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SELECTIONS

FROM A WORK ENTITLED

THE IDEAL OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH,

&c. &c. &c.

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ILLUSTRATIVE OF ITS TENDENCY TO PROMOTE

DUTIFULNESS TO THE ENGLISH CHURCH,

UNITY AMONG HER MEMBERS,

CHARITY TOWARDS DISSENTIENTS.

LONDON:
JAMES TOOVEY, 192, PICCADILLY.
1811.

The selection has been made with a view to an impending
event, and when it seemed more important to gain time than
to secure completeness. But, so far as its aim is to be
speak, not favour in behalf of the work, but a candid con
sideration o£ it, the passages cited will be abundantly sufficient.
A reference to the original will convince the reader of one
point which is really material, viz. that several of the passages
here exhibited occur in the neighbourhood at least, if not in the
immediate context of some of those which have been selected in
another quarter with an opposite purpose ; a fact indica
tive of the very great caution and considerateness which, in
the judgment of the selector, are distinctive of the volume,
and which are peculiarly remarkable in a work characterized
by such intense energy of expression.
Dec. 7, 1844.

DUTIFULNESS TO THE ENGLISH CHURCH.
Under the above head are here comprehended passages
from the " Ideal," &c. tending either, 1. to enforce directly
the obligation of a dutiful allegiance to the Church of which
we are members : 2. to discourage movements into the Church
of Rome : 3. to deprecate the unhealthy, unintelligent, adop
tion of practices foreign to the habits of our own Church.
I cannot understand that a religious person should, for any
length of time, doubt that, if he do remain in our Church,
he must remain as her faithful and attached son; not standing,
as it were, with one foot in England and the other in Rome,
but devoting himself with undivided loyalty to his immediate
Mother. And if it be asked what definite meaning can be at
tached to these words, let us, for example's sake, take such
particulars as the following. He will " fix his affections" imme
diately " on the Church wherein God has placed him," and only
" through that, on the great Catholic community throughout the
world ;" the English Church will be to him the visible embodi
ment and channel of his Lord's presence. 2. Her morning and
evening prayer will be the central points of his public and social
devotions ; he will offer up those prayers, not as one of the acci
dentally present congregation, nor yet as one of the Catholic
Church; but more definitely, as a member ofthe English Church:
through her, with her, and for her, will his addresses ascend to
God day after day, in the language she has placed in his mouth.
In like manner, should there be prayers for Catholic unity used
by certain members of our own Church as such, and others used
by Roman Catholics as such, he will unite in the former rather
than in the latter. And, 3. the sphere of his practical energies,
the turning point of his hopes and fears, interests and disquie
tudes, the central position from which his view grows forth and
expands, will be the Church through which he was regenerated,
through which he has communion with the Body and Blood of
Christ. He will be careful to make the most of all the salutary
privileges she offers him; he will fight without ceasing against
any dispoMtion to repine at the comparative paucity of means of
grace ; lie will love to contemplate, with humble and affectionate
veneration, the admirable patterns of holiness he may find within
her pale, nor suffer any difference of opinion, on a matter of

minor importance, to lessen his keen perception of their heavenly
graces. — Pp. 67, 68.
Nor yet do I seek to encourage discontent with our Church
herself, but only with that miserable system to which, for three
hundred years, she has been so unfortunately committed. — P. 72.
It must be observed, however, that the idea of introducing, as
it were, bodily among us some foreign pattern, according to the
best conception we are able to form of it, would be absolute in
sanity ; to think of it would be most extravagant, even to attempt
its execution absolutely impossible. No I the one principal object
of our observation must ever be our own Church; to study the
nature and extent of her corruptions, and the remedies for them
which her present resources are capable of supplying,— this must
be, beyond any comparison, our principal task; the only question
is, in what quarter are we to look for the suggestion of appropriate
remedies? — P. 77.
Thus, then, everything seems to throw us back on that course of
action which feelings of natural affection would in themselves
suggest; viz. the making our own Church our one great centre of
thought, as it must inevitably be our one great sphere of action.
We must learn to dismiss all otiose and unfruitful contemplation of
external models, whether primitive or foreign, and apply ourselves
to the more homely task of labouring, by their help, to introduce
among ourselves that vital principle, which has had so great a
share in organizing those models. — P. 93.
And I will say plainly that nothing, in my judgment, would be
fraught with more omnigenous mischief, or would more deservedly
incur God's heavier displeasure, than any attempt to introduce
generally among us at the present time any of those devotions to
the Blessed Virgin, which occupy so prominent a place in foreign
Churches.— P. 81.
Nothing can be further from the truth than the supposition
that the British Critic has ever advocated their introduction
among ourselves. Speaking only for myself, in July last I say,
" So far as later introductions are concerned, such as Images, and
Indulgences, and habitual Invocation of Saints, we should cer
tainly be travelling out of our way to notice them." In January,
" Those who are pained and distressed by some circumstances in
which the mediaeval system differs from antiquity, have a most
legitimate satisfaction in the history of the early Church, which
exhibits Catholic faith as truly active and energizing, at a time
when such peculiarities (we allude, e. g. to the pointed and ha
bitual invocations of the Blessed Virgin and Saints) are not pre
valent." In the previous October, in a passage quoted by Mr.
Palmer, I go still further; " So long as an English Churchman
acts carefully up to the principles he has been taught, and in so
acting feels himself in no way attracted towards these ways, so
long it would be a plain sin in him to resort lo them." Nay more ;

