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THE EVILS AND DANGERS OF TRACTARIANISM.

A LECTURE

DELIVEREn IN

THE CHAPEL OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE,

IN MICHAELMAS TERM, 1844.

E. E L L E R T O N, D. D.
LECTURER IN DIVINITY, ANO SENIOR FELLOW OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE,

OXFORD :
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. VINCENT.
184.5,

One or two friends of our honoured but afflicted Church
having seen this Lecture, urged its publication as likely
to do good ; it has therefore been committed to the Press.
E. E.

A LECTURE.

GAL. I. 17.
There be some that trouble tou, and would pervert the
Gospel of Christ.
The favour of Him whose Providence ruleth over all,
towards our beloved country, as respects both its spiritual
and temporal welfare, demands our unceasing gratitude
and daily thanksgiving. Hence I cannot more appro
priately begin this Lecture, than with a brief statement of
the mode in which the successive inhabitants of what we
now call England were converted to the religion of Christ.
Our ancestors, or at least our predecessors, the Britons,
were blessed with the light of the Gospel at a very early
period, even in the lifetime of the Apostles themselves :
but whether by the personal ministry of St. Paul, or by
the labours of some other holy men, we stop not here to
inquire. It is sufficient to know, by evidence which
cannot be called in question, that the Church of Christ
was planted in this country thus early ; whence we find
that its Bishops attended the Synods and Councils which

4
assembled at Aries and elsewhere, to deliberate upon the
interests of religion, and to promote among men the
knowledge of the sincere Gospel.
The successful invasions of the pagan Saxons, and
afterwards of the Danes, compelled the members of the
early British Church to seek their safety in the fastnesses
of Wales, and Cornwall, and Cumberland ; and the re
mainder of South Britain was occupied by the warlike
intruders from Germany.
Matters were in this state, when, towards the close of
the sixth century, Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory
to attempt the conversion of the Saxons in Kent. This
he effected ; and through the same Latin instrumentality,
Christianity, as it was then received at Rome, was propa
gated also in Essex, Middlesex, and some other neigh
bouring districts.
On such ground it is that the Romanists claim the
glory of having converted the Saxons, and thence ad
ditionally claim the right of ecclesiastical sovereignty.
Now, even had the first of these claims been valid, the
second of them would not therefore have been established ;
for on this principle of the Romish claim of superiority
over Saxon England, Rome herself ought to be a Church
owing suit and service to the Church of Jerusalem, inas
much as we learn from Irenseus, that the Roman Church
was founded by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter
and Paul.

But, in truth, nothing can be more idle than the claim
of Rome to have been the universal converter of the
Saxons ; for if we admit that she converted a moiety of
them, we shall probably make an admission far more
liberal than true.
Oswald, King of Northumbria, or the extensive region
stretching northward from the Humber, (whence the
name of the Kingdom,) sent to the Hiberno-Scottish
establishment of lona, begging that a missionary might be
sent to convert his people to the Faith of Christ. It was
finally arranged, that the mild and pious Aidan should be
the man. His success, through God's blessing, was
eminent ; and, with the hearty consent of the King, he
became the founder of the Great Northern Bishopric, the
original seat of which was the Isle of Lindisfarne.
Northumbria, however, was not the only stage of these
exertions. According to Bede, Fursius came, not from
Rome, but from Ireland ; and, under the protection of
King Sigbercht, successfully preached the Gospel to the
East A.ngles.
Much about the same time, Finian baptized Peada, the
Prince of the Middle Angles ; and one of his followers,
Diuma, an Irishman, became Bishop of the Middle
Angles and Mercians.
Nor was this all. Finian sent priests even to those
very East Saxons whose conversion has been specially

6
claimed by Rome ; and Cedd, the most eminent of them,
was afterwards ordained by him their Bishop.
Yet more, to adopt the words of an able and eloquent
writer, to whose researches we have been indebted for the
preceding compendium: "there was scarcely any portion
of our land which the Hiberno-Scottish missionaries did
not visit ; and when prejudice against their invaders
hindered the Britons from carrying the Gospel to the
Saxons, the Irish Monks from lona and Lindisfarne had
more of a truly Catholic spirit. The JVest Saxons heard
the glad tidings ; the East Saxons knew the voice of
their Irish shepherds ; Mercia had Irish Bishops ;
Northumbria broke forth into singing." — Christian's
Monthly Magazine, No. xi., p. 518.
Thus, by the distinct testimony of history, we may
readily perceive the utter futility of the Romish claim to
the universal conversion of the Saxons ; but impudent
assertioh, apparently corroborated by the finally suc
cessful attempt to reduce the independent Saxon Churches
as well as the independent British Churches under the
oppressive yoke of Rome, has very widely prevailed over
recorded, though but little known, historical matter of
fact ; and when a modern Romanist triumphantly boasts
that we owe our Christianity to his Church, he rarely
meets with contradiction. His claim is conceded, as if it
were too plain a matter of fact to be denied.

