L^eVter

I z4o

LETTER OF REMONSTRANCE.

ADDRESSED TO AN UNDERGRADUATE

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, ^-^'n --.

CONCERNINO

THE TENETS OF DR. PUSEY AND MR. NEWMAN.

Some few that were stricter and more learned did lean so grossly to Popery, that thu
,heat and Violence of the Reformation became the main subject of their sermons and dis
courses. Burnbt's History of his Own Timbs.
The Bidmp. — Will you be ready, with all faithfiil diligence, to banish and drive
away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word ?
Anwer.r~\ will : the Lord being my helper. Thb OrAering or Pribsts.

OXFORD,
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. VINCENT.
-1 ho' 5*2. 1840.
L4-

My Dear Friend,
When we last met, just after your return from Oxford, I
Could not but observe that a great_ change had taken place in
your religious sentiments. Excuse the freedom of a friend, when
I say," that the discovery gave me any thing but satisfaction. I
could not help comparing the general tone of your conversation,
and the sentiments which you then expressed, with the opinions
and conversations of former days ; and the comparison, I assure
you, was a source of unfeigned regret to me. In those days, your
soul seemed absorbed in the vital and fundamental truths of the
gospel ; your views concerning the great doctrines of regenera
tion and justification were clear and scriptural ; your feelings of
Christian charity were vigorous and comprehensive — embracing
all who love our common Saviour in sincerity and truth. You
believed, and gloried in the belief, that the Scriptures alone con
tained a full and sufficient revelation of the will of God : and
that it was the duty of every man, aided by fervent prayer for
grace and spiritual guidance, to exercise his mental faculties upon
them, for the purpose of discovering the true method of salva
tion. You seemed to have drunk at the fountain-head of truth,
and to have richly imbibed the divine principles of the gospel,
Methought I saw in you a pattern of pure and simple piety;
methought I saw in you another Timothy ; — the same knowledge
of the oracles of God ; the same spirituality of mind ; the same

solicitude and love for the souls of men ; the same unwearied zeal
and diligence in winning them to the cross of Christ.
But what a change in your religious feelings ! what a revolu
tion, I may say, in your religions views had taken place, when I
last conversed with you ! Instead of expatiating, as you were
wont, on the vital truths of the gospel, your conversation ran
almost entirely on such topics as " apostolical succession,"" "churcll
government,'" " the fathers," &c.; and when at length we touched
upon the .subjects of regeneration and justification, I found, to my
inexpressible grief, that your opinions had undergone an essential
change on those important points ; and that your former clear
an'd scriptural views concerning them had been mystified and
sadly obscured by the mischievous fogs and vapours of the new
Pusey "School of Divinity.
I found, too, that your feelings of charity had become con
tracted and exclusive ; you talked of unchurching and excom
municating those who did not entertain the same opinion as
yourself. Arid, (Oh I tell it not in Gath !) you spoke slightingly of
our Protestant Church, and of our venerable Protestant Re
formers. You dwelt at great length on the necessity of tradition,
as supplementary to the Scriptures ; you talked much of the ab
solute authority of the church in matters of religious opinion ;
you asserted the propriety of interpreting the Bible according to
the fathers; and almost, if not entirely, denied the right of private
judgment. What a moral rhetamorphose had taken place !
Quantum miitatws ab illo ! From being a simple-minded, scrip
tural, orthodox Christian, (I use the latter term advisedly,) yoii
appeared to me to have become a kind of semi-papist ; to have
lost much of your spirituality of mind, and much of your love for
the souls of men ; in short, you seemed to be completely occupied
with forms and ceremonies, with " a* shew of wisdom in w'ill-
worship and humility," with " vain janglings and idle disputa^
tions':" I fear, indeed I fear, that your mind has "been much
eorrupted from the .simplicity which is in Christ.

What is it, my dear friend, that has caused this change ? How
is it that you are so soon removed from the grace of Christ into
what I must be permitted to call " another gospel V Who has
bewitched you ? Who has been exercising his spells and incan
tations upon you, that you have been thus quickly beguiled from
the plain path of truth into this magic circle of error 2 May I
not address you in the words of the apostle, " Are you so foolish ;
having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the
flesh?" Ah ! I see how it is : you have been fascinated and
seduced, along with many of your contemporaries, by the specious
charms of the new School of Divinity. You have not been able
to resist the blandishments of its accomplished professors and
their insinuating disciples. Your sensitive mind was touched
and prepossessed by their pensive gravity, and by their formal,
self-denying, and ascetic devotion. Perhaps you had been pre
viously disgusted with the levity and inconsistency of some, who
were called by the name of Evangelical ; and here you fancied
you had at length found solid, grave, primitive piety ; and were
ready to cry out, with the delighted and enthusiastic mathema
tician, evpfjKa, evpr]Ka. You never imagined that error could
lurk beneath so grave and imposing an exterior ; you never
dreamed that any earthly and common feeling could possibly in-
fluence the minds and lucubrations of such holy men ! Far be
it from me to question the motives aud sincerity of the Oxford
Theologians ; but when I am referred, as I often am, for a proof
of the truth of their doctrines to their blameless lives and per
sonal piety, I cannot help observing, that we read in ecclesias
tical history of many a dangerous heretic, who could lay equal
claim to similar qualifications.
Tell me not then of the unworldly recluse, or self-denying
spirit «f the men ; but come at once to their doctrines, examine
and prove them by the touchstone of eternal truth. Bring them
to the " Law and to tbe Testimony ;" and let them stand or fall
by their own intrinsic merits. I am afraid you have not done