not only have I never expressed a wish (but the reverse) that
these devotions should be generally practised by us at present —
I have never even implied an opinion that, as popularly adopted,
they are not mischievous and dangerous abroad; though neither
have I, so at least I trust, implied the opposite opinion. — Pp.85, 86.
Let us, then, fairly and honestly try the experiment. " High
churchmen" of all grades profess belief in the fundamental Veri
ties to which I just now alluded; let them unite in the use of all
such means as are in our power, (which, I hope to shew in a future
chapter, are very far from inconsiderable,) to imprint these doc
trines on the innermost hearts of our fellow-churchmen as living
and absorbing realities; and let them leave the result with per
fect calmness, contentment, and tranquillity of heart in His hands,
who, by His Apostle, has praised Abraham's faith, in that he
went out, not knowing whither he went. Should it be found that
the more deeply and practically English Christians embrace these
essential truths, so much the more powerfully they are attracted
to such usages and devotions as are now in question ; no stronger
proof can be devised that those devotions are not injurious, but
ministrative, to the central and paramount doctrines of the Gospel.
Should the opposite be found the case, I suppose there is no one
member of our Church who would desire their adoption : and the
conclusion as to any given foreign country would be, that in its
case either their use is attributable to particulars in the national
history and character wherein it differs from England, or else
(which is of course perfectly conceivable) that it is a real practical
corruption, to which we may fitly desire that the Church should
apply a remedy. — P. 87.
But now, even supposing a most extreme and imaginary hypo
thesis — supposing that compulsory confession of penitent to priest
were suddenly resumed on a wide scale among us, the effect
would be most mischievous. Why ? Because the nature of those
perplexities which cloud the conscience and bewilder the judg
ment of faithful servants of God in the lower ranks of life, or of
those sins which oppress their memory, cannot be understood in
their real nature, or rather will be most utterly misunderstood, by
one whose whole past experience has been of the most opposite
character : unless, indeed, he unite the rarest moral and intellect
ual gifts. Unless you expect every parish priest to combine the
highest qualities of genius and imagination with the most winning
gentleness, tenderness, forbearance, compassionateness, he will
chill the heart of Christ's little ones, by treating, as light and fan
tastical, perplexities which they feel deeply to be most serious,
and to require most careful consideration ; or he will crush and
overwhelm them by forming a harsh and severe judgment on sins
quite opposite in character to those towards which he lias ever
been tempted, but which, if he were able distinctly to place before
his ima-iiiation the whole circumstances of the case, he would at

s
once feel were rather subjects for tender and loving expostulation
than for stern rebuke. — P. 324.
Surely the very dilemma involved, either in proposing such an
arrangement, or in projecting an extensive monastic scheme with
out it, should shew how little prepared our Church is at present
for such a sudden development. 1 am not of course denying, that
individual Christians, who share in the Catholic feeling which now
springs up on all sides of us, will derive great benefit, and edifica
tion, and happiness, from uniting themselves voluntarily into small
societies bound together by definite rules and frequent offices of
devotion ; but arrangements of this kind may be quite safely, and
will be far more profitably, left to ailjust themselves: while any
expectation of establishing such a system on a fixed and recog
nised basis within our Church is altogether visionary, until many
well and wisely employed years shall have elapsed. No! we must
direct all our energy to devise some really powerful and available
machinery for the moral education of the many, if we desire to
reap any sufficient harvest of the mortified and contemplative
few.— Pp. 435, 436.
Such advice, then, as this may surely be given with every pros
pect of success in those instances, already numerous and daily
increasing in number, where feelings of acute repentance have
been excited, and trembling anxiety as to spiritual prospects
aroused, while on the one hand there is a keen perception of the
hollowness and worldliness of Lutheran profession, and yet on the
other hand a most natural misgiving as to the possible conse
quences of prematurely closing with what are called extreme opi
nions. Such religious practices as I have mentioned, carry with
them their own evidence and warrant ; and they bring comfort to
the mourner, the power of repentance to the sinner, the power of
perseverance to the weak, the power of discerning religious truth
to the feeble and perplexed. To do no more than realize gradu
ally those truths which we have always professed with the lips —
what is there in this which can alarm the most cautious? and yet
what more is wanted as the true medicine for all spiritual evils ?
Such is the great blessing we derive from that profession of or
thodoxy which our Church has retained : the Creeds and the
Prayer-book have stored within them all that the sorrowful or
sinful soul can need — all, that is, except supernatural grace ; and
that our Church is also privileged to dispense. Why should we be
downcast and dispirited, however fearful the corruptions which
abound among us, when we have such vantage-ground as this?
What need we, but firm faith in our position, and in the presence
of Christ with us His outcast flock ?
Two more observations will bring to a close this part of the
subject. Great as would be the care taken that humble and duti
ful Christians be not pressed unduly forward to doctrines for
which they may not yet be ripe, another precaution should be

even more sedulously maintained ; viz. that all their religious and
devotional reading should breathe the one true Catholic spirit.
The possession of Mr. Newman's Sermons is a most truly happy
circumstance for our Church ; and many of the more ordinary
Roman Catholic works, by means of suitable omissions, will be
very available for the purpose. * * *
Thus inestimable are the benefits which may be conferred, on
the spread of the Gospel within our Church, by those who, from
their position and their powers of mind, are able to exercise an
influence on " holy and humble men of heart." Nor let these lat
ter think that they have no share in forwarding the great work.
So far from it, that there is no more efficacious instrument for re
moving misconception and softening prejudice than the personal
presence of such as these. A humble Christian, who shews in his
whole demeanour a profound humility and consciousness of sin ;
thoughtful, unselfish, unceasing considerateness for all around
him ; a reverent sympathy for good, from whatever quarter it pre
sents itself; an unpretending zeal in performing all the duties of
his state of life ; such an one (little as he dreams of exercising
any influence upon others) avails more than a thousand controver
sial arguments. He proves to those who see him, that the love of
Catholic doctrine arises, neither from blind and carnal formalism,
nor from sectarian bigotry, nor from a puerile love of splendour
and external ornament, nor from the dreams of a poetical temper
ament, nor from the reasonings of deep erudition, but from a most
deep and experimental conviction that this doctrine gives help,
such as no other doctrine in the world can give, towards rescuing
the soul from the power of Satan, and promoting its progress in
every Christian virtue.
That such are our present duties and privileges, will be at once
admitted by all who have concurred with the general statement
of principles which has gone before. That very much more is
also required, if the work is really to be accomplished which we
may humbly hope that God is performing for us, if genuine
Catholicism is to be restored to our desiring eyes, — this the same
principles also establish. But in all such cases, God carefully
keeps from man the power of positive co operation : what will be
His times and instruments in forwarding His own cause ; when
and in what degree He will raise up men in the midst of us fitted
for carrying out His gracious purpose; and on what part of our
existing system these men will firmly take their stand ; all this we
must dutifully leave to Him. To trouble our minds with conjec
tures on such questions as these, much more to think of taking
the matter out of God's hands into our own, would be a mark of
that worldly and scheming spirit which occasionally pains us in
passages of the Church's history, and which is, of all tempers of
mind, the most certain to fail in bringing down blessings, that are
really blessings, on the Church. By labouring, each in his place,
A 5

