixth of the increased population. 
 
 "The appalling fact accordingly transpires," 
 said Bishop Tait, " that, whatever were our 
 spiritual wants in this respect in 1851, all our 
 great exertions have not lessened them, but 
 have at best prevented the evil from growing 
 worse." 
 
 He pointed out that there were three parishes 
 in the diocese with a population of more than 
 thirty thousand, and only a single church ; 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 37) 
 
 eleven parishes with more than twenty thousand 
 for one church ; fourteen with more than fifteen 
 thousand. 
 
 " Let it not be supposed," he said, " that 
 I am speaking as if the sole way to remedy 
 the social evils of an overwhelming population, 
 and propagate true religion, was to multiply 
 churches, or even clergymen. We well know 
 that neither the buildings nor the men will 
 avail without the mighty Spirit of God. We 
 are not insensible to self-denying labours of 
 Dissenters and Roman Catholics, and we grant 
 the value of many other appliances for pro- 
 moting Christian civilisation used by our own 
 Church. Yet are we deeply convinced that 
 our own parochial system, carrying with it, 
 besides churches and clergy, schools and a 
 hundred arrangements of charity and philan- 
 thropy, gives the best hope of aiding our 
 people for time and for eternity. It is difficult 
 to conceive what a city of between two and 
 three millions of inhabitants must become if 
 it be not broken up into manageable districts, 
 each placed under the superintendence of men 
 whose mission it is to labour in every way for 
 the social and religious improvement of the 
 people." 
 
372 
 
 TAIT 
 
 In 1866, after delivering another very weighty 
 charge, and working with heroic labour at the 
 head of his clergy at the time of the epidemic 
 of cholera, he was suddenly struck down by 
 an almost fatal illness on September 24th, and 
 not allowed to return to Fulham till January 
 next year. 
 
 On November 13th, 1868, he received the 
 offer of the Primacy. He thus notes the last 
 day ot the year : 
 
 "Fulham, December ^ist, 11.30 p.m. — I 
 have seen the sun of 1868 go down over the 
 Thames, as I have watched the last sun of 
 many years back. . . . Year has succeeded 
 year, and time has healed our wounds, and 
 Crauford has become a man, and Edith and 
 Agnes have been added to our family, and 
 much happiness has, by God's mercy, been 
 ours in this home. And now we have come 
 to the end of our connection with Fulham, 
 and before long we shall, for the short re- 
 mainder of our life, be launched on a new- 
 home. O Lord, forgive my many , shortcomings 
 for the past ! Oh, strengthen me for the time to 
 come ! Y'esterday, as my last act, I published 
 my letter to Mr. Mackonochie. I trust it 
 may do good. Grant, Lord, that all good 
 
373 
 
 men may be united in mutual forbearance, 
 and work each according to his own way in 
 saving souls, but avoiding foolish contentions 
 from mere obstinacy, whereby the Church of 
 Christ is rent asunder. O Lord, this year 
 will close in a few minutes ; we shall hear the 
 bells from many spires announcing its death. 
 Raise us to hopes of a bright immortality with 
 Thee for ever. Amen." 
 
 His fourteen years as Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury were memorable for many and serious 
 troubles, through which he guided the Church 
 of England with consummate wisdom. There 
 is no doubt that his action greatly mitigated 
 the treatment of the Irish Church in the 
 calamity of Disestablishment. Other events 
 were his own prostration by another still more 
 serious illness ; the Revisers' Communion at 
 Westminster Abbey, when Dr. Vance Smith, 
 a Unitarian, was allowed to participate ; the 
 Voysey prosecution ; the Purchas judgment ; 
 plans of Church reform, and the reconstitution 
 of the Court of Final Appeal ; the controversy 
 on the Athanasian Creed ; the agitation about 
 "The Priest in Absolution"; the Public Wor- 
 ship regulation Act ; the Ritual cases of Folke- 
 stone, Hatcham, Wolverhampton, and Bordesley; 
 
