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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Apologia pro Vita Sua + +Author: John Henry Newman + +Release Date: October 31, 2006 [EBook #19690] +[Last Updated: September 15, 2013] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Sly + + + + + +</pre> + +<div id="titlepage"> +<h1>APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA</h1> +<h2>By John Henry (Cardinal) Newman</h2> +<p>London: Published<br> +by J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.<br> +And in New York<br> +by E.P. Dutton & Co.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Introduction</h3> +</div> + +<p><i>"No autobiography in the English language has been more read; to +the nineteenth century it bears a relation not less characteristic +than Boswell's 'Johnson' to the eighteenth."</i></p> + +<p class="sourcecite">Rev. Wm. Barry, D.D.</p> + +<p>Newman was already a recognised spiritual leader of over thirty +year's standing, but not yet a Cardinal, when in 1864 he wrote the +<i>Apologia</i>. He was London born, and he had, as many Londoners have +had, a foreign strain in him. His father came of Dutch stock; his +mother was a Fourdrinier, daughter of an old French Huguenot family +settled in this country. The date of his birth, 21st of February +1801, relates him to many famous contemporaries, from Heine to Renan, +from Carlyle to Pusey. Sent to school at Ealing—an imaginative +seven-year-old schoolboy, he was described even then as being fond of +books and seriously minded. It is certain he was deeply read in the +English Bible, thanks to his mother's care, before he began Latin and +Greek. Another lifelong influence—as we may be prepared to find by a +signal reference in the following autobiography, was Sir Walter +Scott; and in a later page he speaks of reading in bed <i>Waverley</i> and +<i>Guy Mannering</i> when they first came out—"in the early summer +mornings," and of his delight in hearing <i>The Lay of the Last +Minstrel</i> read aloud. Like Ruskin, another nineteenth-century master +of English prose, he was finely affected by these two powerful +inductors. They worked alike upon his piety and his imagination which +was its true servant, and they helped to foster his seemingly +instinctive style and his feeling for the English tongue.</p> + +<p>In 1816 he went to Oxford—to Trinity College—and two years later +gained a scholarship there. His father's idea was that he should read +for the bar, and he kept a few terms at Lincoln's Inn; but in the end +Oxford, which had, about the year of his birth, experienced a rebirth +of ideas, thanks to the widening impulse of the French Revolution, +held him, and Oriel College—the centre of the "Noetics," as old +Oxford called the Liberal set in contempt—made him a fellow. His +association there with Pusey and Keble is a matter of history; and +the Oxford Movement, in which the three worked together, was the +direct result, according to Dean Church, of their "searchings of +heart and communing" for seven years, from 1826 to 1833. A word might +be said of Whately too, whose <i>Logic</i> Newman helped to beat into +final form in these Oxford experiences. Not since the days of Colet +and Erasmus had the University experienced such a shaking of the +branches. However, there is no need to do more than allude to these +intimately dealt with in the <i>Apologia</i> itself.</p> + +<p>There, indeed, the stages of Newman's pilgrimage are related with a +grace and sincerity of style that have hardly been equalled in +English or in any northern tongue. It ranges from the simplest facts +to the most complicated polemical issues and is always easily in +accord with its changing theme. So much so, that the critics +themselves have not known whether to admire more the spiritual logic +or the literary art of the writer and self-confessor. We may take, as +two instances of Newman's power, the delightful account in Part III. +of his childhood and the first growth of his religious belief; and +the remarkable opening to Part IV., where he uses the figure of the +death-bed with that finer reality which is born of the creative +communion of thought and word in a poet's brain. Something of this +power was felt, it is clear, in his sermons at Oxford. Dr. Barry +describes the effect that Newman made at the time of his parting with +the Anglican Church: "Every sermon was an experience;" made memorable +by that "still figure, and clear, low, penetrating voice, and the +mental hush that fell upon his audience while he meditated, alone +with the Alone, in words of awful austerity. His discourses were +poems, but transcripts too from the soul, reasonings in a heavenly +dialectic...."</p> + +<p>About his controversy with Charles Kingsley, the immediate cause of +his <i>Apologia</i>, what new thing need be said? It is clear that +Kingsley, who was the type of a class of mind then common enough in +his Church, impulsive, prejudiced, not logical, gave himself away +both by the mode and by the burden of his unfortunate attack. But we +need not complain of it to-day, since it called out one of the +noblest pieces of spiritual history the world possesses: one indeed +which has the unique merit of making only the truth that is intrinsic +and devout seem in the end to matter.</p> + +<p>Midway in the forties, as the <i>Apologia</i> tells us, twenty years that +is before it was written, Newman left Oxford and the Anglican Church +for the Church in which he died. Later portraits make us realise him +best in his robes as a Cardinal, as he may be seen in the National +Portrait Gallery, or in the striking picture by Millais (now in +the Duke of Norfolk's collection). There is one delightful earlier +portrait too, which shows him with a peculiarly radiant face, full of +charm and serene expectancy; and with it we may associate these lines +of his—sincere expression of one who was in all his earthly and +heavenly pilgrimage a truth-seeker, heart and soul:</p> + +<blockquote><p> + "When I would search the truths that in me burn,<br> + And mould them into rule and argument,<br> + A hundred reasoners cried,—'Hast thou to learn<br> + Those dreams are scatter'd now, those fires are spent?'<br> + And, did I mount to simpler thoughts, and try<br> + Some theme of peace, 'twas still the same reply.</p> +<p> + Perplex'd, I hoped my heart was pure of guile,<br> + But judged me weak in wit, to disagree;<br> + But now, I see that men are mad awhile,<br> + 'Tis the old history—Truth without a home,<br> + Despised and slain, then rising from the tomb."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The following is a list of the chief works of Cardinal Newman:—</p> + +<p>The Arians of the Fourth Century, 1833; 29 Tracts to Tracts for the +Times, 1834-1841; Lyra Apostolica, 1834; Elucidations of Dr. +Hampden's Theological Statements, 1836; Parochial Sermons, 6 vols., +1837-1842; A Letter to the Rev. G. Faussett on Certain Points of +Faith and Practice, 1838; Lectures on Justification, 1838; Sermons on +Subjects of the Day, 1842; Plain Sermons, 1843; Sermons before the +University of Oxford, 1843; The Cistercian Saints of England, 1844; +An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, 1845; Loss and +Gain, 1848; Discourse addressed to Mixed Congregations, 1849; +Lectures on Certain Difficulties Felt by Anglicans in Catholic +Teaching, 1850; Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in +England, 1851; The Idea of a University, 1852; Callista, 1856; Mr. +Kingsley and Dr. Newman, 1864; Apologia pro Vita Sua, 1864; The Dream +of Gerontius, 1865; Letter to the Rev. E. B. Pusey on his Eirenicon, +1866; Verses on Various Occasions, 1868; An Essay in Aid of a Grammar +of Assent, 1870; Letter addressed to His Grace the Duke of Norfolk on +Occasion of Mr. Gladstone's Expostulation, 1875; Meditations and +Devotions, 1893.</p> + +<p>Biographies.—By W. Meynell, 1890; by Dr. Wm Barry, 1890; by R. H. +Hutton, 1891; Letters and Correspondence of J. H. Newman, during his +life in the English Church (with a brief autobiography), edited by +Miss Anne Mozley, 1891; Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman, by Rd. E. +A. Abbott, 1892; as a Musician, by E. Bellasis, 1892; by A. R. Waller +and G. H. S. Burrow, 1901; an Appreciation, by Dr. A. Whyte, 1901; +Addresses to Cardinal Newman, with his Replies, edited by Rev. W. P. +Neville, 1905; by W. Ward (in Ten Personal Studies), 1908; Newman's +Theology, by Charles Sarolea, 1908; The Authoritative Biography, by +Wilfrid P. Ward (based on Cardinal Newman's private journals and +correspondence), 1912.</p> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<th class="tdr"><span style="font-size: 90%;">PART</span></th> +<th> </th> +<th class="tdr"><span style="font-size: 90%;">PAGE</span></th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">I.</td> +<td><a href="#p1">Mr. Kingsley's Method of Disputation</a></td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">II.</td> +<td><a href="#p2">True Mode of Meeting Mr. Kingsley</a></td> +<td class="tdr">15</td> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">III.</td> +<td><a href="#p3">History of My Religious Opinions up to 1833</a></td> +<td class="tdr">29</td> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">IV.</td> +<td><a href="#p4">History of My Religious Opinions from 1833 to 1839</a></td> +<td class="tdr">57</td> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">V.</td> +<td><a href="#p5">History of My Religious Opinions from 1839 to 1841</a></td> +<td class="tdr">101</td> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VI.</td> +<td><a href="#p6">History of My Religious Opinions from 1841 to 1845</a></td> +<td class="tdr">147</td> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VII.</td> +<td><a href="#p7">General Answer to Mr. Kingsley</a></td> +<td class="tdr">215</td> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> </td> +<td><a href="#p8">APPENDIX: Answer in Detail to Mr. Kingsley's Accusations</a></td> +<td class="tdr">253</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<div id="p1" class="sectionheader"> +<h1>APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA</h1> +<h3>Part I</h3> +<h3>Mr. Kingsley's Method of Disputation</h3> +</div> + +<p>I cannot be sorry to have forced Mr. Kingsley to bring out in +fulness his charges against me. It is far better that he should +discharge his thoughts upon me in my lifetime, than after I am dead. +Under the circumstances I am happy in having the opportunity of +reading the worst that can be said of me by a writer who has taken +pains with his work and is well satisfied with it. I account it a +gain to be surveyed from without by one who hates the principles +which are nearest to my heart, has no personal knowledge of me to set +right his misconceptions of my doctrine, and who has some motive or +other to be as severe with me as he can possibly be.</p> + +<p>And first of all, I beg to compliment him on the motto in his +title-page; it is felicitous. A motto should contain, as in a +nutshell, the contents, or the character, or the drift, or the +<i>animus</i> of the writing to which it is prefixed. The words which he +has taken from me are so apposite as to be almost prophetical. There +cannot be a better illustration than he thereby affords of the +aphorism which I intended them to convey. I said that it is not more +than an hyperbolical expression to say that in certain cases a +lie is the nearest approach to truth. Mr. Kingsley's pamphlet +is emphatically one of such cases as are contemplated in that +proposition. I really believe, that his view of me is about as near +an approach to the truth about my writings and doings, as he is +capable of taking. He has done his worst towards me; but he has also +done his best. So far well; but, while I impute to him no malice, I +unfeignedly think, on the other hand, that, in his invective against +me, he as faithfully fulfils the other half of the proposition also.</p> + +<p>This is not a mere sharp retort upon Mr. Kingsley, as will be seen, +when I come to consider directly the subject to which the words of +his motto relate. I have enlarged on that subject in various passages +of my publications; I have said that minds in different states and +circumstances cannot understand one another, and that in all cases +they must be instructed according to their capacity, and, if not +taught step by step, they learn only so much the less; that children +do not apprehend the thoughts of grown people, nor savages the +instincts of civilization, nor blind men the perceptions of sight, +nor pagans the doctrines of Christianity, nor men the experiences of +Angels. In the same way, there are people of matter-of-fact, prosaic +minds, who cannot take in the fancies of poets; and others of +shallow, inaccurate minds, who cannot take in the ideas of +philosophical inquirers. In a lecture of mine I have illustrated +this phenomenon by the supposed instance of a foreigner, who, after +reading a commentary on the principles of English Law, does not +get nearer to a real apprehension of them than to be led to accuse +Englishmen of considering that the queen is impeccable and +infallible, and that the Parliament is omnipotent. Mr. Kingsley +has read me from beginning to end in the fashion in which the +hypothetical Russian read Blackstone; not, I repeat, from malice, but +because of his intellectual build. He appears to be so constituted as +to have no notion of what goes on in minds very different from his +own, and moreover to be stone-blind to his ignorance. A modest man or +a philosopher would have scrupled to treat with scorn and scoffing, +as Mr. Kingsley does in my own instance, principles and convictions, +even if he did not acquiesce in them himself, which had been held so +widely and for so long—the beliefs and devotions and customs which +have been the religious life of millions upon millions of Christians +for nearly twenty centuries—for this in fact is the task on which he +is spending his pains. Had he been a man of large or cautious mind, +he would not have taken it for granted that cultivation must lead +every one to see things precisely as he sees them himself. But the +narrow-minded are the more prejudiced by very reason of their +narrowness. The apostle bids us "in malice be children, but in +understanding be men." I am glad to recognise in Mr. Kingsley an +illustration of the first half of this precept; but I should not be +honest, if I ascribed to him any sort of fulfilment of the second.</p> + +<p>I wish I could speak as favourably either of his drift or of his +method of arguing, as I can of his convictions. As to his drift, I +think its ultimate point is an attack upon the Catholic Religion. It +is I indeed, whom he is immediately insulting—still, he views me +only as a representative, and on the whole a fair one, of a class or +caste of men, to whom, conscious as I am of my own integrity, I +ascribe an excellence superior to mine. He desires to impress upon +the public mind the conviction that I am a crafty, scheming man, +simply untrustworthy; that, in becoming a Catholic, I have just found +my right place; that I do but justify and am properly interpreted by +the common English notion of Roman casuists and confessors; that I +was secretly a Catholic when I was openly professing to be a +clergyman of the Established Church; that so far from bringing, by +means of my conversion, when at length it openly took place, any +strength to the Catholic cause, I am really a burden to it—an +additional evidence of the fact, that to be a pure, german, genuine +Catholic, a man must be either a knave or a fool.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">These last words bring me to Mr. Kingsley's method of disputation, +which I must criticise with much severity;—in his drift he does but +follow the ordinary beat of controversy, but in his mode of arguing +he is actually dishonest.</p> + +<p>He says that I am either a knave or a fool, and (as we shall see by +and by) he is not quite sure which, probably both. He tells his +readers that on one occasion he said that he had fears I should "end +in one or other of two misfortunes." "He would either," he continues, +"destroy his own sense of honesty, <i>i.e.</i> conscious truthfulness—and +become a dishonest person; or he would destroy his common sense, +<i>i.e.</i> unconscious truthfulness, and become the slave and puppet +seemingly of his own logic, really of his own fancy.... I thought for +years past that he had become the former; I now see that he has +become the latter." (p. 20). Again, "When I read these outrages upon +common sense, what wonder if I said to myself, 'This man cannot +believe what he is saying?'" (p. 26). Such has been Mr. Kingsley's +state of mind till lately, but now he considers that I am possessed +with a spirit of "almost boundless silliness," of "simple +credulity, the child of scepticism," of "absurdity" (p. 41), of a +"self-deception which has become a sort of frantic honesty" (p. 26). +And as to his fundamental reason for this change, he tells us, he +really does not know what it is (p. 44). However, let the reason be +what it will, its upshot is intelligible enough. He is enabled at +once, by this professed change of judgment about me, to put forward +one of these alternatives, yet to keep the other in reserve;—and +this he actually does. He need not commit himself to a definite +accusation against me, such as requires definite proof and admits of +definite refutation; for he has two strings to his bow;—when he is +thrown off his balance on the one leg, he can recover himself by the +use of the other. If I demonstrate that I am not a knave, he may +exclaim, "Oh, but you are a fool!" and when I demonstrate that I am +not a fool, he may turn round and retort, "Well, then, you are a +knave." I have no objection to reply to his arguments in behalf of +either alternative, but I should have been better pleased to have +been allowed to take them one at a time.</p> + +<p>But I have not yet done full justice to the method of disputation, +which Mr. Kingsley thinks it right to adopt. Observe this first:—He +means by a man who is "silly" not a man who is to be pitied, but a +man who is to be <i>abhorred</i>. He means a man who is not simply weak +and incapable, but a moral leper; a man who, if not a knave, has +everything bad about him except knavery; nay, rather, has together +with every other worst vice, a spice of knavery to boot. <i>His</i> +simpleton is one who has become such, in judgment for his having once +been a knave. <i>His</i> simpleton is not a born fool, but a self-made +idiot, one who has drugged and abused himself into a shameless +depravity; one, who, without any misgiving or remorse, is guilty of +drivelling superstition, of reckless violation of sacred things, of +fanatical excesses, of passionate inanities, of unmanly audacious +tyranny over the weak, meriting the wrath of fathers and brothers. +This is that milder judgment, which he seems to pride himself upon as +so much charity; and, as he expresses it, he "does not know" why. +This is what he really meant in his letter to me of January 14, when +he withdrew his charge of my being dishonest. He said, "The <i>tone</i> of +your letters, even more than their language, makes me feel, <i>to my +very deep pleasure</i>,"—what? that you have gambled away your reason, +that you are an intellectual sot, that you are a fool in a frenzy. +And in his pamphlet, he gives us this explanation why he did not say +this to my face, viz. that he had been told that I was "in weak +health," and was "averse to controversy," (pp. 6 and 8). He "felt +some regret for having disturbed me."</p> + +<p>But I pass on from these multiform imputations, and confine myself to +this one consideration, viz. that he has made any fresh imputation +upon me at all. He gave up the charge of knavery; well and good: but +where was the logical necessity of his bringing another? I am sitting +at home without a thought of Mr. Kingsley; he wantonly breaks in upon +me with the charge that I had "<i>informed</i>" the world "that Truth for +its own sake <i>need not</i> and on the whole <i>ought not to be</i> a virtue +with the Roman clergy." When challenged on the point he cannot bring +a fragment of evidence in proof of his assertion, and he is convicted +of false witness by the voice of the world. Well, I should have +thought that he had now nothing whatever more to do. "Vain man!" he +seems to make answer, "what simplicity in you to think so! If you +have not broken one commandment, let us see whether we cannot convict +you of the breach of another. If you are not a swindler or forger, +you are guilty of arson or burglary. By hook or by crook you shall +not escape. Are <i>you</i> to suffer or <i>I</i>? What does it matter to you +who are going off the stage, to receive a slight additional daub +upon a character so deeply stained already? But think of me, the +immaculate lover of Truth, so observant (as I have told you p. 8) of +'<i>hault courage</i> and strict honour,'—and (<i>aside</i>)—'and not as this +publican'—do you think I can let you go scot free instead of myself? +No; <i>noblesse oblige</i>. Go to the shades, old man, and boast that +Achilles sent you thither."</p> + +<p>But I have not even yet done with Mr. Kingsley's method of +disputation. Observe secondly:—when a man is said to be a knave or a +fool, it is commonly meant that he is <i>either</i> the one <i>or</i> the +other; and that,—either in the sense that the hypothesis of his +being a fool is too absurd to be entertained; or, again, as a sort of +contemptuous acquittal of one, who after all has not wit enough to be +wicked. But this is not at all what Mr. Kingsley proposes to himself +in the antithesis which he suggests to his readers. Though he speaks +of me as an utter dotard and fanatic, yet all along, from the +beginning of his pamphlet to the end, he insinuates, he proves from +my writings, and at length in his last pages he openly pronounces, +that after all he was right at first, in thinking me a conscious liar +and deceiver.</p> + +<p>Now I wish to dwell on this point. It cannot be doubted, I say, that, +in spite of his professing to consider me as a dotard and driveller, +on the ground of his having given up the notion of my being a knave, +yet it is the very staple of his pamphlet that a knave after all I +must be. By insinuation, or by implication, or by question, or by +irony, or by sneer, or by parable, he enforces again and again a +conclusion which he does not categorically enunciate.</p> + +<p>For instance (1) P. 14. "I know that men <i>used to suspect Dr. +Newman</i>, I have been inclined to do so myself, of writing a whole +sermon ... for the sake of one single passing hint, one phrase, one +epithet, one little barbed arrow which ... he delivered unheeded, as +with his finger tip, to the very heart of an initiated hearer, <i>never +to be withdrawn again</i>."</p> + +<p>(2) P. 15. "How <i>was</i> I to know that the preacher, who had the +reputation of being the most <i>acute</i> man of his generation, and of +having a specially intimate acquaintance with the weaknesses of the +human heart, was utterly blind to the broad meaning and the plain +practical result of a sermon like this, delivered before fanatic and +hot-headed young men, who hung upon his every word? That he did not +<i>foresee</i> that they would think that they obeyed him, <i>by becoming +affected, artificial, sly, shifty, ready for concealments and +equivocations</i>?"</p> + +<p>(3) P. 17. "No one <i>would have</i> suspected him to be a dishonest man, +if he had not perversely chosen <i>to assume a style</i> which (as he +himself confesses) the world always associates with dishonesty."</p> + +<p>(4) Pp. 29, 30. "<i>If</i> he will indulge in subtle paradoxes, in +rhetorical exaggerations; if, <i>whenever he touches on the question of +truth and honesty</i>, he will take a perverse pleasure in saying +something shocking to plain English notions, he <i>must take the +consequences of his own eccentricities</i>."</p> + +<p>(5) P. 34. "At which most of my readers will be inclined to cry: 'Let +Dr. Newman alone, after that.... He had a human reason once, no +doubt: but he has gambled it away.' ... True: so true, etc."</p> + +<p>(6) P. 34. He continues: "I should never have written these pages, +save because it was my duty to show the world, if not Dr. Newman, how +the mistake (!) of his <i>not caring</i> for truth <i>arose</i>."</p> + +<p>(7) P. 37. "And this is the man, who when accused of countenancing +falsehood, puts on first a tone of <i>plaintive</i> (!) and startled +innocence, and then one of smug self-satisfaction—as who should ask, +'What have I said? What have I done? Why am I on my trial?'"</p> + +<p>(8) P. 40. "What Dr. Newman teaches is clear at last, and <i>I see now +how deeply I have wronged him</i>. So far from thinking truth for its +own sake to be no virtue, <i>he considers it a virtue so lofty as to be +unattainable by man</i>."</p> + +<p>(9) P. 43. "There is no use in wasting words on this 'economical' +statement of Dr. Newman's. I shall only say that there are people in +the world whom it is very difficult to <i>help</i>. As soon as they are +got out of one scrape, they walk straight into another."</p> + +<p>(10) P. 43. "Dr. Newman has shown 'wisdom' enough of that +<i>serpentine</i> type which is his professed ideal.... Yes, Dr. Newman is +a very economical person."</p> + +<p>(11) P. 44. "Dr. Newman <i>tries</i>, by <i>cunning sleight-of-hand logic</i>, +to prove that I did not believe the accusation when I made it."</p> + +<p>(12) P. 45. "These are hard words. If Dr. Newman shall complain of +them, I can only remind him of the fate which befel the stork caught +among the cranes, <i>even though</i> the stork had <i>not</i> done all he could +to make himself like a crane, <i>as Dr. Newman has</i>, by 'economising' +on the very title-page of his pamphlet."</p> + +<p>These last words bring us to another and far worse instance of these +slanderous assaults upon me, but its place is in a subsequent page.</p> + +<p>Now it may be asked of me, "Well, why should not Mr. Kingsley take a +course such as this? It was his original assertion that Dr. Newman +was a professed liar, and a patron of lies; he spoke somewhat at +random, granted; but now he has got up his references and he is +proving, not perhaps the very thing which he said at first, but +something very like it, and to say the least quite as bad. He is now +only aiming to justify morally his original assertion; why is he not +at liberty to do so?"</p> + +<p><i>Why</i> should he <i>not</i> now insinuate that I am a liar and a knave! he +had of course a perfect right to make such a charge, if he chose; he +might have said, "I was virtually right, and here is the proof of +it," but this he has not done, but on the contrary has professed that +he no longer draws from my works, as he did before, the inference of +my dishonesty. He says distinctly, p. 26, "When I read these outrages +upon common sense, what wonder if I said to myself, 'This man cannot +believe what he is saying?' <i>I believe I was wrong</i>." And in p. 31, +"I said, This man has no real care for truth. Truth for its own sake +is no virtue in his eyes, and he teaches that it need not be. <i>I do +not say that now</i>." And in p. 41, "I do not call this conscious +dishonesty; the man who wrote that sermon <i>was already past the +possibility</i> of such a sin."</p> + +<p><i>Why</i> should he <i>not</i>! because it is on the ground of my not being a +knave that he calls me a fool; adding to the words just quoted, "[My +readers] have fallen perhaps into the prevailing superstition that +cleverness is synonymous with wisdom. They cannot believe that (as is +too certain) great literary and even barristerial ability may +co-exist with almost boundless silliness."</p> + +<p><i>Why</i> should he <i>not</i>! because he has taken credit to himself for +that high feeling of honour which refuses to withdraw a concession +which once has been made; though (wonderful to say!), at the very +time that he is recording this magnanimous resolution, he lets it out +of the bag that his relinquishment of it is only a profession and a +pretence; for he says, p. 8: "I have accepted Dr. Newman's denial +that [the Sermon] means what I thought it did; and <i>heaven forbid</i>" +(oh!) "that I should withdraw my word once given, <i>at whatever +disadvantage to myself</i>." Disadvantage! but nothing can be +advantageous to him which is <i>untrue</i>; therefore in proclaiming that +the concession of my honesty is a disadvantage to him, he thereby +implies unequivocally that there is some probability still, that I am +<i>dis</i>honest. He goes on, "I am informed by those from whose judgment +on such points there is no appeal, that '<i>en hault courage</i>,' and +strict honour, I am also <i>precluded</i>, by the <i>terms</i> of my +explanation, from using any other of Dr. Newman's past writings to +prove my assertion." And then, "I have declared Dr. Newman to have +been an honest man up to the 1st of February, 1864; it was, as I +shall show, only Dr. Newman's fault that I ever thought him to be +anything else. It depends entirely on Dr. Newman whether he shall +<i>sustain</i> the reputation which he has so recently acquired," (by +diploma of course from Mr. Kingsley.) "If I give him thereby a fresh +advantage in this argument, he is <i>most welcome</i> to it. He needs, it +seems to me, <i>as many advantages as possible</i>."</p> + +<p>What a princely mind! How loyal to his rash promise, how delicate +towards the subject of it, how conscientious in his interpretation of +it! I have no thought of irreverence towards a Scripture Saint, who +was actuated by a very different spirit from Mr. Kingsley's, but +somehow since I read his pamphlet words have been running in my head, +which I find in the Douay version thus; "Thou hast also with thee +Semei the son of Gera, who cursed me with a grievous curse when I +went to the camp, but I swore to him, saying, I will not kill thee +with the sword. Do not thou hold him guiltless. But thou art a wise +man and knowest what to do with him, and thou shalt bring down his +grey hairs with blood to hell."</p> + +<p>Now I ask, Why could not Mr. Kingsley be open? If he intended still +to arraign me on the charge of lying, why could he not say so as a +man? Why must he insinuate, question, imply, and use sneering and +irony, as if longing to touch a forbidden fruit, which still he was +afraid would burn his fingers, if he did so? Why must he "palter in a +double sense," and blow hot and cold in one breath? He first said he +considered me a patron of lying; well, he changed his opinion; and as +to the logical ground of this change, he said that, if any one asked +him what it was, he could only answer that <i>he really did not know</i>. +Why could not he change back again, and say he did not know why? He +had quite a right to do so; and then his conduct would have been so +far straightforward and unexceptionable. But no;—in the very act of +professing to believe in my sincerity, he takes care to show the +world that it is a profession and nothing more. That very proceeding +which at p. 15 he lays to my charge (whereas I detest it), of avowing +one thing and thinking another, that proceeding he here exemplifies +himself; and yet, while indulging in practices as offensive as this, +he ventures to speak of his sensitive admiration of "hault courage +and strict honour!" "I forgive you, Sir Knight," says the heroine in +the Romance, "I forgive you as a Christian." "That means," said +Wamba, "that she does not forgive him at all." Mr. Kingsley's word of +honour is about as valuable as in the jester's opinion was the +Christian charity of Rowena. But here we are brought to a further +specimen of Mr. Kingsley's method of disputation, and having duly +exhibited it, I shall have done with him.</p> + +<p>It is his last, and he has intentionally reserved it for his last. +Let it be recollected that he professed to absolve me from his +original charge of dishonesty up to February 1. And further, he +implies that, <i>at the time when he was writing</i>, I had not <i>yet</i> +involved myself in any fresh acts suggestive of that sin. He says +that I have had a great <i>escape</i> of conviction, that he hopes I shall +take warning, and act more cautiously. "It depends entirely," he +says, "on <i>Dr. Newman, whether</i> he shall <i>sustain</i> the reputation +which he has so recently acquired" (p. 8). Thus, in Mr. Kingsley's +judgment, I was <i>then</i>, when he wrote these words, <i>still</i> innocent +of dishonesty, for a man cannot sustain what he actually has not got; +<i>only he could not be sure of my future</i>. Could not be sure! Why at +this very time he had already noted down valid proofs, as he thought +them, that I <i>had</i> already forfeited the character which he +contemptuously accorded to me. He had cautiously said "<i>up to</i> +February 1st," <i>in order</i> to reserve the title-page and last three +pages of my pamphlet, which were not published till February 12th, +and out of these four pages, which he had <i>not</i> whitewashed, he had +<i>already</i> forged charges against me of dishonesty at the very time +that he implied that as yet there was nothing against me. When he +gave me that plenary condonation, as it seemed to be, he had already +done his best that I should never enjoy it. He knew well at p. 8, +what he meant to say at pp. 44 and 45. At best indeed I was only out +upon ticket of leave; but that ticket was a pretence; he had made +it forfeit when he gave it. But he did not say so at once, first, +because between p. 8 and p. 44 he meant to talk a great deal about my +idiotcy and my frenzy, which would have been simply out of place, had +he proved me too soon to be a knave again; and next, because he meant +to exhaust all those insinuations about my knavery in the past, which +"strict honour" did not permit him to countenance, in order thereby +to give colour and force to his direct charges of knavery in the +present, which "strict honour" <i>did</i> permit him to handsel. So in the +fifth act he gave a start, and found to his horror that, in my +miserable four pages, I had committed the "enormity" of an "economy," +which in matter of fact he had got by heart before he began the play. +Nay, he suddenly found two, three, and (for what he knew) as many as +four profligate economies in that title-page and those Reflections, +and he uses the language of distress and perplexity at this appalling +discovery.</p> + +<p>Now why this <i>coup de théâtre</i>? The reason soon breaks on us. Up to +February 1, he could not categorically arraign me for lying, and +therefore could not involve me (as was so necessary for his case), in +the popular abhorrence which is felt for the casuists of Rome: but, +as soon as ever he could openly and directly pronounce (saving his +"hault courage and strict honour") that I am guilty of three or four +new economies, then at once I am made to bear, not only my own sins, +but the sins of other people also, and, though I have been condoned +the knavery of my antecedents, I am guilty of the knavery of a whole +priesthood instead. So the hour of doom for Semei is come, and the +wise man knows what to do with him;—he is down upon me with the +odious names of "St. Alfonso da Liguori," and "Scavini" and +"Neyraguet," and "the Romish moralists," and their "compeers and +pupils," and I am at once merged and whirled away in the gulph of +notorious quibblers, and hypocrites, and rogues.</p> + +<p>But we have not even yet got at the real object of the stroke, thus +reserved for his <i>finale</i>. I really feel sad for what I am obliged +now to say. I am in warfare with him, but I wish him no ill;—it is +very difficult to get up resentment towards persons whom one has +never seen. It is easy enough to be irritated with friends or foes, +<i>vis-à-vis</i>; but, though I am writing with all my heart against what +he has said of me, I am not conscious of personal unkindness towards +himself. I think it necessary to write as I am writing, for my own +sake, and for the sake of the Catholic priesthood; but I wish to +impute nothing worse to Kingsley than that he has been furiously +carried away by his feelings. But what shall I say of the upshot of +all this talk of my economies and equivocations and the like? What is +the precise <i>work</i> which it is directed to effect? I am at war with +him; but there is such a thing as legitimate warfare: war has its +laws; there are things which may fairly be done, and things which may +not be done. I say it with shame and with stern sorrow;—he has +attempted a great transgression; he has attempted (as I may call it) +to <i>poison the wells</i>. I will quote him and explain what I mean.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Newman tries, by cunning sleight-of-hand logic, to prove that I +did not believe the accusation when I made it. Therein he is +mistaken. I did believe it, and I believed also his indignant denial. +But when he goes on to ask with sneers, why I should believe his +denial, if I did not consider him trustworthy in the first instance? +I can only answer, I really do not know. There is a <i>great deal</i> to +be said for <i>that</i> view, <i>now that</i> Dr. Newman has become (one must +needs suppose) <i>suddenly</i> and <i>since</i> the 1st of February, 1864, a +convert to the <i>economic</i> views of St. Alfonso da Liguori and his +compeers. I am <i>henceforth</i> in doubt and <i>fear</i>, as much as any +honest man can be, <i>concerning every word</i> Dr. Newman may write. <i>How +can I tell that I shall not be the dupe of some cunning +equivocation</i>, of one of the three kinds laid down as permissible by +the blessed Alfonso da Liguori and his pupils, even when confirmed by +an oath, because 'then we do not deceive our neighbour, but allow him +to deceive himself?' ... It is admissible, therefore, to use words +and sentences which have a double signification, and leave the +hapless hearer to take which of them he may choose. <i>What proof have +I, then, that by 'mean it? I never said it!' Dr. Newman does not +signify</i>, I did not say it, but I did mean it?"—Pp. 44, 45.</p> + +<p>Now these insinuations and questions shall be answered in their +proper places; here I will but say that I scorn and detest lying, and +quibbling, and double-tongued practice, and slyness, and cunning, and +smoothness, and cant, and pretence, quite as much as any Protestants +hate them; and I pray to be kept from the snare of them. But all this +is just now by the bye; my present subject is Mr. Kingsley; what I +insist upon here, now that I am bringing this portion of my +discussion to a close, is this unmanly attempt of his, in his +concluding pages, to cut the ground from under my feet;—to poison by +anticipation the public mind against me, John Henry Newman, and to +infuse into the imaginations of my readers, suspicion and mistrust of +everything that I may say in reply to him. This I call <i>poisoning the +wells</i>.</p> + +<p>"I am henceforth in <i>doubt and fear</i>," he says, "as much as any +<i>honest</i> man can be, <i>concerning every word</i> Dr. Newman may write. +<i>How can I tell that I shall not be the dupe of some cunning +equivocation?</i> ... What proof have I, that by 'mean it? I never said +it!' Dr. Newman does not signify, 'I did not say it, but I did mean +it'?"</p> + +<p>Well, I can only say, that, if his taunt is to take effect, I am but +wasting my time in saying a word in answer to his foul calumnies; and +this is precisely what he knows and intends to be its fruit. I can +hardly get myself to protest against a method of controversy so base +and cruel, lest in doing so, I should be violating my self-respect +and self-possession; but most base and most cruel it is. We all know +how our imagination runs away with us, how suddenly and at what a +pace;—the saying, "Caesar's wife should not be suspected," is an +instance of what I mean. The habitual prejudice, the humour of the +moment, is the turning-point which leads us to read a defence in a +good sense or a bad. We interpret it by our antecedent impressions. +The very same sentiments, according as our jealousy is or is not +awake, or our aversion stimulated, are tokens of truth or of +dissimulation and pretence. There is a story of a sane person being +by mistake shut up in the wards of a lunatic asylum, and that, when +he pleaded his cause to some strangers visiting the establishment, +the only remark he elicited in answer was, "How naturally he talks! +you would think he was in his senses." Controversies should be +decided by the reason; is it legitimate warfare to appeal to the +misgivings of the public mind and to its dislikings? Anyhow, if +Mr. Kingsley is able thus to practise upon my readers, the more I +succeed, the less will be my success. If I am natural, he will tell +them, "Ars est celare artem;" if I am convincing, he will suggest +that I am an able logician; if I show warmth, I am acting the +indignant innocent; if I am calm, I am thereby detected as a smooth +hypocrite; if I clear up difficulties, I am too plausible and perfect +to be true. The more triumphant are my statements, the more certain +will be my defeat.</p> + +<p>So will it be if Mr. Kingsley succeeds in his manœuvre; but I do +not for an instant believe that he will. Whatever judgment my readers +may eventually form of me from these pages, I am confident that they +will believe me in what I shall say in the course of them. I have no +misgiving it all, that they will be ungenerous or harsh with a man +who has been so long before the eyes of the world; who has so many to +speak of him from personal knowledge; whose natural impulse it has +ever been to speak out; who has ever spoken too much rather than too +little; who would have saved himself many a scrape, if he had been +wise enough to hold his tongue; who has ever been fair to the +doctrines and arguments of his opponents; who has never slurred over +facts and reasonings which told against himself; who has never given +his name or authority to proofs which he thought unsound, or to +testimony which he did not think at least plausible; who has never +shrunk from confessing a fault when he felt that he had committed +one; who has ever consulted for others more than for himself; who has +given up much that he loved and prized and could have retained, but +that he loved honesty better than name, and truth better than dear +friends.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">And now I am in a train of thought higher and more serene than any +which slanders can disturb. Away with you, Mr. Kingsley, and fly into +space. Your name shall occur again as little as I can help, in the +course of these pages. I shall henceforth occupy myself not with you, +but with your charges.</p> + +<div id="p2" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Part II</h3> +<h3>True Mode of Meeting Mr. Kingsley</h3> +</div> + +<p>What shall be the special imputation, against which I shall throw +myself in these pages, out of the thousand and one which my accuser +directs upon me? I mean to confine myself to one, for there is only +one about which I much care—the charge of untruthfulness. He may +cast upon me as many other imputations as he pleases, and they may +stick on me, as long as they can, in the course of nature. They will +fall to the ground in their season.</p> + +<p>And indeed I think the same of the charge of untruthfulness, and I +select it from the rest, not because it is more formidable, but +because it is more serious. Like the rest, it may disfigure me for a +time, but it will not stain: Archbishop Whately used to say, "Throw +dirt enough, and some will stick;" well, will stick, but not stain. I +think he used to mean "stain," and I do not agree with him. Some dirt +sticks longer than other dirt; but no dirt is immortal. According to +the old saying, Prævalebit Veritas. There are virtues indeed, which +the world is not fitted to judge about or to uphold, such as faith, +hope, and charity: but it can judge about truthfulness; it can judge +about the natural virtues, and truthfulness is one of them. Natural +virtues may also become supernatural; truthfulness is such; but that +does not withdraw it from the jurisdiction of mankind at large. It +may be more difficult in this or that particular case for men to take +cognizance of it, as it may be difficult for the Court of Queen's +Bench at Westminster to try a case fairly which took place in +Hindoostan; but that is a question of capacity, not of right. Mankind +has the right to judge of truthfulness in the case of a Catholic, as +in the case of a Protestant, of an Italian, or of a Chinese. I have +never doubted, that in my hour, in God's hour, my avenger will +appear, and the world will acquit me of untruthfulness, even though +it be not while I live.</p> + +<p>Still more confident am I of such eventual acquittal, seeing that my +judges are my own countrymen. I think, indeed, Englishmen the most +suspicious and touchy of mankind; I think them unreasonable and +unjust in their seasons of excitement; but I had rather be an +Englishman (as in fact I am) than belong to any other race under +heaven. They are as generous, as they are hasty and burly; and their +repentance for their injustice is greater than their sin.</p> + +<p>For twenty years and more I have borne an imputation, of which I am +at least as sensitive, who am the object of it, as they can be, who +are only the judges. I have not set myself to remove it, first, +because I never have had an opening to speak, and, next, because I +never saw in them the disposition to hear. I have wished to appeal +from Philip drunk to Philip sober. When shall I pronounce him to be +himself again? If I may judge from the tone of the public press, +which represents the public voice, I have great reason to take heart +at this time. I have been treated by contemporary critics in this +controversy with great fairness and gentleness, and I am grateful to +them for it. However, the decision of the time and mode of my defence +has been taken out of my hands; and I am thankful that it has been +so. I am bound now as a duty to myself, to the Catholic cause, to the +Catholic priesthood, to give account of myself without any delay, +when I am so rudely and circumstantially charged with untruthfulness. +I accept the challenge; I shall do my best to meet it, and I shall be +content when I have done so.</p> + +<p>I confine myself then, in these pages, to the charge of +untruthfulness; and I hereby cart away, as so much rubbish, the +impertinences, with which the pamphlet of Accusation swarms. I shall +not think it necessary here to examine, whether I am "worked into a +pitch of confusion," or have "carried self-deception to perfection," +or am "anxious to show my credulity," or am "in a morbid state of +mind," or "hunger for nonsense as my food," or "indulge in subtle +paradoxes" and "rhetorical exaggerations," or have "eccentricities" +or teach in a style "utterly beyond" my accuser's "comprehension," or +create in him "blank astonishment," or "exalt the magical powers of +my Church," or have "unconsciously committed myself to a statement +which strikes at the root of all morality," or "look down on the +Protestant gentry as without hope of heaven," or "had better be sent +to the furthest" Catholic "mission among the savages of the South +seas," than "to teach in an Irish Catholic University," or have +"gambled away my reason," or adopt "sophistries," or have published +"sophisms piled upon sophisms," or have in my sermons "culminating +wonders," or have a "seemingly sceptical method," or have +"barristerial ability" and "almost boundless silliness," or "make +great mistakes," or am "a subtle dialectician," or perhaps have "lost +my temper," or "misquote Scripture," or am "antiscriptural," or +"border very closely on the Pelagian heresy."—Pp. 5, 7, 26, +29–34, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44, 48.</p> + +<p>These all are impertinences; and the list is so long that I am almost +sorry to have given them room which might be better used. However, +there they are, or at least a portion of them; and having noticed +them thus much, I shall notice them no more.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Coming then to the subject, which is to furnish the staple of my +publication, the question of my truthfulness, I first direct +attention to the passage which the Act of Accusation contains at p. 8 +and p. 42. I shall give my reason presently, why I begin with it.</p> + +<p>My accuser is speaking of my sermon on Wisdom and Innocence, and he +says, "It must be <i>remembered always</i> that it is not a Protestant, +but a Romish sermon."—P. 8.</p> + +<p>Then at p. 42 he continues, "Dr. Newman does not apply to it that +epithet. He called it in his letter to me of the 7th of January +(published by him) a 'Protestant' one. I remarked that, but +considered it a mere slip of the pen. Besides, I have now nothing to +say to that letter. It is to his 'Reflections,' in p. 32, which are +open ground to me, that I refer. In them he deliberately repeats the +epithet 'Protestant:' only he, in an utterly imaginary conversation, +puts it into my mouth, 'which you preached when a Protestant.' I call +the man who preached that Sermon a Protestant? I should have sooner +called him a Buddhist. <i>At that very time he was teaching his +disciples to scorn</i> and repudiate that name of Protestant, under +which, for some reason or other, he <i>now finds it convenient to take +shelter</i>. If <i>he</i> forgets, the world does not, the famous article in +the <i>British Critic</i> (the then organ of his party), of three years +before, July 1841, which, after denouncing the name of Protestant, +declared the object of the party to be none other than the +'<i>unprotestantising</i>' the English Church."</p> + +<p>In this passage my accuser asserts or implies, 1, that the sermon, on +which he originally grounded his slander against me in the January +No. of the magazine, was really and in matter of fact a "Romish" +Sermon; 2, that I ought in my pamphlet to have acknowledged this +fact; 3, that I didn't. 4, That I actually called it instead a +Protestant Sermon. 5, That at the time when I published it, twenty +years ago, I should have denied that it was a Protestant sermon. 6, +By consequence, I should in that denial have avowed that it was a +"Romish" Sermon; 7, and therefore, not only, when I was in the +Established Church, was I guilty of the dishonesty of preaching what +at the time I knew to be a "Romish" Sermon, but now too, in 1864, I +have committed the additional dishonesty of calling it a Protestant +sermon. If my accuser does not mean this, I submit to such reparation +as I owe him for my mistake, but I cannot make out that he means +anything else.</p> + +<p>Here are two main points to be considered; 1, I in 1864 have called +it a Protestant Sermon. 2, He in 1844 and now has styled it a Popish +Sermon. Let me take these two points separately.</p> + +<p>1. Certainly, when I was in the English Church, I <i>did</i> disown the +word "Protestant," and that, even at an earlier date than my accuser +names; but just let us see whether this fact is anything at all to +the purpose of his accusation. Last January 7th I spoke to this +effect: "How can you prove that <i>Father</i> Newman informs us of a +certain thing about the Roman Clergy," by referring to a <i>Protestant</i> +sermon of the Vicar of St. Mary's? My accuser answers me thus: +"There's a quibble! why, <i>Protestant</i> is <i>not</i> the word which you +would have used when at St. Mary's, and yet you use it now!" Very +true; I do; but what on earth does this matter to my <i>argument</i>? how +does this word "Protestant," which I used, tend in any degree to make +my argument a quibble? What word <i>should</i> I have used twenty years +ago instead of "Protestant?" "Roman" or "Romish?" by no manner of +means.</p> + +<p>My accuser indeed says that "it must always be remembered that it is +not a Protestant <i>but</i> a Romish sermon." He implies, and, I suppose, +he thinks, that not to be a Protestant is to be a Roman; he may say +so, if he pleases, but so did not say that large body who have been +called by the name of Tractarians, as all the world knows. The +movement proceeded on the very basis of denying that position which +my accuser takes for granted that I allowed. It ever said, and it +says now, that there is something <i>between</i> Protestant and Romish; +that there is a "Via Media" which is neither the one nor the other. +Had I been asked twenty years ago, what the doctrine of the +Established Church was, I should have answered, "Neither Romish <i>nor</i> +Protestant, <i>but</i> 'Anglican' or 'Anglo-catholic.'" I should never +have granted that the sermon was Romish; I should have denied, and +that with an internal denial, quite as much as I do now, that it was +a Roman or Romish sermon. Well then, substitute the word "Anglican" +or "Anglo-catholic" for "Protestant" in my question, and see if the +argument is a bit the worse for it—thus: "How can you prove that +<i>Father</i> Newman informs us a certain thing about the Roman Clergy, by +referring to an <i>Anglican</i> or <i>Anglo-catholic</i> Sermon of the Vicar of +St. Mary's?" The cogency of the argument remains just where it was. +What have I gained in the argument, what has he lost, by my having +said, not "an Anglican Sermon," but "a Protestant Sermon?" What dust +then is he throwing into our eyes!</p> + +<p>For instance: in 1844 I lived at Littlemore; two or three miles +distant from Oxford; and Littlemore lies in three, perhaps in four, +distinct parishes, so that of particular houses it is difficult to +say, whether they are in St. Mary's, Oxford, or in Cowley, or in +Iffley, or in Sandford, the line of demarcation running even through +them. Now, supposing I were to say in 1864, that "twenty years ago I +did not live in Oxford, <i>because</i> I lived out at Littlemore, in the +parish of Cowley;" and if upon this there were letters of mine +produced dated Littlemore, 1844, in one of which I said that "I +lived, not in Cowley, but at Littlemore, in St. Mary's parish," how +would that prove that I contradicted myself, and that therefore after +all I must be supposed to have been living in Oxford in 1844? The +utmost that would be proved by the discrepancy, such as it was, +would be, that there was some confusion either in me, or in the state +of the fact as to the limits of the parishes. There would be no +confusion about the place or spot of my residence. I should be saying +in 1864, "I did not live in Oxford twenty years ago, because I lived +at Littlemore in the Parish of Cowley." I should have been saying +in 1844, "I do not live in Oxford, because I live in St. Mary's, +Littlemore." In either case I should be saying that my <i>habitat</i> in +1844 was <i>not</i> Oxford, but Littlemore; and I should be giving the +same reason for it. I should be proving an <i>alibi</i>. I should be +naming the same place for the <i>alibi</i>; but twenty years ago I should +have spoken of it as St. Mary's, Littlemore, and to-day I should have +spoken of it as Littlemore in the Parish of Cowley.</p> + +<p>And so as to my Sermon; in January, 1864, I called it a <i>Protestant</i> +sermon, and not a Roman; but in 1844 I should, if asked, have called +it an <i>Anglican</i> sermon, and not a Roman. In both cases I should have +denied that it was Roman, and that on the ground of its being +something else; though I should have called that something else, then +by one name, now by another. The doctrine of the <i>Via Media</i> is a +<i>fact</i>, whatever name we give to it; I, as a Roman Priest, find it +more natural and usual to call it Protestant: I, as all Oxford Vicar, +thought it more exact to call it Anglican; but, whatever I then +called it, and whatever I now call it, I mean one and the same object +by my name, and therefore not another object—viz. not the Roman +Church. The argument, I repeat, is sound, whether the <i>Via Media</i> and +the Vicar of St. Mary's be called Anglican or Protestant.</p> + +<p>This is a specimen of what my accuser means by my "economies;" nay, +it is actually one of those special two, three, or four, committed +after February 1, which he thinks sufficient to connect me with the +shifty casuists and the double-dealing moralists, as he considers +them, of the Catholic Church. What a "Much ado about nothing!"</p> + +<p>2. But, whether or not he can prove that I in 1864 have committed any +logical fault in calling my Sermon on Wisdom and Innocence a +Protestant Sermon, he is and has been all along, most firm in the +belief himself that a Romish sermon it is; and this is the point on +which I wish specially to insist. It is for this cause that I made +the above extract from his pamphlet, not merely in order to answer +him, though, when I had made it, I could not pass by the attack on me +which it contains. I shall notice his charges one by one by and by; +but I have made this extract here in order to insist and to dwell on +this phenomenon—viz. that he does consider it an undeniable fact, +that the sermon is "Romish,"—meaning by "Romish" not "savouring of +Romish doctrine" merely, but "the work of a real Romanist, of a +conscious Romanist." This belief it is which leads him to be so +severe on me, for now calling it "Protestant." He thinks that, +whether I have committed any logical self-contradiction or not, I am +very well aware that, when I wrote it, I ought to have been +elsewhere, that I was a conscious Romanist, teaching Romanism;—or if +he does not believe this himself, he wishes others to think so, which +comes to the same thing; certainly I prefer to consider that he +thinks so himself, but, if he likes the other hypothesis better, he +is welcome to it.</p> + +<p>He believes then so firmly that the sermon was a "Romish Sermon," +that he pointedly takes it for granted, before he has adduced a +syllable of proof of the matter of fact. He <i>starts</i> by saying that +it is a fact to be "remembered." "It <i>must</i> be <i>remembered always</i>," +he says, "that it is not a Protestant, but a Romish Sermon," (p. 8). +Its Romish parentage is a great truth for the memory, not a thesis +for inquiry. Merely to refer his readers to the sermon is, he +considers, to secure them on his side. Hence it is that, in his +letter of January 18, he said to me, "It seems to me, that, by +<i>referring</i> publicly to the Sermon on which my allegations are +founded, I have given every one <i>an opportunity of judging of their +injustice</i>," that is, an opportunity of seeing that they are +transparently just. The notion of there being a <i>Via Media</i>, held all +along by a large party in the Anglican Church, and now at least not +less than at any former time, is too subtle for his intellect. +Accordingly, he thinks it was an allowable figure of speech—not +more, I suppose, than an "hyperbole"—when referring to a sermon of +the Vicar of St. Mary's in the magazine, to say that it was the +writing of a Roman priest; and as to serious arguments to prove the +point, why, they may indeed be necessary, as a matter of form, in an +act of accusation, such as his pamphlet, but they are superfluous to +the good sense of any one who will only just look into the matter +himself.</p> + +<p>Now, with respect to the so-called arguments which he ventures to put +forward in proof that the sermon is Romish, I shall answer them, +together with all his other arguments, in the latter portion of this +reply; here I do but draw the attention of the reader, as I have said +already, to the phenomenon itself, which he exhibits, of an unclouded +confidence that the sermon is the writing of a virtual member of the +Roman communion, and I do so because it has made a great impression +on my own mind, and has suggested to me the course that I shall +pursue in my answer to him.</p> + +<p>I say, he takes it for granted that the Sermon is the writing of a +virtual or actual, of a conscious Roman Catholic; and is impatient at +the very notion of having to prove it. Father Newman and the Vicar of +St. Mary's are one and the same: there has been no change of mind in +him; what he believed then he believes now, and what he believes now +he believed then. To dispute this is frivolous; to distinguish +between his past self and his present is subtlety, and to ask for +proof of their identity is seeking opportunity to be sophistical. +This writer really thinks that he acts a straightforward honest part, +when he says "A Catholic Priest informs us in his Sermon on Wisdom +and Innocence preached at St. Mary's," and he thinks that I am the +shuffler and quibbler when I forbid him to do so. So singular a +phenomenon in a man of undoubted ability has struck me forcibly, and +I shall pursue the train of thought which it opens.</p> + +<p>It is not he alone who entertains, and has entertained, such an +opinion of me and my writings. It is the impression of large classes +of men; the impression twenty years ago and the impression now. There +has been a general feeling that I was for years where I had no right +to be; that I was a "Romanist" in Protestant livery and service; that +I was doing the work of a hostile church in the bosom of the English +Establishment, and knew it, or ought to have known it. There was no +need of arguing about particular passages in my writings, when the +fact was so patent, as men thought it to be.</p> + +<p>First it was certain, and I could not myself deny it, that I scouted +the name "Protestant." It was certain again, that many of the +doctrines which I professed were popularly and generally known as +badges of the Roman Church, as distinguished from the faith of the +Reformation. Next, how could I have come by them? Evidently, I had +certain friends and advisers who did not appear; there was some +underground communication between Stonyhurst or Oscott and my rooms +at Oriel. Beyond a doubt, I was advocating certain doctrines, not +by accident, but on an understanding with ecclesiastics of the old +religion. Then men went further, and said that I had actually been +received into that religion, and withal had leave given me to profess +myself a Protestant still. Others went even further, and gave it out +to the world, as a matter of fact, of which they themselves had the +proof in their hands, that I was actually a Jesuit. And when the +opinions which I advocated spread, and younger men went further than +I, the feeling against me waxed stronger and took a wider range.</p> + +<p>And now indignation arose at the knavery of a conspiracy such as +this:—and it became of course all the greater, in consequence of its +being the received belief of the public at large, that craft and +intrigue, such as they fancied they beheld with their own eyes, were +the very instruments to which the Catholic Church has in these last +centuries been indebted for her maintenance and extension.</p> + +<p>There was another circumstance still, which increased the irritation +and aversion felt by the large classes, of whom I have been speaking, +as regards the preachers of doctrines, so new to them and so +unpalatable; and that was, that they developed them in so measured a +way. If they were inspired by Roman theologians (and this was taken +for granted), why did they not speak out at once? Why did they keep +the world in such suspense and anxiety as to what was coming next, +and what was to be the upshot of the whole? Why this reticence, and +half-speaking, and apparent indecision? It was plain that the plan of +operations had been carefully mapped out from the first, and that +these men were cautiously advancing towards its accomplishment, as +far as was safe at the moment; that their aim and their hope was to +carry off a large body with them of the young and the ignorant; that +they meant gradually to leaven the minds of the rising generation, +and to open the gate of that city, of which they were the sworn +defenders, to the enemy who lay in ambush outside of it. And when in +spite of the many protestations of the party to the contrary, there +was at length an actual movement among their disciples, and one went +over to Rome, and then another, the worst anticipations and the worst +judgments which had been formed of them received their justification. +And, lastly, when men first had said of me, "You will see, <i>he</i> will +go, he is only biding his time, he is waiting the word of command +from Rome," and, when after all, after my arguments and denunciations +of former years, at length I did leave the Anglican Church for the +Roman, then they said to each other, "It is just as we said: I told +you so."</p> + +<p>This was the state of mind of masses of men twenty years ago, who +took no more than an external and common-sense view of what was going +on. And partly the tradition, partly the effect of that feeling, +remains to the present time. Certainly I consider that, in my own +case, it is the great obstacle in the way of my being favourably +heard, as at present, when I have to make my defence. Not only am I +now a member of a most un-English communion, whose great aim is +considered to be the extinction of Protestantism and the Protestant +Church, and whose means of attack are popularly supposed to be +unscrupulous cunning and deceit, but besides, how came I originally +to have any relations with the Church of Rome at all? did I, or my +opinions, drop from the sky? how came I, in Oxford, <i>in gremio +Universitatis</i>, to present myself to the eyes of men in that +full-blown investiture of Popery? How could I dare, how could I have +the conscience, with warnings, with prophecies, with accusations +against me, to persevere in a path which steadily advanced towards, +which ended in, the religion of Rome? And how am I now to be trusted, +when long ago I was trusted, and was found wanting?</p> + +<p>It is this which is the strength of the case of my accuser against +me;—not his arguments in themselves, which I shall easily crumble +into dust, but the bias of the court. It is the state of the +atmosphere; it is the vibration all around which will more or less +echo his assertion of my dishonesty; it is that prepossession against +me, which takes it for granted that, when my reasoning is convincing +it is only ingenious, and that when my statements are unanswerable, +there is always something put out of sight or hidden in my sleeve; it +is that plausible, but cruel conclusion to which men are so apt to +jump, that when much is imputed, something must be true, and that it +is more likely that one should be to blame, than that many should be +mistaken in blaming him;—these are the real foes which I have to +fight, and the auxiliaries to whom my accuser makes his court.</p> + +<p>Well, I must break through this barrier of prejudice against me, if I +can; and I think I shall be able to do so. When first I read the +pamphlet of Accusation, I almost despaired of meeting effectively +such a heap of misrepresentation and such a vehemence of animosity. +What was the good of answering first one point, and then another, and +going through the whole circle of its abuse; when my answer to the +first point would be forgotten, as soon as I got to the second? What +was the use of bringing out half a hundred separate principles or +views for the refutation of the separate counts in the indictment, +when rejoinders of this sort would but confuse and torment the +reader by their number and their diversity? What hope was there of +condensing into a pamphlet of a readable length, matter which ought +freely to expand itself into half a dozen volumes? What means was +there, except the expenditure of interminable pages, to set right +even one of that series of "single passing hints," to use my +assailant's own language, which, "as with his finger tip, he had +delivered" against me?</p> + +<p>All those separate charges of his had their force in being +illustrations of one and the same great imputation. He had a positive +idea to illuminate his whole matter, and to stamp it with a form, and +to quicken it with an interpretation. He called me a <i>liar</i>—a +simple, a broad, an intelligible, to the English public a plausible +arraignment; but for me, to answer in detail charge one by reason +one, and charge two by reason two, and charge three by reason three, +and so to proceed through the whole string both of accusations and +replies, each of which was to be independent of the rest, this would +be certainly labour lost as regards any effective result. What I +needed was a corresponding antagonist unity in my defence, and where +was that to be found? We see, in the case of commentators on the +prophecies of Scripture, an exemplification of the principle on +which I am insisting; viz. how much more powerful even a false +interpretation of the sacred text is than none at all;—how a certain +key to the visions of the Apocalypse, for instance, may cling to the +mind—(I have found it so in my own case)—mainly because they are +positive and objective, in spite of the fullest demonstration that +they really have no claim upon our belief. The reader says, "What +else can the prophecy mean?" just as my accuser asks, "What, then, +does Dr. Newman mean?" ... I reflected, and I saw a way out of my +perplexity.</p> + +<p>Yes, I said to myself, his very question is about my <i>meaning</i>; "What +does Dr. Newman mean?" It pointed in the very same direction as that +into which my musings had turned me already. He asks what I <i>mean</i>; +not about my words, not about my arguments, not about my actions, as +his ultimate point, but about that living intelligence, by which I +write, and argue, and act. He asks about my mind and its beliefs and +its sentiments; and he shall be answered;—not for his own sake, but +for mine, for the sake of the religion which I profess, and of the +priesthood in which I am unworthily included, and of my friends and +of my foes, and of that general public which consists of neither one +nor the other, but of well-wishers, lovers of fair play, sceptical +cross-questioners, interested inquirers, curious lookers-on, and +simple strangers, unconcerned yet not careless about the issue.</p> + +<p>My perplexity did not last half an hour. I recognised what I had to +do, though I shrank from both the task and the exposure which it +would entail. I must, I said, give the true key to my whole life; I +must show what I am that it may be seen what I am not, and that the +phantom may be extinguished which gibbers instead of me. I wish to be +known as a living man, and not as a scarecrow which is dressed up in +my clothes. False ideas may be refuted indeed by argument, but by +true ideas alone are they expelled. I will vanquish, not my accuser, +but my judges. I will indeed answer his charges and criticisms on me +one by one, lest any one should say that they are unanswerable, but +such a work shall not be the scope nor the substance of my reply. I +will draw out, as far as may be, the history of my mind; I will state +the point at which I began, in what external suggestion or accident +each opinion had its rise, how far and how they were developed from +within, how they grew, were modified, were combined, were in +collision with each other, and were changed; again how I conducted +myself towards them, and how, and how far, and for how long a time, I +thought I could hold them consistently with the ecclesiastical +engagements which I had made and with the position which I filled. I +must show—what is the very truth—that the doctrines which I held, +and have held for so many years, have been taught me (speaking +humanly) partly by the suggestions of Protestant friends, partly by +the teaching of books, and partly by the action of my own mind: and +thus I shall account for that phenomenon which to so many seems so +wonderful, that I should have left "my kindred and my father's house" +for a Church from which once I turned away with dread;—so wonderful +to them! as if forsooth a religion which has flourished through so +many ages, among so many nations, amid such varieties of social life, +in such contrary classes and conditions of men, and after so many +revolutions, political and civil, could not subdue the reason and +overcome the heart, without the aid of fraud and the sophistries of +the schools.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">What I had proposed to myself in the course of half an hour, I +determined on at the end of ten days. However, I have many +difficulties in fulfilling my design. How am I to say all that has to +be said in a reasonable compass? And then as to the materials of my +narrative; I have no autobiographical notes to consult, no written +explanations of particular treatises or of tracts which at the +time gave offence, hardly any minutes of definite transactions +or conversations, and few contemporary memoranda, I fear, of the +feelings or motives under which from time to time I acted. I have an +abundance of letters from friends with some copies or drafts of my +answers to them, but they are for the most part unsorted, and, till +this process has taken place, they are even too numerous and various +to be available at a moment for my purpose. Then, as to the volumes +which I have published, they would in many ways serve me, were I well +up in them; but though I took great pains in their composition, I +have thought little about them, when they were at length out of my +hands, and, for the most part, the last time I read them has been +when I revised their proof sheets.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances my sketch will of course be incomplete. I +now for the first time contemplate my course as a whole; it is a +first essay, but it will contain, I trust, no serious or substantial +mistake, and so far will answer the purpose for which I write it. I +purpose to set nothing down in it as certain, for which I have not a +clear memory, or some written memorial, or the corroboration of some +friend. There are witnesses enough up and down the country to verify, +or correct, or complete it; and letters moreover of my own in +abundance, unless they have been destroyed.</p> + +<p>Moreover, I mean to be simply personal and historical: I am not +expounding Catholic doctrine, I am doing no more than explaining +myself, and my opinions and actions. I wish, as far as I am able, +simply to state facts, whether they are ultimately determined to +be for me or against me. Of course there will be room enough for +contrariety of judgment among my readers, as to the necessity, or +appositeness, or value, or good taste, or religious prudence of the +details which I shall introduce. I may be accused of laying stress on +little things, of being beside the mark, of going into impertinent or +ridiculous details, of sounding my own praise, of giving scandal; but +this is a case above all others, in which I am bound to follow my own +lights and to speak out my own heart. It is not at all pleasant for +me to be egotistical; nor to be criticised for being so. It is not +pleasant to reveal to high and low, young and old, what has gone on +within me from my early years. It is not pleasant to be giving to +every shallow or flippant disputant the advantage over me of knowing +my most private thoughts, I might even say the intercourse between +myself and my Maker. But I do not like to be called to my face a liar +and a knave: nor should I be doing my duty to my faith or to my name, +if I were to suffer it. I know I have done nothing to deserve such an +insult; and if I prove this, as I hope to do, I must not care for +such incidental annoyances as are involved in the process.</p> + +<div id="p3" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Part III</h3> +<h3>History of My Religious Opinions</h3> +</div> + +<p>It may easily be conceived how great a trial it is to me to write the +following history of myself; but I must not shrink from the task. The +words, "Secretum meum mihi," keep ringing in my ears; but as men draw +towards their end, they care less for disclosures. Nor is it the +least part of my trial, to anticipate that my friends may, upon first +reading what I have written, consider much in it irrelevant to my +purpose; yet I cannot help thinking that, viewed as a whole, it will +effect what I wish it to do.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I was brought up from a child to take great delight in reading the +Bible; but I had no formed religious convictions till I was fifteen. +Of course I had perfect knowledge of my Catechism.</p> + +<p>After I was grown up, I put on paper such recollections as I had of +my thoughts and feelings on religious subjects, at the time that I +was a child and a boy. Out of these I select two, which are at once +the most definite among them, and also have a bearing on my later +convictions.</p> + +<p>In the paper to which I have referred, written either in the long +vacation of 1820, or in October, 1823, the following notices of my +school days were sufficiently prominent in my memory for me to +consider them worth recording:—"I used to wish the Arabian Tales +were true: my imagination ran on unknown influences, on magical +powers, and talismans ... I thought life might be a dream, or I an +Angel, and all this world a deception, my fellow-angels by a playful +device concealing themselves from me, and deceiving me with the +semblance of a material world."</p> + +<p>Again, "Reading in the Spring of 1816 a sentence from [Dr. Watts's] +'Remnants of Time,' entitled 'the Saints unknown to the world,' to +the effect, that 'there is nothing in their figure or countenance to +distinguish them,' etc. etc., I supposed he spoke of Angels who lived +in the world, as it were disguised."</p> + +<p>The other remark is this: "I was very superstitious, and for some +time previous to my conversion" [when I was fifteen] "used constantly +to cross myself on going into the dark."</p> + +<p>Of course I must have got this practice from some external source or +other; but I can make no sort of conjecture whence; and certainly no +one had ever spoken to me on the subject of the Catholic religion, +which I only knew by name. The French master was an <i>émigré</i> priest, +but he was simply made a butt, as French masters too commonly were in +that day, and spoke English very imperfectly. There was a Catholic +family in the village, old maiden ladies we used to think; but I knew +nothing but their name. I have of late years heard that there were +one or two Catholic boys in the school; but either we were carefully +kept from knowing this, or the knowledge of it made simply no +impression on our minds. My brother will bear witness how free the +school was from Catholic ideas.</p> + +<p>I had once been into Warwick Street Chapel, with my father, who, I +believe, wanted to hear some piece of music; all that I bore away +from it was the recollection of a pulpit and a preacher and a boy +swinging a censer.</p> + +<p>When I was at Littlemore, I was looking over old copy-books of my +school days, and I found among them my first Latin verse-book; and in +the first page of it, there was a device which almost took my breath +away with surprise. I have the book before me now, and have just been +showing it to others. I have written in the first page, in my +school-boy hand, "John H. Newman, February 11th, 1811, Verse Book;" +then follow my first verses. Between "Verse" and "Book" I have drawn +the figure of a solid cross upright, and next to it is, what may +indeed be meant for a necklace, but what I cannot make out to be +anything else than a set of beads suspended, with a little cross +attached. At this time I was not quite ten years old. I suppose I got +the idea from some romance, Mrs. Radcliffe's or Miss Porter's; or +from some religious picture; but the strange thing is, how, among +the thousand objects which meet a boy's eyes, these in particular +should so have fixed themselves in my mind, that I made them thus +practically my own. I am certain there was nothing in the churches +I attended, or the prayer books I read, to suggest them. It must be +recollected that churches and prayer books were not decorated in +those days as I believe they are now.</p> + +<p>When I was fourteen, I read Paine's tracts against the Old Testament, +and found pleasure in thinking of the objections which were contained +in them. Also, I read some of Hume's essays; and perhaps that on +Miracles. So at least I gave my father to understand; but perhaps it +was a brag. Also, I recollect copying out some French verses, perhaps +Voltaire's, against the immortality of the soul, and saying to myself +something like "How dreadful, but how plausible!"</p> + +<p>When I was fifteen (in the autumn of 1816) a great change of thought +took place in me. I fell under the influences of a definite creed, +and received into my intellect impressions of dogma, which, through +God's mercy, have never been effaced or obscured. Above and beyond +the conversations and sermons of the excellent man, long dead, who +was the human means of this beginning of divine faith in me, was the +effect of the books which he put into my hands, all of the school +of Calvin. One of the first books I read was a work of Romaine's; I +neither recollect the title nor the contents, except one doctrine, +which of course I do not include among those which I believe to have +come from a divine source, viz. the doctrine of final perseverance. I +received it at once, and believed that the inward conversion of which +I was conscious (and of which I still am more certain than that I +have hands and feet) would last into the next life, and that I was +elected to eternal glory. I have no consciousness that this belief +had any tendency whatever to lead me to be careless about pleasing +God. I retained it till the age of twenty-one, when it gradually +faded away; but I believe that it had some influence on my opinions, +in the direction of those childish imaginations which I have already +mentioned, viz. in isolating me from the objects which surrounded me, +in confirming me in my mistrust of the reality of material phenomena, +and making me rest in the thought of two and two only supreme and +luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator;—for while I +considered myself predestined to salvation, I thought others simply +passed over, not predestined to eternal death. I only thought of the +mercy to myself.</p> + +<p>The detestable doctrine last mentioned is simply denied and abjured, +unless my memory strangely deceives me, by the writer who made a +deeper impression on my mind than any other, and to whom (humanly +speaking) I almost owe my soul—Thomas Scott of Aston Sandford. I so +admired and delighted in his writings, that, when I was an +undergraduate, I thought of making a visit to his parsonage, in order +to see a man whom I so deeply revered. I hardly think I could have +given up the idea of this expedition, even after I had taken my +degree; for the news of his death in 1821 came upon me as a +disappointment as well as a sorrow. I hung upon the lips of Daniel +Wilson, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta, as in two sermons at St. +John's Chapel he gave the history of Scott's life and death. I had +been possessed of his essays from a boy; his commentary I bought when +I was an undergraduate.</p> + +<p>What, I suppose, will strike any reader of Scott's history and +writings, is his bold unworldliness and vigorous independence of +mind. He followed truth wherever it led him, beginning with +Unitarianism, and ending in a zealous faith in the Holy Trinity. It +was he who first planted deep in my mind that fundamental truth of +religion. With the assistance of Scott's essays, and the admirable +work of Jones of Nayland, I made a collection of Scripture texts in +proof of the doctrine, with remarks (I think) of my own upon them, +before I was sixteen; and a few months later I drew up a series of +texts in support of each verse of the Athanasian Creed. These papers +I have still.</p> + +<p>Besides his unworldliness, what I also admired in Scott was his +resolute opposition to Antinomianism, and the minutely practical +character of his writings. They show him to be a true Englishman, and +I deeply felt his influence; and for years I used almost as proverbs +what I considered to be the scope and issue of his doctrine, +"Holiness before peace," and "Growth is the only evidence of life."</p> + +<p>Calvinists make a sharp separation between the elect and the world; +there is much in this that is parallel or cognate to the Catholic +doctrine; but they go on to say, as I understand them, very +differently from Catholicism,—that the converted and the unconverted +can be discriminated by man, that the justified are conscious of +their state of justification, and that the regenerate cannot fall +away. Catholics on the other hand shade and soften the awful +antagonism between good and evil, which is one of their dogmas, by +holding that there are different degrees of justification, that there +is a great difference in point of gravity between sin and sin, that +there is the possibility and the danger of falling away, and that +there is no certain knowledge given to any one that he is simply in a +state of grace, and much less that he is to persevere to the end:—of +the Calvinistic tenets the only one which took root in my mind was +the fact of heaven and hell, divine favour and divine wrath, of the +justified and the unjustified. The notion that the regenerate and the +justified were one and the same, and that the regenerate, as such, +had the gift of perseverance, remained with me not many years, as I +have said already.</p> + +<p>This main Catholic doctrine of the warfare between the city of God +and the powers of darkness was also deeply impressed upon my mind by +a work of a very opposite character, Law's "Serious Call."</p> + +<p>From this time I have given a full inward assent and belief to the +doctrine of eternal punishment, as delivered by our Lord Himself, in +as true a sense as I hold that of eternal happiness; though I have +tried in various ways to make that truth less terrible to the reason.</p> + +<p>Now I come to two other works, which produced a deep impression on me +in the same autumn of 1816, when I was fifteen years old, each +contrary to each, and planting in me the seeds of an intellectual +inconsistency which disabled me for a long course of years. I read +Joseph Milner's Church History, and was nothing short of enamoured +of the long extracts from St. Augustine and the other Fathers which +I found there. I read them as being the religion of the primitive +Christians: but simultaneously with Milner I read Newton on the +Prophecies, and in consequence became most firmly convinced that the +Pope was the Antichrist predicted by Daniel, St. Paul, and St. John. +My imagination was stained by the effects of this doctrine up to the +year 1843; it had been obliterated from my reason and judgment at an +earlier date; but the thought remained upon me as a sort of false +conscience. Hence came that conflict of mind, which so many have felt +besides myself;—leading some men to make a compromise between two +ideas, so inconsistent with each other—driving others to beat out +the one idea or the other from their minds—and ending in my own +case, after many years of intellectual unrest, in the gradual decay +and extinction of one of them—I do not say in its violent death, for +why should I not have murdered it sooner, if I murdered it at all?</p> + +<p>I am obliged to mention, though I do it with great reluctance, +another deep imagination, which at this time, the autumn of 1816, +took possession of me—there can be no mistake about the fact;—viz. +that it was the will of God that I should lead a single life. This +anticipation, which has held its ground almost continuously ever +since—with the break of a month now and a month then, up to 1829, +and, after that date, without any break at all—was more or less +connected, in my mind, with the notion that my calling in life would +require such a sacrifice as celibacy involved; as, for instance, +missionary work among the heathen, to which I had a great drawing for +some years. It also strengthened my feeling of separation from the +visible world, of which I have spoken above.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In 1822 I came under very different influences from those to which I +had hitherto been subjected. At that time, Mr. Whately, as he was +then, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin, for the few months he remained +in Oxford, which he was leaving for good, showed great kindness to +me. He renewed it in 1825, when he became Principal of Alban Hall, +making me his vice-principal and tutor. Of Dr. Whately I will speak +presently, for from 1822 to 1825 I saw most of the present Provost of +Oriel, Dr. Hawkins, at that time Vicar of St. Mary's; and, when I +took orders in 1824 and had a curacy at Oxford, then, during the long +vacations, I was especially thrown into his company. I can say with a +full heart that I love him, and have never ceased to love him; and I +thus preface what otherwise might sound rude, that in the course of +the many years in which we were together afterwards, he provoked me +very much from time to time, though I am perfectly certain that I +have provoked him a great deal more. Moreover, in me such provocation +was unbecoming, both because he was the head of my college, and +because in the first years that I knew him, he had been in many ways +of great service to my mind.</p> + +<p>He was the first who taught me to weigh my words, and to be cautious +in my statements. He led me to that mode of limiting and clearing my +sense in discussion and in controversy, and of distinguishing between +cognate ideas, and of obviating mistakes by anticipation, which to my +surprise has been since considered, even in quarters friendly to me, +to savour of the polemics of Rome. He is a man of most exact mind +himself, and he used to snub me severely, on reading, as he was kind +enough to do, the first sermons that I wrote, and other compositions +which I was engaged upon.</p> + +<p>Then as to doctrine, he was the means of great additions to my +belief. As I have noticed elsewhere, he gave me the "Treatise on +Apostolical Preaching," by Sumner, afterwards Archbishop of +Canterbury, from which I learned to give up my remaining Calvinism, +and to receive the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. In many other +ways too he was of use to me, on subjects semi-religious and +semi-scholastic.</p> + +<p>It was Dr. Hawkins too who taught me to anticipate that, before many +years were over there would be an attack made upon the books and the +canon of Scripture. I was brought to the same belief by the +conversation of Mr. Blanco White, who also led me to have freer views +on the subject of inspiration than were usual in the Church of +England at the time.</p> + +<p>There is one other principle, which I gained from Dr. Hawkins, more +directly bearing upon Catholicism, than any that I have mentioned; +and that is the doctrine of Tradition. When I was an undergraduate, I +heard him preach in the University pulpit his celebrated sermon on +the subject, and recollect how long it appeared to me, though he was +at that time a very striking preacher; but, when I read it and +studied it as his gift, it made a most serious impression upon me. He +does not go one step, I think, beyond the high Anglican doctrine, nay +he does not reach it; but he does his work thoroughly, and his view +was original with him, and his subject was a novel one at the time. +He lays down a proposition, self-evident as soon as stated, to those +who have at all examined the structure of Scripture, viz. that the +sacred text was never intended to teach doctrine, but only to prove +it, and that, if we would learn doctrine, we must have recourse to +the formularies of the Church; for instance to the Catechism, and +to the Creeds. He considers, that, after learning from them the +doctrines of Christianity, the inquirer must verify them by +Scripture. This view, most true in its outline, most fruitful in its +consequences, opened upon me a large field of thought. Dr. Whately +held it too. One of its effects was to strike at the root of the +principle on which the Bible Society was set up. I belonged to its +Oxford Association; it became a matter of time when I should withdraw +my name from its subscription-list, though I did not do so at once.</p> + +<p>It is with pleasure that I pay here a tribute to the memory of the +Rev. William James, then Fellow of Oriel; who, about the year 1823, +taught me the doctrine of Apostolical Succession, in the course of a +walk, I think, round Christ Church meadow: I recollect being somewhat +impatient on the subject at the time.</p> + +<p>It was at about this date, I suppose, that I read Bishop Butler's +Analogy; the study of which has been to so many, as it was to me, an +era in their religious opinions. Its inculcation of a visible Church, +the oracle of truth and a pattern of sanctity, of the duties of +external religion, and of the historical character of revelation, are +characteristics of this great work which strike the reader at once; +for myself, if I may attempt to determine what I most gained from it, +it lay in two points, which I shall have an opportunity of dwelling +on in the sequel; they are the underlying principles of a great +portion of my teaching. First, the very idea of an analogy between +the separate works of God leads to the conclusion that the system +which is of less importance is economically or sacramentally +connected with the more momentous system, and of this conclusion the +theory, to which I was inclined as a boy, viz. the unreality of +material phenomena, is an ultimate resolution. At this time I did not +make the distinction between matter itself and its phenomena, which +is so necessary and so obvious in discussing the subject. Secondly, +Butler's doctrine that probability is the guide of life, led me, at +least under the teaching to which a few years later I was introduced, +to the question of the logical cogency of faith, on which I have +written so much. Thus to Butler I trace those two principles of my +teaching, which have led to a charge against me both of fancifulness +and of scepticism.</p> + +<p>And now as to Dr. Whately. I owe him a great deal. He was a man of +generous and warm heart. He was particularly loyal to his friends, +and to use the common phrase, "all his geese were swans." While I +was still awkward and timid in 1822, he took me by the hand, and +acted the part to me of a gentle and encouraging instructor. He, +emphatically, opened my mind, and taught me to think and to use my +reason. After being first noticed by him in 1822, I became very +intimate with him in 1825, when I was his Vice-Principal at Alban +Hall. I gave up that office in 1826, when I became tutor of my +College, and his hold upon me gradually relaxed. He had done his work +towards me or nearly so, when he had taught me to see with my own +eyes and to walk with my own feet. Not that I had not a good deal to +learn from others still, but I influenced them as well as they me, +and co-operated rather than merely concurred with them. As to Dr. +Whately, his mind was too different from mine for us to remain long +on one line. I recollect how dissatisfied he was with an article of +mine in the <i>London Review</i>, which Blanco White, good-humouredly, +only called platonic. When I was diverging from him (which he did not +like), I thought of dedicating my first book to him, in words to the +effect that he had not only taught me to think, but to think for +myself. He left Oxford in 1831; after that, as far as I can +recollect, I never saw him but twice—when he visited the University; +once in the street, once in a room. From the time that he left, I +have always felt a real affection for what I must call his memory; +for thenceforward he made himself dead to me. My reason told me that +it was impossible that we could have got on together longer; yet I +loved him too much to bid him farewell without pain. After a few +years had passed, I began to believe that his influence on me in a +higher respect than intellectual advance (I will not say through his +fault) had not been satisfactory. I believe that he has inserted +sharp things in his later works about me. They have never come in my +way, and I have not thought it necessary to seek out what would pain +me so much in the reading.</p> + +<p>What he did for me in point of religious opinion, was first to teach +me the existence of the Church, as a substantive body or corporation; +next to fix in me those anti-Erastian views of Church polity, which +were one of the most prominent features of the Tractarian movement. +On this point, and, as far as I know, on this point alone, he and +Hurrell Froude intimately sympathised, though Froude's development of +opinion here was of a later date. In the year 1826, in the course of +a walk he said much to me about a work then just published, called +"Letters on the Church by an Episcopalian." He said that it would +make my blood boil. It was certainly a most powerful composition. One +of our common friends told me, that, after reading it, he could not +keep still, but went on walking up and down his room. It was ascribed +at once to Whately; I gave eager expression to the contrary opinion; +but I found the belief of Oxford in the affirmative to be too strong +for me; rightly or wrongly I yielded to the general voice; and I have +never heard, then or since, of any disclaimer of authorship on the +part of Dr. Whately.