One of the earliest aggressions of Rome was made
through the agency of Wilfrid. In a Saxon Council he
opposed himself to Colman, the Northumbrian Bishop, on
the question of the proper time of keeping Easter ; for
they who had received the Gospel, not from Rome, but
from lona, differed from the Roman usage. By a ridi
culous appeal to the keys of St. Peter, Wilfrid perplexed
the simple mind of Oswy ; and the king's dread of being
shut out of heaven by the celestial porter, decided the
question in favour of Rome and Wilfrid. This Council
was held in the thirtieth year from Aidan's mission : and
Colman, says Bede, " when he saw that his doctrine was
rejected, and his sect despised, went to lona to consult on
what was to be done."
Sectamque esse despectam are the ipsissima verba of
Bede ; and they speak volumes. Had the Northumbrians
been converted by Rome, their faith 'and practice could
not have been stigmatized as the Sect of Colman and
Aidan.
Wilfrid was now in a fair way for conquest ; but still
an English Synod had sufficient spirit to abridge his as
sumed sole Prelacy of the vast diocese of Northumbria by
the erection of some new Bishoprics. Against this, he
appealed to Rome ; the Pope readily received the appeal,
as constituting a precedent for the future. Wilfrid, of
course, succeeded in the Pontifical Court ; and having ob
tained with the beguiled people a character of sanctity,

was thus able to lay the foundation of the Papal pretension
of supremacy over the entire Saxon Church.
The ambition of the Bishop of Rome and his assessors
did not neglect to strengthen this foundation, and to extend
their power and influence by every method likely to be
successful ; till, at length, the tyranny of that Church
became intolerable, and its superstitions revolting and dis
gusting. To these causes we are indebted for the glorious Refor
mation in the 1 6th century, which relieved the human
mind from the shackles of ignorance and superstition, and
allowed the excursive flights of intellect to pursue truth
and reject error, on every subject, especially on the mo
mentous subject of Religion.
The Church of Rome studiously, and on system, kept
its members in the darkness of ignorance, and under the
infliction of tyranny : the Book of God's revealed truth
was to them a sealed book, for the use of it was forbidden ;
and the Public Worship of God was rendered an unrea
sonable and unedifying Service to the bulk of the people,
being locked up in the Latin tongue, which they did not
understand. The unscriptural doctrines which were introduced into
her Creed, such as the monster doctrine of Transub
stantiation — as one of her cardinals called it, — the worship
ofthe Virgin Mary, the addition of five Sacraments to those
ordained by our Lord, the denial of the Cup to the Laity

in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, together with the
doctrines of Purgatory, Adoration of Relics, Invocation
of Saints, and Works of Supererogation, have not the
shadow of a warranty in the Word of God, but rather are
directly contrary to the Rule of Faith.
We owe under God our deliverance from these unscrip
tural doctrines and practices to the learned and pious
Fathers of the Reformation, who rooted out of the vineyard
of Christ's Church those noxious weeds which an enemy
had sown there, and by which the pure seed of the Gospel
was choked and blighted.
While these illustrious men removed with unsparing
hand the unsightly excrescences which disfigured true
Scriptural doctrine, they were most anxious to retain
whatever had the warranty of the written Word of God,
and was believed and received in the Primitive Church in
its purest periods.
They have drawn up Thirty-nine Articles of Religion
for the avoiding of Diversities of Opinion, and the esta
blishing of Consent touching true Religion. Tliesa Ar
ticles are to be received and understood in their literal and
grammatical sense and meaning : they contain the doc
trines of the reformed Church of England, which all her
Ministers are to teach and enforce ; they are the test of
good Churchmanship, and prove the Pastor who believes
and maintains them to be a true son of the Church of
England ; and the Pastor who in his teaching opposes or

