individual Ministers, but apparently with a kind of concert,2— into the services of the Church in the sister country. I am happy to believe, that in these Dioceses there is no trace of such mischievous fopperies. If they appeared in ordinary times they might only deserve to be censured as individual frivolities; exhibitions of that uneasy vanity, which in common life leads those who are harassed by a craving for distinction, and who have no better mode of attaining it, to seek it by eccentricities in dress, or equipage, or deportment ;-only far more reprehensible as appearing in God's Ministers, and in His house, and in His solemn service.

4. But ours are no ordinary times. We live in times when the design of UNPROTESTANTIZING THE NATIONAL CHURCH has been openly avowed as the great aim of the most active party in the Church; and when, even in a quarter where the designs of the party are most cautiously spoken of, the Church of Rome is represented, not only as possessing much that is Catholic in common with ourselves, but not a little also, of which the Reformation has divested us, and which, it is confessed, there is a longing to re-appropriate. When such is our position, and when these novelties in externals are brought forward by the party who have already done so much, and who publish their determination to do whatever more may be necessary, to accomplish what they at last avow to be their great end; and when, finally, these Innovations have a manifest tendency to assimilate us in externals with the Church of Rome

2 See notes 2, 3, p. 616, supra.

Singularities in dress have not been confined to the Services of the Church. Witness the grotesque figures which have from time to time, of late years, attracted the attention of the public in the streets and Convocation House at Oxford.

An attempt has also been made towards "the general resumption of the Cassock by the Clergy.' It was gravely proposed that fifty persons should simultaneously assume this garb in London on Michaelmas Day. The REV. MICHAEL GATHERCOLE, Editor of the Church Intelligencer, put down his name as "number one," and "the matter" was said to be "in a fair train." Much discussion followed as to the shape and material of the habit, whether it should be “double or single-breasted," fastened with a " Surcingle,” "loops or buttons." It was to be" longer," MR. GATHERCOLE informed us, "for the drawing-room than for common wear, and would be incomparably more convenient and comfortable, and very much less expensive (sic) than our present dress, for any thing might be worn under the Cassock, which, with a simple white neckerchief without any collar, would thus far complete the dress. One of MR. GATHERCOLE's correspondents states that his "shorter Cassock, for daily use, reaches half-way down from his knees to his feet, and is a most comfortable dress; the larger Cassock, reaching nearly to the feet," and being "better adapted to solemn occasions, such as public worship, visitations, evening society, &c." "Moreover," he continues," my Morning Cassock is not of silk, but of a strong woollen stuff-a sort of serge, which is very cheap, and renders this by far the cheapest dress a poor Curate can wear. It will last twice as long as a black coat, and costs only half as much, besides saving the waistcoat and trowsers," &c. This gentleman's sash is "permanently sewn on to the back, and the two ends fasten together with hooks and eyes (sic) on the left side of the body." Another correspondent, "An Oxford Bachelor," writing on the "Feast of St. Cyprian, 1842," modestly suggests that "a petition should be signed to the Bishops of the Church, begging their Lordships to enforce observance to the" 74th "Canon," to the intent that he and his brethren "who wish to be distinguished from Schismatics and others, as Clergy in the Holy Catholic Church of Christ," might re-assume" the "Clerical Costume" without being "made the victims of a persecution" !—ED.

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MR. PAGET'S PICTURE OF THE DISCIPLES.

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when such is the case, I do not think that any one who does not share in this design, and desire to promote it, can consistently imitate any of the practices to which I have referred. And it is, as I said, with unmingled satisfaction, that I find that no disposition has been evinced among us, to commit any of these irregular reappropriations; or to adopt any of these devices, novel or obsolete, for the decoration or dedecoration of sacred edifices, and those who minister in them.

BAGOT, BISHOP OF OXFORD.-1842.

27. And now, since nothing can be more unfair, than to make the teachers responsible for the proceedings of the disciples, where the latter are now wholly beyond their control, I would say a few words with respect to those, who, as you know, excited my fears heretofore, and have since in some instances verified them.

28. I am happy to say that, so far as the Parochial Clergy are concerned, the caution which I felt it my duty to give at my last Visitation with respect to the revival of obsolete practices, which were calculated to give offence, without any adequate advantage resulting, has been, so far as I have been able to ascertain, attended to.

29. Of course questions about vestments and matters of a similar description, cannot be raised without much higher principles being involved. It was not a contest whether the red rose or the white were the fairer flower, which in a former age deluged our land with blood. These were but the outward badges of the strife of political opinions within.

30. Still, in the present state of the Church, when there are already such miserable divisions among us with respect to the essentials of Religion, it does seem to me worse than folly in those

3 The following picture of these unhappy "Disciples" is drawn by a Master's hand, being the work of his Lordship's Chaplain, the REV. FRANCIS E. PAGET, M.A., Rector of Elford.