tbis,but have suffered yourself to be imposed upon by a grave
and specious authority ; and that you have adopted opinions, not
because you had, proved them to coincide with the principles of
revealed truth, but because they came recommended to you by
the honoured names of Dr. Pusey and Mr. Newman.
Again :. I can conceive, that the minor accomplishments of
those professors and their disciples have contributed in no slight
degree to effect the lamented change in your opinions. They
are men of education and erudition ; and can bring from their
intellectual stores abundance of materials for the construction of
aheir argument. Some of them, too, are men of subtle and in
genious minds ;t— well able to weave the web of sophistry, and
fo dress up their opinions in a specious and attractive manner.
Again : there is not a little of delicate refinement of thought
and poetical sentimentalism about them ; — which, above all
things, are so captivating to young and sensitive minds. They
have skilfully engaged the sister arts of Rhetoric and Poetry in
their service ; and have made them lend their charming influence
to what I must esteem and call a system of pernicious error.
With all these fascinations arrayed against you, ought I to
>vonder that you have been overcome ? and that you have suf
fered your good sense and scriptural piety to be led captive by
the blandishments, the sophisms, and authority of Dr. Pusey and
Mr. Newman ?
But I cannot help thinking, that there is still another circum
stance, which may have operated insensibly upon you in this
matter. I mean the opinions and influence of your fellow-
coUegians. Is not Puseyism made a kind of fashion with many
of them ? Is it not a watch-word — a shibboleth — among them ?.
Is there not a sort of juvenile and discipular pride in espousing
these new notions ? Nay, has not the adoption of them in many
instances made the raw and unfledged convert look shy upon
Bis. former pious friends; and indulge contempt towards tljose
¦who do not a,s yet see with :.his eyes, or who h&ve not yet

borrowed the help of Mr. Newman's spectacles ? > Arid is it
not possible, that the persuasions, or the raillery, or ^the scorn,
of some of these youthful enthusiasts, — these embryo NewimaiiS
and Puseys, — have had some influence in warping your mindy
and effecting the present alteration ?
It is also not improbable, you may have felt, that chufch
priijciples had not been duly maintained, but ^ad been suffered
to-lie, as it were, in abeyance; and that it was a laudable un
dertaking on the part of the Oxford Divines to revive and restore
them to their proper rank and influence. But, surely, it is
possible to be a good churchman, without holding the tenets of
Dr. Pusey or Mr. Newman. If not, alas t foi* the orthodoxy of
multitudes of the pious and learned worthies of our Church,"
both now and in days gone by ! Yes ; I say, a man may be a
consistent churchman, without being either a Puseyite, on the
one hand, or a Dissenter, on the other. The maxim, Est modus
in rebus, &c. is applicable to church matters as to every thing
else ; and it is the duty of ecclesiastics to exercise judgment
and prudence in discovering that mean. Nothing has done more
mischief, and caused more dissensions in the world, than the
carrying of true and useful principles to an extreme. Food
itself becomes poison, when immoderately used ; and wholesome
truths become pernicious errors, when exaggerated and strained
beyond the bounds of rectitude and propriety.
It is not for me positively to affirm, what was the origin of
the New School of Divinity ; but if I were asked to -hazard a
conjecture, I should probably give some such answer as this.
That the founders of that school, being disgusted with the Low
Church views, (approximating, as they thought, to dissent,) in
what is commonly called the Evangelical party; and being
moreover offended at the spiritual piety of some, and at the
want of solid practical religion in others, who espoused the
tenets of that party; were desirous of raising and improving
the tone of churchmanship, and of promoting what they con*

ceived to be a more solid, eScact, and severe method of devotion.
And what steps did they take to accomplish their object ? In
my humble opinion, instead of searching the infallible word of
God, and drawing their principles from its sacred source, they
rather betook themselves to the fallible writings of men, espe
cially of -those Called the Fathers. In those writings they found
certain plausible dogmas, calculated, as they imagined, to pro
mote their views ; and though many of those dogmas are re
pugnant to reason and common sense, and have been proved by
the testimony of history to be prejudicial to the cause of truth
and piety, — yet the founders of the New School, smitten with
the love of ancient and patristical divinity, adopted them, and
made them the foundation of their theological system.
For you must not imagine, that the essential features of that
system are new and original ; they are nothing more than the
revival and disinterment of certain defunct and long-buried
speculations. Indeed, this may be said to be the case with
almost every species of error. That mischievous and capricious
principle delights to disport itself with the vast mass of materials
which are at its command ; and though those materials remain
for the most part essentially the same, yet with a touch of its
magic wand it forms infinite combinations of them, and rears
ten thousand fabrics of varied form and size. Diruit, wdificat,
mutat quadrata rotundis.
The great error of the founders of the New School appears to
be, that they trust almost implicitly in the Fathers ; and who
ever does thus trust, and follow the Fathers fairly down the
stream of time in their successive series, will necessarily at last
be landed upon the principles and practices of rank popery.
Many of our distinguished Protestant Reformers were surely
not less conversant with the writings of the Fathers than Mr.
Newman and Dr. Pusey. Why, then, did they not draw their
reformation principles from them ? Because they had had too
clear and terrible proofs of the pernicious nature of patristical

dogmas ; and therefore they cast them aside altogether, and re
ferred for guidance and instruction to the sacred oracles alone.
They had been taught, that those oracles could make them
wise unto salvation; and that in order to understand their
meaning, they needed not the aid and interpretation of the
Fathers, but only the grace and illumination of the Spirit of
God. This their view of the sufficiency of the scriptures, as a
rule of faith, and a guide to eternal life, I found, the other day,
in the course of my reading, powerfully confirmed by a passage
in the works of the famous bishop Horsley ; a prelate, as you
know, of vast force of understanding and extensive erudition.
" I will not scruple to assert," writes the Bishop, " that the
most illiterate Christian, if he can but read his English Bible,
and will take the pains to read it in this manner, (i. e. by com
paring scripture with scripture,) will not only attain all that
practical knowledge which is necessary to his salvation, but,' by
God's blessing, he will become learned in every thing relating to
his religion, in such a degree, that he will not be able to be
misled, either by the refined arguments or by the false assertions
of those, who endeavour to engraft their own opinion upon the
oracles of God. He may safely be ignorant of all philosophy,
except what is to be learned from the sacred books, which
indeed contain the highest philosophy adapted to the lowest
apprehensions. He may safely remain ignorant of all history,
except so much of the history of the first ages of the Jewish and
of the Christian church as is to be gathered from the canonical
books of the Old and New Testament. Let him study these in
the manner I recommend, and let him never cease to pray for
the illumination of that Spirit, by which these books were dic
tated, and the whole compass of abstruse philosophy and re
condite history shall fiirnish no argument with which the
perverse will of man shall be able to shake this learned Chris
tian's faith. The Bible, thus studied, will indeed prove to be,
what we Protestants esteem it, a certain' and sufficient rule of