10
evades them, not to be a true shepherd who has entered
by the door into the sheepfold, but one who has climbed
up some other way.
But what are we compelled to witness at the present
day ? Some time since we were disgusted with a pub
lication which, by ingenious sophistry, attempts to prove
that one who has adopted the tenets of the Romish Church,
mav subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of
England ! In speaking of this publication, I would rather
use the language of others than my own, and will set
before you the censure of two Bishops of our Church in
their Charges delivered to their Clergy.
The one of them speaking of Tract 90, characterizes it
in the following terms : — " Loose and dangerous doctrine
— a dishonest course, tending to corrupt the conscience,
and to destroy all confidence between man and man, . . •
A want of principle which ought to exclude the 'sub
scriber ' not only from sacred functions, but from every
office of important trust." — Bishop of Llandaff's Charge.
"The consequence of the principles developed in this
Tract must needs be — the coexistence of Subscription to
the Articles, witli an inward belief of the very errors which
the Articles themselves were framed to correct." — Charge
ofthe Lord Bishop of Down and Connor.
More recently has issued from the press, a thick volume
written by a Presbyter of the Church of England, in
which he palliates the perversion of the doctrines of the

11
Gospel by the corrupt system of Popery ; styles the Re
formation a Sin ; and refers his reader to the doctrines
and practices of the Church of Rome as models of excel
lence and patterns of perfection ! It is impossible to
assign limits to the obliquities of the human mind, espe
cially on the subject of religion. Such extreme and
absurd opinions, therefore, need not excite our wonder ;
but there is one circumstance attending this unhappy
affair, which may justly astonish us, and cover us with
shame and sorrow. That any individual of the Clergy of
our Church, regardless of the solemn engagement and
Subscription made at his ordination, should attempt to
destroy the Faith which he then solemnly pledged himself
to maintain and defend ; and that he should carry on this
unholy warfare while he continues in our own ranks !
Our venerable mother, the Church of England, may
justly complain, — " These are the wounds which I have
received in the house of my friends !" " Yea, mine own
familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who did eat of my
bread, has lifted up his heel against me !"
I do not wish to express all that I think of these pro
ductions, or of the authors of them ; but I feel it to be
my bounden duty to warn you against the opinions they
maintain, as being directly opposed to the doctrines of
the Church of England, for the ministry of which your
education here is to fit and prepare you ; that you may
be the dispensers of Protestant and Scriptural verities, as

12
workmen who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.
But for those whose office in part it will be to oppose
the errors of Romanism, it would be a dangerous pre
parative to imbibe notions of the excellence of that corrupt
system ; and he would not be a trustworthy defender of
the Protestant truth, who had been taught to palliate the
false doctrines of the Romish Church, and to regard
with indulgence its deviations from the written Word of
God. It has always been a subject of surprise and concern to
me, to see many in our Church anxious to promote a
more friendly feeling towards the Church of Rome ; this
tendency I lamented as dangerous, and condemned as
resting on no foundation of Scripture and of Truth. What
pretence can be advanced by the Church of Rome for the
exercise of authority, either temporal or spiritual, in the
realm of England ? The Church of Jerusalem might
have made such a claim with greater plausibility ; but the
Church of Rome can only plead her past abuses and op
pressions as an argument for the renewal of them in
England ! When we reflect on the tyranny and bloody
persecution exercised by the Church of Rome while con
nected with the Church in Englaud, would it not be mad
ness to take a single step towards the renewal of that
intercourse which in darker times unhappily subsisted with
the Church of Rome ?

13
Let charity towards the members of that corrupt Church
be diligently cultivated and cheerfully exercised. Let us
mildly remind them of the abuses which prevail in their
Church ; but let this be our motto, the maxim of one of
our pious and learned Bishops now in glory — " No Peace
with Rome." * Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
What attached and educated member of our Communion
could ever endure to see the Church of England, the
glory of the Reformation, lashed to the wheels of the
chariot of Infallibility, and dragged through all the
sloughs and superstitions of the Church of Rome ?
Non tali auxilio, non defensoribus istis
Tempus eget.
Besides, in arranging such a reconciliation, which, in my
judgment, is earnestly to be deprecated, all the concessions
must be made on one side, the infallible Church can con
cede nothing ; all its false doctrines and unscriptural prac
tices must be swallowed at one gulp, although they could
never be digested.
I fear that the delusion, called Tractarianism, has spread
widely among us ; the following are the sentiments of a
Bishop of the Church concerning it, as delivered in a
Charge to his Clergy: — "The whole system is one of
Church instead of Christ, Priest instead of Gospel, con-
* Bishop Hall.