"Churchmen have now and then been distressed of late years by the intolerable folly of disciples of the Tractarian School, who, in their vanity and love of notoriety, have made it the apparent object of their lives to render themselves as unlike their neighbours as possible,—not in holiness, self-devotion, and secret (sic) acts of selfdenial, but by making themselves conspicuous in externals; bowing, and crossing, and performing all manner of notable antics, and thereby distracting their neighbour's attention, instead of aiding their devotions; wearing, not crosses only, but crucifixes (sic) as conspicuously as possible; writing notes to their tailor or green-grocer, and dating themSt. Ethelburga's Day,' or 'The Morrow of the Translation of the Bones of St. Symphorosa; lighting and extinguishing candles at their prayers" (as taught by the Editor of Devotions on the Passion? See note 9, p. 511, supra.-En.); hitting, in short, upon every conceivable singularity that seems to savour of Popery, and at the same time is likely to direct attention to themselves. It is, of course, self

evident that such persons must be among the weakest of the weak,-very well intentioned, but geese; (sic) neither more nor less. They may damage any cause, but would do honour to none and in all probability would be Mahometans or Mormonites, were Mahometanism or Mormonism to become fashionable."- Warden of Berkingholt. A Tractarian Novel. pp. 38, 39.—ED.

who so far allow their zeal to master their judgment, as to go out of their way to create fresh causes of dissention, by giving undue importance to things indifferent, and even of questionable value. And besides, those, who profess to be guided by Catholic principles, should remember that one of the first principles of Catholicism is “ ἄνευ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου μηδὲν πράσσειν,”* to do nothing without Episcopal sanction.

31. Generally speaking, indiscretions such as I have alluded to emanate only from very young men; and such persons may be quite sure that, whatever be their talents, or how since re soever their zeal, there cannot but be great defects of character in them— they can hardly be otherwise than self-confident, or vain, or deficient in humility, or far from having disciplined minds.

PEPYS, BISHOP OF WORCESTER.-1842.

Vide Par. 26, in Chap. III., and Par. 37, in Chap. VI.

• Ignatius ad Trall. § 2.

CHAPTER XXV.

CHARACTER, TENDENCY, AND EFFECTS OF THE TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT.

WILSON, BISHOP OF CALCUTTA.-1838.

Vide Par. 1, in Chap. I.

2. It is to me, I confess, a matter of surprise and shame, that in the nineteenth century we should really have the fundamental position of the whole system of Popery virtually reasserted in the bosom of that very Church, which was reformed so determinately three centuries since from this self-same evil, by the doctrine, and labours, and martyrdom of Cranmer and his noble fellow-sufferers.

3. What are we to have all the fond tenets which formerly sprung from the Traditions of men re-introduced, in however modified a form, amongst us? Are we to have a refined Transubstantiation the Sacraments, and not Faith, the chief means of Salvation-a confused and uncertain mixture of the merits of Christ and inherent grace in the matter of Justification-Remission of sins, and the new Creation of Christ Jesus, confined, or almost confined, to Baptism—perpetual doubt of Pardon to the Penitent after that Sacrament-the duty and advantage of self-imposed Austerities the innocency of Prayers for the Dead-and similar tenets and usages which generate "a spirit of bondage" again asserted amongst us? And is the paramount authority of the inspired Scriptures, and the doctrine of the Grace of God in our Justification by the alone merits of Jesus Christ which reposes on that authority, to be again weakened and obscured by such human superadditions; and a new edifice of "will-worship," and "voluntary humility," and the "rudiments of the world," as the Apostle speaks, to be erected once more in the place of the simple Gospel of a crucified Saviour? My language is strong, my Reverend Brethren, but I think you will agree with me, that it is not too strong for the occasion. You shall judge for yourselves.

* I confine myself to topics of which no dubious intimations have been given. I say nothing of what may possibly follow-the prohibition of the unfettered use of the Scriptures-Purgatory-the Veneration of Relics-Prayer to the Virgin Mary-the Intercession of Saints Works of Supererogation-Monastic Vows the Celibacy of the Clergy, &c. &c.

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18. All this is but too natural. The false principle will go on eating as doth a canker," if things proceed as they now do. The inspired Word of God will be imperceptibly neglected; and the Traditions of men will take its place. The Church will supersede the Bible. The Sacraments will hide the glory of Christ. Selfrighteousness will conceal the righteousness of God. Traditions and Fathers will occupy the first place, as we see in the sermons of the chief Roman Catholic authors of every age, and Christ come next or not at all; and a lowered tone of practical religion will come in. 19. The whole system, indeed, goes to generate, as I cannot but think, an inadequate, and superficial, and superstitious religion. The mere admissions of the inspiration and paramount authority of Holy Scripture will soon become a dead letter; due humiliation before God, under a sense of the unutterable evil of sin, will be less and less understood; a conviction of the need of the meritorious Righteousness of the incarnate Saviour, as the alone ground of Justification, will be only faintly inculcated; the operations of the Holy Ghost in creating man anew will be more and more forgotten; the nature of those good works which are acceptable to God in Christ will be lost sight of; and "another Gospel," framed on the Traditions of men, will make way for an apostacy in our own Church, as in that of Rome-unless, indeed, the evangelical piety, the reverence for Holy Scripture, the theological learning, and the forethought and fidelity of our Divines of dignified station and established repute at home INTERPOSE BY DISTINCT CAUTIONS TO PREVENT IT-as they are beginning to interpose, and as I humbly trust they will still more decisively do; and as their signal success in the instance of Neological theories a year or two since, may well encourage them to resolve on.

SUMNER, BISHOP OF CHESTER.-1838.

1. Many subjects present themselves, towards which I might be tempted to direct your thoughts. One more especially concerns the Church at present; because it is daily assuming a more serious and alarming aspect, and threatens a revival of the worst evils of the Romish System.

2. Under the specious pretence of deference to Antiquity, and respect for primitive models, the foundations of our Protestant Church were undermined by men who dwell within her walls, and those who sit in the Reformers' seat are traducing the Reformation.

3. It is again becoming matter of question, whether the Bible is sufficient to make man wise unto salvation; the main Article of our National Confession-Justification by Faith, is both openly and covertly assailed: and the Stewards of the Mysteries of God are instructed to reserve the truths which they have been ordained to dispense, and to hide under a bushel those Doctrines which the Apostles were commanded to preach to every creature.