10
to keep his conscience pure, and seeking to know and do His will,
members of our Church are fitting themselves to be His instru
ments, should He require their services ; they are placing them
selves, as it were, in that position for which He has predestined
them, and where, if He needs them, He will look to find them.
Nay, should the glorious work be really consummated, in what
degree each one has been an instrument, in what measure his
prayers or efforts may have contributed to the result, will be
among the secrets reserved for the Great Day. That there may
be individual exceptions to this, I admit; but surely, on the whole,
such is the sober and simple truth. — Pp. 459 — 461.
I say, then, that those various heart-burnings, misunderstand
ings, perplexities, which surround us on all sides, deeply deplor
able as they must appear to all possessed of any though tfulness,
have never impressed me with any misgiving or distrust in our
Church, but the very reverse. Others, however, as is well known,
have been deeply shocked, surprised, perplexed, by them ; and
have felt the most serious questionings and doubts, whether a
Society, thus fearfully distracted, could really be a home of Christ.
Yet, on the other hand, they had learned to regard our Church's
ordinances, and most the highest of all, — the Holy Eucharist, as
the very fountains through which they derived their spiritual life :
yes; through all the painful and anxious copflicts of which our
Church has been the scene, the Presence of our Lord in the
Eucharist had been the central figure, as it were, in the picture —
the point from which all peace and comfort had flowed to their
soul. Are they to regard these external disorders in our Church
as a notice conveyed to them, that they must break from their
very highest and holiest associations, and seek His Presence else
where? Such is the difficulty in which they were placed; and not
a few members of our Church, finding themselves brought into so
critical a position have taken that very course which would fol
low from those principles which I have humbly attempted to
advocate ; a course, surely, which must commend itself to all duti
ful and serious minds, who are not absolutely bewildered by the
technicalities of controversy. They have resolved to load the
ordinances of our Church, as it were, with a heavier weight ; they
have regarded the lowering aspect of things around as a call from
God to aim at still higher and stricter obedience, to open new
paths of labour and self-denial ; that they may put the matter to
a practical issue, whether Christ will still give them strength in
our Church for this more saintly life, or will summon them into a
new position, that they may enjoy the fulness of His grace. And
the response of all (I believe) without exception who have made
this trial, has been most wonderfully harmonious : the more they
have laboured to chasten and deny themselves, the more, they
have experienced, not a restless and uneasy desire for fuller pri
vileges, but the very reverse ; their treasure has been increased

11
of heavenly peace and joy in believing. The result, then, has been,
that such Christians as those I have been describing, have ob
tained a deeper and more certain assurance than ever had been
before in their power;— while we ordinary men have obtained, by
means of the more visible and acknowledged austerity of life which
has been here and there brought before our view, an external note,
of a far higher and more heavenly nature than any which some
among us may consider that we have lost. Nor can it be neces
sary to point out how that, in proportion as any member of our
Church may have a deeper conviction of her prostrate, miserable,
and corrupt condition, in that very proportion will such remarkable
facts as those I have mentioned, appeal to him as peculiar and
most constraining indications of God's will.
Such being the singularly gracious manifestations of His Pre
sence with us which our Blessed Lord has vouchsafed, a right-
minded and humble Christian will desire some very direct and
unmistakeable personal call from God, before the question will
even occur to him of ungratefully, if I may so say, turning his
back on it.— Pp. 569, 570.
As to those, again, who have at present no difficulty in remain
ing with us, in what terms they would speak of that duty, it is not
easy to determine; nor even, if it were, are we generally fit judges
of the strength of our conviction, until the occasion arises which
calls for action. In speaking then of myself, I speak only of m\<-
self : but so confining my words, I do plainly say, (not here to
recite again those other notes of life in our Church to which I
lately adverted,) that when I consider the wonderful and most
heavenly graces which distinguish certain members of our Church
whom I have the privilege to know ; when I find — from those who
are incomparably my own superiors in all good living, and who
have more intimate knowledge of those to whom I allude, — that a
closer and more habitual observation of their character raises it in
their eyes in a degree they could not have before imagined ; when
the freest use of Roman books of practical religion does not give
me any higher conception in kind of holiness than I observe to be
recognised and exemplified among ourselves ; — and when, on the
other hand, I remember that it is within the reach of these men
that God Himself has placed me ; that any notion of attributing
my own defects to deficiency in our Church's ordinances, rather
than my own past and present habits of sinful neglect, would be
contradictory to most certain and definite experience ; and that
those of my own acquaintance who have most tried those ordi
nances, most value them ; — when I consider all this, I plainly say,
that — supposing, under the influence of some apparent force of
argument or some active impression on the imagination, I were to
dissever myself from these objects of veneration, — I doubt if I
should know one moment's peace of mind during the remainder of
my life.— P. 57-'.