</p> + +<p>The main positions of this able essay are these; first that Church +and State should be independent of each other:—he speaks of the duty +of protesting "against the profanation of Christ's kingdom, by that +<i>double usurpation</i>, the interference of the Church in temporals, of +the State in spirituals," (p. 191); and, secondly, that the Church +may justly and by right retain its property, though separated from +the State. "The clergy," he says p. 133, "though they ought not to be +the hired servants of the Civil Magistrate, may justly retain their +revenues; and the State, though it has no right of interference in +spiritual concerns, not only is justly entitled to support from the +ministers of religion, and from all other Christians, but would, +under the system I am recommending, obtain it much more effectually." +The author of this work, whoever he may be, argues out both these +points with great force and ingenuity, and with a thorough-going +vehemence, which perhaps we may refer to the circumstance, that he +wrote, not <i>in propriâ personâ</i>, but in the professed character of a +Scotch Episcopalian. His work had a gradual, but a deep effect on my +mind.</p> + +<p>I am not aware of any other religious opinion which I owe to Dr. +Whately. For his special theological tenets I had no sympathy. In the +next year, 1827, he told me he considered that I was Arianising. The +case was this: though at that time I had not read Bishop Bull's +<i>Defensio</i> nor the Fathers, I was just then very strong for that +ante-Nicene view of the Trinitarian doctrine, which some writers, +both Catholic and non-Catholic, have accused of wearing a sort of +Arian exterior. This is the meaning of a passage in Froude's Remains, +in which he seems to accuse me of speaking against the Athanasian +Creed. I had contrasted the two aspects of the Trinitarian doctrine, +which are respectively presented by the Athanasian Creed and the +Nicene. My criticisms were to the effect that some of the verses of +the former Creed were unnecessarily scientific. This is a specimen of +a certain disdain for antiquity which had been growing on me now for +several years. It showed itself in some flippant language against the +Fathers in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, about whom I knew little +at the time, except what I had learnt as a boy from Joseph Milner. In +writing on the Scripture Miracles in 1825-6, I had read Middleton on +the Miracles of the early Church, and had imbibed a portion of his +spirit.</p> + +<p>The truth is, I was beginning to prefer intellectual excellence to +moral; I was drifting in the direction of liberalism. I was rudely +awakened from my dream at the end of 1827 by two great blows—illness +and bereavement.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of 1829, came the formal break between Dr. Whately +and me; Mr. Peel's attempted re-election was the occasion of it. +I think in 1828 or 1827 I had voted in the minority, when the +petition to Parliament against the Catholic claims was brought into +Convocation. I did so mainly on the views suggested to me by the +theory of the Letters of an Episcopalian. Also I disliked the +bigoted "two bottle orthodox," as they were invidiously called. +I took part against Mr. Peel, on a simple academical, not at all +an ecclesiastical or a political ground; and this I professed at +the time. I considered that Mr. Peel had taken the University by +surprise, that he had no right to call upon us to turn round on a +sudden, and to expose ourselves to the imputation of time-serving, +and that a great University ought not to be bullied even by a great +Duke of Wellington. Also by this time I was under the influence of +Keble and Froude; who, in addition to the reasons I have given, +disliked the Duke's change of policy as dictated by liberalism.</p> + +<p>Whately was considerably annoyed at me, and he took a humourous +revenge, of which he had given me due notice beforehand. As head of a +house, he had duties of hospitality to men of all parties; he asked a +set of the least intellectual men in Oxford to dinner, and men most +fond of port; he made me one of the party; placed me between Provost +this and Principal that, and then asked me if I was proud of my +friends. However, he had a serious meaning in his act; he saw, more +clearly than I could do, that I was separating from his own friends +for good and all.</p> + +<p>Dr. Whately attributed my leaving his <i>clientela</i> to a wish on my +part to be the head of a party myself. I do not think that it was +deserved. My habitual feeling then and since has been, that it was +not I who sought friends, but friends who sought me. Never man had +kinder or more indulgent friends than I have had, but I expressed my +own feeling as to the mode in which I gained them, in this very year +1829, in the course of a copy of verses. Speaking of my blessings, I +said, "Blessings of friends, which to my door, <i>unasked, unhoped</i>, +have come." They have come, they have gone; they came to my great +joy, they went to my great grief. He who gave, took away. Dr. +Whately's impression about me, however, admits of this explanation:—</p> + +<p>During the first years of my residence at Oriel, though proud of my +college, I was not at home there. I was very much alone, and I used +often to take my daily walk by myself. I recollect once meeting Dr. +Copleston, then provost, with one of the fellows. He turned round, +and with the kind courteousness which sat so well on him, made me a +bow and said, "Nunquam minus solus, quàm cùm solus." At that time +indeed (from 1823) I had the intimacy of my dear and true friend Dr. +Pusey, and could not fail to admire and revere a soul so devoted to +the cause of religion, so full of good works, so faithful in his +affections; but he left residence when I was getting to know him +well. As to Dr. Whately himself, he was too much my superior to allow +of my being at my ease with him; and to no one in Oxford at this time +did I open my heart fully and familiarly. But things changed in 1826. +At that time I became one of the tutors of my college, and this gave +me position; besides, I had written one or two essays which had been +well received. I began to be known. I preached my first University +Sermon. Next year I was one of the Public Examiners for the B.A. +degree. It was to me like the feeling of spring weather after winter; +and, if I may so speak, I came out of my shell; I remained out of it +till 1841.</p> + +<p>The two persons who knew me best at that time are still alive, +beneficed clergymen, no longer my friends. They could tell better +than any one else what I was in those years. From this time my tongue +was, as it were, loosened, and I spoke spontaneously and without +effort. A shrewd man, who knew me at this time, said, "Here is a man +who, when he is silent, will never begin to speak; and when he once +begins to speak, will never stop." It was at this time that I began +to have influence, which steadily increased for a course of years. +I gained upon my pupils, and was in particular intimate and +affectionate with two of our probationer fellows, Robert I. +Wilberforce (afterwards archdeacon) and Richard Hurrell Froude. +Whately then, an acute man, perhaps saw around me the signs of an +incipient party of which I was not conscious myself. And thus we +discern the first elements of that movement afterwards called +Tractarian.</p> + +<p>The true and primary author of it, however, as is usual with great +motive-powers, was out of sight. Having carried off as a mere boy +the highest honours of the University, he had turned from the +admiration which haunted his steps, and sought for a better and +holier satisfaction in pastoral work in the country. Need I say that +I am speaking of John Keble? The first time that I was in a room with +him was on occasion of my election to a fellowship at Oriel, when I +was sent for into the Tower, to shake hands with the provost and +fellows. How is that hour fixed in my memory after the changes of +forty-two years, forty-two this very day on which I write! I have +lately had a letter in my hands, which I sent at the time to my +great friend, John Bowden, with whom I passed almost exclusively my +Undergraduate years. "I had to hasten to the tower," I say to him, +"to receive the congratulations of all the fellows. I bore it till +Keble took my hand, and then felt so abashed and unworthy of the +honour done me, that I seemed desirous of quite sinking into the +ground." His had been the first name which I had heard spoken of, +with reverence rather than admiration, when I came up to Oxford. When +one day I was walking in High Street with my dear earliest friend +just mentioned, with what eagerness did he cry out, "There's Keble!" +and with what awe did I look at him! Then at another time I heard a +master of arts of my college give an account how he had just then had +occasion to introduce himself on some business to Keble, and how +gentle, courteous, and unaffected Keble had been, so as almost to put +him out of countenance. Then too it was reported, truly or falsely, +how a rising man of brilliant reputation, the present Dean of St. +Paul's, Dr. Milman, admired and loved him, adding, that somehow he +was unlike any one else. However, at the time when I was elected +Fellow of Oriel he was not in residence, and he was shy of me for +years in consequence of the marks which I bore upon me of the +evangelical and liberal schools. At least so I have ever thought. +Hurrell Froude brought us together about 1828: it is one of the +sayings preserved in his "Remains,"—"Do you know the story of the +murderer who had done one good thing in his life? Well; if I was ever +asked what good deed I had ever done, I should say that I had brought +Keble and Newman to understand each other."</p> + +<p>The Christian Year made its appearance in 1827. It is not necessary, +and scarcely becoming, to praise a book which has already become one +of the classics of the language. When the general tone of religious +literature was so nerveless and impotent, as it was at that time, +Keble struck an original note and woke up in the hearts of thousands +a new music, the music of a school, long unknown in England. Nor can +I pretend to analyse, in my own instance, the effect of religious +teaching so deep, so pure, so beautiful. I have never till now tried +to do so; yet I think I am not wrong in saying, that the two main +intellectual truths which it brought home to me, were the same two, +which I had learned from Butler, though recast in the creative mind +of my new master. The first of these was what may be called, in a +large sense of the word, the sacramental system; that is, the +doctrine that material phenomena are both the types and the +instruments of real things unseen,—a doctrine, which embraces, not +only what Anglicans, as well as Catholics, believe about sacraments +properly so called; but also the article of "the Communion of Saints" +in its fulness; and likewise the mysteries of the faith. The +connection of this philosophy of religion with what is sometimes +called "Berkeleyism" has been mentioned above; I knew little of +Berkeley at this time except by name; nor have I ever studied him.</p> + +<p>On the second intellectual principle which I gained from Mr. Keble, I +could say a great deal; if this were the place for it. It runs +through very much that I have written, and has gained for me many +hard names. Butler teaches us that probability is the guide of life. +The danger of this doctrine, in the case of many minds, is, its +tendency to destroy in them absolute certainty, leading them to +consider every conclusion as doubtful, and resolving truth into an +opinion, which it is safe to obey or to profess, but not possible to +embrace with full internal assent. If this were to be allowed, then +the celebrated saying, "O God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I +have a soul!" would be the highest measure of devotion:—but who can +really pray to a being, about whose existence he is seriously in +doubt?</p> + +<p>I considered that Mr. Keble met this difficulty by ascribing the +firmness of assent which we give to religious doctrine, not to the +probabilities which introduced it, but to the living power of faith +and love which accepted it. In matters of religion, he seemed to say, +it is not merely probability which makes us intellectually certain, +but probability as it is put to account by faith and love. It is +faith and love which give to probability a force which it has not in +itself. Faith and love are directed towards an object; in the vision +of that object they live; it is that object, received in faith and +love, which renders it reasonable to take probability as sufficient +for internal conviction. Thus the argument about probability, in the +matter of religion, became an argument from personality, which in +fact is one form of the argument from authority.</p> + +<p>In illustration, Mr. Keble used to quote the words of the psalm: "I +will guide thee with mine <i>eye</i>. Be ye not like to horse and mule, +which have no understanding; whose mouths must be held with bit and +bridle, lest they fall upon thee." This is the very difference, he +used to say, between slaves, and friends or children. Friends do not +ask for literal commands; but, from their knowledge of the speaker, +they understand his half-words, and from love of him they anticipate +his wishes. Hence it is, that in his poem for St. Bartholomew's Day, +he speaks of the "Eye of God's word;" and in the note quotes Mr. +Miller, of Worcester College, who remarks, in his Bampton Lectures, +on the special power of Scripture, as having "this eye, like that of +a portrait, uniformly fixed upon us, turn where we will." The view +thus suggested by Mr. Keble, is brought forward in one of the +earliest of the "Tracts for the Times." In No. 8 I say, "The Gospel +is a Law of Liberty. We are treated as sons, not as servants; not +subjected to a code of formal commandments, but addressed as those +who love God, and wish to please Him."</p> + +<p>I did not at all dispute this view of the matter, for I made use of +it myself; but I was dissatisfied, because it did not go to the root +of the difficulty. It was beautiful and religious, but it did not +even profess to be logical; and accordingly I tried to complete it by +considerations of my own, which are implied in my University sermons, +Essay on Ecclesiastical Miracles, and Essay on Development of +Doctrine. My argument is in outline as follows: that that absolute +certitude which we were able to possess, whether as to the truths of +natural theology, or as to the fact of a revelation, was the result +of an <i>assemblage</i> of concurring and converging probabilities, and +that, both according to the constitution of the human mind and the +will of its Maker; that certitude was a habit of mind, that certainty +was a quality of propositions; that probabilities which did not reach +to logical certainty, might create a mental certitude; that the +certitude thus created might equal in measure and strength the +certitude which was created by the strictest scientific +demonstration; and that to have such certitude might in given cases +and to given individuals be a plain duty, though not to others in +other circumstances:—</p> + +<p>Moreover, that as there were probabilities which sufficed to create +certitude, so there were other probabilities which were legitimately +adapted to create opinion; that it might be quite as much a matter of +duty in given cases and to given persons to have about a fact an +opinion of a definite strength and consistency, as in the case of +greater or of more numerous probabilities it was a duty to have a +certitude; that accordingly we were bound to be more or less sure, on +a sort of (as it were) graduated scale of assent, viz. according as +the probabilities attaching to a professed fact were brought home to +us, and, as the case might be, to entertain about it a pious belief, +or a pious opinion, or a religious conjecture, or at least, a +tolerance of such belief, or opinion, or conjecture in others; that +on the other hand, as it was a duty to have a belief, of more or less +strong texture, in given cases, so in other cases it was a duty not +to believe, not to opine, not to conjecture, not even to tolerate the +notion that a professed fact was true, inasmuch as it would be +credulity or superstition, or some other moral fault, to do so. This +was the region of private judgment in religion; that is, of a private +judgment, not formed arbitrarily and according to one's fancy or +liking, but conscientiously, and under a sense of duty.</p> + +<p>Considerations such as these throw a new light on the subject of +Miracles, and they seem to have led me to re-consider the view which +I took of them in my Essay in 1825-6. I do not know what was the date +of this change in me, nor of the train of ideas on which it was +founded. That there had been already great miracles, as those of +Scripture, as the Resurrection, was a fact establishing the principle +that the laws of nature had sometimes been suspended by their Divine +Author; and since what had happened once might happen again, a +certain probability, at least no kind of improbability, was attached +to the idea, taken in itself, of miraculous intervention in later +times, and miraculous accounts were to be regarded in connection with +the verisimilitude, scope, instrument, character, testimony, and +circumstances, with which they presented themselves to us; and, +according to the final result of those various considerations, it was +our duty to be sure, or to believe, or to opine, or to surmise, or to +tolerate, or to reject, or to denounce. The main difference between +my essay on Miracles in 1826 and my essay in 1842 is this: that +in 1826 I considered that miracles were sharply divided into two +classes, those which were to be received, and those which were to +be rejected; whereas in 1842 I saw that they were to be regarded +according to their greater or less probability, which was in some +cases sufficient to create certitude about them, in other cases only +belief or opinion.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the argument from analogy, on which this view of the +question was founded, suggested to me something besides, in +recommendation of the ecclesiastical miracles. It fastened itself +upon the theory of church history which I had learned as a boy from +Joseph Milner. It is Milner's doctrine, that upon the visible Church +come down from above, from time to time, large and temporary +<i>Effusions</i> of divine grace. This is the leading idea of his work. He +begins by speaking of the Day of Pentecost, as marking "the first of +those <i>Effusions</i> of the Spirit of God, which from age to age have +visited the earth since the coming of Christ" (vol. i. p. 3). In a +note he adds that "in the term 'Effusion' there is not here included +the idea of the miraculous or extraordinary operations of the Spirit +of God;" but still it was natural for me, admitting Milner's general +theory, and applying to it the principle of analogy, not to stop +short at his abrupt <i>ipse dixit</i>, but boldly to pass forward to the +conclusion, on other grounds plausible, that, as miracles accompanied +the first effusion of grace, so they might accompany the later. It +is surely a natural and on the whole, a true anticipation (though +of course there are exceptions in particular cases), that gifts and +graces go together; now, according to the ancient Catholic doctrine, +the gift of miracles was viewed as the attendant and shadow of +transcendent sanctity: and moreover, as such sanctity was not of +every day's occurrence, nay further, as one period of Church history +differed widely from another, and, as Joseph Milner would say, there +have been generations or centuries of degeneracy or disorder, and +times of revival, and as one region might be in the mid-day of +religious fervour, and another in twilight or gloom, there was no +force in the popular argument, that, because we did not see miracles +with our own eyes, miracles had not happened in former times, or were +not now at this very time taking place in distant places:—but I must +not dwell longer on a subject, to which in a few words it is +impossible to do justice.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Hurrell Froude was a pupil of Keble's, formed by him, and in turn +reacting upon him. I knew him first in 1826, and was in the closest +and most affectionate friendship with him from about 1829 till his +death in 1836. He was a man of the highest gifts—so truly +many-sided, that it would be presumptuous in me to attempt to +describe him, except under those aspects, in which he came before me. +Nor have I here to speak of the gentleness and tenderness of nature, +the playfulness, the free elastic force and graceful versatility of +mind, and the patient winning considerateness in discussion, which +endeared him to those to whom he opened his heart; for I am all along +engaged upon matters of belief and opinion, and am introducing others +into my narrative, not for their own sake, or because I love and have +loved them, so much as because, and so far as, they have influenced +my theological views. In this respect then, I speak of Hurrell +Froude—in his intellectual aspect—as a man of high genius, brimful +and overflowing with ideas and views, in him original, which were too +many and strong even for his bodily strength, and which crowded and +jostled against each other in their effort after distinct shape and +expression. And he had an intellect as critical and logical as it was +speculative and bold. Dying prematurely, as he did, and in the +conflict and transition-state of opinion, his religious views never +reached their ultimate conclusion, by the very reason of their +multitude and their depth. His opinions arrested and influenced me, +even when they did not gain my assent. He professed openly his +admiration of the Church of Rome, and his hatred of the reformers. +He delighted in the notion of an hierarchical system, or sacerdotal +power and of full ecclesiastical liberty. He felt scorn of the maxim, +"The Bible and the Bible only is the religion of Protestants;" and he +gloried in accepting Tradition as a main instrument of religious +teaching. He had a high severe idea of the intrinsic excellence of +virginity; and he considered the Blessed Virgin its great pattern. +He delighted in thinking of the saints; he had a keen appreciation +of the idea of sanctity, its possibility and its heights; and he +was more than inclined to believe a large amount of miraculous +interference as occurring in the early and middle ages. He embraced +the principle of penance and mortification. He had a deep devotion to +the Real Presence, in which he had a firm faith. He was powerfully +drawn to the medieval church, but not to the primitive.</p> + +<p>He had a keen insight into abstract truth; but he was an Englishman +to the backbone in his severe adherence to the real and the concrete. +He had a most classical taste, and a genius for philosophy and art; +and he was fond of historical inquiry, and the politics of religion. +He had no turn for theology as such. He had no appreciation of the +writings of the Fathers, of the detail or development of doctrine, of +the definite traditions of the Church viewed in their matter, of the +teaching of the ecumenical councils, or of the controversies out of +which they arose. He took an eager, courageous view of things on the +whole. I should say that his power of entering into the minds of +others did not equal his other gifts; he could not believe, for +instance, that I really held the Roman Church to be Antichristian. On +many points he would not believe but that I agreed with him, when I +did not. He seemed not to understand my difficulties. His were of a +different kind, the contrariety between theory and fact. He was a +high Tory of the cavalier stamp, and was disgusted with the Toryism +of the opponents of the Reform Bill. He was smitten with the love of +the theocratic church; he went abroad and was shocked by the +degeneracy which he thought he saw in the Catholics of Italy.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to enumerate the precise additions to my theological +creed which I derived from a friend to whom I owe so much. He made me +look with admiration towards the Church of Rome, and in the same +degree to dislike the Reformation. He fixed deep in me the idea of +devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and he led me gradually to believe in +the Real Presence.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">There is one remaining source of my opinions to be mentioned, and +that far from the least important. In proportion as I moved out of +the shadow of liberalism which had hung over my course, my early +devotion towards the fathers returned; and in the long vacation of +1828 I set about to read them chronologically, beginning with St. +Ignatius and St. Justin. About 1830 a proposal was made to me by Mr. +Hugh Rose, who with Mr. Lyall (afterwards Dean of Canterbury) was +providing writers for a theological library, to furnish them with a +history of the principal councils. I accepted it, and at once set to +work on the Council of Nicæa. It was launching myself on an ocean +with currents innumerable; and I was drifted back first to the +ante-Nicene history, and then to the Church of Alexandria. The work +at last appeared under the title of "The Arians of the Fourth +Century;" and of its 422 pages, the first 117 consisted of +introductory matter, and the Council of Nicæa did not appear till the +254th, and then occupied at most twenty pages.</p> + +<p>I do not know when I first learnt to consider that antiquity was the +true exponent of the doctrines of Christianity and the basis of the +Church of England; but I take it for granted that Bishop Bull, whose +works at this time I read, was my chief introduction to this +principle. The course of reading which I pursued in the composition +of my work was directly adapted to develop it in my mind. What +principally attracted me in the ante-Nicene period was the great +Church of Alexandria, the historical centre of teaching in those +times. Of Rome for some centuries comparatively little is known. The +battle of Arianism was first fought in Alexandria; Athanasius, the +champion of the truth, was Bishop of Alexandria; and in his writings +he refers to the great religious names of an earlier date, to Origen, +Dionysius, and others who were the glory of its see, or of its +school. The broad philosophy of Clement and Origen carried me away; +the philosophy, not the theological doctrine; and I have drawn out +some features of it in my volume, with the zeal and freshness, but +with the partiality of a neophyte. Some portions of their teaching, +magnificent in themselves, came like music to my inward ear, as if +the response to ideas, which, with little external to encourage +them, I had cherished so long. These were based on the mystical +or sacramental principle, and spoke of the various economies or +dispensations of the eternal. I understood them to mean that the +exterior world, physical and historical, was but the outward +manifestation of realities greater than itself. Nature was a +parable:<a href="#fn1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Scripture was an allegory: pagan literature, philosophy, +and mythology, properly understood, were but a preparation for the +Gospel. The Greek poets and sages were in a certain sense prophets; +for "thoughts beyond their thought to those high bards were given." +There had been a divine dispensation granted to the Jews; there had +been in some sense a dispensation carried on in favour of the +Gentiles. He who had taken the seed of Jacob for His elect people, +had not therefore cast the rest of mankind out of His sight. In the +fulness of time both Judaism and Paganism had come to nought; the +outward framework, which concealed yet suggested the living truth, +had never been intended to last, and it was dissolving under the +beams of the sun of justice behind it and through it. The process of +change had been slow; it had been done not rashly, but by rule and +measure, "at sundry times and in divers manners," first one +disclosure and then another, till the whole was brought into full +manifestation. And thus room was made for the anticipation of further +and deeper disclosures, of truths still under the veil of the letter, +and in their season to be revealed. The visible world still remains +without its divine interpretation; Holy Church in her sacraments and +her hierarchical appointments, will remain even to the end of the +world, only a symbol of those heavenly facts which fill eternity. Her +mysteries are but the expressions in human language of truths to +which the human mind is unequal. It is evident how much there was in +all this in correspondence with the thoughts which had attracted me +when I was young, and with the doctrine which I have already +connected with the Analogy and the Christian Year.</p> + +<p>I suppose it was to the Alexandrian school and to the early church +that I owe in particular what I definitely held about the angels. I +viewed them, not only as the ministers employed by the Creator in the +Jewish and Christian dispensations, as we find on the face of +Scripture, but as carrying on, as Scripture also implies, the economy +of the visible world. I considered them as the real causes of motion, +light, and life, and of those elementary principles of the physical +universe, which, when offered in their developments to our senses, +suggest to us the notion of cause and effect, and of what are called +the laws of nature. I have drawn out this doctrine in my sermon for +Michaelmas day, written not later than 1834. I say of the angels, +"Every breath of air and ray of light and heat, every beautiful +prospect, is, as it were, the skirts of their garments, the waving of +the robes of those whose faces see God." Again, I ask what would be +the thoughts of a man who, "when examining a flower, or a herb, or a +pebble, or a ray of light, which he treats as something so beneath +him in the scale of existence, suddenly discovered that he was in the +presence of some powerful being who was hidden behind the visible +things he was inspecting, who, though concealing his wise hand, was +giving them their beauty, grace, and perfection, as being God's +instrument for the purpose, nay, whose robe and ornaments those +objects were, which he was so eager to analyse?" and I therefore +remark that "we may say with grateful and simple hearts with the +Three Holy Children, 'O all ye works of the Lord, etc., etc., bless +ye the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever.'"</p> + +<p>Also, besides the hosts of evil spirits, I considered there was a +middle race, <span class="greek" title="daimonia"> +δαιμόνια</span>, +neither in heaven, nor in hell; partially fallen, capricious, +wayward; noble or crafty, benevolent or malicious, as the case might +be. They gave a sort of inspiration or intelligence to races, +nations, and classes of men. Hence the action of bodies politic and +associations, which is so different often from that of the +individuals who compose them. Hence the character and the instinct of +states and governments, of religious communities and communions. I +thought they were inhabited by unseen intelligences. My preference of +the Personal to the Abstract would naturally lead me to this view. I +thought it countenanced by the mention of "the Prince of Persia" in +the Prophet Daniel; and I think I considered that it was of such +intermediate beings that the Apocalypse spoke, when it introduced +"the Angels of the Seven Churches."</p> + +<p>In 1837 I made a further development of this doctrine. I said to my +great friend, Samuel Francis Wood, in a letter which came into my +hands on his death, "I have an idea. The mass of the Fathers (Justin, +Athenagoras, Irenæus, Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Lactantius, +Sulpicius, Ambrose, Nazianzen), hold that, though Satan fell from the +beginning, the Angels fell before the deluge, falling in love with +the daughters of men. This has lately come across me as a remarkable +solution of a notion which I cannot help holding. Daniel speaks as if +each nation had its guardian Angel. I cannot but think that there are +beings with a great deal of good in them, yet with great defects, who +are the animating principles of certain institutions, etc., etc.... +Take England, with many high virtues, and yet a low Catholicism. It +seems to me that John Bull is a Spirit neither of heaven nor hell.... +Has not the Christian Church, in its parts, surrendered itself to one +or other of these simulations of the truth? ...How are we to avoid +Scylla and Charybdis and go straight on to the very image of Christ?" +etc., etc.</p> + +<p>I am aware that what I have been saying will, with many men, be doing +credit to my imagination at the expense of my judgment—"Hippoclides +doesn't care;" I am not setting myself up as a pattern of good sense +or of anything else: I am but vindicating myself from the charge of +dishonesty.—There is indeed another view of the economy brought out, +in the course of the same dissertation on the subject, in my History +of the Arians, which has afforded matter for the latter imputation; +but I reserve it for the concluding portion of my reply.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">While I was engaged in writing my work upon the Arians, great events +were happening at home and abroad, which brought out into form and +passionate expression the various beliefs which had so gradually been +winning their way into my mind. Shortly before, there had been a +revolution in France; the Bourbons had been dismissed: and I believed +that it was unchristian for nations to cast off their governors, and, +much more, sovereigns who had the divine right of inheritance. Again, +the great Reform agitation was going on around me as I wrote. The +Whigs had come into power; Lord Grey had told the Bishops to set +their house in order, and some of the prelates had been insulted and +threatened in the streets of London. The vital question was how were +we to keep the Church from being liberalised? there was such apathy +on the subject in some quarters, such imbecile alarm in others; the +true principles of Churchmanship seemed so radically decayed, and +there was such distraction in the councils of the clergy. The Bishop +of London of the day, an active and open-hearted man, had been for +years engaged in diluting the high orthodoxy of the Church by the +introduction of the Evangelical body into places of influence and +trust. He had deeply offended men who agreed with myself, by an +off-hand saying (as it was reported) to the effect that belief in the +apostolical succession had gone out with the non-jurors. "We can +count you," he said to some of the gravest and most venerated persons +of the old school. And the Evangelical party itself seemed, with +their late successes, to have lost that simplicity and unworldliness +which I admired so much in Milner and Scott. It was not that I did +not venerate such men as the then Bishop of Lichfield, and others of +similar sentiments, who were not yet promoted out of the ranks of +the clergy, but I thought little of them as a class. I thought they +played into the hands of the Liberals. With the Establishment thus +divided and threatened, thus ignorant of its true strength, I +compared that fresh vigorous power of which I was reading in the +first centuries. In her triumphant zeal on behalf of that Primeval +Mystery, to which I had had so great a devotion from my youth, I +recognised the movement of my Spiritual Mother. "Incessu patuit Dea." +The self-conquest of her ascetics, the patience of her martyrs, the +irresistible determination of her bishops, the joyous swing of her +advance, both exalted and abashed me. I said to myself, "Look on this +picture and on that;" I felt affection for my own Church, but not +tenderness; I felt dismay at her prospects, anger and scorn at her +do-nothing perplexity. I thought that if Liberalism once got a +footing within her, it was sure of the victory in the event. I saw +that Reformation principles were powerless to rescue her. As to +leaving her, the thought never crossed my imagination; still I ever +kept before me that there was something greater than the Established +Church, and that that was the Church Catholic and Apostolic, set up +from the beginning, of which she was but the local presence and +organ. She was nothing, unless she was this. She must be dealt with +strongly, or she would be lost. There was need of a second +Reformation.</p> + +<p>At this time I was disengaged from college duties, and my health had +suffered from the labour involved in the composition of my volume. It +was ready for the press in July, 1832, though not published till the +end of 1833. I was easily persuaded to join Hurrell Froude and his +Father, who were going to the south of Europe for the health of the +former.</p> + +<p>We set out in December, 1832. It was during this expedition that my +Verses which are in the Lyra Apostolica were written;—a few indeed +before it, but not more than one or two of them after it. Exchanging, +as I was, definite tutorial labours, and the literary quiet and +pleasant friendships of the last six years, for foreign countries and +an unknown future, I naturally was led to think that some inward +changes, as well as some larger course of action, was coming upon me. +At Whitchurch, while waiting for the down mail to Falmouth, I wrote +the verses about my Guardian Angel, which begin with these words: +"Are these the tracks of some unearthly Friend?" and go on to speak +of "the vision" which haunted me:—that vision is more or less +brought out in the whole series of these compositions.</p> + +<p>I went to various coasts of the Mediterranean, parted with my friends +at Rome; went down for the second time to Sicily, at the end of +April, and got back to England by Palermo in the early part of July. +The strangeness of foreign life threw me back into myself; I found +pleasure in historical sites and beautiful scenes, not in men and +manners. We kept clear of Catholics throughout our tour. I had a +conversation with the Dean of Malta, a most pleasant man, lately +dead; but it was about the Fathers, and the Library of the great +church. I knew the Abbate Santini, at Rome, who did no more than copy +for me the Gregorian tones. Froude and I made two calls upon +Monsignore (now Cardinal) Wiseman at the Collegio Inglese, shortly +before we left Rome. I do not recollect being in a room with any +other ecclesiastics, except a Priest at Castro-Giovanni in Sicily, +who called on me when I was ill, and with whom I wished to hold a +controversy. As to Church Services, we attended the Tenebræ, at the +Sestine, for the sake of the Miserere; and that was all. My general +feeling was, "All, save the spirit of man, is divine." I saw nothing +but what was external; of the hidden life of Catholics I knew +nothing. I was still more driven back into myself, and felt my +isolation. England was in my thoughts solely, and the news from +England came rarely and imperfectly. The Bill for the Suppression of +the Irish Sees was in progress, and filled my mind. I had fierce +thoughts against the Liberals.</p> + +<p>It was the success of the Liberal cause which fretted me inwardly. +I became fierce against its instruments and its manifestations. A +French vessel was at Algiers; I would not even look at the tricolour. +On my return, though forced to stop a day at Paris, I kept indoors +the whole time, and all that I saw of that beautiful city, was what I +saw from the Diligence. The Bishop of London had already sounded me +as to my filling one of the Whitehall preacherships, which he had +just then put on a new footing; but I was indignant at the line which +he was taking, and from my steamer I had sent home a letter declining +the appointment by anticipation, should it be offered to me. At this +time I was specially annoyed with Dr. Arnold, though it did not last +into later years. Some one, I think, asked in conversation at Rome, +whether a certain interpretation of Scripture was Christian? it was +answered that Dr. Arnold took it; I interposed, "But is <i>he</i> a +Christian?" The subject went out of my head at once; when afterwards +I was taxed with it I could say no more in explanation, than that I +thought I must have been alluding to some free views of Dr. Arnold +about the Old Testament:—I thought I must have meant, "But who is to +answer for Arnold?" It was at Rome too that we began the Lyra +Apostolica which appeared monthly in the <i>British Magazine</i>. The +motto shows the feeling of both Froude and myself at the time: we +borrowed from M. Bunsen a Homer, and Froude chose the words in which +Achilles, on returning to the battle, says, "You shall know the +difference, now that I am back again."</p> + +<p>Especially when I was left by myself, the thought came upon me that +deliverance is wrought, not by the many but by the few, not by bodies +but by persons. Now it was, I think, that I repeated to myself the +words, which had ever been dear to me from my school days, "Exoriare +aliquis!"—now too, that Southey's beautiful poem of Thalaba, for +which I had an immense liking, came forcibly to my mind. I began to +think that I had a mission. There are sentences of my letters to my +friends to this effect, if they are not destroyed. When we took leave +of Monsignore Wiseman, he had courteously expressed a wish that we +might make a second visit to Rome; I said with great gravity, "We +have a work to do in England." I went down at once to Sicily, and the +presentiment grew stronger. I struck into the middle of the island, +and fell ill of a fever at Leonforte. My servant thought that I was +dying, and begged for my last directions. I gave them, as he wished; +but I said, "I shall not die." I repeated, "I shall not die, for I +have not sinned against light, I have not sinned against light." I +never have been able to make out at all what I meant.</p> + +<p>I got to Castro-Giovanni, and was laid up there for nearly three +weeks. Towards the end of May I set off for Palermo, taking three +days for the journey. Before starting from my inn in the morning of +May 26th or 27th, I sat down on my bed, and began to sob bitterly. My +servant, who had acted as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could only +answer, "I have a work to do in England."</p> + +<p>I was aching to get home; yet for want of a vessel I was kept at +Palermo for three weeks. I began to visit the Churches, and they +calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. I knew +nothing of the presence of the Blessed Sacrament there. At last I got +off in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed a whole +week in the Straits of Bonifacio. Then it was that I wrote the lines, +"Lead, kindly light," which have since become well known. I was +writing verses the whole time of my passage. At length I got to +Marseilles, and set off for England. The fatigue of travelling was +too much for me, and I was laid up for several days at Lyons. At last +I got off again and did not stop night or day till I reached England, +and my mother's house. My brother had arrived from Persia only a few +hours before. This was on the Tuesday. The following Sunday, July +14th, Mr. Keble preached the assize Sermon in the University Pulpit. +It was published under the title of "National Apostasy." I have ever +considered and kept the day, as the start of the religious movement +of 1833.</p> + +<div class="footnote" id="fn1"> +<h4>Footnote</h4> +<p>[1] <i>Vid</i>. Mr. Morris's beautiful poem with this title.</p> +</div> + +<div id="p4" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Part IV</h3> +<h3>History of My Religious Opinions—1833–1839</h3> +</div> + +<p>In spite of the foregoing pages, I have no romantic story to tell; +but I wrote them, because it is my duty to tell things as they took +place. I have not exaggerated the feelings with which I returned to +England, and I have no desire to dress up the events which followed, +so as to make them in keeping with the narrative which has gone +before. I soon relapsed into the every-day life which I had hitherto +led; in all things the same, except that a new object was given me. +I had employed myself in my own rooms in reading and writing, and +in the care of a church, before I left England, and I returned to +the same occupations when I was back again. And yet perhaps those +first vehement feelings which carried me on were necessary for the +beginning of the movement; and afterwards, when it was once begun, +the special need of me was over.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">When I got home from abroad, I found that already a movement had +commenced in opposition to the specific danger which at that time was +threatening the religion of the nation and its church. Several +zealous and able men had united their counsels, and were in +correspondence with each other. The principal of these were Mr. +Keble, Hurrell Froude, who had reached home long before me, Mr. +William Palmer of Dublin and Worcester College (not Mr. W. Palmer of +Magdalen, who is now a Catholic), Mr. Arthur Perceval, and Mr. Hugh +Rose.</p> + +<p>To mention Mr. Hugh Rose's name is to kindle in the minds of those +who knew him, a host of pleasant and affectionate remembrances. He +was the man above all others fitted by his cast of mind and literary +powers to make a stand, if a stand could be made, against the +calamity of the times. He was gifted with a high and large mind, and +a true sensibility of what was great and beautiful; he wrote with +warmth and energy; and he had a cool head and cautious judgment. +He spent his strength and shortened his life, Pro Ecclesia Dei, as +he understood that sovereign idea. Some years earlier he had been +the first to give warning, I think from the university pulpit at +Cambridge, of the perils to England which lay in the biblical and +theological speculations of Germany. The Reform agitation followed, +and the Whig government came into power; and he anticipated in their +distribution of church patronage the authoritative introduction of +liberal opinions into the country:—by "liberal" I mean liberalism in +<i>religion</i>, for questions of politics, as such, do not come into this +narrative at all. He feared that by the Whig party a door would be +opened in England to the most grievous of heresies, which never could +be closed again. In order under such grave circumstances to unite +Churchmen together, and to make a front against the coming danger, he +had in 1832 commenced the <i>British Magazine</i>, and in the same year he +came to Oxford in the summer term, in order to beat up for writers +for his publication; on that occasion I became known to him through +Mr. Palmer. His reputation and position came in aid of his obvious +fitness, in point of character and intellect, to become the centre of +an ecclesiastical movement, if such a movement were to depend on the +action of a party. His delicate health, his premature death, would +have frustrated the expectation, even though the new school of +opinion had been more exactly thrown into the shape of a party, than +in fact was the case. But he zealously backed up the first efforts of +those who were principals in it; and, when he went abroad to die, +in 1838, he allowed me the solace of expressing my feelings of +attachment and gratitude to him by addressing him, in the dedication +of a volume of my Sermons, as the man, "who, when hearts were +failing, bade us stir up the gift that was in us, and betake +ourselves to our true Mother."</p> + +<p>But there were other reasons, besides Mr. Rose's state of health, +which hindered those who so much admired him from availing themselves +of his close co-operation in the coming fight. United as both he and +they were in the general scope of the Movement, they were in +discordance with each other from the first in their estimate of the +means to be adopted for attaining it. Mr. Rose had a position in the +church, a name, and serious responsibilities; he had direct +ecclesiastical superiors; he had intimate relations with his own +university, and a large clerical connection through the country. +Froude and I were nobodies; with no characters to lose, and no +antecedents to fetter us. Rose could not go ahead across country, as +Froude had no scruples in doing. Froude was a bold rider, as on +horseback, so also in his speculations. After a long conversation +with him on the logical bearing of his principles, Mr. Rose said +of him with quiet humour, that "he did not seem to be afraid of +inferences." It was simply the truth; Froude had that strong hold of +first principles, and that keen perception of their value, that he +was comparatively indifferent to the revolutionary action which would +attend on their application to a given state of things; whereas in +the thoughts of Rose, as a practical man, existing facts had the +precedence of every other idea, and the chief test of the soundness +of a line of policy lay in the consideration whether it would work. +This was one of the first questions, which, as it seemed to me, ever +occurred to his mind. With Froude, Erastianism—that is, the union +(so he viewed it) of church and state—was the parent, or if not the +parent, the serviceable and sufficient tool, of liberalism. Till that +union was snapped, Christian doctrine never could be safe; and, while +he well knew how high and unselfish was the temper of Mr. Rose, +yet he used to apply to him an epithet, reproachful in his own +mouth;—Rose was a "conservative." By bad luck, I brought out this +word to Mr. Rose in a letter of my own, which I wrote to him in +criticism of something he had inserted into the Magazine: I got a +vehement rebuke for my pains, for though Rose pursued a conservative +line, he had as high a disdain, as Froude could have, of a worldly +ambition, and an extreme sensitiveness of such an imputation.</p> + +<p>But there was another reason still, and a more elementary one, which +severed Mr. Rose from the Oxford movement. Living movements do not +come of committees, nor are great ideas worked out through the post, +even though it had been the penny post. This principle deeply +penetrated both Froude and myself from the first, and recommended +to us the course which things soon took spontaneously, and without +set purpose of our own. Universities are the natural centres of +intellectual movements. How could men act together, whatever was +their zeal, unless they were united in a sort of individuality? +Now, first, we had no unity of place. Mr. Rose was in Suffolk, Mr. +Perceval in Surrey, Mr. Keble in Gloucestershire; Hurrell Froude had +to go for his health to Barbados. Mr. Palmer indeed was in Oxford; +this was an important advantage, and told well in the first months of +the Movement;—but another condition, besides that of place, was +required.</p> + +<p>A far more essential unity was that of antecedents,—a common +history, common memories, an intercourse of mind with mind in the +past, and a progress and increase of that intercourse in the present. +Mr. Perceval, to be sure, was a pupil of Mr. Keble's; but Keble, +Rose, and Palmer, represented distinct parties, or at least tempers, +in the Establishment. Mr. Palmer had many conditions of authority and +influence. He was the only really learned man among us. He understood +theology as a science; he was practised in the scholastic mode of +controversial writing; and I believe, was as well acquainted, as he +was dissatisfied, with the Catholic schools. He was as decided in his +religious views, as he was cautious and even subtle in their +expression, and gentle in their enforcement. But he was deficient in +depth; and besides, coming from a distance, he never had really grown +into an Oxford man, nor was he generally received as such; nor had he +any insight into the force of personal influence and congeniality of +thought in carrying out a religious theory,—a condition which Froude +and I considered essential to any true success in the stand which had +to be made against Liberalism. Mr. Palmer had a certain connection, +as it may be called, in the Establishment, consisting of high Church +dignitaries, archdeacons, London rectors, and the like, who belonged +to what was commonly called the high-and-dry school. They were +far more opposed than even he was to the irresponsible action of +individuals. Of course their <i>beau ideal</i> in ecclesiastical action +was a board of safe, sound, sensible men. Mr. Palmer was their organ +and representative; and he wished for a Committee, an Association, +with rules and meetings, to protect the interests of the Church in +its existing peril. He was in some measure supported by Mr. Perceval.</p> + +<p>I, on the other hand, had out of my own head begun the Tracts; and +these, as representing the antagonist principle of personality, were +looked upon by Mr. Palmer's friends with considerable alarm. The +great point at the time with these good men in London,—some of them +men of the highest principle, and far from influenced by what we used +to call Erastianism,—was to put down the Tracts. I, as their editor, +and mainly their author, was not unnaturally willing to give way. +Keble and Froude advocated their continuance strongly, and were angry +with me for consenting to stop them. Mr. Palmer shared the anxiety of +his own friends; and, kind as were his thoughts of us, he still not +unnaturally felt, for reasons of his own, some fidget and nervousness +at the course which his Oriel friends were taking. Froude, for whom +he had a real liking, took a high tone in his project of measures +for dealing with bishops and clergy, which must have shocked and +scandalised him considerably. As for me, there was matter enough in +the early Tracts to give him equal disgust; and doubtless I much +tasked his generosity, when he had to defend me, whether against the +London dignitaries, or the country clergy. Oriel, from the time of +Dr. Copleston to Dr. Hampden, had had a name far and wide for +liberality of thought; it had received a formal recognition from the +<i>Edinburgh Review</i>, if my memory serves me truly, as the school of +speculative philosophy in England; and on one occasion, in 1833, when +I presented myself, with some the first papers of the movement, to a +country clergyman in Northamptonshire, he paused awhile, and then, +eyeing me with significance, asked, "Whether Whately was at the +bottom of them?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Perceval wrote to me in support of the judgment of Mr. Palmer and +the dignitaries. I replied in a letter, which he afterwards +published. "As to the Tracts," I said to him (I quote my own words +from his pamphlet), "every one has his own taste. You object to +some things, another to others. If we altered to please every one, +the effect would be spoiled. They were not intended as symbols +<i>è cathedrâ</i>, but as the expression of individual minds; and +individuals, feeling strongly, while on the one hand, they are +incidentally faulty in mode or language, are still peculiarly +effective. No great work was done by a system; whereas systems rise +out of individual exertions. Luther was an individual. The very +faults of an individual excite attention; he loses, but his cause +(if good and he powerful-minded) gains. This is the way of things: +we promote truth by a self-sacrifice."</p> + +<p>The visit which I made to the Northamptonshire Rector was only one of +a series of similar expedients, which I adopted during the year 1833. +I called upon clergy in various parts of the country, whether I was +acquainted with them or not, and I attended at the houses of friends +where several of them were from time to time assembled. I do not +think that much came of such attempts, nor were they quite in my way. +Also I wrote various letters to clergymen, which fared not much +better, except that they advertised the fact, that a rally in favour +of the church was commencing. I did not care whether my visits were +made to high church or low church; I wished to make a strong pull in +union with all who were opposed to the principles of liberalism, +whoever they might be. Giving my name to the editor, I commenced a +series of letters in the <i>Record</i> newspaper: they ran to a +considerable length; and were borne by him with great courtesy and +patience. They were headed as being on "Church Reform." The first was +on the Revival of Church Discipline; the second, on its Scripture +proof; the third, on the application of the doctrine; the fourth, +was an answer to objections; the fifth, was on the benefits +of discipline. And then the series was abruptly brought to a +termination. I had said what I really felt, and what was also in +keeping with the strong teaching of the Tracts, but I suppose the +Editor discovered in me some divergence from his own line of thought; +for at length he sent a very civil letter, apologising for the +non-appearance of my sixth communication, on the ground that it +contained an attack upon "Temperance Societies," about which he did +not wish a controversy in his columns. He added, however, his serious +regret at the character of the Tracts. I had subscribed a small sum +in 1828 towards the first start of the <i>Record</i>.</p> + +<p>Acts of the officious character, which I have been describing, were +uncongenial to my natural temper, to the genius of the movement, and +to the historical mode of its success:—they were the fruit of that +exuberant and joyous energy with which I had returned from abroad, +and which I never had before or since. I had the exultation of health +restored, and home regained. While I was at Palermo and thought of +the breadth of the Mediterranean, and the wearisome journey across +France, I could not imagine how I was ever to get to England; but now +I was amid familiar scenes and faces once more. And my health and +strength came back to me with such a rebound, that some friends at +Oxford, on seeing me, did not well know that it was I, and hesitated +before they spoke to me. And I had the consciousness that I was +employed in that work which I had been dreaming about, and which I +felt to be so momentous and inspiring. I had a supreme confidence in +our cause; we were upholding that primitive Christianity which was +delivered for all time by the early teachers of the Church, and which +was registered and attested in the Anglican formularies and by the +Anglican divines. That ancient religion had well nigh faded away out +of the land, through the political changes of the last 150 years, and +it must be restored. It would be in fact a second Reformation:—a +better reformation, for it would be a return not to the sixteenth +century, but to the seventeenth. No time was to be lost, for the +Whigs had come to do their worst, and the rescue might come too late. +Bishopricks were already in course of suppression; Church property +was in course of confiscation; sees would soon be receiving +unsuitable occupants. We knew enough to begin preaching upon, and +there was no one else to preach. I felt as on a vessel, which first +gets under weigh, and then the deck is cleared out, and the luggage +and live stock stored away into their proper receptacles.</p> + +<p>Nor was it only that I had confidence in our cause, both in itself, +and in its controversial force, but besides, I despised every rival +system of doctrine and its arguments. As to the high church and the +low church, I thought that the one had not much more of a logical +basis than the other; while I had a thorough contempt for the +evangelical. I had a real respect for the character of many of the +advocates of each party, but that did not give cogency to their +arguments; and I thought on the other hand that the apostolical form +of doctrine was essential and imperative, and its grounds of evidence +impregnable. Owing to this confidence, it came to pass at that time, +that there was a double aspect in my bearing towards others, which it +is necessary for me to enlarge upon. My behaviour had a mixture in it +both of fierceness and of sport; and on this account, I dare say, it +gave offence to many; nor am I here defending it.</p> + +<p>I wished men to a agree with me, and I walked with them step by step, +as far as they would go; this I did sincerely; but if they would +stop, I did not much care about it, but walked on, with some +satisfaction that I had brought them so far. I liked to make them +preach the truth without knowing it, and encouraged them to do so. It +was a satisfaction to me that the <i>Record</i> had allowed me to say so +much in its columns, without remonstrance. I was amused to hear of +one of the bishops, who, on reading an early Tract on the Apostolical +Succession, could not make up his mind whether he held the doctrine +or not. I was not distressed at the wonder or anger of dull and +self-conceited men, at propositions which they did not understand. +When a correspondent, in good faith, wrote to a newspaper, to say +that the "Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist," spoken of in the Tract, +was a false print for "Sacrament," I thought the mistake too pleasant +to be corrected before I was asked about it. I was not unwilling to +draw an opponent on step by step to the brink of some intellectual +absurdity, and to leave him to get back as he could. I was not +unwilling to play with a man, who asked me impertinent questions. I +think I had in my mouth the words of the wise man, "Answer a fool +according to his folly," especially if he was prying or spiteful. I +was reckless of the gossip which was circulated about me; and, when I +might easily have set it right, did not deign to do so. Also I used +irony in conversation, when matter-of-fact men would not see what I +meant.</p> + +<p>This kind of behaviour was a sort of habit with me. If I have ever +trifled with my subject, it was a more serious fault. I never used +arguments which I saw clearly to be unsound. The nearest approach +which I remember to such conduct, but which I consider was clear of +it nevertheless, was in the case of Tract 15. The matter of this +Tract was supplied to me by a friend, to whom I had applied for +assistance, but who did not wish to be mixed up with the publication. +He gave it me, that I might throw it into shape, and I took his +arguments as they stood. In the chief portion of the Tract I fully +agreed; for instance, as to what it says about the Council of Trent; +but there were arguments, or some argument, in it which I did not +follow; I do not recollect what it was. Froude, I think, was +disgusted with the whole Tract, and accused me of <i>economy</i> in +publishing it. It is principally through Mr. Froude's Remains that +this word has got into our language. I think I defended myself with +arguments such as these:—that, as every one knew, the Tracts were +written by various persons who agreed together in their doctrine, but +not always in the arguments by which it was to be proved; that we +must be tolerant of difference of opinion among ourselves; that the +author of the Tract had a right to his own opinion, and that the +argument in question was ordinarily received; that I did not give my +own name or authority, nor was asked for my personal belief, but only +acted instrumentally, as one might translate a friend's book into a +foreign language. I account these to be good arguments; nevertheless +I feel also that such practices admit of easy abuse and are +consequently dangerous; but then again, I feel also this,—that if +all such mistakes were to be severely visited, not many men in public +life would be left with a character for honour and honesty.</p> + +<p>This absolute confidence in my cause, which led me to the imprudence +or wantonness which I have been instancing, also laid me open, not +unfairly, to the opposite charge of fierceness in certain steps which +I took, or words which I published. In the Lyra Apostolica, I have +said that, before learning to love, we must "learn to hate;" though I +had explained my words by adding "hatred of sin." In one of my first +sermons I said, "I do not shrink from uttering my firm conviction +that it would be a gain to the country were it vastly more +superstitious, more bigoted, more gloomy, more fierce in its religion +than at present it shows itself to be." I added, of course, that it +would be an absurdity to suppose such tempers of mind desirable in +themselves. The corrector of the press bore these strong epithets +till he got to "more fierce," and then he put in the margin a +<i>query</i>. In the very first page of the first Tract, I said of the +bishops, that, "black event though it would be for the country, yet +we could not wish them a more blessed termination of their course, +than the spoiling of their goods and martyrdom." In consequence of a +passage in my work upon the Arian History, a Northern dignitary wrote +to accuse me of wishing to re-establish the blood and torture of the +Inquisition. Contrasting heretics and heresiarchs, I had said, "The +latter should meet with no mercy; he assumes the office of the +Tempter, and, so far forth as his error goes, must be dealt with by +the competent authority, as if he were embodied evil. To spare him is +a false and dangerous pity. It is to endanger the souls of thousands, +and it is uncharitable towards himself." I cannot deny that this is a +very fierce passage; but Arius was banished, not burned; and it is +only fair to myself to say that neither at this, nor any other time +of my life, not even when I was fiercest, could I have even cut off a +Puritan's ears, and I think the sight of a Spanish <i>auto-da-fé</i> would +have been the death of me. Again, when one of my friends, of liberal +and evangelical opinions, wrote to expostulate with me on the course +I was taking, I said that we would ride over him and his, as Othniel +prevailed over Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. Again, I +would have no dealings with my brother, and I put my conduct upon a +syllogism. I said, "St. Paul bids us avoid those who cause divisions; +you cause divisions: therefore I must avoid you." I dissuaded a lady +from attending the marriage of a sister who had seceded from the +Anglican Church. No wonder that Blanco White, who had known me under +such different circumstances, now hearing the general course that I +was taking, was amazed at the change which he recognised in me. He +speaks bitterly and unfairly of me in his letters contemporaneously +with the first years of the Movement; but in 1839, when looking back, +he uses terms of me, which it would be hardly modest in me to quote, +were it not that what he says of me in praise is but part of a whole +account of me. He says: "In this party [the anti-Peel, in 1829] I +found, to my great surprise, my dear friend, Mr. Newman of Oriel. As +he had been one of the annual Petitioners to Parliament for Catholic +Emancipation, his sudden union with the most violent bigots was +inexplicable to me. That change was the first manifestation of the +mental revolution, which has suddenly made him one of the leading +persecutors of Dr. Hampden and the most active and influential member +of that association, called the Puseyite party, from which we have +those very strange productions, entitled, Tracts for the Times. While +stating these public facts, my heart feels a pang at the recollection +of the affectionate and mutual friendship between that excellent man +and myself; a friendship, which his principles of orthodoxy could not +allow him to continue in regard to one, whom he now regards as +inevitably doomed to eternal perdition. Such is the venomous +character of orthodoxy. What mischief must it create in a bad heart +and narrow mind, when it can work so effectually for evil, in one of +the most benevolent of bosoms, and one of the ablest of minds, in the +amiable, the intellectual, the refined John Henry Newman!" (Vol. iii. +p. 131.) He adds that I would have nothing to do with him, a +circumstance which I do not recollect, and very much doubt.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I have spoken of my firm confidence in my position; and now let me +state more definitely what the position was which I took up, and the +propositions about which I was so confident. These were three:—</p> + +<p>1. First was the principle of dogma: my battle was with liberalism; +by liberalism I meant the anti-dogmatic principle and its +developments. This was the first point on which I was certain. Here I +make a remark: persistence in a given belief is no sufficient test of +its truth; but departure from it is at least a slur upon the man who +has felt so certain about it. In proportion then as I had in 1832 a +strong persuasion in beliefs which I have since given up, so far a +sort of guilt attaches to me, not only for that vain confidence, but +for my multiform conduct in consequence of it. But here I have the +satisfaction of feeling that I have nothing to retract, and nothing +to repent of. The main principle of the Movement is as dear to me now +as it ever was. I have changed in many things: in this I have not. +From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of +my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea +of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to +me a dream and a mockery. As well can there be filial love without +the fact of a father, as devotion without the fact of a Supreme +Being. What I held in 1816, I held in 1833, and I hold in 1864. +Please God, I shall hold it to the end. Even when I was under Dr. +Whately's influence, I had no temptation to be less zealous for the +great dogmas of the faith, and at various times I used to resist such +trains of thought on his part, as seemed to me (rightly or wrongly) +to obscure them. Such was the fundamental principle of the Movement +of 1833.</p> + +<p>2. Secondly, I was confident in the truth of a certain definite +religious teaching, based upon this foundation of dogma; viz. that +there was a visible church with sacraments and rites which are the +channels of invisible grace. I thought that this was the doctrine of +Scripture, of the early Church, and of the Anglican Church. Here +again, I have not changed in opinion; I am as certain now on this +point as I was in 1833, and have never ceased to be certain. In 1834 +and the following years I put this ecclesiastical doctrine on a +broader basis, after reading Laud, Bramhall, and Stillingfleet and +other Anglican divines on the one hand, and after prosecuting the +study of the Fathers on the other; but the doctrine of 1833 was +strengthened in me, not changed. When I began the Tracts for the +Times I rested the main doctrine, of which I am speaking, upon +Scripture, on St. Ignatius's Epistles, and on the Anglican Prayer +Book. As to the existence of a visible church, I especially argued +out the point from Scripture, in Tract 11, viz. from the Acts of the +Apostles and the Epistles. As to the sacraments and sacramental +rites, I stood on the Prayer Book. I appealed to the Ordination +Service, in which the Bishop says, "Receive the Holy Ghost;" to the +Visitation Service, which teaches confession and absolution; to the +Baptismal Service, in which the Priest speaks of the child after +baptism as regenerate; to the Catechism, in which Sacramental +Communion is receiving "verily the Body and Blood of Christ;" to the +Commination Service, in which we are told to do "works of penance;" +to the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to the calendar and rubricks, +wherein we find the festivals of the apostles, notice of certain +other saints, and days of fasting and abstinence.</p> + +<p>And further, as to the Episcopal system, I founded it upon the +Epistles of St. Ignatius, which inculcated it in various ways. One +passage especially impressed itself upon me: speaking of cases of +disobedience to ecclesiastical authority, he says, "A man does not +deceive that Bishop whom he sees, but he practises rather upon the +Bishop Invisible, and so the question is not with flesh, but with +God, who knows the secret heart." I wished to act on this principle +to the letter, and I may say with confidence that I never consciously +transgressed it. I loved to act in the sight of my bishop, as if I +was, as it were, in the sight of God. It was one of my special +safeguards against myself and of my supports; I could not go very +wrong while I had reason to believe that I was in no respect +displeasing him. It was not a mere formal obedience to rule that I +put before me, but I desired to please him personally, as I +considered him set over me by the Divine Hand. I was strict in +observing my clerical engagements, not only because they <i>were</i> +engagements, but because I considered myself simply as the servant +and instrument of my bishop. I did not care much for the bench of +bishops, except as they might be the voice of my Church: nor should I +have cared much for a Provincial Council; nor for a Diocesan Synod +presided over by my Bishop; all these matters seemed to me to be +<i>jure ecclesiastico</i>, but what to me was <i>jure divino</i> was the voice +of my bishop in his own person. My own bishop was my pope; I knew no +other; the successor of the apostles, the vicar of Christ. This was +but a practical exhibition of the Anglican theory of Church +Government, as I had already drawn it out myself. This continued all +through my course; when at length in 1845 I wrote to Bishop Wiseman, +in whose Vicariate I found myself, to announce my conversion, I could +find nothing better to say to him, than that I would obey the Pope as +I had obeyed my own Bishop in the Anglican Church. My duty to him was +my point of honour; his disapprobation was the one thing which I +could not bear. I believe it to have been a generous and honest +feeling; and in consequence I was rewarded by having all my time for +ecclesiastical superior a man, whom had I had a choice, I should have +preferred, out and out, to any other Bishop on the Bench, and for +whose memory I have a special affection, Dr. Bagot—a man of noble +mind, and as kind-hearted and as considerate as he was noble. He ever +sympathised with me in my trials which followed; it was my own fault, +that I was not brought into more familiar personal relations with him +than it was my happiness to be. May his name be ever blessed!</p> + +<p>And now in concluding my remarks on the second point on which my +confidence rested, I observe that here again I have no retractation +to announce as to its main outline. While I am now as clear in my +acceptance of the principle of dogma, as I was in 1833 and 1816, +so again I am now as firm in my belief of a visible church, of +the authority of bishops, of the grace of the sacraments, of the +religious worth of works of penance, as I was in 1833. I have added +Articles to my creed; but the old ones, which I then held with a +divine faith, remain.</p> + +<p>3. But now, as to the third point on which I stood in 1833, and which +I have utterly renounced and trampled upon since—my then view of the +Church of Rome;—I will speak about it as exactly as I can. When I +was young, as I have said already, and after I was grown up, I +thought the Pope to be Antichrist. At Christmas 1824-5 I preached a +sermon to that effect. In 1827 I accepted eagerly the stanza in the +Christian Year, which many people thought too charitable, "Speak +<i>gently</i> of thy sister's fall." From the time that I knew Froude I +got less and less bitter on the subject. I spoke (successively, but I +cannot tell in what order or at what dates) of the Roman Church as +being bound up with "the <i>cause</i> of Antichrist," as being <i>one</i> of +the "<i>many</i> antichrists" foretold by St. John, as being influenced by +"the <i>spirit</i> of Antichrist," and as having something "very +Antichristian" or "unchristian" about her. From my boyhood and in +1824 I considered, after Protestant authorities, that St. Gregory I. +about A.D. 600 was the first Pope that was Antichrist, and again that +he was also a great and holy man; in 1832-3 I thought the Church of +Rome was bound up with the cause of Antichrist by the Council of +Trent. When it was that in my deliberate judgment I gave up the +notion altogether in any shape, that some special reproach was +attached to her name, I cannot tell; but I had a shrinking from +renouncing it, even when my reason so ordered me, from a sort of +conscience or prejudice, I think up to 1843. Moreover, at least +during the Tract Movement, I thought the essence of her offence to +consist in the honours which she paid to the Blessed Virgin and the +saints; and the more I grew in devotion, both to the saints and to +Our Lady, the more impatient was I at the Roman practices, as if +those glorified creations of God must be gravely shocked, if pain +could be theirs, at the undue veneration of which they were the +objects.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, Hurrell Froude in his familiar conversations was +always tending to rub the idea out of my mind. In a passage of one of +his letters from abroad, alluding, I suppose, to what I used to say +in opposition to him, he observes: "I think people are injudicious +who talk against the Roman Catholics for worshipping Saints, and +honouring the Virgin and images, etc. These things may perhaps be +idolatrous; I cannot make up my mind about it; but to my mind it +is the Carnival that is real practical idolatry, as it is written, +'the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.'" The +carnival, I observe in passing, is, in fact, one of those very +excesses, to which, for at least three centuries, religious Catholics +have ever opposed themselves, as we see in the life of St. Philip, to +say nothing of the present day; but this he did not know. Moreover, +from Froude I learned to admire the great medieval Pontiffs; and, of +course, when I had come to consider the Council of Trent to be the +turning-point of the history of Christian Rome, I found myself as +free, as I was rejoiced, to speak in their praise. Then, when I was +abroad, the sight of so many great places, venerable shrines, and +noble churches, much impressed my imagination. And my heart was +touched also. Making an expedition on foot across some wild country +in Sicily, at six in the morning I came upon a small church; I heard +voices, and I looked in. It was crowded, and the congregation was +singing. Of course it was the Mass, though I did not know it at the +time. And, in my weary days at Palermo, I was not ungrateful for the +comfort which I had received in frequenting the Churches, nor did I +ever forget it. Then, again, her zealous maintenance of the doctrine +and the rule of celibacy, which I recognised as apostolic, and her +faithful agreement with Antiquity in so many points besides, which +were dear to me, was an argument as well as a plea in favour of the +great Church of Rome. Thus I learned to have tender feelings towards +her; but still my reason was not affected at all. My judgment was +against her, when viewed as an institution, as truly as it ever had +been.</p> + +<p>This conflict between reason and affection I expressed in one of the +early Tracts, published July, 1834. "Considering the high gifts and +the strong claims of the Church of Rome and its dependencies on our +admiration, reverence, love, and gratitude; how could we withstand +it, as we do, how could we refrain from being melted into tenderness, +and rushing into communion with it, but for the words of Truth +itself, which bid us prefer It to the whole world? 'He that loveth +father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me.' How could 'we +learn to be severe, and execute judgment,' but for the warning of +Moses against even a divinely-gifted teacher, who should preach new +gods; and the anathema of St. Paul even against Angels and Apostles, +who should bring in a new doctrine?"—<i>Records</i>, No. 24. My feeling +was something like that of a man, who is obliged in a court of +justice to bear witness against a friend; or like my own now, when I +have said, and shall say, so many things on which I had rather be +silent.</p> + +<p>As a matter, then, of simple conscience, though it went against my +feelings, I felt it to be a duty to protest against the Church of +Rome. But besides this, it was a duty, because the prescription of +such a protest was a living principle of my own church, as expressed +in not simply a <i>catena</i>, but a <i>consensus</i> of her divines, and the +voice of her people. Moreover, such a protest was necessary as an +integral portion of her controversial basis; for I adopted the +argument of Bernard Gilpin, that Protestants "were <i>not able</i> to give +any <i>firm and solid</i> reason of the separation besides this, to wit, +that the Pope is Antichrist." But while I thus thought such a protest +to be based upon truth, and to be a religious duty, and a rule of +Anglicanism, and a necessity of the case, I did not at all like the +work. Hurrell Froude attacked me for doing it; and, besides, I felt +that my language had a vulgar and rhetorical look about it. I +believed, and really measured, my words, when I used them; but I knew +that I had a temptation, on the other hand, to say against Rome as +much as ever I could, in order to protect myself against the charge +of Popery.</p> + +<p>And now I come to the very point, for which I have introduced the +subject of my feelings about Rome. I felt such confidence in the +substantial justice of the charges which I advanced against her, that +I considered them to be a safeguard and an assurance that no harm +could ever arise from the freest exposition of what I used to call +Anglican principles. All the world was astounded at what Froude and I +were saying: men said that it was sheer Popery. I answered, "True, we +seem to be making straight for it; but go on awhile, and you will +come to a deep chasm across the path, which makes real approximation +impossible." And I urged in addition, that many Anglican divines had +been accused of Popery, yet had died in their Anglicanism;—now, the +ecclesiastical principles which I professed, they had professed also; +and the judgment against Rome which they had formed, I had formed +also. Whatever faults then the Anglican system might have, and +however boldly I might point them out, anyhow that system was not +vulnerable on the side of Rome, and might be mended in spite of her. +In that very agreement of the two forms of faith, close as it might +seem, would really be found, on examination, the elements and +principles of an essential discordance.</p> + +<p>It was with this supreme persuasion on my mind that I fancied that +there could be no rashness in giving to the world in fullest measure +the teaching and the writings of the Fathers. I thought that the +Church of England was substantially founded upon them. I did not know +all that the Fathers had said, but I felt that, even when their +tenets happened to differ from the Anglican, no harm could come of +reporting them. I said out what I was clear they had said; I spoke +vaguely and imperfectly, of what I thought they said, or what some +of them had said. Anyhow, no harm could come of bending the crooked +stick the other way, in the process of straightening it; it was +impossible to break it. If there was anything in the Fathers of a +startling character, it would be only for a time; it would admit of +explanation; it could not lead to Rome. I express this view of the +matter in a passage of the preface to the first volume, which I +edited, of the Library of the Fathers. Speaking of the strangeness at +first sight, presented to the Anglican mind, of some of their +principles and opinions, I bid the reader go forward hopefully, and +not indulge his criticism till he knows more about them, than he will +learn at the outset. "Since the evil," I say, "is in the nature of +the case itself, we can do no more than have patience, and recommend +patience to others, and, with the racer in the Tragedy, look forward +steadily and hopefully to the <i>event</i>, <span class="greek" +title="tô telei pistin pherôn">τῷ τέλει +πίστιν φέρων</span>, +when, as we trust, all that is inharmonious and anomalous in the +details, will at length be practically smoothed."</p> + +<p>Such was the position, such the defences, such the tactics, by which +I thought that it was both incumbent on us, and possible to us, to +meet that onset of liberal principles, of which we were all in +immediate anticipation, whether in the Church or in the University. +And during the first year of the Tracts, the attack upon the +University began. In November 1834 was sent to me by the author the +second edition of a pamphlet entitled, "Observations on Religious +Dissent, with particular reference to the use of religious tests in +the University." In this pamphlet it was maintained, that "Religion +is distinct from Theological Opinion" (pp. 1, 28, 30, etc.); that it +is but a common prejudice to identify theological propositions +methodically deduced and stated, with the simple religion of Christ +(p. 1); that under Theological Opinion were to be placed the +Trinitarian doctrine (p. 27), and the Unitarian (p. 19); that a dogma +was a theological opinion insisted on (pp. 20, 21); that speculation +always left an opening for improvement (p. 22); that the Church of +England was not dogmatic in its spirit, though the wording of its +formularies may often carry the sound of dogmatism (p. 23).</p> + +<p>I acknowledged the receipt of this work in the following letter:—</p> + +<p>"The kindness which has led to your presenting me with your late +pamphlet, encourages me to hope that you will forgive me, if I take +the opportunity it affords of expressing to you my very sincere and +deep regret that it has been published. Such an opportunity I could +not let slip without being unfaithful to my own serious thoughts on +the subject.</p> + +<p>"While I respect the tone of piety which the pamphlet displays, I +dare not trust myself to put on paper my feelings about the +principles contained in it; tending, as they do, in my opinion, +altogether to make shipwreck of Christian faith. I also lament, that, +by its appearance, the first step has been taken towards interrupting +that peace and mutual good understanding which has prevailed so long +in this place, and which, if once seriously disturbed, will be +succeeded by dissensions the more intractable, because justified in +the minds of those who resist innovation by a feeling of imperative +duty."</p> + +<p>Since that time Phaeton has got into the chariot of the sun; we, +alas! can only look on, and watch him down the steep of heaven. +Meanwhile, the lands, which he is passing over, suffer from his +driving.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Such was the commencement of the assault of liberalism upon the old +orthodoxy of Oxford and England; and it could not have been broken, +as it was, for so long a time, had not a great change taken place in +the circumstances of that counter-movement which had already started +with the view of resisting it. For myself, I was not the person to +take the lead of a party; I never was, from first to last, more than +a leading author of a school; nor did I ever wish to be anything +else. This is my own account of the matter, and I say it, neither as +intending to disown the responsibility of what was done, nor as if +ungrateful to those who at that time made more of me than I deserved, +and did more for my sake and at my bidding than I realised myself. +I am giving my history from my own point of sight, and it is as +follows:—I had lived for ten years among my personal friends; the +greater part of the time, I had been influenced, not influencing; and +at no time have I acted on others, without their acting upon me. As +is the custom of a university, I had lived with my private, nay, with +some of my public, pupils, and with the junior fellows of my college, +without form or distance, on a footing of equality. Thus it was +through friends, younger, for the most part, than myself, that my +principles were spreading. They heard what I said in conversation, +and told it to others. Undergraduates in due time took their degree, +and became private tutors themselves. In this new <i>status</i>, in turn, +they preached the opinions which they had already learned themselves. +Others went down to the country, and became curates of parishes. +Then they had down from London parcels of the Tracts, and other +publications. They placed them in the shops of local booksellers, +got them into newspapers, introduced them to clerical meetings, and +converted more or less their rectors and their brother curates. Thus +the Movement, viewed with relation to myself, was but a floating +opinion; it was not a power. It never would have been a power, if it +had remained in my hands. Years after, a friend, writing to me in +remonstrance at the excesses, as he thought them, of my disciples, +applied to me my own verse about St. Gregory Nazianzen, "Thou couldst +a people raise, but couldst not rule." At the time that he wrote to +me, I had special impediments in the way of such an exercise of +power; but at no time could I exercise over others that authority, +which under the circumstances was imperatively required. My great +principle ever was, live and let live. I never had the staidness or +dignity necessary for a leader. To the last I never recognised the +hold I had over young men. Of late years I have read and heard that +they even imitated me in various ways. I was quite unconscious of it, +and I think my immediate friends knew too well how disgusted I should +be at the news, to have the heart to tell me. I felt great impatience +at our being called a party, and would not allow that we were. I had +a lounging, free-and-easy way of carrying things on. I exercised no +sufficient censorship upon the Tracts. I did not confine them to the +writings of such persons as agreed in all things with myself; and, as +to my own Tracts, I printed on them a notice to the effect, that any +one who pleased, might make what use he would of them, and reprint +them with alterations if he chose, under the conviction that their +main scope could not be damaged by such a process. It was the same +afterwards, as regards other publications. For two years I furnished +a certain number of sheets for the <i>British Critic</i> from myself and +my friends, while a gentleman was editor, a man of splendid talent, +who, however, was scarcely an acquaintance of mine, and had no +sympathy with the Tracts. When I was Editor myself, from 1838 to +1841, in my very first number, I suffered to appear a critique +unfavourable to my work on Justification, which had been published a +few months before, from a feeling of propriety, because I had put the +book into the hands of the writer who so handled it. Afterwards I +suffered an article against the Jesuits to appear in it, of which I +did not like the tone. When I had to provide a curate for my new +church at Littlemore, I engaged a friend, by no fault of his, who, +before he entered into his charge, preached a sermon, either in +depreciation of baptismal regeneration, or of Dr. Pusey's view of it. +I showed a similar easiness as to the editors who helped me in the +separate volumes of Fleury's Church History; they were able, learned, +and excellent men, but their after history has shown, how little my +choice of them was influenced by any notion I could have had of any +intimate agreement of opinion between them and myself. I shall have +to make the same remark in its place concerning the Lives of the +English Saints, which subsequently appeared. All this may seem +inconsistent with what I have said of my fierceness. I am not bound +to account for it; but there have been men before me, fierce in act, +yet tolerant and moderate in their reasonings; at least, so I read +history. However, such was the case, and such its effect upon the +Tracts. These at first starting were short, hasty, and some of them +ineffective; and at the end of the year, when collected into a +volume, they had a slovenly appearance.</p> + +<p>It was under these circumstances, that Dr. Pusey joined us. I +had known him well since 1827–8, and had felt for him an +enthusiastic admiration. I used to call him <span class="greek" +title="hô megas">ὡ μέγας</span>. +His great learning, his immense diligence, his scholarlike mind, his +simple devotion to the cause of religion, overcame me; and great +of course was my joy, when in the last days of 1833 he showed a +disposition to make common cause with us. His tract on Fasting +appeared as one of the series with the date of December 21. He was +not, however, I think fully associated in the Movement till 1835 and +1836, when he published his tract on Baptism, and started the Library +of the Fathers. He at once gave to us a position and a name. Without +him we should have had no chance, especially at the early date of +1834, of making any serious resistance to the liberal aggression. +But Dr. Pusey was a Professor and Canon of Christ Church; he had a +vast influence in consequence of his deep religious seriousness, +the munificence of his charities, his Professorship, his family +connections, and his easy relations with university authorities. +He was to the Movement all that Mr. Rose might have been, with that +indispensable addition, which was wanting to Mr. Rose, the intimate +friendship and the familiar daily society of the persons who had +commenced it. And he had that special claim on their attachment, +which lies in the living presence of a faithful and loyal +affectionateness. There was henceforth a man who could be the +head and centre of the zealous people in every part of the country, +who were adopting the new opinions; and not only so, but there was +one who furnished the Movement with a front to the world, and gained +for it a recognition from other parties in the University. In +1829 Mr. Froude, or Mr. R. Wilberforce, or Mr. Newman were but +individuals; and, when they ranged themselves in the contest of that +year on the side of Sir Robert Inglis, men on either side only asked +with surprise how they got there, and attached no significancy to +the fact; but Dr. Pusey was, to use the common expression, a host in +himself; he was able to give a name, a form, and a personality to +what was without him a sort of mob; and when various parties had to +meet together in order to resist the liberal acts of the Government, +we of the Movement took our place by right among them.</p> + +<p>Such was the benefit which he conferred on the Movement externally; +nor was the internal advantage at all inferior to it. He was a man of +large designs; he had a hopeful, sanguine mind; he had no fear of +others; he was haunted by no intellectual perplexities. People are +apt to say that he was once nearer to the Catholic Church than he is +now; I pray God that he may be one day far nearer to the Catholic +Church than he was then; for I believe that, in his reason and +judgment, all the time that I knew him, he never was near to it at +all. When I became a Catholic, I was often asked, "What of Dr. +Pusey?" when I said that I did not see symptoms of his doing as I +had done, I was sometimes thought uncharitable. If confidence in his +position is (as it is), a first essential in the leader of a party, +Dr. Pusey had it. The most remarkable instance of this, was his +statement, in one of his subsequent defences of the Movement, when +too it had advanced a considerable way in the direction of Rome, that +among its hopeful peculiarities was its "stationariness." He made it +in good faith; it was his subjective view of it.</p> + +<p>Dr. Pusey's influence was felt at once. He saw that there ought to be +more sobriety, more gravity, more careful pains, more sense of +responsibility in the Tracts and in the whole Movement. It was +through him that the character of the Tracts was changed. When he +gave to us his Tract on Fasting, he put his initials to it. In 1835 +he published his elaborate treatise on Baptism, which was followed by +other Tracts from different authors, if not of equal learning, yet of +equal power and appositeness. The Catenas of Anglican divines which +occur in the series, though projected, I think, by me, were executed +with a like aim at greater accuracy and method. In 1836 he advertised +his great project for a Translation of the Fathers:—but I must +return to myself. I am not writing the history either of Dr. Pusey or +of the Movement; but it is a pleasure to me to have been able to +introduce here reminiscences of the place which he held in it, which +have so direct a bearing on myself, that they are no digression from +my narrative.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I suspect it was Dr. Pusey's influence and example which set me, and +made me set others, on the larger and more careful works in defence +of the principles of the Movement which followed in a course of +years,—some of them demanding and receiving from their authors, such +elaborate treatment that they did not make their appearance till both +its temper and its fortunes had changed. I set about a work at once; +one in which was brought out with precision the relation in which we +stood to the Church of Rome. We could not move a step in comfort till +this was done. It was of absolute necessity and a plain duty, to +provide as soon as possible a large statement, which would encourage +and re-assure our friends, and repel the attacks of our opponents. A +cry was heard on all sides of us, that the Tracts and the writings of +the Fathers would lead us to become Catholics, before we were aware +of it. This was loudly expressed by members of the Evangelical party, +who in 1836 had joined us in making a protest in Convocation against +a memorable appointment of the Prime Minister. These clergymen even +then avowed their desire, that the next time they were brought up to +Oxford to give a vote, it might be in order to put down the popery of +the Movement. There was another reason still, and quite as important. +Monsignore Wiseman, with the acuteness and zeal which might be +expected from that great prelate, had anticipated what was coming, +had returned to England in 1836, had delivered lectures in London on +the doctrines of Catholicism, and created an impression through the +country, shared in by ourselves, that we had for our opponents +in controversy, not only our brethren, but our hereditary foes. +These were the circumstances, which led to my publication of "The +Prophetical office of the Church viewed relatively to Romanism and +Popular Protestantism."