374 
 
 TAIT 
 
 the Croydon Church Congress ; the Ridsdale 
 judgment ; the question of canonical obedience 
 to the See of Canterbury in the case of colonial 
 bishoprics with regard to the homogeneousness 
 of the English communion ; the Burials con- 
 troversy ; the Ecclesiastical Courts Commis- 
 sion ; Mr. Green's imprisonment ; the renewal 
 of the Mackonochie case. In all these grave 
 and important matters the Archbishop's kindly 
 and gracious wisdom, strong sense of humour, 
 firmness of character, width of sympathy, humble 
 and devout faith, and loyalty to the teaching 
 of the Bible and to the principles of the Refor- 
 mation were invaluable to the. Church. The 
 Public Worship Regulation Act was his least 
 successful enterprise ; but it should be remem- 
 bered that he and Archbishop Thomson were 
 but following out the strong recommendation 
 of the Ritual Commission, and that the measure 
 was greatly altered from what he had originally 
 proposed. 
 
 His end came very gradually. He left 
 Lambeth in July 1882 with a foreboding that 
 he would never return. One of his last public 
 acts was the confirmation of the sons of the 
 Prince of Wales at Osborne. After a long 
 and peaceful illness his strength gradually ebbed 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 375 
 
 away, and he died on Advent Sunday. His 
 youngest daughter (since dead) thus wrote of 
 that closing time : 
 
 "After that Sunday evening service, in which 
 he bid us pray for him in the village church, 
 we had three more months of quiet watching 
 and waiting : watching and waiting first with 
 a hope that, though slowly, he was surely 
 gaining ground, and would, in God's love, be 
 with us some time more, doing more work here 
 for Him : watching and waiting afterwards for 
 the day and hour of the home-going, as the 
 work here was done, well done, and finished 
 in God's love. How thankful we all are for 
 those months ! It was a quiet, happy time, in 
 spite of the anxiety and need of patience both 
 for him and us. . . . They will be a help to 
 us all our life, I think, those quiet watchings : 
 such a feeling of peace, of finished work, and 
 of waiting for the Master's call to go home. 
 We always feel as if we had spent that time 
 like the pilgrims in the land of Beulah, waiting 
 for the messenger and the crossing of the 
 river, and he was like Mr. Standfast, for ' the 
 day he was to cross there was a great calm 
 at that time in the river,' and the river was so 
 quiet and so shallow that ' he stood a long 
 
376 
 
 TAIT 
 
 time in the water talking to those who had 
 come with him to the water's edge.' " 
 
 At the meeting at the Mansion House for 
 securing a fitting memorial of this wise and 
 great ruler, the Duke of Albany said : 
 
 " I am glad that this scheme is brought 
 forward in a place and before an audience 
 which imply that the memorial is, in the fullest 
 sense of the word, a national one. For the 
 desire to do honour to the late Primate is not 
 confined to his own clergy, or even to his own 
 Church, but is shared by the public in general 
 — by all, I may say, who feel admiration for 
 a high-minded dignitary, or respect for an in- 
 defatigable worker, or love for a good man. 
 Archbishop Tait was all these ; and English 
 history, which records so many heroes of duty, 
 can scarcely point to a purer instance of the 
 single-mindedness which forgets self in great 
 public objects, or of the conscientiousness which 
 makes a man refuse, under any pressure of 
 temptation or weariness, to do less than his 
 utmost, or to be less than his best. ... [It is 
 well] to perpetuate the memory of an Arch- 
 bishop whose aim it ever was to merge his 
 personality in his office, who will be remembered, 
 not so much for individual traits or marked 
 