10
faith and practice, a helmet of salvation, which alone, may
quench the fiery darts of the wicked." To this opinion of
bishop Horsley, I subjoin a similar testimony of another eminent
prelate, formerly a distinguished ornament of this university.
" We must not (if we would profit by the examples of Christ
and his apostles) refer the people, as a decisive authority on
the essential and immutable points of Christian faith and duty,'
to the declarations or decrees of any class or body of fallible men ;
of any who have not sensibly-miraculous proofs of inspiration to
appeal to. Whether it be to a council or to a church that
reference is made, whether to ancient or to later Christian
writers; whether to a great or to a small number of men,
however learned, wise, and good ; in all cases the broad line of
distinction between inspired and uninspired must never be lost
sight of."
Such are the wise and protestant sentiments of bishop Horsley
and archbishop Whately ; but the Oxford Divines have adopted
principles diametrically opposed to them. They have betaken
themselves to the fallible decisions of the Fathers, of ordinary
uninspired men ; and instead of submitting those decisions to
the authority of scripture, they have compelled scripture to bow
and submit to them. The consequence of this patristical infatu
ation is, that they have been drawn step by step into gross and
destructive errors ; nay, I do not hesitate to affirm, that they
have been led to embrace and promulgate doctrines sub
versive of the very foundation of our Protestant religion. I
speak of course as a fallible individual, but my firm conviction
is, that the opinions propagated by the new sect in Oxford,
on the most important doctrines of the gospel, are awfully
erroneous, and calculated to do immense injury to the morals
and religion of the country. I believe that party to be ex--
ceedingly unsound on the subject of the sacraments of baptism
and the Lord's supper, and on the fundamental doctrine of justi
fication by faith. I believe them to be influenced, by a blind

11
veneration of the fathers, and to entertain most erroneous and
dangerous opinions concerning tradition and the method of intefr
preting scripture. They have publicly avowed their belief of the
necessity of maintaining reserve respecting the inculcation of the
atonement of our blessed Redeemer ; they have stigmatized and
ridiculed the notion of Christian experience, and proved them
selves to be lamentably ignorant of the nature of vital and
spiritual religion. Many of them have spoken in the most
disrespectful and contemptuous terms of Protestantism, and our
venerable Reformers, whilst, in the same breath, they have used
the language of sympathy and friendship towards the idolatrous
and apostate church of Rome. I believe, moreover^ that they
attach undue importance to the doctrine of apostolical successioHi
and that they are disposed greatly to raise and exaggerate
the authority of the clergy, and to make them the absolute
dispensers of spiritual life and death. I believe they wish to
restore to them the greatly abused and long exploded power of
the keys : in short, I believe that their principles go to establish
a complete tyranny both in church and state ; that they are for
crushing the right of private judgment, for crying up the ncr
cessity of implicit faith in the doctrines taught by the ministers
of the church ; and that their great and ultimate aim is, to give
the church an undue and despotic authority over the state.
And with all this, they seem to imagine they have devised and
framed an incomparable scheme ; which, if carried into effect,
would regenerate the present state of things, and necessarily
produce union, peace, happiness, and piety, both civil and
ecclesiastical. But such notions resemble those of men who have passed
their lives in cloistered study and seclusion, reasoning mathe->
matically, and playing with abstract theories ; and altogether
ignorant of the real condition of the world.
It is easy to sit in one's study, and frame perfect and
brilliant theories for the correction ,of abuses in church and

12
state : the application — the application of them ! there lies the
difficulty ! He was a clever mouse, who conceived the splendid
scheme of belling the cat ; but perhaps that other mouse was
not a whit less sagacious, who gravely asked him, how the
scheme was to be carried into effect.
And how can any one in his senses imagine for one moment,
that it is possible to carry out such a bigoted and slavish system
as the Pusey Theory in the present state of public opinion ? Let
not the Oxford Divines deceive themselves; let them not imagine,
that, because they are lauded and extolled in their own little
coteries and certain limited circles, their doctrines are generally
popular, or that they are even gaining ground with the great
mass of the community. The good, sound, Protestant sense of
our countrymen will reject such notions with indignation and
contempt ; and I tell the Oxford Reformers, that, if they
attempt to force such whims and speculations upon them, they
will themselves be the suicidal destroyers of those very institu
tions which they profess to be so anxious to uphold.
This is a critical period for rulers, both in church and state,
and calls for unequalled prudence and moderation : a rush into
extremes, on either side, will capsize the vessel. Truth and
moderation must be their guides ; a firm avowal and prosecution
of right principles, and a gentle and conciliating application of
them, coupled with charitable concessions to others on points of
unessential and minor interest.
I would recommend to your consideration, my dear friend, and
that of your new instructors, a passage from that great statesman
and philosopher, and, I may say, universal genius, Lord Bacon :
" Men ought to take heed of rending God's church by two kinds
of controversies ; the one is, when the matter of the point con
troverted is too small and light, not worth the heat and strife
about it, kindled only by contradiction ; for, as it is noted by
one of the fathers, Christ's coat, indeed, had no seam, but the
church's vesture was of divers colours; whereupon he saith,

1 "
1 -J
in' veste varietas sit, scissura non sit ; they be two things, unity
arid' uniformity : the other is, when the matter of the point con
troverted' is great, but is driven to an over great subtlety and
obscurity, so that it becometh a thing rather ingenious than
substantial." Would to God, that instead of a stern and sturdy
imposition of opinion, and interminable chains of wire-drawn
hair-splitting disputation, there was more of the spirit of melting
charity, and of comprehensive, forbearing benevolence, to be
found in the works of the Oxford Theologians ! Men may be
led, but they will not be driven ; much less will they be coerced
by a bigoted and exclusive system, which seems to limit all its
notions of excellence, and all its feelings of benevolence, to a
little company of self-privileged individuals.
It is with mingled feelings of shame, grief, and indignation,
that I observe the contemptuous bearing and language of the
Oxford Divines towards our venerable Protestant Reformers of
pious and blessed memory ; men illustrious for their learning,
their sufferings, and devotion to the caiise of truth ; men as
superior in intellectual and religious stature to our little Theolo
gians of Oxford, as a giant of Brobdignag to a dwarf of Lilliput.
I say, it is insufferable, that these great and good men, the founders
and representatives of our Protestant Reformed Church, should
be stigmatized as " Dissenters ;" should be pronounced " un
worthy to be trusted on ecclesiastical and theological questions;"
should be superciHously and insolently called " a set," with whom
no true churchman ought to have any thing to do. I confess it
is enough to make one's blood boil with indignation, to see such
insults offered to those ' holy and venerable men ; and that by
their own children, by their own degenerate and ungrateful sons,
•who, buffer their hei-oic efforts and sufferings in the cause of
truth, might now be groaning in the grasp, or writhing in the
fires of the persecuting Church of Rome.
For a long time had the Oxford Diviiies thrown out enig
matical doubts concerning the orthodoxy of the Reformers:

14
then they began artfully to abuse them, and endeavour to bring
them into public contempt : but now they speak out plainly,
and declare their decided hostility to them, and call on their
friends and followers to do the same. " They have compared
the sentiments of the Reformers," they say, " with those of the
Fathers on sacramental grace, especially in the holy eucharist,
the power of the keys, and the sacredness of ancient discipline ;
on the subject of fasting, celibacy, religious vows, voluntary
retirement and contemplation, the memory of the saints, rites
and ceremonies recommended by antiquity, and involving any
sort of self-denial, and especially on the great point of giving
men divine knowledge, and introducing holy associations, not
indiscriminately, but as men are able to bear it." Having made
this comparison, the conclusion at which they arrive is, " that
it is impossible for the same mind to sympathize with both ; and
that we must choose between the two lines, as they are not only
diverging but contrary.''''
K this be their deliberate conclusion, then the sooner they
leave the communion of our Protestant Reformed Church the
better ; for it is evident, that they can no longer remain in it
with honour to themselves, or safety to the church.
Let them come forth as honest men, and tell us plainly whom
they will serve, whether God or Baal ; but let them not lurk
and nestle any longer in the bosom of our church, nourished by
her milk, and cherished by her warmth, whilst they are watching
their opportunity to sting her to the heart.
The Oxford Theologians have proceeded all along on the
groundless assumption of the purity and excellence of the early
church. Doubtless it sounds very fine and plausible to talk thus ;"
and to expatiate on the necessity of returning to the ecclesiastical
purity of that palmy and golden era.
Hundreds, who know nothing of the real state of the church
at that period, are deceived by such specious representations ;
and forthwith chime in with th« cuckoo- cry, and make a mighty

15
stir and, bustle about the purity of the early church . But what '
says history on the subject ? What say the fathers of the
early church themselves? In the name of truth and honesty,
how can men who profess to have read and studied the fathers,:
how can such men dare to talk to us about the transcendent
purity and excellence of the early church ? When was the
period of this excellence 2 in what century 2 We ask for proof
of this assertion. We defy them to lay their finger on any
age in which these boasts of spiritual superiority can be main
tained. But, if they are such ardent admirers of antiquity,
why do they not go back a little further in their ecclesiastical
researches 2 why do they not go back, not only to the schoolmen
and fethers, but to the very beginning of the church in the days
of our Lord and his apostles 2 Why do they not hold up the
church, as it then existed, for a model? Oh no! that will not
suit their refined and etherial tastes ! They meet with nothing
there in favour of monkery, celibacy, tradition, and the autho^
ritative interpretation of scripture by the church ; and it is of
these things, and of the ages in which they flourished, that they
are so desperately enamoured ! Before they command us, then,-
to return to the pristine purity of the church, let them prove the
use, the propriety, the duty of so doing. Let them prove that
the church in those days was pure, or even comparatively so ;
let them answer the irrefragable arguments to the contrary,-
drawn from the writings of the Fathers themselves ; yes, let
them first answer and disprove the stern array of facts and ar
guments opposed to them by the learned and able author of
" Ancient Christianity." I believe, that, with all our faults
and errors, many of the ancient Fathers, who so pathetically
lament the vices and abuses of their respective times, would
have rejoiced to see our day; and would have hailed it as a
return to something like pure and apostolical rehgion.
Alas ! through what a discoloured and distorted medium must
those men look who see nothing but degeneracy and corruption

16
in the present state of religion, and nothing but purity and per-.
fection in that of antiquity !
When was there a period in which so much was done to pro
mote the kingdom of Christ as the present ? Aye, when was
there more of real, personal, spiritual, religion in the church 2
We point with triumph, among many other cheering signs, to
our numerous religious societies, (mocked and vilified as they
are by the Pusey writers,) and we ask them, in what age can
they find a parallel for them 2 It may do very well for their
special-pleading statements, to sneer at " platform oratory,'"!
what they are pleased to term " theatrical sermons," and "Exeter
Hall meetings ;" those things, doubtless, have faults and imper
fections mixed up with them, as every thing human has ; but
still, I say, they are symptomatic of a vigorous and active state
of religion, and have done more service to the cause of piety and
virtue than all the noonday dreams and midnight lucubrations
of the Oxford cotorie have ever done, or are ever likely to do.
It appears to me, that the Oxford Divines are smitten with
the principles arid practices of the Laudian era; and that they
are determined, as far as possible, to tread in the steps of the
celebrated and unfortunate archbishop. His object was to purge
the church of Puritanism, and to infuse into its veins a little of
the healthy catholic blood of the old Popish religion. And what
is the design of our Oxford Divines but to purge the church of
what they call Evangelicism, (which they abominate more than
the rankest heresy,) and to introduce doctrines and principles,
which, if fairly followed out, will necessarily reduce us to that
state, of horrid darkness and corruption, from which we were
rescued by the glorious Protestant Reformation 2 Yes ; these
modern ecclesiastical reformers, had they the power, would put
the clock of the church and of true religion at least ten degrees
backward. But they have not the power, and they never will :
our fellow-countrymen have tasted too long the blessings of Pro
testantism to suffer such galling fetters to be again imposed upon

17
them ; they would rather, like their noble forefathers, yield up
their "property, their homes, and lives, than the free profession of
their glorious blood-bought religion.
It was miserably impolitic, to say the least of it, in Laud, to
press his harsh and stringent measures at a period when men in
general had acquired a sense of political and ecclesiastical mis
rule ; when the nation was on the threshold of revolution ; and
when many a fiery spirit had already drawn the sword and
thrown away the scabbard, swearing that such tyranny should
be endured no longer. Such conduct almost resembled that of
a man who should go recklessly with a lighted candle into a
magazine filled with combustible materials, unconscious of the
desolating explosion about to follow his blind temerity. And
if the days of Laud were unpropitious for such an undertaking,
what saue and reasonable hope can there be of success in
a similar attempt at the present period. Men bear with impa
tience even the light yoke which is already laid upon them,
how then would they spurn the incubus of Puseyism? They
chafe beneath the spiritual discipline administered, as it were,
with whips ; what then would they do, if they were scourged
with scorpions 2 Such a system might perhaps be established in
an infant church or kingdom ; but to imagine, that in the
present divided, complicated, and anomalous state of affairs it
could possibly be engrafted on our civil and ecclesiastical con
stitution, argues something like positive insanity.
But, nevertheless, I am afraid, that some of our rulers and in
fluential persons will be persuaded to embrace these notions,
(and many a manceuvre is subtly employed for that purpose ;)
and that they will then seriously think of reducing them to
practice in their offices as statesmen and legislators. But woe
to the church and the country, if they do ! The already tottering
walls of our venerable church will speedily thunder in ruin
about our heads, and — but the consequences are too fearful and
melancholy to contemplate.