12

II.
UNITY AMONG MEMBERS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH.
Under this head, it is intended to cite passages in which
the author insists on the necessity and importance of unity
within the Church of England as a first object, and a basis
whereon to found our hopes of unity on any more extensive
scale. And first the general intention of the author may be
suitably inferred from the Dedication —
To all members of the English Church who have her welfare
deeply at heart, these pages, which have been promoted by an
earnest desire to bear part, if it might be allowed, in the great
work of restoring unity of doctrine and action within her pale, are
respectfully and affectionately inscribed.
And just as we should encourage in our minds a warm and
hearty affection for serious Christians throughout all the world,
(being confident of this, that so far forth as they are really serious,
they have a true principle and sound faith, practically, even if
unconsciously, energizing within them;) so we should also cherish
a regard, in some respects even more especial and peculiar, to all
serious Christians among ourselves, who join with us in affection
to the English Church. All who seriously and unaffectedly de
sire to see that Church such in action as every Christian Church
is in profession, and who are ready to devote their utmost ener
gies to the accomplishment of that object, have, in point of fact,- —
and should be made more and more to feel that they have,— a
very real bond of union and sympathy, however widely they may
differ as to the means of that accomplishment. And if this be so,
as it plainly is, even in cases where there is a radical contrariety
of doctrinal profession, how much more will it be so, in cases
where such profession is in fundamentals accordant. " Numbers
there are among ourselves, who fully agree in the profession of
attachment to the early Church, and a real wish to conform to its
standard ; in the desire to lay far greater stress than heretofore
on prayer, obedience, and self-denial ; in zeal for the Sacraments
and other Church ordinances ; and a deep sense of the unspeak
able blessings which God gives us through their channel. And
how painful a reflection to any one, who has imbibed so much of
the Catholic spirit as to burn for union with all those who so
much as bear the name of Christ, (so far as truth and faithfulness
will allow,) how painful to him the reflection, that all this agree
ment is felt as yet to give no sufficient scope for genuine, hearty,
unsuspicious sympathy, from the vivid perception we have of

13
mutual differences on points which, if less fundamental, are un
happily felt as even more obtrusive, and in a sense practical."
" On the primary points of doctrine we all agree [so far as con
scious intention goes] in reference to the same standard ; yet
little do we seem to feel how precious is this heritage of Catholic
truth; how constraining and intimate a bond of union it will
supply, when cordially embraced, to all Catholic hearts through
out Christendom."— Pp. 93, 94.
Such, then, is the alliance which, as I cannot but think, may
without difficulty be maintained among " high-churchmen." They
will be surprised to find how little necessity there is for intro
ducing any doctrine or sentiment, which is controverted between
us, into the discussion of matters of immediate practice ; but, if it
is to be a real and lasting alliance, there must be the fullest per
mission on both sides to state plainly our sentiments on questions
of (what some might call) a more speculative character. Let us
agree with each other from our innermost heart, as serious and
truth-seeking men, to test the value of our respective views on
points of difference, by discovering which alternative those adopt
who carry out into most earnest practice our points of agreement.
Let Mr. Isaac Williams, if he so please, still publish his opinion,
that " human support and human comfort" were needful to St.
Mary after our Lord's Ascension, while the promise of the Holy
Ghost was the sufficient consolation of His disciples ; let Dr. Hook
continue to call Roman Catholics " Mariolaters ;" let Mr. Wilson
exercise his judgment on a Pope's bull, and characterize it as
almost worthy of a " railing" censure; but let others have equal
liberty, and with no greater remonstrance, to honour St. Mary as
the highest and purest of creatures ; to regard the Roman Church
with affection and reverence ; and to hold a Pope's dogmatic
decree as at least exempt from our criticism and comment. It is
impossible for our opinions to pain them more than theirs pain
us; yet it will, I think, be confessed by all, that the British Critic
has, in a surprising degree, refrained from all unfavourable com
ment on high-churchmen of a different complexion. Speaking
again merely of myself; I have used language of very considerable
respect and deference to Archdeacon Manning, Mr. Dodsworth,
Mr. Heurtley, Dr. Hook, Dr. Jelf, Mr. Ernest Hawkins ; and have
in no one instance spoken of such divines in a different tone : and
so, with regard to the other two writers I just now mentioned; for
Mr. Wilson, though most slightly acquainted with him, I enter
tain feelings of extreme regard and respect; to Mr. Williams I
look up with (I trust) single-minded love and reverence. On any
positive doctrine which persons, such as some of these, should
maintain as dear and precious to them, it would indeed be a
matter of long and painful deliberation before I could bring myself
to dissent from their judgment; but I have pleasure in believing
that such is not the case : on the other hand, even Saints may

14
be wholly mistaken on matters beyond their personal experience;
much less can I follow even such excellent men as these, when
they venture to attack Saints. But why may we not hold our re
spective opinions in mutual love and charity, and possess our
souls in peace? Why may we not hope, that by building on our
many subjects of agreement, their number may be even in
creased ? Why, when heresy and infidelity are at our very doors,
shall we waste that force in intestine divisions, which should
rather be directed by our united efforts against the common foe ?
When the Spartan in time of war was challenged by a fellow-
soldier to single combat, " Rather," he replied, " let us decide the
quarrel by our comparative prowess in to-morrow's engagement
with the enemy." Let our zeal, accordingly, whether for the
more Anglican or more Roman phase of doctrine, lead us not to
barren and wasteful invectives ; but to a fair trial of the experi
ment, which will give us the most effectual help in evangelizing
our large towns, in promoting holiness of life, and in restoring
essential orthodoxy of faith. — Pp. 99 — 102.
But if there would appear so much ground for hope, even in
dissenting communities among us, how much more in that Church
where God's mercy has placed us, and where the Prayer-book
itself affords such powerful co-operation in moulding the youthful
mind on an anti-Lutheran model ?
But in addressing members of our own
Church, to God be the praise, this need not be all. A Church
which, even in the dark times that have succeeded the Great
Sin of the 16th century, has borne, in some limited measure, so
constant a witness to many great Catholic truths, affords common-
ground in several other matters, besides this great foundation of
all. I trust I may be able to shew English high-churchmen, on
how very wide a field, without going one jot or tittle beyond their
existing principles, they may be able fully to co-operate with
many, whom they now regard with distrust and uneasiness; and
how willingly these last would reciprocate any confidence that
might be reposed in them, by most strictly confining their prac
tical exertions to the same objects. A further point then will be,
to shew how miserably imperfect is the witness borne by our
present system to doctrines, which all high-churchmen agree in
considering paramount and essential; I mean even such as our
Blessed Lord's Divinity itself. And from this, the subject will
naturally lead to such other particulars mentioned in my second
chapter, as cannot be considered, by any possibility, to tend even
distantly towards the transgression of what are sometimes called
" the distinctive principles" of the English Church. How far
should we ever succeed in carrying out, even to a limited degree'
the wow-distinctive principles of the English Church, (those I
mean which high-churchmen hold in common with the whole
Catholic world,) the said " distinctive" principles will be found to