</p> + +<p>This work employed me for three years, from the beginning of 1834 to +the end of 1836. It was composed, after a careful consideration and +comparison of the principal Anglican divines of the seventeenth +century. It was first written in the shape of controversial +correspondence with a learned French Priest; then it was re-cast, and +delivered in Lectures at St. Mary's: lastly, with considerable +retrenchments and additions, it was re-written for publication.</p> + +<p>It attempts to trace out the rudimental lines on which Christian +faith and teaching proceed, and to use them as means of determining +the relation of the Roman and Anglican systems to each other. In this +way it shows that to confuse the two together is impossible, and that +the Anglican can be as little said to tend to the Roman, as the Roman +to the Anglican. The spirit of the volume is not so gentle to the +Church of Rome, as Tract 71 published the year before; on the +contrary, it is very fierce; and this I attribute to the circumstance +that the volume is theological and didactic, whereas the Tract, being +controversial, assumes as little and grants as much as possible on +the points in dispute, and insists on points of agreement as well as +of difference. A further and more direct reason is, that in my volume +I deal with "Romanism" (as I call it), not so much in its formal +decrees and in the substance of its creed, as in its traditional +action and its authorised teaching as represented by its prominent +writers;—whereas the Tract is written as if discussing the +differences of the Churches with a view to a reconciliation between +them. There is a further reason too, which I will state presently.</p> + +<p>But this volume had a larger scope than that of opposing the Roman +system. It was an attempt at commencing a system of theology on the +Anglican idea, and based upon Anglican authorities. Mr. Palmer, about +the same time, was projecting a work of a similar nature in his own +way. It was published, I think, under the title, "A Treatise on the +Christian Church." As was to be expected from the author, it was a +most learned, most careful composition; and in its form, I should +say, polemical. So happily at least did he follow the logical method +of the Roman Schools, that Father Perrone in his treatise on dogmatic +theology, recognised in him a combatant of the true cast, and saluted +him as a foe worthy of being vanquished. Other soldiers in that field +he seems to have thought little better than the <i>lanzknechts</i> of the +middle ages, and, I dare say, with very good reason. When I knew that +excellent and kind-hearted man at Rome at a later time, he allowed me +to put him to ample penance for those light thoughts of me, which he +had once had, by encroaching on his valuable time with my theological +questions. As to Mr. Palmer's book, it was one which no Anglican +could write but himself,—in no sense, if I recollect aright, a +tentative work. The ground of controversy was cut into squares, and +then every objection had its answer. This is the proper method to +adopt in teaching authoritatively young men; and the work in fact was +intended for students in theology. My own book, on the other hand, +was of a directly tentative and empirical character. I wished to +build up an Anglican theology out of the stores which already lay cut +and hewn upon the ground, the past toil of great divines. To do this +could not be the work of one man; much less, could it be at once +received into Anglican theology, however well it was done. I fully +trusted that my statements of doctrine would turn out true and +important; yet I wrote, to use the common phrase, "under correction."</p> + +<p>There was another motive for my publishing, of a personal nature, +which I think I should mention. I felt then, and all along felt, that +there was an intellectual cowardice in not having a basis in reason +for my belief, and a moral cowardice in not avowing that basis. I +should have felt myself less than a man, if I did not bring it out, +whatever it was. This is one principal reason why I wrote and +published the "Prophetical Office." It was on the same feeling, that +in the spring of 1836, at a meeting of residents on the subject of +the struggle then proceeding some one wanted us all merely to act on +college and conservative grounds (as I understood him), with as few +published statements as possible: I answered, that the person whom we +were resisting had committed himself in writing, and that we ought +to commit ourselves too. This again was a main reason for the +publication of Tract 90. Alas! it was my portion for whole years to +remain without any satisfactory basis for my religious profession, in +a state of moral sickness, neither able to acquiesce in Anglicanism, +nor able to go to Rome. But I bore it, till in course of time my way +was made clear to me. If here it be objected to me, that as time went +on, I often in my writings hinted at things which I did not fully +bring out, I submit for consideration whether this occurred except +when I was in great difficulties, how to speak, or how to be silent, +with due regard for the position of mind or the feelings of others. +However, I may have an opportunity to say more on this subject. But +to return to the "Prophetical Office."</p> + +<p>I thus speak in the Introduction to my volume:—</p> + +<p>"It is proposed," I say, "to offer helps towards the formation of a +recognised Anglican theology in one of its departments. The present +state of our divinity is as follows: the most vigorous, the clearest, +the most fertile minds, have through God's mercy been employed in the +service of our Church: minds too as reverential and holy, and as +fully imbued with Ancient Truth, and as well versed in the writings +of the Fathers, as they were intellectually gifted. This is God's +great mercy indeed, for which we must ever be thankful. Primitive +doctrine has been explored for us in every direction, and the +original principles of the Gospel and the Church patiently brought to +light. But one thing is still wanting: our champions and teachers +have lived in stormy times: political and other influences have acted +upon them variously in their day, and have since obstructed a careful +consolidation of their judgments. We have a vast inheritance, but no +inventory of our treasures. All is given us in profusion; it remains +for us to catalogue, sort, distribute, select, harmonise, and +complete. We have more than we know how to use; stores of learning, +but little that is precise and serviceable; Catholic truth and +individual opinion, first principles and the guesses of genius, all +mingled in the same works, and requiring to be discriminated. We meet +with truths overstated or misdirected, matters of detail variously +taken, facts incompletely proved or applied, and rules inconsistently +urged or discordantly interpreted. Such indeed is the state of every +deep philosophy in its first stages, and therefore of theological +knowledge. What we need at present for our Church's well-being, is +not invention, nor originality, nor sagacity, nor even learning in +our divines, at least in the first place, though all gifts of God are +in a measure needed, and never can be unseasonable when used +religiously, but we need peculiarly a sound judgment, patient +thought, discrimination, a comprehensive mind, an abstinence from all +private fancies and caprices and personal tastes,—in a word, Divine +Wisdom."</p> + +<p>The subject of the volume is the doctrine of the <i>Via Media</i>, a name +which had already been applied to the Anglican system by writers of +name. It is an expressive title, but not altogether satisfactory, +because it is at first sight negative. This had been the reason of my +dislike to the word "Protestant;" in the idea which it conveyed, it +was not the profession of any religion at all, and was compatible +with infidelity. A <i>Via Media</i> was but a receding from extremes, +therefore I had to draw it out into a shape, and a character; before +it had claims on our respect, it must first be shown to be one, +intelligible, and consistent. This was the first condition of any +reasonable treatise on the <i>Via Media</i>. The second condition, and +necessary too, was not in my power. I could only hope that it would +one day be fulfilled. Even if the <i>Via Media</i> were ever so positive a +religious system, it was not as yet objective and real; it had no +original anywhere of which it was the representative. It was at +present a paper religion. This I confess in my Introduction; I say, +"Protestantism and Popery are real religions ... but the <i>Via Media</i>, +viewed as an integral system, has scarcely had existence except on +paper." I grant the objection and proceed to lessen it. There I +say, "It still remains to be tried, whether what is called +Anglo-Catholicism, the religion of Andrewes, Laud, Hammond, Butler, +and Wilson, is capable of being professed, acted on, and maintained +on a large sphere of action, or whether it be a mere modification or +transition-state of either Romanism or popular Protestantism." I +trusted that some day it would prove to be a substantive religion.</p> + +<p>Lest I should be misunderstood, let me observe that this hesitation +about the validity of the theory of the <i>Via Media</i> implied no doubt +of the three fundamental points on which it was based, as I have +described above, dogma, the sacramental system, and opposition to the +Church of Rome.</p> + +<p>Other investigations which followed gave a still more tentative +character to what I wrote or got written. The basis of the <i>Via +Media</i>, consisting of the three elementary points, which I have just +mentioned, was clear enough; but, not only had the house to be built +upon them, but it had also to be furnished, and it is not wonderful +if both I and others erred in detail in determining what that +furniture should be, what was consistent with the style of building, +and what was in itself desirable. I will explain what I mean.</p> + +<p>I had brought out in the "Prophetical Office" in what the Roman and +the Anglican systems differed from each other, but less distinctly in +what they agreed. I had indeed enumerated the Fundamentals, common to +both, in the following passage:—"In both systems the same Creeds are +acknowledged. Besides other points in common we both hold, that +certain doctrines are necessary to be believed for salvation; we both +believe in the doctrines of the Trinity, Incarnation, and Atonement; +in original sin; in the necessity of regeneration; in the +supernatural grace of the Sacraments; in the apostolical succession; +in the obligation of faith and obedience, and in the eternity of +future punishment" (Pp. 55, 56). So much I had said, but I had not +said enough. This enumeration implied a great many more points of +agreement than were found in those very Articles which were +fundamental. If the two Churches were thus the same in fundamentals, +they were also one and the same in such plain consequences as are +contained in those fundamentals or as outwardly represented them. +It was an Anglican principle that "the abuse of a thing doth not +take away the lawful use of it;" and an Anglican Canon in 1603 had +declared that the English Church had no purpose to forsake all that +was held in the Churches of Italy, France, and Spain, and reverenced +those ceremonies and particular points which were apostolic. +Excepting then such exceptional matters, as are implied in this +avowal, whether they were many or few, all these Churches were +evidently to be considered as one with the Anglican. The Catholic +Church in all lands had been one from the first for many centuries; +then, various portions had followed their own way to the injury, but +not to the destruction, whether of truth or of charity. These +portions or branches were mainly three:—the Greek, Latin, and +Anglican. Each of these inherited the early undivided Church <i>in +solido</i> as its own possession. Each branch was identical with that +early undivided Church, and in the unity of that Church it had unity +with the other branches. The three branches agreed together in <i>all +but</i> their later accidental errors. Some branches had retained in +detail portions of apostolical truth and usage, which the others had +not; and these portions might be and should be appropriated again by +the others which had let them slip. Thus, the middle age belonged to +the Anglican Church, and much more did the middle age of England. +The Church of the twelfth century was the Church of the nineteenth. +Dr. Howley sat in the seat of St. Thomas the Martyr; Oxford was +a medieval University. Saving our engagements to Prayer Book and +Articles, we might breathe and live and act and speak, in the +atmosphere and climate of Henry III.'s day, or the Confessor's, or of +Alfred's. And we ought to be indulgent of all that Rome taught now, +as of what Rome taught then, saving our protest. We might boldly +welcome, even what we did not ourselves think right to adopt. And, +when we were obliged on the contrary boldly to denounce, we should do +so with pain, not with exultation. By very reason of our protest, +which we had made, and made <i>ex animo</i>, we could agree to differ. +What the members of the Bible Society did on the basis of Scripture, +we could do on the basis of the Church; Trinitarian and Unitarian +were further apart than Roman and Anglican. Thus we had a real wish +to co-operate with Rome in all lawful things, if she would let us, +and the rules of our own Church let us; and we thought there was no +better way towards the restoration of doctrinal purity and unity. And +we thought that Rome was not committed by her formal decrees to all +that she actually taught; and again, if her disputants had been +unfair to us, or her rulers tyrannical, that on our side too there +had been rancour and slander in our controversy with her, and +violence in our political measures. As to ourselves being instruments +in improving the belief or practice of Rome directly, I used to say, +"Look at home; let us first, or at least let us the while, supply our +own short-comings, before we attempt to be physicians to any one +else." This is very much the spirit of Tract 71, to which I referred +just now. I am well aware that there is a paragraph contrary to it in +the prospectus to the Library of the Fathers; but I never concurred +in it. Indeed, I have no intention whatever of implying that Dr. +Pusey concurred in the ecclesiastical theory, which I have been +drawing out; nor that I took it up myself except by degrees in the +course of ten years. It was necessarily the growth of time. In fact, +hardly any two persons, who took part in the Movement, agreed in +their view of the limit to which our general principles might +religiously be carried.</p> + +<p>And now I have said enough on what I consider to have been the +general objects of the various works which I wrote, edited, or +prompted in the years which I am reviewing; I wanted to bring out in +a substantive form, a living Church of England in a position proper +to herself, and founded on distinct principles; as far as paper could +do it, and as earnestly preaching it and influencing others towards +it, could tend to make it a fact;—a living Church, made of flesh and +blood, with voice, complexion, and motion and action, and a will of +its own. I believe I had no private motive, and no personal aim. Nor +did I ask for more than "a fair stage and no favour," nor expect the +work would be done in my days; but I thought that enough would be +secured to continue it in the future under, perhaps, more hopeful +circumstances and prospects than the present.</p> + +<p>I will mention in illustration some of the principal works, doctrinal +and historical, which originated in the object which I have stated.</p> + +<p>I wrote my essay on Justification in 1837; it was aimed at the +Lutheran dictum that justification by faith only was the cardinal +doctrine of Christianity. I considered that this doctrine was either +a paradox or a truism—a paradox in Luther's mouth, a truism in +Melanchthon. I thought that the Anglican Church followed Melanchthon, +and that in consequence between Rome and Anglicanism, between high +Church and low Church, there was no real intellectual difference on +the point. I wished to fill up a ditch, the work of man. In this +volume again, I express my desire to build up a system of theology +out of the Anglican divines, and imply that my dissertation was a +tentative inquiry. I speak in the Preface of "offering suggestions +towards a work, which must be uppermost in the mind of every true son +of the English Church at this day,—the consolidation of a +theological system, which, built upon those formularies, to which all +clergymen are bound, may tend to inform, persuade, and absorb into +itself religious minds, which hitherto have fancied, that, on the +peculiar Protestant questions, they were seriously opposed to each +other."—P. vii.</p> + +<p>In my University Sermons there is a series of discussions upon the +subject of Faith and Reason; these again were the tentative +commencement of a grave and necessary work; it was an inquiry into +the ultimate basis of religious faith, prior to the distinction into +creeds.</p> + +<p>In like manner in a pamphlet which I published in the summer of 1838 +is an attempt at placing the doctrine of the Real Presence on an +intellectual basis. The fundamental idea is consonant to that to +which I had been so long attached; it is the denial of the existence +of space except as a subjective idea of our minds.</p> + +<p>The Church of the Fathers is one of the earliest productions of the +Movement, and appeared in numbers in the <i>British Magazine</i>, and was +written with the aim of introducing the religious sentiments, views, +and customs of the first ages into the modern Church of England.</p> + +<p>The translation of Fleury's Church History was commenced under these +circumstances:—I was fond of Fleury for a reason which I express in +the advertisement; because it presented a sort of photograph of +ecclesiastical history without any comment upon it. In the event, +that simple representation of the early centuries had a good deal to +do with unsettling me; but how little I could anticipate this, will +be seen in the fact that the publication was a favourite scheme of +Mr. Rose's. He proposed it to me twice, between the years 1834 and +1837; and I mention it as one out of many particulars curiously +illustrating how truly my change of opinion arose, not from foreign +influences, but from the working of my own mind, and the accidents +around me. The date at which the portion actually translated began +was determined by the publisher on reasons with which we were not +concerned.</p> + +<p>Another historical work, but drawn from original sources, was given +to the world by my old friend Mr. Bowden, being a Life of Pope +Gregory VII. I need scarcely recall to those who have read it, the +power and the liveliness of the narrative. This composition was the +author's relaxation on evenings and in his summer vacations, from his +ordinary engagements in London. It had been suggested to him +originally by me, at the instance of Hurrell Froude.</p> + +<p>The series of the Lives of the English Saints was projected at a +later period, under circumstances which I shall have in the sequel to +describe. Those beautiful compositions have nothing in them, as far +as I recollect, simply inconsistent with the general objects which I +have been assigning to my labours in these years, though the +immediate occasion of them and their tone could not in the exercise +of the largest indulgence be said to have an Anglican direction.</p> + +<p>At a comparatively early date I drew up the Tract on the Roman +Breviary. It frightened my own friends on its first appearance, and, +several years afterwards, when younger men began to translate for +publication the four volumes <i>in extenso</i>, they were dissuaded from +doing so by advice to which from a sense of duty they listened. It +was an apparent accident which introduced me to the knowledge of that +most wonderful and most attractive monument of the devotion of +saints. On Hurrell Froude's death, in 1836, I was asked to select one +of his books as a keepsake. I selected Butler's Analogy; finding that +it had been already chosen, I looked with some perplexity along the +shelves as they stood before me, when an intimate friend at my elbow +said, "Take that." It was the Breviary which Hurrell had had with him +at Barbados. Accordingly I took it, studied it, wrote my Tract from +it, and have it on my table in constant use till this day.</p> + +<p>That dear and familiar companion, who thus put the Breviary into my +hands, is still in the Anglican Church. So too is that early +venerated long-loved friend, together with whom I edited a work +which, more perhaps than any other, caused disturbance and annoyance +in the Anglican world, Froude's Remains; yet, however judgment might +run as to the prudence of publishing it, I never heard any one impute +to Mr. Keble the very shadow of dishonesty or treachery towards his +Church in so acting.</p> + +<p>The annotated translation of the treatise of St. Athanasius was of +course in no sense a tentative work; it belongs to another order of +thought. This historico-dogmatic work employed me for years. I had +made preparations for following it up with a doctrinal history of the +heresies which succeeded to the Arian.</p> + +<p>I should make mention also of the <i>British Critic</i>. I was editor of +it for three years, from July 1838 to July 1841. My writers belonged +to various schools, some to none at all. The subjects are +various,—classical, academical, political, critical, and artistic, +as well as theological, and upon the Movement none are to be found +which do not keep quite clear of advocating the cause of Rome.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">So I went on for years, up to 1841. It was, in a human point of view, +the happiest time of my life. I was truly at home. I had in one of my +volumes appropriated to myself the words of Bramhall, "Bees, by the +instinct of nature, do love their hives, and birds their nests." I +did not suppose that such sunshine would last, though I knew not what +would be its termination. It was the time of plenty, and, during its +seven years, I tried to lay up as much as I could for the dearth +which was to follow it. We prospered and spread. I have spoken of the +doings of these years, since I was a Catholic, in a passage, part of +which I will quote, though there is a sentence in it that requires +some limitation:</p> + +<p>"From beginnings so small," I said, "from elements of thought so +fortuitous, with prospects so unpromising, the Anglo-Catholic party +suddenly became a power in the National Church, and an object of +alarm to her rulers and friends. Its originators would have found it +difficult to say what they aimed at of a practical kind: rather, they +put forth views and principles, for their own sake, because they were +true, as if they were obliged to say them; and, as they might be +themselves surprised at their earnestness in uttering them, they had +as great cause to be surprised at the success which attended their +propagation. And, in fact, they could only say that those doctrines +were in the air; that to assert was to prove, and that to explain was +to persuade; and that the Movement in which they were taking part was +the birth of a crisis rather than of a place. In a very few years a +school of opinion was formed, fixed in its principles, indefinite and +progressive in their range; and it extended itself into every part of +the country. If we inquire what the world thought of it, we have +still more to raise our wonder; for, not to mention the excitement it +caused in England, the Movement and its party-names were known to the +police of Italy and to the back-woodmen of America. And so it +proceeded, getting stronger and stronger every year, till it came +into collision with the Nation, and that Church of the Nation, which +it began by professing especially to serve."</p> + +<p>The greater its success, the nearer was that collision at hand. The +first threatenings of the crisis were heard in 1838. At that time, my +bishop in a charge made some light animadversions, but they <i>were</i> +animadversions, on the Tracts for the Times. At once I offered to +stop them. What took place on the occasion I prefer to state in the +words, in which I related it in a pamphlet addressed to him in a +later year, when the blow actually came down upon me.</p> + +<p>"In your Lordship's Charge for 1838," I said, "an allusion was made +to the Tracts for the Times. Some opponents of the Tracts said that +you treated them with undue indulgence ... I wrote to the Archdeacon +on the subject, submitting the Tracts entirely to your Lordship's +disposal. What I thought about your Charge will appear from the words +I then used to him. I said, 'A Bishop's lightest word <i>ex cathedra</i> +is heavy. His judgment on a book cannot be light. It is a rare +occurrence.' And I offered to withdraw any of the Tracts over which I +had control, if I were informed which were those to which your +Lordship had objections. I afterwards wrote to your Lordship to this +effect, that 'I trusted I might say sincerely, that I should feel a +more lively pleasure in knowing that I was submitting myself to your +Lordship's expressed judgment in a matter of that kind, than I could +have even in the widest circulation of the volumes in question.' Your +Lordship did not think it necessary to proceed to such a measure, but +I felt, and always have felt, that, if ever you determined on it, I +was bound to obey."</p> + +<p>That day at length came, and I conclude this portion of my narrative, +with relating the circumstances of it.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">From the time that I had entered upon the duties of public tutor at +my College, when my doctrinal views were very different from what +they were in 1841, I had meditated a comment upon the Articles. Then, +when the Movement was in its swing, friends had said to me, "What +will you make of the Articles?" but I did not share the apprehension +which their question implied. Whether, as time went on, I should have +been forced, by the necessities of the original theory of the +Movement, to put on paper the speculations which I had about them, I +am not able to conjecture. The actual cause of my doing so, in the +beginning of 1841, was the restlessness, actual and prospective, of +those who neither liked the <i>Via Media</i>, nor my strong judgment +against Rome. I had been enjoined, I think by my Bishop, to keep +these men straight, and wished so to do: but their tangible +difficulty was subscription to the Articles; and thus the question of +the articles came before me. It was thrown in our teeth; "How can you +manage to sign the Articles? they are directly against Rome." +"Against Rome?" I made answer, "What do you mean by 'Rome'?" and then +proceeded to make distinctions, of which I shall now give an account.</p> + +<p>By "Roman doctrine" might be meant one of three things: 1, the +<i>Catholic teaching</i> of the early centuries; or 2, the <i>formal dogmas +of Rome</i> as contained in the later Councils, especially the Council +of Trent, and as condensed in the Creed of Pope Pius IV.; 3, the +<i>actual popular beliefs and usages</i> sanctioned by Rome in the +countries in communion with it, over and above the dogmas; and these +I called "dominant errors." Now Protestants commonly thought that in +all three senses, "Roman doctrine" was condemned in the Articles: I +thought that the <i>Catholic teaching</i> was not condemned; that the +<i>dominant errors</i> were; and as to the <i>formal dogmas</i>, that some +were, some were not, and that the line had to be drawn between them. +Thus, 1, the use of prayers for the dead was a Catholic doctrine—not +condemned; 2, the prison of purgatory was a Roman dogma—which was +condemned; but the infallibility of ecumenical councils was a Roman +dogma—not condemned; and 3, the fire of Purgatory was an authorised +and popular error, not a dogma—which was condemned.</p> + +<p>Further, I considered that the difficulties, felt by the persons whom +I have mentioned, mainly lay in their mistaking, 1, Catholic +teaching, which was not condemned in the Articles, for Roman dogma +which was condemned; and 2, Roman dogma, which was not condemned in +the Articles, for dominant error which was. If they went further than +this, I had nothing more to say to them.</p> + +<p>A further motive which I had for my attempt, was the desire to +ascertain the ultimate points of contrariety between the Roman and +Anglican creeds, and to make them as few as possible. I thought that +each creed was obscured and misrepresented by a dominant +circumambient "Popery" and "Protestantism."</p> + +<p>The main thesis then of my essay was this:—the Articles do not +oppose Catholic teaching; they but partially oppose Roman dogma; they +for the most part oppose the dominant errors of Rome. And the problem +was to draw the line as to what they allowed and what they condemned.</p> + +<p>Such being the object which I had in view, what were my prospects of +widening and defining their meaning? The prospect was encouraging; +there was no doubt at all of the elasticity of the Articles: to take +a palmary instance, the seventeenth was assumed by one party to be +Lutheran, by another Calvinistic, though the two interpretations were +contradictory to each other; why then should not other Articles be +drawn up with a vagueness of an equally intense character? I wanted +to ascertain what was the limit of that elasticity in the direction +of Roman dogma. But next, I had a way of inquiry of my own, which I +state without defending. I instanced it afterwards in my Essay on +Doctrinal Development. That work, I believe, I have not read since I +published it, and I doubt not at all that I have made many mistakes +in it;—partly, from my ignorance of the details of doctrine, as the +Church of Rome holds them, but partly from my impatience to clear as +large a range for the <i>principle</i> of doctrinal development (waiving +the question of historical <i>fact</i>) as was consistent with the strict +apostolicity and identity of the Catholic Creed. In like manner, as +regards the 39 Articles, my method of inquiry was to leap <i>in medias +res</i>. I wished to institute an inquiry how far, in critical fairness, +the text <i>could</i> be opened; I was aiming far more at ascertaining +what a man who subscribed it might hold than what he must, so that my +conclusions were negative rather than positive. It was but a first +essay. And I made it with the full recognition and consciousness, +which I had already expressed in my Prophetical Office, as regards +the <i>Via Media</i>, that I was making only "a first approximation to a +required solution;"—"a series of illustrations supplying hints in +the removal" of a difficulty, and with full acknowledgment "that in +minor points, whether in question of fact or of judgment, there was +room for difference or error of opinion," and that I "should not be +ashamed to own a mistake, if it were proved against me, nor reluctant +to bear the just blame of it."—P. 31.</p> + +<p>In addition, I was embarrassed in consequence of my wish to go as far +as was possible, in interpreting the Articles in the direction of +Roman dogma, without disclosing what I was doing to the parties whose +doubts I was meeting, who might be thereby encouraged to go still +further than at present they found in themselves any call to do.</p> + +<p>1. But in the way of such an attempt comes the prompt objection that +the Articles were actually drawn up against "Popery," and therefore +it was transcendently absurd and dishonest to suppose that Popery, in +any shape—patristic belief, Tridentine dogma, or popular corruption +authoritatively sanctioned—would be able to take refuge under their +text. This premiss I denied. Not any religious doctrine at all, but a +political principle, was the primary English idea at that time of +"Popery." And what was that political principle, and how could it +best be kept out of England? What was the great question in the days +of Henry and Elizabeth? The <i>Supremacy</i>;—now, was I saying one +single word in favour of the supremacy of the holy see, of the +foreign jurisdiction? No; I did not believe in it myself. Did Henry +VIII. religiously hold justification by faith only? did he disbelieve +Purgatory? Was Elizabeth zealous for the marriage of the Clergy? or +had she a conscience against the Mass? The supremacy of the Pope was +the essence of the "Popery" to which, at the time of the Articles, +the supreme head or governor of the English Church was so violently +hostile.</p> + +<p>2. But again I said this;—let "Popery" mean what it would in the +mouths of the compilers of the Articles, let it even, for argument's +sake, include the doctrines of that Tridentine Council, which was not +yet over when the Articles were drawn up, and against which they +could not be simply directed, yet, consider, what was the religious +object of the Government in their imposition? merely to disown +"Popery"? No; it had the further object of gaining the "Papists." +What then was the best way to induce reluctant or wavering minds, and +these, I supposed, were the majority, to give in their adhesion to +the new symbol? how had the Arians drawn up their creeds? Was it not +on the principle of using vague ambiguous language, which to the +subscribers would seem to bear a Catholic sense, but which, when +worked out in the long run, would prove to be heterodox? Accordingly, +there was great antecedent probability, that, fierce as the Articles +might look at first sight, their bark would prove worse than their +bite. I say antecedent probability, for to what extent that surmise +might be true, could only be ascertained by investigation.</p> + +<p>3. But a consideration came up at once, which threw light on this +surmise:—what if it should turn out that the very men who drew up +the Articles, in the very act of doing so, had avowed, or rather in +one of those very Articles themselves had imposed on subscribers, +a number of those very "Papistical" doctrines, which they were now +thought to deny, as part and parcel of that very Protestantism, which +they were now thought to consider divine? and this was the fact, and +I showed it in my Essay.</p> + +<p>Let the reader observe:—the 35th Article says: "The second Book of +Homilies doth contain <i>a godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary +for</i> these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies." Here the +<i>doctrine</i> of the Homilies is recognised as godly and wholesome, and +subscription to that proposition is imposed on all subscribers of the +Articles. Let us then turn to the Homilies, and see what this godly +doctrine is: I quoted from them to the following effect:</p> + +<p>1. They declare that the so-called "apocryphal" book of Tobit is the +teaching of the Holy Ghost, and is Scripture.</p> + +<p>2. That the so-called "apocryphal" book of Wisdom is Scripture, and +the infallible and undeceivable word of God.</p> + +<p>3. That the Primitive Church, next to the apostles' time, and, as +they imply, for almost 700 years, is no doubt most pure.</p> + +<p>4. That the Primitive Church is specially to be followed.</p> + +<p>5. That the four first general councils belong to the Primitive +Church.</p> + +<p>6. That there are six councils which are allowed and received by all +men.</p> + +<p>7. Again, they speak of a certain truth which they are enforcing, as +declared by God's word, the sentences of the ancient doctors, and +judgment of the Primitive Church.</p> + +<p>8. Of the learned and holy Bishops and doctors of the first eight +centuries being of good authority and credit with the people.</p> + +<p>9. Of the declaration of Christ and His apostles and all the rest of +the Holy Fathers.</p> + +<p>10. Of the authority of both Scripture and also of Augustine.</p> + +<p>11. Of Augustine, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, and about thirty other +Fathers, to some of whom they give the title of "Saint," to others of +ancient Catholic Fathers and doctors.</p> + +<p>12. They declare that, not only the holy apostles and disciples of +Christ, but the godly Fathers also before and since Christ were +endued without doubt with the Holy Ghost.</p> + +<p>13. That the ancient Catholic Fathers say that the "Lord's Supper" is +the salve of immortality, the sovereign preservative against death, +the food of immortality, the healthful grace.</p> + +<p>14. That the Lord's Blessed Body and Blood are received under the +form of bread and wine.</p> + +<p>15. That the meat in the Sacrament is an invisible meat and a ghostly +substance.</p> + +<p>16. That the holy Body and Blood ought to be touched with the mind.</p> + +<p>17. That Ordination is a Sacrament.</p> + +<p>18. That Matrimony is a Sacrament.</p> + +<p>19. That there are other Sacraments besides "Baptism and the Lord's +Supper."</p> + +<p>20. That the souls of the Saints are reigning in joy and in heaven +with God.</p> + +<p>21. That alms-deeds purge the soul from the infection and filthy +spots of sin, and are a precious medicine, an inestimable jewel.</p> + +<p>22. That mercifulness wipes out and washes away infirmity and +weakness as salves and remedies to heal sores and grievous diseases.</p> + +<p>23. That the duty of fasting is a truth more manifest than it should +need to be proved.</p> + +<p>24. That fasting, used with prayer, is of great efficacy and weigheth +much with God; so the angel Raphael told Tobias.</p> + +<p>25. That the puissant and mighty Emperor Theodosius was, in the +Primitive Church which was most holy and godly, excommunicated by St. +Ambrose.</p> + +<p>26. That Constantine, Bishop of Rome, did condemn Philippicus, the +Emperor, not without a cause indeed, but most justly.</p> + +<p>Putting altogether aside the question how far these separate theses +came under the matter to which subscription was to be made, it was +quite plain, that the men who wrote the Homilies, and who thus +incorporated them into the Anglican system of doctrine, could not +have possessed that exact discrimination between the Catholic and +Protestant faith, or have made that clear recognition of formal +Protestant principles and tenets, or have accepted that definition of +"Roman doctrine," which is received at this day:—hence great +probability accrued to my presentiment, that the Articles were +tolerant, not only of what I called "Catholic teaching," but of much +that was "Roman."</p> + +<p>4. And here was another reason against the notion that the Articles +directly attacked the Roman dogmas as declared at Trent and as +promulgated by Pius the Fourth:—the Council of Trent was not over, +nor its decrees promulgated at the date when the Articles were drawn +up, so that those Articles must be aiming at something else. What was +that something else? The Homilies tell us: the Homilies are the best +comment upon the Articles. Let us turn to the Homilies, and we shall +find from first to last that, not only is not the Catholic teaching +of the first centuries, but neither again are the dogmas of Rome, the +objects of the protest of the compilers of the Articles, but the +dominant errors, the popular corruptions, authorised or suffered by +the high name of Rome. As to Catholic teaching, nay as to Roman +dogma, those Homilies, as I have shown, contained no small portion of +it themselves.</p> + +<p>5. So much for the writers of the Articles and Homilies;—they were +witnesses, not authorities, and I used them as such; but in the next +place, who were the actual authorities imposing them? I considered +the <i>imponens</i> to be the Convocation of 1571; but here again, it +would be found that the very Convocation, which received and +confirmed the 39 Articles, also enjoined by Canon that "preachers +should be <i>careful</i>, that they should <i>never</i> teach aught in a +sermon, to be religiously held and believed by the people, except +that which is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament, +and <i>which the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops have collected</i> +from that very doctrine." Here, let it be observed, an appeal is made +by the Convocation <i>imponens</i> to the very same ancient authorities, +as had been mentioned with such profound veneration by the writers of +the Homilies and of the Articles, and thus, if the Homilies contained +views of doctrine which now would be called Roman, there seemed to me +to be an extreme probability that the Convocation of 1571 also +countenanced and received, or at least did not reject, those +doctrines.</p> + +<p>6. And further, when at length I came actually to look into the text +of the Articles, I saw in many cases a patent fulfilment of all that +I had surmised as to their vagueness and indecisiveness, and that, +not only on questions which lay between Lutherans, Calvinists, and +Zuinglians, but on Catholic questions also; and I have noticed them +in my Tract. In the conclusion of my Tract I observe: They are +"evidently framed on the principle of leaving open large questions on +which the controversy hinges. They state broadly extreme truths, and +are silent about their adjustment. For instance, they say that all +necessary faith must be proved from Scripture; but do not say <i>who</i> +is to prove it. They say, that the Church has authority in +controversies; they do not say <i>what</i> authority. They say that it may +enforce nothing beyond Scripture, but do not say <i>where</i> the remedy +lies when it does. They say that works <i>before</i> grace <i>and</i> +justification are worthless and worse, and that works <i>after</i> grace +<i>and</i> justification are acceptable, but they do not speak at all of +works <i>with</i> God's aid <i>before</i> justification. They say that men are +lawfully called and sent to minister and preach, who are chosen and +called by men who have public authority <i>given</i> them in the +Congregation; but they do not add <i>by whom</i> the authority is to be +given. They say that Councils called by <i>princes</i> may err; they do +not determine whether Councils called in the name of Christ may err."</p> + +<p>Such were the considerations which weighed with me in my inquiry how +far the Articles were tolerant of a Catholic, or even a Roman +interpretation; and such was the defence which I made in my Tract for +having attempted it. From what I have already said, it will appear +that I have no need or intention at this day to maintain every +particular interpretation which I suggested in the course of my +Tract, nor indeed had I then. Whether it was prudent or not, whether +it was sensible or not, anyhow I attempted only a first essay of a +necessary work, an essay which, as I was quite prepared to find, +would require revision and modification by means of the lights which +I should gain from the criticism of others. I should have gladly +withdrawn any statement, which could be proved to me to be erroneous; +I considered my work to be faulty and objectionable in the same sense +in which I now consider my Anglican interpretations of Scripture to +be erroneous, but in no other sense. I am surprised that men do not +apply to the interpreters of Scripture generally the hard names +which they apply to the author of Tract 90. He held a large system +of theology, and applied it to the Articles: Episcopalians, or +Lutherans, or Presbyterians, or Unitarians, hold a large system +of theology and apply it to Scripture. Every theology has its +difficulties; Protestants hold justification by faith only, though +there is no text in St. Paul which enunciates it, and though +St. James expressly denies it; do we therefore call Protestants +dishonest? they deny that the Church has a divine mission, though St. +Paul says that it is "the Pillar and ground of Truth;" they keep the +Sabbath, though St. Paul says, "Let no man judge you in meat or drink +or in respect of ... the sabbath days." Every creed has texts in its +favour, and again texts which run counter to it: and this is +generally confessed. And this is what I felt keenly:—how had I done +worse in Tract 90 than Anglicans, Wesleyans, and Calvinists did daily +in their Sermons and their publications? How had I done worse, than +the Evangelical party in their <i>ex animo</i> reception of the Services +for Baptism and Visitation of the Sick?<a href="#fn2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Why was I to be dishonest +and they immaculate? There was an occasion on which our Lord gave an +answer, which seemed to be appropriate to my own case, when the +tumult broke out against my Tract:—"He that is without sin among +you, let him first cast a stone at him." I could have fancied that a +sense of their own difficulties of interpretation would have +persuaded the great party I have mentioned to some prudence, or at +least moderation, in opposing a teacher of an opposite school. But I +suppose their alarm and their anger overcame their sense of +justice.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In the universal storm of indignation with which the Tract was +received on its appearance, I recognise much of real religious +feeling, much of honest and true principle, much of straightforward +ignorant common sense. In Oxford there was genuine feeling too; but +there had been a smouldering stern energetic animosity, not at all +unnatural, partly rational, against its author. A false step had been +made; now was the time for action. I am told that, even before the +publication of the Tract, rumours of its contents had got into the +hostile camp in an exaggerated form; and not a moment was lost in +proceeding to action, when I was actually in the hands of the +Philistines. I was quite unprepared for the outbreak, and was +startled at its violence. I do not think I had any fear. Nay, I will +add I am not sure that it was not in one point of view a relief to +me.</p> + +<p>I saw indeed clearly that my place in the Movement was lost; public +confidence was at an end; my occupation was gone. It was simply an +impossibility that I could say anything henceforth to good effect, +when I had been posted up by the marshal on the buttery hatch of +every College of my University, after the manner of discommoned +pastry-cooks, and when in every part of the country and every +class of society, through every organ and occasion of opinion, +in newspapers, in periodicals, at meetings, in pulpits, at +dinner-tables, in coffee-rooms, in railway carriages, I was denounced +as a traitor who had laid his train and was detected in the very act +of firing it against the time-honoured Establishment. There were +indeed men, besides my own friends, men of name and position, who +gallantly took my part, as Dr. Hook, Mr. Palmer, and Mr. Perceval: it +must have been a grievous trial for themselves; yet what after all +could they do for me? Confidence in me was lost;—but I had already +lost full confidence in myself. Thoughts had passed over me a year +and a half before which for the time had profoundly troubled me. They +had gone: I had not less confidence in the power and the prospects of +the apostolical movement than before; not less confidence than before +in the grievousness of what I called the "dominant errors" of Rome: +but how was I any more to have absolute confidence in myself? how was +I to have confidence in my present confidence? how was I to be sure +that I should always think as I thought now? I felt that by this +event a kind Providence had saved me from an impossible position in +the future.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">First, if I remember right, they wished me to withdraw the Tract. +This I refused to do: I would not do so for the sake of those who +were unsettled or in danger of unsettlement. I would not do so +for my own sake; for how could I acquiesce in a mere Protestant +interpretation of the Articles? how could I range myself among the +professors of a theology, of which it put my teeth on edge, even to +hear the sound?</p> + +<p>Next they said, "Keep silence; do not defend the Tract;" I answered, +"Yes, if you will not condemn it—if you will allow it to continue on +sale." They pressed on me whenever I gave way; they fell back when +they saw me obstinate. Their line of action was to get out of me as +much as they could; but upon the point of their tolerating the Tract +I <i>was</i> obstinate. So they let me continue it on sale; and they said +they would not condemn it. But they said that this was on condition +that I did not defend it, that I stopped the series, and that I +myself published my own condemnation in a letter to the Bishop of +Oxford. I impute nothing whatever to him, he was ever most kind to +me. Also, they said they could not answer for what individual Bishops +might perhaps say about the Tract in their own charges. I agreed to +their conditions. My one point was to save the Tract.</p> + +<p>Not a scrap of writing was given me, as a pledge of the performance +on their side of the engagement. Parts of letters from them were read +to me, without being put into my hands. It was an "understanding." A +clever man had warned me against "understandings" some six years +before: I have hated them ever since.</p> + +<p>In the last words of my letter to the Bishop of Oxford I thus +resigned my place in the Movement:—</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to be sorry for," I say to him, "except having made +your Lordship anxious, and others whom I am bound to revere. I have +nothing to be sorry for, but everything to rejoice in and be thankful +for. I have never taken pleasure in seeming to be able to move a +party, and whatever influence I have had, has been found, not sought +after. I have acted because others did not act, and have sacrificed a +quiet which I prized. May God be with me in time to come, as He has +been hitherto! and He will be, if I can but keep my hand clean and my +heart pure. I think I can bear, or at least will try to bear, any +personal humiliation, so that I am preserved from betraying sacred +interests, which the Lord of grace and power has given into my +charge."</p> + +<div class="footnote" id="fn2"> +<h4>Footnote</h4> +<p>[2] For instance, let candid men consider the form of Absolution +contained in that Prayer Book, of which all clergymen, Evangelical +and Liberal as well as high Church, and (I think) all persons in +University office declare that "it containeth <i>nothing contrary to +the Word of God</i>."</p> + +<p>I challenge, in the sight of all England, Evangelical clergymen +generally, to put on paper an interpretation of this form of words, +consistent with their sentiments, which shall be less forced than the +most objectionable of the interpretations which Tract 90 puts upon +any passage in the Articles.</p> + +<p>"Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left <i>power</i> to His Church to +absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him, of His great +mercy forgive thee thine offences; and by <i>His authority committed to +me, I absolve thee from all thy sins</i>, in the Name of the Father, and +of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."</p> + +<p>I subjoin the Roman form, as used in England and elsewhere "Dominus +noster Jesus Christus te absolvat; et ego auctoritate ipsius te +absolvo, ab omni vinculo excommunicationis et interdicti, in quantum +possum et tu indiges. Deinde ego te absolvo à peccatis tuis, in +nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritûs Sancti. Amen."</p> +</div> + +<div id="p5" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Part V</h3> +<h3>History of My Religious Opinions—1839–1841</h3> +</div> + +<p>And now that I am about to trace, as far as I can, the course of that +great revolution of mind, which led me to leave my own home, to which +I was bound by so many strong and tender ties, I feel overcome with +the difficulty of satisfying myself in my account of it, and have +recoiled from doing so, till the near approach of the day, on which +these lines must be given to the world, forces me to set about +the task. For who can know himself, and the multitude of subtle +influences which act upon him? and who can recollect, at the distance +of twenty-five years, all that he once knew about his thoughts and +his deeds, and that, during a portion of his life, when even at the +time his observation, whether of himself or of the external world, +was less than before or after, by very reason of the perplexity and +dismay which weighed upon him,—when, though it would be most +unthankful to seem to imply that he had not all-sufficient light amid +his darkness, yet a darkness it emphatically was? And who can gird +himself suddenly to a new and anxious undertaking, which he might be +able indeed to perform well, had he full and calm leisure to look +through everything that he has written, whether in published works +or private letters? but, on the other hand, as to that calm +contemplation of the past, in itself so desirable, who can afford to +be leisurely and deliberate, while he practises on himself a cruel +operation, the ripping up of old griefs, and the venturing again upon +the "infandum dolorem" of years, in which the stars of this lower +heaven were one by one going out? I could not in cool blood, nor +except upon the imperious call of duty, attempt what I have set +myself to do. It is both to head and heart an extreme trial, thus to +analyse what has so long gone by, and to bring out the results of +that examination. I have done various bold things in my life: this is +the boldest: and, were I not sure I should after all succeed in my +object, it would be madness to set about it.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1839 my position in the Anglican Church was at its +height. I had supreme confidence in my controversial <i>status</i>, and I +had a great and still growing success, in recommending it to others. +I had in the foregoing autumn been somewhat sore at the bishop's +charge, but I have a letter which shows that all annoyance had passed +from my mind. In January, if I recollect aright, in order to meet the +popular clamour against myself and others, and to satisfy the bishop, +I had collected into one all the strong things which they, and +especially I, had said against the Church of Rome, in order to their +insertion among the advertisements appended to our publications. +Conscious as I was that my opinions in religion were not gained, as +the world said, from Roman sources, but were, on the contrary, the +birth of my own mind and of the circumstances in which I had been +placed, I had a scorn of the imputations which were heaped upon me. +It was true that I held a large bold system of religion, very unlike +the Protestantism of the day, but it was the concentration and +adjustment of the statements of great Anglican authorities, and I had +as much right to do so as the Evangelical party had, and more right +than the Liberal, to hold their own respective doctrines. As I spoke +on occasion of Tract 90, I claimed, in behalf of who would, that he +might hold in the Anglican Church a comprecation with the saints with +Bramhall, and the Mass all but transubstantiation with Andrewes, +or with Hooker that transubstantiation itself is not a point for +Churches to part communion upon, or with Hammond that a general +council, truly such, never did, never shall err in a matter of faith, +or with Bull that man lost inward grace by the fall, or with +Thorndike that penance is a propitiation for post-baptismal sin, or +with Pearson that the all-powerful name of Jesus is no otherwise +given than in the Catholic Church. "Two can play at that," was often +in my mouth, when men of Protestant sentiments appealed to the +Articles, Homilies, or Reformers; in the sense that, if they had a +right to speak loud, I had both the liberty and the means of giving +them tit for tat. I thought that the Anglican Church had been +tyrannised over by a party, and I aimed at bringing into effect the +promise contained in the motto to the Lyra, "They shall know the +difference now." I only asked to be allowed to show them the +difference.</p> + +<p>What will best describe my state of mind at the early part of 1839, +is an article in the <i>British Critic</i> for that April. I have looked +over it now, for the first time since it was published; and have been +struck by it for this reason:—it contains the last words which I +ever spoke as an Anglican to Anglicans. It may now be read as my +parting address and valediction, made to my friends. I little knew it +at the time. It reviews the actual state of things, and it ends by +looking towards the future. It is not altogether mine; for my memory +goes to this,—that I had asked a friend to do the work; that then, +the thought came on me, that I would do it myself: and that he was +good enough to put into my hands what he had with great appositeness +written, and I embodied it into my article. Every one, I think, will +recognise the greater part of it as mine. It was published two years +before the affair of Tract 90, and was entitled "The State of +Religious Parties."</p> + +<p>In this article, I begin by bringing together testimonies from our +enemies to the remarkable success of our exertions. One writer said: +"Opinions and views of a theology of a very marked and peculiar kind +have been extensively adopted and strenuously upheld, and are daily +gaining ground among a considerable and influential portion of the +members, as well as ministers of the Established Church." Another: +The Movement has manifested itself "with the most rapid growth of the +hot-bed of these evil days." Another: "The <i>Via Media</i> is crowded +with young enthusiasts, who never presume to argue, except against +the propriety of arguing at all." Another: "Were I to give you a full +list of the works, which they have produced within the short space of +five years, I should surprise you. You would see what a task it would +be to make yourself complete master of their system, even in its +present probably immature state. The writers have adopted the motto, +'In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.' With regard +to confidence, they have justified their adopting it; but as to +quietness, it is not very quiet to pour forth such a succession of +controversial publications." Another: "The spread of these doctrines +is in fact now having the effect of rendering all other distinctions +obsolete, and of severing the religious community into two portions, +fundamentally and vehemently opposed one to the other. Soon there +will be no middle ground left; and every man, and especially every +clergyman, will be compelled to make his choice between the two." +Another: "The time has gone by, when those unfortunate and deeply +regretted publications can be passed over without notice, and the +hope that their influence would fail is now dead." Another: "These +doctrines had already made fearful progress. One of the largest +churches in Brighton is crowded to hear them; so is the church at +Leeds. There are few towns of note, to which they have not extended. +They are preached in small towns in Scotland. They obtain in +Elginshire, 600 miles north of London. I found them myself in the +heart of the highlands of Scotland. They are advocated in the +newspaper and periodical press. They have even insinuated themselves +into the House of Commons." And, lastly, a bishop in a charge:—It +"is daily assuming a more serious and alarming aspect. Under the +specious pretence of deference to Antiquity and respect for primitive +models, the foundations of the Protestant Church are undermined by +men, who dwell within her walls, and those who sit in the Reformers' +seat are traducing the Reformation."</p> + +<p>After thus stating the phenomenon of the time, as it presented itself +to those who did not sympathise in it, the Article proceeds to +account for it; and this it does by considering it as a reaction from +the dry and superficial character of the religious teaching and the +literature of the last generation, or century, and as a result of +the need which was felt both by the hearts and the intellects of +the nation for a deeper philosophy, and as the evidence and as the +partial fulfilment of that need, to which even the chief authors +of the then generation had borne witness. First, I mentioned the +literary influence of Walter Scott, who turned men's minds to the +direction of the middle ages. "The general need," I said, "of +something deeper and more attractive, than what had offered itself +elsewhere, may be considered to have led to his popularity; and by +means of his popularity he reacted on his readers, stimulating their +mental thirst, feeding their hopes, setting before them visions, +which, when once seen, are not easily forgotten, and silently +indoctrinating them with nobler ideas, which might afterwards be +appealed to as first principles."</p> + +<p>Then I spoke of Coleridge, thus: "While history in prose and verse +was thus made the instrument of Church feelings and opinions, a +philosophical basis for the same was laid in England by a very +original thinker, who, while he indulged a liberty of speculation, +which no Christian can tolerate, and advocated conclusions which +were often heathen rather than Christian, yet after all instilled a +higher philosophy into inquiring minds, than they had hitherto been +accustomed to accept. In this way he made trial of his age, and +succeeded in interesting its genius in the cause of Catholic truth."</p> + +<p>Then come Southey and Wordsworth, "two living poets, one of whom in +the department of fantastic fiction, the other in that of +philosophical meditation, have addressed themselves to the same high +principles and feelings, and carried forward their readers in the +same direction."</p> + +<p>Then comes the prediction of this reaction hazarded by "a sagacious +observer withdrawn from the world, and surveying its movements from a +distance," Mr. Alexander Knox. He had said twenty years before the +date of my writing: "No Church on earth has more intrinsic excellence +than the English Church, yet no Church probably has less practical +influence ... The rich provision, made by the grace and providence of +God, for habits of a noble kind, is evidence that men shall arise, +fitted both by nature and ability, to discover for themselves, and +to display to others, whatever yet remains undiscovered, whether in +the words or works of God." Also I referred to "a much venerated +clergyman of the last generation," who said shortly before his death, +"Depend on it, the day will come, when those great doctrines, now +buried, will be brought out to the light of day, and then the effect +will be fearful." I remarked upon this, that they who "now blame the +impetuosity of the current, should rather turn their animadversions +upon those who have dammed up a majestic river, till it had become a +flood."</p> + +<p>These being the circumstances under which the Movement began and +progressed, it was absurd to refer it to the act of two or three +individuals. It was not so much a movement as a "spirit afloat;" it +was within us, "rising up in hearts where it was least suspected, and +working itself, though not in secret, yet so subtly and impalpably, +as hardly to admit of precaution or encounter on any ordinary human +rules of opposition. It is," I continued, "an adversary in the air, a +something one and entire, a whole wherever it is, unapproachable and +incapable of being grasped, as being the result of causes far deeper +than political or other visible agencies, the spiritual awakening of +spiritual wants."</p> + +<p>To make this clear, I proceed to refer to the chief preachers of the +revived doctrines at that moment, and to draw attention to the +variety of their respective antecedents. Dr. Hook and Mr. Churton +represented the high Church dignitaries of the last century; Mr. +Perceval, the tory aristocracy; Mr. Keble came from a country +parsonage; Mr. Palmer from Ireland; Dr. Pusey from the Universities +of Germany, and the study of Arabic MSS.; Mr. Dodsworth from the +study of Prophecy; Mr. Oakeley had gained his views, as he himself +expressed it, "partly by study, partly by reflection, partly by +conversation with one or two friends, inquirers like himself;" while +I speak of myself as being "much indebted to the friendship of +Archbishop Whately." And thus I am led on to ask, "What head of a +sect is there? What march of opinions can be traced from mind to mind +among preachers such as these? They are one and all in their degree +the organs of one Sentiment, which has risen up simultaneously in +many places very mysteriously."</p> + +<p>My train of thought next led me to speak of the disciples of the +Movement, and I freely acknowledged and lamented that they needed to +be kept in order. It is very much to the purpose to draw attention to +this point now, when such extravagances as then occurred, whatever +they were, are simply laid to my door, or to the charge of the +doctrines which I advocated. A man cannot do more than freely confess +what is wrong, say that it need not be, that it ought not to be, and +that he is very sorry that it should be. Now I said in the Article, +which I am reviewing, that the great truths themselves, which we were +preaching, must not be condemned on account of such abuse of them. +"Aberrations there must ever be, whatever the doctrine is, while the +human heart is sensitive, capricious, and wayward. A mixed multitude +went out of Egypt with the Israelites." "There will ever be a number +of persons," I continued, "professing the opinions of a movement +party, who talk loudly and strangely, do odd or fierce things, +display themselves unnecessarily, and disgust other people; persons, +too young to be wise, too generous to be cautious, too warm to be +sober, or too intellectual to be humble. Such persons will be very +apt to attach themselves to particular persons, to use particular +names, to say things merely because others do, and to act in a +party-spirited way."</p> + +<p>While I thus republish what I then said about such extravagances as +occurred in these years, at the same time I have a very strong +conviction that they furnished quite as much the welcome excuse for +those who were jealous or shy of us, as the stumbling-blocks of +those who were well inclined to our doctrines. This too we felt at +the time; but it was our duty to see that our good should not be +evil-spoken of; and accordingly, two or three of the writers of the +Tracts for the Times had commenced a Series of what they called +"Plain Sermons" with the avowed purpose of discouraging and +correcting whatever was uppish or extreme in our followers: to this +series I contributed a volume myself.</p> + +<p>Its conductors say in their Preface: "If therefore as time goes on, +there shall be found persons, who admiring the innate beauty and +majesty of the fuller system of Primitive Christianity, and seeing +the transcendent strength of its principles, <i>shall become loud and +voluble advocates</i> in their behalf, speaking the more freely, +<i>because they do not feel them deeply as founded</i> in divine and +eternal truth, of such persons <i>it is our duty to declare plainly</i>, +that, as we should contemplate their condition with serious +misgiving, <i>so would they be the last persons from whom we should</i> +seek support.</p> + +<p>"But if, on the other hand, there shall be any, who, in the silent +humility of their lives, and in their unaffected reverence for holy +things, show that they in truth accept these principles as real and +substantial, and by habitual purity of heart and serenity of temper, +give proof of their deep veneration for sacraments and sacramental +ordinances, those persons, <i>whether our professed adherents or not</i>, +best exemplify the kind of character which the writers of the Tracts +for the Times have wished to form."</p> + +<p>These clergymen had the best of claims to use these beautiful words, +for they were themselves, all of them, important writers in the +Tracts, the two Mr. Kebles, and Mr. Isaac Williams. And this passage, +with which they ushered their Series into the world, I quoted in the +Article, of which I am giving an account, and I added, "What more can +be required of the preachers of neglected truth, than that they +should admit that some, who do not assent to their preaching, are +holier and better men than some who do?" They were not answerable for +the intemperance of those who dishonoured a true doctrine, provided +they protested, as they did, against such intemperance. "They were +not answerable for the dust and din which attends any great moral +movement. The truer doctrines are, the more liable they are to be +perverted."</p> + +<p>The notice of these incidental faults of opinion or temper in +adherents of the Movement, led on to a discussion of the secondary +causes, by means of which a system of doctrine may be embraced, +modified, or developed, of the variety of schools which may all be in +the One Church, and of the succession of one phase of doctrine to +another, while it is ever one and the same. Thus I was brought on to +the subject of Antiquity, which was the basis of the doctrine of the +<i>Via Media</i>, and by which was not implied a servile imitation of the +past, but such a reproduction of it as is really young, while it is +old. "We have good hope," I say, "that a system will be rising up, +superior to the age, yet harmonising with, and carrying out its +higher points, which will attract to itself those who are willing to +make a venture and to face difficulties, for the sake of something +higher in prospect. On this, as on other subjects, the proverb will +apply, 'Fortes fortuna adjuvat.'"</p> + +<p>Lastly, I proceeded to the question of that future of the Anglican +Church, which was to be a new birth of the Ancient Religion. And I +did not venture to pronounce upon it. "About the future, we have no +prospect before our minds whatever, good or bad. Ever since that +great luminary, Augustine, proved to be the last bishop of Hippo, +Christians have had a lesson against attempting to foretell, <i>how</i> +Providence will prosper and" [or?] "bring to an end, what it begins." +Perhaps the lately-revived principles would prevail in the Anglican +Church; perhaps they would be lost in "some miserable schism, or some +more miserable compromise; but there was nothing rash in venturing to +predict that "neither Puritanism nor Liberalism had any permanent +inheritance within her." I suppose I meant to say that in the present +age, without the aid of apostolic principles, the Anglican Church +would, in the event, cease to exist.</p> + +<p>"As to Liberalism, we think the formularies of the Church will ever, +with the aid of a good Providence, keep it from making any serious +inroads upon the Clergy. Besides, it is too cold a principle to +prevail with the multitude." But as regarded what was called +Evangelical Religion or Puritanism, there was more to cause alarm. +I observed upon its organisation; but on the other hand it had no +intellectual basis; no internal idea, no principle of unity, no +theology. "Its adherents," I said, "are already separating from +each other; they will melt away like a snow-drift. It has no +straightforward view on any one point, on which it professes to +teach; and to hide its poverty, it has dressed itself out in a maze +of words. We have no dread of it at all; we only fear what it may +lead to. It does not stand on intrenched ground, or make any pretence +to a position; it does but occupy the space between contending +powers, Catholic Truth and Rationalism. Then indeed will be the stern +encounter, when two real and living principles, simple, entire, and +consistent, one in the Church, the other out of it, at length rush +upon each other, contending not for names and words, or half-views, +but for elementary notions and distinctive moral characters."</p> + +<p>Whether the ideas of the coming age upon religion were true or false, +they would be real. "In the present day," I said, "mistiness is the +mother of wisdom. A man who can set down half-a-dozen general +propositions, which escape from destroying one another only by being +diluted into truisms, who can hold the balance between opposites so +skilfully as to do without fulcrum or beam, who never enunciates a +truth without guarding himself against being supposed to exclude the +contradictory—who holds that Scripture is the only authority, yet +that the Church is to be deferred to, that faith only justifies, yet +that it does not justify without works, that grace does not depend on +the sacraments, yet is not given without them, that bishops are a +divine ordinance, yet those who have them not are in the same +religious condition as those who have—this is your safe man and the +hope of the Church; this is what the Church is said to want, not +party men, but sensible, temperate, sober, well-judging persons, to +guide it through the channel of no-meaning, between the Scylla and +Charybdis of Aye and No."</p> + +<p>This state of things, however, I said, could not last, if men were to +read and think. They "will not keep standing in that very attitude +which you call sound Church-of-Englandism or orthodox Protestantism. +They cannot go on for ever standing on one leg, or sitting without a +chair, or walking with their feet tied, or grazing like Tityrus's +stags in the air. They will take one view or another, but it will be +a consistent view. It may be Liberalism, or Erastianism, or Popery, +or Catholicity; but it will be real."</p> + +<p>I concluded the article by saying, that all who did not wish to be +"democratic, or pantheistic, or popish," must "look out for <i>some</i> +Via Media which will preserve us from what threatens, though it +cannot restore the dead. The spirit of Luther is dead; but Hildebrand +and Loyola are alive. Is it sensible, sober, judicious, to be so very +angry with those writers of the day, who point to the fact, that our +divines of the seventeenth century have occupied a ground which is +the true and intelligible mean between extremes? Is it wise to +quarrel with this ground, because it is not exactly what we should +choose, had we the power of choice? Is it true moderation, instead of +trying to fortify a middle doctrine, to fling stones at those who do? +... Would you rather have your sons and daughters members of the +Church of England or of the Church of Rome?"</p> + +<p>And thus I left the matter. But, while I was thus speaking of the +future of the Movement, I was in truth winding up my accounts with +it, little dreaming that it was so to be;—while I was still, in some +way or other, feeling about for an available <i>Via Media</i>, I was soon +to receive a shock which was to cast out of my imagination all middle +courses and compromises for ever. As I have said, this article +appeared in the April number of the <i>British Critic</i>; in the July +number, I cannot tell why, there is no article of mine; before the +number for October, the event had happened to which I have alluded.</p> + +<p>But before I proceed to describe what happened to me in the summer of +1839, I must detain the reader for a while, in order to describe the +<i>issue</i> of the controversy between Rome and the Anglican Church, as I +viewed it. This will involve some dry discussion; but it is as +necessary for my narrative, as plans of buildings and homesteads are +often found to be in the proceedings of our law courts.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I have said already that, though the object of the Movement was to +withstand the liberalism of the day, I found and felt this could not +be done by mere negatives. It was necessary for us to have a positive +Church theory erected on a definite basis. This took me to the great +Anglican divines; and then of course I found at once that it was +impossible to form any such theory, without cutting across the +teaching of the Church of Rome. Thus came in the Roman controversy.</p> + +<p>When I first turned myself to it, I had neither doubt on the subject, +nor suspicion that doubt would ever come upon me. It was in this +state of mind that I began to read up Bellarmine on the one hand, and +numberless Anglican writers on the other. But I soon found, as others +had found before me, that it was a tangled and manifold controversy, +difficult to master, more difficult to put out of hand with neatness +and precision. It was easy to make points, not easy to sum up and +settle. It was not easy to find a clear issue for the dispute, +and still less by a logical process to decide it in favour of +Anglicanism. This difficulty, however, had no tendency whatever to +harass or perplex me: it was a matter, not of convictions, but of +proofs.</p> + +<p>First I saw, as all see who study the subject, that a broad +distinction had to be drawn between the actual state of belief and of +usage in the countries which were in communion with the Roman Church, +and her formal dogmas; the latter did not cover the former. Sensible +pain, for instance, is not implied in the Tridentine decree upon +purgatory; but it was the tradition of the Latin Church, and I had +seen the pictures of souls in flames in the streets of Naples. Bishop +Lloyd had brought this distinction out strongly in an Article in the +<i>British Critic</i> in 1825; indeed, it was one of the most common +objections made to the Church of Rome, that she dared not commit +herself by formal decree, to what nevertheless she sanctioned and +allowed. Accordingly, in my Prophetical Office, I view as simply +separate ideas, Rome quiescent, and Rome in action. I contrasted her +creed on the one hand, with her ordinary teaching, her controversial +tone, her political and social bearing, and her popular beliefs and +practices on the other.</p> + +<p>While I made this distinction between the decrees and the traditions +of Rome, I drew a parallel distinction between Anglicanism quiescent, +and Anglicanism in action. In its formal creed Anglicanism was not +at a great distance from Rome: far otherwise, when viewed in its +insular spirit, the traditions of its establishment, its historical +characteristics, its controversial rancour, and its private judgment. +I disavowed and condemned those excesses, and called them +"Protestantism" or "Ultra-Protestantism:" I wished to find a parallel +disclaimer, on the part of Roman controversialists, of that popular +system of beliefs and usages in their own Church, which I called +"Popery." When that hope was a dream, I saw that the controversy lay +between the book-theology of Anglicanism on the one side, and the +living system of what I called Roman corruption on the other. I could +not get further than this; with this result I was forced to content +myself.</p> + +<p>These then were the <i>parties</i> in the controversy:—the Anglican <i>Via +Media</i> and the popular religion of Rome. And next, as to the <i>issue</i>, +to which the controversy between them was to be brought, it was +this:—the Anglican disputant took his stand upon Antiquity or +apostolicity, the Roman upon Catholicity. The Anglican said to the +Roman: "There is but One Faith, the Ancient, and you have not kept to +it;" the Roman retorted: "There is but One Church, the Catholic, and +you are out of it." The Anglican urged: "Your special beliefs, +practices, modes of action, are nowhere in Antiquity;" the Roman +objected: "You do not communicate with any one Church besides your +own and its offshoots, and you have discarded principles, doctrines, +sacraments, and usages, which are and ever have been received in the +East and the West." The true Church, as defined in the Creeds, was +both Catholic and Apostolic; now, as I viewed the controversy in +which I was engaged, England and Rome had divided these notes or +prerogatives between them: the cause lay thus, Apostolicity <i>versus</i> +Catholicity.</p> + +<p>However, in thus stating the matter, of course I do not wish it +supposed, that I considered the note of Catholicity really to belong +to Rome, to the disparagement of the Anglican Church; but that the +special point or plea of Rome in the controversy was Catholicity, as +the Anglican plea was Antiquity. Of course I contended that the Roman +idea of Catholicity was not ancient and apostolic. It was in my +judgment at the utmost only natural, becoming, expedient, that the +whole of Christendom should be united in one visible body; while such +a unity might be, on the other hand, a mere heartless and political +combination. For myself, I held with the Anglican divines, that, in +the Primitive Church, there was a very real mutual independence +between its separate parts, though, from a dictate of charity, there +was in fact a close union between them. I considered that each see +and diocese might be compared to a crystal, and that each was similar +to the rest, and that the sum total of them all was only a collection +of crystals. The unity of the Church lay, not in its being a polity, +but in its being a family, a race, coming down by apostolical descent +from its first founders and bishops. And I considered this truth +brought out, beyond the possibility of dispute, in the Epistles of +St. Ignatius, in which the bishop is represented as the one supreme +authority in the Church, that is, in his own place, with no one above +him, except as, for the sake of ecclesiastical order and expedience, +arrangements had been made by which one was put over or under +another. So much for our own claim to Catholicity, which was so +perversely appropriated by our opponents to themselves:—on the other +hand, as to our special strong point, Antiquity, while of course, by +means of it, we were able to condemn most emphatically the novel +claim of Rome to domineer over other Churches, which were in truth +her equals, further than that, we thereby especially convicted her of +the intolerable offence of having added to the Faith. This was the +critical head of accusation urged against her by the Anglican +disputant, and, as he referred to St. Ignatius in proof that he +himself was a true Catholic, in spite of being separated from Rome, +so he triumphantly referred to the Treatise of Vincentius of Lerins +upon the "Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus," in proof that +the controversialists of Rome were separated in their creed from the +apostolical and primitive faith.</p> + +<p>Of course those controversialists had their own answer to him, with +which I am not concerned in this place; here I am only concerned with +the issue itself, between the one party and the other—Antiquity +<i>versus</i> Catholicity.</p> + +<p>Now I will proceed to illustrate what I have been saying of the +<i>status</i> of the controversy, as it presented itself to my mind, by +extracts from my writings of the dates of 1836, 1840, and 1841. And I +introduce them with a remark, which especially applies to the paper, +from which I shall quote first, of the date of 1836. That paper +appeared in the March and April numbers of the <i>British Magazine</i> of +that year, and was entitled "Home Thoughts Abroad." Now it will be +found, that, in the discussion which it contains, as in various other +writings of mine, when I was in the Anglican Church, the argument in +behalf of Rome is stated with considerable perspicuity and force. And +at the time my friends and supporters cried out "How imprudent!" and +both at the time, and especially at a later date, my enemies have +cried out, "How insidious!" Friends and foes virtually agreed in +their criticism; I had set out the cause which I was combating to the +best advantage: this was an offence; it might be from imprudence, it +might be with a traitorous design. It was from neither the one nor +the other; but for the following reasons. First, I had a great +impatience, whatever was the subject, of not bringing out the whole +of it, as clearly as I could; next I wished to be as fair to my +adversaries as possible; and thirdly I thought that there was a great +deal of shallowness among our own friends, and that they undervalued +the strength of the argument in behalf of Rome, and that they ought +to be roused to a more exact apprehension of the position of the +controversy. At a later date (1841), when I really felt the force of +the Roman side of the question myself, as a difficulty which had to +be met, I had a fourth reason for such frankness in argument, and +that was, because a number of persons were unsettled far more than I +was, as to the Catholicity of the Anglican Church. It was quite +plain, that, unless I was perfectly candid in stating what could be +said against it, there was no chance that any representations, which +I felt to be in its favour, or at least to be adverse to Rome, would +have had their real weight duly acknowledged. At all times I had a +deep conviction, to put the matter on the lowest ground, that +"honesty was the best policy." Accordingly, in 1841, I expressed +myself thus on the Anglican difficulty: "This is an objection which +we must honestly say is deeply felt by many people, and not +inconsiderable ones; and the more it is openly avowed to be a +difficulty, the better; for there is then the chance of its being +acknowledged, and in the course of time obviated, as far as may be, +by those who have the power. Flagrant evils cure themselves by being +flagrant; and we are sanguine that the time is come when so great an +evil as this is, cannot stand its ground against the good feeling and +common sense of religious persons. It is the very strength of +Romanism against us; and, unless the proper persons take it into +their serious consideration, they may look for certain to undergo the +loss, as time goes on, of some whom they would least like to be lost +to our Church." The measure which I had especially in view in this +passage, was the project of a Jerusalem Bishopric, which the then +Archbishop of Canterbury was at that time concocting with M. Bunsen, +and of which I shall speak more in the sequel. And now to return to +the Home Thoughts Abroad of the spring of 1836:—</p> + +<p>The discussion contained in this composition runs in the form of a +dialogue. One of the disputants says: "You say to me that the Church +of Rome is corrupt. What then? to cut off a limb is a strange way of +saving it from the influence of some constitutional ailment. +Indigestion may cause cramp in the extremities; yet we spare our poor +feet notwithstanding. Surely there is such a religious <i>fact</i> as the +existence of a great Catholic body, union with which is a Christian +privilege and duty. Now, we English are separate from it."</p> + +<p>The other answers: "The present is an unsatisfactory, miserable state +of things, yet I can grant no more. The Church is founded on a +doctrine,—on the gospel of Truth; it is a means to an end. Perish +the Church (though, blessed be the promise! this cannot be), yet let +it perish <i>rather</i> than the Truth should fail. Purity of faith is +more precious to the Christian than unity itself. If Rome has erred +grievously in doctrine, then it is a duty to separate even from +Rome."</p> + +<p>His friend, who takes the Roman side of the argument, refers to the +image of the Vine and its branches, which is found, I think, in St. +Cyprian, as if a branch cut from the Catholic Vine must necessarily +die. Also he quotes a passage from St. Augustine in controversy with +the Donatists to the same effect; viz. that, as being separated from +the body of the Church, they were <i>ipso facto</i> cut off from the +heritage of Christ. And he quotes St. Cyril's argument drawn from the +very title Catholic, which no body or communion of men has ever dared +or been able to appropriate, besides one. He adds, "Now, I am only +contending for the fact, that the communion of Rome constitutes the +main body of the Church Catholic, and that we are split off from it, +and in the condition of the Donatists."</p> + +<p>The other replies, by denying the fact that the present Roman +communion is like St. Augustine's Catholic Church, inasmuch as there +are to be taken into account the large Anglican and Greek communions. +Presently he takes the offensive, naming distinctly the points, in +which Rome has departed from Primitive Christianity, viz. "the +practical idolatry, the virtual worship of the Virgin and Saints, +which are the offence of the Latin Church, and the degradation of +moral truth and duty, which follows from these." And again: "We +cannot join a Church, did we wish it ever so much, which does not +acknowledge our orders, refuses us the Cup, demands our acquiescence +in image-worship, and excommunicates us, if we do not receive it and +all the decisions of the Tridentine Council."</p> + +<p>His opponent answers these objections by referring to the doctrine of +"developments of gospel truth." Besides, "The Anglican system +itself is not found complete in those early centuries; so that the +[Anglican] principle [of Antiquity] is self-destructive." "When a man +takes up this <i>Via Media</i>, he is a mere <i>doctrinaire</i>;" he is like +those, "who, in some matter of business, start up to suggest their +own little crotchet, and are ever measuring mountains with a pocket +ruler, or improving the planetary courses." "The <i>Via Media</i> has +slept in libraries; it is a substitute of infancy for manhood."</p> + +<p>It is plain, then, that at the end of 1835 or beginning of 1836, I +had the whole state of the question before me, on which, to my mind, +the decision between the Churches depended. It is observable that the +question of the position of the Pope, whether as the centre of unity, +or as the source of jurisdiction, did not come into my thoughts at +all; nor did it, I think I may say, to the end. I doubt whether I +ever distinctly held any of his powers to be <i>de jure divino</i>, while +I was in the Anglican Church;—not that I saw any difficulty in the +doctrine; not that, together with the story of St. Leo, of which I +shall speak by and by, the idea of his infallibility did not cross my +mind, for it did—but after all, in my view the controversy did not +turn upon it; it turned upon the Faith and the Church. This was my +issue of the controversy from the beginning to the end. There was a +contrariety of claims between the Roman and Anglican religions, and +the history of my conversion is simply the process of working it out +to a solution. In 1838 I illustrated it by the contrast presented to +us between the Madonna and Child, and a Calvary. I said that the +peculiarity of the Anglican theology was this—that it "supposed the +Truth to be entirely objective and detached, not" (as the Roman) +"lying hid in the bosom of the Church as if one with her, clinging +to and (as it were) lost her embrace, but as being sole and +unapproachable, as on the Cross or at the Resurrection, with the +Church close by, but in the background."</p> + +<p>As I viewed the controversy in 1836 and 1838, so I viewed it in 1840 +and 1841. In the <i>British Critic</i> of January 1840, after gradually +investigating how the matter lies between the Churches by means of a +dialogue, I end thus: "It would seem, that, in the above discussion, +each disputant has a strong point: our strong point is the argument +from Primitiveness, that of Romanists from Universality. It is a +fact, however it is to be accounted for, that Rome has added to the +Creed; and it is a fact, however we justify ourselves, that we are +estranged from the great body of Christians over the world. And each +of these two facts is at first sight a grave difficulty in the +respective systems to which they belong." Again, "While Rome, though +not deferring to the Fathers, recognises them, and England, not +deferring to the large body of the Church, recognises it, both Rome +and England have a point to clear up."</p> + +<p>And still more strongly in July, 1841:</p> + +<p>"If the Note of schism, on the one hand, lies against England, an +antagonist disgrace lies upon Rome, the Note of idolatry. Let us not +be mistaken here; we are neither accusing Rome of idolatry, nor +ourselves of schism; we think neither charge tenable; but still the +Roman Church practises what is so like idolatry, and the English +Church makes much of what is so very like schism, that without +deciding what is the duty of a Roman Catholic towards the Church of +England in her present state, we do seriously think that members of +the English Church have a providential direction given them, how to +comport themselves towards the Church of Rome, while she is what she +is."</p> + +<p>One remark more about Antiquity and the <i>Via Media</i>. As time went on, +without doubting the strength of the Anglican argument from +Antiquity, I felt also that it was not merely our special plea, but +our only one. Also I felt that the <i>Via Media</i>, which was to +represent it, was to be a sort of remodelled and adapted Antiquity. +This I observe both in Home Thoughts Abroad, and in the Article of +the <i>British Critic</i> which I have analysed above. But this +circumstance, that after all we must use private judgment upon +Antiquity, created a sort of distrust of my theory altogether, which +in the conclusion of my volume on the Prophetical Office I express +thus: "Now that our discussions draw to a close, the thought, with +which we entered on the subject, is apt to recur, when the excitement +of the inquiry has subsided, and weariness has succeeded, that what +has been said is but a dream, the wanton exercise, rather than the +practical conclusions of the intellect." And I conclude the paragraph +by anticipating a line of thought into which I was, in the event, +almost obliged to take refuge: "After all," I say, "the Church is +ever invisible in its day, and faith only apprehends it." What was +this, but to give up the Notes of a visible Church altogether, +whether the Catholic Note or the Apostolic?</p> + +<p class="extraspace">The Long Vacation of 1839 began early. There had been a great many +visitors to Oxford from Easter to Commemoration; and Dr. Pusey and +myself had attracted attention, more, I think, than any former year. +I had put away from me the controversy with Rome for more than two +years. In my Parochial Sermons the subject had never been introduced: +there had been nothing for two years, either in my Tracts or in the +<i>British Critic</i>, of a polemical character. I was returning, for the +vacation, to the course of reading which I had many years before +chosen as especially my own. I have no reason to suppose that the +thoughts of Rome came across my mind at all. About the middle of June +I began to study and master the history of the Monophysites. I was +absorbed in the doctrinal question. This was from about June 13th to +August 30th. It was during this course of reading that for the first +time a doubt came upon me of the tenableness of Anglicanism. I +recollect on the 30th of July mentioning to a friend, whom I had +accidentally met, how remarkable the history was; but by the end of +August I was seriously alarmed.</p> + +<p>I have described in a former work, how the history affected me. My +stronghold was Antiquity; now here, in the middle of the fifth +century, I found, as it seemed to me, Christendom of the sixteenth +and the nineteenth centuries reflected. I saw my face in that mirror, +and I was a Monophysite. The Church of the <i>Via Media</i> was in the +position of the Oriental communion, Rome was, where she now is; and +the Protestants were the Eutychians. Of all passages of history, +since history has been, who would have thought of going to the +sayings and doings of old Eutyches, that <i>delirus senex</i>, as (I +think) Petavius calls him, and to the enormities of the unprincipled +Dioscorus, in order to be converted to Rome!</p> + +<p>Now let it be simply understood that I am not writing +controversially, but with the one object of relating things as they +happened to me in the course of my conversion. With this view I will +quote a passage from the account, which I gave in 1850, of my +reasonings and feelings in 1839:</p> + +<p>"It was difficult to make out how the Eutychians or Monophysites were +heretics, unless Protestants and Anglicans were heretics also; +difficult to find arguments against the Tridentine Fathers, which did +not tell against the Fathers of Chalcedon; difficult to condemn the +Popes of the sixteenth century, without condemning the Popes of the +fifth. The drama of religion, and the combat of truth and error, were +ever one and the same. The principles and proceedings of the Church +now, were those of the Church then; the principles and proceedings of +heretics then, were those of Protestants now. I found it so,—almost +fearfully; there was an awful similitude, more awful, because so +silent and unimpassioned, between the dead records of the past and +the feverish chronicle of the present. The shadow of the fifth +century was on the sixteenth. It was like a spirit rising from the +troubled waters of the old world, with the shape and lineaments of +the new. The Church then, as now, might be called peremptory and +stern, resolute, overbearing, and relentless; and heretics were +shifting, changeable, reserved, and deceitful, ever courting civil +power, and never agreeing together, except by its aid; and the civil +power was ever aiming at comprehensions, trying to put the invisible +out of view, and substituting expediency for faith. What was the use +of continuing the controversy, or defending my position, if, after +all, I was forging arguments for Arius or Eutyches, and turning +devil's advocate against the much-enduring Athanasius and the +majestic Leo? Be my soul with the Saints! and shall I lift up my hand +against them? Sooner may my right hand forget her cunning, and wither +outright, as his who once stretched it out against a prophet of God! +anathema to a whole tribe of Cranmers, Ridleys, Latimers, and Jewels! +perish the names of Bramhall, Ussher, Taylor, Stillingfleet, and +Barrow from the face of the earth, ere I should do aught but fall at +their feet in love and in worship, whose image was continually before +my eyes, and whose musical words were ever in my ears and on my +tongue!"