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My Reverend Brethren,
I know not well how any of us can approach these
periodical seasons of mutual Conference, without
experiencing some feelings of a very solemn and im
pressive character. They seem not insignificantly to
suggest to each of us, a serious retrospect of past
events in our Ministerial course, since we last met
together, and prompt us to holy resolutions of still
more earnest devotion to the business of our heavenly
calling for the future, — they forcibly remind us, not
so much of what we have done, as of what we have
omitted to do ; and lead us to institute a searching
inquiry, how far we have been faithful in the dis
charge of our sacred trust, and have taken heed to
the Ministry that we have received in the Lord, that
we fulfil it. For myself, I would earnestly desire to
derive from the occasion those fruits which it thus

8

appears to offer : may it, in like manner, be made
profitable to us all, and tend to the furtherance of
God's glory, and the advancement of his Kingdom
upon Earth.
Among the various topics that present themselves
for our consideration, those which have a more im
mediate reference to our own Diocese have the first
claim upon our attention. And, looking to some
improvements which had been contemplated from
the first, I have still to regret that the postponement
for another year of the Bill for the Reform of the
Ecclesiastical Courts, has retarded that more com
plete organization of the new Diocese, which I had
hoped my second Triennial Visitation would have
seen accomplished. To this enactment I had looked
to invest me with the power of appointing Rural
Deans, — a power which, throughout the Northern
part of the Diocese, is at present possessed by an
Official, entirely independent of my authority ; and,
although he has most considerately offered to place
their appointment in my hands, it has been thought
better to postpone their establishment until the
nominations should emanate from their proper
source. We cannot, however, but regard the resto
ration of this office as a very important element in
the well-ordering of the Diocese. If it be desirable,
as it assuredly is, that there should be the means
of constant and efficient communication between
the Clergy and their Bishop, as well as between the
neighbouring Clergy and each other, — if it be of

9

moment that the Bishop should have speedy access
to the most accurate information upon every point
connected with the welfare of the Church in his
Diocese, — should find a ready channel whereby he
may convey his own wishes to the Clergy, and be
able in turn to gather their opinions upon any ques
tion of interest that may arise, — if it be well that he
have official opportunities of benefiting by the sug
gestions of those of his brethren who are of mature
judgment and experience, and of profiting by their
counsels, the revival of this ancient usage of the
Church will be acknowledged to be a valuable
auxiliary in promoting such objects. Nor am I at
all insensible to the consideration, that among the
disadvantages under which the government of this
newly-created Diocese has for a time laboured, must
be reckoned the want of this kind of official inter
course, which in future years may be still farther
increased by the residence of Canons in the Cathedral
city, who, if they be beneficed in the Diocese, as it
is desirable they should be, will afford additional
facilities for acquiring a more intimate knowledge
upon subjects of ecclesiastical interest within it.
There is another matter also, in which circum
stances that could not be controlled, have ob
structed the wished-for progress : but if we have
not yet arranged a combined system for the general
improvement of the Education of the lower orders
throughout the Diocese, the delay will be accompa
nied with this benefit, that we shall be able to profit

10

by the experience of those who have within the last
two years preceded us in this important work ; and
I have good hope that before this year expires, I
shall have been able, with the aid of those of my
Clergy who are most conversant with the subject, to
mature a plan for carrying this purpose into effect.
Having in a former Charge explicitly stated my
views on the question of popular Education in con
nexion with the Church, it will be unnecessary to
dwell any longer on the subject, than once more to
record my conviction, that if wisdom and know
ledge are to be the stability of our times, — if we
have any hope that the divine protection will shield
us, as a nation that fears God, it must be through
the infusion of Christian principles into the minds
and hearts of each generation as it rises. We may
build Churches, and the Lord may prosper the work
of our hands ; we may appoint over them faithful
Pastors who shall employ the highest talents, the
most devoted zeal in their Heavenly Master's ser
vice, — but if our purpose be, through God's blessing,
truly to Christianize this land, and to contend suc
cessfully with the vast mass of vice and ignorance
which is still, unhappily, too prevalent through many
parts of it, our efforts to multiply places of worship
must be effectually seconded by renewed exertions of
corresponding magnitude in the cause of a truly
Christian Education. Let the Church and nation
but train up all their children in the way they should
go, and we may have good hope that they will in