15
possess any solid existence whatever; — this is a question on
which I have my own very definite opinion, but which I would
most gladly leave to be determined by the event. — Pp. 292, 293.
I am not for a moment implying, that we should put from us
the hope of conciliating religious " Evangelicals ;" so far, so ex
ceedingly far, from it, that, as has been observed by the author of
the article on Bishop Jewel in his ' Explanation,' there is no more
auspicious result which may be hoped from a fuller and freer de
velopment of Catholic Truth, than that an embodiment and visible
witness of Divine wisdom and holiness will be shewn forth, which
will more and more persuade and absorb into itself the more reli
gious minds from among all parties of our Church. — P. 433.
All high-churchmen then, who are prepared to embrace this
axiom, and act on it, may, I think, confidently indulge in the hope
that a lasting and cordial union will be the result ; they may con
fidently expect that when certain further questions, from being
theoretical, shall have become immediately practical, — it will not
be until, from having been points of difference, they shall have
become points of agreement. — P. 434.
Thus inestimable are the benefits which may be conferred, on
the spread of the Gospel within our Church, by those who, from
their position and their powers of mind, are able to exercise an
influence on " holy and humble men of heart." Nor let these latter
think that they have no share in forwarding the great work. So
far from it, that there is no more efficacious instrument for remov
ing misconception and softening prejudice, than the personal pre
sence of such as these. A humble Christian, who shews in his
whole demeanour a profound humility and consciousness of sin ;
thoughtful, unselfish, unceasing considerateness for all around
him ; a reverent sympathy for good from whatever quarter it pre
sents itself; an unpretending zeal in performing all the duties of
his state of life ; such an one (little as he dreams of exercising any
influence upon others) avails more than a thousand controversial
arguments. He proves to those who see him, that the love of
Catholic doctrine arises, neither from blind and carnal formalism,
nor from sectarian bigotry, nor from a puerile love of splendour
and external ornament, nor from the dreams of a poetical tempe
rament, nor from the reasonings of deep erudition, but from a
most deep and experimental conviction, that this doctrine gives
help, such as no other doctrine in the world can give, towards
rescuing the soul from the power of Satan, and promoting its pro
gress in every Christian virtue.
That such are our present duties and privileges, will be at once
admitted by all who have concurred with the general statement of
principles which has gone before. That very much more is also
required, if the work is really to be accomplished which .we may
humbly hope that God is performing for us, if genuine Catholicism
is to be restored to our desiring eyes, — this the same principles

16
also establish. But in all such cases, God carefully keeps from
man the power of positive co-operation : what will be His times
and instruments in forwarding His own cause ; when and in what
degree He will raise up men in the midst of us fitted for carrying
out His gracious purpose; and on what part of our existing sys
tem these men will firmly take their stand ; all this we must duti
fully leave to Him. To trouble our minds with conjectures on
such questions as these, much more to think of taking the matter
out of God's hands into our own, would be a mark of that worldly
and scheming spirit which occasionally pains us in passages of the
Church's history; and which is, of all tempers of mind, the most
certain to fail in bringing down blessings, that are really blessings,
on the Church. By labouring, each in his place, to keep his con
science pure, and seeking to know and do His will, members of
our Church are fitting themselves to be His instruments, should
He require their services ; they are placing themselves, as it were,
in that position for which He has predestined them, and where, if
He needs them, He will look to find them. Nay, should the glo
rious work be really consummated, in what degree each one has been
an instrument, in what measure his prayers or efforts may have
contributed to the result, will be among the secrets reserved for
the Great Day. That there may be individual exceptions to this,
I admit ; but surely, on the whole, such is the sober and simple
truth.— Pp. 460, 461.— Vide also p. 9.
I trust, then, that during the present chapter I have kept suffi
ciently to the engagement which I made. I trust that such par
ticulars as those which I have specified, imply no allusion to any
matters of doctrine, which are at issue between high-churchmen
of different complexions. Why then may we not all combine in
the prosecution of such designs as these, and leave the questions
on which we differ to be decided by the practical effect which
may be produced by actively following out the principles on
which we agree? If it he granted that the aiming at such objects
as I have ventured to put forward as desirable, implies of itself
no set purpose of " Romanizing" our Church, I must beg leave to
doubt whether any single one of her members entertains any such
purpose. For as to secret negotiations and understandings with
members of that Church, these and similar rumours, to the best
of my own knowledge, are without the very slightest foundation
in fact. And surely, if high-churchmen are slow to co-operate in
the prosecution of objects which on their own principles are desir
able, from a fear of the direction in which such a course might
tend, they are taking the most effectual way to confirm us in
what they consider our most serious error ; our belief, namely
that high-church principles, honestly carried out on their positive
side, must lead to Rome. If high-church principles be really
substantive and distinct, what possible danger can there be in
heartily and ungrudgingly carrying them forward to their results ?

17
and if they be not substantive, who could grieve that this fact
should be established by means of a fair trial? — Pp. 472, 473.
It is obvious that many passages quoted under the first
head will bear closely upon the present subject also.