18
I may be called an alarmist, but I heed it not ; I see the danger
of the reckless experiment meditated by some, and I should be
a traitor to my country, my rehgion, and my God, if I remained
silent. I said, there seemed to be an inclination among the Oxford
Divines to admire the principles and practices of the Laudian
era ; and I will just mention a little incident, illustrative of the
tendency. I was informed, not long ago, that there Wa>s such
a demand in the university for the portraits of Laud and Charles
the First, that numerous frontispieces of old works were compelled
to be cut out in order to provide a sufficient supply. By the way,
the " Life and Diary" of Laud has also been lately republished,
and widely circulated in Oxford.
These little facts, insignificant as they may appear to some,
speak volumes concerning the tendency of the new doctrines to
others, who are accustomed to watch the progress of events,
and trace the connexion between moral causes and their effects.
The flight of a feather will indicate the direction of the wind ;
and so such trifling incidents as these will enable us to decide
with tolerable accuracy concerning the feelings and motives in
which they originated.
I might mention several other suspicious signs of the times,
such as the invariable use of the term " altar," instead of the
" Lord's table," though it is almost uniformly so called in the
rubric ; and though the Oxford Divines contend so stoutly for
the strict observance of the rubric, and vehemently inveigh
against many of their clerical brethren for the neglect of it. I
confess, this hyperbolical veneration of the rubric in some cases
and neglect of it in others, puts me in mind of those persons who
are said by our Lord " to strain at gnats and swallow camels."
Look again at the introduction of new clerical vestments, not
sanctioned by the church in its present reformed state ; and of
changes, agreeable to Popish usage, in the service and furniture
of God's house. What are all these, and many other things, but so

19
many indications of the spirit and tendency of the new doctrines ?
The Bishop of Oxford, I remember, in a recent charge to his
clergy, gave it as his opinion, (I quote from memory,) that more
apprehension was to be entertained for the disciples than for the
teachers. This may be true, as regards themselves ; but for our
selves and the church in general, we apprehend more danger
Trom the teachers than from the disciples. The latter, with all
the fervour of proselytes, and the native simplicity and in
genuousness of youth, give honest vent to their hearty feelings,
and by their monstrous sayings and doings speedily di.sgust all
moderate and sensible persons, and " lay bare the nakedness of
the land." The latter act with much more prudence and circum
spection ; they feel the pulse of the public mind, and ascertaining
what it will bear and what it will refuse, they cautiously avoid
.such things as will shock and grossly offend it, and suit their
development of doctrine to its feeling and condition.
But how much longer will these men be permitted to pro
mulgate their mischievous opinions, as it were, with impunity ?
Really it is high time, for the honour and welfare of Oxford, that
some decided steps should be taken in the matter.
Here, in this temple of learning and stronghold of orthodoxy,
doctrines are avowed and inculcated in direct opposition to
protestanism and the church established in these realms ; and
that by men high in station, and possessed of grave and magis
terial authority. Why slumbers the pious zeal of the heads of
houses, the doctors, and other members of this protestant
university? Why do they not arise, and gird themselves like
men for the spiritual conflict, and valiantly defend the walls
and bulwarks of our Zion? It cannot be, that they shrink from
the conflict, fearful of encountering the subtle logic and scholastic
lore of their astute antagonists ? Courage, I say ! magna est
Veritas et prcevalebit ; simple naked truth, with the two-edged
sword of the spirit, will repulse and vanquish a host of letter-
armed, patristical warriors.

20
But if their dormant zeal is not roused by the cry of pro
testanism in danger, aud that before their very eyes, will not
their feelings be excited by the probable injuries which will re
sult to the interests of the university from the dissemination of
this new theology? Do they imagine, that protestant parents
will continue to send their sons, where they will be told, what
" an odious thing" protestantism is ; and where their principles
will be sapped and undermined by the assiduous inculcation
of semi, shall I say, or rather, thorough papistical tenets?
I know it to be a fact, that some of our nobility and gentry,
fearful lest their sons should be infected with the pernicious
doctrines of the new academy, have already determined on
sending them to Cambridge, although originally destined for
Oxford. It was once observed to me on this point, that it was surely
better for the junior members of the university to turn Puseyites,
than live in recklessness and dissipation, without any religion
whatever. Aye ! But, in the first place, (was my answer,) what
a reflection is here on the piety and discipline of the univer
sity ? and, in the second, who would dream that young gentle
men of such tastes and habits would care one straw about the
doctrines and precepts of Puseyism? No; it is not this class
who are in danger of infection, it is the studious, the thoughtful,
the well-disposed, those who would seem destined by God to be
the pillars and ornaments of the church and state ; these are
the ingenuous youths for whom we fear, and before whose eyes
the new philosophy unfolds its fairest and most seductive
charms. And is there not much of tact and worldly policy displayed
by its professors in bringing over to their views young men of
talent and influence 2 Is it not the case, when a man has taken
a first class, for instance, that traps are artfully laid to ensnare
him? Do not certain of the brotherhood insinuate themselves
into his society, and endeavour to inoculate, or rather indoc-