11
afterlife fear God, honour their Sovereign, and love
the brotherhood ; will themselves throng our Churches,
and contribute to provide for others, yet destitute of
them, the advantages which they have themselves
enjoyed. With respect to our own Church-building Society,
which dates its existence at a period subsequent to
my last address to you from this place, we have great
reason to thank God that He has permitted us to
carry out our purposes thus far, in supplying the
population of this Diocese with the means of public
worship according to the rites of our Church. And
it may be well here briefly to state that within the
last four years and a half, forty new Churches and
Chapels have been completed, a large proportion of
them having received aid from our Society, seven
Churches wholly rebuilt, and seventeen are in differ
ent stages of progress towards completion, making a
total of sixty-four new places of worship, besides
thirty school-rooms, licensed within that time for the
like purpose. But we must at the same time recol
lect, that there is a list of nearly fifty sites for
Churches already pointed out in our first Report, in
neighbourhoods where no efforts have yet been made
to supply those wants. We will hope that those to
whom God has given the means, will feel themselves
bound by strong obligations to take early measures
for carrying out the intentions of our Society in
those quarters also. And we have the better hope
that such will be the case, because one great impedi-

12
ment to Church-building in very populous neighbour
hoods has been recently removed. The provision of
a stipend for the Minister used to prove the chief
obstacle to the commencement of such designs;
but wherever the population included in the district
to be legally assigned to his care, shall amount to
two thousand, the fund at the disposal of the Eccle
siastical Commissioners for such purposes will supply
a sum for endowment, — a prospect which we trust
is likely to give a fresh impulse to the building of
Churches in the outlying townships of our manufac
turing districts, where immorality and ungodliness
are chiefly prevalent, as yet unchecked by any salu
tary restraint.
While yet upon subjects more peculiarly of local
interest, I would wish to press earnestly upon the
notice of my Reverend Brethren, the propriety of at
once reporting to the Bishop the name of any
Clergyman whom they are desirous of engaging to
officiate in their Parishes or Churches, in order that
his testimonials may be called for, and the necessary
enquiries instituted into his character and conduct.
Tt will be obvious to you all, that in a certain sense
the Bishop is responsible to the Church for the
behaviour and efficiency of all Ministers who are to
exercise their holy office within his jurisdiction ;
but he can scarcely secure a due control in this par
ticular, if individuals, of whom he has no opportunity
of taking cognizance, are introduced without his
knowledge into the pulpits of the Diocese.

13

It seems unnecessary on the present occasion to
enter with any minuteness of detail into the pro
visions of those legislative enactments affecting the
Church which have been passed since we last met
together. There are in these days so many channels
through which information on such points can be
obtained, that I shall satisfy myself with referring to
one particular only, in which I am much gratified to
find that my own wishes, as well as the intentions of
the legislature have already in many parishes been
anticipated. It has been felt by many among you
that nothing but an undeniable necessity should
deprive the members of our Church of a second
Service ; and where there is already a second Ser
vice, of a second Sermon, on the Lord's day. And
though it may be in vain to expect a complete return
in all places to the Week-day Services, prescribed
by our Liturgy, it cannot but be lamented that the
ancient practice of opening the House of God at least
twice on the Sabbath should ever have been
departed from. The denial of this privilege gives
the careless and the ungodly an excuse for indulging
in habits of idleness or dissipation on that holy day,
while it tempts the thoughtful and serious-minded to
join the Separatists in their assemblies for public
worship. From either of these evils the faithful
Pastor will do his diligence to save his flock ; and
I am persuaded that no stronger inducement need
be offered to those of my Reverend Brethren whose
people are still deprived of these spiritual benefits.