III.
CONSIDERATENESS TOWARDS DISSENTIENTS.
The following passages are adduced to shew with what
remarkable tenderness and indulgence the author everywhere
speaks of those from whose views of religious truth he is
compelled to differ ; how carefully he distinguishes between
individuals and the system to which they are committed ;
how sacred he accounts the conscientious persuasions even of
those who have been trained in error ; how earnestly he dis
claims anything like necessary moral superiority on the part
of those whose privileges he considers superior ; how anx
iously he beats about for common ground whereon those
may unite who agree in certain essentials.
No word could be found applicable to all these various
classes, without being wholly inadequate to the amount of
religious error in which some of them are unquestionably
involved. That of " dissentients" has been chosen, not as
free from objection on the latter ground, but, as on the
whole, the least exceptionable.
How can those be defended who, half a century ago, called on
all Christians to believe that, unless they were conscious of a
sudden conversion, they could not hope for Heaven ? Or those
who, at a later period, called on their brethren at once to take up
an opinion, founded on arguments from the Fathers, that Presbyte
rians are not within the Christian Covenant ? And both these
classes seemed by their language to imply, that it was the duty of
"high and low, rich and poor," at once to receive these respective
theologies, so utterly astounding and revolting to all their early
prepossessions ; whereas in my own case I continually went out
of my way to urge on them, that it would be absolutely sinful
if they did so ; and that their duty was to act conscientiously on
their existing principles. — Pp. 61, 62.
I did not expect to find it very different from other " Evange
lical" works ; and in them I had often met with very much which
made me feel great sympathy with the writers, and which deep
ened my perception of the points of agreement among all serious

18
Christians ; even though united with more or less of a painful
character, and certainly with a far lower standard of holiness,
with far less realization of the sinfulness of sin, and far less depth
of spiritual experience, than I find in Roman Catholic devotional
works. — P. 169, n.
Having so far guarded myself against misconception, I will re
lieve my own feelings by saying plainly, as I have said in print
more than once before, that though I feel bound, at all fitting oc
casions and in all fitting ways, to protest heart and soul against
the Evangelical system, I fully recognise many who have at va
rious times professed that system, as so exceedingly my own
superiors, that the very notion of even a comparison is most pain
ful. Who indeed can so much as mention the names of Cecil, or
Scott, or Martyn, without adding from his heart expressions of
honour and reverence? But I allude not only to such unusual
specimens as these, but to great numbers of admirable men, who,
especially at the latter end of the last century and the beginning
of this, followed in their train. Earnest persons naturally, — nay,
rightly, embrace that form of opinions which they find in their
own time to be coexistent with earnestness ; and in proportion as
the voice of their conscience is brought into distinctness, in the
most heretical propositions they will see and realise great Christian
truths. They learn to say that we are justified by faith without
inherent righteousness: they mean only that holy men rest their
hopes of salvation, in no way on the thought of such inherent
righteousness, but solely and indivisibly on the merits of their
Lord. The}' learn to say that the justified have assurance of
salvation ; they mean only to express, as Catholics would express,
their humble yet hearty confidence, that " He who has begun a
good work in them will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,"
provided only that they remain (as by His help they fully purpose
to remain) faithful to His grace, watchful against the approach of
sin, diligent in the practice of virtue. Thus their conscience, and
religious instinct, and holy obedience, neutralize their heretical
creed ; and the evil which accrues to them from that creed is of a
negative not a positive nature. — Pp. 208, 209.
And thus I bring to an end this most invidious part of my task ;
a part in regard to which I feel that nothing can excuse me for
having entered upon it, except absolute necessity: yet surely
quite necessary it is. I most gladly and willingly acknowledge it
as one of the many benefits our Church has received from the
Evangelical party, that they have borne a steady and consistent
witness to the extreme importance of holiness as a test of religious
truth. So far am I from being able to follow those who protest
against such a view, and appeal rather to the argumentative colla
tion of Scripture texts or patristic writings, that I know no ulti
mate result, short of atheism itself, in which such a line of argu
ment must consistently issue : as I hope to express more at length
in a future chapter. I am most deeply convinced, that next to

19
the plain voice of our own conscience, the one great note, given
by God to guide us into the truth, is the visible work of the Holy
Ghost in others ; nay, that the latter has no inconsiderable place
in checking and directing our conscience itself. I most fully agree
with the Evangelicals, then, on the ground of appeal ; what re
mains but to join issue on that ground ?  That even at the
present day there are many Evangelicals far more attached to
the truths accidentally connected with their system than to the
heresies which essentially distinguish it, I most gladly believe ;
nor could any result be more deeply gratifying to my own feelings
than if only one such should be led, by means of what, I have put
forth, to perceive how much more deeply and genuinely the same
truths are witnessed in the pure and undefiled Gospel preserved
through every age by the Church Catholic. — Pp. 244 — 246.
Nay, to such an extent has this mania for external evidence
been carried, that a principle is most plainly implied by numbers
amongst us, though its maintenance by any sane person would
have been incredible but for general experience, that it is lawful
to summon Dissenters to leave that community wherein God has
placed them, wherein they have learnt sacred truths from their
parents or teachers, and with which their most holy associations
are interwoven, — to summon them, I say, to such a course, not by
appeals to their conscience — not by leading them through their
system to another, and fixing their minds on those truths which
it contains, till from them they go on into further truths — nor yet,
again, by awakening their spiritual desires for a gift which Sacra
mental grace can alone supply, — but by an argumentative exposi
tion of Apostolical Succession and the Divine right of Bishops.
In other words, it is considered (though I am conscious that the
naked statement looks like a burlesque) that religious men of the
lower classes cannot estimate a higher idea of sanctity, when
fairly set before them, but can do justice to both sides on such
questions as these; 1, Whether Episcopacy, though universal in
early times, be necessary, while prayers for the dead, which were
equally universal, are not so considered ; 2, Whether Episcopacy
did universally exist in early times, with an examination of the
famous passage of St. Jerome, and the famous examples of Co
rinth and Alexandria ; 3, Whether, in point of fact, the English
Church has the succession, with an historical digression on the
Nag's Head controversy, and a ritual discussion on the forms ne
cessary for ordination ; 4, and chiefly of all, Whether visible union
with what is considered to constitute the rest of the Church Ca
tholic be not also necessary ; visible union, on which learned men
tell us that so much more stress was laid in early times, than on
the Apostolical Succession. And it is seriously implied by mul
titudes of English Churchmen, that Dissenters may, without
grievous sin, leave the community which to them has been in so
high and true a tense the ordinance of God, from no better
reason than the ridiculous child's play of professing a view on

