HITHERTO MUCH MORE THAN COUNTERBALANCED.

THIRLWALL, BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S.-1842.

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4. However this may be, it will probably seem to many persons a calamity to be deeply deplored, that gifts and qualities such as I have just mentioned, which, if harmoniously employed, might have rendered the most important services to the Church, should have been arrayed in conflict against each other; and no doubt it would have been much more desirable that they should have been drawn forth, in an equal degree of activity, by combined exertions for the

common cause.

5. But I cannot, on this account, concur with those who would regard the controversy as a subject of unmixed regret, or who think that any evil has hitherto arisen from it, which has not been much more than counterbalanced by its beneficial effects.

6. I just now alluded to the bulk of its literary productions; of those which may be considered as immediately and visibly representing it. But the mass of publications, which though not-professedly at least-of a controversial nature, are intimately connected with it, and have not only taken their tone and colour from it, but could not have existed without it, is far greater, and I cannot but regard the whole, though including much that has no more than a fugitive or historical value, as a precious addition to our Theological literature, such as might perhaps suffer little by comparison with all that it had received in the course of a century before. And yet it is chiefly valuable and interesting, as an expression or indication of the new life which has been recently awakened in the Church. Others may regret that public attention should have been so much turned this way, and diverted from the subjects which appear to them of supreme importance-from politics, or science, or political economy, or classical literature: but, speaking to you on this occasion, I can only treat it as a matter for mutual congratulation, that, through whatever cause, a spirit should have been roused, which has engaged so many active and powerful minds in the cultivation of Theological learning. As Churchmen, we must rejoice, that the study of Divinity should have begun to embrace a wider range than, for a long period before, had satisfied the greater part of those who dedicated themselves to the Ministry, that it should have become more generally conversant with Christian Antiquity, with Ecclesiastical history, and with the original sources from which the knowledge of these subjects is derived; so that even ordinary students much less frequently confine their reading to a narrow circle of modern compilations, systems, outlines, and commentaries, and not only are used to carry their inquiries further, but are more desirous of seeing and judging for themselves. All this, indeed, would be of little value, if the spirit which has been awakened had been one of merely literary curiosity, or intellectual energy. But every one who has observed its workings, must be

aware that the case is very far otherwise that it is bent, with a deep consciousness, and warm earnestness, upon high practical ends. It may even be doubted, whether there is not some danger, lest this practical tendency should be carried to excess, and lead to the neglect and discouragement of all critical inquiries into Theological subjects, not obviously or immediately pointing to practical results. But it is more important, as well as more pleasing, to observe, that the interest thus excited, appears to have given a new impulse to the zeal of the friends of the Church, which has urged them to extraordinary exertions in her behalf. It will hardly be considered by any one as a mere casual coincidence, that the last ten years should have been so signally marked by so many important undertakings in aid of her cause, begun in a confidence which, not long ago, would have been deemed romantic, and accomplished by sacrifices, which would then have appeared almost inconceivable.

7. Still, whatever may be the amount of the advantage thus gained, it would, undoubtedly, be too dearly purchased, if the price paid for it were the admission of unsound Doctrines, or a breach of unity, in the Church; and there are many persons who believethis, indeed, is the very gist of the controversy-that one of these evils has befallen us, and to such a degree, that our only prospect of a remedy lies in the other: and there are others who, though differing widely in their view of the cause, look forward to the same result, some with friendly uneasiness, others with hostile exultation.

8. Unhappily it cannot be denied that there is some ground for these anticipations; they are often expressed in a manner which tends to realize them; but still, I trust that we are yet far removed from such a deplorable alternative. And as I am sure that you, my Reverend Brethren, all sympathize with me in the wish that this should prove to be the case, it may not be useless to state the reasons which have led me to this opinion, and which induce me to contemplate the present state of the controversy with much more of hope than of alarm.

PEPYS, BISHOP OF WORCESTER.-1842.