21
trinate him with their principles? Has he no special invitations
to the parties of Dr. Pusey or Mr. Newman, and the select
meetings of the initiated ?
And is this state of things to continue, I say, in the uni
versity ? Shall we any longer suffer the principles of our pro
testant youth to be corrupted by their own tutors ? Shall we
any longer suffer the dangerous and papistical speculations of
the Oxford school to pass uncastigated and unnoticed ! Who
more ready than the founders of that school to buckle on their
armour and rush to the conflict, when any tenet is promulgated
contrary to their opinions? and when a divinity chair falls
vacant, and is about to be filled up — but not by a Puseyite ! —
who so fierce and warlike, who so sternly and obstinately or
thodox as they ; who so prodigal of righteous and disinterested
zeal 2
I thank God, for the interests of the university and of religion
at large, that a man of such ability, meekness, and true evan
gelical doctrine, as Dr. Hampden, was then appointed ; and on
him and Dr. Shuttleworth I earnestly call to defend and main
tain " the faith once delivered to the saints."
It is probable, that many of the friends of the protestant
church see the error and danger of the new opinions ; but also
see that it is a delicate and difficult task to attack and expose
them. And why 2 not because the errors are not glaring and
palpable; but because, though set forth broadly in one place,
they are often so extenuated and concealed in other,?, that it be
comes difficult to speak decidedly respecting them, though you
are morally certain of the meaning of the writer.
Effugiet tamen hoec sceleratus vincula Proteus,
Cum rapies in jus malis ridentem alienis,
Fiet aper, modo avis, modo saxum, et cum volet arbor.
It is the subtle, slippery method of the writers which renders it

22
difficult to engage with them. Moreover, it has always appeared
to me, that there is a marvellous want of clearness in the thoughts
and language of the Puseyite writers. There seems to be a
dim, misty radiance about them, which puts one in mind of the
moon looking through a cloud. Indeed, to borrow a homely but
expressive phrase, there is, in my opinion, a vast deal of moon
shine in their speculative lucubrations.
As a proof of this, I would refer to a few pages on the
catholicity of the church, &c. in an article on Mr. Gladstone's
book, in the last number of the Quarterly Review. One can
scarcely tell what these writers would be at, or what object
they have in view ; and when, at length, after much pains and
puzzle, one flatters himself he has succeeded in catching some
shadow of a meaning, off the writer flits, like a will-o'-the
wisp, to some super-refined strain of metaphysical speculation,
or of poetical moral philosophy. The article to which I have
just alluded is richly possessed of all these qualifications. On
the principle of omne ignotum pro mirifico, some may be pleased
to call that article very profound, because they cannot see the
bottom of it. I, for my part, cannot do so ; it seems to be
composed with as much mysterious ambiguity as the ancient
oracles of Delphi ; and I cannot help fancying it would puzzle
the wise men of Greece themselves to unriddle and explain its
meaning. The writer, of course, greatly eulogizes Mr. Gladstone, and
compliments him on being so much in advance of the age, in his
opinions on the catholicity of the church, &c., and on his so
clearly " seeing through the weakness and fallacy of the line of
reasoning pursued by Warburton and Paley." This is pretty
well to say of a young M. P. Divine, who has not many years
left Oxford ; and no wonder the writer hopes, that many other
such youthful champions are training, " or forming themselves
in the same .school !" With respect to Mr. Gladstone, I have
the most sincere respect for his talents, his amiability, and high

23
moral character : and there was a time when I thought he bid
fair to become a most distinguished statesman. But he has
been cramped and stunted by the genius of Puseyism. I entreat
him to review those principles, and bring them to the touch
stone of practical wisdom and revealed truth. I admire his un
flinching firmness and high integrity ; I wish him not to palter
or make unworthy concessions ; I only want him, avoiding the
extremes of error, to take the mean and vantage ground of
truth, and keep and defend it to the last. Then his fine talents
and powerful eloquence will have full scope for their noble exer
cise ; then he will grow up like a young eagle, feeding his un-
blenching eyes on the meridian light of eternal truth, the ornar
ment of his country, the guardian of her laws, her liberty, and
religion. It is impossible, my dear friend, for the most careless observer
of " the signs of the times," not to perceive, that we are on the
brink of a great moral and political revolution. The cloud has
been long gathering in the horizon, and is slowly rolling onward;
already the muttering of the distant thunder is heard, and
flashes of fitful lightning are seen to dart athwart the scene :
the eye wanders in vain to pierce the mantling gloom, and to
find some streak or scattering of blessed light on which to repose
its hopes : to use the words of the prophet, " if one look unto
the land, behold darkness and sorrow ; and the light is darkened
in the heavens thereof." If, indeed, there be any object in the
dismal scene which can cheer and refresh the soul, it is the
church; it is the gospel light which she is everywhere shedding
around her ; it is the high character and pious labours of her
ministers ; it is the beneficial and sanctifying influence which
she is silently exerting on the minds and feelings of the com
munity ; and, should we be rescued from impending evil by any
means, I hesitate not to say, that our rescue will be effected,
under the providence of God, by the energies and efforts of the
church. She is the ark which carries our dearest treasures, and

24
which alone can bear us through the stormy tide of troubles on
which we are embarked. But the church herself is in a critical
and perilous position ; she is tossing in a deep and tempestuous
sea ; the winds are howling fearfully around her ; her masts and
bulwarks are labouring and quivering to the blast ; and much do
I fear for the strength of her tackling and the soundness of her
timbers. Moreover, I see breakers ahead ; I see their foaming
Crests, as they curl over the rocky shore, menacing danger and
destruction to the good ship. It is time for the helmsman to
steer warily and firmly ; it is time for the commander to call
every soul on deck, and bid them lend a hand, and labour for
their lives.
And when we consider the real position of the church, at the
present moment, can we regard this as a false or exaggerated
description 2 . On one side we see Popery raising its hydra-head,
and, patronized and subsidized by the state, opening its hundred
mouths to swallow up our holy Protestant religion. On another
side, we see a strong and well-compacted phalanx of Dissenters,
(swollen from the ranks of almost all denominations,) march
ing onward to besiege the walls and citadel of our Zion. Then
look at the fierce and rebellious spirit of Chartism, rising up in
savage independence, and declaring that it will bear no longer
the yoke of God or man ; spurning at once the seat of govern
ment, and the altars of religion. And behold in the back-ground
a spirit still more repulsive and hateful, the genius of profane
and filthy Socialism ; to which we may well apply the words of
our immortal poet,
" Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself."
Absurd and visionary as this degraded system may appear,
it is exercising an alarming and extensive influence, and is
propagated with singular zeal and activity. It rejects Chris-