</p> + +<p>Hardly had I brought my course of reading to a close, when the +<i>Dublin Review</i> of that same August was put into my hands, by friends +who were more favourable to the cause of Rome than I was myself. +There was an Article in it on the "Anglican Claim" by Bishop Wiseman. +This was about the middle of September. It was on the Donatists, with +an application to Anglicanism. I read it, and did not see much in it. +The Donatist controversy was known to me for some years, as I have +instanced above. The case was not parallel to that of the Anglican +Church. St. Augustine in Africa wrote against the Donatists in +Africa. They were a furious party who made a schism within the +African Church, and not beyond its limits. It was a case of altar +against altar, of two occupants of the same see, as that between the +non-jurors in England and the Established Church; not the case of one +Church against another, as Rome against the Oriental Monophysites. +But my friend, an anxiously religious man, now, as then, very dear to +me, a Protestant still, pointed out the palmary words of St. +Augustine, which were contained in one of the extracts made in the +<i>Review</i>, and which had escaped my observation. "Securus judicat +orbis terrarum." He repeated these words again and again, and, when +he was gone, they kept ringing in my ears. "Securus judicat orbis +terrarum;" they were words which went beyond the occasion of the +Donatists: they applied to that of the Monophysites. They gave a +cogency to the Article, which had escaped me at first. They decided +ecclesiastical questions on a simpler rule than that of Antiquity; +nay, St. Augustine was one of the prime oracles of Antiquity; here +then Antiquity was deciding against itself. What a light was hereby +thrown upon every controversy in the Church! not that, for the +moment, the multitude may not falter in their judgment,—not that, in +the Arian hurricane, Sees more than can be numbered did not bend +before its fury, and fall off from St. Athanasius,—not that the +crowd of Oriental Bishops did not need to be sustained during the +contest by the voice and the eye of St. Leo; but that the deliberate +judgment, in which the whole Church at length rests and acquiesces, +is an infallible prescription and a final sentence against such +portions of it as protest and secede. Who can account for the +impressions which are made on him? For a mere sentence, the words of +St. Augustine, struck me with a power which I never had felt from any +words before. To take a familiar instance, they were like the "Turn +again Whittington" of the chime; or, to take a more serious one, they +were like the "Tolle, lege,—Tolle, lege," of the child, which +converted St. Augustine himself. "Securus judicat orbis terrarum!" By +those great words of the ancient Father, the theory of the <i>Via +Media</i> was absolutely pulverised.</p> + +<p>I became excited at the view thus opened upon me. I was just starting +on a round of visits; and I mentioned my state of mind to two most +intimate friends: I think to no others. After a while, I got calm, +and at length the vivid impression upon my imagination faded away. +What I thought about it on reflection, I will attempt to describe +presently. I had to determine its logical value, and its bearing upon +my duty. Meanwhile, so far as this was certain,—I had seen the +shadow of a hand upon the wall. It was clear that I had a good deal +to learn on the question of the Churches, and that perhaps some new +light was coming upon me. He who has seen a ghost, cannot be as if he +had never seen it. The heavens had opened and closed again. The +thought for the moment had been, "The Church of Rome will be found +right after all;" and then it had vanished. My old convictions +remained as before.</p> + +<p>At this time, I wrote my Sermon on Divine Calls, which I published in +my volume of Plain Sermons. It ends thus:—</p> + +<p>"O that we could take that simple view of things, as to feel that the +one thing which lies before us is to please God! What gain is it +to please the world, to please the great, nay even to please those +whom we love, compared with this? What gain is it to be applauded, +admired, courted, followed,—compared with this one aim, of 'not +being disobedient to a heavenly vision'? What can this world offer +comparable with that insight into spiritual things, that keen faith, +that heavenly peace, that high sanctity, that everlasting +righteousness, that hope of glory, which they have, who in sincerity +love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ? Let us beg and pray Him day by +day to reveal Himself to our souls more fully, to quicken our senses, +to give us sight and hearing, taste and touch of the world to come; +so to work within us, that we may sincerely say, 'Thou shalt guide me +with Thy counsel, and after that receive me with glory. Whom have I +in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in +comparison of Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the +strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.'"</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Now to trace the succession of thoughts, and the conclusions, and the +consequent innovations on my previous belief, and the general +conduct, to which I was led, upon this sudden visitation. And first, +I will say, whatever comes of saying it, for I leave inferences to +others, that for years I must have had something of an habitual +notion, though it was latent, and had never led me to distrust my own +convictions, that my mind had not found its ultimate rest, and that +in some sense or other I was on journey. During the same passage +across the Mediterranean in which I wrote "Lead kindly light," I also +wrote the verses, which are found in the Lyra under the head of +"Providences," beginning, "When I look back." This was in 1833; and, +since I have begun this narrative, I have found a memorandum under +the date of September 7, 1829, in which I speak of myself, as "now in +my rooms in Oriel College, slowly advancing etc. and led on by God's +hand blindly, not knowing whither He is taking me." But, whatever +this presentiment be worth, it was no protection against the dismay +and disgust, which I felt, in consequence of the dreadful misgiving, +of which I have been relating the history. The one question was, what +was I to do? I had to make up my mind for myself, and others could +not help me. I determined to be guided, not by my imagination, but by +my reason. And this I said over and over again in the years which +followed, both in conversation and in private letters. Had it not +been for this severe resolve, I should have been a Catholic sooner +than I was. Moreover, I felt on consideration a positive doubt, on +the other hand, whether the suggestion did not come from below. Then +I said to myself, Time alone can solve that question. It was my +business to go on as usual, to obey those convictions to which I had +so long surrendered myself, which still had possession of me, and +on which my new thoughts had no direct bearing. That new conception +of things should only so far influence me, as it had a logical +claim to do so. If it came from above, it would come again;—so I +trusted,—and with more definite outlines. I thought of Samuel, +before "he knew the word of the Lord;" and therefore I went, and lay +down to sleep again. This was my broad view of the matter, and my +<i>prima facie</i> conclusion.</p> + +<p>However, my new historical fact had to a certain point a logical +force. Down had come the <i>Via Media</i> as a definite theory or scheme, +under the blows of St. Leo. My "Prophetical Office" had come to +pieces; not indeed as an argument against "Roman errors," nor as +against Protestantism, but as in behalf of England. I had no more a +distinctive plea for Anglicanism, unless I would be a Monophysite. I +had, most painfully, to fall back upon my three original points of +belief, which I have spoken so much of in a former passage,—the +principle of dogma, the sacramental system, and anti-Romanism. Of +these three, the first two were better secured in Rome than in the +Anglican Church. The Apostolical Succession, the two prominent +sacraments, and the primitive Creeds, belonged, indeed, to the +latter, but there had been and was far less strictness on matters of +dogma and ritual in the Anglican system than in the Roman: in +consequence, my main argument for the Anglican claims lay in the +positive and special charges, which I could bring against Rome. I had +no positive Anglican theory. I was very nearly a pure Protestant. +Lutherans had a sort of theology, so had Calvinists; I had none.</p> + +<p>However, this pure Protestantism, to which I was gradually left, was +really a practical principle. It was a strong, though it was only a +negative ground, and it still had great hold on me. As a boy of +fifteen, I had so fully imbibed it, that I had actually erased in my +<i>Gradus ad Parnassum</i>, such titles, under the word "Papa," as +"Christi Vicarius," "sacer interpres," and "sceptra gerens," and +substituted epithets so vile that I cannot bring myself to write them +down here. The effect of this early persuasion remained as, what I +have already called it, a "stain upon my imagination." As regards my +reason, I began in 1833 to form theories on the subject, which tended +to obliterate it. In the first part of Home Thoughts Abroad, written +in that year, after speaking of Rome as "undeniably the most exalted +Church in the whole world," and manifesting, "in all the truth and +beauty of the Spirit, that side of high mental excellence, which +Pagan Rome attempted but could not realise,—high-mindedness, +majesty, and the calm consciousness of power,"—I proceed to say, +"Alas! ...the old spirit has revived, and the monster of Daniel's +vision, untamed by its former judgments, has seized upon Christianity +as the new instrument of its impieties, and awaits a second and final +woe from God's hand. Surely the doctrine of the <i>Genius Loci</i> is not +without foundation, and explains to us how the blessing or the curse +attaches to cities and countries, not to generations. Michael is +represented [in the book of Daniel] as opposed to the Prince of the +kingdom of Persia. Old Rome is still alive. The Sorceress upon the +Seven Hills, in the book of Revelation, is not the Church of Rome, +but Rome itself, the bad spirit, which, in its former shape, was the +animating spirit of the Fourth Monarchy." Then I refer to St. +Malachi's Prophecy which "makes a like distinction between the City +and the Church of Rome. 'In the last persecution,' it says, 'of the +Holy Roman Church, Peter of Rome shall be on the throne, who shall +feed his flock in many tribulations. When these are past, the City +upon the Seven Hills shall be destroyed, and the awful Judge shall +judge the people.'" Then I append my moral. "I deny that the +distinction is unmeaning; Is it nothing to be able to look on our +Mother, to whom we owe the blessing of Christianity, with affection +instead of hatred? with pity indeed, aye, and fear, but not with +horror? Is it nothing to rescue her from the hard names, which +interpreters of prophecy have put upon her, as an idolatress and an +enemy of God, when she is deceived rather than a deceiver? Nothing to +be able to account her priests as ordained of God, and anointed for +their spiritual functions by the Holy Spirit, instead of considering +her communion the bond of Satan?" This was my first advance in +rescuing, on an intelligible, intellectual basis, the Roman Church +from the designation of Antichrist; it was not the Church, but the +old dethroned Pagan monster, still living in the ruined city, that +was Antichrist.</p> + +<p>In a Tract in 1838, I profess to give the opinions of the Fathers on +the subject, and the conclusions to which I come, are still less +violent against the Roman Church, though on the same basis as before. +I say that the local Christian Church of Rome has been the means of +shielding the pagan city from the fulness of those judgments, which +are due to it; and that, in consequence of this, though Babylon has +been utterly swept from the earth, Rome remains to this day. The +reason seemed to be simply this, that, when the barbarians came down, +God had a people in that city. Babylon was a mere prison of the +Church; Rome had received her as a guest. "That vengeance has never +fallen: it is still suspended; nor can reason be given why Rome +has not fallen under the rule of God's general dealings with His +rebellious creatures, except that a Christian Church is still in that +city, sanctifying it, interceding for it, saving it." I add in a +note, "No opinion, one way or the other, is here expressed as to +the question, how far, as the local Church has saved Rome, so Rome +has corrupted the local Church; or whether the local Church in +consequence, or again whether other Churches elsewhere, may or may +not be types of Antichrist." I quote all this in order to show how +Bishop Newton was still upon my mind even in 1838; and how I was +feeling after some other interpretation of prophecy instead of his, +and not without a good deal of hesitation.</p> + +<p>However, I have found notes written in March, 1839, which anticipate +my article in the <i>British Critic</i> of October, 1840, in which I +contended that the Churches of Rome and England were both one, and +also the one true Church, for the very reason that they had both been +stigmatised by the name of Antichrist, proving my point from the +text, "If they have called the Master of the House Beelzebub, how +much more them of His household," and quoting largely from Puritans +and Independents to show that, in their mouths, the Anglican Church +is Antichrist and Anti-christian as well as the Roman. I urged in +that article that the calumny of being Antichrist is almost "one of +the notes of the true Church;" and that "there is no medium between a +Vice-Christ and Anti-Christ;" for "it is not the <i>acts</i> that make the +difference between them, but the <i>authority</i> for those acts." This of +course was a new mode of viewing the question; but we cannot unmake +ourselves or change our habits in a moment. It is quite clear, that, +if I dared not commit myself in 1838, to the belief that the Church +of Rome was not a type of Antichrist, I could not have thrown off the +unreasoning prejudice and suspicion, which I cherished about her, +for some time after, at least by fits and starts, in spite of the +conviction of my reason. I cannot prove this, but I believe it to +have been the case from what I recollect of myself. Nor was there +anything in the history of St. Leo and the Monophysites to undo the +firm belief I had in the existence of what I called the practical +abuses and excesses of Rome.</p> + +<p>To the inconsistencies then, to the ambition and intrigue, to the +sophistries of Rome (as I considered them to be) I had recourse in my +opposition to her, both public and personal. I did so by way of a +relief. I had a great and growing dislike, after the summer of 1839, +to speak against the Roman Church herself or her formal doctrines. I +was very averse to speak against doctrines, which might possibly turn +out to be true, though at the time I had no reason for thinking they +were, or against the Church, which had preserved them. I began to +have misgivings, that, strong as my own feelings had been against +her, yet in some things which I had said, I had taken the statements +of Anglican divines for granted without weighing them for myself. I +said to a friend in 1840, in a letter, which I shall use presently, +"I am troubled by doubts whether as it is, I have not, in what I have +published, spoken too strongly against Rome, though I think I did it +in a kind of faith, being determined to put myself into the English +system, and say all that our divines said, whether I had fully +weighed it or not." I was sore about the great Anglican divines, as +if they had taken me in, and made me say strong things, which facts +did not justify. Yet I <i>did</i> still hold in substance all that I had +said against the Church of Rome in my Prophetical Office. I felt the +force of the usual Protestant objections against her; I believed that +we had the apostolical succession in the Anglican Church, and the +grace of the sacraments; I was not sure that the difficulty of its +isolation might not be overcome, though I was far from sure that it +could. I did not see any clear proof that it had committed itself to +any heresy, or had taken part against the truth; and I was not sure +that it would not revive into full apostolic purity and strength, and +grow into union with Rome herself (Rome explaining her doctrines and +guarding against their abuse), that is, if we were but patient and +hopeful. I wished for union between the Anglican Church and Rome, if, +and when, it was possible; and I did what I could to gain weekly +prayers for that object. The ground which I felt good against her was +the moral ground: I felt I could not be wrong in striking at her +political and social line of action. The alliance of a dogmatic +religion with liberals, high or low, seemed to me a providential +direction against moving towards it, and a better "Preservative +against Popery," than the three volumes of folio, in which, I think, +that prophylactic is to be found. However, on occasions which +demanded it, I felt it a duty to give out plainly all that I thought, +though I did not like to do so. One such instance occurred, when I +had to publish a letter about Tract 90. In that letter I said, +"Instead of setting before the soul the Holy Trinity, and heaven and +hell, the Church of Rome does seem to me, as a popular system, to +preach the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, and purgatory." On this +occasion I recollect expressing to a friend the distress it gave me +thus to speak; but, I said, "How can I help saying it, if I think it? +and I <i>do</i> think it; my Bishop calls on me to say out what I think; +and that is the long and the short of it." But I recollected Hurrell +Froude's words to me, almost his dying words, "I must enter another +protest against your cursing and swearing. What good can it do? and I +call it uncharitable to an excess. How mistaken we may ourselves be, +on many points that are only gradually opening on us!"</p> + +<p>Instead then of speaking of errors in doctrine, I was driven, by my +state of mind, to insist upon the political conduct, the +controversial bearing, and the social methods and manifestations of +Rome. And here I found a matter close at hand, which affected me most +sensibly too, because it was before my eyes. I can hardly describe +too strongly my feeling upon it. I had an unspeakable aversion to the +policy and acts of Mr. O'Connell, because, as I thought, he +associated himself with men of all religions and no religion against +the Anglican Church, and advanced Catholicism by violence and +intrigue. When then I found him taken up by the English Catholics, +and, as I supposed, at Rome, I considered I had a fulfilment before +my eyes how the Court of Rome played fast and loose, and fulfilled +the bad points which I had seen put down in books against it. Here we +saw what Rome was in action, whatever she might be when quiescent. +Her conduct was simply secular and political.</p> + +<p>This feeling led me into the excess of being very rude to that +zealous and most charitable man, Mr. Spencer, when he came to Oxford +in January, 1840, to get Anglicans to set about praying for unity. I +myself then, or soon after, drew up such prayers; it was one of the +first thoughts which came upon me after my shock, but I was too much +annoyed with the political action of the members of the Roman Church +in England to wish to have anything to do with them personally. So +glad in my heart was I to see him when he came to my rooms, whither +Mr. Palmer of Magdalen brought him, that I could have laughed for +joy; I think I did; but I was very rude to him, I would not meet him +at dinner, and that (though I did not say so) because I considered +him "in loco apostatæ" from the Anglican Church, and I hereby beg his +pardon for it. I wrote afterwards with a view to apologise, but I +dare say he must have thought that I made the matter worse, for these +were my words to him:—</p> + +<p>"The news that you are praying for us is most touching, and raises a +variety of indescribable emotions. May their prayers return +abundantly into their own bosoms! Why then do I not meet you in a +manner conformable with these first feelings? For this single reason, +if I may say it, that your acts are contrary to your words. You +invite us to a union of hearts, at the same time that you are doing +all you can, not to restore, not to reform, not to reunite, but to +destroy our Church. You go further than your principles require. You +are leagued with our enemies. 'The voice is Jacob's voice, but the +hands are the hands of Esau.' This is what especially distresses us; +this is what we cannot understand, how Christians, like yourselves, +with the clear view you have that a warfare is ever waging in the +world between good and evil, should, in the present state of England, +ally yourselves with the side of evil against the side of good.... Of +parties now in the country, you cannot but allow, that next to +yourselves we are nearest to revealed truth. We maintain great and +holy principles; we profess Catholic doctrines.... So near are we as +a body to yourselves in modes of thinking, as even to have been +taunted with the nicknames which belong to you; and, on the other +hand, if there are professed infidels, scoffers, sceptics, +unprincipled men, rebels, they are found among our opponents. And yet +you take part with them against us.... You consent to act hand in +hand [with these and others] for our overthrow. Alas! all this it is +that impresses us irresistibly with the notion that you are a +political, not a religious party; that, in order to gain an end on +which you set your hearts,—an open stage for yourselves in +England—you ally yourselves with those who hold nothing against +those who hold something. This is what distresses my own mind so +greatly, to speak of myself, that, with limitations which need not +now be mentioned, I cannot meet familiarly any leading persons of the +Roman Communion, and least of all when they come on a religious +errand. Break off, I would say, with Mr. O'Connell in Ireland and the +liberal party in England, or come not to us with overtures for mutual +prayer and religious sympathy."</p> + +<p>And here came in another feeling, of a personal nature, which had +little to do with the argument against Rome, except that, in my +prejudice, I connected it with my own ideas of the usual conduct of +her advocates and instruments. I was very stern upon any interference +in our Oxford matters on the part of charitable Catholics, and on any +attempt to do me good personally. There was nothing, indeed, at the +time more likely to throw me back. "Why do you meddle? why cannot you +let me alone? You can do me no good; you know nothing on earth about +me; you may actually do me harm; I am in better hands than yours. I +know my own sincerity of purpose; and I am determined upon taking my +time." Since I have been a Catholic, people have sometimes accused me +of backwardness in making converts; and Protestants have argued from +it that I have no great eagerness to do so. It would be against my +nature to act otherwise than I do; but besides, it would be to forget +the lessons which I gained in the experience of my own history in the +past.</p> + +<p>This is the account which I have to give of some savage and +ungrateful words in the <i>British Critic</i> of 1840 against the +controversialists of Rome: "By their fruits ye shall know them.... We +see it attempting to gain converts among us by unreal representations +of its doctrines, plausible statements, bold assertions, appeals to +the weaknesses of human nature, to our fancies, our eccentricities, +our fears, our frivolities, our false philosophies. We see its +agents, smiling and nodding and ducking to attract attention, as +gipsies make up to truant boys, holding out tales for the nursery, +and pretty pictures, and gilt gingerbread, and physic concealed in +jam, and sugar-plums for good children. Who can but feel shame when +the religion of Ximenes, Borromeo, and Pascal, is so overlaid? Who +can but feel sorrow, when its devout and earnest defenders so mistake +its genius and its capabilities? We Englishmen like manliness, +openness, consistency, truth. Rome will never gain on us, till she +learns these virtues, and uses them; and then she may gain us, but it +will be by ceasing to be what we now mean by Rome, by having a right, +not to 'have dominion over our faith,' but to gain and possess our +affections in the bonds of the gospel. Till she ceases to be what she +practically is, a union is impossible between her and England; but, +if she does reform (and who can presume to say that so large a part +of Christendom never can?) then it will be our Church's duty at once +to join in communion with the continental Churches, whatever +politicians at home may say to it, and whatever steps the civil power +may take in consequence. And though we may not live to see that day, +at least we are bound to pray for it; we are bound to pray for our +brethren that they and we may be led together into the pure light of +the gospel, and be one as we once were one. It was most touching news +to be told, as we were lately, that Christians on the Continent were +praying together for the spiritual well-being of England. May they +gain light, while they aim at unity, and grow in faith while they +manifest their love! We too have our duties to them; not of reviling, +not of slandering, not of hating, though political interests require +it; but the duty of loving brethren still more abundantly in spirit, +whose faces, for our sins and their sins, we are not allowed to see +in the flesh."</p> + +<p>No one ought to indulge in insinuations; it certainly diminishes my +right to complain of slanders uttered against myself, when, as in +this passage, I had already spoken in condemnation of that class of +controversialists to which I myself now belong.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I have thus put together, as well as I could, what has to be said +about my general state of mind from the autumn of 1839 to the summer +of 1841; and, having done so, I go on to narrate how my new +misgivings affected my conduct, and my relations towards the Anglican +Church.</p> + +<p>When I got back to Oxford in October, 1839, after the visits which I +had been paying, it so happened, there had been, in my absence, +occurrences of an awkward character, bringing me into collision both +with my Bishop and also with the University authorities; and this +drew my attention at once to the state of what would be considered +the Movement party there, and made me very anxious for the future. In +the spring of the year, as has been seen in the Article analysed +above, I had spoken of the excesses which were to be found among +persons commonly included in it; at that time I thought little of +such an evil, but the new thoughts, which had come on me during the +long vacation, on the one hand made me comprehend it, and on the +other took away my power of effectually meeting it. A firm and +powerful control was necessary to keep men straight; I never had a +strong wrist, but at the very time, when it was most needed, the +reins had broken in my hands. With an anxious presentiment on my mind +of the upshot of the whole inquiry, which it was almost impossible +for me to conceal from men who saw me day by day, who heard my +familiar conversation, who came perhaps for the express purpose of +pumping me, and having a categorical <i>yes</i> or <i>no</i> to their +questions—how could I expect to say anything about my actual, +positive, present belief, which would be sustaining or consoling to +such persons as were haunted already by doubts of their own? Nay, how +could I, with satisfaction to myself, analyse my own mind, and say +what I held and what I did not? or say with what limitations, shades +of difference, or degrees of belief, I held that body of opinions +which I had openly professed and taught? how could I deny or assert +this point or that, without injustice to the new view, in which the +whole evidence for those old opinions presented itself to my mind?</p> + +<p>However, I had to do what I could, and what was best, under the +circumstances; I found a general talk on the subject of the article +in the <i>Dublin Review</i>; and, if it had affected me, it was not +wonderful, that it affected others also. As to myself, I felt no kind +of certainty that the argument in it was conclusive. Taking it at the +worst, granting that the Anglican Church had not the note of +Catholicity; yet there were many notes of the Church. Some belonged +to one age or place, some to another. Bellarmine had reckoned +Temporal Prosperity among the notes of the Church; but the Roman +Church had not any great popularity, wealth, glory, power, or +prospects, in the nineteenth century. It was not at all certain yet, +even that we had not the note of Catholicity; but, if not we had +others. My first business then, was to examine this question +carefully, and see, if a great deal could not be said after all for +the Anglican Church, in spite of its acknowledged shortcomings. This +I did in an Article "on the Catholicity of the English Church," which +appeared in the <i>British Critic</i> of January, 1840. As to my personal +distress on the point, I think it had gone by February 21st in that +year, for I wrote then to Mr. Bowden about the important Article in +the Dublin, thus: "It made a great impression here [Oxford]; and, I +say what of course I would only say to such as yourself, it made me +for a while very uncomfortable in my own mind. The great speciousness +of his argument is one of the things which have made me despond so +much," that is, as to its effect upon others.</p> + +<p>But, secondly, the great stumbling-block lay in the 39 Articles. +It was urged that here was a positive Note <i>against</i> +Anglicanism:—Anglicanism claimed to hold that the Church of England +was nothing else than a continuation in this country (as the Church +of Rome might be in France or Spain) of that one Church of which in +old times Athanasius and Augustine were members. But, if so, the +doctrine must be the same; the doctrine of the Old Church must live +and speak in Anglican formularies, in the 39 Articles. Did it? Yes, +it did; that is what I maintained; it did in substance, in a true +sense. Man had done his worst to disfigure, to mutilate, the old +Catholic Truth, but there it was, in spite of them, in the Articles +still. It was there, but this must be shown. It was a matter of life +and death to us to show it. And I believed that it could be shown; I +considered that those grounds of justification, which I gave above, +when I was speaking of Tract 90, were sufficient for the purpose; and +therefore I set about showing it at once. This was in March, 1840, +when I went up to Littlemore. And, as it was a matter of life and +death with us, all risks must be run to show it. When the attempt was +actually made, I had got reconciled to the prospect of it, and had no +apprehensions as to the experiment; but in 1840, while my purpose was +honest, and my grounds of reason satisfactory, I did nevertheless +recognise that I was engaged in an <i>experimentum crucis</i>. I have no +doubt that then I acknowledged to myself that it would be a trial of +the Anglican Church, which it had never undergone before—not that +the Catholic sense of the Articles had not been held or at least +suffered by their framers and promulgators, and was not implied in +the teaching of Andrewes or Beveridge, but that it had never been +publicly recognised, while the interpretation of the day was +Protestant and exclusive. I observe also, that, though my Tract was +an experiment, it was, as I said at the time, "no <i>feeler</i>," the +event showed it; for, when my principle was not granted, I did not +draw back, but gave up. I would not hold office in a Church which +would not allow my sense of the Articles. My tone was, "This is +necessary for us, and have it we must and will, and, if it tends to +bring men to look less bitterly on the Church of Rome, so much the +better."</p> + +<p>This then was the second work to which I set myself; though when I +got to Littlemore, other things came in the way of accomplishing it +at the moment. I had in mind to remove all such obstacles as were in +the way of holding the Apostolic and Catholic character of the +Anglican teaching; to assert the right of all who chose to say in the +face of day, "Our Church teaches the Primitive Ancient faith." I did +not conceal this: in Tract 90, it is put forward as the first +principle of all, "It is a duty which we owe both to the Catholic +Church, and to our own, to take our reformed confessions in the most +Catholic sense they will admit: we have no duties towards their +framers." And still more pointedly in my letter, explanatory of the +Tract, addressed to Dr. Jelf, I say: "The only peculiarity of the +view I advocate, if I must so call it, is this—that whereas it is +usual at this day to make the <i>particular belief of their writers</i> +their true interpretation, I would make the <i>belief of the Catholic +Church such</i>. That is, as it is often said that infants are +regenerated in Baptism, not on the faith of their parents, but of the +Church, so in like manner I would say that the Articles are received, +not in the sense of their framers, but (as far as the wording will +admit or any ambiguity requires it) in the one Catholic sense."</p> + +<p>A third measure which I distinctly contemplated, was the resignation +of St. Mary's, whatever became of the question of the Articles; and +as a first step I meditated a retirement to Littlemore. I had built a +Church there several years before; and I went there to pass the Lent +of 1840, and gave myself up to teaching in the poor schools, and +practising the choir. At the same time, I contemplated a monastic +house there. I bought ten acres of ground and began planting; but +this great design was never carried out. I mention it, because it +shows how little I had really the idea then of ever leaving the +Anglican Church. That I also contemplated even the further step of +giving up St. Mary's itself as early as 1839, appears from a letter +which I wrote in October, 1840, to the friend whom it was most +natural for me to consult on such a point. It ran as follows:—</p> + +<p>"For a year past a feeling has been growing on me that I ought to +give up St. Mary's, but I am no fit judge in the matter. I cannot +ascertain accurately my own impressions and convictions, which are +the basis of the difficulty, and though you cannot of course do this +for me, yet you may help me generally, and perhaps supersede the +necessity of my going by them at all.</p> + +<p>"First, it is certain that I do not know my Oxford parishioners; I am +not conscious of influencing them, and certainly I have no insight +into their spiritual state. I have no personal, no pastoral +acquaintance with them. To very few have I any opportunity of saying +a religious word. Whatever influence I exert on them is precisely +that which I may be exerting on persons out of my parish. In my +excuse I am accustomed to say to myself that I am not adapted to get +on with them, while others are. On the other hand, I am conscious +that by means of my position at St. Mary's I do exert a considerable +influence on the University, whether on Undergraduates or Graduates. +It seems, then, on the whole that I am using St. Mary's, to the +neglect of its direct duties, for objects not belonging to it; I am +converting a parochial charge into a sort of University office.</p> + +<p>"I think I may say truly that I have begun scarcely any plan but for +the sake of my parish, but every one has turned, independently of me, +into the direction of the University. I began Saints'-days Services, +daily Services, and Lectures in Adam de Brome's Chapel, for my +parishioners; but they have not come to them. In consequence I +dropped the last mentioned, having, while it lasted, been naturally +led to direct it to the instruction of those who did come, instead of +those who did not. The Weekly Communion, I believe, I did begin for +the sake of the University.</p> + +<p>"Added to this the authorities of the University, the appointed +guardians of those who form great part of the attendants on my +Sermons, have shown a dislike of my preaching. One dissuades men from +coming;—the late Vice-Chancellor threatens to take his own children +away from the Church; and the present, having an opportunity last +spring of preaching in my parish pulpit, gets up and preaches against +doctrine with which I am in good measure identified. No plainer proof +can be given of the feeling in these quarters, than the absurd myth, +now a second time put forward, that 'Vice-Chancellors cannot be got +to take the office on account of Puseyism.'</p> + +<p>"But further than this, I cannot disguise from myself that my +preaching is not calculated to defend that system of religion which +has been received for 300 years, and of which the Heads of Houses are +the legitimate maintainers in this place. They exclude me, as far as +may be, from the University Pulpit; and, though I never have preached +strong doctrine in it, they do so rightly, so far as this, that they +understand that my sermons are calculated to undermine things +established. I cannot disguise from myself that they are. No one will +deny that most of my sermons are on moral subjects, not doctrinal; +still I am leading my hearers to the Primitive Church, if you will, +but not to the Church of England. Now, ought one to be disgusting the +minds of young men with the received religion, in the exercise of a +sacred office, yet without a commission, against the wish of their +guides and governors?</p> + +<p>"But this is not all. I fear I must allow that, whether I will or no, +I am disposing them towards Rome. First, because Rome is the only +representative of the Primitive Church besides ourselves; in +proportion then as they are loosened from the one, they will go to +the other. Next, because many doctrines which I have held, have far +greater, or their only scope, in the Roman system. And, moreover, if, +as is not unlikely, we have in process of time heretical Bishops or +teachers among us, an evil which <i>ipso facto</i> infects the whole +community to which they belong, and if, again (what there are at this +moment symptoms of), there be a movement in the English Roman +Catholics to break the alliance of O'Connell and of Exeter Hall, +strong temptations will be placed in the way of individuals, already +imbued with a tone of thought congenial to Rome, to join her +Communion.</p> + +<p>"People tell me, on the other hand, that I am, whether by sermons or +otherwise, exerting at St. Mary's a beneficial influence on our +prospective clergy; but what if I take to myself the credit of seeing +further than they, and of having in the course of the last year +discovered that what they approve so much is very likely to end in +Romanism?</p> + +<p>"The <i>arguments</i> which I have published against Romanism seem to +myself as cogent as ever, but men go by their sympathies, not by +argument; and if I feel the force of this influence myself, who bow +to the arguments, why may not others still more who never have in the +same degree admitted the arguments?</p> + +<p>"Nor can I counteract the danger by preaching or writing against +Rome. I seem to myself almost to have shot my last arrow in the +Article on English Catholicity. It must be added, that the very +circumstance that I have committed myself against Rome has the effect +of setting to sleep people suspicious about me, which is painful now +that I begin to have suspicions about myself. I mentioned my general +difficulty to A. B. a year since, than whom I know no one of a more +fine and accurate conscience, and it was his spontaneous idea that I +should give up St. Mary's, if my feelings continued. I mentioned it +again to him lately, and he did not reverse his opinion, only +expressed great reluctance to believe it must be so."</p> + +<p>My friend's judgment was in favour of my retaining my living; at +least for the present; what weighed with me most was his saying, "You +must consider, whether your retiring either from the Pastoral Care +only, or from writing and printing and editing in the cause, would +not be a sort of scandalous thing, unless it were done very warily. +It would be said, 'You see he can go on no longer with the Church of +England, except in mere Lay Communion;' or people might say you +repented of the cause altogether. Till you see [your way to mitigate, +if not remove this evil] I certainly should advise you to stay." I +answered as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Since you think I <i>may</i> go on, it seems to follow that, under the +circumstances, I <i>ought</i> to do so. There are plenty of reasons for +it, directly it is allowed to be lawful. The following considerations +have much reconciled my feelings to your conclusion.</p> + +<p>"1. I do not think that we have yet made fair trial how much the +English Church will bear. I know it is a hazardous experiment—like +proving cannon. Yet we must not take it for granted, that the metal +will burst in the operation. It has borne at various times, not to +say at this time, a great infusion of Catholic truth without damage. +As to the result, viz. whether this process will not approximate the +whole English Church, as a body to Rome, that is nothing to us. For +what we know, it may be the providential means of uniting the whole +Church in one, without fresh schismatising or use of private +judgment."</p> + +<p>Here I observe, that, what was contemplated was the bursting of the +<i>Catholicity</i> of the Anglican Church, that is, my <i>subjective idea</i> +of that Church. Its bursting would not hurt her with the world, but +would be a discovery that she was purely and essentially Protestant, +and would be really the "hoisting of the engineer with his own +petard." And this was the result. I continue:—</p> + +<p>"2. Say, that I move sympathies for Rome: in the same sense does +Hooker, Taylor, Bull, etc. Their <i>arguments</i> may be against Rome, but +the sympathies they raise must be towards Rome, <i>so far</i> as Rome +maintains truths which our Church does not teach or enforce. Thus it +is a question of <i>degree</i> between our divines and me. I may, if so +be, go further; I may raise sympathies <i>more</i>; but I am but urging +minds in the same direction as they do. I am doing just the very +thing which all our doctors have ever been doing. In short, would not +Hooker, if Vicar of St. Mary's, be in my difficulty?"—Here it may be +said, that Hooker could preach against Rome, and I could not; but I +doubt whether he could have preached effectively against +transubstantiation better than I, though neither he nor I held it.</p> + +<p>"3. Rationalism is the great evil of the day. May not I consider my +post at St. Mary's as a place of protest against it? I am more +certain that the Protestant [spirit], which I oppose, leads to +infidelity, than that which I recommend, leads to Rome. Who knows +what the state of the University may be, as regards Divinity +Professors in a few years hence? Anyhow, a great battle may be coming +on, of which C. D.'s book is a sort of earnest. The whole of <i>our</i> +day may be a battle with this spirit. May we not leave to another age +<i>its own</i> evil—to settle the question of Romanism?"</p> + +<p>I may add that from this time I had a Curate at St. Mary's, who +gradually took more and more of my work.</p> + +<p>Also, this same year, 1840, I made arrangements for giving up the +<i>British Critic</i>, in the following July, which were carried into +effect at that date.</p> + +<p>Such was about my state of mind, on the publication of Tract 90 in +February, 1841. The immense commotion consequent upon the publication +of the Tract did not unsettle me again; for I had weathered the +storm: the Tract had not been condemned: that was the great point; I +made much of it.</p> + +<p>To illustrate my feelings during this trial, I will make extracts +from my letters to a friend, which have come into my possession. The +dates are respectively March 25, April 1, and May 9.</p> + +<p>1. "I do trust I shall make no false step, and hope my friends will +pray for me to this effect. If, as you say, a destiny hangs over us, +a single false step may ruin all. I am very well and comfortable; but +we are not yet out of the wood."</p> + +<p>2. "The Bishop sent me word on Sunday to write a letter to him +'<i>instanter</i>.' So I wrote it on Monday: on Tuesday it passed through +the press: on Wednesday it was out: and to-day [Thursday] it is in +London.</p> + +<p>"I trust that things are smoothing now; and that we have made a +<i>great step</i> is certain. It is not right to boast, till I am clear +out of the wood, <i>i.e.</i> till I know how the letter is received in +London. You know, I suppose, that I am to stop the Tracts; but you +will see in the Letter, though I speak <i>quite</i> what I feel, yet I +have managed to take out on <i>my</i> side my snubbing's worth. And this +makes me anxious how it will be received in London.</p> + +<p>"I have not had a misgiving for five minutes from the first: but I do +not like to boast, lest some harm come."</p> + +<p>3. "The Bishops are very desirous of hushing the matter up: and I +certainly have done my utmost to co-operate with them, on the +understanding that the Tract is not to be withdrawn or condemned."</p> + +<p>And to my friend, Mr. Bowden, under date of March 15, "The Heads, I +believe, have just done a violent act: they have said that my +interpretation of the Articles is an <i>evasion</i>. Do not think that +this will pain me. You see, no <i>doctrine</i> is censured, and my +shoulders shall manage to bear the charge. If you knew all, or were +here, you would see that I have asserted a great principle, and I +<i>ought</i> to suffer for it:—that the Articles are to be interpreted, +not according to the meaning of the writers, but (as far as the +wording will admit) according to the sense of the Catholic Church."</p> + +<p>Upon occasion of Tract 90 several Catholics wrote to me; I answered +one of my correspondents thus:—</p> + +<p>"April 8.—You have no cause to be surprised at the discontinuance of +the Tracts. We feel no misgivings about it whatever, as if the cause +of what we hold to be Catholic truth would suffer thereby. My letter +to my Bishop has, I trust, had the effect of bringing the +preponderating <i>authority</i> of the Church on our side. No stopping of +the Tracts can, humanly speaking, stop the spread of the opinions +which they have inculcated.</p> + +<p>"The Tracts are not <i>suppressed</i>. No doctrine or principle has been +conceded by us, or condemned by authority. The Bishop has but said +that a certain Tract is 'objectionable,' no reason being stated. I +have no intention whatever of yielding any one point which I hold on +conviction; and that the authorities of the Church know full well."</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In the summer of 1841, I found myself at Littlemore without any +harass or anxiety on my mind. I had determined to put aside all +controversy, and I set myself down to my translation of St. +Athanasius; but, between July and November, I received three blows +which broke me.</p> + +<p>1. I had got but a little way in my work, when my trouble returned on +me. The ghost had come a second time. In the Arian History I found +the very same phenomenon, in a far bolder shape, which I had found in +the Monophysite. I had not observed it in 1832. Wonderful that this +should come upon me! I had not sought it out; I was reading and +writing in my own line of study, far from the controversies of the +day, on what is called a "metaphysical" subject; but I saw clearly, +that in the history of Arianism, the pure Arians were the +Protestants, the semi-Arians were the Anglicans, and that Rome now +was what it was. The truth lay, not with the <i>Via Media</i>, but in what +was called "the extreme party." As I am not writing a work of +controversy, I need not enlarge upon the argument; I have said +something on the subject in a volume which I published fourteen years +ago.</p> + +<p>2. I was in the misery of this new unsettlement, when a second blow +came upon me. The bishops one after another began to charge against +me. It was a formal, determinate movement. This was the real +"understanding;" that, on which I had acted on occasion of Tract 90, +had come to nought. I think the words, which had then been used to +me, were, that "perhaps two or three might think it necessary to say +something in their charges;" but by this time they had tided over the +difficulty of the Tract, and there was no one to enforce the +"understanding." They went on in this way, directing charges at me, +for three whole years. I recognised it as a condemnation; it was the +only one that was in their power. At first I intended to protest; but +I gave up the thought in despair.</p> + +<p>On October 17th, I wrote thus to a friend: "I suppose it will be +necessary in some shape or other to reassert Tract 90; else, it will +seem, after these Bishops' Charges, as if it were silenced, which it +has not been, nor do I intend it should be. I wish to keep quiet; but +if Bishops speak, I will speak too. If the view were silenced, I +could not remain in the Church, nor could many others; and therefore, +since it is <i>not</i> silenced, I shall take care to show that it isn't."</p> + +<p>A day or two after, Oct. 22, a stranger wrote to me to say, that the +Tracts for the Times had made a young friend of his a Catholic, and +to ask, "would I be so good as to convert him back;" I made answer:</p> + +<p>"If conversions to Rome take place in consequence of the Tracts for +the Times, I do not impute blame to them, but to those who, instead +of acknowledging such Anglican principles of theology and +ecclesiastical polity as they contain, set themselves to oppose them. +Whatever be the influence of the Tracts, great or small, they may +become just as powerful for Rome, if our Church refuses them, as they +would be for our Church if she accepted them. If our rulers speak +either against the Tracts, or not at all, if any number of them, not +only do not favour, but even do not suffer the principles contained +in them, it is plain that our members may easily be persuaded either +to give up those principles, or to give up the Church. If this state +of things goes on, I mournfully prophesy, not one or two, but many +secessions to the Church of Rome."</p> + +<p>Two years afterwards, looking back on what had passed, I said, "There +were no converts to Rome, till after the condemnation of No. 90."</p> + +<p>3. As if all this were not enough, there came the affair of the +Jerusalem Bishopric; and, with a brief mention of it, I shall +conclude.</p> + +<p>I think I am right in saying that it had been long a desire with the +Prussian Court to introduce Episcopacy into the Evangelical Religion, +which was intended in that country to embrace both the Lutheran and +Calvinistic bodies. I almost think I heard of the project, when I was +at Rome in 1833, at the hotel of the Prussian Minister, M. Bunsen, +who was most hospitable and kind, as to other English visitors, so +also to my friends and myself. I suppose that the idea of Episcopacy, +as the Prussian king understood it, was very different from that +taught in the Tractarian School; but still, I suppose also, that the +chief authors of that school would have gladly seen such a measure +carried out in Prussia, had it been done without compromising those +principles which were necessary to the being of a Church. About the +time of the publication of Tract 90, M. Bunsen and the then +Archbishop of Canterbury were taking steps for its execution, by +appointing and consecrating a Bishop for Jerusalem. Jerusalem, it +would seem, was considered a safe place for the experiment; it was +too far from Prussia to awaken the susceptibilities of any party at +home; if the project failed, it failed without harm to any one; and, +if it succeeded, it gave Protestantism a <i>status</i> in the East, which +in association with the Monophysite or Jacobite and the Nestorian +bodies, formed a political instrument for England, parallel to that +which Russia had in the Greek Church and France in the Latin.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, in July 1841, full of the Anglican difficulty on the +question of Catholicity, I thus spoke of the Jerusalem scheme in an +Article in the <i>British Critic</i>: "When our thoughts turn to the East, +instead of recollecting that there are Christian Churches there, we +leave it to the Russians to take care of the Greeks, and the French +to take care of the Romans, and we content ourselves with erecting a +Protestant Church at Jerusalem, or with helping the Jews to rebuild +their Temple there, or with becoming the august protectors of +Nestorians, Monophysites, and all the heretics we can hear of, or +with forming a league with the Mussulman against Greeks and Romans +together."</p> + +<p>I do not pretend so long after the time to give a full or exact +account of this measure in detail. I will but say that in the Act of +Parliament, under date of October 5, 1841 (if the copy, from which I +quote, contains the measure as it passed the Houses), provision is +made for the consecration of "British subjects, or the subjects or +citizens of any foreign state, to be Bishops in any foreign country, +whether such foreign subjects or citizens be or be not subjects or +citizens of the country in which they are to act, and ... without +requiring such of them as may be subjects or citizens of any foreign +kingdom or state to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and +the oath of due obedience to the Archbishop for the time being" ... +also "that such Bishop or Bishops, so consecrated, may exercise, +within such limits, as may from time to time be assigned for that +purpose in such foreign countries by her Majesty, spiritual +jurisdiction over the ministers of British congregations of the +United Church of England and Ireland, and over <i>such other +Protestant</i> Congregations, as may be desirous of placing themselves +under his or their authority."</p> + +<p>Now here, at the very time that the Anglican Bishops were directing +their censure upon me for avowing an approach to the Catholic Church +not closer than I believed the Anglican formularies would allow, they +were on the other hand fraternising, by their act or by their +sufferance, with Protestant bodies, and allowing them to put +themselves under an Anglican Bishop, without any renunciation of +their errors or regard to the due reception of baptism and +confirmation; while there was great reason to suppose that the said +Bishop was intended to make converts from the orthodox Greeks, and +the schismatical Oriental bodies, by means of the influence of +England. This was the third blow, which finally shattered my faith in +the Anglican Church. That Church was not only forbidding any sympathy +or concurrence with the Church of Rome, but it actually was courting +an intercommunion with Protestant Prussia and the heresy of the +Orientals. The Anglican Church might have the apostolical succession, +as had the Monophysites; but such acts as were in progress led me to +the gravest suspicion, not that it would soon cease to be a Church, +but that it had never been a Church all along.</p> + +<p>On October 12th I thus wrote to a friend:—"We have not a single +Anglican in Jerusalem, so we are sending a Bishop to <i>make</i> a +communion, not to govern our own people. Next, the excuse is, that +there are converted Anglican Jews there who require a Bishop; I am +told there are not half-a-dozen. But for <i>them</i> the Bishop is sent +out, and for them he is a Bishop of the <i>circumcision</i>" (I think he +was a converted Jew, who boasted of his Jewish descent), "against the +Epistle to the Galatians pretty nearly. Thirdly, for the sake of +Prussia, he is to take under him all the foreign Protestants who will +come; and the political advantages will be so great, from the +influence of England, that there is no doubt they will come. They are +to sign the Confession of Augsburg, and there is nothing to show that +they hold the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration.</p> + +<p>"As to myself, I shall do nothing whatever publicly, unless indeed it +were to give my signature to a Protest; but I think it would be out +of place in <i>me</i> to agitate, having been in a way silenced; but the +Archbishop is really doing most grave work, of which we cannot see +the end."</p> + +<p>I did make a solemn Protest, and sent it to the Archbishop of +Canterbury, and also sent it to my own Bishop, with the following +letter:—</p> + +<p>"It seems as if I were never to write to your Lordship, without +giving you pain, and I know that my present subject does not +specially concern your Lordship; yet, after a great deal of anxious +thought, I lay before you the enclosed Protest.</p> + +<p>"Your Lordship will observe that I am not asking for any notice of +it, unless you think that I ought to receive one. I do this very +serious act, in obedience to my sense of duty.</p> + +<p>"If the English Church is to enter on a new course, and assume a new +aspect, it will be more pleasant to me hereafter to think, that I did +not suffer so grievous an event to happen, without bearing witness +against it.</p> + +<p>"May I be allowed to say, that I augur nothing but evil, if we in any +respect prejudice our title to be a branch of the Apostolic Church? +That Article of the Creed, I need hardly observe to your Lordship, is +of such constraining power, that, if <i>we</i> will not claim it, and use +it for ourselves, <i>others</i> will use it in their own behalf against +us. Men who learn, whether by means of documents or measures, whether +from the statements or the acts of persons in authority, that our +communion is not a branch of the one Church, I foresee with much +grief, will be tempted to look out for that Church elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"It is to me a subject of great dismay, that, as far as the Church +has lately spoken out, on the subject of the opinions which I and +others hold, those opinions are, not merely not <i>sanctioned</i> (for +that I do not ask), but not even <i>suffered</i>.</p> + +<p>"I earnestly hope that your Lordship will excuse my freedom in thus +speaking to you of some members of your Most Rev. and Right Rev. +Body. With every feeling of reverent attachment to your Lordship,<br> +I am, etc."</p> + +<h4>PROTEST</h4> + +<p>"Whereas the Church of England has a claim on the allegiance of +Catholic believers only on the ground of her own claim to be +considered a branch of the Catholic Church:</p> + +<p>"And whereas the recognition of heresy, indirect as well as direct, +goes far to destroy such claim in the case of any religious body +advancing it:</p> + +<p>"And whereas to admit maintainers of heresy to communion, without +formal renunciation of their errors, goes far towards recognising the +same:</p> + +<p>"And whereas Lutheranism and Calvinism are heresies, repugnant to +Scripture, springing up three centuries since, and anathematised by +East as well as West:</p> + +<p>"And whereas it is reported that the Most Reverend Primate and other +Right Reverend Rulers of our Church have consecrated a Bishop with a +view to exercising spiritual jurisdiction over Protestant, that is, +Lutheran and Calvinist congregations in the East (under the +provisions of an Act made in the last session of Parliament to amend +an Act made in the 26th year of the reign of his Majesty King George +the Third, intituled, 'An Act to empower the Archbishop of +Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York for the time being, to +consecrate to the office of Bishop persons being subjects or citizens +of countries out of his Majesty's dominions'), dispensing at the +same time, not in particular cases and accidentally, but as if on +principle and universally, with any abjuration of error on the part +of such congregations, and with any reconciliation to the Church on +the part of the presiding Bishop; thereby giving some sort of formal +recognition to the doctrines which such congregations maintain:</p> + +<p>"And whereas the dioceses in England are connected together by so +close an intercommunion, that what is done by authority in one, +immediately affects the rest:</p> + +<p>"On these grounds, I in my place, being a priest of the English +Church and Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin's, Oxford, by way of +relieving my conscience, do hereby solemnly protest against the +measure aforesaid, and disown it, as removing our Church from her +present ground and tending to her disorganisation.</p> + +<p class="sourcecite">"JOHN HENRY NEWMAN.<br> +<p>"November 11, 1841."</p> + +<p>Looking back two years afterwards on the above-mentioned and other +acts, on the part of Anglican Ecclesiastical authorities, I observe: +"Many a man might have held an abstract theory about the Catholic +Church, to which it was difficult to adjust the Anglican—might have +admitted a suspicion, or even painful doubts about the latter—yet +never have been impelled onwards, had our Rulers preserved the +quiescence of former years; but it is the corroboration of a present, +living, and energetic heterodoxy, which realises and makes them +practical; it has been the recent speeches and acts of authorities, +who had so long been tolerant of Protestant error, which have given +to inquiry and to theory its force and its edge."</p> + +<p>As to the project of a Jerusalem Bishopric, I never heard of any good +or harm it has ever done, except what it has done for me; which many +think a great misfortune, and I one of the greatest of mercies. It +brought me on to the beginning of the end.</p> + +<div id="p6" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Part VI</h3> +<h3>History of My Religious Opinions—1841–1845</h3> +</div> + +<p>From the end of 1841, I was on my death-bed, as regards my membership +with the Anglican Church, though at the time I became aware of it +only by degrees. I introduce what I have to say with this remark, by +way of accounting for the character of this remaining portion of my +narrative. A death-bed has scarcely a history; it is a tedious +decline, with seasons of rallying and seasons of falling back; and +since the end is foreseen, or what is called a matter of time, it has +little interest for the reader, especially if he has a kind heart. +Moreover, it is a season when doors are closed and curtains drawn, +and when the sick man neither cares nor is able to record the stages +of his malady. I was in these circumstances, except so far as I was +not allowed to die in peace,—except so far as friends, who had still +a full right to come in upon me, and the public world which had not, +have given a sort of history to those last four years. But in +consequence, my narrative must be in great measure documentary. +Letters of mine to friends have come to me since their deaths; others +have been kindly lent me for the occasion; and I have some drafts of +letters, and notes of my own, though I have no strictly personal or +continuous memoranda to consult, and have unluckily mislaid some +valuable papers.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">And first as to my position in the view of duty; it was this:—1. I +had given up my place in the Movement in my letter to the Bishop of +Oxford in the spring of 1841; but 2. I could not give up my duties +towards the many and various minds who had more or less been brought +into it by me; 3. I expected or intended gradually to fall back into +Lay Communion; 4. I never contemplated leaving the Church of England; +5. I could not hold office in her, if I were not allowed to hold the +Catholic sense of the Articles; 6. I could not go to Rome, while she +suffered honours to be paid to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints +which I thought incompatible with the Supreme, Incommunicable Glory +of the One Infinite and Eternal; 7. I desired a union with Rome under +conditions, Church with Church; 8. I called Littlemore my Torres +Vedras, and thought that some day we might advance again within the +Anglican Church, as we had been forced to retire; 9. I kept back all +persons who were disposed to go to Rome with all my might.</p> + +<p>And I kept them back for three or four reasons; 1, because what I +could not in conscience do myself, I could not suffer them to do; 2, +because I thought that in various cases they were acting under +excitement; 3, while I held St. Mary's, because I had duties to my +Bishop and to the Anglican Church; and 4, in some cases, because I +had received from their Anglican parents or superiors direct charge +of them.</p> + +<p>This was my view of my duty from the end of 1841, to my resignation +of St. Mary's in the autumn of 1843. And now I shall relate my view, +during that time, of the state of the controversy between the +Churches.</p> + +<p>As soon as I saw the hitch in the Anglican argument, during my course +of reading in the summer of 1839, I began to look about, as I have +said, for some ground which might supply a controversial basis for +my need. The difficulty in question had affected my view both of +Antiquity and Catholicity; for, while the history of St. Leo showed +me that the deliberate and eventual consent of the great body of the +Church ratified a doctrinal decision, it also showed that the rule of +Antiquity was not infringed, though a doctrine had not been publicly +recognised as a portion of the dogmatic foundation of the Church, +till centuries after the time of the apostles. Thus, whereas the +Creeds tell us that the Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, +I could not prove that the Anglican communion was an integral part of +the One Church, on the ground of its being Apostolic or Catholic, +without reasoning in favour of what are commonly called the Roman +corruptions; and I could not defend our separation from Rome without +using arguments prejudicial to those great doctrines concerning our +Lord, which are the very foundation of the Christian religion. The +<i>Via Media</i> was an impossible idea; it was what I had called +"standing on one leg;" and it was necessary, if my old issue of the +controversy was to be retained, to go further either one way or the +other.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, I abandoned that old ground and took another. I +deliberately quitted the old Anglican ground as untenable; but I did +not do so all at once, but as I became more and more convinced of +the state of the case. The Jerusalem bishopric was the ultimate +condemnation of the old theory of the <i>Via Media</i>; from that time the +Anglican Church was, in my mind, either not a normal portion of that +One Church to which the promises were made, or at least in an +abnormal state, and from that time I said boldly, as I did in my +Protest, and as indeed I had even intimated in my letter to the +Bishop of Oxford, that the Church in which I found myself had no +claim on me, except on condition of its being a portion of the One +Catholic Communion, and that that condition must ever be borne in +mind as a practical matter, and had to be distinctly proved. All +this was not inconsistent with my saying that, at this time, I had +no thought of leaving that Church because I felt some of my old +objections against Rome as strongly as ever. I had no right, I had no +leave, to act against my conscience. That was a higher rule than any +argument about the notes of the Church.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances I turned for protection to the note of +sanctity, with a view of showing that we had at least one of the +necessary notes, as fully as the Church of Rome; or, at least, +without entering into comparisons, that we had it in such a +sufficient sense as to reconcile us to our position, and to supply +full evidence, and a clear direction, on the point of practical duty. +We had the note of life,—not any sort of life, not such only as can +come of nature, but a supernatural Christian life, which could only +come directly from above. In my article in the <i>British Critic</i>, to +which I have so often referred, in January, 1840 (before the time of +Tract 90), I said of the Anglican Church that "she has the note of +possession, the note of freedom from party titles, the note of +life,—a tough life and a vigorous; she has ancient descent, unbroken +continuance, agreement in doctrine with the Ancient Church." +Presently I go on to speak of sanctity: "Much as Roman Catholics may +denounce us at present as schismatical, they could not resist us if +the Anglican communion had but that one note of the Church upon +it,—sanctity. The Church of the day [fourth century] could not +resist Meletius; his enemies were fairly overcome by him, by his +meekness and holiness, which melted the most jealous of them." And I +continue, "We are almost content to say to Romanists, account us not +yet as a branch of the Catholic Church, though we be a branch, till +we are like a branch, provided that when we do become like a branch, +then you consent to acknowledge us," etc. And so I was led on in +the Article to that sharp attack on English Catholics for their +short-comings as regards this note, a good portion of which I have +already quoted in another place. It is there that I speak of +the great scandal which I took at their political, social, and +controversial bearing; and this was a second reason why I fell back +upon the note of sanctity, because it took me away from the necessity +of making any attack upon the doctrines of the Roman Church, nay, +from the consideration of her popular beliefs, and brought me upon +a ground on which I felt I could not make a mistake; for what is +a higher guide for us in speculation and in practice, than that +conscience of right and wrong, of truth and falsehood, those +sentiments of what is decorous, consistent, and noble, which our +Creator has made a part of our original nature? Therefore I felt I +could not be wrong in attacking what I fancied was a fact,—the +unscrupulousness, the deceit, and the intriguing spirit of the agents +and representatives of Rome.</p> + +<p>This reference to holiness as the true test of a Church was steadily +kept in view in what I wrote in connection with Tract 90. I say in +its Introduction, "The writer can never be party to forcing the +opinions or projects of one school upon another; religious changes +should be the act of the whole body. No good can come of a change +which is not a development of feelings springing up freely and calmly +within the bosom of the whole body itself; every change in religion" +must be "attended by deep repentance; changes" must be "nurtured in +mutual love; we cannot agree without a supernatural influence;" +we must come "together to God to do for us what we cannot do for +ourselves." In my letter to the bishop I said, "I have set myself +against suggestions for considering the differences between ourselves +and the foreign Churches with a view to their adjustment." (I meant +in the way of negotiation, conference, agitation, or the like.) "Our +business is with ourselves,—to make ourselves more holy, more +self-denying, more primitive, more worthy of our high calling. To be +anxious for a composition of differences is to begin at the end. +Political reconciliations are but outward and hollow, and fallacious. +And till Roman Catholics renounce political efforts, and manifest in +their public measures the light of holiness and truth, perpetual war +is our only prospect."</p> + +<p>According to this theory, a religious body is part of the One +Catholic and Apostolic Church, if it has the succession and the creed +of the apostles, with the note of holiness of life; and there is much +in such a view to approve itself to the direct common sense and +practical habits of an Englishman. However, with events consequent +upon Tract 90, I sunk my theory to a lower level. What could be said +in apology, when the bishops and the people of my Church, not only +did not suffer, but actually rejected primitive Catholic doctrine, +and tried to eject from their communion all who held it? after the +Bishops' charges? after the Jerusalem "abomination?" Well, this could +be said; still we were not nothing: we could not be as if we never +had been a Church; we were "Samaria." This then was that lower level +on which I placed myself, and all who felt with me, at the end of +1841.</p> + +<p>To bring out this view was the purpose of four sermons preached at +St. Mary's in December of that year. Hitherto I had not introduced +the exciting topics of the day into the pulpit; on this occasion +I did. I did so, for the moment was urgent; there was great +unsettlement of mind among us, in consequence of those same events +which had unsettled me. One special anxiety, very obvious, which was +coming on me now, was, that what was "one man's meat was another +man's poison." I had said even of Tract 90, "It was addressed to one +set of persons, and has been used and commented on by another;" still +more was it true now, that whatever I wrote for the service of those +whom I knew to be in trouble of mind, would become on the one hand +matter of suspicion and slander in the mouths of my opponents, and of +distress and surprise to those on the other hand, who had no +difficulties of faith at all. Accordingly, when I published +these four sermons at the end of 1843, I introduced them with a +recommendation that none should read them who did not need them. +But in truth the virtual condemnation of Tract 90, after that the +whole difficulty seemed to have been weathered, was an enormous +disappointment and trial. My Protest also against the Jerusalem +Bishopric was an unavoidable cause of excitement in the case of many; +but it calmed them too, for the very fact of a Protest was a relief +to their impatience. And so, in like manner, as regards the four +sermons, of which I speak, though they acknowledged freely the great +scandal which was involved in the recent episcopal doings, yet at the +same time they might be said to bestow upon the multiplied disorders +and shortcomings of the Anglican Church a sort of place in the +Revealed Dispensation, and an intellectual position in the +controversy, and the dignity of a great principle, for unsettled +minds to take and use, which might teach them to recognise their own +consistency, and to be reconciled to themselves, and which might +absorb into itself and dry up a multitude of their grudgings, +discontents, misgivings, and questionings, and lead the way to +humble, thankful, and tranquil thoughts;—and this was the effect +which certainly it produced on myself.</p> + +<p>The point of these sermons is, that, in spite of the rigid character +of the Jewish law, the formal and literal force of its precepts, and +the manifest schism, and worse than schism, of the ten tribes, yet +in fact they were still recognised as a people by the Divine Mercy; +that the great prophets Elias and Eliseus were sent to them, and not +only so, but sent to preach to them and reclaim them, without any +intimation that they must be reconciled to the line of David and the +Aaronic priesthood, or go up to Jerusalem to worship. They were not +in the Church, yet they had the means of grace and the hope of +acceptance with their Maker. The application of all this to the +Anglican Church was immediate;—whether a man could assume or +exercise ministerial functions under the circumstances, or not, might +not clearly appear, though it must be remembered that England had the +apostolic priesthood, whereas Israel had no priesthood at all; but so +far was clear, that there was no call at all for an Anglican to leave +his Church for Rome, though he did not believe his own to be part of +the One Church:—and for this reason, because it was a fact that the +kingdom of Israel was cut off from the Temple; and yet its subjects, +neither in a mass, nor as individuals, neither the multitudes on +Mount Carmel, nor the Shunammite and her household, had any command +given them, though miracles were displayed before them, to break off +from their own people, and to submit themselves to Judah.<a href="#fn3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>It is plain that a theory such as this, whether the marks of a divine +presence and life in the Anglican Church were sufficient to prove +that she was actually within the covenant, or only sufficient to +prove that she was at least enjoying extraordinary and uncovenanted +mercies, not only lowered her level in a religious point of view, +but weakened her controversial basis. Its very novelty made it +suspicious; and there was no guarantee that the process of subsidence +might not continue, and that it might not end in a submersion. +Indeed, to many minds, to say that England was wrong was even to say +that Rome was right; and no ethical reasoning whatever could overcome +in their case the argument from prescription and authority. To this +objection I could only answer that I did not make my circumstances. I +fully acknowledged the force and effectiveness of the genuine +An glican theory, and that it was all but proof against the disputants +of Rome; but still like Achilles, it had a vulnerable point, and that +St. Leo had found it out for me, and that I could not help it;—that, +were it not for matter of fact, the theory would be great indeed, it +would be irresistible, if it were only true. When I became a +Catholic, the editor of a magazine who had in former days accused me, +to my indignation, of tending towards Rome, wrote to me to ask, which +of the two was now right, he or I? I answered him in a letter, part +of which I here insert, as it will serve as a sort of leave-taking of +the great theory, which is so specious to look upon, so difficult to +prove, and so hopeless to work.</p> + +<p>"Nov. 8, 1845. I do not think, at all more than I did, that the +Anglican principles which I advocated at the date you mention, lead +men to the Church of Rome. If I must specify what I mean by 'Anglican +principles,' I should say, <i>e.g.</i> taking <i>Antiquity</i>, not the +<i>existing Church</i>, as the oracle of truth; and holding that the +<i>Apostolical Succession</i> is a sufficient guarantee of Sacramental +Grace, without <i>union with the Christian Church throughout the +world</i>. I think these still the firmest, strongest ground against +Rome—that is, <i>if they can be held</i>. They <i>have</i> been held by many, +and are far more difficult to refute in the Roman controversy, than +those of any other religious body.</p> + +<p>"For myself, I found <i>I could not</i> hold them. I left them. From the +time I began to suspect their unsoundness, I ceased to put them +forward. When I was fairly sure of their unsoundness, I gave up my +Living. When I was fully confident that the Church of Rome was the +only true Church, I joined her.</p> + +<p>"I have felt all along that Bp. Bull's theology was the only theology +on which the English Church could stand. I have felt, that opposition +to the Church of Rome was <i>part</i> of that theology; and that he who +could not protest against the Church of Rome was no true divine in +the English Church. I have never said, nor attempted to say, that any +one in office in the English Church, whether Bishop or incumbent, +could be otherwise than in hostility to the Church of Rome."</p> + +<p>The <i>Via Media</i> then disappeared for ever, and a new Theory, made +expressly for the occasion, took its place. I was pleased with my new +view. I wrote to an intimate friend, Dec. 13, 1841, "I think you will +give me the credit, Carissime, of not undervaluing the strength of +the feelings which draw one [to Rome], and yet I am (I trust) quite +clear about my duty to remain where I am; indeed, much clearer than I +was some time since. If it is not presumptuous to say, I have ... a +much more definite view of the promised inward Presence of Christ +with us in the Sacraments now that the outward notes of it are being +removed. And I am content to be with Moses in the desert, or with +Elijah excommunicated from the Temple. I say this, putting things at +the strongest."</p> + +<p>However, my friends of the moderate Apostolical party, who were my +friends for the very reason of my having been so moderate and +Anglican myself in general tone in times past, who had stood up for +Tract 90 partly from faith in me, and certainly from generous and +kind feeling, and had thereby shared an obloquy which was none of +theirs, were naturally surprised and offended at a line of argument, +novel, and, as it appeared to them, wanton, which threw the whole +controversy into confusion, stultified my former principles, and +substituted, as they would consider, a sort of methodistic +self-contemplation, especially abhorrent both to my nature and to my +past professions, for the plain and honest tokens, as they were +commonly received, of a divine mission in the Anglican Church. They +could not tell whither I was going; and were still further annoyed, +when I would view the reception of Tract 90 by the public and the +Bishops as so grave a matter, and threw about what they considered +mysterious hints of "eventualities," and would not simply say, "An +Anglican I was born, and an Anglican I will die." One of my familiar +friends, who was in the country at Christmas, 1841-2, reported to me +the feeling that prevailed about me; and how I felt towards it will +appear in the following letter of mine, written in answer:—</p> + +<p>"Oriel, Dec. 24, 1841. Carissime, you cannot tell how sad your +account of Moberly has made me. His view of the sinfulness of the +decrees of Trent is as much against union of Churches as against +individual conversions. To tell the truth, I never have examined +those decrees with this object, and have no view; but that is very +different from having a deliberate view against them. Could not he +say <i>which</i> they are? I suppose Transubstantiation is one. A. B., +though of course he would not like to have it repeated, does not +scruple at that. I have not my mind clear. Moberly must recollect +that Palmer thinks they all bear a Catholic interpretation. For +myself, this only I see, that there is indefinitely more in the +Fathers against our own state of alienation from Christendom than +against the Tridentine Decrees.</p> + +<p>"The only thing I can think of [that I can have said] is this, that +there were persons who, if our Church committed herself to heresy, +<i>sooner</i> than think that there was no Church anywhere, would believe +the Roman to be the Church; and therefore would on faith accept what +they could not otherwise acquiesce in. I suppose, it would be no +relief to him to insist upon the circumstance that there is no +immediate danger. Individuals can never be answered for of course; +but I should think lightly of that man, who, for some act of the +Bishops, should all at once leave the Church. Now, considering how +the Clergy really are improving, considering that this row is even +making them read the Tracts, is it not possible we may all be in a +better state of mind seven years hence to consider these matters? and +may we not leave them meanwhile to the will of Providence? I <i>cannot</i> +believe this work has been of man; God has a right to His own work, +to do what He will with it. May we not try to leave it in His hands, +and be content?</p> + +<p>"If you learn anything about Barter, which leads you to think that I +can relieve him by a letter, let me know. The truth is this—our good +friends do not read the Fathers; they assent to us from the common +sense of the case: then, when the Fathers, and we, say <i>more</i> than +their common sense, they are dreadfully shocked.</p> + +<p>"The Bishop of London has rejected a man, 1. For holding <i>any</i> +Sacrifice in the Eucharist. 2. The Real Presence. 3. That there is a +grace in Ordination.<a href="#fn4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>"Are we quite sure that the Bishops will not be drawing up some +stringent declarations of faith? is this what Moberly fears? Would +the Bishop of Oxford accept them? If so, I should be driven into the +Refuge for the Destitute [Littlemore]. But I promise Moberly, I would +do my utmost to catch all dangerous persons and clap them into +confinement there."</p> + +<p>Christmas Day, 1841. "I have been dreaming of Moberly all night. +Should not he and the like see, that it is unwise, unfair, and +impatient to ask others, What will you do under circumstances, which +have not, which may never come? Why bring fear, suspicion, and +disunion into the camp about things which are merely <i>in posse</i>? +Natural, and exceedingly kind as Barter's and another friend's +letters were, I think they have done great harm. I speak most +sincerely when I say, that there are things which I neither +contemplate, nor wish to contemplate; but, when I am asked about them +ten times, at length I begin to contemplate them.</p> + +<p>"He surely does not mean to say, that <i>nothing</i> could separate a man +from the English Church, <i>e.g.</i> its avowing Socinianism; its holding +the Holy Eucharist in a Socinian sense. Yet, he would say, it was not +<i>right</i> to contemplate such things.</p> + +<p>"Again, our case is [diverging] from that of Ken's. To say nothing of +the last miserable century, which has given us to <i>start</i> from a much +lower level and with much less to <i>spare</i> than a Churchman in the +17th century, questions of <i>doctrine</i> are now coming in; with him, it +was a question of discipline.</p> + +<p>"If such dreadful events were realised, I cannot help thinking we +should all be vastly more agreed than we think now. Indeed, is it +possible (humanly speaking) that those, who have so much the same +heart, should widely differ? But let this be considered, as to +alternatives. <i>What</i> communion could we join? Could the Scotch or +American sanction the presence of its Bishops and congregations in +England, without incurring the imputation of schism, unless indeed +(and is that likely?) they denounced the English as heretical?</p> + +<p>"Is not this a time of strange providences? is it not our safest +course, without looking to consequences, to do simply <i>what we think +right</i> day by day? shall we not be sure to go wrong, if we attempt to +trace by anticipation the course of divine Providence?</p> + +<p>"Has not all our misery, as a Church, arisen from people being afraid +to look difficulties in the face? They have palliated acts, when they +should have denounced them. There is that good fellow, Worcester +Palmer, can whitewash the Ecclesiastical Commission and the Jerusalem +Bishopric. And what is the consequence? that our Church has, through +centuries, ever been sinking lower and lower, till good part of its +pretensions and professions is a mere sham, though it be a duty to +make the best of what we have received. Yet, though bound to make the +best of other men's shams, let us not incur any of our own. The +truest friends of our Church are they, who say boldly when her +rulers are going wrong, and the consequences; and (to speak +catachrestically) <i>they</i> are most likely to die in the Church, who +are, under these black circumstances, most prepared to leave it.</p> + +<p>"And I will add, that, considering the traces of God's grace which +surround us, I am very sanguine, or rather confident (if it is right +so to speak), that our prayers and our alms will come up as a +memorial before God, and that all this miserable confusion tends to +good.</p> + +<p>"Let us not then be anxious, and anticipate differences in prospect, +when we agree in the present.</p> + +<p>"P.S. I think, when friends [<i>i.e.</i> the extreme party] get over their +first unsettlement of mind and consequent vague apprehensions, which +the new attitude of the Bishops, and our feelings upon it, have +brought about, they will get contented and satisfied. They will see +that they exaggerated things.... Of course it would have been wrong +to anticipate what one's feelings would be under such a painful +contingency as the Bishops' charging as they have done—so it seems +to me nobody's fault. Nor is it wonderful that others" [moderate men] +"are startled" [<i>i.e.</i> at my Protest, etc. etc.]; "yet they should +recollect that the more implicit the reverence one pays to a Bishop, +the more keen will be one's perception of heresy in him. The cord is +binding and compelling, till it snaps.</p> + +<p>"Men of reflection would have seen this, if they had looked that way. +Last spring, a very high churchman talked to me of resisting my +Bishop, of asking him for the Canons under which he acted, and so +forth; but those, who have cultivated a loyal feeling towards their +superiors, are the most loving servants, or the most zealous +protestors. If others became so too, if the clergy of Chester +denounced the heresy of their diocesan, they would be doing their +duty, and relieving themselves of the share which they otherwise have +in any possible defection of their brethren."</p> + +<p>"St. Stephen's [December 26]. How I fidget! I now fear that the note +I wrote yesterday only makes matters worse by <i>disclosing</i> too much. +This is always my great difficulty.</p> + +<p>"In the present state of excitement on both sides, I think of leaving +out altogether my reassertion of No. 90 in my Preface to Volume 6, +and merely saying, 'As many false reports are at this time in +circulation about him, he hopes his well-wishers will take this +Volume as an indication of his real thoughts and feelings: those who +are not, he leaves in God's hand to bring them to a better mind in +His own time.' What do you say to the logic, sentiment, and propriety +of this?"</p> + +<p>There was one very old friend, at a distance from Oxford, afterwards +a Catholic, now dead some years, who must have said something to me, +I do not know what, which challenged a frank reply; for I disclosed +to him, I do not know in what words, my frightful suspicion, hitherto +only known to two persons, as regards my Anglicanism, perhaps I might +break down in the event, that perhaps we were both out of the Church. +He answered me thus, under date of Jan. 29, 1842: "I don't think that +I ever was so shocked by any communication, which was ever made to +me, as by your letter of this morning. It has quite unnerved me.... I +cannot but write to you, though I am at a loss where to begin ... I +know of no act by which we have dissevered ourselves from the +communion of the Church Universal.... The more I study Scripture, the +more am I impressed with the resemblance between the Romish principle +in the Church and the Babylon of St. John.... I am ready to grieve +that I ever directed my thoughts to theology, if it is indeed so +uncertain, as your doubts seem to indicate."</p> + +<p>While my old and true friends were thus in trouble about me, I +suppose they felt not only anxiety but pain, to see that I was +gradually surrendering myself to the influence of others, who had not +their own claims upon me, younger men, and of a cast of mind +uncongenial to my own. A new school of thought was rising, as is +usual in such movements, and was sweeping the original party of the +movement aside, and was taking its place. The most prominent person +in it, was a man of elegant genius, of classical mind, of rare talent +in literary composition:—Mr. Oakeley. He was not far from my own +age; I had long known him, though of late years he had not been in +residence at Oxford; and quite lately, he has been taking several +signal occasions of renewing that kindness, which he ever showed +towards me when we were both in the Anglican Church. His tone of mind +was not unlike that which gave a character to the early movement; he +was almost a typical Oxford man, and, as far as I recollect, both in +political and ecclesiastical views, would have been of one spirit +with the Oriel party of 1826-1833. But he had entered late into the +Movement; he did not know its first years; and, beginning with a new +start, he was naturally thrown together with that body of eager, +acute, resolute minds who had begun their Catholic life about the +same time as he, who knew nothing about the <i>Via Media</i>, but had +heard much about Rome. This new party rapidly formed and increased, +in and out of Oxford, and, as it so happened, contemporaneously with +that very summer, when I received so serious a blow to my +ecclesiastical views from the study of the Monophysite controversy. +These men cut into the original Movement at an angle, fell across its +line of thought, and then set about turning that line in its own +direction. They were most of them keenly religious men, with a true +concern for their souls as the first matter of all, with a great zeal +for me, but giving little certainty at the time as to which way they +would ultimately turn. Some in the event have remained firm to +Anglicanism, some have become Catholics, and some have found a refuge +in Liberalism. Nothing was clearer concerning them, than that they +needed to be kept in order; and on me who had had so much to do with +the making of them, that duty was as clearly incumbent; and it is +equally clear, from what I have already said, that I was just the +person, above all others, who could not undertake it. There are no +friends like old friends; but of those old friends, few could help +me, few could understand me, many were annoyed with me, some were +angry, because I was breaking up a compact party, and some, as a +matter of conscience, could not listen to me. I said, bitterly, "You +are throwing me on others, whether I will or no." Yet still I had +good and true friends around me of the old sort, in and out of Oxford +too. But on the other hand, though I neither was so fond of the +persons, nor of the methods of thought, which belonged to this new +school, excepting two or three men, as of the old set, though I could +not trust in their firmness of purpose, for, like a swarm of flies, +they might come and go, and at length be divided and dissipated, yet +I had an intense sympathy in their object and in the direction of +their path, in spite of my old friends, in spite of my old life-long +prejudices. In spite of my ingrained fears of Rome, and the decision +of my reason and conscience against her usages, in spite of my +affection for Oxford and Oriel, yet I had a secret longing love of +Rome the author of English Christianity, and I had a true devotion to +the Blessed Virgin, in whose College I lived, whose altar I served, +and whose immaculate purity I had in one of my earliest printed +Sermons made much of. And it was the consciousness of this bias in +myself, if it is so to be called, which made me preach so earnestly +against the danger of being swayed by our sympathy rather than our +reason in religious inquiry. And moreover, the members of this new +school looked up to me, as I have said, and did me true kindnesses, +and really loved me, and stood by me in trouble, when others went +away, and for all this I was grateful; nay, many of them were in +trouble themselves, and in the same boat with me, and that was a +further cause of sympathy between us; and hence it was, when the new +school came on in force, and into collision with the old, I had not +the heart, any more than the power, to repel them; I was in great +perplexity, and hardly knew where I stood; I took their part: and, +when I wanted to be in peace and silence, I had to speak out, and I +incurred the charge of weakness from some men, and of mysteriousness, +shuffling, and underhand dealing from the majority.</p> + +<p>Now I will say here frankly, that this sort of charge is a matter +which I cannot properly meet, because I cannot duly realise it. I +have never had any suspicion of my own honesty; and, when men say +that I was dishonest, I cannot grasp the accusation as a distinct +conception, such as it is possible to encounter. If a man said to me, +"On such a day and before such persons you said a thing was white, +when it was black," I understand what is meant well enough, and I can +set myself to prove an alibi or to explain the mistake; or if a man +said to me, "You tried to gain me over to your party, intending to +take me with you to Rome, but you did not succeed," I can give him +the lie, and lay down an assertion of my own as firm and as exact as +his, that not from the time that I was first unsettled, did I ever +attempt to gain any one over to myself or to my Romanizing opinions, +and that it is only his own coxcombical fancy which has bred such a +thought in him: but my imagination is at a loss in presence of those +vague charges, which have commonly been brought against me, charges, +which are made up of impressions, and understandings, and inferences, +and hearsay, and surmises. Accordingly, I shall not make the attempt, +for, in doing so, I should be dealing blows in the air; what I shall +attempt is to state what I know of myself and what I recollect, and +leave its application to others.