14
cealment of truth instead of manifestation of truth, ig
norant superstition instead of enlightened faith, bondage
where we are promised liberty — all tending to load us
with whatever is odious in the worst meaning of priest
craft, in place of the free, affectionate, enlarging, elevating,
and cheerful liberty of the children of God."*
As a means of preserving you, my younger hearers,
from the infection of this dangerous delusion, I would
earnestly recommend to you that direction of your theo
logical studies, which the Statutes of the University
require, i. e. an honest and diligent study of the Thirty-
nine Articles of the Church of England, carefully com
paring them with Holy Scripture, that you may thereby
see, and be assuredly convinced that they are founded on
the written Word of God, and may be proved therefrom
in their literal and grammatical meaning, in which sense
alone they are to be subscribed.
The Works of Chillingworth, Jewel, Bishop Hall,
Archbishop Usher, Hammond, Bishop Burnet, (the his
torian of the Reformation,) Bishop Pearson, and the
judicious Hooker, will improve your judgment, and give
you a distaste for the mawkish theology of the present
day. The study of these illustrious writers will enrich
your minds with sound theology, and confirm your re
spect and attachment to the Church of England.
You will refuse, if you listen to my advice, to waste
* Bishop M'llvaine.

15
your time in perusing trashy legends in lives of the saints,
whether foreign or domestic, in which you would find
much to exercise your credulity, but nothing to invigorate
the understanding or to amend the heart.
You would indeed deserve the praise of salutary caution,
if you entirely renounced the perusal of Romish publica
tions. Your business is to become acquainted with the
truth of your own Creed, rather than to search out the
errors of others. Time consumed on such books I should
consider as worse than wasted. To point out and refute
the errors of the Romanists will, hereafter, be a seasonable
employment, when you shall first have been armed with
a sound knowledge of the foundations and proofs of Pro
testant truth.
Though we duly appreciate the value of peace, truth is
still dearer to us ; and if peace cannot be enjoyed without
the abandonment of truth, we must remember the ex
hortation, " Buy the truth and sell it not."
There are two or three considerations which deserve
your serious attention with reference to the effects and
consequences of Tractarian notions : — The first is the dis
tracted state of the Church of England, and the scandal which
is given by our unhappy divisions. Our venerable founder
has reminded us in his Statutes, " Concordia parvce res
crescunt, discordia magnce dilabuntur." It is plain and
obvious that the affections of the people will be alienated
and estranged from the Church, and her influence on their

16
minds weakened and diminished, in consequence of these
sad divisions.
The Laity of our Church are almost to a man opposed
to the Romanizing tendency of those who adopt Tractarian
notions ; and here I should be disposed to subscribe to the
truth of the adage, Vox populi est vox Dei. The tri
umph of the numerous foes of our Church, the Dissenters
on the one hand, and the Romanists on the other, at these
intestine quarrels and divisions, which weaken and harass
her, may be easily imagined.
Hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur AtridsB.
The next consideration refers more especially to our
selves. The members of this venerable House of Learn
ing occupy a bright page in the history of our country as
the firm opposers of Popery and tyranny, even when fa
voured by royal support; neither were they intimidated by
the threats and frowns of Royal Commissioners.
On this point I would say, Stet fortuna domus : may
anti-Popish principles ever flourish and abound amongst
us !
The last consideration is the solemn engagement to the
Church of England, taken at our admission into this Pro
testant University : an engagement rendered manifold
stronger to those of us who have undertaken the awful
responsibility of Ministers in the Church of Christ.
All these considerations should animate us to indefa-

17
tigable exertion in promoting the extension and influence
of Protestant truth, and in shunning a nearer approach to
the Church of Rome ; for what communion has light with
darkness, and what concord has Christ with Belial, and
what agreement has the temple of God with idols ?
On the whole, well may we address the language of
our great poet to our Reformed Church of England : —
" Servant of God, well done, well hast thou fought
The better fight, who single hast maintained
Against revolted multitudes the cause of Truth."
Long may she hold her position as the bulwark of the
Reformation : and never may she be laid low by the
treachery of those unworthy sons, whose singularly modi
fied conscience allows them to eat her bread, while they
lift up the heel against her.

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