25
tianity altogether, and is a system both of practical and specu
lative Atheism ; it denies the responsibility of man, and in
culcates not only a community of goods, but also of women ;
denouncing the sacred rite of marriage as an institution fraught
with intolerable mischief and misery.
Again, if we look within the ark, M'e see a numerous and in
fluential body of the members and ministers of the church hold
ing and inculcating doctrines, which all but themselves perceive
to be of Anti-Protestant and Papistical tendency. Whilst they
are talking sublimely about the excellence and necessity of
union, they themselves are creating a deadly schism in the
church ; whilst they are extolling the seamless garment of our
Redeemer, they are rending it in the most wanton and barbarous
manner. It is a notorious fact, that their doctrines and proceed
ings are regarded with great interest by many of the Roman
Catholic body, both at home and abroad ; and that they have
elicited from them not a few expressions of pleasure and com
mendation. Not long ago, at a Roman Catholic dinner given at
Newcastle, the toast of " Dr. Pusey and the Oxford Tracts" was
drank amidst exulting acclamations.
Look again at the increasing population of the country, and
the insufficiency of the resources of the church to cope with it.
All our great mining and manufacturing districts are calling to
her to come and help them ; to give them more churches and
more pastors. But what can the church do 2 She has not suf
ficient means to supply their wants ; and yet she knows that if
she does not do so, the inhabitants of these districts will grow up
either heathens or infidels, and in direct hostility to her com
munion. She goes to the state, her legal guardian, and beseeches
it to assist her : the state, forgetful of its duty and connexion, is
deaf to her entreaty. The state refuses to make provision for its
lawful consort; and at the same time, as if to mock and insult her,
bestows its bounty upon a harlot, her ruthless and implacable
enemy. It is evident, therefore, that the position of the church at

26
the present moment is a most trying and perilous one ; but of this
I feel quite assured, that the schemes and devices of Dr. Pusey
and Mr. Newman can never extricate her from her dangers and
difficulties. For instance, it is most important at the present crisis, to
secure the favour and affection of the people, especially of the
lower classes, to our beloved church. But send out into our
country parishes men educated in the Pusey School, armed with
apostolical authority, and alway declaiming from the pulpit on
tradition, the authority of the church, and similar topics, — and
what will be the speedy and inevitable result 2 Why, that our
churches will be deserted, whilst the meeting-houses will be
overflowing ; and that our Puseyite preachers, with all their
advantages of dignity and patristic erudition, will be beaten on
their own ground by some thundering mason, or illiterate cob
bler, who, whilst he mangles the queen's English, and tramples
upon all the rules of Murray, preaches with a warm heart and
a glowing tongue the great fundamental life-giving truths of
the gospel.
The prosperity and existence of the church, in my opinion,
depends chiefly on its ministers, — on their character and zeal
and on the matter and manner of their preaching. And such is
the improvement of the clergy in these respects, that I feel per
suaded, that, if the state would only awake to a sense of its
duty, and render but moderate assistance to the church, she
would recover the ground she has lost, and even extend her
sacred territory ; she would " lengthen her cords and strengthen
her stakes." And I earnestly hope the day is not far distant,
when our rulers will act like consistent churchmen, and devote
a portion of our large national revenues to the support and ex
tension of our Church Establishment. I am aware of the difficult
position, in which the government would be placed with respect to
this subject, owing to the political and religious anomalies with
which it is surrounded; but still I hold it to be the first and

27
paramount duty of rulers, regardless of consequences, to maintain
and strengthen the church, — to render it co-extensive with the
wants of the community ; and I do believe, that Almighty God
would bless the government which should dare to pursue such
an upright and religious course.
But I see, my dear friend, that I have been insensibly led on
to say much more than I intended, when I first took up my
pen, and I will now hasten to bring my letter to a conclusion.
I am aware that I have spoken out plainly on the subjects on
which I have touched, and indeed it was high time to do so ;
and regardless of censure in this respect, I have ventured to call
things by their right names, without compliment or circumlocu
tion. Nothing but a sense of duty, but a firm conviction that
the doctrines of the Oxford Theologians are most pernicious and
destructive to the cause of simple, scriptural, heart-felt religion,
could have induced me to write what I have written, or to ap
pear even for one moment to speak harshly and uncharitably
concerning my fellow-christians. I know many who hold those
doctrines, I have a great respect and affection for them ; and it
pains me to be compelled to state my conscientious and de
liberate opinions concerning their tenets : but " a friend to Plato,
more a friend to truth." I firmly believe that the doctrines in
culcated by them are likely to inflict great injury on the church,
on religion in general, and personal piety in particular; and there
fore I raise my feeble voice and humble protest against them.
I would entreat every one to keep without the sphere of their
contagious influence, as he would escape the evils of bigotry,
formality, and superstition. The evident tendency of the system
is to create a set of formalists, by substituting, like Phariseeism
of old, a round of ceremonies and traditions for the heartfelt ex
perience of the spiritual life-giving truths of the gospel. Men's
consciences universally recognise the necessity of some religion,
and, if they can be persuaded that this system is true religion,
they will but too readily embrace it ; fancying that it will leave

28
their favourite pursuits and habits unchanged and unmolested.
I myself have know-n several, both among the clergy and laity,
who seemed to imagine that they were excellent Christians, be
cause they had adopted some of the peculiarities of the Oxford
Divines ; they certainly had learned to despise and abuse those
who had not done so ; but in no other respect had any change
that I could perceive, moral or spiritual, taken place in them.
I believe that the Oxford system has also a tendency to make
men bigoted ; for they are taught to think that they are the
true church, and they only : consequently, they look with some
thing like contempt on all who dissent from them, and leave
them, like the heathen, to the uncovenanted mercies of God.
Instead of applying the old apostolic test, " Do you love the Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth?" they ask us, Do you be
live in tradition, apostolical succession, and the catholicity of
the church ? If you do, say they, we love you, for you are one of
us ; but if you do not, why we cannot say so much ; but never
theless we will hope, that, by an especial exercise of God's mercy,
you may be saved.
I believe, moreover, that the tendency of the system is to fill
the minds of the clergy with spiritual pride. The great autho
rity claimed for them by the Oxford Divines, as the absolute
dispensers of life and death, and as the channels by which God
bestows his supernatural blessing.s, is calculated to engender
and cherish (such is the corruption of man) a lofty self-com-
placencj', spiritual arrogance, and an overbearing demeanour.
Of this we have a striking proof in the behaviour of the Roman
Catholic priesthood in Ireland, and in other Popish countries.
We desire for our clergy no such authority, no such extra
ordinary distinctions and privileges; we have no wish to see
them awing and compelling their parishioners by spiritual
threats and interdicts. We have no wish to see them every
moment clapping their hands on their ecclesiastical pedigree,
appealing to the certificate of their apostolical descent, and