14

The voluntary movement on the part of some of
my Clergy in this matter, seems to be a welcome
index of an increasing desire to return to a stricter
observance of ecclesiastical order. It must be obvi
ous to us all, that, owing to causes which it may be
needless here to specify, various practices clearly
sanctioned, and even commanded by our Church,
some of them of a very godly and edifying character ;
others, perhaps, in their nature more indifferent, have
fallen into very general desuetude. And with regard
to some of them, at any rate, a judicious and well-
timed effort to restore them, would merit every
encouragement. We cannot forget how rigid an examination was
instituted before the present order of public worship
was settled ; and we may feel assured that whatever
in matters of ceremony and discipline was permitted
to remain, was considered by our Reformers to be
essential to its decent maintenance, as well as to the
edification of the people ; and when we consider the
trying circumstances under which the body of that
Liturgy, and the special directions with which it was
accompanied, were framed — when we call to mind
that its Rubrics (as has been eloquently said of them)
" were written in the blood of some of their com
pilers, men famous in their generations, who yielded
up their lives for the great truths of the Gospel,"
we shall surely think it no light matter to disregard
those injunctions, to curtail the services which they
prescribe, or to set up an order of our own in any

15

matter, in preference to that which has received so
grave and deliberate a sanction. I am well aware
however of the difficulties which may obstruct a
Clergyman in the performance of this branch of his
duty, though he may be most conscientiously desirous
of fulfilling its obligations. Some impediments may
arise from the negligence of his predecessors — others
from the force of inveterate custom, originally ac
quiesced in from too willing a subserviency to the
wishes and convenience of the parishioners. To
this cause may be attributed the facilities which we
fear are often afforded for the administration of the
Sacrament of Baptism in private houses, for the
admission of Parents as Sponsors to their own Chil
dren, the permission to Non-communicants to stand
as Godfathers and Godmothers, and the intro
duction of the office of Private Baptism into the
Church, thereby postponing, or perhaps entirely dis
pensing with, the obligation to provide Sponsors at
all. Witness again the rare celebration of the
Sacrament of Baptism in the midst of the Congre
gation after the Second Lesson either at Morning or
Evening Prayer. With respect to the provision of
proper Sponsors, we should consider how much the
godly solicitude of the Church in behalf of the souls
of her children is defeated by neglecting it. In her
parental anxiety that all who are brought to the
baptismal font be virtuously brought up to lead a
godly and a Christian life, she guards, as she best
may, against the precarious tenure of the parent's

16

life, and provides substitutes solemnly pledged to
extend to their surviving children the blessings of
sound religious instruction, should they themselves
be prematurely removed from this earthly scene.
Consider also the loss to which the infant is again
exposed, in not being brought, at the moment of its
solemn dedication to God, into the midst of the as
sembled worshippers, there to benefit by their united
prayers, that he may lead the rest of his life accord
ing to this beginning ! It can scarcely be matter of
surprise that so imperfect an estimate should often
be formed of the value which the Church attaches
to this holy Sacrament, and that there should be
so much declension from the strictness of life and
conversation required by the baptismal vow, when
the opportunity is so rarely offered to the congrega
tion of hearing the terms in which our Liturgy
describes the benefits received, and the obligations
imposed at the baptismal font. Indeed the re-
introduction of the office of Public Baptism into the
service, wherever it is practicable, would seem to be
more than ever called for at the present moment,
when the neglect of that Holy Sacrament is unhap
pily become more prevalent through the prejudicial
influence of the Registration Act. In some instances
I am happy to learn that the revival of the practice
in our Diocese has been attended with very bene
ficial results, inducing many young persons, as well
as adults, as yet unbaptized, to seek admission into
the Church through that sacred ordinance,

17

In reference however to the general question of a
literal obedience to the injunctions of the Rubric, it
may be urged that in some instances the lapse of
time and altered circumstances have rendered a
compliance with it impossible — in others the practice
enjoined has become so universally obsolete, that the
obligation to return to it may seem doubtful. In the
former case I need not say that necessity provides a
sufficient dispensation 1. In the latter, it would seem
that where a usage enjoined by the Rubric has been
in universal abeyance for many generations, and that
disuse has been allowed of the several Ordinaries,
the like dispensation may fairly be claimed. For
although it be in strictness true that whatever was
enacted by the authority of Convocation and of
Parliament, can be repealed by the same authority
alone, yet if the whole body from whom the Con
vocation would be selected, have tacitly consented
to abandon the practice, the obligation to resume it
would not seem to be very strong ; and such is the
opinion of the most experienced Canonists, even in
cases where the order is clear and undisputed. But
1 Under this head may be classed the Rubric in the order for
Confirmation, requiring .the Bishop to "lay his hand upon the
head of every one severally saying, ' Defend, O Lord, &c.' "
The growth of population, in some quarters especially, since this
Rubric was framed, has rendered the compliance with it almost,
if not altogether, a physical impossibility. For my own part
I would say that nothing but this vast numerical increase would
reconcile me to a deviation from the prescribed order.
B