37. It will be sufficiently evident, from the above observations, that I am by no means disposed to concur in the expediency of that movement in the Church, which has of late excited so much attention. I believe it to be uncalled for by the general conduct of the Clergy; and, however it may have produced, in some instances, greater exactness in the observation of the forms and ceremonies required by the Rubric, it has this evil effect, that by laying so much stress upon the importance of such forms and ceremonies, it has a tendency to substitute formality for the living spirit of true devotion, directing the attention of the Minister of

EXACTNESS IN FORMS AND CEREMONIES.

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the Gospel so much to an over-scrupulous observance of nonessential forms, that there is a danger, lest, satisfied with the minute exactness with which he fulfils his duty in this respect, he should lose sight of the more important obligations of his holy calling, those which require him to preach the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity, the lost state of man without redemption, the inestimable value of that redemption, and the duties which result from it,-repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

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CHAPTER VII.

CHARACTER OF THE TRACTARIANS AS CONTROVERSIALISTS.-TREATMENT OF THEIR OPPONENTS.

SUMNER, BISHOP OF CHESTER.-1841.

[To enter upon this subject generally, or fully, would be quite incompatible with the limits of a Charge.*-]

* I must add, that it would be altogether superfluous. The divinity of the Oxford Tracts has been as completely refuted in all its parts, as any erroneous opinions can ever be refuted; and it is a sign of the discretion, if not of the candour of the writers, to treat these answers generally, as if they had never been written. If this continues to be the case, after the recent publication of Mr. Goode's elaborate "Rule of Faith and Practice," it must be considered as a tacit acknowledgment of complete refutation.*

Vide Par. 5, in Chap. I.

4 The following characteristic notice of Mr. GOODE's work appeared, shortly after its publication, in the British Critic:

"The Rev. WILLIAM GOODE, the author of several publications against Dissenters, and some tracts on Church Rates, has published, under the title of The Divine Rule of Faith and Practice,' (Hatchards,) a most ponderous mass of strictures on the Tracts for the Times, &c. ; which will perhaps be a lasting monument of the writer's industry, but is as little in place in modern controversy, as the millstones and landmarks, which the Homeric warriors used in an extremity to heave against one another, would be in the warfare of these days. Mr. Goode, to do him justice, appears very learned in the Tracts for the Times, and in some of the articles that have appeared in the Review. At first, we even thought that several of them would, if lost, be entirely replaced from his pages. The line of argument may be seen from the first items in the Table of Contents: All Divine Revelation demands our implicit faith and obedience.—In a revelation of truths above our comprehension, demanding our faith, we are bound to require sufficient evidence of its Divine origin. This we must do individually, because we are to be judged as individuals,' &c."-British Critic, No. 61, p. 246.

But the injury inflicted upon the party by Mr. GOODE's "ponderous" though welldirected missile, was far more severely felt than his opponents were willing to acknowledge. In the usual phraseology of the School, "the reception which his volumes appeared to meet with in some quarters," constrained them, for once, to abandon their sub silentio practice, and profess themselves ready "to accept an antagonist, who, whatever his faults might be" attempts" (upon their own confession) "to meet the definitely specifies the Doctrines

system as a whole, as well as in all its parts;

MR. GOODE RELIEVES THE BISHOPS IN DISTRESS.

WHATELY, ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN.-1842.

Among the subjects here treated of, are some on which I have

which he condemns as false and draws out into shape his own sentiments on the disputed points." The "claim" of the Divine Rule of Faith and Practice to a "reply with some degree of detail,” notwithstanding its "almost intolerable defects of reasoning and composition," being thus established, the office of reviewer was undertaken, as it is generally understood, by the Rev. W. WARD, M.A., of Balliol College, the zealous champion of Tract 90; and an article, extending to nearly a hundred pages, from the pen of that gentleman, appeared in the British Critic for July, 1842: the conclusion of which subjoin, because, while it gives the result of Mr. WARD'S criticism, it exhibits an instructive specimen of that profound reverence for Episcopacy of which the Tractarians so loudly boast, and for which so much credit "appears" at least to have been bestowed upon them "in certain quarters."

GOODE'S DIVINE RULE OF FAITH AND PRACTICE.

Mr. WARD's testimony to its "utter