20
such questions as these; and that ministers of our Church may,
without grievous sin, tempt them to such a course.
The author of the most able and valuable " Appeal to the
Members of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,"
mentions with reprobation a sentiment of the Bishop of Ches
ter's, that " if a man feels that he has been personally benefited
by the instructions of a Dissenting teacher, the only instruc
tions within his reach, no argument can persuade him that he
ought never to have listened to them;" and censures also the
Bishop's further remark that " perhaps it is too much to expect
that .... all men should think alike upon such subjects as dio
cesan episcopacy, or infant Baptism, &c." For one, I incline to
be more hopeful than the Bishop of the ultimate reunion, by God's
grace, of all Christians; but take the matter in a practical light,
can the excellent writer really mean that ordinary Christians
are able to form a judgment on such matters as these last, or that
they are not able to form a very sufficient judgment on the plain
question, whether, by help of advice from a dissenting minister,
they have been able to contend more successfully against habits
of sloth, or selfishness, or impurity, or anger? It may be better,
lest I be misunderstood, to add here a note belonging to one of
my articles. " Would it be thought a promising trait, if a Wes
leyan, e, g., born of parents religious up to the average, were, at
the age of ten years, seriously to consider the question whether
or not he were in a state of schism, and how far the institution of
bishops was apostolical ? And if not at ten years, what is the
proper age for him to call in question all that he has been taught,
and sit in judgment on his parents and elders? On the contrary,
surely the position of our Church as regards Dissenters, if we
rightly view it, is no unfavourable one. We believe Catholic
doctrine to be perfectly consistent with our formularies ; and we
know it to be such that, in proportion as it is adequately exhi
bited, it attracts most powerfully the religious instincts of the
serious mind, under whatever system trained. We believe, too,
that after the conscience has been awakened and a course of obe
dience begun, the heart of those with whom we have to do is
still unsatisfied and their mind restless, from their want (however
unknown to themselves the cause) of that inward gift which the
English Church, for one, is entrusted by God with the power of
dispensing in her Sacrament. No need of a spurious liberalism,
or of any the least compromise of truth. Let us aim at making
the English Church such, that by her appearance and bearing she
may exhibit outwardly what she contains within ; and let us hold,
whether by words or actions, this language to Dissenters : ' We
are witnesses to a doctrine and dispensers of a blessing far higher
than you can attain in your present position, and which are the
appointed medicine for the ills and miseries from which in vain
otherwise you will seek an escape. Act the more diligently, in
consequence of what we say, on your existing principles ; the

21
greater your diligence, the earlier will be your conviction of the
comparative worthlessness and inefficacy of your present system,
the greater will be the eagerness with which your whole moral
nature will yearn for what we can give you.' It has been said
that great numbers of Dissenters are in a state of the most aban
doned profligacy. Whether they are worse in this respect than
Churchmen, we have no means and no wish to decide; of course
in such cases the English clergyman would ' be instant in season,
out of season reprove, rebuke, exhort,' as claiming authority, and
appealing to their conscience in confirmation of his words. And
should he succeed in any one such case in ' converting the sinner
from the error of his way,' there could not be much question that
the poor rescued soul would gladly follow, with implicit defer
ence, the spiritual instruction of his preserver. But he has not
this argument in dealing with persons who are not grossly vicious ;
and the question before us is, how is he to address them ? . . . .
That a Dissenter may have been often enough perplexed and
confused by being confidently, and as if angrily, told he is in a
state of schism (as though he had placed himself there), we can
readily conceive; that he may have been deterred by it from re
ligious action altogether, under a persuasion of the impossibility
of discovering truth, this we can imagine ; but that he should have
been persuaded by it, and become a sound and docile churchman,
this we cannot fancy. Can any one?' — Pp. 263 — 265 n.
Of course a very far more important point of contrast is af
forded in the high and admirable religious attainments of great
numbers among the Protestants, — a fact forming so marked an
opposition to anything witnessed in the heathen world during
the early conflicts of the Church. This consideration I omit in the
text, merely as not bearing on the subject I am now upon. — P.275n.
Though we should earnestly endeavour so to guard all we say,
as to involve the least possible reflection on those whom it is so
highly his duty to reverence. In other cases, we should rather
fix his mind on the truest and highest parts of his existing sys
tem ; not concealing, perhaps, from his knowledge those further
truths towards which we hope to attract him, but at the same
time earnestly impressing upon him the maxim, that it would
be even sinful in him to leap forward, as it were, to reach them,
before his conscience should be fully ripe for their reception.
Above all, we should, with our whole heart and soul, urge upon
him the continued practice of such duties as daily self-examina
tion, habitual watchfulness of conscience, frequent prayer ; for
these are the only safeguards he can possess against liability to
the most outrageous and extravagant delusions. The greater
stress he lays on these duties, the deeper sense he acquires of the
sinfulness of sin and the craft and constant hostility of his great
spiritual enemy, the more zealous and earnest will he be in press
ing forward towards a new range of doctrine, which may promise
him increased help and support against their assaults. It will