</p> + +<p>While I had confidence in the <i>Via Media</i>, and thought that nothing +could overset it, I did not mind laying down large principles, which +I saw would go further than was commonly perceived. I considered that +to make the <i>Via Media</i> concrete and substantive, it must be much +more than it was in outline; that the Anglican Church must have a +ceremonial, a ritual, and a fulness of doctrine and devotion, which +it had not at present, if it were to compete with the Roman Church +with any prospect of success. Such additions would not remove it from +its proper basis, but would merely strengthen and beautify it: such, +for instance, would be confraternities, particular devotions, +reverence for the Blessed Virgin, prayers for the dead, beautiful +churches, rich offerings to them and in them, monastic houses, and +many other observances and institutions, which I used to say belonged +to us as much as to Rome, though Rome had appropriated them, and +boasted of them, by reason of our having let them slip from us. The +principle, on which all this turned, is brought out in one of the +letters I published on occasion of Tract 90. "The age is moving," +I said, "towards something; and most unhappily the one religious +communion among us, which has of late years been practically in +possession of this something, is the Church of Rome. She alone, amid +all the errors and evils of her practical system, has given free +scope to the feelings of awe, mystery, tenderness, reverence, +devotedness, and other feelings which may be especially called +Catholic. The question then is, whether we shall give them up to the +Roman Church or claim them for ourselves.... But if we do give them +up, we must give up the men who cherish them. We must consent either +to give up the men, or to admit their principles." With these +feelings I frankly admit, that, while I was working simply for the +sake of the Anglican Church, I did not at all mind, though I found +myself laying down principles in its defence, which went beyond that +particular defence which high-and-dry men thought perfection, and +though I ended in framing a sort of defence, which they might call a +revolution, while I thought it a restoration. Thus, for illustration, +I might discourse upon the "Communion of Saints" in such a manner, +(though I do not recollect doing so) as might lead the way towards +devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the saints on the one hand, and +towards prayers for the dead on the other. In a memorandum of the +year 1844 or 1845, I thus speak on this subject: "If the Church be +not defended on establishment grounds, it must be upon principles, +which go far beyond their immediate object. Sometimes I saw these +further results, sometimes not. Though I saw them, I sometimes did +not say that I saw them; so long as I thought they were inconsistent, +<i>not</i> with our Church, but only with the existing opinions, I was not +unwilling to insinuate truths into our Church, which I thought had a +right to be there."</p> + +<p>To so much I confess; but I do not confess, I simply deny that I ever +said anything which secretly bore against the Church of England, +knowing it myself, in order that others might unwarily accept it. It +was indeed one of my great difficulties and causes of reserve, as +time went on, that I at length recognised in principles which I had +honestly preached as if Anglican, conclusions favourable to the Roman +Church. Of course I did not like to confess this; and, when +interrogated, was in consequence in perplexity. The prime instance of +this was the appeal to Antiquity; St. Leo had overset, in my own +judgment, its force in the special argument for Anglicanism; yet I +was committed to Antiquity, together with the whole Anglican school; +what then was I to say, when acute minds urged this or that +application of it against the <i>Via Media</i>? it was impossible that, in +such circumstances, any answer could be given which was not +unsatisfactory, or any behaviour adopted which was not mysterious. +Again, sometimes in what I wrote I went just as far as I saw, and +could as little say more, as I could see what is below the horizon; +and therefore, when asked as to the consequences of what I had said, +had no answer to give. Again, sometimes when I was asked, whether +certain conclusions did not follow from a certain principle, I might +not be able to tell at the moment, especially if the matter were +complicated; and for this reason, if for no other, because there +is great difference between a conclusion in the abstract and a +conclusion in the concrete, and because a conclusion may be modified +in fact by a conclusion from some opposite principle. Or it might +so happen that I got simply confused, by the very clearness of the +logic which was administered to me, and thus gave my sanction to +conclusions which really were not mine; and when the report of those +conclusions came round to me through others, I had to unsay them. And +then again, perhaps I did not like to see men scared or scandalised +by unfeeling logical inferences, which would not have touched them to +the day of their death, had they not been made to eat them. And then +I felt altogether the force of the maxim of St. Ambrose, "Non in +dialecticâ complacuit Deo salvum facere populum suum;"—I had a great +dislike of paper logic. For myself, it was not logic that carried me +on; as well might one say that the quicksilver in the barometer +changes the weather. It is the concrete being that reasons; pass a +number of years, and I find my mind in a new place; how? the whole +man moves; paper logic is but the record of it. All the logic in the +world would not have made me move faster towards Rome than I did; as +well might you say that I have arrived at the end of my journey, +because I see the village church before me, as venture to assert that +the miles, over which my soul had to pass before it got to Rome, +could be annihilated, even though I had had some far clearer view +than I then had, that Rome was my ultimate destination. Great acts +take time. At least this is what I felt in my own case; and therefore +to come to me with methods of logic, had in it the nature of a +provocation, and, though I do not think I ever showed it, made me +somewhat indifferent how I met them, and perhaps led me, as a means +of relieving my impatience, to be mysterious or irrelevant, or to +give in because I could not reply. And a greater trouble still than +these logical mazes, was the introduction of logic into every subject +whatever, so far, that is, as it was done. Before I was at Oriel, I +recollect an acquaintance saying to me that "the Oriel Common Room +stank of Logic." One is not at all pleased when poetry, or eloquence, +or devotion, is considered as if chiefly intended to feed syllogisms. +Now, in saying all this, I am saying nothing against the deep piety +and earnestness which were characteristics of this second phase of +the Movement, in which I have taken so prominent a part. What I have +been observing is, that this phase had a tendency to bewilder and to +upset me, and, that instead of saying so, as I ought to have done, in +a sort of easiness, for what I know, I gave answers at random, which +have led to my appearing close or inconsistent.</p> + +<p>I have turned up two letters of this period, which in a measure +illustrate what I have been saying. The first is what I said to the +Bishop of Oxford on occasion of Tract 90:</p> + +<p>"March 20, 1841. No one can enter into my situation but myself. I see +a great many minds working in various directions and a variety of +principles with multiplied bearings; I act for the best. I sincerely +think that matters would not have gone better for the Church, had I +never written. And if I write I have a choice of difficulties. It is +easy for those who do not enter into those difficulties to say, 'He +ought to say this and not say that,' but things are wonderfully +linked together, and I cannot, or rather I would not be dishonest. +When persons too interrogate me, I am obliged in many cases to give +an opinion, or I seem to be underhand. Keeping silence looks like +artifice. And I do not like people to consult or respect me, from +thinking differently of my opinions from what I know them to be. And +again (to use the proverb) what is one man's food is another man's +poison. All these things make my situation very difficult. But that +collision must at some time ensue between members of the Church of +opposite sentiments, I have long been aware. The time and mode has +been in the hand of Providence; I do not mean to exclude my own great +imperfections in bringing it about; yet I still feel obliged to think +the Tract necessary.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Pusey has shown me your Lordship's letters to him. I am most +desirous of saying in print anything which I can honestly say to +remove false impressions created by the Tract."</p> + +<p>The second is part of the notes of a letter sent to Dr. Pusey in the +next year:</p> + +<p>"October 16, 1842. As to my being entirely with A. B., I do not know +the limits of my own opinions. If A. B. says that this or that is a +development from what I have said, I cannot say Yes or No. It is +plausible, it <i>may</i> be true. Of course the fact that the Roman Church +<i>has</i> so developed and maintained, adds great weight to the +antecedent plausibility. I cannot assert that it is not true; but I +cannot, with that keen perception which some people have, appropriate +it. It is a nuisance to me to be <i>forced</i> beyond what I can fairly +accept."</p> + +<p>There was another source of the perplexity with which at this time I +was encompassed, and of the reserve and mysteriousness, of which it +gave me the credit. After Tract 90 the Protestant world would not let +me alone; they pursued me in the public journals to Littlemore. +Reports of all kinds were circulated about me. "Imprimis, why did I +go up to Littlemore at all? For no good purpose certainly; I dared +not tell why." Why, to be sure, it was hard that I should be obliged +to say to the Editors of newspapers that I went up there to say my +prayers; it was hard to have to tell the world in confidence, that I +had a certain doubt about the Anglican system, and could not at that +moment resolve it, or say what would come of it; it was hard to have +to confess that I had thought of giving up my living a year or two +before, and that this was a first step to it. It was hard to have +to plead, that, for what I knew, my doubts would vanish, if the +newspapers would be so good as to give me time and let me alone. +Who would ever dream of making the world his confidant? yet I was +considered insidious, sly, dishonest, if I would not open my heart +to the tender mercies of the world. But they persisted: "What was I +doing at Littlemore?" Doing there? have I not retreated from you? +have I not given up my position and my place? am I alone, of +Englishmen, not to have the privilege to go where I will, no +questions asked? am I alone to be followed about by jealous prying +eyes, who note down whether I go in at a back door or at the front, +and who the men are who happen to call on me in the afternoon? +Cowards! if I advanced one step, you would run away; it is not you +that I fear: "Di me terrent, et Jupiter hostis." It is because the +Bishops still go on charging against me, though I have quite given +up: it is that secret misgiving of heart which tells me that they do +well, for I have neither lot nor part with them: this it is which +weighs me down. I cannot walk into or out of my house, but curious +eyes are upon me. Why will you not let me die in peace? Wounded +brutes creep into some hole to die in, and no one grudges it them. +Let me alone, I shall not trouble you long. This was the keen heavy +feeling which pierced me, and, I think, these are the very words that +I used to myself. I asked, in the words of a great motto, "Ubi +lapsus? quid feci?" One day when I entered my house, I found a flight +of undergraduates inside. Heads of houses, as mounted patrols, walked +their horses round those poor cottages. Doctors of divinity dived +into the hidden recesses of that private tenement uninvited, and drew +domestic conclusions from what they saw there. I had thought that an +Englishman's house was his castle; but the newspapers thought +otherwise, and at last the matter came before my good Bishop. I +insert his letter, and a portion of my reply to him:—</p> + +<p>"April 12, 1842. So many of the charges against yourself and your +friends which I have seen in the public journals have been, within my +own knowledge, false and calumnious, that I am not apt to pay much +attention to what is asserted with respect to you in the newspapers.</p> + +<p>"In a" [newspaper], "however, of April 9, there appears a paragraph +in which it is asserted, as a matter of notoriety, that a 'so-called +Anglo-Catholic Monastery is in process of erection at Littlemore, and +that the cells of dormitories, the chapel, the refectory, the +cloisters all may be seen advancing to perfection, under the eye of a +Parish Priest of the Diocese of Oxford.'</p> + +<p>"Now, as I have understood that you really are possessed of some +tenements at Littlemore—as it is generally believed that they are +destined for the purposes of study and devotion—and as much +suspicion and jealousy are felt about the matter, I am anxious to +afford you an opportunity of making me an explanation on the subject.</p> + +<p>"I know you too well not to be aware that you are the last man living +to attempt in my Diocese a revival of the Monastic orders (in +anything approaching to the Romanist sense of the term) without +previous communication with me—or indeed that you should take upon +yourself to originate any measure of importance without authority +from the heads of the Church—and therefore I at once exonerate you +from the accusation brought against you by the newspaper I have +quoted, but I feel it nevertheless a duty to my Diocese and myself, +as well as to you, to ask you to put it in my power to contradict +what, if uncontradicted, would appear to imply a glaring invasion of +all ecclesiastical discipline on <i>your</i> part, or of inexcusable +neglect and indifference to my duties on <i>mine</i>."</p> + +<p class="extraspace">"April 14, 1842. I am very much obliged by your Lordship's kindness +in allowing me to write to you on the subject of my house at +Littlemore; at the same time I feel it hard both on your Lordship and +myself that the restlessness of the public mind should oblige you to +require an explanation of me.</p> + +<p>"It is now a whole year that I have been the subject of incessant +misrepresentation. A year since I submitted entirely to your +Lordship's authority; and with the intention of following out the +particular act enjoined upon me, I not only stopped the series of +Tracts, on which I was engaged, but withdrew from all public +discussion of Church matters of the day, or what may be called +ecclesiastical politics. I turned myself at once to the preparation +for the Press of the translations of St. Athanasius to which I had +long wished to devote myself, and I intended and intend to employ +myself in the like theological studies, and in the concerns of my own +parish and in practical works.</p> + +<p>"With the same view of personal improvement I was led more seriously +to a design which had been long on my mind. For many years, at least +thirteen, I have wished to give myself to a life of greater religious +regularity than I have hitherto led; but it is very unpleasant to +confess such a wish even to my Bishop, because it seems arrogant, and +because it is committing me to a profession which may come to +nothing. For what have I done that I am to be called to account by +the world for my private actions, in a way in which no one else is +called? Why may I not have that liberty which all others are allowed? +I am often accused of being underhand and uncandid in respect to the +intentions to which I have been alluding: but no one likes his own +good resolutions noised about, both from mere common delicacy and +from fear lest he should not be able to fulfil them. I feel it very +cruel, though the parties in fault do not know what they are doing, +that very sacred matters between me and my conscience are made a +matter of public talk. May I take a case parallel though different? +suppose a person in prospect of marriage; would he like the subject +discussed in newspapers, and parties, circumstances, etc., etc., +publicly demanded of him, at the penalty of being accused of craft +and duplicity?</p> + +<p>"The resolution I speak of has been taken with reference to myself +alone, and has been contemplated quite independent of the +co-operation of any other human being, and without reference to +success or failure other than personal, and without regard to the +blame or approbation of man. And being a resolution of years, and one +to which I feel God has called me, and in which I am violating no +rule of the Church any more than if I married, I should have to +answer for it, if I did not pursue it, as a good Providence made +openings for it. In pursuing it then I am thinking of myself alone, +not aiming at any ecclesiastical or external effects. At the same +time of course it would be a great comfort to me to know that God had +put it into the hearts of others to pursue their personal edification +in the same way, and unnatural not to wish to have the benefit of +their presence and encouragement, or not to think it a great +infringement on the rights of conscience if such personal and private +resolutions were interfered with. Your Lordship will allow me to add +my firm conviction that such religious resolutions are most necessary +for keeping a certain class of minds firm in their allegiance to our +Church; but still I can as truly say that my own reason for anything +I have done has been a personal one, without which I should not have +entered upon it, and which I hope to pursue whether with or without +the sympathies of others pursuing a similar course." ...</p> + +<p>"As to my intentions, I purpose to live there myself a good deal, as +I have a resident curate in Oxford. In doing this, I believe I am +consulting for the good of my parish, as my population at Littlemore +is at least equal to that of St. Mary's in Oxford, and the <i>whole</i> of +Littlemore is double of it. It has been very much neglected; and in +providing a parsonage-house at Littlemore, as this will be, and will +be called, I conceive I am doing a very great benefit to my people. +At the same time it has appeared to me that a partial or temporary +retirement from St. Mary's Church might be expedient under the +prevailing excitement.</p> + +<p>"As to the quotation from the [newspaper] which I have not seen, your +Lordship will perceive from what I have said, that no 'monastery is +in process of erection;' there is no 'chapel;' no 'refectory,' hardly +a dining-room or parlour. The 'cloisters' are my shed connecting the +cottages. I do not understand what 'cells of dormitories' means. Of +course I can repeat your Lordship's words that 'I am not attempting +a revival of the Monastic Orders, in anything approaching to the +Romanist sense of the term,' or 'taking on myself to originate any +measure of importance without authority from the Heads of the +Church.' I am attempting nothing ecclesiastical, but something +personal and private, and which can only be made public, not private, +by newspapers and letter-writers, in which sense the most sacred and +conscientious resolves and acts may certainly be made the objects of +an unmannerly and unfeeling curiosity."</p> + +<p>One calumny there was which the bishop did not believe, and of which +of course he had no idea of speaking. It was that I was actually in +the service of the enemy. I had been already received into the +Catholic Church, and was rearing at Littlemore a nest of Papists, +who, like me, were to take the Anglican oaths which they did not +believe, and for which they got dispensation from Rome, and thus in +due time were to bring over to that unprincipled Church great numbers +of the Anglican clergy and laity. Bishops gave their countenance to +this imputation against me. The case was simply this:—as I made +Littlemore a place of retirement for myself, so did I offer it to +others. There were young men in Oxford, whose testimonials for Orders +had been refused by their Colleges; there were young clergymen, who +had found themselves unable from conscience to go on with their +duties, and had thrown up their parochial engagements. Such men were +already going straight to Rome, and I interposed; I interposed for +the reasons I have given in the beginning of this portion of my +narrative. I interposed from fidelity to my clerical engagements, and +from duty to my Bishop; and from the interest which I was bound to +take in them, and from belief that they were premature or excited. +Their friends besought me to quiet them, if I could. Some of them +came to live with me at Littlemore. They were laymen, or in the place +of laymen. I kept some of them back for several years from being +received into the Catholic Church. Even when I had given up my +living, I was still bound by my duty to their parents or friends, and +I did not forget still to do what I could for them. The immediate +occasion of my resigning St. Mary's, was the unexpected conversion of +one of them. After that, I felt it was impossible to keep my post +there, for I had been unable to keep my word with my Bishop.</p> + +<p>The following letters refer, more or less, to these men, whether they +were with me at Littlemore or not:—</p> + +<p>1. 1843 or 1844. "I did not explain to you sufficiently the state of +mind of those who were in danger. I only spoke of those who were +convinced that our Church was external to the Church Catholic, though +they felt it unsafe to trust their own private convictions; but +there are two other states of mind; 1, that of those who are +unconsciously near Rome, and whose <i>despair</i> about our Church would +at once develop into a state of conscious approximation, or a +<i>quasi</i>-resolution to go over; 2, those who feel they can with a safe +conscience remain with us <i>while</i> they are allowed to <i>testify</i> in +behalf of Catholicism, <i>i.e.</i> as if by such acts they were putting +our Church, or at least that portion of it in which they were +included, in the position of catechumens."</p> + +<p>2. "July 16, 1843. I assure you that I feel, with only too much +sympathy, what you say. You need not be told that the whole subject +of our position is a subject of anxiety to others beside yourself. It +is no good attempting to offer advice, when perhaps I might raise +difficulties instead of removing them. It seems to me quite a case, +in which you should, as far as may be, make up your mind for +yourself. Come to Littlemore by all means. We shall all rejoice in +your company; and, if quiet and retirement are able, as they very +likely will be, to reconcile you to things as they are, you shall +have your fill of them. How distressed poor Henry Wilberforce must +be! Knowing how he values you, I feel for him; but, alas! he has his +own position, and every one else has his own, and the misery is that +no two of us have exactly the same.</p> + +<p>"It is very kind of you to be so frank and open with me, as you are; +but this is a time which throws together persons who feel alike. May +I without taking a liberty sign myself, yours affectionately, etc."</p> + +<p>3. "1845. I am concerned to find you speak of me in a tone of +distrust. If you knew me ever so little, instead of hearing of me +from persons who do not know me at all, you would think differently +of me, whatever you thought of my opinions. Two years since, I got +your son to tell you my intention of resigning St. Mary's, before I +made it public, thinking you ought to know it. When you expressed +some painful feeling upon it, I told him I could not consent to his +remaining here, painful as it would be to me to part with him, +without your written sanction. And this you did me the favour to +give.</p> + +<p>"I believe you will find that it has been merely a delicacy on your +son's part, which has delayed his speaking to you about me for two +months past; a delicacy, lest he should say either too much or too +little about me. I have urged him several times to speak to you.</p> + +<p>"Nothing can be done after your letter, but to recommend him to go to +A. B. (his home) at once. I am very sorry to part with him."</p> + +<p>4. The following letter is addressed to a Catholic prelate, who +accused me of coldness in my conduct towards him:—</p> + +<p>"April 16, 1845. I was at that time in charge of a ministerial office +in the English Church, with persons entrusted to me, and a Bishop to +obey; how could I possibly write otherwise than I did without +violating sacred obligations and betraying momentous interests which +were upon me? I felt that my immediate, undeniable duty, clear if +anything was clear, was to fulfil that trust. It might be right +indeed to give it up, that was another thing; but it never could be +right to hold it, and to act as if I did not hold it.... If you knew +me, you would acquit me, I think, of having ever felt towards your +Lordship an unfriendly spirit, or ever having had a shadow on my mind +(as far as I dare witness about myself) of what might be called +controversial rivalry or desire of getting the better, or fear lest +the world should think I had got the worst, or irritation of any +kind. You are too kind indeed to imply this, and yet your words lead +me to say it. And now in like manner, pray believe, though I cannot +explain it to you, that I am encompassed with responsibilities, so +great and so various, as utterly to overcome me, unless I have mercy +from Him, who all through my life has sustained and guided me, and to +whom I can now submit myself, though men of all parties are thinking +evil of me."</p> + +<p>5. "August 30, 1843. A. B. has suddenly conformed to the Church of +Rome. He was away for three weeks. I suppose I must say in my +defence, that he promised me distinctly to remain in our Church three +years, before I received him here."</p> + +<p>Such fidelity, however, was taken <i>in malam partem</i> by the high +Anglican authorities; they thought it insidious. I happen still to +have a correspondence, in which the chief place is filled by one of +the most eminent bishops of the day, a theologian and reader of the +Fathers, a moderate man, who at one time was talked of as likely to +have the reversion of the Primacy. A young clergyman in his diocese +became a Catholic; the papers at once reported on authority from "a +very high quarter," that, after his reception, "the Oxford men had +been recommending him to retain his living." I had reasons for +thinking that the allusion was to me, and I authorised the editor of +a paper, who had inquired of me on the point, to "give it, as far as +I was concerned, an unqualified contradiction;"—when from a motive +of delicacy he hesitated, I added "my direct and indignant +contradiction." "Whoever is the author of it, no correspondence or +intercourse of any kind, direct or indirect, has passed," I continued +to the Editor, "between Mr. S. and myself, since his conforming to +the Church of Rome, except my formally and merely acknowledging the +receipt of his letter, in which he informed me of the fact, without, +as far as I recollect, my expressing any opinion upon it. You may +state this as broadly as I have set it down." My denial was told to +the Bishop; what took place upon it is given in a letter from which I +copy. "My father showed the letter to the Bishop, who, as he laid it +down, said, 'Ah, those Oxford men are not ingenuous.' 'How do you +mean?' I asked my father. 'Why,' said the Bishop, 'they advised Mr. +B. S. to retain his living after he turned Catholic. I know that to +be a fact, because A. B. told me so.'" "The Bishop," continues the +letter, "who is perhaps the most influential man in reality on the +bench, evidently believes it to be the truth." Dr. Pusey too wrote +for me to the Bishop; and the Bishop instantly beat a retreat. "I +have the honour," he says in the autograph which I transcribe, "to +acknowledge the receipt of your note, and to say in reply that it has +not been stated by me (though such a statement has, I believe, +appeared in some of the Public Prints), that Mr. Newman had advised +Mr. B. S. to retain his living, after he had forsaken our Church. But +it has been stated to me, that Mr. Newman was in close correspondence +with Mr. B. S., and, being fully aware of his state of opinions and +feelings, yet advised him to continue in our communion. Allow me to +add," he says to Dr. Pusey, "that neither your name, nor that of Mr. +Keble, was mentioned to me in connection with that of Mr. B. S."</p> + +<p>I was not going to let the Bishop off on this evasion, so I wrote to +him myself. After quoting his letter to Dr. Pusey, I continued, +"I beg to trouble your Lordship with my own account of the two +allegations" [<i>close correspondence</i> and <i>fully aware</i>, etc.] "which +are contained in your statement, and which have led to your speaking +of me in terms which I hope never to deserve. 1. Since Mr. B. S. has +been in your Lordship's diocese, I have seen him in common rooms or +private parties in Oxford two or three times, when I never (as far as +I can recollect) had any conversation with him. During the same time +I have, to the best of my memory, written to him three letters. One +was lately, in acknowledgment of his informing me of his change of +religion. Another was last summer, when I asked him (to no purpose) +to come and stay with me in this place. The earliest of the three +letters was written just a year since, as far as I recollect, and it +certainly was on the subject of his joining the Church of Rome. I +wrote this letter at the earnest wish of a friend of his. I cannot +be sure that, on his replying, I did not send him a brief note in +explanation of points in my letter which he had misapprehended. I +cannot recollect any other correspondence between us.</p> + +<p>"2. As to my knowledge of his opinions and feelings, as far as I +remember, the only point of perplexity which I knew, the only point +which to this hour I know, as pressing upon him, was that of the +Pope's supremacy. He professed to be searching Antiquity whether the +see of Rome had formally that relation to the whole Church which +Roman Catholics now assign to it. My letter was directed to the +point, that it was his duty not to perplex himself with arguments on +[such] a question ... and to put it altogether aside.... It is hard +that I am put upon my memory, without knowing the details of the +statement made against me, considering the various correspondence in +which I am from time to time unavoidably engaged.... Be assured, my +Lord, that there are very definite limits, beyond which persons like +me would never urge another to retain preferment in the English +Church, nor would retain it themselves; and that the censure which +has been directed against them by so many of its Rulers has a very +grave bearing upon those limits." The Bishop replied in a civil +letter, and sent my own letter to his original informant, who wrote +to me the letter of a gentleman. It seems that an anxious lady had +said something or other which had been misinterpreted, against her +real meaning, into the calumny which was circulated, and so the +report vanished into thin air. I closed the correspondence with the +following letter to the Bishop:—</p> + +<p>"I hope your Lordship will believe me when I say, that statements +about me, equally incorrect with that which has come to your +Lordship's ears, are from time to time reported to me as credited and +repeated by the highest authorities in our Church, though it is very +seldom that I have the opportunity of denying them. I am obliged +by your Lordship's letter to Dr. Pusey as giving me such an +opportunity." Then I added, with a purpose, "Your Lordship will +observe that in my Letter I had no occasion to proceed to the +question, whether a person holding Roman Catholic opinions can in +honesty remain in our Church. Lest then any misconception should +arise from my silence, I here take the liberty of adding, that I see +nothing wrong in such a person's continuing in communion with us, +provided he holds no preferment or office, abstains from the +management of ecclesiastical matters, and is bound by no subscription +or oath to our doctrines."</p> + +<p>This was written on March 7, 1843, and was in anticipation of my own +retirement into lay communion. This again leads me to a remark; for +two years I was in lay communion, not indeed being a Catholic in my +convictions, but in a state of serious doubt, and with the probable +prospect of becoming some day, what as yet I was not. Under these +circumstances I thought the best thing I could do was to give up duty +and to throw myself into lay communion, remaining an Anglican. I +could not go to Rome, while I thought what I did of the devotions she +sanctioned to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints. I did not give up +my fellowship, for I could not be sure that my doubts would not be +reduced or overcome, however unlikely I thought such an event. But I +gave up my living; and, for two years before my conversion, I took no +clerical duty. My last sermon was in September, 1843; then I remained +at Littlemore in quiet for two years. But it was made a subject of +reproach to me at the time, and is at this day, that I did not leave +the Anglican Church sooner. To me this seems a wonderful charge; +why, even had I been quite sure that Rome was the true Church, the +Anglican Bishops would have had no just subject of complaint +against me, provided I took no Anglican oath, no clerical duty, no +ecclesiastical administration. Do they force all men who go to their +Churches to believe in the 39 Articles, or to join in the Athanasian +Creed? However, I was to have other measure dealt to me; great +authorities ruled it so; and a learned controversialist in the North +thought it a shame that I did not leave the Church of England as much +as ten years sooner than I did. His nephew, an Anglican clergyman, +kindly wished to undeceive him on this point. So, in 1850, after some +correspondence, I wrote the following letter, which will be of +service to this narrative, from its chronological character:—</p> + +<p>"Dec. 6, 1849. Your uncle says, 'If he (Mr. N.) will declare, sans +phrase, as the French say, that I have laboured under an entire +mistake, and that he was not a concealed Romanist during the ten +years in question' (I suppose, the last ten years of my membership +with the Anglican Church), 'or during any part of the time, my +controversial antipathy will be at an end, and I will readily express +to him that I am truly sorry that I have made such a mistake.'</p> + +<p>"So candid an avowal is what I should have expected from a mind like +your uncle's. I am extremely glad he has brought it to this issue.</p> + +<p>"By a 'concealed Romanist' I understand him to mean one, who, +professing to belong to the Church of England, in his heart and will +intends to benefit the Church of Rome, at the expense of the Church +of England. He cannot mean by the expression merely a person who in +fact is benefiting the Church of Rome, while he is intending to +benefit the Church of England, for that is no discredit to him +morally, and he (your uncle) evidently means to impute blame.</p> + +<p>"In the sense in which I have explained the words, I can simply and +honestly say that I was not a concealed Romanist during the whole, or +any part of, the years in question.</p> + +<p>"For the first four years of the ten (up to Michaelmas, 1839) I +honestly wished to benefit the Church of England, at the expense of +the Church of Rome:</p> + +<p>"For the second four years I wished to benefit the Church of England +without prejudice to the Church of Rome:</p> + +<p>"At the beginning of the ninth year (Michaelmas, 1843) I began to +despair of the Church of England, and gave up all clerical duty; and +then, what I wrote and did was influenced by a mere wish not to +injure it, and not by the wish to benefit it:</p> + +<p>"At the beginning of the tenth year I distinctly contemplated leaving +it, but I also distinctly told my friends that it was in my +contemplation.</p> + +<p>"Lastly, during the last half of that tenth year I was engaged in +writing a book (Essay on Development) in favour of the Roman Church, +and indirectly against the English; but even then, till it was +finished, I had not absolutely intended to publish it, wishing +to reserve to myself the chance of changing my mind when the +argumentative views which were actuating me had been distinctly +brought out before me in writing.</p> + +<p>"I wish this statement, which I make from memory, and without +consulting any document, severely tested by my writings and doings, +as I am confident it will, on the whole, be borne out, whatever real +or apparent exceptions (I suspect none) have to be allowed by me in +detail.</p> + +<p>"Your uncle is at liberty to make what use he pleases of this +explanation."</p> + +<p>I have now reached an important date in my narrative, the year 1843, +but before proceeding to the matters which it contains, I will insert +portions of my letters from 1841 to 1843, addressed to Catholic +acquaintances.</p> + +<p>1. "April 8, 1841 ... The unity of the Church Catholic is very near +my heart, only I do not see any prospect of it in our time; and I +despair of its being effected without great sacrifices on all hands. +As to resisting the Bishop's will, I observe that no point of +doctrine or principle was in dispute, but a course of action, the +publication of certain works. I do not think you sufficiently +understood our position. I suppose you would obey the holy see in +such a case; now, when we were separated from the Pope, his authority +reverted to our Diocesans. Our Bishop is our Pope. It is our theory, +that each diocese is an integral Church, intercommunion being a duty +(and the breach of it a sin), but not essential to Catholicity. +To have resisted my Bishop, would have been to place myself in an +utterly false position, which I never could have recovered. Depend +upon it, the strength of any party lies in its being <i>true to its +theory</i>. Consistency is the life of a movement.</p> + +<p>"I have no misgivings whatever that the line I have taken can be +other than a prosperous one: that is, in itself, for of course +Providence may refuse to us its legitimate issues for our sins.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid, that in one respect you may be disappointed. It is my +trust, though I must not be too sanguine, that we shall not have +individual members of our communion going over to yours. What one's +duty would be under other circumstances, what our duty ten or twenty +years ago, I cannot say; but I do think that there is less of private +judgment in going with one's Church, than in leaving it. I can +earnestly desire a union between my Church and yours. I cannot listen +to the thought of your being joined by individuals among us."</p> + +<p>2. "April 26, 1841. My only anxiety is lest your branch of the Church +should not meet us by those reforms which surely are <i>necessary</i>. It +never could be, that so large a portion of Christendom should have +split off from the communion of Rome, and kept up a protest for 300 +years for nothing. I think I never shall believe that so much piety +and earnestness would be found among Protestants, if there were +not some very grave errors on the side of Rome. To suppose the +contrary is most unreal, and violates all one's notions of moral +probabilities. All aberrations are founded on, and have their life +in, some truth or other—and Protestantism, so widely spread and so +long enduring, must have in it, and must be witness for, a great +truth or much truth. That I am an advocate for Protestantism, you +cannot suppose—but I am forced into a <i>Via Media</i>, short of Rome, as +it is at present."</p> + +<p>3. "May 5, 1841. While I most sincerely hold that there is in the +Roman Church a traditionary system which is not necessarily connected +with her essential formularies, yet, were I ever so much to change my +mind on this point, this would not tend to bring me from my present +position, providentially appointed in the English Church. That +your communion was unassailable, would not prove that mine was +indefensible. Nor would it at all affect the sense in which I receive +our Articles; they would still speak against certain definite errors, +though you had reformed them.</p> + +<p>"I say this lest any lurking suspicion should be left in the mind of +your friends that persons who think with me are likely, by the growth +of their present views, to find it imperative on them to pass over to +your communion. Allow me to state strongly, that if you have any such +thoughts, and proceed to act upon them, your friends will be +committing a fatal mistake. We have (I trust) the principle and +temper of obedience too intimately wrought into us to allow of our +separating ourselves from our ecclesiastical superiors because in +many points we may sympathise with others. We have too great a horror +of the principle of private judgment to trust it in so immense a +matter as that of changing from one communion to another. We may be +cast out of our communion, or it may decree heresy to be truth—you +shall say whether such contingencies are likely; but I do not see +other conceivable causes of our leaving the Church in which we were +baptized.</p> + +<p>"For myself, persons must be well acquainted with what I have written +before they venture to say whether I have much changed my main +opinions and cardinal views in the course of the last eight years. +That my <i>sympathies</i> have grown towards the religion of Rome I do not +deny; that my <i>reasons</i> for <i>shunning</i> her communion have lessened or +altered it would be difficult perhaps to prove. And I wish to go by +reason, not by feeling."</p> + +<p>4. "June 18, 1841. You urge persons whose views agree with mine to +commence a movement in behalf of a union between the Churches. Now +in the letters I have written, I have uniformly said that I did not +expect that union in our time, and have discouraged the notion of all +sudden proceedings with a view to it. I must ask your leave to repeat +on this occasion most distinctly, that I cannot be party to any +agitation, but mean to remain quiet in my own place, and to do all I +can to make others take the same course. This I conceive to be my +simple duty; but, over and above this, I will not set my teeth on +edge with sour grapes. I know it is quite within the range of +possibilities that one or another of our people should go over to +your communion; however, it would be a greater misfortune to you than +grief to us. If your friends wish to put a gulf between themselves +and us, let them make converts, but not else. Some months ago, I +ventured to say that I felt it a painful duty to keep aloof from all +Roman Catholics who came with the intention of opening negotiations +for the union of the Churches: when you now urge us to petition our +Bishops for a union, this, I conceive, is very like an act of +negotiation."</p> + +<p>5. I have the first sketch or draft of a letter, which I wrote to a +zealous Catholic layman: it runs as follows, as I have preserved +it:—September 12, 1841. "It would rejoice all Catholic minds among +us, more than words can say, if you could persuade members of the +Church of Rome to take the line in politics which you so earnestly +advocate. Suspicion and distrust are the main causes at present of +the separation between us, and the nearest approaches in doctrine +will but increase the hostility, which, alas, our people feel towards +yours, while these causes continue. Depend upon it, you must not rely +upon our Catholic tendencies till they are removed. I am not speaking +of myself, or of any friends of mine; but of our Church generally. +Whatever <i>our</i> personal feelings may be, we shall but tend to raise +and spread a <i>rival</i> Church to yours in the four quarters of the +world, unless <i>you</i> do what none but you <i>can</i> do. Sympathies, which +would flow over to the Church of Rome, as a matter of course, did she +admit them, will but be developed in the consolidation of our own +system, if she continues to be the object of our suspicions and +fears. I wish, of course I do, that our own Church may be built up +and extended, but still, not at the cost of the Church of Rome, not +in opposition to it. I am sure, that, while you suffer, we suffer too +from the separation; <i>but we cannot remove the obstacles</i>; it is with +you to do so. You do not fear us; we fear you. Till we cease to fear +you, we cannot love you.</p> + +<p>"While you are in your present position, the friends of Catholic +unity in our Church are but fulfilling the prediction of those of +your body who are averse to them, viz. that they will be merely +strengthening a rival communion to yours. Many of you say that <i>we</i> +are your greatest enemies; we have said so ourselves: so we are, so +we shall be, as things stand at present. We are keeping people from +you, by supplying their wants in our own Church. We <i>are</i> keeping +persons from you: do you wish us to keep them from you for a time or +for ever? It rests with you to determine. I do not fear that you will +succeed among us; you will not supplant our Church in the affections +of the English nation; only through the English Church can you act +upon the English nation. I wish of course our Church should be +consolidated, with and through and in your communion, for its sake, +and your sake, and for the sake of unity.</p> + +<p>"Are you aware that the more serious thinkers among us are used, as +far as they dare form an opinion, to regard the spirit of Liberalism +as the characteristic of the destined Antichrist? In vain does any +one clear the Church of Rome from the badges of Antichrist, in which +Protestants would invest her, if she deliberately takes up her +position in the very quarter, whither we have cast them, when we took +them off from her. Antichrist is described as the <span class="greek" +title="anomos">ἄνομος</span>, as exalting +himself above the yoke of religion and law. The spirit of lawlessness +came in with the Reformation, and Liberalism is its offspring.</p> + +<p>"And now I fear I am going to pain you by telling you, that you +consider the approaches in doctrine on our part towards you, closer +than they really are. I cannot help repeating what I have many times +said in print, that your services and devotions to St. Mary in matter +of fact do most deeply pain me. I am only stating it as a fact.</p> + +<p>"Again, I have nowhere said that I can accept the decrees of Trent +throughout, nor implied it. The doctrine of Transubstantiation is a +great difficulty with me, as being, as I think, not primitive. Nor +have I said that our Articles in all respects admit of a Roman +interpretation; the very word 'Transubstantiation' is disowned in +them.</p> + +<p>"Thus, you see, it is not merely on grounds of expedience that we do +not join you. There are positive difficulties in the way of it. And, +even if there were not, we shall have no divine warrant for doing so, +while we think that the Church of England is a branch of the true +Church, and that intercommunion with the rest of Christendom +is necessary, not for the life of a particular Church, but for +its health only. I have never disguised that there are actual +circumstances in the Church of Rome, which pain me much; of the +removal of these I see no chance, while we join you one by one; but +if our Church were prepared for a union, she might make her terms; +she might gain the Cup; she might protest against the extreme honours +paid to St. Mary; she might make some explanation of the doctrine of +Transubstantiation. I am not prepared to say that a reform in other +branches of the Roman Church would be necessary for our uniting with +them, however desirable in itself, so that we were allowed to make a +reform in our own country. We do not look towards Rome as believing +that its communion is infallible, but that union is a duty."</p> + +<p>The following letter was occasioned by the present of a book, from +the friend to whom it is written; more will be said on the subject of +it presently:—</p> + +<p>"Nov. 22, 1842. I only wish that your Church were more known among us +by such writings. You will not interest us in her, till we see her, +not in politics, but in her true functions of exhorting, teaching, +and guiding. I wish there were a chance of making the leading men +among you understand, what I believe is no novel thought to yourself. +It is not by learned discussions, or acute arguments, or reports of +miracles, that the heart of England can be gained. It is by men +'approving themselves,' like the Apostle, 'ministers of Christ.'</p> + +<p>"As to your question, whether the Volume you have sent is not +calculated to remove my apprehensions that another gospel is +substituted for the true one in your practical instructions, before I +can answer it in any way, I ought to know how far the Sermons which +it comprises are <i>selected</i> from a number, or whether they are the +whole, or such as the whole, which have been published of the +author's. I assure you, or at least I trust, that, if it is ever +clearly brought home to me that I have been wrong in what I have said +on this subject, my public avowal of that conviction will only be a +question of time with me.</p> + +<p>"If, however, you saw our Church as we see it, you would easily +understand that such a change of feeling, did it take place, would +have no necessary tendency, which you seem to expect, to draw a +person from the Church of England to that of Rome. There is a divine +life among us, clearly manifested, in spite of all our disorders, +which is as great a note of the Church, as any can be. Why should we +seek our Lord's presence elsewhere, when He vouchsafes it to us where +we are? What <i>call</i> have we to change our communion?</p> + +<p>"Roman Catholics will find this to be the state of things in time to +come, whatever promise they may fancy there is of a large secession +to their Church. This man or that may leave us, but there will be no +general movement. There is, indeed, an incipient movement of our +<i>Church</i> towards yours, and this your leading men are doing all they +can to frustrate by their unwearied efforts at all risks to carry off +individuals. When will they know their position, and embrace a larger +and wiser policy?"</p> + +<p class="extraspace">The last letter, which I have inserted, is addressed to my dear +friend, Dr. Russell, the present President of Maynooth. He had, +perhaps, more to do with my conversion than any one else. He called +upon me, in passing through Oxford in the summer of 1841, and I think +I took him over some of the buildings of the University. He called +again another summer, on his way from Dublin to London. I do not +recollect that he said a word on the subject of religion on either +occasion. He sent me at different times several letters; he was +always gentle, mild, unobtrusive, uncontroversial. He let me alone. +He also gave me one or two books. Veron's Rule of Faith and some +Treatises of the Wallenburghs was one; a volume of St. Alfonso +Liguori's Sermons was another; and to that the letter which I have +last inserted relates.</p> + +<p>Now it must be observed that the writings of St. Alfonso, as I knew +them by the extracts commonly made from them, prejudiced me as much +against the Roman Church as anything else, on account of what was +called their "Mariolatry;" but there was nothing of the kind in this +book. I wrote to ask Dr. Russell whether anything had been left out +in the translation; he answered that there certainly was an omission +of one passage about the Blessed Virgin. This omission, in the case +of a book intended for Catholics, at least showed that such passages +as are found in the works of Italian authors were not acceptable to +every part of the Catholic world. Such devotional manifestations in +honour of our Lady had been my great <i>crux</i> as regards Catholicism; I +say frankly, I do not fully enter into them now; I trust I do not +love her the less, because I cannot enter into them. They may be +fully explained and defended; but sentiment and taste do not run with +logic: they are suitable for Italy, but they are not suitable for +England. But, over and above England, my own case was special; from a +boy I had been led to consider that my Maker and I, His creature, +were the two beings, certainly such, <i>in rerum naturâ</i>. I will not +here speculate, however, about my own feelings. Only this I know full +well now, and did not know then, that the Catholic Church allows no +image of any sort, material or immaterial, no dogmatic symbol, no +rite, no sacrament, no Saint, not even the Blessed Virgin herself, to +come between the soul and its Creator. It is face to face, "solus cum +solo," in all matters between man and his God. He alone creates; He +alone has redeemed; before His awful eyes we go in death; in the +vision of Him is our eternal beatitude. "Solus cum solo:"—I +recollect but indistinctly the effect produced upon me by this +volume, but it must have been considerable. At all events I had got a +key to a difficulty; in these sermons (or rather heads of sermons, as +they seem to be, taken down by a hearer) there is much of what would +be called legendary illustration; but the substance of them is plain, +practical, awful preaching upon the great truths of salvation. What I +can speak of with greater confidence is the effect upon me a little +later of the Exercises of St. Ignatius. Here again, in a pure matter +of the most direct religion, in the intercourse between God and the +soul, during a season of recollection, of repentance, of good +resolution, of inquiry into vocation, the soul was "sola cum solo;" +there was no cloud interposed between the creature and the Object of +his faith and love. The command practically enforced was, "My son, +give Me thy heart." The devotions then to angels and saints as little +interfered with the incommunicable glory of the Eternal, as the love +which we bear our friends and relations, our tender human sympathies, +are inconsistent with that supreme homage of the heart to the Unseen, +which really does but sanctify and exalt what is of earth. At a later +date Dr. Russell sent me a large bundle of penny or half-penny books +of devotion, of all sorts, as they are found in the booksellers' +shops at Rome; and, on looking them over, I was quite astonished to +find how different they were from what I had fancied, how little +there was in them to which I could really object. I have given an +account of them in my Essay on the Development of Doctrine. Dr. +Russell sent me St. Alfonso's book at the end of 1842; however, it +was still a long time before I got over my difficulty, on the score +of the devotions paid to the saints; perhaps, as I judge, from a +letter I have turned up, it was some way into 1844, before I could be +said to have got over it.</p> + +<p>I am not sure that another consideration did not also weigh with me +then. The idea of the Blessed Virgin was as it were <i>magnified</i> in +the Church of Rome, as time went on,—but so were all the Christian +ideas; as that of the Blessed Eucharist. The whole scene of pale, +faint, distant Apostolic Christianity is seen in Rome, as through a +telescope or magnifier. The harmony of the whole, however, is of +course what it was. It is unfair then to take one Roman idea, that of +the Blessed Virgin, out of what may be called its context.</p> + +<p>Thus I am brought to the principle of development of doctrine in the +Christian Church, to which I gave my mind at the end of 1842. I had +spoken of it in the passage, which I quoted many pages back, in Home +Thoughts Abroad, published in 1836; but it had been a favourite +subject with me all along. And it is certainly recognised in that +celebrated Treatise of Vincent of Lerins, which has so often been +taken as the basis of the Anglican theory. In 1843 I began to +consider it steadily; and the general view to which I came is stated +thus in a letter to a friend of the date of July 14, 1844; it will be +observed that, now as before, my <i>issue</i> is still Faith <i>versus</i> +Church:—</p> + +<p>"The kind of considerations which weigh with me are such as the +following:—1. I am far more certain (according to the Fathers) that +we <i>are</i> in a state of culpable separation, <i>than</i> that developments +do <i>not</i> exist under the Gospel, and that the Roman developments are +not the true ones. 2. I am far more certain, that <i>our</i> (modern) +doctrines are wrong, <i>than</i> that the <i>Roman</i> (modern) doctrines are +wrong. 3. Granting that the Roman (special) doctrines are not found +drawn out in the early Church, yet I think there is sufficient trace +of them in it, to recommend and prove them, <i>on the hypothesis</i> of +the Church having a divine guidance, though not sufficient to prove +them by itself. So that the question simply turns on the nature of +the promise of the Spirit, made to the Church. 4. The proof of the +Roman (modern) doctrine is as strong (or stronger) in Antiquity, as +that of certain doctrines which both we and Romans hold: <i>e.g.</i> there +is more of evidence in Antiquity for the necessity of Unity, than for +the Apostolical Succession; for the Supremacy of the See of Rome, +than for the Presence in the Eucharist; for the practice of +Invocation, than for certain books in the present Canon of Scripture, +etc., etc. 5. The analogy of the Old Testament, and also of the New, +leads to the acknowledgment of doctrinal developments."</p> + +<p>And thus I was led on to a further consideration. I saw that the +principle of development not only accounted for certain facts, +but was in itself a remarkable philosophical phenomenon, giving +a character to the whole course of Christian thought. It was +discernible from the first years of the Catholic teaching up to the +present day, and gave to that teaching a unity and individuality. +It served as a sort of test, which the Anglican could not exhibit, +that modern Rome was in truth ancient Antioch, Alexandria, and +Constantinople, just as a mathematical curve has its own law and +expression.</p> + +<p>And thus again I was led on to examine more attentively what I doubt +not was in my thoughts long before, viz. the concatenation of +argument by which the mind ascends from its first to its final +religious idea; and I came to the conclusion that there was no +medium, in true philosophy, between Atheism and Catholicity, and that +a perfectly consistent mind, under those circumstances in which it +finds itself here below, must embrace either the one or the other. +And I hold this still: I am a Catholic by virtue of my believing in a +God; and if I am asked why I believe in a God, I answer that it is +because I believe in myself, for I feel it impossible to believe in +my own existence (and of that fact I am quite sure) without believing +also in the existence of Him, who lives as a Personal, All-seeing, +All-judging Being in my conscience. Now, I dare say, I have not +expressed myself with philosophical correctness, because I have not +given myself to the study of what others have said on the subject; +but I think I have a strong true meaning in what I say which will +stand examination.</p> + +<p>Moreover, I came to the conclusion which I have been stating, on +reasoning of the same nature, as that which I had adopted on the +subject of development of doctrine. The fact of the operation from +first to last of that principle of development is an argument in +favour of the identity of Roman and Primitive Christianity; but as +there is a law which acts upon the subject-matter of dogmatic +theology, so is there a law in the matter of religious faith. In the +third part of this narrative I spoke of certitude as the consequence, +divinely intended and enjoined upon us, of the accumulative force +of certain given reasons which, taken one by one, were only +probabilities. Let it be recollected that I am historically relating +my state of mind, at the period of my life which I am surveying. I am +not speaking theologically, nor have I any intention of going into +controversy, or of defending myself; but speaking historically of +what I held in 1843-4, I say, that I believed in a God on a ground of +probability, that I believed in Christianity on a probability, and +that I believed in Catholicism on a probability, and that all three +were about the same kind of probability, a cumulative, a transcendent +probability, but still probability; inasmuch as He who made us, has +so willed that in mathematics indeed we arrive at certitude by rigid +demonstration, but in religious inquiry we arrive at certitude by +accumulated probabilities—inasmuch as He who has willed that +we should so act, co-operates with us in our acting, and thereby +bestows on us a certitude which rises higher than the logical force +of our conclusions. And thus I came to see clearly, and to have a +satisfaction in seeing, that, in being led on into the Church of +Rome, I was proceeding, not by any secondary grounds of reason, or +by controversial points in detail, but was protected and justified, +even in the use of those secondary arguments, by a great and broad +principle. But, let it be observed, that I am stating a matter of +fact, not defending it; and if any Catholic says in consequence that +I have been converted in a wrong way, I cannot help that now.</p> + +<p>And now I have carried on the history of my opinions to their last +point, before I became a Catholic. I find great difficulty in fixing +dates precisely; but it must have been some way into 1844, before I +thought not only that the Anglican Church was certainly wrong, but +that Rome was right. Then I had nothing more to learn on the subject. +How "Samaria" faded away from my imagination I cannot tell, but it +was gone. Now to go back to the time when this last stage of my +inquiry was in its commencement, which, if I dare assign dates, was +towards the end of 1842.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In 1843, I took two very important and significant steps:—1. In +February, I made a formal retractation of all the hard things which I +had said against the Church of Rome. 2. In September, I resigned the +living of St. Mary's, Littlemore inclusive:—I will speak of these +two acts separately.</p> + +<p>1. The words, in which I made my retractation, have given rise to +much criticism. After quoting a number of passages from my writings +against the Church of Rome, which I withdrew, I ended thus:—"If you +ask me how an individual could venture, not simply to hold, but to +publish such views of a communion so ancient, so wide-spreading, so +fruitful in Saints, I answer that I said to myself, 'I am not +speaking my own words, I am but following almost a <i>consensus</i> of the +divines of my own Church. They have ever used the strongest language +against Rome, even the most able and learned of them. I wish to throw +myself into their system. While I say what they say, I am safe. Such +views, too, are necessary for our position.' Yet I have reason to +fear still, that such language is to be ascribed, in no small +measure, to an impetuous temper, a hope of approving myself to +persons I respect, and a wish to repel the charge of Romanism."</p> + +<p>These words have been, and are, cited again and again against me, as +if a confession that, when in the Anglican Church, I said things +against Rome which I did not really believe.</p> + +<p>For myself, I cannot understand how any impartial man can so take +them; and I have explained them in print several times. I trust that +by this time they have been sufficiently explained by what I have +said in former portions of this narrative; still I have a word or two +to say about them, which I have not said before I apologised in the +lines in question for saying out charges against the Church of Rome +which I fully believed to be true. What is wonderful in such an +apology?</p> + +<p>There are many things a man may hold, which at the same time he may +feel that he has no right to say publicly. The law recognises this +principle. In our own time, men have been imprisoned and fined for +saying true things of a bad king. The maxim has been held, that, "The +greater the truth, the greater is the libel." And so as to the +judgment of society, a just indignation would be felt against a +writer who brought forward wantonly the weaknesses of a great man, +though the whole world knew that they existed. No one is at liberty +to speak ill of another without a justifiable reason, even though he +knows he is speaking truth, and the public knows it too. Therefore I +could not speak ill against the Church of Rome, though I believed +what I said, without a good reason. I did believe what I said; but +had I a good reason for saying it? I thought I had, viz. I said what +I believed was simply necessary in the controversy, in order to +defend ourselves; I considered that the Anglican position could not +be defended, without bringing charges against the Church of Rome. Is +not this almost a truism? is it not what every one says, who speaks +on the subject at all? does any serious man abuse the Church of +Rome, for the sake of abusing her, or because it justifies his +own religious position? What is the meaning of the very word +"Protestantism," but that there is a call to speak out? This then is +what I said; "I know I spoke strongly against the Church of Rome; but +it was no mere abuse, for I had a serious reason for doing so."</p> + +<p>But, not only did I think such language necessary for my Church's +religious position, but all the great Anglican divines had thought so +before me. They had thought so, and they had acted accordingly. And +therefore I said, with much propriety, that I had not done it simply +out of my own head, but that I was following the track, or rather +reproducing the teaching, of those who had preceded me.</p> + +<p>I was pleading guilty; but pleading also that there were extenuating +circumstances in the case. We all know the story of the convict, who +on the scaffold bit off his mother's ear. By doing so he did not deny +the fact of his own crime, for which he was to hang; but he said that +his mother's indulgence, when he was a boy, had a good deal to do +with it. In like manner I had made a charge, and I had made it <i>ex +animo</i>; but I accused others of having led me into believing it and +publishing it.</p> + +<p>But there was more than this meant in the words which I used:—first, +I will freely confess, indeed I said it some pages back, that I was +angry with the Anglican divines. I thought they had taken me in; I +had read the Fathers with their eyes; I had sometimes trusted their +quotations or their reasonings; and from reliance on them, I had used +words or made statements, which properly I ought rigidly to have +examined myself. I had exercised more faith than criticism in the +matter. This did not imply any broad misstatements on my part, +arising from reliance on their authority, but it implied carelessness +in matters of detail. And this of course was a fault.</p> + +<p>But there was a far deeper reason for my saying what I said in this +matter, on which I have not hitherto touched; and it was this:—The +most oppressive thought, in the whole process of my change of +opinion, was the clear anticipation, verified by the event, that it +would issue in the triumph of Liberalism. Against the Anti-dogmatic +principle I had thrown my whole mind; yet now I was doing more than +any one else could do, to promote it. I was one of those who had kept +it at bay in Oxford for so many years; and thus my very retirement +was its triumph. The men who had driven me from Oxford were +distinctly the Liberals; it was they who had opened the attack upon +Tract 90, and it was they who would gain a second benefit, if I went +on to retire from the Anglican Church. But this was not all. As I +have already said, there are but two alternatives, the way to Rome, +and the way to Atheism: Anglicanism is the halfway house on the one +side, and Liberalism is the halfway house on the other. How many men +were there, as I knew full well, who would not follow me now in my +advance from Anglicanism to Rome, but would at once leave Anglicanism +and me for the Liberal camp. It is not at all easy (humanly speaking) +to wind up an Englishman to a dogmatic level. I had done so in a good +measure, in the case both of young men and of laymen, the Anglican +<i>Via Media</i> being the representative of dogma. The dogmatic and the +Anglican principle were one, as I had taught them; but I was breaking +the <i>Via Media</i> to pieces, and would not dogmatic faith altogether be +broken up, in the minds of a great number, by the demolition of the +<i>Via Media</i>? Oh! how unhappy this made me! I heard once from an +eyewitness the account of a poor sailor whose legs were shattered by +a ball, in the action off Algiers in 1816, and who was taken below +for an operation. The surgeon and the chaplain persuaded him to have +a leg off; it was done and the tourniquet applied to the wound. Then, +they broke it to him that he must have the other off too. The poor +fellow said, "You should have told me that, gentlemen," and +deliberately unscrewed the instrument and bled to death. Would not +that be the case with many friends of my own? How could I ever hope +to make them believe in a second theology, when I had cheated them in +the first? with what face could I publish a new edition of a dogmatic +creed, and ask them to receive it as gospel? Would it not be plain to +them that no certainty was to be found anywhere? Well, in my defence +I could but make a lame apology; however, it was the true one, viz. +that I had not read the Fathers critically enough; that in such nice +points, as those which determine the angle of divergence between the +two Churches, I had made considerable miscalculations; and how came +this about? Why the fact was, unpleasant as it was to avow, that I +had leaned too much upon the assertions of Ussher, Jeremy Taylor, or +Barrow, and had been deceived by them. Valeat quantum—it was all +that <i>could</i> be said. This then was a chief reason of that wording of +the retractation, which has given so much offence, and the following +letter will illustrate it:—</p> + +<p>"April 3, 1844. I wish to remark on W.'s chief distress, that my +changing my opinion seemed to unsettle one's confidence in truth and +falsehood as external things, and led one to be suspicious of the new +opinion as one became distrustful of the old. Now in what I shall +say, I am not going to speak in favour of my second thoughts in +comparison of my first, but against such scepticism and unsettlement +about truth and falsehood generally, the idea of which is very +painful.</p> + +<p>"The case with me, then, was this, and not surely an unnatural +one:—as a matter of feeling and of duty I threw myself into the +system which I found myself in. I saw that the English Church had a +theological idea or theory as such, and I took it up. I read Laud on +Tradition, and thought it (as I still think it) very masterly. The +Anglican Theory was very distinctive. I admired it and took it on +faith. It did not (I think) occur to me to doubt it; I saw that it +was able, and supported by learning, and I felt it was a duty to +maintain it. Further, on looking into Antiquity and reading the +Fathers, I saw such portions of it as I examined, fully confirmed +(<i>e.g.</i> the supremacy of Scripture). There was only one question +about which I had a doubt, viz. whether it would <i>work</i>, for it has +never been more than a paper system....</p> + +<p>"So far from my change of opinion having any fair tendency to +unsettle persons as to truth and falsehood viewed as objective +realities, it should be considered whether such change is not +<i>necessary</i>, if truth be a real objective thing, and be made to +confront a person who has been brought up in a system <i>short</i> of +truth. Surely the <i>continuance</i> of a person who wishes to go right in +a wrong system, and not his <i>giving it up</i>, would be that which +militated against the objectiveness of Truth, leading, as it would, +to the suspicion, that one thing and another were equally pleasing to +our Maker, where men were sincere.</p> + +<p>"Nor surely is it a thing I need be sorry for, that I defended the +system in which I found myself, and thus have had to unsay my words. +For is it not one's duty, instead of beginning with criticism, +to throw oneself generously into that form of religion which is +providentially put before one? Is it right, or is it wrong, to begin +with private judgment? May we not, on the other hand, look for a +blessing <i>through</i> obedience even to an erroneous system, and a +guidance even by means of it out of it? Were those who were strict +and conscientious in their Judaism, or those who were lukewarm and +sceptical, more likely to be led into Christianity, when Christ came? +Yet in proportion to their previous zeal, would be their appearance +of inconsistency. Certainly, I have always contended that obedience +even to an erring conscience was the way to gain light, and that +it mattered not where a man began, so that he began on what came +to hand, and in faith; and that anything might become a divine +method of Truth; that to the pure all things are pure, and have a +self-correcting virtue and a power of germinating. And though I have +no right at all to assume that this mercy is granted to me, yet the +fact, that a person in my situation <i>may</i> have it granted to him, +seems to me to remove the perplexity which my change of opinion may +occasion.</p> + +<p>"It may be said—I have said it to myself—'Why, however, did you +<i>publish</i>? had you waited quietly, you would have changed your +opinion without any of the misery, which now is involved in the +change, of disappointing and distressing people.' I answer, that +things are so bound up together, as to form a whole, and one cannot +tell what is or is not a condition of what. I do not see how possibly +I could have published the Tracts, or other works professing to +defend our Church, without accompanying them with a strong protest or +argument against Rome. The one obvious objection against the whole +Anglican line is, that it is Roman; so that I really think there was +no alternative between silence altogether, and forming a theory and +attacking the Roman system."</p> + +<p>2. And now, secondly, as to my resignation of St. Mary's, which was +the second of the steps which I took in 1843. The ostensible, direct, +and sufficient cause of my doing so was the persevering attack of the +Bishops on Tract 90. I alluded to it in the letter which I have +inserted above, addressed to one of the most influential among them. +A series of their <i>ex cathedrâ</i> judgments, lasting through three +years, and including a notice of no little severity in a Charge of my +own Bishop, came as near to a condemnation of my Tract, and, so far, +to a repudiation of the ancient Catholic doctrine, which was the +scope of the Tract, as was possible in the Church of England. It was +in order to shield the Tract from such a condemnation, that I had at +the time of its publication so simply put myself at the disposal of +the higher powers in London. At that time, all that was distinctly +contemplated in the way of censure, was the message which my Bishop +sent me, that it was "objectionable." That I thought was the end of +the matter. I had refused to suppress it, and they had yielded that +point. Since I wrote the former portions of this narrative, I have +found what I wrote to Dr. Pusey on March 24, while the matter was in +progress. "The more I think of it," I said, "the more reluctant I am +to suppress Tract 90, though <i>of course</i> I will do it if the Bishop +wishes it; I cannot, however, deny that I shall feel it a severe +act." According to the notes which I took of the letters or messages +which I sent to him in the course of that day, I went on to say, "My +first feeling was to obey without a word; I will obey still; but my +judgment has steadily risen against it ever since." Then in the +postscript, "If I have done any good to the Church, I do ask the +Bishop this favour, as my reward for it, that he would not insist on +a measure, from which I think good will not come. However, I will +submit to him." Afterwards, I get stronger still: "I have almost come +to the resolution, if the Bishop publicly intimates that I must +suppress the Tract, or speaks strongly in his charge against it, to +suppress it indeed, but to resign my living also. I could not in +conscience act otherwise. You may show this in any quarter you +please."</p> + +<p>All my then hopes, all my satisfaction at the apparent fulfilment of +those hopes, were at an end in 1843. It is not wonderful then, that +in May of that year I addressed a letter on the subject of St. Mary's +to the same friend, whom I had consulted about retiring from it in +1840. But I did more now; I told him my great unsettlement of mind on +the question of the Churches. I will insert portions of two of my +letters:—</p> + +<p>"May 4, 1843.... At present I fear, as far as I can analyze my own +convictions, I consider the Roman Catholic Communion to be the Church +of the Apostles, and that what grace is among us (which, through +God's mercy, is not little) is extraordinary, and from the +overflowings of His dispensation. I am very far more sure that +England is in schism, than that the Roman additions to the Primitive +Creed may not be developments, arising out of a keen and vivid +realizing of the Divine Depositum of Faith.</p> + +<p>"You will now understand what gives edge to the Bishops' Charges, +without any undue sensitiveness on my part. They distress me in two +ways:—first, as being in some sense protests and witnesses to my +conscience against my own unfaithfulness to the English Church, and +next, as being samples of her teaching, and tokens how very far she +is from even aspiring to Catholicity.</p> + +<p>"Of course my being unfaithful to a trust is my great subject of +dread—as it has long been, as you know."</p> + +<p>When he wrote to make natural objections to my purpose, such as the +apprehension that the removal of clerical obligations might have the +indirect effect of propelling me towards Rome, I answered:—</p> + +<p>"May 18, 1843.... My office or charge at St. Mary's is not a mere +<i>state</i>, but a continual <i>energy</i>. People assume and assert certain +things of me in consequence. With what sort of sincerity can I obey +the Bishop? how am I to act in the frequent cases, in which one way +or another the Church of Rome comes into consideration? I have to the +utmost of my power tried to keep persons from Rome, and with some +success; but even a year and a half since, my arguments, though more +efficacious with the persons I aimed at than any others could be, +were of a nature to infuse great suspicion of me into the minds of +lookers-on.</p> + +<p>"By retaining St. Mary's, I am an offence and a stumbling-block. +Persons are keen-sighted enough to make out what I think on certain +points, and then they infer that such opinions are compatible with +holding situations of trust in our Church. A number of younger men +take the validity of their interpretation of the Articles, etc., from +me on <i>faith</i>. Is not my present position a cruelty, as well as a +treachery towards the Church?</p> + +<p>"I do not see how I can either preach or publish again, while I hold +St. Mary's;—but consider again the following difficulty in such a +resolution, which I must state at some length.</p> + +<p>"Last Long Vacation the idea suggested itself to me of publishing the +Lives of the English Saints; and I had a conversation with [a +publisher] upon it. I thought it would be useful, as employing the +minds of men who were in danger of running wild, bringing them from +doctrine to history, and from speculation to fact;—again, as giving +them an interest in the English soil, and the English Church, and +keeping them from seeking sympathy in Rome, as she is; and further, +as seeking to promote the spread of right views.</p> + +<p>"But, within the last month, it has come upon me, that, if the scheme +goes on, it will be a practical carrying out of No. 90; from the +character of the usages and opinions of ante-reformation times.</p> + +<p>"It is easy to say, 'Why <i>will</i> you do <i>any</i> thing? why won't you +keep quiet? what business had you to think of any such plan at all?' +But I cannot leave a number of poor fellows in the lurch. I am bound +to do my best for a great number of people both in Oxford and +elsewhere. If <i>I</i> did not act, others would find means to do so.</p> + +<p>"Well, the plan has been taken up with great eagerness and interest. +Many men are setting to work. I set down the names of men, most of +them engaged, the rest half engaged and probable, some actually +writing." About thirty names follow, some of them at that time of the +school of Dr. Arnold, others of Dr. Pusey's, some my personal friends +and of my own standing, others whom I hardly knew, while of course +the majority were of the party of the new Movement. I continue:—</p> + +<p>"The plan has gone so far, that it would create surprise and talk, +were it now suddenly given over. Yet how is it compatible with my +holding St. Mary's, being what I am?"</p> + +<p>Such was the object and the origin of the projected series of the +English Saints; and, as the publication was connected, as has been +seen, with my resignation of St. Mary's, I may be allowed to conclude +what I have to say on the subject here, though it will read like a +digression. As soon then as the first of the series got into print, +the whole project broke down. I had already anticipated that some +portions of the series would be written in a style inconsistent with +the professions of a beneficed clergyman, and therefore I had given +up my living; but men of great weight went further, when they saw the +Life of St. Stephen Harding, and decided that it was of such a +character as to be inconsistent even with its being given to the +world by an Anglican publisher: and so the scheme was given up at +once. After the two first parts, I retired from the editorship, and +those Lives only were published in addition, which were then already +finished, or in advanced preparation. The following passages from +what I or others wrote at the time will illustrate what I have been +saying:—</p> + +<p>In November, 1844, I wrote thus to one of the authors of them: "I am +not Editor, I have no direct control over the Series. It is T.'s +work; he may admit what he pleases; and exclude what he pleases. I +was to have been Editor. I did edit the two first numbers. I was +responsible for them, in the way in which an Editor is responsible. +Had I continued Editor, I should have exercised a control over all. I +laid down in the Preface that doctrinal subjects were, if possible, +to be excluded. But, even then, I also set down that no writer was to +be held answerable for any of the Lives but his own. When I gave up +the Editorship, I had various engagements with friends for separate +Lives remaining on my hands. I should have liked to have broken from +them all, but there were some from which I could not break, and I let +them take their course. Some have come to nothing; others like yours +have gone on. I have seen such, either in MS. or Proof. As time goes +on, I shall have less and less to do with the Series. I think the +engagement between you and me should come to an end. I have anyhow +abundant responsibility on me, and too much. I shall write to T. that +if he wants the advantage of your assistance, he must write to you +direct."</p> + +<p>In accordance with this letter, I had already advertised in January +1844, ten months before it, that "other Lives," after St. Stephen +Harding, "will be published by their respective authors on their own +responsibility." This notice is repeated in February, in the +advertisement to the second volume entitled "The Family of St. +Richard," though to this volume also, for some reason, I also put my +initials. In the Life of St. Augustine, the author, a man of nearly +my own age, says in like manner, "No one but himself is responsible +for the way in which these materials have been used." I have in MS. +another advertisement to the same effect, but cannot tell whether it +was ever put into print.</p> + +<p>I will add, since the authors have been considered hot-headed boys, +whom I was in charge of and whom I suffered do intemperate things, +that, while the writer of St. Augustine was of the mature age which I +have stated, most of the others were on one side or other of thirty. +Three were under twenty-five. Moreover, of these writers some became +Catholics, some remained Anglicans, and others have professed what +are called free or liberal opinions.</p> + +<p>The immediate cause of the resignation of my living is stated in the +following letter, which I wrote to my Bishop:—</p> + +<p>"August 29, 1843. It is with much concern that I inform your +Lordship, that Mr. A. B., who has been for the last year an inmate of +my house here, has just conformed to the Church of Rome. As I have +ever been desirous, not only of faithfully discharging the trust, +which is involved in holding a living in your Lordship's diocese, but +of approving myself to your Lordship, I will for your information +state one or two circumstances connected with this unfortunate +event.... I received him on condition of his promising me, which he +distinctly did, that he would remain quietly in our Church for three +years. A year has passed since that time, and, though I saw nothing +in him which promised that he would eventually be contented with his +present position, yet for the time his mind became as settled as one +could wish, and he frequently expressed his satisfaction at being +under the promise which I had exacted of him."</p> + +<p>I felt it impossible to remain any longer in the service of the +Anglican Church, when such a breach of trust, however little I had to +do with it, would be laid at my door. I wrote in a few days to a +friend:</p> + +<p>"September 7, 1843. I this day ask the Bishop leave to resign St. +Mary's. Men whom you little think, or at least whom I little thought, +are in almost a hopeless way. Really we may expect anything. I am +going to publish a Volume of Sermons, including those Four against +moving."</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I resigned my living on September 18th. I had not the means of doing +it legally at Oxford. The late Mr. Goldsmid aided me in resigning it +in London. I found no fault with the Liberals; they had beaten me in +a fair field. As to the act of the Bishops, I thought, as Walter +Scott has applied the text, that they had "seethed the kid in his +mother's milk."</p> + +<p>I said to a friend:—</p> + +<blockquote> + <p>"Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa Catoni."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And now I have brought almost to an end, as far as this sketch has +to treat of them, the history both of my opinions, and of the public +acts which they involved. I had only one more advance of mind to +make; and that was, to be <i>certain</i> of what I had hitherto +anticipated, concluded, and believed; and this was close upon my +submission to the Catholic Church. And I had only one more act to +perform, and that was the act of submission itself. But two years yet +intervened before the date of these final events; during which I was +in lay communion in the Church of England, attending its services as +usual, and abstaining altogether from intercourse with Catholics, +from their places of worship, and from those religious rites and +usages, such as the Invocation of Saints, which are characteristics +of their creed. I did all this on principle; for I never could +understand how a man could be of two religions at once.</p> + +<p>What then I now have to add is of a private nature, being my +preparation for the great event, for which I was waiting, in the +interval between the autumns of 1843 and 1845.</p> + +<p>And I shall almost confine what I have to say to this one point, the +difficulty I was in as to the best mode of revealing the state of my +mind to my friends and others, and how I managed to do it.</p> + +<p>Up to January, 1842, I had not disclosed my state of unsettlement to +more than three persons, as has been mentioned above, and is repeated +in the letters which I am now about to give to the reader. To two of +them, intimate and familiar companions, in the Autumn of 1839: to the +third, an old friend too, when, I suppose, I was in great distress +of mind upon the affair of the Jerusalem Bishopric. In May, 1843, +I mentioned it to the friend, by whose advice I wished, as far as +possible, to be guided. To mention it on set purpose to any one, +unless indeed I was asking advice, I should have felt to be a crime. +If there is anything that was and is abhorrent to me, it is the +scattering doubts, and unsettling consciences without necessity. A +strong presentiment that my existing opinions would ultimately give +way, and that the grounds of them were unsound, was not a sufficient +warrant for disclosing the state of my mind. I had no guarantee yet, +that that presentiment would be realised. Supposing I were crossing +ice, which came right in my way, which I had good reasons for +considering sound, and which I saw numbers before me crossing in +safety, and supposing a stranger from the bank, in a voice of +authority, and in an earnest tone, warned me that it was dangerous, +and then was silent, I think I should be startled, and should look +about me anxiously, but I also should go on, till I had better +grounds for doubt; and such was my state, I believe, till the end of +1842. Then again, when my dissatisfaction became greater, it was hard +at first to determine the point of time, when it was too strong to +suppress with propriety. Certitude of course is a point, but doubt +is a progress; I was not near certitude yet. Certitude is a reflex +action; it is to know that one knows. I believe I had not that, till +close upon my reception into the Catholic Church. Again, a practical, +effective doubt is a point too, but who can easily ascertain it for +himself? Who can determine when it is, that the scales in the balance +of opinion begin to turn, and what was a greater probability in +behalf of a belief becomes a positive doubt against it?</p> + +<p>In considering this question in its bearing upon my conduct in 1843, +my own simple answer to my great difficulty was, <i>Do</i> what your +present state of opinion requires, and let that <i>doing</i> tell: speak +by <i>acts</i>. This I did; my first <i>act</i> of the year was in February, +1843. After three months' deliberation I published my retractation of +the violent charges which I had made against Rome: I could not be +wrong in doing so much as this; but I did no more: I did not retract +my Anglican teaching. My second <i>act</i> was in September; after much +sorrowful lingering and hesitation, I resigned my Living. I tried +indeed to keep Littlemore for myself, even though it was still to +remain an integral part of St. Mary's. I had made it a parish, and I +loved it; but I did not succeed in my attempt. I could indeed bear to +become the curate at will of another, but I hoped still that I might +have been my own master there. I had hoped an exception might have +been made in my favour, under the circumstances; but I did not gain +my request. Indeed, I was asking what was impracticable, and it is +well for me that it was so.</p> + +<p>These were my two acts of the year, and I said, "I cannot be wrong in +making them; let that follow which must follow in the thoughts of +the world about me, when they see what I do." They fully answered my +purpose. What I felt as a simple duty to do, did create a general +suspicion about me, without such responsibility as would be involved +in my taking the initiative in creating it. Then, when friends wrote +me on the subject, either I did not deny or I confessed it, according +to the character and need of their letters. Sometimes, in the case of +intimate friends, whom I seemed to leave in ignorance of what others +knew about me, I invited the question.</p> + +<p>And here comes in another point for explanation. While I was fighting +for the Anglican Church in Oxford, then indeed I was very glad to +make converts, and, though I never broke away from that rule of my +mind (as I may call it) of which I have already spoken, of finding +disciples rather than seeking them, yet, that I made advances to +others in a special way, I have no doubt; this came to an end, +however, as soon as I fell into misgivings as to the true ground to +be taken in the controversy. Then, when I gave up my place in the +Movement, I ceased from any such proceeding: and my utmost endeavour +was to tranquillise such persons, especially those who belonged to +the new school, as were unsettled in their religious views, and, as I +judged, hasty in their conclusions. This went on till 1843; but, at +that date, as soon as I turned my face Romeward, I gave up altogether +and in any shape, as far as ever was possible, the thought of acting +upon others. Then I myself was simply my own concern. How could I in +any sense direct others, who had to be guided in so momentous a +matter myself? How could I be considered in a position, even to say a +word to them one way or the other? How could I presume to unsettle +them, as I was unsettled, when I had no means of bringing them out of +such unsettlement? And, if they were unsettled already, how could I +point to them a place of refuge, which I was not sure that I should +choose for myself? My only line, my only duty, was to keep simply +to my own case. I recollected Pascal's words, "Je mourrai seul." I +deliberately put out of my thoughts all other works and claims, and +said nothing to any one, unless I was obliged.</p> + +<p>But this brought upon me a great trouble. In the newspapers there +were continual reports about my intentions; I did not answer them; +presently strangers or friends wrote, begging to be allowed to answer +them; and, if I still kept to my resolution and said nothing, then I +was thought to be mysterious, and a prejudice was excited against me. +But, what was far worse, there were a number of tender, eager hearts, +of whom I knew nothing at all, who were watching me, wishing to think +as I thought, and to do as I did, if they could but find it out; who +in consequence were distressed, that, in so solemn a matter, they +could not see what was coming, and who heard reports about me this +way or that, on a first day and on a second; and felt the weariness +of waiting, and the sickness of delayed hope, and did not understand +that I was as perplexed as themselves, and, being of more sensitive +complexion of mind than myself, were made ill by the suspense. +And they too of course for the time thought me mysterious and +inexplicable. I ask their pardon as far as I was really unkind +to them. There was a gifted and deeply earnest lady, who in a +parabolical account of that time, has described both my conduct as +she felt it, and that of such as herself. In a singularly graphic, +amusing vision of pilgrims, who were making their way across a bleak +common in great discomfort, and who were ever warned against, yet +continually nearing, "the king's highway" on the right, she says, +"All my fears and disquiets were speedily renewed by seeing the most +daring of our leaders (the same who had first forced his way through +the palisade, and in whose courage and sagacity we all put implicit +trust) suddenly stop short, and declare that he would go on no +further. He did not, however, take the leap at once, but quietly sat +down on the top of the fence with his feet hanging towards the road, +as if he meant to take his time about it, and let himself down +easily." I do not wonder at all that I thus seemed so unkind to a +lady, who at that time had never seen me. We were both in trial in +our different ways. I am far from denying that I was acting selfishly +both towards them and towards others; but it was a religious +selfishness. Certainly to myself my own duty seemed clear. They that +are whole can heal others; but in my case it was, "Physician, heal +thyself." My own soul was my first concern, and it seemed an +absurdity to my reason to be converted in partnership. I wished to go +to my Lord by myself, and in my own way, or rather His way. I had +neither wish, nor, I may say, thought of taking a number with me. But +nothing of this could be known to others.</p> + +<p>The following three letters are written to a friend, who had every +claim upon me to be frank with him:—it will be seen that I disclose +the real state of mind to him, in proportion as he presses me.</p> + +<p>1. "October 14, 1843. I would tell you in a few words why I have +resigned St. Mary's, as you seem to wish, were it possible to do so. +But it is most difficult to bring out in brief, or even <i>in extenso</i>, +any just view of my feelings and reasons.</p> + +<p>"The nearest approach I can give to a general account of them is to +say, that it has been caused by the general repudiation of the view, +contained in No. 90, on the part of the Church. I could not stand +against such an unanimous expression of opinion from the Bishops, +supported, as it has been, by the concurrence, or at least silence, +of all classes in the Church, lay and clerical. If there ever was a +case, in which an individual teacher has been put aside and virtually +put away by a community, mine is one. No decency has been observed in +the attacks upon me from authority; no protests have been offered +against them. It is felt,—I am far from denying, justly felt,—that +I am a foreign material, and cannot assimilate with the Church of +England.