29
brandishing aloft the sword of excommunication, in order to
maintain their rank and authority in the eyes of their congrega
tions. These things are well in their place, and under due
restrictions ; but, for my part, I would rather see the authority
of the clergy based on their holy and laborious lives, on their
earnest preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, on their love
for the souls of men, and on their unwearied efforts to promote
the welfare and salvation of those committed to their charge.
These are the men, (let Dr. Pusey and Mr. Newman say what
they please,) these are the men who are honoured by God, who
are blessed in their labours, who command the love and venera
tion of the people, and who prop up the tottering walls and
towers of our beloved church. Let the Oxford Divines send out
men like these, and we will hail their efforts with joy and con
gratulation ; yes, we will bid them, in God's name, go on and
prosper in the glorious undertaking.
I have stated my opinions freely, my dear friend, on this im
portant subject ; and on all the grounds which I have men
tioned, I warn you, I solemnly warn you, against the dangerous
tendency of these new doctrines. The question at issue is not
one of comparison or degree ; it is not one of accidents and par
ticulars: it is one of fundamental principles, and involves the
very nature and essence of the truth itself. And, moreover,
depend upon it, these new opinions will greatly lower your views
of the gospel, lessen your spirituality of mind, and destroy
much of your ministerial zeal and usefulness. I have already
seen their mischievous effects on parochial ministrations. I have
seen ministers hampered and shorn of their strength by them ;
I have seen their preaching, once powerful and efficacious, and
"mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds,"
rendered feeble and unprofitable ; I have seen the two-edged
sword of the Spirit, once a keen and penetrating blade, turned
into a blunted and rusty weapon in the paralysed arm of the
Christian warrior.

" Do thou, therefore, O man of God, flee these things," and
follow after pure and undefiled religion ; " embrace and ever
hold fast" the blessed gospel, in all its simplicity and integrity.
" Search the scriptures ;" study the gospels and the apostolical
epistles ; and you need not the lucubrations of the Fathers ;
yes, study them, I say, with fervent prayer and perpetual self-
application ; and devote that time to your personal religion and
" growth in grace," which some would have you spend in poring
over the folios of St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, or St. Augustine.
Thank God, there is a nearer and plainer way to heaven than
the circuitous and entangled route laid down by the ancient
Fathers. Yes, there is a way so plain, that the wa3'faring man
cannot err therein ; and the direction to it is so clear, that he
who runs may read. Christ is that way : he also is the truth
and the life ; and " no man cometh unto the Father but by
Him ;" and " whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but
have everlasting life."
" Oh ! how unlike the complex works of man.
Heaven's easy, artless, unincumber'd plan !
No meretricious graces to beguile, —
No clust'ring ornaments to clog the pile, —
From ostentation, as from weakness, free,
It stands, like the cerulean arch we see.
Majestic in its own simplicity.
Inscrib'd above the portal, from afar
Conspicuous as the brightness of a star —
Legible only by the light they give.
Rest the soul-quick'ning words, ' Believe and Live.' "
Direct your mind, then, my dear friend, to the study of the
simple gospel, and the things which concern your everlasting
peace ; yea, " give yourself wholly to them." Remember the
Bible contains in itself a perfect scheme of salvation, and a com-

plete moral and spiritual apparatus ; it needs none of the inven
tions and traditions of men, as supplementary and auxiliary ;
indeed, they only tend to clog and obscure its simple yet glorious
majesty. Give not up, I entreat you, the substance of religion for the
shadow. Do not be disputing and wrangling, whilst you ought
to be fighting with your corruptions and your spiritual enemies ;
do not be filling your mind with nice and subtle speculations,
whilst the garden of your soul is running to waste ; do not be
so eager about the fair form and body of religion, whilst the
vital and animating principle is wanting or decaying. Remem
ber the dying words ofthe great scholar Grotius, "Alas ! I have
wasted my days, and spent my strength in doing nothing !" and
those of the celebrated Salmasius, " Oh ! I have lost a world of
time ! time, the most precious thing in the world ! of which
had I but one year more, it should be spent in David's psalms
and Paul's epistles ! " What matters it, my dear friend, that
our ecclesiastical notions be correct, if our hearts be unconverted
and unsanctified ? What will the knowledge of all the ancient
Fathers avail us, if we have not a heartfelt, experimental, and
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. For God's sake, and as you
value your salvation, look well to it, that you are not preferring
the form to the substance, — notions to realities, — ceremonies to
sanctification, — and the church to Christ. Believe me, it is easy
to speculate and theorize on religion and its ordinances ; nay, it
is comparatively easy to mortify sinful self; but it is a difficult
thing to mortify righteous self. It is a difficult thing sincerely
to say with the apostle, " What things were gain to me, those I
counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my
Lord ; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in
hira ; not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but

32
that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith."
But I must conclude ; though I could wish to have touched
upon many other topics, and to have treated those which have
been brought forward in a more detailed and systematic manner.
But this is rather a cursory letter than a regular treatise ; it is
rather an exhortation than a formal argument. It is an honest
effort, God knows, though perhaps a feeble and ineffectual one,.^
to stem the torrent of theological error, which threatens to
inundate our Protestant Church.
But whatever may be the result of that effort, I have made it,
and shall have "the testimony of a good conscience" that I have
done my duty. But should what I have written, by the blessing
of God, to whom alone I commend it, be the means of " bringing
into the way of truth ai^ who have erred and are deceived ;" of
establishing any who are "now wavering, or of confirming those
who are yet sound and stcEtdfast in the faith ; I shall rejoice, I
shall thank God, and be abundantly satisfied.
I shall then bear with pleasure the taunts of presumption and
uncharitableness that will doubtless be levelled against me, sup
ported and consoled by the cheering declaration of the apostle ;
" Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert
him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a
multitude of sins." I remain, My dear Friend, Yours, &c.
¦**»»****#
Feb. 22, 1840.