THE WISE RULER 
 
 377 
 
 originality, as for the manner in which he 
 identified himself with his exalted functions, so 
 that the national ideal of an Archbishop of 
 Canterbury is likely, for many a generation, to 
 be unconsciously moulded on the character of 
 Dr. Tait. ... It was his effort to remain 
 among conflicting schools of thought as the 
 central exponent of the spiritual side of our 
 national life ; to represent, not any passing 
 phase of opinion, but that tolerant and manly 
 seriousness which lies at the root of our national 
 greatness. . . . We must be thankful that in 
 England, amidst all our speculative differences 
 of opinion, we have so little of that fierce 
 antagonism which rages in some other countries 
 —that false opposition between reason and 
 reverence — as though in this world of awful 
 mysteries a spirit of arrogant irreverence were 
 not the very maddest unreason. That we are 
 spared such conflicts is largely due to such 
 leaders as our late Primate. ... He has passed 
 from our bodily sight. He has gone, to use 
 his own words, ' to fuller light and larger 
 liberty.' But we are met to-day to show that, 
 though he is no longer visibly present with 
 us, his spirit is felt in our midst more 
 powerfully, perhaps, than ever before. We are 
 
378 
 
 TAIT 
 
 met to show that England is not the less ready 
 to honour her worthiest heroes, because it has 
 never occurred to them to imagine that they 
 have achieved any special claim to honour by 
 doing what was no more than their duty." 
 
 An admirable biography of him has been 
 written by his chaplain, Canon Benham, and 
 his son-in-law, Dr. Davidson, Dean of Windsor, 
 and now Bishop of Winchester ; and Dean 
 Vaughan wrote for his monument in Canterbury 
 Cathedral this epitaph : 
 
 A GREAT ARCHBISHOP, 
 JUST, DISCERNING, DIGNIFIED, STATESMANLIKE, 
 WISE TO KNOW THE TIIIE AND RESOLUTE TO REDEEM IT. 
 HE HAD ONE AIM : 
 TO MAKE THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MORE AND MORE 
 THE CHURCH OF THE PEOPLE : 
 DRAWING TOWARDS IT BOTH BY WORD AND GOOD EXAMPLE 
 ALL WHO LOVE THINGS TRUE AND PURE, 
 BEAUTIFUL AND OF GOOD REPORT. 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Vinej-, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 
 
HODDER &■ STOUGHTON'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. By the Rt. Rev. G. A. Chaiuvick, D.D., 
 Lord Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 "The author brings out a profusion of instructive lessons."— 5a/«>-rfay Reviciu. 
 
 " This is to a great extent a model of what an expository commentary should 
 be. To exhibit the Old Testament in the light of the New, and to point out the 
 spiritual and permanent truth under the type by which it was in that early age 
 expressed, and through which it still shines, cannot fail to render a commentary 
 extremely valuable.'' — Ltti-rnry Chiitrliiiian. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s, 6d. 
 
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 us the fruit of much careful thought."— B/ i//s/j IVcekly. 
 
 " Dr. Chadwick has performed his task admirably. He keeps close to his sub- 
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 exposition of Daniel is a remarkably instructive book." — Exposi/ory Times. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 1. THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 "Dr. Farrar brings his versatile literary powers to bear upon these majestic 
 
 and imposing scenes, with all his gitts of poetic description, his wealth of quota- 
 tions, and his aptitude for picturesque comparisons." — Guardian. 
 
 2. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. Crown Svo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " For a vivid picture of men and times, and a spirited account of the events 
 which led to Israel's and Judah's downfall, with fine illustrative use of the con- 
 temporary writings of the prophets, his book is a distinct accession to the series." 
 —Glasgo-.u Herald. 
 
 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES. By the Rev. Alfred Plummer, 
 D.D., Master of University College, Durham. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 "An admirable sample of what popular theology ought to be." — Saturday Revictv. 
 "The treatment is throughout scholarlike, lucid, thoughtful."- O'l/nz-rfiW)!. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF ST. JAMES AND ST. JUDE. Crown 
 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " It is even a better piece of work than his former volume on the Pastoral 
 Epistles. It contains everything that the student can desire by way of intro- 
 duction to the two Epistles, while for those who read with an eye to the manu- 
 facture of sermons, or for their own edification, the doctrinal and moral lessons 
 are developed in a style redolent of books, yet singularly easy and unaffected. 
 Points of interest zboanii."— Saturday Review. 
 