</p> + +<p>"Even my own Bishop has said that my mode of interpreting the +Articles makes them mean <i>anything or nothing</i>. When I heard this +delivered, I did not believe my ears. I denied to others that it was +said.... Out came the charge, and the words could not be mistaken. +This astonished me the more, because I published that Letter to him +(how unwillingly you know) on the understanding that <i>I</i> was to +deliver his judgment on No. 90 <i>instead</i> of him. A year elapses, and +a second and heavier judgment came forth. I did not bargain for +this,—nor did he, but the tide was too strong for him.</p> + +<p>"I fear that I must confess, that, in proportion as I think the +English Church is showing herself intrinsically and radically alien +from Catholic principles, so do I feel the difficulties of defending +her claims to be a branch of the Catholic Church. It seems a dream to +call a communion Catholic, when one can neither appeal to any clear +statement of Catholic doctrine in its formularies, nor interpret +ambiguous formularies by the received and living Catholic sense, +whether past or present. Men of Catholic views are too truly but a +party in our Church. I cannot deny that many other independent +circumstances, which it is not worth while entering into, have led me +to the same conclusion.</p> + +<p>"I do not say all this to every body, as you may suppose; but I do +not like to make a secret of it to you."</p> + +<p>2. "Oct. 25, 1843. You have engaged in a dangerous correspondence; I +am deeply sorry for the pain I shall give you.</p> + +<p>"I must tell you then frankly (but I combat arguments which to me, +alas, are shadows), that it is not from disappointment, irritation, +or impatience, that I have, whether rightly or wrongly, resigned St. +Mary's; but because I think the Church of Rome the Catholic Church, +and ours not part of the Catholic Church, because not in communion +with Rome; and because I feel that I could not honestly be a teacher +in it any longer.</p> + +<p>"This thought came to me last summer four years.... I mentioned it to +two friends in the autumn.... It arose in the first instance from the +Monophysite and Donatist controversies, the former of which I was +engaged with in the course of theological study to which I had given +myself. This was at a time when no Bishop, I believe, had declared +against us, and when all was progress and hope. I do not think I have +ever felt disappointment or impatience, certainly not then; for I +never looked forward to the future, nor do I realise it now.</p> + +<p>"My first effort was to write that article on the Catholicity of the +English Church; for two years it quieted me. Since the summer of 1839 +I have written little or nothing on modern controversy.... You know +how unwillingly I wrote my letter to the Bishop in which I committed +myself again, as the safest course under circumstances. The article I +speak of quieted me till the end of 1841, over the affair of No. 90, +when that wretched Jerusalem Bishopric (no personal matter) revived +all my alarms. They have increased up to this moment. At that time I +told my secret to another person in addition.</p> + +<p>"You see then that the various ecclesiastical and +quasi-ecclesiastical acts, which have taken place in the course of +the last two years and a half, are not the <i>cause</i> of my state of +opinion, but are keen stimulants and weighty confirmations of a +conviction forced upon me, while engaged in the <i>course of duty</i>, +viz. that theological reading to which I had given myself. And this +last-mentioned circumstance is a fact, which has never, I think, come +before me till now that I write to you.</p> + +<p>"It is three years since, on account of my state of opinion, I urged +the Provost in vain to let St. Mary's be separated from Littlemore; +thinking I might with a safe conscience serve the latter, though I +could not comfortably continue in so public a place as a University. +This was before No. 90.</p> + +<p>"Finally, I have acted under advice, and that, not of my own +choosing, but what came to me in the way of duty, nor the advice of +those only who agree with me, but of near friends who differ from me.</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to reproach myself with, as far as I see, in the +matter of impatience; <i>i.e.</i> practically or in conduct. And I trust +that He, who has kept me in the slow course of change hitherto, will +keep me still from hasty acts or resolves with a doubtful conscience.</p> + +<p>"This I am sure of, that such interposition as yours, kind as it is, +only does what <i>you</i> would consider harm. It makes me realise my own +views to myself; it makes me see their consistency; it assures me of +my own deliberateness; it suggests to me the traces of a Providential +Hand; it takes away the pain of disclosures; it relieves me of a +heavy secret.</p> + +<p>"You may make what use of my letters you think right."</p> + +<p>My correspondent wrote to me once more, and I replied thus: "October +31, 1843. Your letter has made my heart ache more, and caused me more +and deeper sighs than any I have had a long while, though I assure +you there is much on all sides of me to cause sighing and heartache. +On all sides I am quite haunted by the one dreadful whisper repeated +from so many quarters, and causing the keenest distress to friends. +You know but a part of my present trial, in knowing that I am +unsettled myself.</p> + +<p>"Since the beginning of this year I have been obliged to tell the +state of my mind to some others; but never, I think, without being in +a way obliged, as from friends writing to me as you did, or guessing +how matters stood. No one in Oxford knows it or here" [Littlemore], +"but one friend whom I felt I could not help telling the other day. +But, I suppose, very many suspect it."</p> + +<p>On receiving these letters, my correspondent, if I recollect rightly, +at once communicated the matter of them to Dr. Pusey, and this will +enable me to state as nearly as I can the way in which my changed +state of opinion was made known to him.</p> + +<p>I had from the first a great difficulty in making Dr. Pusey +understand such differences of opinion as existed between himself +and me. When there was a proposal about the end of 1838 for a +subscription for a Cranmer Memorial, he wished us both to subscribe +together to it. I could not, of course, and wished him to subscribe +by himself. That he would not do; he could not bear the thought of +our appearing to the world in separate positions, in a matter of +importance. And, as time went on, he would not take any hints, which +I gave him, on the subject of my growing inclination to Rome. When I +found him so determined, I often had not the heart to go on. And then +I knew, that, from affection to me, he so often took up and threw +himself into what I said, that I felt the great responsibility I +should incur, if I put things before him just as I might view them. +And, not knowing him so well as I did afterwards, I feared lest I +should unsettle him. And moreover, I recollected well, how prostrated +he had been with illness in 1832, and I used always to think that the +start of the Movement had given him a fresh life. I fancied that his +physical energies even depended on the presence of a vigorous hope +and bright prospects for his imagination to feed upon; so much so, +that when he was so unworthily treated by the authorities of the +place in 1843, I recollect writing to the late Mr. Dodsworth to state +my anxiety, lest, if his mind became dejected in consequence, his +health would suffer seriously also. These were difficulties in my +way; and then again, another difficulty was, that, as we were not +together under the same roof, we only saw each other at set times; +others indeed, who were coming in or out of my rooms freely, and as +there might be need at the moment, knew all my thoughts easily; but +for him to know them well, formal efforts were necessary. A common +friend of ours broke it all to him in 1841, as far as matters had +gone at that time, and showed him clearly the logical conclusions +which must lie in propositions to which I had committed myself; but +somehow or other in a little while, his mind fell back into its +former happy state, and he could not bring himself to believe that +he and I should not go on pleasantly together to the end. But that +affectionate dream needs must have been broken at last; and two years +afterwards, that friend to whom I wrote the letters which I have just +now inserted, set himself, as I have said, to break it. Upon that, I +too begged Dr. Pusey to tell in private to any one he would, that I +thought in the event I should leave the Church of England. However, +he would not do so; and at the end of 1844 had almost relapsed into +his former thoughts about me, if I may judge from a letter of his +which I have found. Nay, at the Commemoration of 1845, a few months +before I left the Anglican Church, I think he said about me to a +friend, "I trust after all we shall keep him."</p> + +<p>In that autumn of 1843, at the time that I spoke to Dr. Pusey, I +asked another friend also to communicate to others in confidence the +prospect which lay before me.</p> + +<p>To another friend I gave the opportunity of knowing it, if he would, +in the following postscript to a letter:—</p> + +<p>"While I write, I will add a word about myself. You may come near a +person or two who, owing to circumstances, know more exactly my state +of feeling than you do, though they would not tell you. Now I do not +like that you should not be aware of this, though I see no <i>reason</i> +why you should know what they happen to know. Your wishing it +otherwise would <i>be</i> a reason."</p> + +<p>I had a dear and old friend, near his death; I never told him my +state of mind. Why should I unsettle that sweet calm tranquillity, +when I had nothing to offer him instead? I could not say, "Go to +Rome;" else I should have shown him the way. Yet I offered myself for +his examination. One day he led the way to my speaking out; but, +rightly or wrongly, I could not respond. My reason was, "I have no +certainty on the matter myself. To say 'I think' is to tease and to +distress, not to persuade."</p> + +<p>I wrote to him on Michaelmas Day, 1843: "As you may suppose, I have +nothing to write to you about, pleasant. I <i>could</i> tell you some very +painful things; but it is best not to anticipate trouble, which after +all can but happen, and, for what one knows, may be averted. You are +always so kind, that sometimes, when I part with you, I am nearly +moved to tears, and it would be a relief to be so, at your kindness +and at my hardness. I think no one ever had such kind friends as I +have."</p> + +<p>The next year, January 22, I wrote to him: "Pusey has quite enough on +him, and generously takes on himself more than enough, for me to add +burdens when I am not obliged; particularly too, when I am very +conscious, that there <i>are</i> burdens, which I am or shall be obliged +to lay upon him some time or other, whether I will or no."</p> + +<p>And on February 21: "Half-past ten. I am just up, having a bad cold; +the like has not happened to me (except twice in January) in my +memory. You may think you have been in my thoughts, long before my +rising. Of course you are so continually, as you well know. I could +not come to see you; I am not worthy of friends. With my opinions, +to the full of which I dare not confess, I feel like a guilty person +with others, though I trust I am not so. People kindly think that I +have much to bear externally, disappointment, slander, etc. No, I +have nothing to bear, but the anxiety which I feel for my friends' +anxiety for me, and their perplexity. This [letter] is a better +Ash-Wednesday than birthday present;" [his birthday was the same day +as mine; it was Ash-Wednesday that year]; "but I cannot help writing +about what is uppermost. And now all kindest and best wishes to you, +my oldest friend, whom I must not speak more about, and with +reference to myself, lest you should be angry." It was not in his +nature to have doubts: he used to look at me with anxiety, and wonder +what had come over me.</p> + +<p>On Easter Monday: "All that is good and gracious descend upon you and +yours from the influences of this Blessed Season; and it will be so +(so be it!), for what is the life of you all, as day passes after +day, but a simple endeavour to serve Him, from whom all blessing +comes? Though we are separated in place, yet this we have in common, +that you are living a calm and cheerful time, and I am enjoying the +thought of you. It is your blessing to have a clear heaven, and peace +around, according to the blessing pronounced on Benjamin. So it is, +and so may it ever be."</p> + +<p>He was in simple good faith. He died in September that year. I had +expected that his last illness would have brought light to my mind, +as to what I ought to do. It brought none. I made a note, which runs +thus: "I sobbed bitterly over his coffin, to think that he left me +still dark as to what the way of truth was, and what I ought to do in +order to please God and fulfil His will." I think I wrote to Charles +Marriott to say, that at that moment, with the thought of my friend +before me, my strong view in favour of Rome remained just what it +was. On the other hand, my firm belief that grace was to be found in +the Anglican Church remained too.<a href="#fn5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> I wrote to a friend upon his +death:—</p> + +<p>"Sept. 16, 1844. I am full of wrong and miserable feelings, which it +is useless to detail, so grudging and sullen, when I should be +thankful. Of course, when one sees so blessed an end, and that, the +termination of so blameless a life, of one who really fed on our +ordinances and got strength from them, and see the same continued in +a whole family, the little children finding quite a solace of their +pain in the Daily Prayer, it is impossible not to feel more at ease +in our Church, as at least a sort of Zoar, a place of refuge and +temporary rest, because of the steepness of the way. Only, may we be +kept from unlawful security, lest we have Moab and Ammon for our +progeny, the enemies of Israel."</p> + +<p>I could not continue in this state, either in the light of duty or of +reason. My difficulty was this: I had been deceived greatly once; how +could I be sure that I was not deceived a second time? I then thought +myself right; how was I to be certain that I was right now? How many +years had I thought myself sure of what I now rejected? how could I +ever again have confidence in myself? As in 1840 I listened to the +rising doubt in favour of Rome, now I listened to the waning doubt +in favour of the English Church. To be certain is to know that one +knows; what test had I, that I should not change again, after that I +had become a Catholic? I had still apprehension of this, though I +thought a time would come, when it would depart. However, some limit +ought to be put to these vague misgivings; I must do my best and then +leave it to a higher power to prosper it. So, I determined to write +an essay on Doctrinal Development; and then, if, at the end of it, my +convictions in favour of the Roman Church were not weaker, to make up +my mind to seek admission into her fold. I acted upon this resolution +in the beginning of 1845, and worked at my Essay steadily into the +autumn.</p> + +<p>I told my resolution to various friends at the beginning of the year; +indeed, it was at that time known generally. I wrote to a friend +thus:—</p> + +<p>"My intention is, if nothing comes upon me, which I cannot foresee, +to remain quietly <i>in statu quo</i> for a considerable time, trusting +that my friends will kindly remember me and my trial in their +prayers. And I should give up my fellowship some time before anything +further took place."</p> + +<p>One very dear friend, now no more, Charles Marriott, sent me a letter +at the beginning of the next year, from which, from love of him, I +quote some sentences:—</p> + +<p>"January 15, 1845. You know me well enough to be aware, that I never +see through anything at first. Your letter to B. casts a gloom over +the future, which you can understand, if you have understood me, as I +believe you have. But I may speak out at once, of what I see and +feel at once, and doubt not that I shall ever feel: that your whole +conduct towards the Church of England and towards us, who have +striven and are still striving to seek after God for ourselves, +and to revive true religion among others, under her authority and +guidance, has been generous and considerate, and, were that word +appropriate, dutiful, to a degree that I could scarcely have +conceived possible, more unsparing of self than I should have thought +nature could sustain. I have felt with pain every link that you have +severed, and I have asked no questions, because I felt that you ought +to measure the disclosure of your thoughts according to the occasion, +and the capacity of those to whom you spoke. I write in haste, in +the midst of engagements engrossing in themselves, but partly made +tasteless, partly embittered by what I have heard; but I am willing +to trust even you, whom I love best on earth, in God's Hand, in the +earnest prayer that you may be so employed as is best for the Holy +Catholic Church."</p> + +<p>There was a lady, who was very anxious on the subject, and I wrote to +her the following letters:—</p> + +<p>1. "October, 1844. What can I say more to your purpose? If you will +ask me any specific questions, I will answer them, as far as I am +able."</p> + +<p>2. "November 7, 1844. I am still where I was; I am not moving. Two +things, however, seem plain, that every one is prepared for such an +event, next, that every one expects it of me. Few indeed, who do not +think it suitable, fewer still, who do not think it likely. However, +I do not think it either suitable or likely. I have very little +reason to doubt about the issue of things, but the when and the how +are known to Him, from whom, I trust, both the course of things and +the issue come. The expression of opinion, and the latent and +habitual feeling about me, which is on every side and among all +parties, has great force. I insist upon it, because I have a great +dread of going by my own feelings, lest they should mislead me. By +one's sense of duty one must go; but external facts support one in +doing so."</p> + +<p>3. "January 8, 1845. My full belief is, in accordance with your +letter, that, if there is a move in our Church, very few persons +indeed will be partners to it. I doubt whether one or two at the most +among residents at Oxford. And I don't know whether I can wish it. +The state of the Roman Catholics is at present so unsatisfactory. +This I am sure of, that nothing but a simple, direct call of duty is +a warrant for any one leaving our Church; no preference of another +Church, no delight in its services, no hope of greater religious +advancement in it, no indignation, no disgust, at the persons and +things, among which we may find ourselves in the Church of England. +The simple question is, Can <i>I</i> (it is personal, not whether another, +but can <i>I</i>) be saved in the English Church? am <i>I</i> in safety, were I +to die tonight? Is it a mortal sin in <i>me</i>, not joining another +communion? P.S. I hardly see my way to concur in attendance, though +occasional, in the Roman Catholic chapel, unless a man has made up +his mind pretty well to join it eventually. Invocations are not +<i>required</i> in the Church of Rome; somehow, I do not like using them +except under the sanction of the Church, and this makes me unwilling +to admit them in members of our Church."</p> + +<p>4. "March 30. Now I will tell you more than any one knows except two +friends. My own convictions are as strong, as I suppose they can +become: only it is so difficult to know whether it is a call of +<i>reason</i> or of conscience. I cannot make out, if I am impelled by +what seems clear, or by a sense of <i>duty</i>. You can understand how +painful this doubt is; so I have waited, hoping for light, and using +the words of the Psalmist, 'Show some token upon me.' But I suppose I +have no right to wait for ever for this. Then I am waiting, because +friends are most considerately bearing me in mind, and asking +guidance for me; and, I trust, I should attend to any new feelings +which came upon me, should that be the effect of their kindness. And +then this waiting subserves the purpose of preparing men's minds. +I dread shocking, unsettling people. Anyhow, I can't avoid giving +incalculable pain. So, if I had my will, I should like to wait till +the summer of 1846, which would be a full seven years from the time +that my convictions first began to fall on me. But I don't think I +shall last so long.</p> + +<p>"My present intention is to give up my Fellowship in October, and to +publish some work or treatise between that and Christmas. I wish +people to know <i>why</i> I am acting, as well as <i>what</i> I am doing; it +takes off that vague and distressing surprise, 'What <i>can</i> have made +him?'"</p> + +<p>5. "June 1. What you tell me of yourself makes it plain that it is +your duty to remain quietly and patiently, till you see more clearly +where you are; else you are leaping in the dark."</p> + +<p>In the early part of this year, if not before, there was an idea +afloat that my retirement from the Anglican Church was owing to the +feeling that I had so been thrust aside, without any one's taking my +part. Various measures were, I believe, talked of in consequence of +this surmise. Coincidently with it was an exceedingly kind article +about me in a quarterly, in its April number. The writer praised me +in feeling and beautiful language far above my deserts. In the course +of his remarks, he said, speaking of me as Vicar of St. Mary's: "He +had the future race of clergy hearing him. Did he value and feel +tender about, and cling to his position? ...Not at all.... No +sacrifice to him perhaps, he did not care about such things."</p> + +<p>This was the occasion of my writing to a very intimate friend the +following letter:—</p> + +<p>"April 3, 1845.... Accept this apology, my dear C., and forgive me. +As I say so, tears come into my eyes—that arises from the accident +of this time, when I am giving up so much I love. Just now I have +been overset by A. B.'s article in the C. D.; yet really, my dear C., +I have never for an instant had even the temptation of repenting my +leaving Oxford. The feeling of repentance has not even come into my +mind. How could it? How could I remain at St. Mary's a hypocrite? how +could I be answerable for souls (and life so uncertain), with the +convictions, or at least persuasions, which I had upon me? It is +indeed a responsibility to act as I am doing; and I feel His hand +heavy on me without intermission, who is all Wisdom and Love, so that +my heart and mind are tired out, just as the limbs might be from +a load on one's back. That sort of dull aching pain is mine; but +my responsibility really is nothing to what it would be, to be +answerable for souls, for confiding loving souls, in the English +Church, with my convictions. My love to Marriott, and save me the +pain of sending him a line."</p> + +<p>In July a bishop thought it worth while to give out to the world that +"the adherents of Mr. Newman are few in number. A short time will now +probably suffice to prove this fact. It is well known that he is +preparing for secession; and, when that event takes place, it will be +seen how few will go with him."</p> + +<p>All this time I was hard at my essay on Doctrinal Development. As I +advanced, my view so cleared that instead of speaking any more of +"the Roman Catholics," I boldly called them Catholics. Before I got +to the end, I resolved to be received, and the book remains in the +state in which it was then, unfinished.</p> + +<p>On October 8th I wrote to a number of friends the following letter:—</p> + +<p>"Littlemore, October 8, 1845. I am this night expecting Father +Dominic, the Passionist, who, from his youth, has been led to have +distinct and direct thoughts, first of the countries of the North, +then of England. After thirty years' (almost) waiting, he was without +his own act sent here. But he has had little to do with conversions. +I saw him here for a few minutes on St. John Baptist's day last year. +He does not know of my intention; but I mean to ask of him admission +into the one Fold of Christ....</p> + +<p>"I have so many letters to write, that this must do for all who +choose to ask about me. With my best love to dear Charles Marriott, +who is over your head, etc., etc.</p> + +<p>"P.S. This will not go till all is over. Of course it requires no +answer."</p> + +<p class="extraspace">For a while after my reception, I proposed to betake myself to some +secular calling. I wrote thus in answer to a very gracious letter of +congratulation:—</p> + +<p>"Nov. 25, 1845. I hope you will have anticipated, before I express +it, the great gratification which I received from your Eminence's +letter. That gratification, however, was tempered by the +apprehension, that kind and anxious well-wishers at a distance attach +more importance to my step than really belongs to it. To me indeed +personally it is of course an inestimable gain; but persons and +things look great at a distance, which are not so when seen close; +and, did your Eminence know me, you would see that I was one, about +whom there has been far more talk for good and bad than he deserves, +and about whose movements far more expectation has been raised than +the event will justify.</p> + +<p>"As I never, I do trust, aimed at anything else than obedience to my +own sense of right, and have been magnified into the leader of a +party without my wishing it or acting as such, so now, much as I may +wish to the contrary, and earnestly as I may labour (as is my duty) +to minister in a humble way to the Catholic Church, yet my powers +will, I fear, disappoint the expectations of both my own friends, and +of those who pray for the peace of Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>"If I might ask of your Eminence a favour, it is that you would +kindly moderate those anticipations. Would it were in my power to do, +what I do not aspire to do! At present certainly I cannot look +forward to the future, and, though it would be a good work if I could +persuade others to do as I have done, yet it seems as if I had quite +enough to do in thinking of myself."</p> + +<p>Soon, Dr. Wiseman, in whose vicariate Oxford lay, called me to +Oscott; and I went there with others; afterwards he sent me to Rome, +and finally placed me in Birmingham.</p> + +<p>I wrote to a friend:—</p> + +<p>"January 20, 1846. You may think how lonely I am. 'Obliviscere +populum tuum et domum patris tui,' has been in my ears for the last +twelve hours. I realise more that we are leaving Littlemore, and it +is like going on the open sea."</p> + +<p>I left Oxford for good on Monday, February 23, 1846. On the Saturday +and Sunday before, I was in my house at Littlemore simply by myself, +as I had been for the first day or two when I had originally taken +possession of it. I slept on Sunday night at my dear friend's, Mr. +Johnson's, at the Observatory. Various friends came to see the last +of me; Mr. Copeland, Mr. Church, Mr. Buckle, Mr. Pattison, and Mr. +Lewis. Dr. Pusey too came up to take leave of me; and I called on Dr. +Ogle, one of my very oldest friends, for he was my private tutor when +I was an undergraduate. In him I took leave of my first college, +Trinity, which was so dear to me, and which held on its foundation so +many who have been kind to me both when I was a boy, and all through +my Oxford life. Trinity had never been unkind to me. There used to be +much snapdragon growing on the walls opposite my freshman's rooms +there, and I had for years taken it as the emblem of my own perpetual +residence even unto death in my University.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 23rd I left the observatory. I have never seen +Oxford since, excepting its spires, as they are seen from the +railway.</p> + +<div class="footnote" id="fn3"> +<h4>Footnotes</h4> +<p>[3] As I am not writing controversially, I will only here remark upon +this argument, that there is a great difference between a command, +which implies physical conditions, and one which is moral. To go to +Jerusalem was a matter of the body, not of the soul.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote" id="fn4"> +<p>[4] I cannot prove this at this distance of time; but I do not think it +wrong to introduce here the passage containing it, as I am imputing +to the Bishop nothing which the world would think disgraceful, but, +on the contrary, what a large religious body would approve.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote" id="fn5"> +<p>[5] On this subject, <i>vid</i>. my third lecture on "Anglican +Difficulties."</p> +</div> + +<div id="p7" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Part VII</h3> +<h3>General answer to Mr. Kingsley</h3> +</div> + +<p>From the time that I became a Catholic, of course I have no further +history of my religious opinions to narrate. In saying this, I do not +mean to say that my mind has been idle, or that I have given up +thinking on theological subjects; but that I have had no changes to +record, and have had no anxiety of heart whatever. I have been in +perfect peace and contentment. I never have had one doubt. I was +not conscious to myself, on my conversion, of any difference of +thought or of temper from what I had before. I was not conscious of +firmer faith in the fundamental truths of revelation, or of more +self-command; I had not more fervour; but it was like coming into +port after a rough sea; and my happiness on that score remains to +this day without interruption.</p> + +<p>Nor had I any trouble about receiving those additional articles, +which are not found in the Anglican Creed. Some of them I believed +already, but not any one of them was a trial to me. I made a +profession of them upon my reception with the greatest ease, and I +have the same ease in believing them now. I am far of course from +denying that every article of the Christian Creed, whether as held by +Catholics or by Protestants, is beset with intellectual difficulties; +and it is simple fact, that, for myself, I cannot answer those +difficulties. Many persons are very sensitive of the difficulties of +religion; I am as sensitive as any one; but I have never been able to +see a connection between apprehending those difficulties, however +keenly, and multiplying them to any extent, and doubting the +doctrines to which they are attached. Ten thousand difficulties do +not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; difficulty and +doubt are incommensurate. There of course may be difficulties in +the evidence; but I am speaking of difficulties intrinsic to the +doctrines, or to their compatibility with each other. A man may be +annoyed that he cannot work out a mathematical problem, of which the +answer is or is not given to him, without doubting that it admits of +an answer, or that a particular answer is the true one. Of all points +of faith, the being of a God is, to my own apprehension, encompassed +with most difficulty, and borne in upon our minds with most power.</p> + +<p>People say that the doctrine of Transubstantiation is difficult to +believe; I did not believe the doctrine till I was a Catholic. I had +no difficulty in believing it as soon as I believed that the Catholic +Roman Church was the oracle of God, and that she had declared this +doctrine to be part of the original revelation. It is difficult, +impossible to imagine, I grant—but how is it difficult to believe? +Yet Macaulay thought it so difficult to believe, that he had need of +a believer in it of talents as eminent as Sir Thomas More, before he +could bring himself to conceive that the Catholics of an enlightened +age could resist "the overwhelming force of the argument against it." +"Sir Thomas More," he says, "is one of the choice specimens of wisdom +and virtue; and the doctrine of transubstantiation is a kind of proof +charge. A faith which stands that test, will stand any test." But for +myself, I cannot indeed prove it, I cannot tell <i>how</i> it is; but I +say, "Why should it not be? What's to hinder it? What do I know of +substance or matter? just as much as the greatest philosophers, and +that is nothing at all;"—so much is this the case, that there is a +rising school of philosophy now, which considers phenomena to +constitute the whole of our knowledge in physics. The Catholic +doctrine leaves phenomena alone. It does not say that the phenomena +go; on the contrary, it says that they remain: nor does it say that +the same phenomena are in several places at once. It deals with what +no one on earth knows anything about, the material substances +themselves. And, in like manner, of that majestic article of the +Anglican as well as of the Catholic Creed—the doctrine of the +Trinity in Unity. What do I know of the essence of the Divine Being? +I know that my abstract idea of three is simply incompatible with my +idea of one; but when I come to the question of concrete fact, I have +no means of proving that there is not a sense in which one and three +can equally be predicated of the Incommunicable God.</p> + +<p>But I am going to take upon myself the responsibility of more than +the mere creed of the Church; as the parties accusing me are +determined I shall do. They say, that now, in that I am a Catholic, +though I may not have offences of my own against honesty to answer +for, yet, at least, I am answerable for the offences of others, of my +co-religionists, of my brother priests, of the Church herself. I am +quite willing to accept the responsibility; and, as I have been able, +as I trust, by means of a few words, to dissipate, in the minds of +all those who do not begin with disbelieving me, the suspicion with +which so many Protestants start, in forming their judgment of +Catholics, viz. that our creed is actually set up in inevitable +superstition and hypocrisy, as the original sin of Catholicism; so +now I will go on, as before, identifying myself with the Church and +vindicating it—not of course denying the enormous mass of sin and +ignorance which exists of necessity in that world-wide multiform +communion—but going to the proof of this one point, that its system +is in no sense dishonest, and that therefore the upholders and +teachers of that system, as such, have a claim to be acquitted in +their own persons of that odious imputation.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Starting then with the being of a God (which, as I have said, is as +certain to me as the certainty of my own existence, though when I try +to put the grounds of that certainty into logical shape I find a +difficulty in doing so in mood and figure to my satisfaction), I look +out of myself into the world of men, and there I see a sight which +fills me with unspeakable distress. The world seems simply to give +the lie to that great truth, of which my whole being is so full; and +the effect upon me is, in consequence, as a matter of necessity, as +confusing as if it denied that I am in existence myself. If I looked +into a mirror, and did not see my face, I should have the sort of +feeling which actually comes upon me, when I look into this living +busy world, and see no reflexion of its Creator. This is, to me, one +of the great difficulties of this absolute primary truth, to which I +referred just now. Were it not for this voice, speaking so clearly in +my conscience and my heart, I should be an atheist, or a pantheist, +or a polytheist when I looked into the world. I am speaking for +myself only; and I am far from denying the real force of the +arguments in proof of a God, drawn from the general facts of human +society, but these do not warm me or enlighten me; they do not take +away the winter of my desolation, or make the buds unfold and the +leaves grow within me, and my moral being rejoice. The sight of the +world is nothing else than the prophet's scroll, full of +"lamentations, and mourning, and woe."</p> + +<p>To consider the world in its length and breadth, its various history, +the many races of man, their starts, their fortunes, their mutual +alienation, their conflicts; and then their ways, habits, +governments, forms of worship; their enterprises, their aimless +courses, their random achievements and acquirements, the impotent +conclusion of long-standing facts, the tokens so faint and broken, +of a superintending design, the blind evolution of what turn out +to be great powers or truths, the progress of things, as if from +unreasoning elements, not towards final causes, the greatness and +littleness of man, his far-reaching aims, his short duration, the +curtain hung over his futurity, the disappointments of life, the +defeat of good, the success of evil, physical pain, mental anguish, +the prevalence and intensity of sin, the pervading idolatries, the +corruptions, the dreary hopeless irreligion, that condition of the +whole race, so fearfully yet exactly described in the Apostle's +words, "having no hope and without God in the world,"—all this is a +vision to dizzy and appal; and inflicts upon the mind the sense of a +profound mystery, which is absolutely beyond human solution.</p> + +<p>What shall be said to this heart-piercing, reason-bewildering fact? I +can only answer, that either there is no Creator, or this living +society of men is in a true sense discarded from His presence. Did I +see a boy of good make and mind, with the tokens on him of a refined +nature, cast upon the world without provision, unable to say whence +he came, his birthplace or his family connections, I should conclude +that there was some mystery connected with his history, and that he +was one, of whom, from one cause or other, his parents were ashamed. +Thus only should I be able to account for the contrast between the +promise and condition of his being. And so I argue about the +world;—<i>if</i> there be a God, <i>since</i> there is a God, the human race +is implicated in some terrible aboriginal calamity. It is out of +joint with the purposes of its Creator. This is a fact, a fact as +true as the fact of its existence; and thus the doctrine of what is +theologically called original sin becomes to me almost as certain as +that the world exists, and as the existence of God.</p> + +<p>And now, supposing it were the blessed and loving will of the Creator +to interfere in this anarchical condition of things, what are we to +suppose would be the methods which might be necessarily or naturally +involved in His object of mercy? Since the world is in so abnormal a +state, surely it would be no surprise to me, if the interposition +were of necessity equally extraordinary—or what is called +miraculous. But that subject does not directly come into the scope of +my present remarks. Miracles as evidence, involve an argument; and of +course I am thinking of some means which does not immediately run +into argument. I am rather asking what must be the face-to-face +antagonist, by which to withstand and baffle the fierce energy of +passion and the all-corroding, all-dissolving scepticism of the +intellect in religious inquiries? I have no intention at all to deny, +that truth is the real object of our reason, and that, if it does not +attain to truth, either the premiss or the process is in fault; but I +am not speaking of right reason, but of reason as it acts in fact and +concretely in fallen man. I know that even the unaided reason, when +correctly exercised, leads to a belief in God, in the immortality of +the soul, and in a future retribution; but I am considering it +actually and historically; and in this point of view, I do not think +I am wrong in saying that its tendency is towards a simple unbelief +in matters of religion. No truth, however sacred, can stand against +it, in the long run; and hence it is that in the pagan world, when +our Lord came, the last traces of the religious knowledge of former +times were all but disappearing from those portions of the world in +which the intellect had been active and had had a career.</p> + +<p>And in these latter days, in like manner, outside the Catholic Church +things are tending, with far greater rapidity than in that old time +from the circumstance of the age, to atheism in one shape or other. +What a scene, what a prospect, does the whole of Europe present at +this day! and not only Europe, but every government and every +civilization through the world, which is under the influence of the +European mind! Especially, for it most concerns us, how sorrowful, in +the view of religion, even taken in its most elementary, most +attenuated form, is the spectacle presented to us by the educated +intellect of England, France, and Germany! Lovers of their country +and of their race, religious men, external to the Catholic Church, +have attempted various expedients to arrest fierce wilful human +nature in its onward course, and to bring it into subjection. The +necessity of some form of religion for the interests of humanity, has +been generally acknowledged: but where was the concrete +representative of things invisible, which would have the force and +the toughness necessary to be a breakwater against the deluge? Three +centuries ago the establishment of religion, material, legal, and +social, was generally adopted as the best expedient for the purpose, +in those countries which separated from the Catholic Church; and for +a long time it was successful; but now the crevices of those +establishments are admitting the enemy. Thirty years ago, education +was relied upon: ten years ago there was a hope that wars would cease +for ever, under the influence of commercial enterprise and the reign +of the useful and fine arts; but will any one venture to say that +there is anything anywhere on this earth, which will afford a fulcrum +for us, whereby to keep the earth from moving onwards?</p> + +<p>The judgment, which experience passes on establishments or education, +as a means of maintaining religious truth in this anarchical world, +must be extended even to Scripture, though Scripture be divine. +Experience proves surely that the Bible does not answer a purpose, +for which it was never intended. It may be accidentally the means of +the conversion of individuals; but a book, after all, cannot make a +stand against the wild living intellect of man, and in this day it +begins to testify, as regards its own structure and contents, to the +power of that universal solvent, which is so successfully acting upon +religious establishments.</p> + +<p>Supposing then it to be the Will of the Creator to interfere in human +affairs, and to make provisions for retaining in the world a +knowledge of Himself, so definite and distinct as to be proof against +the energy of human scepticism, in such a case—I am far from saying +that there was no other way—but there is nothing to surprise the +mind, if He should think fit to introduce a power into the world, +invested with the prerogative of infallibility in religious matters. +Such a provision would be a direct, immediate, active, and prompt +means of withstanding the difficulty; it would be an instrument +suited to the need; and, when I find that this is the very claim of +the Catholic Church, not only do I feel no difficulty in admitting +the idea, but there is a fitness in it, which recommends it to my +mind. And thus I am brought to speak of the Church's infallibility, +as a provision, adapted by the mercy of the Creator, to preserve +religion in the world, and to restrain that freedom of thought, which +of course in itself is one of the greatest of our natural gifts, and +to rescue it from its own suicidal excesses. And let it be observed +that, neither here nor in what follows, shall I have occasion to +speak directly of the revealed body of truths, but only as they bear +upon the defence of natural religion. I say, that a power, possessed +of infallibility in religious teaching, is happily adapted to be +a working instrument, in the course of human affairs, for smiting +hard and throwing back the immense energy of the aggressive +intellect:—and in saying this, as in the other things that I have to +say, it must still be recollected that I am all along bearing in mind +my main purpose, which is a defence of myself.</p> + +<p>I am defending myself here from a plausible charge brought against +Catholics, as will be seen better as I proceed. The charge is +this:—that I, as a Catholic, not only make profession to hold +doctrines which I cannot possibly believe in my heart, but that I +also believe in the existence of a power on earth, which at its own +will imposes upon men any new set of <i>credenda</i>, when it pleases, by +a claim to infallibility; in consequence, that my own thoughts are +not my own property; that I cannot tell that tomorrow I may not have +to give up what I hold today, and that the necessary effect of such +a condition of mind must be a degrading bondage, or a bitter inward +rebellion relieving itself in secret infidelity, or the necessity of +ignoring the whole subject of religion in a sort of disgust, and of +mechanically saying everything that the Church says, and leaving to +others the defence of it. As then I have above spoken of the relation +of my mind towards the Catholic Creed, so now I shall speak of the +attitude which it takes up in the view of the Church's infallibility.</p> + +<p>And first, the initial doctrine of the infallible teacher must be an +emphatic protest against the existing state of mankind. Man had +rebelled against his Maker. It was this that caused the divine +interposition: and the first act of the divinely accredited messenger +must be to proclaim it. The Church must denounce rebellion as of all +possible evils the greatest. She must have no terms with it; if she +would be true to her Master, she must ban and anathematise it. This +is the meaning of a statement which has furnished matter for one of +those special accusations to which I am at present replying: I have, +however, no fault at all to confess in regard to it; I have nothing +to withdraw, and in consequence I here deliberately repeat it. I +said, "The Catholic Church holds it better for the sun and moon to +drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many +millions on it to die of starvation in extremest agony, as far as +temporal affliction goes, than that one soul, I will not say, should +be lost, but should commit one single venial sin, should tell one +wilful untruth, or should steal one poor farthing without excuse." I +think the principle here enunciated to be the mere preamble in the +formal credentials of the Catholic Church, as an Act of Parliament +might begin with a "<i>Whereas</i>." It is because of the intensity of the +evil which has possession of mankind, that a suitable antagonist +has been provided against it; and the initial act of that +divinely-commissioned power is of course to deliver her challenge +and to defy the enemy. Such a preamble then gives a meaning to her +position in the world, and an interpretation to her whole course of +teaching and action.</p> + +<p>In like manner she has ever put forth, with most energetic +distinctness, those other great elementary truths, which either are +an explanation of her mission or give a character to her work. She +does not teach that human nature is irreclaimable, else wherefore +should she be sent? not that it is to be shattered and reversed, but +to be extricated, purified, and restored; not that it is a mere mass +of evil, but that it has the promise of great things, and even now +has a virtue and a praise proper to itself. But in the next place +she knows and she preaches that such a restoration, as she aims at +effecting in it, must be brought about, not simply through any +outward provision of preaching and teaching, even though it be her +own, but from a certain inward spiritual power or grace imparted +directly from above, and which is in her keeping. She has it in +charge to rescue human nature from its misery, but not simply by +raising it upon its own level, but by lifting it up to a higher level +than its own. She recognises in it real moral excellence though +degraded, but she cannot set it free from earth except by exalting it +towards heaven. It was for this end that a renovating grace was put +into her hands, and therefore from the nature of the gift, as well as +from the reasonableness of the case, she goes on, as a further point, +to insist, that all true conversion must begin with the first springs +of thought, and to teach that each individual man must be in his own +person one whole and perfect temple of God, while he is also one of +the living stones which build up a visible religious community. And +thus the distinctions between nature and grace, and between outward +and inward religion, become two further articles in what I have +called the preamble of her divine commission.</p> + +<p>Such truths as these she vigorously reiterates, and pertinaciously +inflicts upon mankind; as to such she observes no half-measures, no +economical reserve, no delicacy or prudence. "Ye must be born again," +is the simple, direct form of words which she uses after her Divine +Master; "your whole nature must be re-born, your passions, and your +affections, and your aims, and your conscience, and your will, must +all be bathed in a new element, and reconsecrated to your Maker, and, +the last not the least, your intellect." It was for repeating these +points of her teaching in my own way, that certain passages of one of +my volumes have been brought into the general accusation which has +been made against my religious opinions. The writer has said that I +was demented if I believed, and unprincipled if I did not believe, in +my statement that a lazy, ragged, filthy, story-telling beggar-woman, +if chaste, sober, cheerful, and religious, had a prospect of heaven, +which was absolutely closed to an accomplished statesman, or lawyer, +or noble, be he ever so just, upright, generous, honourable, and +conscientious, unless he had also some portion of the divine +Christian grace; yet I should have thought myself defended from +criticism by the words which our Lord used to the chief priests, +"The publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." +And I was subjected again to the same alternative of imputations, +for having ventured to say that consent to an unchaste wish was +indefinitely more heinous than any lie viewed apart from its causes, +its motives, and its consequences; though a lie, viewed under the +limitation of these conditions, is a random utterance, an almost +outward act, not directly from the heart, however disgraceful it may +be, whereas we have the express words of our Lord to the doctrine +that "whoso looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed +adultery with her already in his heart." On the strength of these +texts I have surely as much right to believe in these doctrines +as to believe in the doctrine of original sin, or that there is a +supernatural revelation, or that a Divine Person suffered, or that +punishment is eternal.</p> + +<p>Passing now from what I have called the preamble of that grant of +power, with which the Church is invested, to that power itself, +Infallibility, I make two brief remarks: on the one hand, I am not +here determining anything about the essential seat of that power, +because that is a question doctrinal, not historical and practical; +nor, on the other hand, am I extending the direct subject-matter, +over which that power has jurisdiction, beyond religious +opinion:—and now as to the power itself.</p> + +<p>This power, viewed in its fulness, is as tremendous as the giant evil +which has called for it. It claims, when brought into exercise in the +legitimate manner, for otherwise of course it is but dormant, to have +for itself a sure guidance into the very meaning of every portion of +the divine message in detail, which was committed by our Lord to His +Apostles. It claims to know its own limits, and to decide what it can +determine absolutely and what it cannot. It claims, moreover, to have +a hold upon statements not directly religious, so far as this, to +determine whether they indirectly relate to religion, and, according +to its own definitive judgment, to pronounce whether or not, in a +particular case, they are consistent with revealed truth. It claims +to decide magisterially, whether infallibly or not, that such and +such statements are or are not prejudicial to the apostolic +<i>depositum</i> of faith, in their spirit or in their consequences, and +to allow them, or condemn and forbid them, accordingly. It claims to +impose silence at will on any matters, or controversies, of doctrine, +which on its own <i>ipse dixit</i>, it pronounces to be dangerous, +or inexpedient, or inopportune. It claims that whatever may be the +judgment of Catholics upon such acts, these acts should be received +by them with those outward marks of reverence, submission, and +loyalty, which Englishmen, for instance, pay to the presence of their +sovereign, without public criticism on them, as being in their matter +inexpedient, or in their manner violent or harsh. And lastly, it +claims to have the right of inflicting spiritual punishment, of +cutting off from the ordinary channels of the divine life, and of +simply excommunicating, those who refuse to submit themselves to its +formal declarations. Such is the infallibility lodged in the Catholic +Church, viewed in the concrete, as clothed and surrounded by the +appendages of its high sovereignty: it is, to repeat what I said +above, a supereminent prodigious power sent upon earth to encounter +and master a giant evil.</p> + +<p>And now, having thus described it, I profess my own absolute +submission to its claim. I believe the whole revealed dogma as taught +by the apostles, as committed by the apostles to the Church, and +as declared by the Church to me. I receive it, as it is infallibly +interpreted by the authority to whom it is thus committed, and +(implicitly) as it shall be, in like manner, further interpreted by +that same authority till the end of time. I submit, moreover, to the +universally received traditions of the Church, in which lies the +matter of those new dogmatic definitions which are from time to time +made, and which in all times are the clothing and the illustration of +the Catholic dogma as already defined. And I submit myself to those +other decisions of the holy see, theological or not, through the +organs which it has itself appointed, which, waiving the question of +their infallibility, on the lowest ground come to me with a claim to +be accepted and obeyed. Also, I consider that, gradually and in the +course of ages, Catholic inquiry has taken certain definite shapes, +and has thrown itself into the form of a science, with a method and +a phraseology of its own, under the intellectual handling of great +minds, such as St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas; and +I feel no temptation at all to break in pieces the great legacy of +thought thus committed to us for these latter days.</p> + +<p>All this being considered as the profession <i>ex animo</i>, as on my own +part, so also on the part of the Catholic body, as far as I know it, +it will at first sight be said that the restless intellect of our +common humanity is utterly weighed down to the repression of all +independent effort and action whatever, so that, if this is to be the +mode of bringing it into order, it is brought into order only to be +destroyed. But this is far from the result, far from what I conceive +to be the intention of that high Providence who has provided a great +remedy for a great evil—far from borne out by the history of the +conflict between infallibility and reason in the past, and the +prospect of it in the future. The energy of the human intellect "does +from opposition grow;" it thrives and is joyous, with a tough elastic +strength, under the terrible blows of the divinely-fashioned weapon, +and is never so much itself as when it has lately been overthrown. It +is the custom with Protestant writers to consider that, whereas there +are two great principles in action in the history of religion, +Authority and Private Judgment, they have all the Private Judgment to +themselves, and we have the full inheritance and the superincumbent +oppression of Authority. But this is not so; it is the vast Catholic +body itself, and it only, which affords an arena for both combatants +in that awful, never-dying duel. It is necessary for the very life +of religion, viewed in its large operations and its history, that +the warfare should be incessantly carried on. Every exercise of +Infallibility is brought out into act by an intense and varied +operation of the Reason, from within and without, and provokes again +a re-action of Reason against it; and, as in a civil polity the +State exists and endures by means of the rivalry and collision, the +encroachments and defeats of its constituent parts, so in like manner +Catholic Christendom is no simple exhibition of religious absolutism, +but it presents a continuous picture of Authority and Private +Judgment alternately advancing and retreating as the ebb and flow of +the tide;—it is a vast assemblage of human beings with wilful +intellects and wild passions, brought together into one by the beauty +and the majesty of a superhuman power—into what may be called a +large reformatory or training-school, not to be sent to bed, not to +be buried alive, but for the melting, refining, and moulding, as in +some moral factory, by an incessant noisy process (if I may proceed +to another metaphor), of the raw material of human nature, so +excellent, so dangerous, so capable of divine purposes.</p> + +<p>St. Paul says in one place that his apostolical power is given him to +edification, and not to destruction. There can be no better account +of the Infallibility of the Church. It is a supply for a need, and it +does not go beyond that need. Its object is, and its effect also, +not to enfeeble the freedom or vigour of human thought in religious +speculation, but to resist and control its extravagance. What have +been its great works? All of them in the distinct province of +theology:—to put down Arianism, Eutychianism, Pelagianism, +Manichæism, Lutheranism, Jansenism. Such is the broad result of its +action in the past;—and now as to the securities which are given us +that so it ever will act in time to come.</p> + +<p>First, infallibility cannot act outside of a definite circle of +thought, and it must in all its decisions, or <i>definitions</i>, as they +are called, profess to be keeping within it. The great truths of the +moral law, of natural religion, and of apostolical faith, are both +its boundary and its foundation. It must not go beyond them, and it +must ever appeal to them. Both its subject-matter, and its articles +in that subject-matter, are fixed. Thus, in illustration, it does not +extend to statements, however sound and evident, which are mere +logical conclusions from the articles of the apostolic <i>Depositum</i>; +again, it can pronounce nothing about the persons of heretics, whose +works fall within its legitimate province. It must ever profess +to be guided by Scripture and by tradition. It must refer to the +particular apostolic truth which it is enforcing, or (what is called) +<i>defining</i>. Nothing, then, can be presented to me, in time to come, +as part of the faith, but what I ought already to have received, and +have not actually received, (if not) merely because it has not been +told me. Nothing can be imposed upon me different in kind from what I +hold already—much less contrary to it. The new truth which is +promulgated, if it is to be called new, must be at least homogeneous, +cognate, implicit, viewed relatively to the old truth. It must be +what I may even have guessed, or wished, to be included in the +apostolic revelation; and at least it will be of such a character, +that my thoughts readily concur in it or coalesce with it, as soon as +I hear it. Perhaps I and others actually have always believed it, and +the only question which is now decided in my behalf, is that I am +henceforth to believe that I have only been holding what the apostles +held before me.</p> + +<p>Let me take the doctrine which Protestants consider our greatest +difficulty, that of the Immaculate Conception. Here I entreat +the reader to recollect my main drift, which is this. I have no +difficulty in receiving it: if <i>I</i> have no difficulty, why may not +another have no difficulty also? why may not a hundred? a thousand? +Now I am sure that Catholics in general have not any intellectual +difficulty at all on the subject of the Immaculate Conception; and +that there is no reason why they should. Priests have no difficulty. +You tell me that they <i>ought</i> to have a difficulty;—but they have +not. Be large-minded enough to believe, that men may reason and feel +very differently from yourselves; how is it that men fall, when left +to themselves, into such various forms of religion, except that there +are various types of mind among them, very distinct from each other? +From my testimony then about myself, if you believe it, judge of +others also who are Catholics: we do not find the difficulties which +you do in the doctrines which we hold; we have no intellectual +difficulty in that in particular, which you call a novelty of this +day. We priests need not be hypocrites, though we be called upon to +believe in the Immaculate Conception. To that large class of minds, +who believe in Christianity, after our manner,—in the particular +temper, spirit, and light (whatever word is used) in which Catholics +believe it—there is no burden at all in holding that the Blessed +Virgin was conceived without original sin; indeed, it is a simple +fact to say, that Catholics have not come to believe it because it is +defined, but it was defined because they believed it.</p> + +<p>So far from the definition in 1854 being a tyrannical infliction on +the Catholic world, it was received everywhere on its promulgation +with the greatest enthusiasm. It was in consequence of the unanimous +petition, presented from all parts to the holy see, in behalf of a +declaration that the doctrine was apostolic, that it was declared so +to be. I never heard of one Catholic having difficulties in receiving +it, whose faith on other grounds was not already suspicious. Of +course there were grave and good men, who were made anxious by the +doubt whether it could be proved apostolical either by Scripture or +tradition, and who accordingly, though believing it themselves, did +not see how it could be defined by authority; but this is another +matter. The point in question is, whether the doctrine is a burden. +I believe it to be none. So far from it being so, I sincerely think +that St. Bernard and St. Thomas, who scrupled at it in their day, had +they lived into this, would have rejoiced to accept it for its own +sake. Their difficulty, as I view it, consisted in matters of words, +ideas, and arguments. They thought the doctrine inconsistent with +other doctrines; and those who defended it in that age had not that +precision in their view of it, which has been given to it by means of +the long controversy of the centuries which followed. And hence the +difference of opinion, and the controversy.</p> + +<p>Now the instance which I have been taking suggests another remark; +the number of those (so called) new doctrines will not oppress us, +if it takes eight centuries to promulgate even one of them. Such is +about the length of time through which the preparation has been +carried on for the definition of the Immaculate Conception. This of +course is an extraordinary case; but it is difficult to say what is +ordinary, considering how few are the formal occasions on which the +voice of infallibility has been solemnly lifted up. It is to the +Pope in ecumenical council that we look, as to the normal seat of +infallibility: now there have been only eighteen such councils since +Christianity was—an average of one to a century—and of these +councils some passed no doctrinal decree at all, others were employed +on only one, and many of them were concerned with only elementary +points of the Creed. The Council of Trent embraced a large field of +doctrine certainly; but I should apply to its canons a remark +contained in that University Sermon of mine, which has been so +ignorantly criticised in the pamphlet which has led to my writing;—I +there have said that the various verses of the Athanasian Creed are +only repetitions in various shapes of one and the same idea; and in +like manner, the Tridentine decrees are not isolated from each other, +but are occupied in bringing out in detail, by a number of separate +declarations, as if into bodily form, a few necessary truths. I +should make the same remark on the various theses condemned by popes, +and on their dogmatic decisions generally. I acknowledge that at +first sight they seem from their number to be a greater burden to the +faith of individuals than are the canons of councils; still I do not +believe in matter of fact that they are so at all, and I give this +reason for it:—it is not that a Catholic, layman or priest, is +indifferent to the subject, or, from a sort of recklessness, will +accept anything that is placed before him, or is willing, like +a lawyer, to speak according to his brief, but that in such +condemnations the holy see is engaged, for the most part, in +repudiating one or two great lines of error, such as Lutheranism or +Jansenism, principally ethical not doctrinal, which are foreign to +the Catholic mind, and that it is expressing what any good Catholic, +of fair abilities, though unlearned, would say himself, from common +and sound sense, if the matter could be put before him.</p> + +<p>Now I will go on in fairness to say what I think <i>is</i> the great trial +to the reason, when confronted with that august prerogative of the +Catholic Church, of which I have been speaking. I enlarged just now +upon the concrete shape and circumstances, under which pure +infallible authority presents itself to the Catholic. That authority +has the prerogative of an indirect jurisdiction on subject-matters +which lie beyond its own proper limits, and it most reasonably has +such a jurisdiction. It could not act in its own province, unless it +had a right to act out of it. It could not properly defend religious +truth, without claiming for it what may be called its <i>pomœria</i>; +or, to take another illustration, without acting as we act, as a +nation, in claiming as our own, not only the land on which we live, +but what are called British waters. The Catholic Church claims, not +only to judge infallibly on religious questions, but to animadvert on +opinions in secular matters which bear upon religion, on matters of +philosophy, of science, of literature, of history, and it demands our +submission to her claim. It claims to censure books, to silence +authors, and to forbid discussions. In all this it does not so much +speak doctrinally, as enforce measures of discipline. It must of +course be obeyed without a word, and perhaps in process of time it +will tacitly recede from its own injunctions. In such cases the +question of faith does not come in; for what is matter of faith is +true for all times, and never can be unsaid. Nor does it at all +follow, because there is a gift of infallibility in the Catholic +Church, that therefore the power in possession of it is in all its +proceedings infallible. "O, it is excellent," says the poet, "to have +a giant's strength, but tyrannous, to use it like a giant." I think +history supplies us with instances in the Church, where legitimate +power has been harshly used. To make such admission is no more than +saying that the divine treasure, in the words of the apostle, is "in +earthen vessels;" nor does it follow that the substance of the acts +of the ruling power is not right and expedient, because its manner +may have been faulty. Such high authorities act by means of +instruments; we know how such instruments claim for themselves the +name of their principals, who thus get the credit of faults which +really are not theirs. But granting all this to an extent greater +than can with any show of reason be imputed to the ruling power in +the Church, what is there in this want of prudence or moderation more +than can be urged, with far greater justice, against Protestant +communities and institutions? What is there in it to make us +hypocrites, if it has not that effect upon Protestants? We are called +upon, not to profess anything, but to submit and be silent. Such +injunctions as I have supposed are laid merely upon our actions, not +upon our thoughts. How, for instance, does it tend to make a man a +hypocrite, to be forbidden to publish a libel? his thoughts are as +free as before: authoritative prohibitions may tease and irritate, +but they have no bearing whatever upon the exercise of reason.</p> + +<p>So much at first sight; but I will go on to say further, that, +in spite of all that the most hostile critic may say upon the +encroachments or severities of high ecclesiastics, in times past, in +the use of their power, I think that the event has shown after all, +that they were mainly in the right, and that those whom they were +hard upon mainly in the wrong. I love, for instance, the name of +Origen: I will not listen to the notion that so great a soul was +lost; but I am quite sure that, in the contest between his doctrine +and his followers and ecclesiastical power, his opponents were right, +and he was wrong. Yet who can speak with patience of his enemy +and the enemy of St. John Chrysostom, that Theophilus, bishop of +Alexandria? who can admire or revere Pope Vigilius? And here +another consideration presents itself to my thoughts. In reading +ecclesiastical history, when I was an Anglican, it used to be +forcibly brought home to me, how the initial error of what afterwards +became heresy was the urging forward some truth against the +prohibition of authority at an unseasonable time. There is a time for +everything, and many a man desires a reformation of an abuse, or the +fuller development of a doctrine, or the adoption of a particular +policy, but forgets to ask himself whether the right time for it is +come; and, knowing that there is no one who will do anything towards +it in his own lifetime unless he does it himself, he will not listen +to the voice of authority, and spoils a good work in his own century, +that another man, as yet unborn, may not bring it happily to +perfection in the next. He may seem to the world to be nothing else +than a bold champion for the truth and a martyr to free opinion, when +he is just one of those persons whom the competent authority ought to +silence, and, though the case may not fall within that subject-matter +in which it is infallible, or the formal conditions of the exercise +of that gift may be wanting, it is clearly the duty of authority to +act vigorously in the case. Yet that act will go down to posterity as +an instance of a tyrannical interference with private judgment, and +of the silencing of a reformer, and of a base love of corruption or +error; and it will show still less to advantage, if the ruling power +happens in its proceedings to act with any defect of prudence or +consideration. And all those who take the part of that ruling +authority will be considered as time-servers, or indifferent to the +cause of uprightness and truth; while, on the other hand, the said +authority may be supported by a violent ultra party, which exalts +opinions into dogmas, and has it principally at heart to destroy +every school of thought but its own.</p> + +<p>Such a state of things may be provoking and discouraging at the time, +in the case of two classes of persons; of moderate men who wish to +make differences in religious opinion as little as they fairly can +be made; and of such as keenly perceive, and are honestly eager to +remedy, existing evils—evils, of which divines in this or that +foreign country know nothing at all, and which even at home it is not +every one who has the means of estimating. This is a state of things +both of past time and of the present. We live in a wonderful age; the +enlargement of the circle of secular knowledge just now is simply +a bewilderment, and the more so, because it has the promise of +continuing, and that with greater rapidity, and more signal results. +Now these discoveries, certain or probable, have in matter of fact an +indirect bearing upon religious opinions, and the question arises how +are the respective claims of revelation and of natural science to be +adjusted. Few minds in earnest can remain at ease without some sort +of rational grounds for their religious belief; to reconcile theory +and fact is almost an instinct of the mind. When then a flood of +facts, ascertained or suspected, comes pouring in upon us, with a +multitude of others in prospect, all believers in revelation, be +they Catholic or not, are roused to consider their bearing upon +themselves, both for the honour of God, and from tenderness for those +many souls who, in consequence of the confident tone of the schools +of secular knowledge, are in danger of being led away into a +bottomless liberalism of thought.</p> + +<p>I am not going to criticise here that vast body of men, in the mass, +who at this time would profess to be liberals in religion; and who +look towards the discoveries of the age, certain or in progress, as +their informants, direct or indirect, as to what they shall think +about the unseen and the future. The Liberalism which gives a colour +to society now, is very different from that character of thought +which bore the name thirty or forty years ago. It is scarcely now a +party; it is the educated lay world. When I was young, I knew the +word first as giving name to a periodical, set up by Lord Byron and +others. Now, as then, I have no sympathy with the philosophy of +Byron. Afterwards, Liberalism was the badge of a theological school, +of a dry and repulsive character, not very dangerous in itself, +though dangerous as opening the door to evils which it did not itself +either anticipate or comprehend. Now it is nothing else than that +deep, plausible scepticism, of which I spoke above, as being the +development of human reason, as practically exercised by the natural +man.</p> + +<p>The Liberal religionists of this day are a very mixed body, and +therefore I am not intending to speak against them. There may be, and +doubtless is, in the hearts of some or many of them a real antipathy +or anger against revealed truth, which it is distressing to think of. +Again; in many men of science or literature there may be an animosity +arising from almost a personal feeling; it being a matter of party, a +point of honour, the excitement of a game, or a consequence of +soreness or annoyance occasioned by the acrimony or narrowness of +apologists for religion, to prove that Christianity or that Scripture +is untrustworthy. Many scientific and literary men, on the other +hand, go on, I am confident, in a straightforward impartial way, in +their own province and on their own line of thought, without any +disturbance from religious opinion in themselves, or any wish at all +to give pain to others by the result of their investigations. It +would ill become me, as if I were afraid of truth of any kind, to +blame those who pursue secular facts, by means of the reason which +God has given them, to their logical conclusions: or to be angry with +science because religion is bound to take cognizance of its teaching. +But putting these particular classes of men aside, as having no +special call on the sympathy of the Catholic, of course he does most +deeply enter into the feelings of a fourth and large class of men, in +the educated portions of society, of religious and sincere minds, who +are simply perplexed—frightened or rendered desperate, as the case +may be—by the utter confusion into which late discoveries or +speculations have thrown their most elementary ideas of religion. Who +does not feel for such men? who can have one unkind thought of them? +I take up St. Augustine's beautiful words, "Illi in vos sæviant," +etc. Let them be fierce with you who have no experience of the +difficulty with which error is discriminated from truth, and the way +of life is found amid the illusions of the world. How many Catholics +have in their thoughts followed such men, many of them so good, so +true, so noble! how often has the wish risen in their hearts that +some one from among themselves should come forward as the champion of +revealed truth against its opponents! Various persons, Catholic and +Protestant, have asked me to do so myself; but I had several strong +difficulties in the way. One of the greatest is this, that at the +moment it is so difficult to say precisely what it is that is to be +encountered and overthrown. I am far from denying that scientific +knowledge is really growing, but it is by fits and starts; hypotheses +rise and fall; it is difficult to anticipate which will keep their +ground, and what the state of knowledge in relation to them will be +from year to year. In this condition of things, it has seemed to me +to be very undignified for a Catholic to commit himself to the work +of chasing what might turn out to be phantoms, and in behalf of some +special objections, to be ingenious in devising a theory, which, +before it was completed, might have to give place to some theory +newer still, from the fact that those former objections had already +come to nought under the uprising of others. It seemed to be a time +of all others, in which Christians had a call to be patient, in which +they had no other way of helping those who were alarmed, than that of +exhorting them to have a little faith and fortitude, and to "beware," +as the poet says, "of dangerous steps." This seemed so clear to me, +the more I thought, as to make me surmise, that, if I attempted what +had so little promise in it, I should find that the highest Catholic +authority was against the attempt, and that I should have spent my +time and my thought, in doing what either it would be imprudent to +bring before the public at all, or what, did I do so, would only +complicate matters further which were already complicated more than +enough. And I interpret recent acts of that authority as fulfilling +my expectation; I interpret them as tying the hands of a +controversialist, such as I should be, and teaching us that true +wisdom, which Moses inculcated on his people, when the Egyptians were +pursuing them, "Fear ye not, stand still; the Lord shall fight for +you, and ye shall hold your peace." And so far from finding a +difficulty in obeying in this case, I have cause to be thankful and +to rejoice to have so clear a direction in a matter of difficulty.</p> + +<p>But if we would ascertain with correctness the real course of a +principle, we must look at it at a certain distance, and as history +represents it to us. Nothing carried on by human instruments, but has +its irregularities, and affords ground for criticism, when minutely +scrutinised in matters of detail. I have been speaking of that aspect +of the action of an infallible authority, which is most open to +invidious criticism from those who view it from without; I have tried +to be fair, in estimating what can be said to its disadvantage, as +witnessed in the Catholic Church, and now I wish its adversaries to +be equally fair in their judgment upon its historical character. Can, +then, the infallible authority, with any show of reason, be said in +fact to have destroyed the energy of the intellect in the Catholic +Church? Let it be observed, I have not to speak of any conflict which +ecclesiastical authority has had with science, for there has been +none such, because the secular sciences, as they now exist, are a +novelty in the world, and there has been no time yet for a history of +relations between theology and these new methods of knowledge, and +indeed the Church may be said to have kept clear of them, as is +proved by the constantly cited case of Galileo. Here "exceptio probat +regulam:" for it is the one stock argument. Again, I have not to +speak of any relations of the Church to the new sciences, because my +simple question is whether the assumption of infallibility by the +proper authority is adapted to make me a hypocrite, and till that +authority passes decrees on pure physical subjects and calls on me +to subscribe them (which it never will do, because it has not the +power), it has no tendency by its acts to interfere with my private +judgment on those points. The simple question is whether authority +has so acted upon the reason of individuals, that they can have no +opinion of their own, and have but an alternative of slavish +superstition or secret rebellion of heart; and I think the whole +history of theology puts an absolute negative upon such a +supposition. It is hardly necessary to argue out so plain a point. It +is individuals, and not the holy see, who have taken the initiative, +and given the lead to Catholic minds, in theological inquiry. Indeed, +it is one of the reproaches urged against the Church of Rome, that it +has originated nothing, and has only served as a sort of <i>remora</i> or +break in the development of doctrine. And it is an objection which I +embrace as a truth; for such I conceive to be the main purpose of its +extraordinary gift. It is said, and truly, that the Church of Rome +possessed no great mind in the whole period of persecution. +Afterwards for a long while, it has not a single doctor to show; St. +Leo, its first, is the teacher of one point of doctrine; St. Gregory, +who stands at the very extremity of the first age of the Church, has +no place in dogma or philosophy. The great luminary of the western +world is, as we know, St. Augustine; he, no infallible teacher, has +formed the intellect of Europe; indeed to the African Church +generally we must look for the best early exposition of Latin ideas. +The case is the same as regards the ecumenical councils. Authority +in its most imposing exhibition, grave bishops, laden with the +traditions and rivalries of particular nations or places, have been +guided in their decisions by the commanding genius of individuals, +sometimes young and of inferior rank. Not that uninspired intellect +overruled the super-human gift which was committed to the council, +which would be a self-contradictory assertion, but that in that +process of inquiry and deliberation, which ended in an infallible +enunciation, individual reason was paramount. Thus the writings of +St. Bonaventura, and, what is more to the point, the address of a +priest and theologian, Salmeron, at Trent, had a critical effect on +some of the definitions of dogmas. Parallel to this is the influence, +so well known, of a young deacon, St. Athanasius, with the 318 +Fathers at Nicæa. In like manner we hear of the influence of St. +Anselm at Bari, and St. Thomas at Lyons. In the latter cases the +influence might be partly moral, but in the former it was that of a +discursive knowledge of ecclesiastical writers, a scientific +acquaintance with theology, and a force of thought in the treatment +of doctrine.</p> + +<p>There are of course intellectual habits which theology does not +tend to form, as for instance the experimental, and again the +philosophical; but that is because it <i>is</i> theology, not because of +the gift of infallibility. But, as far as this goes, I think it could +be shown that physical science on the other hand, or mathematical, +affords but an imperfect training for the intellect. I do not see +then how any objection about the narrowness of theology comes into +our question, which simply is, whether the belief in an infallible +authority destroys the independence of the mind; and I consider that +the whole history of the Church, and especially the history of the +theological schools, gives a negative to the accusation. There never +was a time when the intellect of the educated class was more active, +or rather more restless, than in the middle ages. And then again +all through Church history from the first, how slow is authority +in interfering! Perhaps a local teacher, or a doctor in some local +school, hazards a proposition, and a controversy ensues. It smoulders +or burns in one place, no one interposing; Rome simply lets it alone. +Then it comes before a Bishop; or some priest, or some professor in +some other seat of learning takes it up; and then there is a second +stage of it. Then it comes before a University, and it may be +condemned by the theological faculty. So the controversy proceeds +year after year, and Rome is still silent. An appeal perhaps is next +made to a seat of authority inferior to Rome; and then at last after +a long while it comes before the supreme power. Meanwhile, the +question has been ventilated and turned over and over again, and +viewed on every side of it, and authority is called upon to pronounce +a decision, which has already been arrived at by reason. But even +then, perhaps the supreme authority hesitates to do so, and nothing +is determined on the point for years; or so generally and vaguely, +that the whole controversy has to be gone through again, before it is +ultimately determined. It is manifest how a mode of proceeding, such +as this, tends not only to the liberty, but to the courage, of the +individual theologian or controversialist. Many a man has ideas, +which he hopes are true, and useful for his day, but he wishes to +have them discussed. He is willing or rather would be thankful to +give them up, if they can be proved to be erroneous or dangerous, and +by means of controversy he obtains his end. He is answered, and he +yields; or he finds that he is considered safe. He would not dare to +do this, if he knew an authority, which was supreme and final, was +watching every word he said, and made signs of assent or dissent to +each sentence, as he uttered it. Then indeed he would be fighting, as +the Persian soldiers, under the lash, and the freedom of his +intellect might truly be said to be beaten out of him. But this has +not been so:—I do not mean to say that, when controversies run high, +in schools or even in small portions of the Church, an interposition +may not rightly take place; and again, questions may be of that +urgent nature, that an appeal must, as a matter of duty, be made at +once to the highest authority in the Church; but, if we look into the +history of controversy, we shall find, I think, the general run of +things to be such as I have represented it. Zosimus treated Pelagius +and Cœlestius with extreme forbearance; St. Gregory VII. was +equally indulgent with Berengarius; by reason of the very power of +the popes they have commonly been slow and moderate in their use of +it.</p> + +<p>And here again is a further shelter for the individual reason:—the +multitude of nations who are in the fold of the Church will be found +to have acted for its protection, against any narrowness, if so, +in the various authorities at Rome, with whom lies the practical +decision of controverted questions. How have the Greek traditions +been respected and provided for in the later Ecumenical Councils, in +spite of the countries that held them being in a state of schism! +There are important points of doctrine which have been (humanly +speaking) exempted from the infallible sentence, by the tenderness +with which its instruments, in framing it, have treated the opinions +of particular places. Then, again, such national influences have a +providential effect in moderating the bias which the local influences +of Italy may exert upon the See of St. Peter. It stands to reason +that, as the Gallican Church has in it an element of France, so Rome +must have an element of Italy; and it is no prejudice to the zeal and +devotion with which we submit ourselves to the holy see to admit this +plainly. It seems to me, as I have been saying, that Catholicity is +not only one of the notes of the Church, but, according to the divine +purposes, one of its securities. I think it would be a very serious +evil, which Divine Mercy avert! that the Church should be contracted +in Europe within the range of particular nationalities. It is a great +idea to introduce Latin civilization into America, and to improve +the Catholics there by the energy of French religion; but I trust +that all European races will have ever a place in the Church, and +assuredly I think that the loss of the English, not to say the +German element, in its composition has been a most serious evil. +And certainly, if there is one consideration more than another which +should make us English grateful to Pius the Ninth, it is that, by +giving us a Church of our own, he has prepared the way for our own +habits of mind, our own manner of reasoning, our own tastes, and our +own virtues, finding a place and thereby a sanctification, in the +Catholic Church.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">There is only one other subject, which I think it necessary to +introduce here, as bearing upon the vague suspicions which are +attached in this country to the Catholic priesthood. It is one of +which my accuser says much, the charge of reserve and economy. He +founds it in no slight degree on what I have said on the subject in +my History of the Arians, and in a note upon one of my sermons in +which I refer to it. The principle of reserve is also advocated by an +admirable writer in two numbers of the Tracts for the Times.</p> + +<p>Now, as to the economy itself, I leave the greater part of what I +have to say to an Appendix. Here I will but say that it is founded +upon the words of our Lord, "Cast not your pearls before swine;" +and it was observed by the early Christians more or less in their +intercourse with the heathen populations among whom they lived. In +the midst of the abominable idolatries and impurities of that fearful +time, they could not do otherwise. But the rule of the economy, at +least as I have explained and recommended it, did not go beyond (1) +the concealing the truth when we could do so without deceit, (2) +stating it only partially, and (3) representing it under the nearest +form possible to a learner or inquirer, when he could not possibly +understand it exactly. I conceive that to draw angels with wings is +an instance of the third of these economical modes; and to avoid the +question, "Do Christians believe in a Trinity?" by answering, "They +believe in only one God," would be an instance of the second. As to +the first, it is hardly an economy, but comes under what is called +the "Disciplina Arcani." The second and third economical modes +Clement calls <i>lying</i>; meaning that a partial truth is in some sense +a lie, and so also is a representative truth. And this, I think, is +about the long and the short of the ground of the accusation which +has been so violently urged against me, as being a patron of the +economy.</p> + +<p>Of late years I have come to think, as I believe most writers do, +that Clement meant more than I have said. I used to think he used the +word "lie" as an hyperbole, but I now believe that he, as other early +Fathers, thought that, under certain circumstances, it was lawful +to tell a lie. This doctrine I never maintained, though I used to +think, as I do now, that the theory of the subject is surrounded with +considerable difficulty; and it is not strange that I should say so, +considering that great English writers simply declare that in certain +extreme cases, as to save life, honour, or even property, a lie is +allowable. And thus I am brought to the direct question of truth, and +the truthfulness of Catholic priests generally in their dealings with +the world, as bearing on the general question of their honesty, and +their internal belief in their religious professions.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">It would answer no purpose, and it would be departing from the line +of writing which I have been observing all along, if I entered into +any formal discussion on the subject; what I shall do here, as I have +done in the foregoing pages, is to give my own testimony on the +matter in question, and there to leave it. Now first I will say, +that, when I became a Catholic, nothing struck me more at once than +the English out-spoken manner of the priests. It was the same at +Oscott, at Old Hall Green, at Ushaw; there was nothing of that +smoothness, or mannerism, which is commonly imputed to them, and they +were more natural and unaffected than many an Anglican clergyman. The +many years, which have passed since, have only confirmed my first +impression. I have ever found it in the priests of this Diocese; did +I wish to point out a straightforward Englishman, I should instance +the Bishop, who has, to our great benefit, for so many years presided +over it.</p> + +<p>And next, I was struck, when I had more opportunity of judging of the +Priests, by the simple faith in the Catholic Creed and system of +which they always gave evidence, and which they never seemed to feel, +in any sense at all, to be a burden. And now that I have been in the +Church nineteen years, I cannot recollect hearing of a single +instance in England of an infidel priest. Of course there are men +from time to time, who leave the Catholic Church for another +religion, but I am speaking of cases, when a man keeps a fair outside +to the world and is a hollow hypocrite in his heart.</p> + +<p>I wonder that the self-devotion of our priests does not strike +Protestants in this point of view. What do they gain by professing a +Creed, in which, if my assailant is to be believed, they really do +not believe? What is their reward for committing themselves to a +life of self-restraint and toil, and after all to a premature and +miserable death? The Irish fever cut off between Liverpool and Leeds +thirty priests and more, young men in the flower of their days, old +men who seemed entitled to some quiet time after their long toil. +There was a bishop cut off in the North; but what had a man of his +ecclesiastical rank to do with the drudgery and danger of sick calls, +except that Christian faith and charity constrained him? Priests +volunteered for the dangerous service. It was the same on the first +coming of the cholera, that mysterious awe-inspiring infliction. +If priests did not heartily believe in the Creed of the Church, +then I will say that the remark of the apostle had its fullest +illustration:—"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are +of all men most miserable." What could support a set of hypocrites in +the presence of a deadly disorder, one of them following another in +long order up the forlorn hope, and one after another perishing? And +such, I may say, in its substance, is every mission-priest's life. He +is ever ready to sacrifice himself for his people. Night and day, +sick or well himself, in all weathers, off he is, on the news of a +sick call. The fact of a parishioner dying without the sacraments +through his fault is terrible to him; why terrible, if he has not a +deep absolute faith, which he acts upon with a free service? +Protestants admire this, when they see it; but they do not seem to +see as clearly, that it excludes the very notion of hypocrisy.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, when they reflect upon it, it leads them to remark on the +wonderful discipline of the Catholic priesthood; they say that no +Church has so well ordered a clergy, and that in that respect it +surpasses their own; they wish they could have such exact discipline +among themselves. But is it an excellence which can be purchased? is +it a phenomenon which depends on nothing else than itself, or is it +an effect which has a cause? You cannot buy devotion at a price. "It +hath never been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been +seen in Theman. The children of Agar, the merchants of Meran, none +of these have known its way." What then is that wonderful charm, +which makes a thousand men act all in one way, and infuses a prompt +obedience to rule, as if they were under some stern military +compulsion? How difficult to find an answer, unless you will allow +the obvious one, that they believe intensely what they profess!</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I cannot think what it can be, in a day like this, which keeps up the +prejudice of this Protestant country against us, unless it be the +vague charges which are drawn from our books of moral theology; and +with a notice of the work in particular which my accuser especially +throws in our teeth, I shall in a very few words bring these +observations to a close.</p> + +<p>St. Alfonso Liguori, it cannot be denied, lays down that an +equivocation, that is, a play upon words, in which one sense is taken +by the speaker, and another sense intended by him for the hearer, is +allowable, if there is a just cause, that is, in a special case, and +may even be confirmed by an oath. I shall give my opinion on this +point as plainly as any Protestant can wish; and therefore I avow at +once that in this department of morality, much as I admire the high +points of the Italian character, I like the English character better; +but, in saying so, I am not, as will be seen, saying anything +disrespectful to St. Alfonso, who was a lover of truth, and whose +intercession I trust I shall not lose, though, on the matter under +consideration, I follow other guidance in preference to his.