frequently happen, that he will suddenly observe himself to have
reached, by such means as these, a series of truths, the very con
tradictories of which he had otiosely held in times past: here is a
most unexceptionable mode of abandoning early prepossessions.
Or, if he be intellectually gifted, he may discern that the doc
trines, witnessed to him by his conscience, are theoretically in
consistent with some of his traditionary opinions, to which his
conscience bears no witness : here, also, he will obviously please
God by giving up those traditionary opinions.
But what shall we say of other opinions he has imbibed in a
similar manner, and which have therefore the sacredness of early
association ; which, however, conscience does not witness on one
side, nor yet does either conscience or intellectual inference from
conscience contradict on the other? As a strong illustration of
what I mean, I may Instance the sacredness he may have learned
to attach to the ministers or ordinances of his religious commu
nity. Most certainly it may be his bounden duty to abandon
such opinions ; but as certainly the " onus probandi " lies signally
and emphatically with those who call on him to do so. He has
learned these opinions from God Himself, for they were part of
that very system to which God consigned him for early instruc
tion ; nothing, then, short of the most urgent and irresistible proofs,
will justify him in resigning them. This is a question of the
deepest practical importance at the present time, as is very plain ;
and I hope in a future chapter to consider it, with greater parti
cularity  Pp. 284 — 286, et seq. Vide the pages following.
Now how full of hopefulness is this whole view of the matter,
in respect to that object which must be so very near to the
heart of all who love their Lord with any life and sincerity, —
the ultimate re-union of all faithful Christians; and the conse
quent re-edification of the Church in all its characteristic glory,
as the rallying point of all that is high and holy : whereby the
forces of good might be concentrated in action against their com
mon enemies, instead of being weakened and exhausted by their
intestine divisions, and thus affording an easy triumph to the
powers of the world ! Oh I to whom would not the labour of a
life appear but dust in the balance, if it were permitted before
death to see even a distant prospect of so glorious a consumma
tion ? And how deeply interesting then is the present discussion,
if the views here maintained be indeed well-founded I For
surely there is no religious community in the land, among whose
members we might not be able to circulate (in writing or other
wise) such appeals to their conscience as these ; appeals
which should make it a point of careful solicitude to avoid
all allusion to such matters of infinitely minor importance, as
external ritual or other outward forms ; nay, which might put
aside matters in themselves so vital and essential even as sacra
mental grace, but which belong to a later period in the religious
course, and will be eagerly accepted — nay, sought for, by those

23
who begin in the humble path of obedience and self-denial; ap
peals which should lay their whole stress in enforcing on the con
sciences of all, those great duties to which the consciences of all
would most surely, sooner or later, be found to respond. I am
not meaning, of course, that such appeals should be confined to
barren and general exhortations, which would be next to useless.
But everything, surely, might be hoped from more definite and
practical addresses ; as, e. g. the description, in its various de
tails, of the real Christian character ; of the humility, non-cen-
soriousness, charitableness, contentment, cheerfulness, zealous la
bour in our worldly calling, humiliation for past sin, and the rest,
which are its characteristic features : again, from the suggestion
of definite practical rules, minute, accurate details and helps for
the real and earnest performance, day by day, of such duties as
the following, and the performance of them as being duties : care
ful self-examination, regular and well-performed prayer, earnest
and habitual meditation.
But if there would appear so much ground for hope even in
dissenting communities among us, how much more in that Church
where God's mercy has placed us, and where the Prayer-book
itself affords such powerful co-operation in moulding the youthful
mind on an anti-Lutheran model ! It will be* my anxious endea
vour, then, in the two following chapters — and on a subject so
painfully serious and important, I earnestly wish and pray for
God's guidance to my endeavour — to express, at least in some very
inadequate degree, 1st, the extreme, the almost incredible cor
ruption of our actual system in such particulars ; and 2ndly, the
kind of practical remedies which promise most hopefully for a
gradual restoration. But in addressing members of our own
Church, to God be the praise, this need not be all. A Church
which, even in the dark times that have succeeded the Great Sin
of the 16th century, has borne, in some limited measure, so con
stant a witness to many great Catholic truths, affords common
ground in several other matters, besides this great foundation of
all. I trust I may be able to shew English high-churchmen,
on how very wide a field, without going one jot or tittle beyond
their existing principles, they may be able fully to co-operate
with many whom they now regard with distrust and uneasiness ;
and how willingly these last would reciprocate any confidence
that might be reposed in them, by most strictly confining their
practical exertions to the same objects. A further point then
will be, to shew how miserably imperfect is the witness borne by
our present system to doctrines which all high-churchmen agree
in considering paramount and essential ; I mean even such as our
Blessed Lord's Divinity itself. And from this, the subject will
naturally lead to such other particulars mentioned in my second
chapter, as cannot be considered, by any possibility, to tend even
distantly towards the transgression of what are sometimes called
" the distinctive principles" of the English Church. — Pp. 290 — 292.

24
An article appeared in the " Foreign and Colonial Quarterly
Review" for October 1843, from which I have already made one
quotation; an article distinguished for a peculiar kindness of lan
guage and tone, in regard to a class of theologians, from whom
the writer himself widely differs in many most important particu
lars. There has hardly yet appeared so encouraging an omen on
the prospects of our Church, as is afforded by such thoughtful
considerateness : surely if all serious persons among us would but
agree to put aside the spirit of anger and acrimonious censure, to
dwell with loving eagerness on their points of agreement, and aim
at obtaining a full comprehension and appreciation of each other's
meaning on points of difference, daily would our points of agree
ment increase in number, and our points of difference diminish ;
and the eyes of us all would be gradually opened to discern what
is that body of external and substantive doctrine, which really
corresponds to the perceptions, the desires, and the aspirations, of
the holy and spiritual mind. I wish that the writer of that article,
and those who agree with him, could fully understand, how acute
is the pain which many who dissent from their views experience,
when a plain sense of duty urges us to put forward direct and
open statements, which we cannot but know will occasion them
much distress and misgiving ; and how earnestly we desire them
to believe, that the most frank and uncompromising opposition to
their fundamental views, on what may be termed ecclesiastical
politics, implies no want of the deepest respect and sympathy,
not only for their high personal character, but also for the straight
forward and unflinching zeal with which they bear witness to
the claims of religion in the face of statesmen and worldly poli
ticians.— Pp. 430, 431.
I am not for a moment implying, that we should put from us
the hope of conciliating religious Evangelicals ; so far, so ex
ceedingly far, from it, that, as has been observed by the author of
the article on Bishop Jewel in his " Explanation," there is no more
auspicious result which may be hoped from a fuller and freer de
velopment of Catholic Truth, than that an embodiment and visible
witness of Divine wisdom and holiness will be shewn forth, which
will more and more persuade and absorb into itself the more reli
gious minds from among all parties of our Church. — P. 433.

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