 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. By Paul Sahatiek. 
 Translated from the French. Now ready. New Edition. Gilt top. 
 9s. net. 
 
 " M. Paul Sabatier is one of those men of letters, unhappily rare in France, in 
 whom ripe learning and fine critical sagacity are not divorced from a reasonable 
 Christian faith. Trained in the ' Faculte de theologie Protestante de Paris,' he 
 has grown into the most brilliant scholar of his Church. J<Io commentary on the 
 Didache, for instance, is more illuminating than the edition of that treasure-trove 
 which he published in 1885. And now he has given us a ' Life of St. Francis,' 
 which may stand on the same shelf with Villari's 'Life of Savonarola.' "—£.t/iosiVo>-. 
 
 London : HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row 
 
HODDER & STOUGHTON' S PUBLICA TIONS. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. By Handlev C. G. 
 Moui.E, M.A., D.D., Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Crown 
 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 "The Principal of Ridley Hall possesses, in a marked degree, one of the chief 
 qualifications — nay, the one chief qualification that is needed for an expositor of 
 the Epistle to the Romans— the spiritual intensity which has realised somewhat 
 of the individual struggle of the Christian life, and of the individual joy and 
 strength which is received from the spirit. In his own words, the student of 
 such an Epistle must be ' first, and with all else, a penitent ' ; in his hand the 
 exposition becomes a plea for 'a true and noble individualism.' . . . Mr. Moule's 
 style is always clear, forcible, scholarlike. . . . The exegesis is good, and the 
 spiritual application reverent." — Guaydian, 
 
 WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 1. VENI CREATOR. Thoughts on the Person and Work of the 
 
 Holy Spirit of Promise. Sixth Thousand. Crown 8vo, cloth, Ss. 
 
 2. TO MY YOUNGER BRETHREN. Chapters on Pastoral Life 
 
 and Work. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. 
 
 3. LIFE IN CHRIST AND FOR CHRIST. Fourteenth Thou- 
 
 sand. 32mo, cloth, red edges. Is. 
 
 STUDIES IN THEOLOGY. Lectures delivered in Chicago Theo- 
 logical Seminary. By the Rev. James De.vney, D.D., Author of " The 
 Epistles to the Thessalonians," etc. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. 
 "A series of luminous and illuminating studies of fundamental elements. . . . 
 We have suen no book for a long time which has impressed us so much as success- 
 fully combining the old and the new in theology in a living unity of personal faith 
 and reasonable conviction."— /fc<-o;(/. 
 
 WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 1. THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 2. THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS. Crown 
 
 8vo, cloth, /s. 6d. 
 
 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. By the Rev. Prebendary 
 G. T. Stokes, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Uni- 
 versity of Dublin. In Two Volumes. Crown Svo, cloth, 7s. 6d. each. 
 "Only the first ei 'he chapters are discussed ; if the remainder are treated in the 
 
 same fashion, expositors will be able to congratulate themselves on possessing a 
 
 mine of suggestive material which will yield good return to the workers. — 
 
 Church Times. 
 
 " The second volume is as readable as the first, full ot learning without a spice 
 of pedantry. . . . The volume is highly to be commended for knowledge, sobriety, 
 and manly piety.'' — Saluyday Rcvieiv. 
 
 WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 1. IRELAND AND THE ANGLO-NORMAN CHURCH: A 
 
 History of Ireland and Irish Christianity from the Anglo-Norman 
 Conquest to the Dawn of the Reformation. Second Edition. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 " Dr. Stckes's brilliant lectures."— ^//!f;«r//»;. 
 
 "His narrative, enlivened by anecdotes, and by information of a most recondite 
 sort, is throughout brimful of interest."— ^ffK/c;;;!'. 
 
 2. IRELAND AND THE CELTIC CHURCH : A History- of 
 
 Ireland from St. Patrick to the English Conquest in 1172. Third 
 Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 London : HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row. 
 
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