</p> + +<p>Now I make this remark first:—great English authors, Jeremy Taylor, +Milton, Paley, Johnson, men of very distinct schools of thought, +distinctly say, that under certain special circumstances it is +allowable to tell a lie. Taylor says: "To tell a lie for charity, to +save a man's life, the life of a friend, of a husband, of a prince, +of a useful and a public person, hath not only been done at all +times, but commended by great and wise and good men. Who would not +save his father's life, at the charge of a harmless lie, from +persecutors or tyrants?" Again, Milton says: "What man in his senses +would deny, that there are those whom we have the best grounds for +considering that we ought to deceive—as boys, madmen, the sick, the +intoxicated, enemies, men in error, thieves? I would ask, by which of +the commandments is a lie forbidden? You will say, by the ninth. +If then my lie does not injure my neighbour, certainly it is not +forbidden by this commandment." Paley says: "There are falsehoods, +which are not lies, that is, which are not criminal." Johnson: "The +general rule is, that truth should never be violated; there must, +however, be some exceptions. If, for instance, a murderer should ask +you which way a man is gone."</p> + +<p>Now, I am not using these instances as an <i>argumentum ad hominem</i>; +but this is the use to which I put them:—</p> + +<p>1. First, I have set down the distinct statements of Taylor, Milton, +Paley, and Johnson; now, would any one give ever so little weight to +these statements, in forming a real estimate of the veracity of the +writers, if they now were alive? Were a man, who is so fierce with +St. Alfonso, to meet Paley or Johnson tomorrow in society, would he +look upon him as a liar, a knave, as dishonest and untrustworthy? +I am sure he would not. Why then does he not deal out the same +measure to Catholic priests? If a copy of Scavini, which speaks +of equivocation as being in a just cause allowable, be found in +a student's room at Oscott, not Scavini himself, but the unhappy +student, who has what a Protestant calls a bad book in his +possession, is judged for life unworthy of credit. Are all Protestant +text-books at the University immaculate? Is it necessary to take for +gospel every word of Aristotle's Ethics, or every assertion of Hey or +Burnett on the Articles? Are text-books the ultimate authority, or +are they manuals in the hands of a lecturer, and the groundwork of +his remarks? But, again, let us suppose, not the case of a student, +or of a professor, but of Scavini himself, or of St. Alfonso; now +here again I ask, if you would not scruple in holding Paley for an +honest man, in spite of his defence of lying, why do you scruple at +St. Alfonso? I am perfectly sure that you would not scruple at Paley +personally; you might not agree with him, but you would call him a +bold thinker: then why should St. Alfonso's person be odious to you, +as well as his doctrine?</p> + +<p>Now I wish to tell you why you are not afraid of Paley; because, you +would say, when he advocated lying, he was taking <i>special cases</i>. +You would have no fear of a man who you knew had shot a burglar dead +in his own house, because you know you are <i>not</i> a burglar: so you +would not think that Paley had a habit of telling lies in society, +because in the case of a cruel alternative he thought it the lesser +evil to tell a lie. Then why do you show such suspicion of a +Catholic theologian, who speaks of certain special cases in which an +equivocation in a penitent cannot be visited by his confessor as if +it were a sin? for this is the exact point of the question.</p> + +<p>But again, why does Paley, why does Jeremy Taylor, when no practical +matter is before him, lay down a maxim about the lawfulness of lying, +which will startle most readers? The reason is plain. He is forming a +theory of morals, and he must treat every question in turn as it +comes. And this is just what St. Alfonso or Scavini is doing. You +only try your hand yourself at a treatise on the rules of morality, +and you will see how difficult the work is. What is the <i>definition</i> +of a lie? Can you give a better than that it is a sin against +justice, as Taylor and Paley consider it? but, if so, how can it be a +sin at all, if your neighbour is not injured? If you do not like this +definition, take another; and then, by means of that, perhaps you +will be defending St. Alfonso's equivocation. However, this is what I +insist upon; that St. Alfonso, as Paley, is considering the different +portions of a large subject, and he must, on the subject of lying, +give his judgment, though on that subject it is difficult to form any +judgment which is satisfactory.</p> + +<p>But further still: you must not suppose that a philosopher or +moralist uses in his own case the licence which his theory itself +would allow him. A man in his own person is guided by his own +conscience; but in drawing out a system of rules he is obliged to +go by logic, and follow the exact deduction of conclusion from +conclusion, and be sure that the whole system is coherent and one. +You hear of even immoral or irreligious books being written by men of +decent character; there is a late writer who says that David Hume's +sceptical works are not at all the picture of the man. A priest may +write a treatise which would be called really lax on the subject of +lying, which might come under the condemnation of the holy see, as +some treatises on that score have been condemned, and yet in his +own person be a rigorist. And, in fact, it is notorious from St. +Alfonso's Life, that he, who has the repute of being so lax a +moralist, had one of the most scrupulous and anxious of consciences +himself. Nay, further than this, he was originally in the Law, and on +one occasion he was betrayed into the commission of what seemed like +a deceit, though it was an accident; and that was the very occasion +of his leaving the profession and embracing the religious life.</p> + +<p>The account of this remarkable occurrence is told us in his Life:—</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding he had carefully examined over and over the details +of the process, he was completely mistaken regarding the sense of one +document, which constituted the right of the adverse party. The +advocate of the Grand Duke perceived the mistake, but he allowed +Alfonso to continue his eloquent address to the end without +interruption; as soon, however, as he had finished, he rose, and said +with cutting coolness, 'Sir, the case is not exactly what you suppose +it to be; if you will review the process, and examine this paper +attentively, you will find there precisely the contrary of all you +have advanced.' 'Willingly,' replied Alfonso, without hesitating; +'the decision depends on this question—whether the fief were granted +under the law of Lombardy, or under the French Law.' The paper being +examined, it was found that the Grand Duke's advocate was in the +right. 'Yes,' said Alfonso, holding the paper in his hand, 'I am +wrong, I have been mistaken.' A discovery so unexpected, and the fear +of being accused of unfair dealing, filled him with consternation, +and covered him with confusion, so much so, that every one saw his +emotion. It was in vain that the President Caravita, who loved him, +and knew his integrity, tried to console him, by telling him that +such mistakes were not uncommon, even among the first men at the bar. +Alfonso would listen to nothing, but, overwhelmed with confusion, his +head sunk on his breast, he said to himself, 'World, I know you now; +courts of law, never shall you see me again!' And turning his back on +the assembly, he withdrew to his own house, incessantly repeating to +himself, 'World, I know you now.' What annoyed him most was, that +having studied and re-studied the process during a whole month, +without having discovered this important flaw, he could not +understand how it had escaped his observation."</p> + +<p>And this is the man who is so flippantly pronounced to be a patron of +lying.</p> + +<p>But, in truth, a Catholic theologian has objects in view which men in +general little compass; he is not thinking of himself, but of a +multitude of souls, sick souls, sinful souls, carried away by sin, +full of evil, and he is trying with all his might to rescue them from +their miserable state; and, in order to save them from more heinous +sins, he tries, to the full extent that his conscience will allow +him to go, to shut his eyes to such sins, as are, though sins, yet +lighter in character or degree. He knows perfectly well that, if he +is as strict as he would wish to be, he shall be able to do nothing +at all with the run of men; so he is as indulgent with them as ever +he can be. Let it not be for an instant supposed, that I allow of the +maxim of doing evil that good may come; but, keeping clear of this, +there is a way of winning men from greater sins by winking for the +time at the less, or at mere improprieties or faults; and this is the +key to the difficulty which Catholic books of moral theology so often +cause to the Protestant. They are intended for the confessor, and +Protestants view them as intended for the preacher.</p> + +<p>2. And I observe upon Taylor, Milton, and Paley thus: What would a +Protestant clergyman say to me, if I accused him of teaching that a +lie was allowable; and if, when he asked for my proof, I said in +reply that Taylor and Milton so taught? Why, he would sharply retort, +"<i>I</i> am not bound by Taylor or Milton;" and if I went on urging that +"Taylor was one of his authorities," he would answer that Taylor was +a great writer, but great writers were not therefore infallible. This +is pretty much the answer which I make, when I am considered in this +matter a disciple of St. Alfonso.</p> + +<p>I plainly and positively state, and without any reserve, that I do +not at all follow this holy and charitable man in this portion of his +teaching. There are various schools of opinion allowed in the Church: +and on this point I follow others. I follow Cardinal Gerdil, and +Natalis Alexander, nay, St. Augustine. I will quote one passage from +Natalis Alexander:—"They certainly lie, who utter the words of an +oath, without the will to swear or bind themselves: or who make use +of mental reservations and <i>equivocations</i> in swearing, since they +signify by words what they have not in mind, contrary to the end for +which language was instituted, viz. as signs of ideas. Or they mean +something else than the words signify in themselves and the common +custom of speech." And, to take an instance: I do not believe any +priest in England would dream of saying, "My friend is not here;" +meaning, "He is not in my pocket or under my shoe." Nor should any +consideration make me say so myself. I do not think St. Alfonso would +in his own case have said so; and he would have been as much shocked +at Taylor and Paley, as Protestants are at him.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">And now, if Protestants wish to know what our real teaching is, as on +other subjects, so on that of lying, let them look, not at our books +of casuistry, but at our catechisms. Works on pathology do not give +the best insight into the form and the harmony of the human frame; +and, as it is with the body, so is it with the mind. The Catechism +of the Council of Trent was drawn up for the express purpose of +providing preachers with subjects for their sermons; and, as my whole +work has been a defence of myself, I may here say that I rarely +preach a sermon, but I go to this beautiful and complete Catechism to +get both my matter and my doctrine. There we find the following +notices about the duty of veracity:—</p> + +<p>"'Thou shalt not bear false witness,' etc.: let attention be drawn to +two laws contained in this commandment:—the one, forbidding false +witness; the other bidding, that removing all pretence and deceits, +we should measure our words and deeds by simple truth, as the Apostle +admonished the Ephesians of that duty in these words: 'Doing truth in +charity, let us grow in Him through all things.'</p> + +<p>"To deceive by a lie in joke or for the sake of compliment, though to +no one there accrues loss or gain in consequence, nevertheless is +altogether unworthy: for thus the Apostle admonishes, 'Putting aside +lying, speak ye truth.' For therein is great danger of lapsing into +frequent and more serious lying, and from lies in joke men gain the +habit of lying, whence they gain the character of not being truthful. +And thence again, in order to gain credit to their words, they find +it necessary to make a practice of swearing.</p> + +<p>"Nothing is more necessary than truth of testimony, in those things, +which we neither know ourselves, nor can allowably be ignorant of, +on which point there is extant that maxim of St. Augustine's; Whoso +conceals the truth, and whoso puts forth a lie, each is guilty; the +one because he is not willing to do a service, the other because he +has a wish to do a mischief.</p> + +<p>"It is lawful at times to be silent about the truth, but out of a +court of law; for in court, when a witness is interrogated by the +judge according to law, the truth is wholly to be brought out.</p> + +<p>"Witnesses, however, must beware, lest, from over-confidence in their +memory, they affirm for certain, what they have not verified.</p> + +<p>"In order that the faithful may with more good will avoid the sin of +lying, the Parish Priest shall set before them the extreme misery and +turpitude of this wickedness. For, in holy writ, the devil is called +the father of a lie; for, in that he did not remain in Truth, he is a +liar, and the father of a lie. He will add, with the view of ridding +men of so great a crime, the evils which follow upon lying; and, +whereas they are innumerable, he will point out [at least] the +sources and the general heads of these mischiefs and calamities, viz. +1. How great is God's displeasure and how great His hatred of a man +who is insincere and a liar. 2. What security there is that a man +who is specially hated by God may not be visited by the heaviest +punishments. 3. What more unclean and foul, as St. James says, than +... that a fountain by the same jet should send out sweet water and +bitter? 4. For that tongue, which just now praised God, next, as far +as in it lies, dishonours Him by lying. 5. In consequence, liars are +shut out from the possession of heavenly beatitude. 6. That too is +the worst evil of lying, that that disease of the mind is generally +incurable.</p> + +<p>"Moreover, there is this harm too, and one of vast extent, and +touching men generally, that by insincerity and lying faith and truth +are lost, which are the firmest bonds of human society, and, when +they are lost, supreme confusion follows in life, so that men seem in +nothing to differ from devils.</p> + +<p>"Lastly, the Parish Priest will set those right who excuse their +insincerity and allege the example of wise men, who, they say, are +used to lie for an occasion. He will tell them, what is most true, +that the wisdom of the flesh is death. He will exhort his hearers to +trust in God, when they are in difficulties and straits, nor to have +recourse to the expedient of a lie.</p> + +<p>"They who throw the blame of their own lie on those who have already +by a lie deceived them, are to be taught that men must not revenge +themselves, nor make up for one evil by another." ...</p> + +<p>There is much more in the Catechism to the same effect, and it is of +universal obligation; whereas the decision of a particular author in +morals need not be accepted by any one.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">To one other authority I appeal on this subject, which commands from +me attention of a special kind, for they are the words of a Father. +They will serve to bring my work to a conclusion.</p> + +<p>"St. Philip," says the Roman oratorian who wrote his Life, "had a +particular dislike of affectation both in himself and others, in +speaking, in dressing, or in anything else.</p> + +<p>"He avoided all ceremony which savoured of worldly compliment, and +always showed himself a great stickler for Christian simplicity in +everything; so that, when he had to deal with men of worldly +prudence, he did not very readily accommodate himself to them.</p> + +<p>"And he avoided, as much as possible, having anything to do with +<i>two-faced persons</i>, who did not go simply and straightforwardly to +work in their transactions.</p> + +<p>"<i>As for liars, he could not endure them</i>, and he was <i>continually +reminding</i> his spiritual children, <i>to avoid them as they would a +pestilence</i>."</p> + +<p>These are the principles on which I have acted before I was a +Catholic; these are the principles which, I trust, will be my stay +and guidance to the end.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I have closed this history of myself with St. Philip's name upon St. +Philip's feast-day; and, having done so, to whom can I more suitably +offer it, as a memorial of affection and gratitude, than to St. +Philip's sons, my dearest brothers of this house, the priests of the +Birmingham Oratory, Ambrose St. John, Henry Austin Mills, Henry +Bittleston, Edward Caswall, William Paine Neville, and Henry Ignatius +Dudley Ryder? who have been so faithful to me; who have been so +sensitive of my needs; who have been so indulgent to my failings; who +have carried me through so many trials; who have grudged no +sacrifice, if I asked for it; who have been so cheerful under +discouragements of my causing; who have done so many good works, and +let me have the credit of them;—with whom I have lived so long, with +whom I hope to die.</p> + +<p>And to you especially, dear Ambrose St. John; whom God gave me, when +He took every one else away; who are the link between my old life and +my new; who have now for twenty-one years been so devoted to me, so +patient, so zealous, so tender; who have let me lean so hard upon +you; who have watched me so narrowly; who have never thought of +yourself, if I was in question.</p> + +<p>And in you I gather up and bear in memory those familiar affectionate +companions and counsellors, who in Oxford were given to me, one after +another, to be my daily solace and relief; and all those others, of +great name and high example, who were my thorough friends, and showed +me true attachment in times long past; and also those many younger +men, whether I knew them or not, who have never been disloyal to me +by word or by deed; and of all these, thus various in their relations +to me, those more especially who have since joined the Catholic +Church.</p> + +<p>And I earnestly pray for this whole company, with a hope against +hope, that all of us, who once were so united, and so happy in our +union, may even now be brought at length, by the Power of the Divine +Will, into One Fold and under One Shepherd.</p> + +<p>May 26, 1864.<br> +In Festo Corp. Christ.</p> + +<div id="p8" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>Appendix</h3> +<h3>Answer in Detail to Mr. Kingsley's Accusations</h3> +</div> + +<p>In proceeding now, according to the engagement with which I entered +upon my undertaking, to examine in detail the Pamphlet which has been +written against me, I am very sorry to be obliged to say, that it is +as slovenly and random and futile in its definite charges, as it is +iniquitous in its method of disputation. And now I proceed to show +this without any delay; and shall consider in order,</p> + +<ol> +<li>My Sermon on the Apostolical Christian.</li> +<li>My Sermon on Wisdom and Innocence.</li> +<li>The Anglican Church.</li> +<li>The Lives of the English Saints.</li> +<li>Ecclesiastical miracles.</li> +<li>Popular Religion.</li> +<li>The Economy.</li> +<li>Lying and Equivocation.</li> +</ol> + +<h4>1. My Sermon on "The Apostolical Christian," being the 19th of +"Sermons on Subjects of the Day"</h4> + +<p>This writer says, "What Dr. Newman means by Christians ... he has +not left in doubt;" and then, quoting a passage from this sermon +which speaks of "the humble monk and the holy nun" being "Christians +after the very pattern given us in Scripture," he observes, "This is +his <i>definition</i> of Christians."—p. 9.</p> + +<p>This is not the case. I have neither given a definition, nor implied +one, nor intended one; nor could I, either now or in 1843–4, or +at any time, allow of the particular definition he ascribes to me. As +if all Christians must be monks or nuns!</p> + +<p>What I have said is, that monks and nuns are patterns of Christian +perfection; and that Scripture itself supplies us with this pattern. +Who can deny this? Who is bold enough to say that St. John Baptist, +who, I suppose, is a Scripture character, is not a pattern-monk; and +that Mary, who "sat at our Lord's feet," was not a pattern-nun? and +"Anna too, who served God with fastings and prayers night and day?" +Again, what is meant but this by St. Paul's saying, "It is good for a +man not to touch a woman?" and, when speaking of the father or +guardian of a young girl, "He that giveth her in marriage doeth well; +but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better?" And what does +St. John mean but to praise virginity, when he says of the hundred +forty and four thousand on Mount Sion, "These are they which were not +defiled with women, for they are virgins?" And what else did our Lord +mean, when He said, "There be eunuchs who have made themselves +eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive +it, let him receive it?"</p> + +<p>He ought to know his logic better: I have said that "monks and nuns +find their pattern in Scripture:" he adds, <i>Therefore</i> I hold all +Christians are monks and nuns.</p> + +<p>This is Blot <i>one</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Now then for Blot <i>two</i>.</p> + +<p>"Monks and nuns the <i>only</i> perfect Christians ... what more?"—p. 9.</p> + +<p>A second fault in logic. I said no more than that monks and nuns were +perfect Christians: he adds, <i>Therefore</i> "monks and nuns are the +<i>only</i> perfect Christians." Monks and nuns are <i>not</i> the only perfect +Christians; I never thought so or said so, now or at any other time.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">P. 42. "In the Sermon ... monks and nuns are spoken of as the <i>only +true</i> Bible Christians." This, again, is not the case. What I said +is, that "monks and nuns are Bible Christians:" it does not follow, +nor did I mean, that "all Bible Christians are monks and nuns." Bad +logic again. Blot <i>three</i>.</p> + +<h4>2. My Sermon on "Wisdom and Innocence", Being the 20th of +"Sermons on Subjects of the Day"</h4> + +<p>This writer says, p. 8, about my Sermon 20, "By the world appears to +be signified, especially, the Protestant public of these realms."</p> + +<p>He also asks, p. 14, "Why was it preached? ... to insinuate, that the +admiring young gentlemen, who listened to him, stood to their +fellow-countrymen in the relation of the early Christians to the +heathen Romans? Or that Queen Victoria's Government was to the Church +of England, what Nero's or Dioclesian's was to the Church of Rome? it +may have been so."</p> + +<p>May or may not, it wasn't. He insinuates what not even with his +little finger does he attempt to prove. Blot <i>four</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">He asserts, p. 9, that I said in the sermon in question, that +"Sacramental Confession and the celibacy of the clergy are 'notes' of +the Church." And, just before, he puts the word "notes" in inverted +commas, as if it was mine. That is, he garbles. It is <i>not</i> mine. +Blot <i>five</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">He says that I "<i>define</i> what I mean by the Church in two 'notes' of +her character." I do not define, or dream of defining.</p> + +<p>1. He says that I teach that the celibacy of the clergy enters into +the <i>definition</i> of the Church. I do no such thing; that is the blunt +truth. Define the Church by the celibacy of the clergy! why, let him +read 1 Tim. iii.; there he will find that bishops and deacons are +spoken of as married. How, then, could I be the dolt to say or imply +that the celibacy of the clergy was a part of the definition of the +Church? Blot <i>six</i>.</p> + +<p>And again in p. 42, "In the Sermon a celibate clergy is made a note +of the Church." Thus the untruth is repeated. Blot <i>seven</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">2. And now for Blot <i>eight</i>. Neither did I say that "Sacramental +confession" was "a note of the Church." Nor is it. Nor could I with +any cogency have brought this as an argument against the Church of +England, for the Church of England has retained Confession, nay, +Sacramental Confession. No fair man can read the form of Absolution +in the Anglican Prayer in the Visitation of the Sick, without seeing +that that Church <i>does</i> sanction and provide for Confession and +Absolution. If that form does not contain the profession of a grave +sacramental act, words have no meaning. The form is almost in the +words of the Roman form; and, by the time that this clergyman has +succeeded in explaining it away, he will have also got skill enough +to explain away the Roman form; and if he did but handle my words +with that latitude with which he interprets his own formularies, he +would prove that, instead of my being superstitious and frantic, I +was the most Protestant of preachers and the most latitudinarian of +thinkers. It would be charity in him, in his reading of my words, to +use some of that power of evasion, of which he shows himself such a +master in his dealing with his own Prayer Book. Yet he has the +assurance at p. 14 to ask, "Why was the Sermon preached? to insinuate +that a Church which had sacramental confession and a celibate clergy +was the only true Church?"</p> + +<p class="extraspace">"Why?" I will tell the reader, <i>why</i>; and with this view will speak, +first of the contents of the Sermon, then of its subject, then of its +circumstances.</p> + +<p>1. It was one of the last six sermons which I wrote when I was an +Anglican. It was one of the five sermons I preached in St. Mary's +between Christmas and Easter, 1843, the year when I gave up my +living. The MS. of the sermon is destroyed; but I believe, and my +memory too bears me out, as far as it goes, that the sentence in +question about celibacy and confession <i>was not preached at all</i>. The +volume, in which this sermon is found, was published <i>after</i> that I +had given up St. Mary's, when I had no call on me to restrain the +expression of anything which I might hold: and I state an important +fact about it in the advertisement, which this truth-loving writer +<i>suppresses</i>. Blot <i>nine</i>.</p> + +<p>My words, which stared him in the face, are as follows:—"In +preparing [these Sermons] for publication, <i>a few words and +sentences</i> have in several places been <i>added</i>, which will be found +to express more <i>of private or personal opinion</i>, than it was +expedient to introduce into the <i>instruction</i> delivered in Church to +a parochial Congregation. Such introduction, however, seems +unobjectionable in the case of compositions, which are <i>detached</i> +from the sacred place and service to which they once belonged, and +<i>submitted to the reason</i> and judgment of the general reader."</p> + +<p>This volume of sermons then cannot be criticised at all as +<i>preachments</i>; they are <i>essays</i>; essays of a man who, at the time of +publishing them, was <i>not</i> a preacher. Such passages, as that in +question, are just the very ones which I added <i>upon</i> my publishing +them. I always was on my guard in the pulpit of saying anything which +looked towards Rome; and therefore all his rhetoric about my +"disciples," "admiring young gentlemen who listened to me," "fanatic +and hot-headed young men, who hung upon my every word," becomes +simple rubbish.</p> + +<p>I have more to say on this point. This writer says, p. 14, "I know +that men used to suspect Dr. Newman—I have been inclined to do so +myself—of <i>writing a whole Sermon, not for the sake of the text or +of the matter</i>, but for the sake of one simple passing hint—one +phrase, one epithet." Can there be a plainer testimony borne to the +practical character of my sermons at St. Mary's than this gratuitous +insinuation? Many a preacher of Tractarian doctrine has been accused +of not letting his parishioners alone, and of teasing them with his +private theological notions. You would gather from the general tone +of this writer that that was my way. Every one who was in the habit +of hearing me, knows that it wasn't. This writer either knows nothing +about it, and then he ought to be silent; or he does know, and then +he ought to speak the truth. Others spread the same report twenty +years ago as he does now, and the world believed that my sermons at +St. Mary's were full of red-hot Tractarianism. Then strangers came to +hear me preach, and were astonished at their own disappointment. I +recollect the wife of a great prelate from a distance coming to hear +me, and then expressing her surprise to find that I preached nothing +but a plain humdrum sermon. I recollect how, when on the Sunday +before Commemoration one year, a number of strangers came to hear +me, and I preached in my usual way, residents in Oxford, of high +position, were loud in their satisfaction that on a great occasion, I +had made a simple failure, for after all there was nothing in the +sermon to hear. Well, but they were not going to let me off, for all +my common-sense view of duty. Accordingly, they got up the charitable +theory which this writer revives. They said that there was a double +purpose in those plain addresses of mine, and that my sermons were +never so artful as when they seemed common-place; that there were +sentences which redeemed their apparent simplicity and quietness. So +they watched during the delivery of a sermon, which to them was too +practical to be useful, for the concealed point of it, which they +could at least imagine, if they could not discover. "Men used to +suspect Dr. Newman," he says, "of writing a <i>whole</i> Sermon, <i>not</i> for +the sake of <i>the text or of the matter</i>, but for the sake of ... +<i>one</i> phrase, <i>one</i> epithet, <i>one</i> little barbed arrow, which, as he +<i>swept magnificently</i> past on the stream of his calm eloquence, +<i>seemingly</i> unconscious of all presences, save those unseen, he +delivered unheeded," etc. p. 14. To all appearance, he says, I was +"unconscious of all presences;" so this kind writer supplies the true +interpretation of this unconsciousness. He is not able to deny that +"the <i>whole</i> Sermon" had the <i>appearance</i> of being "<i>for the sake</i> of +the text and matter;" therefore he suggests that perhaps it wasn't. +And then he emptily talks of the "magnificent sweep of my eloquence," +and my "oratoric power." Did he forget that the sermon of which he +thus speaks can be read by others as well as him? Now, the sentences +are as short as Aristotle's, and as grave as Bishop Butler's. It is +written almost in the condensed style of Tract 90. Eloquence there is +none. I put this down as Blot <i>ten</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">2. And now as to the subject of the sermon. The series of which the +volume consists are such sermons as are, more or less, exceptions to +the rule which I ordinarily observed, as to the subjects which I +introduced into the pulpit of St. Mary's. They are not purely ethical +or doctrinal. They were for the most part caused by circumstances of +the day or of the time, and they belong to various years. One was +written in 1832, two in 1836, two in 1838, five in 1840, five in +1841, four in 1842, seven in 1843. Many of them are engaged on one +subject, viz. in viewing the Church in its relation to the world. By +the world was meant, not simply those multitudes which were not in +the Church, but the existing body of human society, whether in the +Church or not, whether Catholics, Protestants, Greeks, or Mahometans, +theists or idolaters, as being ruled by principles, maxims, and +instincts of their own, that is, of an unregenerate nature, whatever +their supernatural privileges might be, greater or less, according to +their form of religion. This view of the relation of the Church to +the world as taken apart from questions of ecclesiastical politics, +as they may be called, is often brought out in my sermons. Two occur +to me at once; No. 3 of my Plain Sermons, which was written in 1829, +and No. 15 of my third volume, written in 1835. Then, on the other +hand, by Church I meant—in common with all writers connected with +the Tract Movement, whatever their shades of opinion, and with +the whole body of English divines, except those of the Puritan or +Evangelical School—the whole of Christendom, from the apostles' time +till now, whatever their later divisions into Latin, Greek, and +Anglican. I have explained this view of the subject above at pp. +83-85 of this Volume. When then I speak, in the particular sermon +before us, of the members, or the rulers, or the action of "the +Church," I mean neither the Latin, nor the Greek, nor the English, +taken by itself, but of the whole Church as one body: of Italy as one +with England, of the Saxon or Norman as one with the Caroline Church. +<i>This</i> was specially the one Church, and the points in which one +branch or one period differed from another were not and could not be +notes of the Church, because notes necessarily belonged to the whole +of the Church everywhere and always.</p> + +<p>This being my doctrine as to the relation of the Church to the world, +I laid down in the sermon three principles concerning it, and there +left the matter. The first is, that Divine Wisdom had framed for its +action, laws which man, if left to himself, would have antecedently +pronounced to be the worst possible for its success, and which in all +ages have been called by the world, as they were in the apostles' +days, "foolishness;" that man ever relies on physical and material +force, and on carnal inducements—as Mahomet with his sword and his +houris, or indeed almost as that theory of religion, called, since +the sermon was written, "muscular Christianity;" but that our +Lord, on the contrary, has substituted meekness for haughtiness, +passiveness for violence, and innocence for craft: and that the event +has shown the high wisdom of such an economy, for it has brought to +light a set of natural laws, unknown before, by which the seeming +paradox that weakness should be stronger than might, and simplicity +than worldly policy, is readily explained.</p> + +<p>Secondly, I said that men of the world, judging by the event, and not +recognizing the secret causes of the success, viz. a higher order of +natural laws—natural, though their source and action were +supernatural, (for "the meek inherit the earth," by means of a +meekness which comes from above)—these men, I say, concluded, that +the success which they witnessed must arise from some evil secret +which the world had not mastered—by means of magic, as they said in +the first ages, by cunning as they say now. And accordingly they +thought that the humility and inoffensiveness of Christians, or of +Churchmen, was a mere pretence and blind to cover the real causes of +that success, which Christians could explain and would not; and that +they were simply hypocrites.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, I suggested that shrewd ecclesiastics, who knew very well +that there was neither magic nor craft in the matter, and, from their +intimate acquaintance with what actually went on within the Church, +discerned what were the real causes of its success, were of course +under the temptation of substituting reason for conscience, and, +instead of simply obeying the command, were led to do good that good +might come, that is, to act <i>in order</i> to their success, and not from +a motive of faith. Some, I said, did yield to the temptation more or +less, and their motives became mixed; and in this way the world in a +more subtle shape has got into the Church; and hence it has come to +pass, that, looking at its history from first to last, we cannot +possibly draw the line between good and evil there, and say either +that everything is to be defended, or some things to be condemned. I +expressed the difficulty, which I supposed to be inherent in the +Church, in the following words. I said, "<i>Priestcraft has ever been +considered the badge</i>, and its imputation is a kind of Note of the +Church; and <i>in part indeed truly</i>, because the presence of powerful +enemies, and the sense of their own weakness, <i>has sometimes tempted +Christians to the abuse, instead of the use of Christian wisdom, to +be wise without being harmless</i>; but partly, nay, for the most part, +not truly, but slanderously, and merely because the world called +their wisdom craft, when it was found to be a match for its own +numbers and power." This passage he has partly garbled, partly +omitted. Blot <i>eleven</i>.</p> + +<p>Such is the substance of the sermon: and as to the main drift of it, +it was this; that I was, there and elsewhere, scrutinising the course +of the Church as a whole, as if philosophically, as an historical +phenomenon, and observing the laws on which it was conducted. Hence +the sermon, or essay as it more truly is, is written in a dry and +unimpassioned way: it shows as little of human warmth of feeling, I +repeat, as a sermon of Bishop Butler's. Yet, under that calm exterior +there was a deep and keen sensitiveness, as I shall now proceed to +show.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">3. If I mistake not, it was written with a secret thought about +myself. Every one preaches according to his frame of mind, at the +time of preaching. One heaviness especially oppressed me at that +season, which this writer, twenty years afterwards, has set himself +with a good will to renew: it arose from the sense of the base +calumnies which were thrown upon me on all sides. In this trouble of +mind I gained, while I reviewed the history of the Church, at once an +argument and a consolation. My argument was this: if I, who knew my +own innocence, was so blackened by party prejudice, perhaps those +high rulers and those servants of the Church, in the many ages which +intervened between the early Nicene times and the present, who were +laden with such grievous accusations, were innocent also; and this +reflection served to make me tender towards those great names of the +past, to whom weaknesses or crimes were imputed, and reconciled me to +difficulties in ecclesiastical proceedings, which there were no means +now of properly explaining. And the sympathy thus excited for them, +reacted on myself, and I found comfort in being able to put myself +under the shadow of those who had suffered as I was suffering, and +who seemed to promise me their recompense, since I had a fellowship +in their trial. In a letter to my bishop at the time of Tract 90, +part of which I have quoted, I said that I had ever tried to "keep +innocency;" and now two years had passed since then, and men were +louder and louder in heaping on me the very charges, which this +writer repeats out of my sermon, of "fraud and cunning," "craftiness +and deceitfulness," "double-dealing," "priestcraft," of being +"mysterious, dark, subtle, designing," when I was all the time +conscious to myself, in my degree, and after my measure, of +"sobriety, self-restraint, and control of word and feeling." I had +had experience how my past success had been imputed to "secret +management;" and how, when I had shown surprise at that success, that +surprise again was imputed to "deceit;" and how my honest heartfelt +submission to authority had been called, as it was called in a +colonial bishop's charge, "mystic humility;" and how my silence was +called an "hypocrisy;" and my faithfulness to my clerical engagements +a secret correspondence with the enemy. And I found a way of +destroying my sensitiveness about these things which jarred upon my +sense of justice, and otherwise would have been too much for me, by +the contemplation of a large law of the Divine Dispensation, and +found myself more and more able to bear in my own person a present +trial, of which in my past writings I had expressed an anticipation.</p> + +<p>For thus feeling and thus speaking this writer has the charitableness +and the decency to call me "Mawworm." "I found him telling +Christians," he says, "that they will always seem 'artificial,' and +'wanting in openness and manliness;' that they will always be 'a +mystery' to the world; and that the world will always think them +rogues; and bidding them glory in what the world (that is, the rest +of their fellow-countrymen) disown, and say with Mawworm, 'I like to +be despised.' ... How was I to know that the preacher ... was utterly +blind to the broad meaning and the plain practical result of a sermon +like this delivered before fanatic and hot-headed young men, who hung +upon his every word?"—p. 17. Hot-headed young men! why, man, you are +writing a romance. You think the scene is Alexandria or the Spanish +main, where you may let your imagination play revel to the extent of +inveracity. It is good luck for me that the scene of my labours was +not at Moscow or Damascus. Then I might be one of your ecclesiastical +saints, of which I sometimes hear in conversation, but with whom, I +am glad to say, I have no personal acquaintance. Then you might +ascribe to me a more deadly craft than mere quibbling and lying; in +Spain I should have been an Inquisitor, with my rack in the +background; I should have had a concealed dagger in Sicily; at Venice +I should have brewed poison; in Turkey I should have been the +Sheik-el-Islam with my bowstring; in Khorassan I should have been a +veiled prophet. "Fanatic young men!" Why he is writing out the list +of a <i>dramatis Personæ</i>; "guards, conspirators, populace," and the +like. He thinks I was ever moving about with a train of Capulets at +my heels. "Hot-headed fanatics, who hung on my every word!" If he had +taken to write a history, and not a play, he would have easily found +out, as I have said, that from 1841 I had severed myself from the +younger generation of Oxford, that Dr. Pusey and I had then closed +our theological meetings at his house, that I had brought my own +weekly evening parties to an end, that I preached only by fits and +starts at St. Mary's, so that the attendance of young men was broken +up, that in those very weeks from Christmas till over Easter, during +which this sermon was preached, I was but five times in the pulpit +there. He would have known that it was written at a time when I was +shunned rather than sought, when I had great sacrifices in +anticipation, when I was thinking much of myself; that I was +ruthlessly tearing myself away from my own followers, and that, in +the musings of that sermon, I was at the very utmost only delivering +a testimony in my behalf for time to come, not sowing my rhetoric +broadcast for the chance of present sympathy. Blot <i>twelve</i>.</p> + +<p>I proceed: he says at p. 15, "I found him actually using of such +[prelates], (and, as I thought, of himself and his party likewise), +the words 'They yield outwardly; to assent inwardly were to betray +the faith. Yet they are called deceitful and double-dealing, because +they do as much as they can, not more than they may.'" This too is a +proof of my duplicity! Let this writer go with some one else, just a +little further than he has gone with me; and let him get into a court +of law for libel; and let him be convicted; and let him still fancy +that his libel, though a libel, was true, and let us then see whether +he will not in such a case "yield outwardly," without assenting +internally; and then again whether we should please him, if we called +him "deceitful and double-dealing," because "he did as much as he +could, not more than he ought to do." But Tract 90 will supply a real +illustration of what I meant. I yielded to the bishops in outward +act, viz. in not defending the Tract, and in closing the series; but, +not only did I not assent inwardly to any condemnation of it, but I +opposed myself to the proposition of a condemnation on the part of +authority. Yet I was then by the public called "deceitful and +double-dealing," as this writer calls me now, "because I did as much +as I felt I could do, and not more than I felt I could honestly do." +Many were the publications of the day and the private letters which +accused me of shuffling, because I closed the series of tracts, yet +kept the tracts on sale, as if I ought to comply not only with what +my bishop asked, but with what he did not ask, and perhaps did not +wish. However, such teaching, according to this writer, was likely to +make young men suspect that truth was not a virtue for its own sake, +but only for the sake of "the spread of Catholic opinions," and the +"salvation of their own souls;" and that "cunning was the weapon +which heaven had allowed to them to defend themselves against the +persecuting Protestant public."—p. 16. Blot <i>thirteen</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">And now I draw attention to another point. He says at p. 15, "How was +I to know that the preacher ... did not foresee, that [fanatic and +hot-headed young men] would think that they obeyed him, by becoming +affected, artificial, sly, shifty, ready for concealments and +<i>equivocations?</i>" "How should he know!" What! I suppose that we are +to think every man a knave till he is proved not to be such. Know! +had he no friend to tell him whether I was "affected" or "artificial" +myself? Could he not have done better than impute <i>equivocation</i> to +me, at a time when I was in no sense answerable for the +<i>amphibologia</i> of the Roman casuists? Has he a single fact which +belongs to me personally or by profession to couple my name with +equivocation in 1843? "How should he know" that I was not sly, +smooth, artificial, non-natural! he should know by that common manly +frankness, if he had it, by which we put confidence in others, till +they are proved to have forfeited it; he should know it by my own +words in that very sermon, in which I say it is best to be natural, +and that reserve is at best but an unpleasant necessity. I say, "I do +not deny that there is something very engaging in a frank and +unpretending manner; some persons have it more than others; in <i>some +persons it is a great grace</i>. But it must be recollected that I am +speaking of <i>times of persecution and oppression</i> to Christians, such +as the text foretells; and then surely frankness will become nothing +else than indignation at the oppressor, and vehement speech, if it is +permitted. Accordingly, as persons have deep <i>feelings</i>, so they will +find the necessity of self-control, lest they should say what they +ought not." He omits these words. I call, then, this base insinuation +that I taught equivocation, Blot the <i>fourteenth</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Lastly, he sums up thus: "If [Dr. Newman] would ... persist (as in +this Sermon) in dealing with matters dark, offensive, doubtful, +sometimes actually forbidden, at least according to the notions of +the great majority of English Churchmen; if he would always do so in +a tentative, paltering way, seldom or never letting the world know +how much he believed, how far he intended to go; if, in a word, his +method of teaching was a suspicious one, what wonder if the minds of +men were filled with suspicions of him?"—p. 17.</p> + +<p>Now first he is speaking of my sermons; where, then, is his proof +that in my sermons I dealt in matters dark, offensive, doubtful, +actually forbidden? he has said nothing in proof that I have not been +able flatly to deny.</p> + +<p>"Forbidden according to the notions of the great majority of English +Churchmen." I should like to know what opinions, beyond those which +relate to the Creed, <i>are</i> held by the "majority of English +Churchmen:"—are his own? is it not perfectly well known, that "the +great majority" think of him and his views with a feeling which I +will not describe, because it is not necessary for my argument? So +far is certain, that he has not the majority with him.</p> + +<p>"In a tentative, paltering way." The word "paltering" I reject, as +vague; as to "tentative," he must show that I was tentative in my +sermons; and he has eight volumes to look through. As to the ninth, +my University sermons, of course I was "tentative;" but not because +"I would seldom or never let the world know how much I believed, or +how far I intended to go;" but because in deep subjects, which had +not been fully investigated, I said as much as I believed, and about +as far as I saw I could go; and a man cannot do more; and I account +no man to be a philosopher who attempts to do more. How long am I to +have the office of merely negativing assertions which are but +supported by former assertions, in which John is ever helping Tom, +and the elephant stands upon the tortoise? This is Blot +<i>fifteen</i>.</p> + +<h4>3. The Anglican Church</h4> + +<p>This writer says:—"If there is, as there is, a strong distrust of +certain Catholics, it is restricted to the proselytizing priests +among them; and especially to those, who, like Dr. Newman, have +turned round upon their mother Church (I had almost said their mother +country), with contumely and slander."—p. 18.</p> + +<p>No one has a right to make a charge, without at least an attempt to +prove what he says; but this writer is consistent with himself. From +the time that he first spoke of me in the magazine, <i>when</i> has he +ever even professed to give evidence of any sort for any one of his +charges, from his own sense of propriety, and without being +challenged on the point? After the sentence which I have been +quoting, and another like it, he coolly passes on to Tract 90! Blot +<i>sixteen</i>; but I shall dwell on it awhile, for its own sake.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Now I have been bringing out my mind in this volume on every subject +which has come before me; and therefore I am bound to state plainly +what I feel and have felt, since I was a Catholic, about the Anglican +Church. I said, in a former page, that, on my conversion, I was not +conscious of any change in me of thought or feeling, as regards +matters of doctrine; this, however, was not the case as regards some +matters of fact, and, unwilling as I am to give offence to religious +Anglicans, I am bound to confess that I felt a great change in my +view of the Church of England. I cannot tell how soon there came on +me—but very soon—an extreme astonishment that I had ever imagined +it to be a portion of the Catholic Church. For the first time, I +looked at it from without, and (as I should myself say) saw it as it +was. Forthwith I could not get myself to see in it anything else, +than what I had so long fearfully suspected, from as far back as +1836—a mere national institution. As if my eyes were suddenly +opened, so I saw it—spontaneously, apart from any definite act of +reason or any argument; and so I have seen it ever since. I suppose, +the main cause of this lay in the contrast which was presented to me +by the Catholic Church. Then I recognised at once a reality which was +quite a new thing with me. Then I was sensible that I was not making +for myself a Church by an effort of thought; I needed not to make +an act of faith in her; I had not painfully to force myself into a +position, but my mind fell back upon itself in relaxation and in +peace, and I gazed at her almost passively as a great objective fact. +I looked at her;—at her rites, her ceremonial, and her precepts; and +I said, "This <i>is</i> a religion;" and then, when I looked back upon the +poor Anglican Church, for which I had laboured so hard, and upon all +that appertained to it, and thought of our various attempts to dress +it up doctrinally and esthetically, it seemed to me to be the veriest +of nonentities. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity! How can I make a +record of what passed within me, without seeming to be satirical? But +I speak plain, serious words. As people call me credulous for +acknowledging Catholic claims, so they call me satirical for +disowning Anglican pretensions; to them it <i>is</i> credulity, to them it +<i>is</i> satire; but it is not so in me. What they think exaggeration, I +think truth. I am not speaking of the Anglican Church in any disdain, +though to them I seem contemptuous. To them of course it is "Aut +Cæsar aut nullus," but not to me. It may be a great creation, though +it be not divine, and this is how I judge of it. Men, who abjure the +divine right of kings, would be very indignant, if on that account +they were considered disloyal. And so I recognise in the Anglican +Church a time-honoured institution, of noble historical memories, a +monument of ancient wisdom, a momentous arm of political strength, a +great national organ, a source of vast popular advantage, and, to a +certain point, a witness and teacher of religious truth. I do not +think that, if what I have written about it since I have been a +Catholic, be equitably considered as a whole, I shall be found to +have taken any other view than this; but that it is something sacred, +that it is an oracle of revealed doctrine, that it can claim a share +in St. Ignatius or St. Cyprian, that it can take the rank, contest +the teaching, and stop the path of the Church of St. Peter, that it +can call itself "the Bride of the Lamb," this is the view of it which +simply disappeared from my mind on my conversion, and which it would +be almost a miracle to reproduce. "I went by, and lo! it was gone; I +sought it, but its place could no where be found;" and nothing can +bring it back to me. And, as to its possession of an episcopal +succession from the time of the apostles, well, it may have it, and, +if the holy see ever so decided, I will believe it, as being the +decision of a higher judgment than my own; but, for myself, I must +have St. Philip's gift, who saw the sacerdotal character on the +forehead of a gaily-attired youngster, before I can by my own wit +acquiesce in it, for antiquarian arguments are altogether unequal to +the urgency of visible facts. Why is it that I must pain dear friends +by saying so, and kindle a sort of resentment against me in the +kindest of hearts? but I must, though to do it be not only a grief to +me, but most impolitic at the moment. Anyhow, this is my mind; and, +if to have it, if to have betrayed it, before now, involuntarily by +my words or my deeds, if on a fitting occasion, as now, to have +avowed it, if all this be a proof of the justice of the charge +brought against me of having "turned round upon my Mother-Church with +contumely and slander," in this sense, but in no other sense, do I +plead guilty to it without a word in extenuation.</p> + +<p>In no other sense surely; the Church of England has been the +instrument of Providence in conferring great benefits on me; had I +been born in Dissent, perhaps I should never have been baptised; had +I been born an English Presbyterian, perhaps I should never have +known our Lord's divinity; had I not come to Oxford, perhaps I never +should have heard of the visible Church, or of Tradition, or other +Catholic doctrines. And as I have received so much good from the +Anglican Establishment itself, can I have the heart, or rather the +want of charity, considering that it does for so many others, what it +has done for me, to wish to see it overthrown? I have no such wish +while it is what it is, and while we are so small a body. Not for its +own sake, but for the sake of the many congregations to which it +ministers, I will do nothing against it. While Catholics are so weak +in England, it is doing our work; and, though it does us harm in a +measure, at present the balance is in our favour. What our duty would +be at another time and in other circumstances, supposing, for +instance, the Establishment lost its dogmatic faith, or at least did +not preach it, is another matter altogether. In secular history we +read of hostile nations having long truces, and renewing them from +time to time, and that seems to be the position the Catholic Church +may fairly take up at present in relation to the Anglican +Establishment.</p> + +<p>Doubtless the National Church has hitherto been a serviceable +breakwater against doctrinal errors, more fundamental than its own. +How long this will last in the years now before us, it is impossible +to say, for the nation drags down its Church to its own level; but +still the National Church has the same sort of influence over the +nation that a periodical has upon the party which it represents, and +my own idea of a Catholic's fitting attitude towards the National +Church in this its supreme hour, is that of assisting and sustaining +it, if it be in our power, in the interest of dogmatic truth. I +should wish to avoid everything, except under the direct call of +duty, which went to weaken its hold upon the public mind, or to +unsettle its establishment, or to embarrass and lessen its +maintenance of those great Christian and Catholic principles and +doctrines which it has up to this time successfully preached.</p> + +<p>I say, "except under the call of duty;" and this exception, I am +obliged to admit, is not a slight one; it is one which necessarily +places a bar to any closer relation between it and ourselves, than +that of an armed truce. For, in the first place, it stands to reason +that even a volume, such as this has been, exerts an influence +adverse to the Establishment—at least in the case of many minds; and +this I cannot avoid, though I have sincerely attempted to keep as +wide of controversy in the course of it, as ever I could. And next I +cannot deny, what must be ever a very sore point with Anglicans, +that, if any Anglican comes to me after careful thought and prayer, +and with deliberate purpose, and says, "I believe in the Holy +Catholic Church, and that your Church and yours alone is it, and I +demand admittance into it," it would be the greatest of sins in me to +reject such a man, as being a distinct contravention of our Lord's +maxim, "Freely ye have received, freely give."</p> + +<p class="extraspace">I have written three volumes which may be considered controversial; +Loss and Gain in 1847; Lectures on Difficulties felt by Anglicans in +submitting to the Catholic Church in 1850; and Lectures on the +present Position of Catholics in England in 1851. And though I have +neither time nor need to go into the matter minutely, a few words +will suffice for some general account of what has been my object and +my tone in these works severally.</p> + +<p>Of these three, the Lectures on the "Position of Catholics" have +nothing to do with the Church of England, as such; they are directed +against the Protestant or Ultra-Protestant tradition on the subject +of Catholicism since the time of Queen Elizabeth, in which parties +indeed in the Church of England have largely participated, but which +cannot be confused with Anglican teaching itself. Much less can that +tradition be confused with the doctrine of the Laudian or of the +Tractarian School. I owe nothing to Protestantism; and I spoke +against it even when I was an Anglican, as well as in these Catholic +lectures. If I spoke in them against the Church Established, it was +because, and so far as, at the time when they were delivered the +Establishment took a violent part against the Catholic Church, on the +basis of the Protestant tradition. Moreover, I had never as an +Anglican been a lover of the actual Establishment; Hurrell Froude's +Remains, in which it is called an "incubus" and "Upas Tree," will +stand in evidence, as for him, so for me; for I was one of the +editors. What I said even as an Anglican, it is not strange that I +said when I was not. Indeed I have been milder in my thoughts of the +Establishment ever since I have been a Catholic than before, and for +an obvious reason:—when I was an Anglican, I viewed it as repressing +a higher doctrine than its own; and now I view it as keeping out a +lower and more dangerous.</p> + +<p>Then as to my Lectures on Anglican Difficulties. Neither were these +formally directed against the National Church. They were addressed to +the "Children of the Movement of 1833," to impress upon them, that, +whatever was the case with others, their duty at least was to become +Catholics, since Catholicism was the real scope and issue of that +Movement. "There is but one thing," I say, "that forces me to +speak.... It will be a miserable thing for you and for me, if I have +been instrumental in bringing you but half-way, if I have co-operated +in removing your invincible ignorance, but am able to do no +more."—p. 5. Such being the drift of the volume, the reasoning +directed against the Church of England goes no further than this, +that it had no claims whatever on such of its members as were +proceeding onwards with the Movement into the Catholic Church.</p> + +<p>Lastly, as to Loss and Gain: it is the story, simply ideal, of the +conversion of an Oxford man. Its drift is to show how little there is +in Anglicanism to satisfy and retain a young and earnest heart. In +this tale, all the best characters are sober Church-of-England +people. No Tractarians proper are introduced: and this is noted in +the advertisement: "No <i>proper</i> representative is intended in this +tale, of the religious opinions, which had lately so much influence +in the University of Oxford." There <i>could</i> not be such in the tale, +without the introduction of friends, which was impossible in its very +notion. But, since the scene was to be laid during the very years, +and at the head-quarters, of Tractarianism, some expedient was +necessary in order to meet what was a great difficulty. My expedient +was the introduction of what may be called Tractarians <i>improper</i>; +and I took them the more readily, because, though I knew that such +there were, I knew none of them personally. I mean such men as I used +to consider of "the gilt-gingerbread school," from whom I expected +little good, persons whose religion lay in ritualism or architecture, +and who "played at Popery" or at Anglicanism. I repeat I knew no such +men, because it is one thing to desire fine churches and ceremonies +(which of course I did myself), and quite another thing to desire +these and nothing else; but at that day there was in some quarters, +though not in those where I had influence, a strong movement in the +esthetic direction. Doubtless I went too far in my apprehension of +such a movement: for one of the best, and most devoted and +hard-working priests I ever knew was the late Father Hutchison, of +the London Oratory, and I believe it was architecture that directed +his thoughts towards the Catholic Church. However, I had in my mind +an external religion which was inordinate; and, as the men who were +considered instances of it, were personally unknown to me, even by +name, I introduced them, under imaginary representatives, in Loss and +Gain, and that, in order to get clear of Tractarians proper; and of +the three men, whom I have introduced, the Anglican is the best. In +like manner I introduced two "gilt-gingerbread" young ladies, who +were ideal, absolutely, utterly, without a shred of concrete +existence about them; and I introduced them with the remark that they +were "really kind charitable persons," and "<i>by no means</i> put forth +as <i>a type</i> of a class," that "among such persons were to be found +the gentlest spirits and the tenderest hearts," and that "these +sisters had open hands, if they had not wise heads," but that "they +did not know much of matters ecclesiastical, and they knew less of +themselves."</p> + +<p>It has been said, indeed, I know not to what extent, that I +introduced my friends or partisans into the tale; this is utterly +untrue. Only two cases of this misconception have come to my +knowledge, and I at once denied each of them outright; and I take +this opportunity of denying generally the truth of all other similar +charges. No friend of mine, no one connected in any way with the +Movement, entered into the composition of any one of the characters. +Indeed, putting aside the two instances which have been distinctly +brought before me, I have not even any sort of suspicion who the +persons are, whom I am thus accused of introducing.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Next, this writer goes on to speak of Tract 90; a subject of which I +have treated at great length in a former passage of this narrative, +and, in consequence, need not take up again now.</p> + +<h4>4. Series of Lives of the English Saints</h4> + +<p>I have given the history of this publication above at pp. 195-196. It +was to have consisted of almost 300 Lives, and I was to have been the +editor. It was brought to an end, before it was well begun, by the +act of friends who were frightened at the first Life printed, the +Life of St. Stephen Harding. Thus I was not responsible except for +the first two numbers; and the advertisements distinctly declared +this. I had just the same responsibility about the other Lives, that +my assailant had, and not a bit more. However, it answers his purpose +to consider me responsible.</p> + +<p>Next, I observe, that his delusion about "hot-headed fanatic young +men" continues: here again I figure with my strolling company. "They +said," he observes, "what they believed; at least, what they had been +taught to believe that they ought to believe. And who had taught +them? Dr. Newman can best answer that question," p. 20. Well, I will +do what I can to solve the mystery.</p> + +<p>Now as to the juvenile writers in the proposed series. One was my +friend Mr. Bowden, who in 1843 was a man of 46 years old; he was to +have written St. Boniface. Another was Mr. Johnson, a man of 42; he +was to have written St. Aldelm. Another was the author of St. +Augustine: let us hear something about him from this writer:—</p> + +<p>"Dr. Newman," he says, "might have said to the Author of the Life of +St. Augustine, when he found him, in <i>the heat and haste of youthful +fanaticism</i>, outraging historic truth and the law of evidence, 'This +must not be.'"—p. 20.</p> + +<p>Good. This juvenile was past 40—well, say 39. Blot <i>seventeen</i>. +"This must not be." This is what I ought to have said, it seems! And +then, you see, I have not the talent, and never had, of some people, +for lecturing my equals, much less men twenty years older than +myself.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">But again, the author of St. Augustine's Life distinctly says in his +advertisement, "<i>No one but himself</i> is responsible for the way in +which these materials have been used." Blot <i>eighteen</i>.</p> + +<p>Thirty-three Lives were actually published. Out of the whole number +this writer notices <i>three</i>. Of these one is "charming;" therefore I +am not to have the benefit of it. Another "outrages historic truth +and the law of evidence;" therefore "it was notoriously sanctioned by +Dr. Newman." And the third was "one of the most offensive," and Dr. +Newman must have formally connected himself with it in "a moment of +amiable weakness."—p. 22. What even-handed justice is here! Blot +<i>nineteen</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">But to return to the juvenile author of St. Augustine:—"I found," +says this writer, "the Life of St. Augustine saying, that, though the +pretended visit of St. Peter to England wanted <i>historic evidence</i>, +'yet it has undoubtedly been received as a <i>pious opinion</i> by the +Church at large, as we learn from the often-quoted words of St. +Innocent I. (who wrote A.D. 416) that St. Peter was instrumental in +the conversion of the West generally.'"—p. 21. He brings this +passage against me (with which, however, I have nothing more to do +than he has) as a great misdemeanour; but let us see what his +criticism is worth. "And this sort of argument," continues the +passage, "though it ought to be kept <i>quite distinct from</i> +documentary and historic proof, will <i>not be without its effect</i> on +devout minds," etc. I should have thought this a very sober doctrine, +viz. that we must not confuse together two things quite distinct from +each other, criticism and devotion, so proof and opinion—that a +<i>devout</i> mind will hold <i>opinions</i> which it cannot demonstrate by +"historic <i>proof</i>." What, I ask, is the harm of saying this? Is +<i>this</i> my assailant's definition of opinion, "a thing which <i>can</i> be +proved?" I cannot answer for him, but I can answer for men in +general. Let him read Sir David Brewster's "More Worlds than +One;"—this principle, which is so shocking to my assailant, is +precisely the argument of Sir David's book; he tells us that the +plurality of worlds <i>cannot</i> be <i>proved</i>, but <i>will</i> be <i>received</i> by +religious men. He asks, p. 229, "<i>If</i> the stars are <i>not</i> suns, for +what conceivable <i>purpose</i> were they created?" and then he lays down +dogmatically, p. 254, "There is no <i>opinion</i>, <i>out of</i> the region of +<i>pure demonstration</i>, more universally <i>cherished</i> than the doctrine +of the Plurality of worlds." And in his title-page he styles this +"opinion" "the <i>creed</i> of the philosopher and the <i>hope</i> of the +Christian." If Brewster may bring devotion into astronomy, why may +not my friend bring it into history? and that the more, when he +actually declares that it ought to be kept <i>quite distinct</i> from +history, and by no means assumes that he is an historian because he +is a hagiographer; whereas, somehow or other, Sir David does seem to +me to show a zeal greater than becomes a <i>savant</i>, and to assume that +he himself is a theologian because he is an astronomer. This writer +owes Sir David as well as me an apology. Blot <i>twenty</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">He ought to wish his original charge against me in the magazine dead +and buried; but he has the good sense and good taste to revive it +again and again. This is one of the places which he has chosen for +it. Let him then, just for a change, substitute Sir David Brewster +for me in his sentence; Sir David has quite as much right to the +compliment as I have, as far as this Life of St. Augustine is +concerned. Then he will be saying, that, because Sir David teaches +that the belief in more worlds than one is a pious opinion, and not a +demonstrated fact, he "does not care for truth for its own sake, or +teach men to regard it as a virtue," p. 21. Blot <i>twenty-one</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">However, he goes on to give in this same page one other evidence of +my disregard of truth. The author of St. Augustine's Life also asks +the following question: "<i>On what evidence</i> do we put faith in the +existence of St. George, the patron of England? Upon such, assuredly, +as an acute <i>critic or skillful pleader</i> might easily scatter to the +winds; the belief of prejudiced or credulous witnesses, the unwritten +record of empty pageants and bauble decorations. On the side of +scepticism might be exhibited a powerful array of suspicious legends +and exploded acts. Yet, <i>after all, what Catholic is there but would +count it a profaneness to question the existence of St. George?</i>" On +which my assailant observes, "When I found Dr. Newman allowing his +disciples ... in page after page, in Life after Life, to talk +nonsense of this kind which is not only sheer Popery, <i>but saps the +very foundation of historic truth</i>, was it so wonderful that I +conceived him to have taught and thought like them?" p. 22, that is, +to have taught lying.</p> + +<p>Well and good; here again take a parallel; not St. George, but +Lycurgus.</p> + +<p>Mr. Grote says: "Plutarch begins his biography of Lycurgus with the +following ominous words: 'Concerning the lawgiver Lycurgus, we can +assert <i>absolutely nothing</i>, which is not controverted. There are +different stories in respect to his birth, his travels, his death, +and also his mode of proceeding, political as well as legislative: +least of all is the time in which he lived agreed on.' And this +exordium <i>is but too well borne out</i> by the unsatisfactory nature of +the accounts which we read, not only in Plutarch himself, but in +those other authors, out of whom we are obliged to make up our idea +of the memorable Lycurgian system."—Greece, vol. ii. p 455. But +Bishop Thirlwall says, "Experience proves that <i>scarcely any amount +of variation</i>, as to the time or circumstances of a fact, in the +authors who record it, <i>can be a sufficient ground</i> for doubting its +reality."—Greece, vol. i. p. 332.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, my assailant is virtually saying of the latter of these +two historians, "When I found the Bishop of St. David's talking +nonsense of this kind, which saps the very foundation of historic +truth," was it "hasty or far-fetched" to conclude "that he did not +care for truth for its own sake, or teach his disciples to regard it +as a virtue?" p. 21. Nay, further, the Author of St. Augustine is no +more a disciple of mine, than the Bishop of St. David's is of my +assailant's, and therefore the parallel will be more exact if I +accuse this professor of history of <i>teaching</i> Dr. Thirlwall not to +care for truth, as a virtue, for its own sake. Blot <i>twenty-two</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">It is hard on me to have this dull, profitless work. But I have +pledged myself;—so now for St. Walburga.</p> + +<p>Now will it be believed that this writer suppresses the fact that the +miracles of St. Walburga are treated by the author of her Life as +mythical? yet that is the tone of the whole composition. This writer +can notice it in the Life of St. Neot, the first of the three Lives +which he criticises; these are his words: "Some of them, the writers, +for instance, of Volume 4, which contains, among others, a charming +life of St. Neot, treat the stories openly as legends and myths, and +tell them as they stand, without asking the reader, or themselves, to +believe them altogether. The method is harmless enough, if the +legends had stood alone; but dangerous enough, when they stand side +by side with stories told in earnest, like that of St. Walburga."—p. +22.</p> + +<p>Now, first, that the miraculous stories <i>are</i> treated, in the Life of +St. Walburga, as legends and myths. Throughout, the miracles and +extraordinary occurrences are spoken of as "said" or "reported;" and +the suggestion is made that, even though they occurred, they might +have been after all natural. Thus, in one of the very passages which +my assailant quotes, the author says, "Illuminated men feel the +privileges of Christianity, and to them the evil influence of Satanic +power is horribly discernible, like the Egyptian darkness which could +be felt; and <i>the only way to express</i> their keen perception of it is +<i>to say</i>, that they <i>see</i> upon the countenances of the slaves of sin, +the marks, and lineaments, and stamp of the evil one; and [that] they +<i>smell</i> with their nostrils the horrible fumes that arise from their +<i>vices</i> and uncleansed <i>heart</i>," etc. p.78. This introduces St. +Sturme and the gambolling Germans; what does it mean but that "the +intolerable scent" was nothing physical, or strictly miraculous, but +the horror, parallel to physical distress, with which the saint was +affected, from his knowledge of the state of their souls? My +assailant is a lucky man, if mental pain has never come upon him with +a substance and a volume, as forcible as if it were bodily.</p> + +<p>And so in like manner, the author of the Life says, as this writer +actually has quoted him, "a story <i>was told and believed</i>," p. 94. +"One evening, <i>says her history</i>," p. 87. "Another incident <i>is thus +related</i>," p. 88. "Immediately, <i>says</i> Wülfhard," p. 91. "A vast +number of other cases are <i>recorded</i>," p. 92. And there is a distinct +intimation that they may be myths, in a passage which this assailant +himself quotes, "All these have the <i>character</i> of a gentle mother +correcting the idleness and faults of careless and thoughtless +children with tenderness."—p. 95. I think the criticism which he +makes upon this Life is one of the most wanton passages in his +pamphlet. The Life is beautifully written, full of poetry, and, as I +have said, bears on its very surface the profession of a legendary +and mythical character. Blot <i>twenty-three</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In saying all this, I have no intention whatever of implying that +miracles did not illustrate the Life of St. Walburga; but neither the +author nor I have bound ourselves to the belief of certain instances +in particular. My assailant, in the passage which I just now quoted +from him, made some distinction, which was apparently intended to +save St. Neot, while it condemned St. Walburga. He said that legends +are "dangerous enough, when they stand side by side with stories told +in earnest like St. Walburga." He will find he has here Dr. Milman +against him, as he has already had Sir David Brewster, and the Bishop +of St. David's. He accuses me of having "outraged historic truth and +the law of evidence," because friends of mine have considered that, +though opinions need not be convictions, nevertheless that legends +may be connected with history: now, on the contrary, let us hear the +Dean of St. Paul's:—</p> + +<p>"<i>History</i>, to be <i>true</i>, must condescend to speak the language of +<i>legend</i>; the <i>belief</i> of the times is <i>part</i> of the <i>record</i> of the +times; and, though there may occur what may baffle its more calm and +searching philosophy, it <i>must not disdain</i> that which was the +primal, almost universal, motive of human life."—Latin. Christ., +vol. i. p. 388. Dr. Milman's decision justifies me in putting this +down as Blot <i>twenty-four</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">However, there is one miraculous account for which this writer makes +me directly answerable, and with reason; and with it I shall conclude +my reply to his criticisms on the "Lives of the English Saints." It +is the medicinal oil which flows from the relics of St. Walburga.</p> + +<p>Now, as I shall have occasion to remark under my next head, these two +questions among others occur, in judging of a miraculous story; viz. +whether the matter of it is extravagant, and whether it is a fact. +And first, it is plain there is nothing extravagant in this report of +the relics having a supernatural virtue; and for this reason, because +there are such instances in Scripture, and Scripture cannot be +extravagant. For instance, a man was restored to life by touching the +relics of the prophet Eliseus. The sacred text runs thus:—"And +Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites +invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, +as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; +and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha. And, when the man +was let down, <i>and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived</i>, and +stood upon his feet." Again, in the case of an inanimate substance, +which had touched a living saint: "And God wrought <i>special miracles</i> +by the hands of Paul; so that <i>from his body</i> were brought unto the +sick <i>handkerchiefs or aprons</i>, and <i>the diseases departed from +them</i>." And again in the case of a pool: "An <i>angel went down</i> at a +certain season into the pool, and troubled the water; whosoever then +first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, <i>was made whole +of whatsoever disease</i> he had." 2 Kings [4 Kings] xiii. 20, 21. Acts +xix. 11, 12. John v. 4. Therefore there is nothing <i>extravagant</i> in +the <i>character</i> of the miracle.</p> + +<p>The main question then (I do not say the only remaining question, but +the main question) is the <i>matter of fact</i>:—<i>is</i> there an oil +flowing from St. Walburga's tomb, which is medicinal? To this +question I confined myself in the Preface to the volume. Of the +accounts of medieval miracles, I said that there was no +<i>extravagance</i> in their <i>general character</i>, but I could not affirm +that there was always <i>evidence</i> for them. I could not simply accept +them as <i>facts</i>, but I could not reject them in their <i>nature</i>; they +<i>might</i> be true, for they were not impossible: but they were <i>not +proved</i> to be true, because there was not trustworthy testimony. +However, as to St. Walburga, I made <i>one</i> exception, the fact of the +medicinal oil, since for that miracle there was distinct and +successive testimony. And then I went on to give a chain of +witnesses. It was my duty to state what those witnesses said in their +very words; and I did so; they were in Latin, and I gave them in +Latin. One of them speaks of the "sacrum oleum" flowing "de membris +ejus virgineis, maximè tamen pectoralibus;" and I so printed it;—if +I had left it out, this sweet-tempered writer would have accused me +of an "economy." I gave the testimonies in full, tracing them from +the saint's death. I said, "She is one of the principal Saints of her +age and country." Then I quoted Basnage, a Protestant, who says, "Six +writers are extant, who have employed themselves in relating the +deeds or miracles of Walburga." Then I said that her "renown was not +the mere natural <i>growth</i> of ages, but begins with the very century +of the Saint's death." Then I observed that only two miracles seem to +have been "distinctly reported of her as occurring in her lifetime; +and they were handed down apparently by tradition." Also, that they +are said to have commenced about A.D. 777. Then I spoke of the +medicinal oil as having testimony to it in 893, in 1306, after 1450, +in 1615, and in 1620. Also, I said that Mabillon seems not to have +believed some of her miracles; and that the earliest witness had got +into trouble with his bishop. And so I left it, as a question to be +decided by evidence, not deciding anything myself.</p> + +<p>What was the harm of all this? but my critic has muddled it together +in a most extraordinary manner, and I am far from sure that he knows +himself the definite categorical charge which he intends it to convey +against me. One of his remarks is, "What has become of the holy oil +for the last 240 years, Dr. Newman does not say," p. 25. Of course I +did not, because I did not know; I gave the evidence as I found it; +he assumes that I had a point to prove, and then asks why I did not +make the evidence larger than it was. I put this down as Blot +<i>twenty-five</i>.</p> + +<p>I can tell him more about it now; the oil still flows; I have had +some of it in my possession; it is medicinal; some think it is so by +a natural quality, others by a divine gift. Perhaps it is on the +confines of both.</p> + +<h4>5. Ecclesiastical Miracles</h4> + +<p>What is the use of going on with this writer's criticisms upon me, +when I am confined to the dull monotony of exposing and oversetting +him again and again, with a persistence, which many will think +merciless, and few will have the interest to read? Yet I am obliged +to do so, lest I should seem to be evading difficulties.</p> + +<p>Now as to Miracles. Catholics believe that they happen in any age of +the Church, though not for the same purposes, in the same number, or +with the same evidence, as in apostolic times. The apostles wrought +them in evidence of their divine mission; and with this object they +have been sometimes wrought by evangelists of countries since, as +even Protestants allow. Hence we hear of them in the history of St. +Gregory in Pontus, and St. Martin in Gaul; and in their case, as in +that of the apostles, they were both numerous and clear. As they are +granted to evangelists, so are they granted, though in less measure +and evidence, to other holy men; and as holy men are not found +equally at all times and in all places, therefore miracles are in +some places and times more than in others. And since, generally, they +are granted to faith and prayer, therefore in a country in which +faith and prayer abound, they will be more likely to occur, than +where and when faith and prayer are not; so that their occurrence is +irregular. And further, as faith and prayer obtain miracles, so still +more commonly do they gain from above the ordinary interventions of +Providence; and, as it is often very difficult to distinguish between +a providence and a miracle, and there will be more providences than +miracles, hence it will happen that many occurrences will be called +miraculous, which, strictly speaking, are not such, and not more than +providential mercies, or what are sometimes called "graces" or +"favours."</p> + +<p>Persons who believe all this, in accordance with Catholic teaching, +as I did and do, they, on the report of a miracle, will of necessity, +the necessity of good logic, be led to say, first, "It <i>may</i> be," and +secondly, "But I must have <i>good evidence</i> in order to believe it." +It <i>may</i> be, because miracles take place in all ages; it must be +clearly <i>proved</i>, because perhaps after all it may be only a +providential mercy, or an exaggeration, or a mistake, or an +imposture. Well, this is precisely what I have said, which this +writer considers so irrational. I have said, as he quotes me, p. 24, +"In this day, and under our present circumstances, we can only reply, +that there is no reason why they should not be." Surely this is good +logic, <i>provided</i> that miracles <i>do</i> occur in all ages; and so again +is it logical to say, "There is nothing, <i>primâ facie</i>, in the +miraculous accounts in question, to repel a <i>properly taught</i> or +religiously disposed mind." What is the matter with this statement? +My assailant does not pretend to say <i>what</i> the matter is, and he +cannot; but he expresses a rude, unmeaning astonishment. Next, I +stated <i>what</i> evidence there is for the miracles of which I was +speaking; what is the harm of that? He observes, "What evidence Dr. +Newman requires, he makes evident at once. He at least will fear for +himself, and swallow the whole as it comes."—p. 24. What random +abuse is this, or, to use <i>his own words</i> of me just before, what +"stuff and nonsense!" What is it I am "swallowing"? "the whole" what? +the evidence? or the miracles? I have swallowed neither, nor implied +any such thing. Blot <i>twenty-six</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">But to return: I have just said that a Catholic's state of mind, of +logical necessity, will be, "It <i>may</i> be a miracle, but it has to be +<i>proved</i>." <i>What</i> has to be proved? 1. That the event occurred as +stated, and is not a false report or an exaggeration. 2. That it is +clearly miraculous, and not a mere providence or answer to prayer +within the order of nature. What is the fault of saying this? The +inquiry is parallel to that which is made about some extraordinary +fact in secular history. Supposing I hear that King Charles II. died +a Catholic, I should say, 1. It <i>may</i> be. 2. What is your <i>proof</i>? +Accordingly, in the passage which this writer quotes, I observe, +"Miracles are the kind of facts proper to ecclesiastical history, +just as instances of sagacity or daring, personal prowess, or crime, +are the facts proper to secular history." What is the harm of this? +But this writer says, "Verily his [Dr. Newman's] idea of secular +history is almost as degraded as his idea of ecclesiastical," p. 24, +and he ends with this muddle of an <i>Ipse dixit</i>! Blot <i>twenty-seven</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In like manner, about the Holy Coat at Trèves, he says of me, "Dr. +Newman ... seems <i>hardly sure</i> of the authenticity of the Holy Coat." +Why <i>need</i> I be, more than I am sure that Richard III. murdered the +little princes? If I have not <i>means</i> of making up my mind one way or +the other, surely my most logical course is "<i>not</i> to be sure." He +continues, "Dr. Newman 'does not see <i>why it may not have been</i> what +it professes to be.'" Well, is not that just what this writer would +say of a great number of the facts recorded in secular history? is it +not what he would be obliged to say of much that is told us about the +armour and other antiquities in the Tower of London? To this I +alluded in the passage from which he quotes; but he has <i>garbled</i> +that passage, and I must show it. He quotes me to this effect: "Is +the Tower of London shut against sight-seers because the coats of +mail or pikes there may have half-legendary tales connected with +them? why then may not the country people come up in joyous +companies, singing and piping, to <i>see</i> the holy coat at Treves?" On +this he remarks, "To <i>see</i>, forsooth! to <i>worship</i>, Dr. Newman would +have said, had he known (as I take for granted he does not) the facts +of that imposture." Here, if I understand him, he implies that the +people came up, not only to see, but to worship, and that I have +slurred over the fact that their coming was an act of religious +homage, that is, what <i>he</i> would call "worship." Now, will it be +believed that, so far from concealing this, I had carefully stated it +in the sentence immediately preceding, and <i>he suppresses it</i>? I say, +"The world pays civil honour to it [a jewel said to be Alfred's] on +the probability; we pay <i>religious honour</i> to relics, if so be, on +the probability. Is the Tower of London," I proceed, "shut," etc. +Blot <i>twenty-eight</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">These words of mine, however, are but one sentence in a long +argument, conveying the Catholic view on the subject of +ecclesiastical miracles; and, as it is carefully worked out, and very +much to the present point, and will save me doing over again what I +could not do better or more fully now, if I set about it, I shall +make a very long extract from the Lecture in which it occurs, and so +bring this Head to an end.</p> + +<p>The argument, I should first observe, which is worked out, is this, +that Catholics set out with a definite religious tenet as a first +principle, and Protestants with a contrary one, and that on this +account it comes to pass that miracles are credible to Catholics and +incredible to Protestants.</p> + +<p>"We affirm that the Supreme Being has wrought miracles on earth ever +since the time of the Apostles; Protestants deny it. Why do we +affirm, why do they deny? We affirm it on a first principle, they +deny it on a first principle; and on either side the first principle +is made to be decisive of the question ... Both they and we start +with the miracles of the Apostles; and then their first principle or +presumption against our miracles is this, 'What God did once, He is +<i>not</i> likely to do again;' while our first principle or presumption +for our miracles is this; 'What God did once, He <i>is</i> likely to do +again.' They say, It cannot be supposed He will work <i>many</i> miracles; +we, It cannot be supposed He will work <i>few</i>.</p> + +<p>"The Protestant, I say, laughs at the very idea of miracles or +supernatural powers as occurring at this day; his first principle is +rooted in him; he repels from him the idea of miracles; he laughs at +the notion of evidence; one is just as likely as another; they are +all false. Why? because of his first principle, There are no miracles +since the Apostles. Here, indeed, is a short and easy way of getting +rid of the whole subject, not by reason, but by a first principle +which he calls reason. Yes, it <i>is</i> reason, granting his first +principle is true; it is not reason, supposing his first principle is +false.</p> + +<p>"There is in the Church a vast tradition and testimony about +miracles; how is it to be accounted for? If miracles <i>can</i> take +place, then the <i>fact</i> of the miracle will be a natural explanation +of the <i>report</i>, just as the fact of a man dying accounts +satisfactorily for the news that he is dead; but the Protestant +cannot so explain it, because he thinks miracles cannot take place; +so he is necessarily driven, by way of accounting for the report of +them, to impute that report to fraud. He cannot help himself. I +repeat it; the whole mass of accusations which Protestants bring +against us under this head, Catholic credulity, imposture, pious +frauds, hypocrisy, priestcraft, this vast and varied superstructure +of imputation, you see, all rests on an assumption, on an opinion of +theirs, for which they offer no kind of proof. What then, in fact, do +they say more than this, <i>If</i> Protestantism be true, you Catholics +are a most awful set of knaves? Here, at least, is a most sensible +and undeniable position.</p> + +<p>"Now, on the other hand, let me take our own side of the question, +and consider how we ourselves stand relatively to the charge made +against us. Catholics, then, hold the mystery of the Incarnation; +and the Incarnation is the most stupendous event which ever can take +place on earth; and after it and henceforth, I do not see how we +can scruple at any miracle on the mere ground of its being unlikely +to happen.... When we start with assuming that miracles are not +unlikely, we are putting forth a position which lies embedded, as it +were, and involved in the great revealed fact of the Incarnation. So +much is plain on starting; but more is plain too. Miracles are not +only not unlikely, but they are positively likely; and for this +simple reason, because for the most part, when God begins, He goes +on. We conceive, that when He first did a miracle, He began a series; +what He commenced, He continued: what has been, will be. Surely this +is good and clear reasoning. To my own mind, certainly, it is +incomparably more difficult to believe that the Divine Being should +do one miracle and no more, than that He should do a thousand; that +He should do one great miracle only, than that He should do a +multitude of lesser besides.... If the Divine Being does a thing +once, He is, judging by human reason, likely to do it again. This +surely is common sense. If a beggar gets food at a gentleman's house +once, does he not send others thither after him? If you are attacked +by thieves once, do you forthwith leave your windows open at night? +... Nay, suppose you yourselves were once to see a miracle, would you +not feel the occurrence to be like passing a line? would you, in +consequence of it, declare, 'I never will believe another if I hear +of one?' would it not, on the contrary, predispose you to listen to a +new report? ...</p> + +<p>"When I hear the report of a miracle, my first feeling would be of +the same kind as if it were a report of any natural exploit or event. +Supposing, for instance, I heard a report of the death of some public +man; it would not startle me, even if I did not at once credit it, +for all men must die. Did I read of any great feat of valour, I +should believe it, if imputed to Alexander or Cœur de Lion. Did +I hear of any act of baseness, I should disbelieve it, if imputed to +a friend whom I knew and loved. And so in like manner were a miracle +reported to me as wrought by a Member of Parliament, or a Bishop of +the Establishment, or a Wesleyan preacher, I should repudiate the +notion: were it referred to a saint, or the relic of a saint, or the +intercession of a saint, I should not be startled at it, though I +might not at once believe it. And I certainly should be right in +this conduct, supposing my First Principle be true. Miracles to +the Catholic are historical facts, and nothing short of this; and +they are to be regarded and dealt with as other facts; and as +natural facts, under circumstances, do not startle Protestants, so +supernatural, under circumstances, do not startle the Catholic. They +may or may not have taken place in particular cases; he may be unable +to determine which, he may have no distinct evidence; he may suspend +his judgment, but he will say 'It is very possible;' he never will +say 'I cannot believe it.'</p> + +<p>"Take the history of Alfred; you know his wise, mild, beneficent, yet +daring character, and his romantic vicissitudes of fortune. This +great king has a number of stories, or, as you may call them, legends +told of him. Do you believe them all? no. Do you, on the other hand, +think them incredible? no. Do you call a man a dupe or a block-head +for believing them? no. Do you call an author a knave or a cheat who +records them? no. You go into neither extreme, whether of implicit +faith or of violent reprobation. You are not so extravagant; you see +that they suit his character, they may have happened: yet this is +so romantic, that has so little evidence, a third is so confused in +dates or in geography, that you are in matter of fact indisposed +towards them. Others are probably true, others certainly. Nor do you +force every one to take your view of particular stories; you and your +neighbour think differently about this or that in detail, and agree +to differ. There is in the museum at Oxford, a jewel or trinket said +to be Alfred's; it is shown to all comers; I never heard the keeper +of the museum accused of hypocrisy or fraud for showing, with +Alfred's name appended, what he might or might not himself believe to +have belonged to that great king; nor did I ever see any party of +strangers who were looking at it with awe, regarded by any +self-complacent bystander with scornful compassion. Yet the curiosity +is not to a certainty Alfred's. The world pays civil honour to it on +the probability; we pay religious honour to relics, if so be, on the +probability. Is the Tower of London shut against sight-seers, because +the coats of mail and pikes there may have half-legendary tales +connected with them? why then may not the country people come up in +joyous companies, singing and piping, to see the Holy Coat at Trèves? +There is our Queen again, who is so truly and justly popular; she +roves about in the midst of tradition and romance; she scatters myths +and legends from her as she goes along; she is a being of poetry, and +you might fairly be sceptical whether she had any personal existence. +She is always at some beautiful, noble, bounteous work or other, if +you trust the papers. She is doing alms-deeds in the Highlands; she +meets beggars in her rides at Windsor; she writes verses in albums, +or draws sketches, or is mistaken for the house-keeper by some +blind old woman, or she runs up a hill as if she were a child. Who +finds fault with these things? he would be a cynic, he would be +white-livered, and would have gall for blood, who was not struck with +this graceful, touching evidence of the love her subjects bear her. +Who could have the head, even if he had the heart, who could be so +cross and peevish, who could be so solemn and perverse, as to say +that some of these stories <i>may</i> be simple lies, and all of them +might have stronger evidence than they carry with them? Do you think +she is displeased at them? Why then should He, the Great Father, who +once walked the earth, look sternly on the unavoidable mistakes of +His own subjects and children in their devotion to Him and His? Even +granting they mistake some cases in particular, from the infirmity of +human nature and the contingencies of evidence, and fancy there is or +has been a miracle here and there when there is not, though a +tradition, attached to a picture, or to a shrine, or a well, be very +doubtful, though one relic be sometimes mistaken for another, and St. +Theodore stands for St. Eugenius or St. Agathocles, still, once take +into account our First Principle, that He is likely to continue +miracles among us, which is as good as the Protestant's, and I do not +see why He should feel much displeasure with us on account of this, +or should cease to work wonders in our behalf. In the Protestant's +view, indeed, who assumes that miracles never are, our thaumatology +is one great falsehood; but that is <i>his</i> First Principle, as I have +said so often, which he does not prove but assume. If <i>he</i>, indeed, +upheld <i>our</i> system, or <i>we</i> held <i>his</i> principle, in either case he +or we should be impostors; but though we should be partners to a +fraud if we thought like Protestants, we surely are not if we think +like Catholics.</p> + +<p>"Such then is the answer I make to those who would urge against us +the multitude of miracles recorded in our Saints' Lives and +devotional works, for many of which there is little evidence, and +for some next to none. We think them true in the same sense in which +Protestants think the history of England true. When they say <i>that</i>, +they do not mean to say that there are no mistakes, but no mistakes +of consequence, none which alter the general course of history. Nor +do they mean they are equally sure of every part; for evidence is +fuller and better for some things than for others. They do not stake +their credit on the truth of Froissart or Sully, they do not pledge +themselves for the accuracy of Doddington or Walpole, they do not +embrace as an Evangelist Hume, Sharon Turner, or Macaulay. And yet +they do not think it necessary, on the other hand, to commence a +religious war against all our historical catechisms, and abstracts, +and dictionaries, and tales, and biographies, through the country; +they have no call on them to amend and expurgate books of archæology, +antiquities, heraldry, architecture, geography, and statistics, to +re-write our inscriptions, and to establish a censorship on all new +publications for the time to come. And so as regards the miracles of +the Catholic Church; if, indeed, miracles never can occur, then, +indeed, impute the narratives to fraud; but till you prove they are +not likely, we shall consider the histories which have come down +to us true on the whole, though in particular cases they may be +exaggerated or unfounded. Where, indeed, they can certainly be proved +to be false, there we shall be bound to do our best to get rid of +them; but till that is clear, we shall be liberal enough to allow +others to use their private judgment in their favour, as we use ours +in their disparagement. For myself, lest I appear in any way to be +shrinking from a determinate judgment on the claims of some of those +miracles and relics, which Protestants are so startled at, and to be +hiding particular questions in what is vague and general, I will avow +distinctly, that, <i>putting out of the question</i> the <i>hypothesis of +unknown laws of nature</i> (which is an evasion from the force of any +proof), I think it impossible to <i>withstand the evidence</i> which is +brought for the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius at Naples, +and for the motion of the eyes of the pictures of the Madonna in the +Roman States. I <i>see no reason to doubt</i> the material of the Lombard +crown at Monza; and I <i>do not see why</i> the Holy Coat at Trèves may +not have been what it professes to be. I <i>firmly believe</i> that +portions of the True Cross are at Rome and elsewhere, that the Crib +of Bethlehem is at Rome, and the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul +also.... Many men when they hear an educated man so speak, will at +once impute the avowal to insanity, or to an idiosyncrasy, or to +imbecility of mind, or to decrepitude of powers, or to fanaticism, or +to hypocrisy. They have a right to say so, if they will; and we have +a right to ask them why they do not say it of those who bow down +before the Mystery of mysteries, the Divine Incarnation?"</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In my Essay on Miracles of the year 1826, I proposed three questions +about a professed miraculous occurrence, 1. is it antecedently +<i>probable</i>? 2. is it in its <i>nature</i> certainly miraculous? 3. has it +sufficient <i>evidence</i>? These are the three heads under which I still +wish to conduct the inquiry into the miracles of ecclesiastical +history.</p> + +<h4>6. Popular Religion</h4> + +<p>This writer uses much rhetoric against a lecture of mine, in which I +bring out, as honestly as I can, the state of countries which have +long received the Catholic Faith, and hold it by the force of +tradition, universal custom, and legal establishment; a lecture in +which I give pictures, drawn principally from the middle ages, of +what, considering the corruption of the human race generally, that +state is sure to be—pictures of its special sins and offences, <i>sui +generis</i>, which are the result of that faith when it is separated +from love or charity, or of what Scripture calls a "dead faith," of +the light shining in darkness, and the truth held in unrighteousness. +The nearest approach which this writer is able to make towards +stating what I have said in this lecture, is to state the very +reverse. Observe: we have already had some instances of the haziness +of his ideas concerning the "Notes of the Church." These notes are, +as any one knows who has looked into the subject, certain great and +simple characteristics, which He who founded the Church has stamped +upon her in order to draw both the reason and the imagination of men +to her, as being really a divine work, and a religion distinct from +all other religious communities; the principal of these notes being +that she is Holy, One, Catholic, and Apostolic, as the Creed says. +Now, to use his own word, he has the incredible "audacity" to say, +that I have declared, not the divine characteristics of the Church, +but the sins and scandals in her, to be her Notes—as if I made God +the author of evil. He says distinctly, "Dr. Newman, with a kind of +desperate audacity, <i>will</i> dig forth such <i>scandals</i> as <i>Notes</i> of +the Catholic Church." This is what I get at his hands for my honesty. +Blot <i>twenty-nine</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Again, he says, "[Dr. Newman uses] the blasphemy and profanity which +he confesses to be so common in Catholic countries, as an argument +<i>for</i>, and not <i>against</i> the 'Catholic Faith.'"—p. 34. That is, +because I admit that profaneness exists in the Church, therefore I +consider it a token of the Church. Yes, certainly, just as our +national form of cursing is an evidence of the being of a God, and as +a gallows is the glorious sign of a civilised country,—but in no +other way. Blot <i>thirty</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">What is it that I really say? I say as follows: Protestants object +that the communion of Rome does not fulfil satisfactorily the +expectation which we may justly form concerning the true Church, as +it is delineated in the four notes, enumerated in the Creed; and +among others, <i>e.g.</i> in the note of sanctity; and they point, in +proof of what they assert, to the state of Catholic countries. Now, +in answer to this objection, it is plain what I might have done, if I +had not had a conscience. I might have denied the fact. I might have +said, for instance, that the middle ages were as virtuous, as they +were believing. I might have denied that there was any violence, any +superstition, any immorality, any blasphemy during them. And so as to +the state of countries which have long had the light of Catholic +truth, and have degenerated. I might have admitted nothing against +them, and explained away everything which plausibly told to their +disadvantage. I did nothing of the kind; and what effect has this had +upon this estimable critic? "Dr. Newman takes a seeming pleasure," he +says, "in detailing instances of dishonesty on the part of +Catholics."—p. 34. Blot <i>thirty-one</i>. Any one who knows me well, +would testify that my "seeming pleasure," as he calls it, at such +things, is just the impatient sensitiveness, which relieves itself by +means of a definite delineation of what is so hateful to it.</p> + +<p>However, to pass on. All the miserable scandals of Catholic +countries, taken at the worst, are, as I view the matter, no argument +against the Church itself; and the reason which I give in the lecture +is, that, according to the proverb, Corruptio optimi est pessima. The +Jews could sin in a way no other contemporary race could sin, for +theirs was a sin against light; and Catholics can sin with a depth +and intensity with which Protestants cannot sin. There will be more +blasphemy, more hatred of God, more of diabolical rebellion, more of +awful sacrilege, more of vile hypocrisy in a Catholic country than +anywhere else, because there is in it more of sin against light. +Surely, this is just what Scripture says, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! +woe unto thee, Bethsaida!" And, again, surely what is told us by +religious men, say by Father Bresciani, about the present unbelieving +party in Italy, fully bears out the divine text: "If, after they have +escaped the pollutions of the world ... they are again entangled +therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the +beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way +of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the +holy commandments delivered unto them."</p> + +<p>And what is true of those who thus openly oppose themselves to the +truth, as it was true of the Evil One in the beginning, will in an +analogous way be true in the case of all sin, be it of a heavier or +lighter character, which is found in a Catholic country:—sin will be +strangely tinged or dyed by religious associations or beliefs, and +will exhibit the tragical inconsistencies of the excess of knowledge +over love, or of much faith with little obedience. The mysterious +battle between good and evil will assume in a Catholic country its +most frightful shape, when it is not the collision of two distinct +and far-separated hosts, but when it is carried on in hearts +and souls, taken one by one, and when the eternal foes are so +intermingled and interfused that to human eyes they seem to coalesce +into a multitude of individualities. This is in course of years, the +real, the hidden condition of a nation, which has been bathed in +Christian ideas, whether it be a young vigorous race, or an old and +degenerate; and it will manifest itself socially and historically +in those characteristics, sometimes grotesque, sometimes hideous, +sometimes despicable, of which we have so many instances, medieval +and modern, both in this hemisphere and in the western. It is, I say, +the necessary result of the intercommunion of divine faith and human +corruption.</p> + +<p>But it has a light side as well as a dark. First, much which seems +profane, is not in itself profane, but in the subjective view of the +Protestant beholder. Scenic representations of our Lord's Passion are +not profane to a Catholic population; in like manner, there are +usages, customs, institutions, actions, often of an indifferent +nature, which will be necessarily mixed up with religion in a +Catholic country, because all things whatever are so mixed up. +Protestants have been sometimes shocked, most absurdly as a Catholic +rightly decides, at hearing that Mass is sometimes said for a good +haul of fish. There is no sin here, but only a difference from +Protestant customs. Other phenomena of a Catholic nation are at most +mere extravagances. And then as to what is really sinful, if there be +in it fearful instances of blasphemy or superstition, there are also +special and singular fruits and exhibitions of sanctity; and, if +the many do not seem to lead better lives for all their religious +knowledge, at least they learn, as they can learn nowhere else, how +to repent thoroughly and to die well.</p> + +<p>The visible state of a country, which professes Catholicism, need not +be the measure of the spiritual result of that Catholicism, at the +eternal judgment seat; but no one could say that that visible state +was a note that Catholicism was divine.</p> + +<p>All this I attempted to bring out in the lecture of which I am +speaking; and that I had some success, I am glad to infer from the +message of congratulation upon it, which I received at the time, from +a foreign Catholic layman, of high English reputation, with whom I +had not the honour of a personal acquaintance. And having given the +key to the lecture, which the writer so wonderfully misrepresents, +I pass on to another head.</p> + +<h4>7. The Economy</h4> + +<p>For the subject of the Economy, I shall refer to my discussion upon +it in my History of the Arians, after one word about this writer. He +puts into his title-page these words from a sermon of mine: "It is +not more than an hyperbole to say, that, in certain cases, a lie is +the nearest approach to truth." This sermon he attacks; but I do not +think it necessary to defend it here, because any one who reads it, +will see that he is simply incapable of forming a notion of what it +is about. It treats of subjects which are entirely out of his depth; +and, as I have already shown in other instances, and observed in the +beginning of this volume, he illustrates in his own person the very +thing that shocks him, viz. that the nearest approach to truth, in +given cases, is a lie. He does his best to make something of it, I +believe; but he gets simply perplexed. He finds that it annihilates +space, robs him of locomotion, almost scoffs at the existence of the +earth, and he is simply frightened and cowed. He can but say "the man +who wrote that sermon was already past the possibility of conscious +dishonesty," p. 41. Perhaps it is hardly fair, after such a +confession on his part of being fairly beat, to mark down a blot; +however, let it be Blot <i>thirty-two</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Then again, he quotes from me thus: "Many a theory or view of things, +on which an institution is founded, or a party held together, is of +the same kind (economical). Many an argument, used by zealous and +earnest men, has this economical character, being not the very ground +on which they act (for they continue in the same course, though it be +refuted), yet in a certain sense, a representation of it, a proximate +description of their feelings, in the shape of argument, on which +they can rest, to which they can recur when perplexed, and appeal +when they are questioned." He calls these "startling words," p. 39. +Yet here again he illustrates their truth; for in his own case, he +has acted on them in this very controversy with the most happy +exactness. Surely he referred to my sermon on Wisdom and Innocence, +when called on to prove me a liar, as "a proximate description of his +feelings about me, in the shape of argument," and he has "continued +in the same course though it has been refuted." Blot <i>thirty-three</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Then, as to "a party being held together by a mythical +representation," or economy. Surely "Church and King," "Reform," +"Non-intervention," are such symbols; or let this writer answer Mr. +Kinglake's question in his "Crimean War," "Is it true that ... great +armies were gathering, and that for the sake of the <i>Key</i> and the +<i>Star</i> the peace of the nations was brought into danger?" Blot +<i>thirty-four</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">In the beginning of this work, pp. 17-23, I refuted his gratuitous +accusation against me at p. 42, founded on my calling one of my +Anglican sermons a Protestant one: so I have nothing to do but to +register it here as Blot <i>thirty-five</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Then he says that I committed an economy in placing in my original +title-page, that the question between him and me, was whether "Dr. +Newman teaches that Truth is no virtue." It was a "wisdom of the +serpentine type," since I did not add, "for its own sake." Now +observe: First, as to the matter of fact, in the course of my +Letters, which bore that title-page, I printed the words "for its own +sake," <i>five</i> times over. Next, pray, what kind of a virtue is that, +which is <i>not</i> done for its own sake? So this, after all, is this +writer's idea of virtue! a something that is done for the sake of +something <i>else</i>; a sort of expedience! He is honest, it seems, +simply <i>because</i> honesty is "the best policy," and on that score it +is that he thinks himself virtuous. Why, "for its own sake" enters +into the very idea or definition of a virtue. Defend me from such +virtuous men, as this writer would inflict upon us! Blot +<i>thirty-six</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">These blots are enough just now; so I proceed to a brief sketch of +what I held in 1833 upon the Economy, as a rule of practice. I wrote +this two months ago; perhaps the composition is not quite in keeping +with the run of this Appendix; and it is short; but I think it will +be sufficient for my purpose:—</p> + +<p>The doctrine of the <i>Economia</i>, had, as I have shown, pp. 49-51, a +large signification when applied to the divine ordinances; it also +had a definite application to the duties of Christians, whether +clergy or laity, in preaching, in instructing or catechizing, or in +ordinary intercourse with the world around them.</p> + +<p>As Almighty God did not all at once introduce the Gospel to the +world, and thereby gradually prepared men for its profitable +reception, so, according to the doctrine of the early Church, it was +a duty, for the sake of the heathen among whom they lived, to observe +a great reserve and caution in communicating to them the knowledge of +"the whole counsel of God." This cautious dispensation of the truth, +after the manner of a discreet and vigilant steward, is denoted by +the word "economy." It is a mode of acting which comes under the head +of prudence, one of the four cardinal virtues.</p> + +<p>The principle of the economy is this; that out of various courses, in +religious conduct or statement, all and each <i>allowable antecedently +and in themselves</i>, that ought to be taken which is most expedient +and most suitable at the time for the object in hand.</p> + +<p>Instances of its application and exercise in Scripture are such as +the following:—1. Divine Providence did but gradually impart to the +world in general, and to the Jews in particular, the knowledge of His +will:—He is said to have "winked at the times of ignorance among the +heathen;" and He suffered in the Jews divorce "because of the +hardness of their hearts." 2. He has allowed Himself to be +represented as having eyes, ears, and hands, as having wrath, +jealousy, grief, and repentance. 3. In like manner, our Lord spoke +harshly to the Syro-Phœnician woman, whose daughter He was about +to heal, and made as if He would go further, when the two disciples +had come to their journey's end. 4. Thus too Joseph "made himself +strange to his brethren," and Elisha kept silence on request of +Naaman to bow in the house of Rimmon. 5. Thus St. Paul circumcised +Timothy, while he cried out "Circumcision availeth not."</p> + +<p>It may be said that this principle, true in itself, yet is dangerous, +because it admits of an easy abuse, and carries men away into what +becomes insincerity and cunning. This is undeniable; to do evil that +good may come, to consider that the means, whatever they are, justify +the end, to sacrifice truth to expedience, unscrupulousness, +recklessness, are grave offences. These are abuses of the economy. +But to call them <i>economical</i> is to give a fine name to what occurs +every day, independent of any knowledge of the <i>doctrine</i> of the +Economy. It is the abuse of a rule which nature suggests to every +one. Every one looks out for the "mollia tempora fandi," and "mollia +verba" too.</p> + +<p>Having thus explained what is meant by the economy as a rule of +social intercourse between men of different religious, or, again, +political, or social views, next I go on to state what I said in the +Arians.</p> + +<p>I say in that volume first, that our Lord has given us the +<i>principle</i> in His own words—"Cast not your pearls before swine;" +and that He exemplified it in His teaching by parables; that St. Paul +expressly distinguishes between the milk which is necessary to one +set of men, and the strong meat which is allowed to others, and that, +in two Epistles. I say, that the apostles in the Acts observe the +same rule in their speeches, for it is a fact, that they do not +preach the high doctrines of Christianity, but only "Jesus and the +resurrection" or "repentance and faith." I also say, that this is +the very reason that the Fathers assign for the silence of various +writers in the first centuries on the subject of our Lord's divinity. +I also speak of the catechetical system practised in the early +Church, and the <i>disciplina arcani</i> as regards the doctrine of the +Holy Trinity, to which Bingham bears witness; also of the defence of +this rule by Basil, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrysostom, and Theodoret.</p> + +<p>And next the question may be asked, whether I have said anything in +my volume <i>to guard</i> the doctrine, thus laid down, from the abuse to +which it is obviously exposed: and my answer is easy. Of course, had +I had any idea that I should have been exposed to such hostile +misrepresentations, as it has been my lot to undergo on the subject, +I should have made more direct avowals than I have done of my sense +of the gravity and the danger of that abuse. Since I could not +foresee when I wrote, that I should have been wantonly slandered, I +only wonder that I have anticipated the charge as fully as will be +seen in the following extracts.</p> + +<p>For instance, speaking of the Disciplina Arcani, I say:—(1) "The +elementary information given to the heathen or catechumen was <i>in no +sense undone</i> by the subsequent secret teaching, which was in fact +but the <i>filling up of a bare but correct outline</i>," p. 58, and I +contrast this with the conduct of the Manichæans "who represented the +initiatory discipline as founded on a <i>fiction</i> or hypothesis, which +was to be forgotten by the learner as he made progress in the <i>real</i> +doctrine of the Gospel." (2) As to allegorising, I say that the +Alexandrians erred, whenever and as far as they proceeded "to +<i>obscure</i> the primary meaning of Scripture, and to <i>weaken the force +of historical facts</i> and express declarations," p. 69. (3) And that +they were "more open to <i>censure</i>," when, on being "<i>urged by +objections</i> to various passages in the history of the Old Testament, +as derogatory to the divine perfections or to the Jewish Saints, they +had <i>recourse to an allegorical explanation by way of answer</i>," p. +71. (4) I add, "<i>It is impossible to defend such a procedure</i>, which +seems to imply a <i>want of faith</i> in those who had recourse to it;" +for "God has given us <i>rules of right and wrong</i>," <i>ibid</i>. (5) Again, +I say—"The <i>abuse of the Economy</i> in <i>the hands of unscrupulous +reasoners</i>, is obvious. <i>Even the honest</i> controversialist or teacher +will find it very difficult to represent, <i>without misrepresenting</i>, +what it is yet his duty to present to his hearers with caution or +reserve. Here the obvious rule to guide our practice is, to be +careful ever to maintain <i>substantial truth</i> in our use of the +economical method," pp. 79, 80. (6) And so far from concurring at all +hazards with Justin, Gregory, or Athanasius, I say, "It <i>is plain</i> +[they] <i>were justified or not</i> in their Economy, <i>according</i> as they +did or did not <i>practically mislead their opponents</i>," p. 80. (7) I +proceed, "It is so difficult to hit the mark in these perplexing +cases, that it is not wonderful, should these or other Fathers have +failed at times, and said more or less than was proper," <i>ibid</i>.</p> + +<p>The principle of the economy is familiarly acted on among us every +day. When we would persuade others, we do not begin by treading on +their toes. Men would be thought rude who introduced their own +religious notions into mixed society, and were devotional in a +drawing-room. Have we never thought lawyers tiresome who came down +for the assizes and talked law all through dinner? Does the same +argument tell in the House of Commons, on the hustings, and at Exeter +Hall? Is an educated gentleman never worsted at an election by the +tone and arguments of some clever fellow, who, whatever his +shortcomings in other respects, understands the common people?</p> + +<p class="extraspace">As to the Catholic religion in England at the present day, this only +will I observe—that the truest expedience is to answer right out, +when you are asked; that the wisest economy is to have no management; +that the best prudence is not to be a coward; that the most damaging +folly is to be found out shuffling; and that the first of virtues is +to "tell truth, and shame the devil."</p> + +<h4>8. Lying and Equivocation</h4> + +<p>This writer says, "Though [a lie] be a sin, the fact of its being a +venial one seems to have gained for it as yet a very slight +penance."—p. 46. Yet he says also that Dr. Newman takes "a perverse +pleasure in eccentricities," because I say that "it is better for sun +and moon to drop from heaven than that one soul should tell one +wilful untruth."—p. 30. That is, he first accuses us without +foundation of making light of a lie; and, when he finds that we +don't, then he calls us inconsistent. I have noticed these words of +mine, and two passages besides, which he quotes, above at pp. +222-224. Here I will but observe on the subject of venial sin +generally, that he altogether forgets our doctrine of purgatory. This +punishment may last till the day of judgment; so much for duration; +then as to intensity, let the image of fire, by which we denote it, +show what we think of it. Here is the expiation of venial sins. Yet +Protestants, after the manner of this writer, are too apt to play +fast and loose; to blame us because we hold that sin may be venial, +and to blame us again when we tell them what we think will be its +punishment. Blot <i>thirty-seven</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">At the end of his pamphlet he makes a distinction between the +Catholic clergy and gentry in England, which I know the latter +consider to be very impertinent; and he makes it apropos of a passage +in one of my original letters in January. He quotes me as saying that +"Catholics differ from Protestants, as to whether this or that act in +particular is conformable to the rule of truth," p. 48; and then he +goes on to observe, that I have "calumniated the Catholic gentry," +because "there is no difference whatever, of detail or other, between +their truthfulness and honour, and the truthfulness and honour of the +Protestant gentry among whom they live." But again he has garbled my +words; they run thus:</p> + +<p>"Truth is the same in itself and in substance, to Catholic and +Protestant; so is purity; both virtues are to be referred to that +moral sense which is the natural possession of us all. But, when we +come to the question in detail, whether this or that act in +particular is conformable to the rule of truth, or again to the rule +of purity, then <i>sometimes</i> there is a difference of opinion <i>between +individuals, sometimes</i> between schools, and <i>sometimes</i> between +religious communions." I knew indeed perfectly well, and I confessed +that "<i>Protestants</i> think that the Catholic system, as such, leads to +a lax observance of the rule of truth;" but I added, "I am very sorry +that they should think so," and I never meant myself to grant that +all Protestants were on the strict side, and all Catholics on the +lax. Far from it; there is a stricter party as well as a laxer party +among Catholics, there is a laxer party as well as a stricter party +among Protestants. I have already spoken of Protestant writers who in +certain cases allow of lying, I have also spoken of Catholic writers +who do not allow of equivocation; when I wrote "a difference of +opinion between individuals," and "between schools," I meant between +Protestant and Protestant, and particular instances were in my mind. +I did not say then, or dream of saying, that Catholics, priests and +laity, were lax on the point of lying, and that Protestants were +strict, any more than I meant to say that all Catholics were pure, +and all Protestants impure; but I meant to say that, whereas the rule +of truth is one and the same both to Catholic and Protestant, +nevertheless some Catholics were lax, some strict, and again some +Protestants were strict, some lax; and I have already had +opportunities of recording my own judgment on which side this writer +is <i>himself</i>, and therefore he may keep his forward vindication of +"honest gentlemen and noble ladies," who, in spite of their priests, +are still so truthful, till such time as he can find a worse +assailant of them than I am, and they no better champion of them than +himself. And as to the Priests of England, those who know them, as he +does <i>not</i>, will pronounce them no whit inferior in this great virtue +to the gentry, whom he says that he <i>does</i>; and I cannot say more. +Blot <i>thirty-eight</i>.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Lastly, this writer uses the following words, which I have more than +once quoted, and with a reference to them I shall end my remarks upon +him. "I am henceforth," he says, "in doubt and fear, as much as <i>an +honest man can be</i>, concerning every word Dr. Newman may write. How +can I tell that I shall not be the dupe of some cunning equivocation, +of one of the three kinds, laid down as permissible by the blessed +St. Alfonso da Liguori and his pupils, even when confirmed with an +oath...?"</p> + +<p>I will tell him why he need not fear; because he has <i>left out</i> one +very important condition in the statement of St. Alfonso—and very +applicable to my own case, even if I followed St. Alfonso's view of +the subject. St. Alfonso says "<i>ex justâ causâ</i>;" but our "honest +man," as he styles himself, has <i>omitted these words</i>; which are a +key to the whole question. Blot <i>thirty-nine</i>. Here endeth our +"honest man." Now for the subject of lying.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">Almost all authors, Catholic and Protestant, admit, that <i>when a just +cause is present</i>, there is some kind or other of verbal misleading, +which is not sin. Even silence is in certain cases virtually such a +misleading, according to the proverb, "Silence gives consent." Again, +silence is absolutely forbidden to a Catholic, as a mortal sin, under +certain circumstances, <i>e.g.</i> to keep silence, instead of making a +profession of faith.</p> + +<p>Another mode of verbal misleading, and the most direct, is actually +saying the thing that is not; and it is defended on the principle +that such words are not a lie, when there is a "justa causa," as +killing is not murder in the case of an executioner.</p> + +<p>Another ground of certain authors for saying that an untruth is not a +lie where there is a just cause, is, that veracity is a kind of +justice, and therefore, when we have no duty of justice to tell truth +to another, it is no sin not to do so. Hence we may say the thing +that is not, to children, to madmen, to men who ask impertinent +questions, to those whom we hope to benefit by misleading.</p> + +<p>Another ground, taken in defending certain untruths, <i>ex justâ +causâ</i>, as if not lies, is that veracity is for the sake of society, +and, if in no case we might lawfully mislead others, we should +actually be doing society great harm.</p> + +<p>Another mode of verbal misleading is equivocation or a play upon +words; and it is defended on the view that to lie is to use words in +a sense which they will not bear. But an equivocator uses them in a +received sense, though there is another received sense, and +therefore, according to this definition, he does not lie.</p> + +<p>Others say that all equivocations are, after all, a kind of lying, +faint lies or awkward lies, but still lies; and some of these +disputants infer, that therefore we must not equivocate, and others +that equivocation is but a half measure, and that it is better to say +at once that in certain cases untruths are not lies.</p> + +<p>Others will try to distinguish between evasions and equivocations; +but they will be answered, that, though there are evasions which are +clearly not equivocations, yet that it is difficult scientifically to +draw the line between them.</p> + +<p>To these must be added the unscientific way of dealing with lies, +viz. that on a great or cruel occasion a man cannot help telling a +lie, and he would not be a man, did he not tell it, but still it is +wrong and he ought not to do it, and he must trust that the sin will +be forgiven him, though he goes about to commit it. It is a frailty, +and had better not be anticipated, and not thought of again, after +it is once over. This view cannot for a moment be defended, but, I +suppose, it is very common.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">And now I think the historical course of thought upon the matter has +been this: the Greek Fathers thought that, when there was a <i>justa +causa</i>, an untruth need not be a lie. St. Augustine took another +view, though with great misgiving; and, whether he is rightly +interpreted or not, is the doctor of the great and common view that +all untruths are lies, and that there can be <i>no</i> just cause of +untruth. In these later times, this doctrine has been found difficult +to work, and it has been largely taught that, though all untruths are +lies, yet that certain equivocations, when there is a just cause, are +not untruths.</p> + +<p>Further, there have been and all along through these later ages, +other schools, running parallel with the above mentioned, one of +which says that equivocations, etc. after all <i>are</i> lies, and another +which says that there are untruths which are not lies.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">And now as to the "just cause," which is the condition, <i>sine quâ +non</i>. The Greek Fathers make them such as these, self-defence, +charity, zeal for God's honour, and the like.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine seems to deal with the same "just causes" as the Greek +Fathers, even though he does not allow of their availableness as +depriving untruths, spoken with such objects, of their sinfulness. He +mentions defence of life and of honour, and the safe custody of a +secret. Also the Anglican writers, who have followed the Greek +Fathers, in defending untruths when there is the "just cause," +consider that just cause to be such as the preservation of life and +property, defence of law, the good of others. Moreover, their moral +rights, <i>e.g.</i> defence against the inquisitive, etc.</p> + +<p>St. Alfonso, I consider, would take the same view of the "justa +causa" as the Anglican divines; he speaks of it as "quicunque finis +<i>honestus</i>, ad servanda bona spiritui vel corpori utilia;" which is +very much the view which they take of it, judging by the instances +which they give.</p> + +<p>In all cases, however, and as contemplated by all authors, Clement of +Alexandria, or Milton, or St. Alfonso, such a causa is, in fact, +extreme, rare, great, or at least special. Thus the writer in the +Mélanges Théologiques (Liège, 1852-3, p. 453) quotes Lessius: +"Si absque justa causa fiat, est abusio orationis contra virtutem +veritatis, et civilem consuetudinem, etsi proprie non sit mendacium." +That is, the virtue of truth, and the civil custom, are the <i>measure</i> +of the just cause. And so Voit, "If a man has used a reservation +(restrictione non purè mentali) without a <i>grave</i> cause, he has +sinned gravely." And so the author himself, from whom I quote, +and who defends the Patristic and Anglican doctrine that there +are untruths which are not lies, says, "Under the name of mental +reservation theologians authorise many lies, <i>when there is for them +a grave reason</i> and proportionate," <i>i.e.</i> to their character—p. +459. And so St. Alfonso, in another treatise, quotes St. Thomas to +the effect, that, if from one cause two immediate effects follow, +and, if the good effect of that cause is <i>equal in value</i> to the bad +effect (bonus <i>æquivalet</i> malo), then nothing hinders that the good +may be intended and the evil permitted. From which it will follow +that, since the evil to society from lying is very great, the just +cause which is to make it allowable, must be very great also. And +so Kenrick: "It is confessed by all Catholics that, in the common +intercourse of life, all ambiguity of language is to be avoided; but +it is debated whether such ambiguity is ever lawful. Most theologians +answer in the affirmative, supposing a <i>grave cause</i> urges, and the +[true] mind of the speaker can be collected from the adjuncts, though +in fact it be not collected."</p> + +<p>However, there are cases, I have already said, of another kind, in +which Anglican authors would think a lie allowable; such as when a +question is <i>impertinent</i>. Accordingly, I think the best word for +embracing all the cases which would come under the "justa causa," is, +not "extreme," but "special," and I say the same as regards St. +Alfonso; and therefore, above in pp. 242 and 244, whether I speak of +St. Alfonso or Paley, I should have used the word "special," or +"extraordinary," not "extreme."</p> + +<p>What I have been saying shows what different schools of opinion there +are in the Church in the treatment of this difficult doctrine; and, +by consequence, that a given individual, such as I am, <i>cannot</i> agree +with all, and has a full right to follow which he will. The freedom +of the schools, indeed, is one of those rights of reason, which the +Church is too wise really to interfere with. And this applies not to +moral questions only, but to dogmatic also.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">It is supposed by Protestants that, because St. Alfonso's writings +have had such high commendation bestowed upon them by authority, +therefore they have been invested with a quasi-infallibility. This +has arisen in good measure from Protestants not knowing the force +of theological terms. The words to which they refer are the +authoritative decision that "nothing in his works has been found +<i>worthy of censure</i>," "censurâ dignum;" but this does not lead to the +conclusions which have been drawn from it. Those words occur in a +legal document, and cannot be interpreted except in a legal sense. In +the first place, the sentence is negative; nothing in St. Alfonso's +writings is positively approved; and secondly it is not said that +there are no faults in what he has written, but nothing which comes +under the ecclesiastical <i>censura</i>, which is something very definite. +To take and interpret them, in the way commonly adopted in England, +is the same mistake, as if one were to take the word "apologia" in +the English sense of apology, or "infant" in law to mean a little +child.</p> + +<p>1. Now first as to the meaning of the form of words viewed as a +proposition. When they were brought before the fitting authorities at +Rome by the Archbishop of Besançon, the answer returned to him +contained the condition that those words were to be interpreted, +"with due regard to the mind of the Holy See concerning the +approbation of writings of the servants of God, ad effectum +Canonisationis." This is intended to prevent any Catholic taking the +words about St. Alfonso's works in too large a sense. Before a saint +is canonised, his works are examined and a judgment pronounced upon +them. Pope Benedict XIV. says, "The <i>end</i> or <i>scope</i> of this judgment +is, that it may appear, whether the doctrine of the servant of God, +which he has brought out in his writings, is free from any soever +<i>theological censure</i>." And he remarks in addition, "It never can be +said that the doctrine of a servant of God is <i>approved</i> by the Holy +See, but at most it can [only] be said that it is not disapproved +(non reprobatam) in case that the revisers had reported that there is +nothing found by them in his works, which is adverse to the decrees +of Urban VIII., and that the judgment of the Revisers has been +approved by the sacred Congregation, and confirmed by the Supreme +Pontiff." The Decree of Urban VIII. here referred to is, "Let works +be examined, whether they contain errors against faith or good morals +(bonos mores), or any new doctrine, or a doctrine foreign and alien +to the common sense and custom of the Church." The author from whom I +quote this (M. Vandenbroeck, of the diocese of Malines) observes, "It +is therefore clear, that the approbation of the works of the Holy +Bishop touches not the truth of every proposition, adds nothing to +them, nor even gives them by consequence a degree of intrinsic +probability." He adds that it gives St. Alfonso's theology an +extrinsic probability, from the fact that, in the judgment of the +Holy See, no proposition deserves to receive a censure; but that +"that probability will cease nevertheless in a particular case, for +any one who should be convinced, whether by evident arguments, or by +a decree of the Holy See, or otherwise, that the doctrine of the +Saint deviates from the truth." He adds, "From the fact that the +approbation of the works of St. Alfonso does not decide the truth of +each proposition, it follows, as Benedict XIV. has remarked, that we +may combat the doctrine which they contain; only, since a canonised +saint is in question, who is honoured by a solemn <i>culte</i> in the +Church, we ought not to speak except with respect, nor to attack his +opinions except with temper and modesty."</p> + +<p>2. Then, as to the meaning of the word <i>censura</i>: Benedict XIV. +enumerates a number of "Notes" which come under that name; he says, +"Out of propositions which are to be noted with theological censure, +some are heretical, some erroneous, some close upon error, some +savouring of heresy," and so on; and each of these terms has its own +definite meaning. Thus by "erroneous" is meant, according to Viva, a +proposition which is not <i>immediately</i> opposed to a revealed +proposition, but only to a theological <i>conclusion</i> drawn from +premisses which are <i>de fide</i>; "savouring of heresy," when a +proposition is opposed to a theological conclusion not evidently +drawn from premisses which are <i>de fide</i>, but most probably and +according to the common mode of theologising, and so with the rest. +Therefore when it was said by the revisers of St. Alfonso's works +that they were not "worthy of <i>censure</i>," it was only meant that they +did not fall under these particular Notes.</p> + +<p>But the answer from Rome to the Archbishop of Besançon went further +than this; it actually took pains to declare that any one who pleased +might follow other theologians instead of St. Alfonso. After saying +that no priest was to be interfered with who followed St. Alfonso in +the Confessional, it added, "This is said, however, without on that +account judging that they are reprehended who follow opinions handed +down by other approved authors."</p> + +<p>And this too, I will observe, that St. Alfonso made many changes of +opinion himself in the course of his writings; and it could not +for an instant be supposed that we were bound to every one of his +opinions, when he did not feel himself bound to them in his own +person. And, what is more to the purpose still, there are opinions, +or some opinion, of his which actually has been proscribed by the +Church since, and cannot now be put forward or used. I do not pretend +to be a well-read theologian myself, but I say this on the authority +of a theological professor of Breda, quoted in the Mélanges Théol. +for 1850-1. He says: "It may happen, that, in the course of time, +errors may be found in the works of St. Alfonso and be proscribed by +the Church, <i>a thing which in fact has already occurred</i>."</p> + +<p>In not ranging myself then with those who consider that it is +justifiable to use words in a double sense, that is, to equivocate, I +put myself, first, under the protection of Cardinal Gerdil, who, in a +work lately published at Rome, has the following passage, which I owe +to the kindness of a friend:</p> + +<h4>Gerdil</h4> + +<p>"In an oath one ought to have respect to the intention of the party +swearing, and the intention of the party to whom the oath is taken. +Whoso swears binds himself in virtue of the words, not according to +the sense he retains in his own mind, but <i>in the sense according to +which he perceives that they are understood by him to whom the oath +is made</i>. When the mind of the one is discordant with the mind of the +other, if this happens by deceit or cheat of the party swearing, he +is bound to observe the oath according to the right sense (sana +mente) of the party receiving it; but, when the discrepancy in +the sense comes of misunderstanding, without deceit of the party +swearing, in that case he is not bound, except to that to which he +had in mind to wish to be bound. It follows hence, that <i>whoso uses +mental reservation or equivocation in the oath</i>, in order to deceive +the party to whom he offers it, <i>sins most grievously</i>, and is always +bound to observe the oath <i>in the sense in which he knew that his +words were</i> taken by the other party, according to the decision of +St. Augustine, 'They are perjured, who, having kept the words, have +deceived the expectations of those to whom the oath was taken.' He +who swears externally, without the inward intention of swearing, +commits a most grave sin, and remains all the same under the +obligation to fulfil it.... In a word, all that is contrary to good +faith, is iniquitous, and by introducing the name of God the iniquity +is aggravated by the guilt of sacrilege."</p> + +<h4>Natalis Alexander</h4> + +<p>"They certainly lie, who utter the words of an oath, and without the +will to swear or bind themselves; or who <i>make use of mental +reservations and equivocations</i> in swearing, since they signify by +words what they have not in mind, contrary to the end for which +language was instituted, viz. as signs of ideas. Or they mean +something else than the words signify in themselves, and the +common custom of speech, and the circumstances of persons and +business-matters; and thus they abuse words which were instituted for +the cherishing of society."</p> + +<h4>Contenson</h4> + +<p>"Hence is apparent how worthy of condemnation is the temerity of +those half-taught men, who give a colour to lies and <i>equivocations</i> +by the words and instances of Christ. Than whose doctrine, which is +an art of deceiving, nothing can be more pestilent. And that, both +because what you do not wish done to yourself, you should not do to +another; now the patrons of equivocations and mental reservations +would not like to be themselves deceived by others, etc.... and also +because St. Augustine, etc.... In truth, as there is no pleasant +living with those whose language we do not understand, and, as St. +Augustine teaches, a man would more readily live with his dog than +with a foreigner, less pleasant certainly is our converse with those +who make use of frauds artificially covered, overreach their hearers +by deceits, address them insidiously, observe the right moment, and +catch at words to their purpose, by which truth is hidden under a +covering; and so on the other hand nothing is sweeter than the +society of those, who both love and speak the naked truth, ... +without their mouth professing one thing and their mind hiding +another, or spreading before it the cover of double words. Nor does +it matter that they colour their lies with the name of <i>equivocations +or mental reservations</i>. For Hilary says, 'The sense, not the speech, +makes the crime.'"</p> + +<p>Concina allows of what I shall presently call <i>evasions</i>, but nothing +beyond, if I understand him; but he is most vehement against mental +reservation of every kind, so I quote him.</p> + +<h4>Concina</h4> + +<p>"That mode of speech, which some theologians call pure mental +reservation, others call reservation not simply mental; that language +which to me is lying, to the greater part of recent authors is only +amphibological.... I have discovered that nothing is adduced by more +recent theologians for the lawful use of <i>amphibologies</i> which has +not been made use of already by the ancients, whether philosophers or +some Fathers, in defence of lies. Nor does there seem to me other +difference when I consider their respective grounds, except that the +ancients frankly called those modes of speech lies, and the more +recent writers, not a few of them, call them amphibological, +equivocal, and <i>material</i>."</p> + +<p>In another place he quotes Caramuel, so I suppose I may do so too, +for the very reason that his theological reputation does not place +him on the side of strictness. Concina says, "Caramuel himself, who +bore away the palm from all others in relaxing the evangelical and +natural law, says:</p> + +<h4>Caramuel</h4> + +<p>"I have an innate aversion to mental reservations. If they are +contained within the bounds of piety and sincerity, then they are not +necessary; ... but if [otherwise] they are the destruction of human +society and sincerity, and are to be condemned as pestilent. Once +admitted, they open the way to all lying, all perjury. And the whole +difference in the matter is, that what yesterday was called a lie, +changing, not its nature and malice, but its name, is today entitled +'mental reservation;' and this is to sweeten poison with sugar, and +to colour guilt with the appearance of virtue."</p> + +<h4>St. Thomas</h4> + +<p>"When the sense of the party swearing, and of the party to whom he +swears, is not the same, if this proceeds from the deceit of the +former, the oath ought to be kept according to the right sense of the +party to whom it is made. But if the party swearing does not make use +of deceit, then he is bound according to his own sense."</p> + +<h4>St. Isidore</h4> + +<p>"With whatever artifice of words a man swears, nevertheless God who +is the witness of his conscience, so takes the oath as he understands +it, to whom it is sworn. And he becomes twice guilty, who both takes +the name of God in vain, and deceives his neighbour."</p> + +<h4>St. Augustine</h4> + +<p>"I do not question that this is most justly laid down, that the +promise of an oath must be fulfilled, not according to the words of +the party taking it, but according to the expectation of the party to +whom it is taken, of which he who takes it is aware."</p> + +<p>And now, under the protection of these authorities, I say as +follows:—</p> + +<p>Casuistry is a noble science, but it is one to which I am led, +neither by my abilities nor my turn of mind. Independently, then, of +the difficulties of the subject, and the necessity, before forming +an opinion, of knowing more of the arguments of theologians upon it +than I do, I am very unwilling to say a word here on the subject of +lying and equivocation. But I consider myself bound to speak; and +therefore, in this strait, I can do nothing better, even for my own +relief, than submit myself and what I shall say to the judgment of +the Church, and to the consent, so far as in this matter there be a +consent, of the Schola Theologorum.</p> + +<p>Now, in the case of one of those special and rare exigencies or +emergencies, which constitute the <i>justa causa</i> of dissembling or +misleading, whether it be extreme as the defence of life, or a duty +as the custody of a secret, or of a personal nature as to repel an +impertinent inquirer, or a matter too trivial to provoke question, as +in dealing with children or madmen, there seem to be four courses:</p> + +<p>1. <i>To say the thing that is not</i>. Here I draw the reader's attention +to the words <i>material</i> and <i>formal</i>. "Thou shalt not kill;" <i>murder</i> +is the <i>formal</i> transgression of this commandment, but <i>accidental +homicide</i> is the <i>material</i> transgression. The <i>matter</i> of the act is +the same in both cases; but in the <i>homicide</i>, there is nothing more +than the act, whereas in <i>murder</i> there must be the intention, etc. +which constitutes the formal sin. So, again, an executioner commits +the material act, but not that formal killing which is a breach of +the commandment. So a man, who, simply to save himself from starving, +takes a loaf which is not his own, commits only the material, not the +formal act of stealing, that is, he does not commit a sin. And so a +baptised Christian, external to the Church, who is in invincible +ignorance, is a material heretic, and not a formal. And in like +manner, if to say the thing which is not be in special cases lawful, +it may be called a <i>material lie</i>.</p> + +<p>The first mode then which has been suggested of meeting those special +cases, in which to mislead by words has a sufficient object, or has a +<i>just cause</i>, is by a material lie.</p> + +<p>The second mode is by an <i>æquivocatio</i>, which is not equivalent to +the English word "equivocation," but means sometimes a <i>play upon +words</i>, sometimes an <i>evasion</i>.</p> + +<p>2. <i>A play upon words</i>. St. Alfonso certainly says that a play upon +words is allowable; and, speaking under correction, I should say that +he does so on the ground that lying is <i>not</i> a sin against justice, +that is, against our neighbour, but a sin against God; because words +are the signs of ideas, and therefore if a word denotes two ideas, we +are at liberty to use it in either of its senses: but I think I must +be incorrect here in some respect, because the Catechism of the +Council, as I have quoted it at p. 248, says, "Vanitate et mendacio +fides ac veritas tolluntur, arctissima vincula <i>societatis humanæ</i>; +quibus sublatis, sequitur summa vitæ <i>confusio</i>, ut <i>homines nihil a +dæmonibus differre videantur</i>."</p> + +<p>3. <i>Evasion</i>;—when, for instance, the speaker diverts the attention +of the hearer to another subject; suggests an irrelevant fact or +makes a remark, which confuses him and gives him something to think +about; throws dust into his eyes; states some truth, from which he is +quite sure his hearer will draw an illogical and untrue conclusion, +and the like. Bishop Butler seems distinctly to sanction such a +proceeding, in a passage which I shall extract below.</p> + +<p>The greatest school of evasion, I speak seriously, is the House of +Commons; and necessarily so, from the nature of the case. And the +hustings is another.</p> + +<p>An instance is supplied in the history of St. Athanasius: he was in a +boat on the Nile, flying persecution; and he found himself pursued. +On this he ordered his men to turn his boat round, and ran right to +meet the satellites of Julian. They asked him, Have you seen +Athanasius? and he told his followers to answer, "Yes, he is close to +you." <i>They</i> went on their course, and <i>he</i> ran into Alexandria, and +there lay hid till the end of the persecution.</p> + +<p>I gave another instance above, in reference to a doctrine of +religion. The early Christians did their best to conceal their Creed +on account of the misconceptions of the heathen about it. Were the +question asked of them, "Do you worship a Trinity?" and did they +answer, "We worship one God, and none else;" the inquirer might, or +would, infer that they did not acknowledge the Trinity of Divine +Persons.</p> + +<p>It is very difficult to draw the line between these evasions, and +what are commonly called in English <i>equivocations</i>; and of this +difficulty, again, I think, the scenes in the House of Commons supply +us with illustrations.</p> + +<p>4. The fourth method is <i>silence</i>. For instance, not giving the +<i>whole</i> truth in a court of law. If St. Alban, after dressing himself +in the priest's clothes, and being taken before the persecutor, had +been able to pass off for his friend, and so gone to martyrdom +without being discovered; and had he in the course of examination +answered all questions truly, but not given the whole truth, the most +important truth, that he was the wrong person, he would have come +very near to telling a lie, for a half-truth is often a falsehood. +And his defence must have been the <i>justa causa</i>, viz. either that he +might in charity or for religion's sake save a priest, or again that +the judge had no right to interrogate him on the subject.</p> + +<p>Now, of these four modes of misleading others by the tongue, when +there is a <i>justa causa</i> (supposing there can be such)—a material +lie, that is an untruth which is not a lie, an equivocation, an +evasion, and silence,—First, I have no difficulty whatever in +recognizing as allowable the method of <i>silence</i>.</p> + +<p>Secondly, But, if I allow of <i>silence</i>, why not of the method of +<i>material lying</i>, since half of a truth <i>is</i> often a lie? And, again, +if all killing be not murder, nor all taking from another stealing, +why must all untruths be lies? Now I will say freely that I think it +difficult to answer this question, whether it be urged by St. Clement +or by Milton; at the same time, I never have acted, and I think, when +it came to the point, I never should act upon such a theory myself, +except in one case, stated below. This I say for the benefit of those +who speak hardly of Catholic theologians, on the ground that they +admit text-books which allow of equivocation. They are asked, how can +we trust you, when such are your views? but such views, as I already +have said, need not have anything to do with their own practice, +merely from the circumstance that they are contained in their +text-books. A theologian draws out a system; he does it partly as a +scientific speculation: but much more for the sake of others. He is +lax for the sake of others, not of himself. His own standard of +action is much higher than that which he imposes upon men in general. +One special reason why religious men, after drawing out a theory, are +unwilling to act upon it themselves, is this: that they practically +acknowledge a broad distinction between their reason and their +conscience; and that they feel the latter to be the safer guide, +though the former may be the clearer, nay even though it be the +truer. They would rather be wrong with their conscience, than right +with their reason. And again here is this more tangible difficulty in +the case of exceptions to the rule of veracity, that so very little +external help is given us in drawing the line, as to when untruths +are allowable and when not; whereas that sort of killing which is not +murder, is most definitely marked off by legal enactments, so that it +cannot possibly be mistaken for such killing as <i>is</i> murder. On the +other hand the cases of exemption from the rule of Veracity are left +to the private judgment of the individual, and he may easily be led +on from acts which are allowable to acts which are not. Now this +remark does <i>not</i> apply to such acts as are related in Scripture, as +being done by a particular inspiration, for in such cases there <i>is</i> +a command. If I had my own way, I would oblige society, that is, its +great men, its lawyers, its divines, its literature, publicly to +acknowledge, as such, those instances of untruth which are not lies, +as for instance, untruths in war; and then there could be no danger +in them to the individual Catholic, for he would be acting under a +rule.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, as to playing upon words, or equivocation, I suppose it is +from the English habit, but, without meaning any disrespect to a +great Saint, or wishing to set myself up, or taking my conscience for +more than it is worth, I can only say as a fact, that I admit it as +little as the rest of my countrymen: and, without any reference to +the right and the wrong of the matter, of this I am sure, that, if +there is one thing more than another which prejudices Englishmen +against the Catholic Church, it is the doctrine of great authorities +on the subject of equivocation. For myself, I can fancy myself +thinking it was allowable in extreme cases for me to lie, but never +to equivocate. Luther said, "Pecca fortiter." I anathematise the +formal sentiment, but there is a truth in it, when spoken of material +acts.</p> + +<p>Fourthly, I think <i>evasion</i>, as I have described it, to be perfectly +allowable; indeed, I do not know, who does not use it, under +circumstances; but that a good deal of moral danger is attached to +its use; and that, the cleverer a man is, the more likely he is to +pass the line of Christian duty.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">But it may be said, that such decisions do not meet the particular +difficulties for which provision is required; let us then take some +instances.</p> + +<p>1. I do not think it right to tell lies to children, even on this +account, that they are sharper than we think them, and will soon find +out what we are doing; and our example will be a very bad training +for them. And so of equivocation: it is easy of imitation, and we +ourselves shall be sure to get the worst of it in the end.</p> + +<p>2. If an early Father defends the patriarch Jacob in his mode of +gaining his father's blessing, on the ground that the blessing was +divinely pledged to him already, that it was his, and that his father +and brother were acting at once against his own rights and the divine +will, it does not follow from this that such conduct is a pattern to +us, who have no supernatural means of determining <i>when</i> an untruth +becomes a <i>material</i> and not a <i>formal</i> lie. It seems to me very +dangerous, be it allowable or not, to lie or equivocate in order to +preserve some great temporal or spiritual benefit, nor does St. +Alfonso here say anything to the contrary, for he is not discussing +the question of danger or expedience.</p> + +<p>3. As to Johnson's case of a murderer asking you which way a man had +gone, I should have anticipated that, had such a difficulty happened +to him, his first act would have been to knock the man down, and to +call out for the police; and next, if he was worsted in the conflict, +he would not have given the ruffian the information he asked, at +whatever risk to himself. I think he would have let himself be killed +first. I do not think that he would have told a lie.</p> + +<p>4. A secret is a more difficult case. Supposing something has been +confided to me in the strictest secrecy, which could not be revealed +without great disadvantage to another, what am I to do? If I am a +lawyer, I am protected by my profession. I have a right to treat with +extreme indignation any question which trenches on the inviolability +of my position; but, supposing I was driven up into a corner, I think +I should have a right to say an untruth, or that, under such +circumstances, a lie would be <i>material</i>, but it is almost an +impossible case, for the law would defend me. In like manner, as a +priest, I should think it lawful to speak as if I knew nothing of +what passed in confession. And I think in these cases, I do in fact +possess that guarantee, that I am not going by private judgment, +which just now I demanded; for society would bear me out, whether as +a lawyer or as a priest, that I had a duty to my client or penitent, +such, that an untruth in the matter was not a lie. A common type of +this permissible denial, be it <i>material lie</i> or <i>evasion</i>, is at the +moment supplied to me: an artist asked a Prime Minister, who was +sitting to him, "What news, my Lord, from France?" He answered, +"<i>I do not know</i>; I have not read the Papers."</p> + +<p>5. A more difficult question is, when to accept confidence has not +been a duty. Supposing a man wishes to keep the secret that he is +the author of a book, and he is plainly asked on the subject. Here +I should ask the previous question, whether any one has a right +to publish what he dare not avow. It requires to have traced the +bearings and results of such a principle, before being sure of it; +but certainly, for myself, I am no friend of strictly anonymous +writing. Next, supposing another has confided to you the secret of +his authorship: there are persons who would have no scruple at all in +giving a denial to impertinent questions asked them on the subject. I +have heard a great man in his day at Oxford, warmly contend, as if he +could not enter into any other view of the matter, that, if he had +been trusted by a friend with the secret of his being author of a +certain book, and he were asked by a third person, if his friend was +not (as he really was) the author of it, he ought without any scruple +and distinctly to answer that he did not know. He had an existing +duty towards the author; he had none towards his inquirer. The author +had a claim on him; an impertinent questioner had none at all. But +here again I desiderate some leave, recognised by society, as in the +case of the formulas "Not at home," and "Not guilty," in order to +give me the right of saying what is a <i>material</i> untruth. And +moreover, I should here also ask the previous question, Have I any +right to accept such a confidence? have I any right to make such a +promise? and, if it be an unlawful promise, is it binding at the +expense of a lie? I am not attempting to solve these difficult +questions, but they have to be carefully examined.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">As I put into print some weeks ago various extracts from authors +relating to the subject which I have been considering, I conclude by +inserting them here, though they will not have a very methodical +appearance.</p> + +<p>For instance, St. Dorotheus: "Sometimes the <i>necessity</i> of some +matter urges (incumbit), which, unless you somewhat conceal and +dissemble it, will turn into a greater trouble." And he goes on to +mention the case of saving a man who has committed homicide from his +pursuers: and he adds that it is not a thing that can be done often, +but once in a long time.</p> + +<p>St. Clement in like manner speaks of it only as a necessity, and as a +necessary medicine.</p> + +<p>Origen, after saying that God's commandment makes it a plain duty to +speak the truth, adds, that a man, "when necessity urges," may avail +himself of a lie, as medicine, that is, to the extent of Judith's +conduct towards Holofernes; and he adds that that necessity may be +the obtaining of a great good, as Jacob hindered his father from +giving the blessing to Esau against the will of God.</p> + +<p>Cassian says, that the use of a lie, in order to be allowable, must +be like the use of hellebore, which is itself poison, unless a man +has a fatal disease on him. He adds, "Without the condition of an +extreme necessity, it is a present ruin."</p> + +<p>St. John Chrysostom defends Jacob on the ground that his deceiving +his father was not done for the sake of temporal gain, but in order +to fulfil the providential purpose of God; and he says, that, as +Abraham was not a murderer, though he was minded to kill his son, so +an untruth need not be a lie. And he adds, that often such a deceit +is the greatest possible benefit to the man who is deceived, and +therefore allowable. Also St. Hilary, St. John Climacus, etc., in +Thomassin, Concina, the <i>Mélanges</i>, etc.</p> + +<p>Various modern Catholic divines hold this doctrine of the "material +lie" also. I will quote three passages in point.</p> + +<p>Cataneo: "Be it then well understood, that the obligation to +veracity, that is, of conforming our words to the sentiments of our +mind, is founded principally upon the necessity of human intercourse, +for which reason they (<i>i.e.</i> words) ought not and cannot be lawfully +opposed to this end, so just, so necessary, and so important, without +which, the world would become a Babylon of confusion. And this would +in a great measure be really the result, as often as a man should be +unable to defend secrets of high importance, and other evils would +follow, even worse than confusion, in their nature destructive of +this very intercourse between man and man for which speech was +instituted. Every body must see the advantage a hired assassin would +have, if supposing he did not know by sight the person he was +commissioned to kill, I being asked by the rascal at the moment he +was standing in doubt with his gun cocked, were obliged to approve of +his deed by keeping silence, or to hesitate, or lastly to answer +'Yes, that is the man.' [Then follow other similar cases.] In such +and similar cases, in which your sincerity is unjustly assailed, when +no other way more prompt or more efficacious presents itself, and +when it is not enough to say, 'I do not know,' let such persons be +met openly with a downright resolute 'No' without thinking upon +anything else. For such a 'No' is conformable to the universal +opinion of men, who are the judges of words, and who certainly have +not placed upon them obligations to the injury of the Human Republic, +nor ever entered into a compact to use them in behalf of rascals, +spies, incendiaries, and thieves. I repeat that such a 'No' is +conformable to the universal mind of man, and with this mind your own +mind ought to be in union and alliance. Who does not see the manifest +advantage which highway robbers would derive, were travellers when +asked if they had gold, jewels, etc., obliged either to invent +tergiversations or to answer 'Yes, we have?' Accordingly in such +circumstances that 'No' which you utter [see Card. Pallav. lib. iii. +c. xi. n. 23, de Fide, Spe, etc.] remains deprived of its proper +meaning, and is like a piece of coin, from which by the command of +the government the current value has been withdrawn, so that by using +it you become in no sense guilty of lying."</p> + +<p>Bolgeni says, "We have therefore proved satisfactorily, and with more +than moral certainty, that an <i>exception</i> occurs to the general law +of not speaking untruly, viz. when it is impossible to observe a +certain other precept, more important, <i>without</i> telling a lie. Some +persons indeed say, that in the cases of impossibility which are +above drawn out, what is said is <i>not</i> a lie. But a man who thus +speaks confuses ideas and denies the essential characters of things. +What is a lie? It is 'locutio contra mentem;' this is its common +definition. But in the cases of impossibility, a man speaks <i>contra +mentem</i>; that is clear and evident. Therefore he tells a lie. Let us +distinguish between the lie and the sin. In the above cases, the man +really tells a lie, but this lie is not a sin, by reason of the +existing impossibility. To say that in those cases no one has a right +to ask, that the words have a meaning according to the common consent +of men, and the like, as is said by certain authors in order in those +cases to exempt the lie from sin, this is to commit oneself to +frivolous excuses, and to subject oneself to a number of retorts, +when there is the plain reason of the above-mentioned fact of +impossibility."</p> + +<p>And the Author in the <i>Mélanges Théologiques</i>: "We have then gained +this truth, and it is a conclusion of which we have not the smallest +doubt, that if the intention of deceiving our neighbour is essential +to a lie, it is allowable in certain cases to say what we know to be +false, as, <i>e.g.</i> to escape from a great danger....</p> + +<p>"But, let no one be alarmed, it is never allowable to lie; in this we +are in perfect agreement with the whole body of theologians. The only +point in which we differ from them is in what we mean by a lie. They +call that a lie which is not such in our view, or rather, if you +will, what in our view is only a material lie they account to be both +formal and material."</p> + +<p>Now to come to Anglican authorities.</p> + +<p>Taylor: "Whether it can in any case be lawful to tell a lie? To this +I answer, that the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament +do indefinitely and severely forbid lying. Prov. xiii. 5; xxx. 8. +Ps. v. 6. John viii. 44. Col. iii. 9. Rev. xxi. 8, 27. Beyond these +things, nothing can be said in condemnation of lying.</p> + +<p>"<i>But then</i> lying is to be understood to be <i>something said or +written to the hurt of our neighbour</i>, which cannot be understood +otherwise than to differ from the mind of him that speaks. 'A lie is +petulantly or from a desire of hurting, to say one thing, or to +signify it by gesture, and to think another thing;'<a href="#fn6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> so Melancthon, +'To lie is to deceive our neighbour to his hurt.' For <i>in this sense</i> +a lie is naturally or <i>intrinsically</i> evil; that is, to speak a lie +<i>to our neighbour</i> is naturally evil ... <i>not</i> because it is +different from an eternal truth.... A lie is an <i>injury</i> to our +neighbour.... There is in mankind a universal <i>contract</i> implied in +all their intercourses.... <i>In justice</i> we are bound to speak, so as +that our neighbour do not lose his <i>right</i>, which by our speaking we +give him to the truth, that is, in our heart. And of a lie, <i>thus +defined</i>, which is <i>injurious</i> to our neighbour, so long as his +<i>right</i> to truth remains, it is that St. Austin affirms it to be +simply unlawful, and that it can in no case be permitted, nisi forte +regulas quasdam daturus es.... If a lie be <i>unjust</i>, it can never +become lawful; but, <i>if it can be separate from injustice</i>, then it +may be <i>innocent</i>. Here then I consider</p> + +<p>"This right, though it be regularly and commonly belonging to all +men, yet it may be <i>taken away</i> by a superior right intervening; or +it may be lost, or it may be hindered, or it may cease, upon a +greater reason.</p> + +<p>"Therefore upon this account it was lawful for the children of Israel +to borrow jewels of the Egyptians, <i>which supposes a promise of +restitution, though they intended not to pay them back again</i>. God +gave commandment so to spoil them, and the Egyptians were divested of +their <i>rights</i>, and <i>were to be used like enemies</i>.</p> + +<p>"<i>It is lawful to tell a lie to children or to madmen</i>; because they, +having no powers of judging, have no <i>right</i> to truth; but then, <i>the +lie must be charitable and useful</i>.... <i>If a lie be told</i>, it must be +such as is <i>for their good</i> ... and so do physicians to their +patients.... This and the like were so usual, so permitted to +physicians, that it grew to a proverb, 'You lie like a doctor;'<a href="#fn7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +which yet was always to be understood in the way of charity, and with +honour to the profession.... To tell a lie for charity, to save a +man's life, the life of a friend, of a husband, of a prince, of a +useful and a public person, hath not only been done at all times, but +commended by great and wise and good men.... Who would not save his +father's life ... at the charge of a <i>harmless lie</i>, from the rage of +persecutors or tyrants? ...When the telling of a truth will certainly +be the cause of evil to a man, though he have right to truth, yet it +must not be given to him to his harm.... <i>Every</i> truth is no more +<i>justice</i>, than every restitution of a straw to the right owner is a +duty. 'Be not over-righteous,' says Solomon.... If it be objected, +that we must not tell a lie for God, therefore much less for our +brother, I answer, that it does not follow; for God needs not a lie, +<i>but our brother does</i>.... <i>Deceiving</i> the enemy by the stratagem of +actions or <i>words</i>, is <i>not properly lying</i>; for this supposes a +conversation, of law or peace, trust or <i>promise</i> explicit or +implicit. A lie is a deceiving of a <i>trust or confidence</i>."—Taylor, +vol. xiii. pp. 351-371, ed. Heber.</p> + +<p>It is clear that Taylor thought that veracity was one branch of +justice; a social virtue; under the second table of the law, not +under the first; only binding, when those to whom we speak have a +claim of justice upon us, which ordinarily all men have. Accordingly, +in cases where a neighbour has no claim of justice upon us, there is +no opportunity of exercising veracity, as, for instance, when he is +mad, or is deceived by us for his own advantage. And hence, in such +cases, a lie is <i>not really</i> a lie, as he says in one place, +"Deceiving the enemy is <i>not properly</i> lying." Here he seems to make +that distinction common to Catholics; viz. between what they call a +<i>material</i> act and a <i>formal</i> act. Thus Taylor would maintain, that +to say the thing that is not to a madman, has the <i>matter</i> of a lie, +but the man who says it as little tells a formal lie, as the judge, +sheriff, or executioner murders the man whom he certainly kills by +forms of law.</p> + +<p>Other English authors take precisely the same view, viz. that +veracity is a kind of justice—that our neighbour generally has a +<i>right</i> to have the truth told him; but that he may forfeit that +right, or lose it for the time, and then to say the thing that is not +to him is no sin against veracity, that is, no lie. Thus Milton says, +"Veracity is a virtue, by which we speak true things to him <i>to whom +it</i> is equitable, and concerning what things it is suitable for the +<i>good of our neighbour</i>.... All dissimulation is not wrong, for it is +not necessary for us always openly to bring out the truth; that only +is blamed which is <i>malicious</i>.... I do not see why that cannot be +said of lying which can be said of homicide and other matters, which +are not weighed so much by the <i>deed</i> as by <i>the object and end of +acting</i>. <i>What man in his senses will deny</i> that there are those whom +we have the best of grounds for considering that we ought to +deceive—as boys, madmen, the sick, the intoxicated, enemies, men in +error, thieves? ...Is it a point of conscience not to deceive them? +... I would ask, by which of the commandments is a lie forbidden? You +will say, by the ninth. Come, read it out, and you will agree with +me. For whatever is here forbidden comes under the head of injuring +one's neighbour. If then any lie does <i>not</i> injure one's neighbour, +certainly it is not forbidden by this commandment. It is on this +ground that, by the judgment of theologians, we shall acquit so many +holy men of lying. Abraham, who said to his servants that he would +return with his son; ... the wise man understood that it did not +matter to his servants to know [that his son would not return], and +that it was at the moment expedient for himself that they should not +know.... Joseph would be a man of many lies if the common definition +of lying held; [also] Moses, Rahab, Ehud, Jael, Jonathan." Here again +veracity is due only on the score of <i>justice</i> towards the person +whom we speak with; and, if he has <i>no claim</i> upon us to speak the +truth, we <i>need</i> not speak the truth to him.</p> + +<p>And so, again, Paley: "<i>A lie is a breach of promise</i>; for whoever +seriously addresses his discourse to another tacitly promises to +speak the truth, because he knows that the truth is expected. Or the +<i>obligation</i> of veracity may be made out from the direct ill +consequences of lying to social happiness.... There are <i>falsehoods</i> +which are not <i>lies</i>; <i>that is, which are not criminal</i>." (Here, let +it be observed, is the same distinction as in Taylor between +<i>material</i> and <i>formal</i> untruths.) "1. When no one is deceived.... 2. +When the person to whom you speak has no <i>right</i> to know the truth, +or, more properly, when little or no inconveniency results from the +want of confidence in such cases, as <i>where you tell a falsehood to a +madman</i> for his own advantage; to a robber, to conceal your property; +to an assassin, to defeat or divert him from his purpose.... It is +upon this principle that, by the laws of war, it is allowable +to deceive an enemy by feints, false colours, spies, false +intelligence.... Many people indulge, in serious discourse, a habit +of fiction or exaggeration.... So long as ... their narratives, +though false, are <i>inoffensive</i>, it may seem a superstitious regard +to truth to censure them <i>merely for truth's sake</i>." Then he goes on +to mention reasons <i>against</i> such a practice, adding, "I have seldom +known any one who deserted truth in trifles that could be trusted in +matters of importance."—Works, vol. iv. p. 123.</p> + +<p>Dr. Johnson, who, if any one, has the reputation of being a sturdy +moralist, thus speaks:</p> + +<p>"We talked," says Boswell, "of the casuistical question—whether it +was allowable at any time to depart from <i>truth</i>." Johnson. "The +general rule is, that truth should never be violated; because it is +of the utmost importance to the comfort of life, that we should have +a full security by mutual faith; and occasional inconveniences should +be willingly suffered, that we may preserve it. There must, however, +be some exceptions. If, for instance, a murderer should ask you which +way a man is gone, you may tell him what is not true, because you +are under a previous obligation not to betray a man to a murderer." +Boswell. "Supposing the person who wrote Junius were asked whether he +was the author, might he deny it?" Johnson. "I don't know what to say +to this. If you were <i>sure</i> that he wrote Junius, would you, if he +denied it, think as well of him afterwards? Yet it may be urged, that +what a man has no right to ask, you may refuse to communicate; and +there is no other effectual mode of preserving a secret, and an +important secret, the discovery of which may be very hurtful to you, +but a flat denial; for if you are silent, or hesitate, or evade, +it will be held equivalent to a confession. But stay, sir; here is +another case. Supposing the author had told me confidentially that he +had written Junius, and I were asked if he had, I should hold myself +at liberty to deny it, as being under a previous promise, express or +implied, to conceal it. Now what I ought to do for the author, may I +not do for myself? But I deny the lawfulness of telling a lie to a +sick man for fear of alarming him. You have no business with +consequences; you are to tell the truth. Besides, you are not sure +what effect your telling him that he is in danger may have; it may +bring his distemper to a crisis, and that may cure him. Of all lying +I have the greatest abhorrence of this, because I believe it has been +frequently practised on myself."—Boswell's Life, vol. iv. p. 277.</p> + +<p class="extraspace">There are English authors who allow of mental reservation and +equivocation; such is Jeremy Taylor.</p> + +<p>He says, "In the same cases in which it is lawful to tell a lie, in +the same cases it is lawful to use a mental reservation."—Ibid. p. +374.</p> + +<p>He says, too, "When the things are true in <i>several senses</i>, the not +explicating in <i>what sense</i> I mean the words is not a criminal +reservation.... But 1, this liberty is not to be used by inferiors, +but by superiors only; 2, not by those that are interrogated, but by +them which speak voluntarily; 3, not by those which speak of duty, +but which speak of grace and kindness."—Ibid. p. 378.</p> + +<p>Bishop Butler, the first of Anglican authorities, writing in his +grave and abstract way, seems to assert a similar doctrine in the +following passage:</p> + +<p>"Though veracity, as well as justice, is to be our rule of life, it +must be added, otherwise a snare will be laid in the way of some +plain men, that the use of common forms of speech generally +understood, cannot be falsehood; and, in general, that there can be +no designed falsehood without designing to deceive. It must likewise +be observed, that, <i>in numberless cases, a man may be under the +strictest obligations to what he foresees will deceive, without his +intending it</i>. For <i>it is impossible not to foresee</i>, that the words +and actions of men in different ranks and employments, and of +different educations, <i>will perpetually be mistaken by each other</i>; +and it cannot but be so, whilst they will judge with the utmost +carelessness, as they daily do, <i>of what they are not perhaps enough +informed to be competent judges of</i>, even though they considered it +with great attention."—<i>Nature of Virtue</i>, fin. These last words +seem in a measure to answer to the words in Scavini, that an +equivocation is permissible, because "then we do not deceive our +neighbour, but allow him to deceive himself." In thus speaking, I +have not the slightest intention of saying anything disrespectful to +Bishop Butler; and still less of course to St. Alfonso.</p> + +<p>And a third author, for whom I have a great respect, as different +from the above two as they are from each other, bears testimony to +the same effect in his "Comment on Scripture," Thomas Scott. He +maintains indeed that Ehud and Jael were divinely directed in what +they did; but they could have no divine direction for what was in +itself wrong.</p> + +<p>Thus on Judges iii. 15-21:</p> + +<p>"'And Ehud said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king; I have +a message from God unto thee, and Ehud thrust the dagger into his +belly.' Ehud, indeed," says Scott, "had a secret errand, a message +from God unto him; <i>but it was of a far different nature than +Eglon expected</i>."</p> + +<p>And again on Judges iv. 18-21:</p> + +<p>"'And Jael said, Turn in, my lord, fear not. And he said to her, +When any man doth inquire, Is there any man here? thou shalt say, +No. Then Jael took a nail, and smote the nail into his temple.' +Jael," says Scott, "is not said to have promised Sisera that +she would deny his being there; she would give him shelter and +refreshment, but not utter a falsehood to oblige him."</p> + +<div class="footnote" id="fn6"> +<h4>Footnotes</h4> +<p>[6] "Mendacium est petulanter, aut cupiditate nocendi, aliud loqui, +seu gestu significare, et aliud sentire."</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote" id="fn7"> +<p>[7] Mentiris ut medicus.</p> +</div> + +<div id="p9" class="sectionheader"> +<h3>POSTSCRIPTUM</h3> +<p>June 4, 1864</p> +</div> + +<p>While I was engaged with these concluding pages, I received another +of those special encouragements, which from several quarters have +been bestowed upon me, since my controversy began. It was the +extraordinary honour done me of an address from the clergy of this +large diocese, who had been assembled for the Synod.</p> + +<p>It was followed two days afterwards by a most gracious testimonial +from my Bishop, Dr. Ullathorne, in the shape of a letter which he +wrote to me, and also inserted in the Birmingham papers. With his +leave I transfer it to my own volume, as a very precious document, +completing and recompensing, in a way most grateful to my feelings, +the anxious work which has occupied me so fully for nearly ten +weeks.</p> + +<p class="letthead">"Bishop's House, June 2, 1864.</p> + +<p>"My dear Dr. Newman,—It was with warm gratification that, after the +close of the Synod yesterday, I listened to the Address presented to +you by the clergy of the diocese, and to your impressive reply. But +I should have been little satisfied with the part of the silent +listener, except on the understanding with myself that I also might +afterwards express to you my own sentiments in my own way.</p> + +<p>"We have now been personally acquainted, and much more than +acquainted, for nineteen years, during more than sixteen of which we +have stood in special relation of duty towards each other. This has +been one of the singular blessings which God has given me amongst the +cares of the Episcopal office. What my feelings of respect, of +confidence, and of affection have been towards you, you know well, +nor should I think of expressing them in words. But there is one +thing that has struck me in this day of explanations, which you could +not, and would not, be disposed to do, and which no one could do so +properly or so authentically as I could, and which it seems to me is +not altogether uncalled for, if every kind of erroneous impression +that some persons have entertained with no better evidence than +conjecture is to be removed.</p> + +<p>"It is difficult to comprehend how, in the face of facts, the notion +should ever have arisen that, during your Catholic life, you have +been more occupied with your own thoughts than with the service of +religion and the work of the Church. If we take no other work into +consideration beyond the written productions which your Catholic pen +has given to the world, they are enough for the life's labour of +another. There are the Lectures on Anglican Difficulties, the +Lectures on Catholicism in England, the great work on the Scope +and End of University Education, that on the Office and Work of +Universities, the Lectures and Essays on University Subjects, and the +two Volumes of Sermons; not to speak of your contributions to the +Atlantis, which you founded, and to other periodicals; then there are +those beautiful offerings to Catholic literature, the Lectures on the +Turks, Loss and Gain, and Callista, and though last, not least, the +Apologia, which is destined to put many idle rumours to rest, and +many unprofitable surmises; and yet all these productions represent +but a portion of your labour, and that in the second half of your +period of public life.</p> + +<p>"These works have been written in the midst of labour and cares of +another kind, and of which the world knows very little. I will +specify four of these undertakings, each of a distinct character, and +any one of which would have made a reputation for untiring energy in +the practical order.</p> + +<p>"The first of these undertakings was the establishment of the +congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri—that great ornament +and accession to the force of English Catholicity. Both the London +and the Birmingham Oratory must look to you as their founder and as +the originator of their characteristic excellences; whilst that of +Birmingham has never known any other presidency.</p> + +<p>"No sooner was this work fairly on foot than you were called by the +highest authority to commence another, and one of yet greater +magnitude and difficulty, the founding of a University in Ireland. +After the Universities had been lost to the Catholics of these +kingdoms for three centuries, everything had to be begun from the +beginning: the idea of such an institution to be inculcated, the plan +to be formed that would work, the resources to be gathered, and the +staff of superiors and professors to be brought together. Your name +was then the chief point of attraction which brought these elements +together. You alone know what difficulties you had to conciliate and +what to surmount, before the work reached that state of consistency +and promise, which enabled you to return to those responsibilities in +England which you had never laid aside or suspended. And here, excuse +me if I give expression to a fancy which passed through my mind.</p> + +<p>"I was lately reading a poem, not long published, from the MSS. +De Rerum Natura, by Neckham, the foster-brother of Richard the +Lion-hearted. He quotes an old prophecy, attributed to Merlin, and +with a sort of wonder, as if recollecting that England owed so much +of its literary learning to that country; and the prophecy says that +after long years Oxford will pass into Ireland—'Vada boum suo +tempore transibunt in Hiberniam.' When I read this, I could not +but indulge the pleasant fancy that in the days when the Dublin +University shall arise in material splendour, an allusion to this +prophecy might form a poetic element in the inscription on the +pedestal of the statue which commemorates its first Rector.</p> + +<p>"The original plan of an oratory did not contemplate any parochial +work, but you could not contemplate so many souls in want of pastors +without being prompt and ready at the beck of authority to strain all +your efforts in coming to their help. And this brings me to the third +and the most continuous of those labours to which I have alluded. The +mission in Alcester Street, its church and schools, were the first +work of the Birmingham Oratory. After several years of close and hard +work, and a considerable call upon the private resources of the +Fathers who had established this congregation, it was delivered over +to other hands, and the Fathers removed to the district of Edgbaston, +where up to that time nothing Catholic had appeared. Then arose under +your direction the large convent of the Oratory, the church expanded +by degrees into its present capaciousness, a numerous congregation +has gathered and grown in it; poor schools and other pious +institutions have grown up in connection with it, and, moreover, +equally at your expense and that of your brethren, and, as I have +reason to know, at much inconvenience, the Oratory has relieved the +other clergy of Birmingham all this while by constantly doing the +duty in the poor-house and gaol of Birmingham.</p> + +<p>"More recently still, the mission and the poor school at Smethwick +owe their existence to the Oratory. And all this while the founder +and father of these religious works has added to his other +solicitudes the toil of frequent preaching, of attendance in the +confessional, and other parochial duties.</p> + +<p>"I have read on this day of its publication the seventh part of the +Apologia, and the touching allusion in it to the devotedness of the +Catholic clergy to the poor in seasons of pestilence reminds me that +when the cholera raged so dreadfully at Bilston, and the two priests +of the town were no longer equal to the number of cases to which they +were hurried day and night, I asked you to lend me two fathers to +supply the place of other priests whom I wished to send as a further +aid. But you and Father St. John preferred to take the place of +danger which I had destined for others, and remained at Bilston till +the worst was over.</p> + +<p>"The fourth work which I would notice is one more widely known. I +refer to the school for the education of the higher classes, which at +the solicitation of many friends you have founded and attached to the +Oratory. Surely after reading this bare enumeration of work done, no +man will venture to say that Dr. Newman is leading a comparatively +inactive life in the service of the Church.</p> + +<p>"To spare, my dear Dr. Newman, any further pressure on those feelings +with which I have already taken so large a liberty, I will only add +one word more for my own satisfaction. During our long intercourse +there is only one subject on which, after the first experience, I +have measured my words with some caution, and that has been where +questions bearing on ecclesiastical duty have arisen. I found some +little caution necessary, because you were always so prompt and ready +to go even beyond the slightest intimation of my wish or desires.</p> + +<p>"That God may bless you with health, life, and all the spiritual +good which you desire, you and your brethren of the Oratory, is +the earnest prayer now and often of, my dear Dr. Newman, your +affectionate friend and faithful servant in Christ,</p> + +<p class="sourcecite">"+ W. B. ULLATHORNE."</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Apologia pro Vita Sua, by John Henry Newman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA *** + +***** This file should be named 19690-h.htm or 19690-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/6/9/19690/ + +Produced by Andrew Sly + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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