where the expressions are ambiguous, and the autho
rity doubtful, it can be still less binding on the
Clergy to resume antiquated customs, without first
referring the matter to the Ordinary, in whom a dis
cretionary power is vested for appeasing such-like
doubts. / The motive for reverting to usages, respect
able from their antiquity, though unauthorized by
our own Church, may be pure and unimpeachable ;
but where the adoption of them is not imperative, it
will surely be better to avoid all occasion of mis
apprehension or controversy. Our venerable Re
formers may possibly have discarded some things
indifferent, which might well have been retained ;
but as those usages have once disappeared, may it
not be attaching more moment to them than they
deserve to insist upon their re-production, even at
the risk of peace ? It is in vain to say that such
matters ought not to interrupt the harmony of the
Church. What has been, will be, under like cir
cumstances ; and the truest wisdom would seem to
dissuade from the introduction of novelties, where
such consequences may possibly ensue, unless the
plea of conscience can fairly be maintained. The
discussion of such matters having of late more than
usually occupied the attention of Churchmen, these
observations will not, I trust, appear misplaced.
And in adverting to the opinions of those among
the Clergy, who in their writings have advocated the
restoration of ancient forms, it may surely be said,
that so far as they earnestly call upon us to act up

19

to the principles of our Church — to provide, as much
as in us lies, that she become in practice what she
professes to be in theory — encouraging us to aim
more fervently and resolutely at that high mark of
holiness, self-denial, self-discipline, and almsgiving,
which she holds forth to our view, and to live up to
the elevated standard she sets before us, arousing us
at the same time to a stricter sense of our accountable-
ness to God, they deserve our honour and our thanks :
still farther, I believe that they have done good
service to the Church, in bringing forward more
prominently some comparatively neglected truths
with regard to the proper standing of the Church
herself and her Ministers ; as well as in leading some
who were, perhaps unconsciously, inclined to view
the Holy Sacraments as mere badges of the Christian
profession, arid the Holy Eucharist as little more
than a commemorative rite, to entertain a juster
sense of their real import^/ It might, however, have
been better for the peace and welfare of the Church
had their efforts been limited to these points only :
for who can fail to feel pain and grief when he hears
them speaking tenderly of practices to which our
standard Divines have usually affixed strong terms
of reprobation. Let us instance the case of the
Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images, or
as they would term it, " the honour paid to images,"
which they seem to consider as merely dangerous to
the uneducated. I am far from wishing to intimate
that they would either sanction or wish for a general
b2

20

return to such usages ; at the same time it is difficult
to escape from the conviction that the language
used has had a strong tendency to foster their
adoption. ' The tone also of depreciation and dis
paragement in which our own reformed branch of
the Catholic Church is sometimes spoken of, as
though her Reformation were, after all, but a very
questionable blessing, as if she gave no free scope to
the higher devotional feelings, can scarcely fail to
weaken the attachment of some of her less reflect
ing sons, and prepare them for an abandonment of
her communion ; indeed, the fact that such teaching
has led to consequences which we fully believe those
pious and learned men could never have themselves
contemplated, and we are satisfied they must now
deplore, in bringing many to the verge of schism,
will evidently show that their guidance in these
matters must be looked upon with some suspicion.
In descending to particulars upon doctrinal points,
it cannot I should think but excite surprise and
deep regret that the effect of sin after Baptism
should have been placed by them in so gloomy and
cheerless a light, unwarranted, as we believe, either
by Holy Scripture, or by the authority of our
Church. Did she really teach, that if we sin again
after Baptism there is no more such complete abso
lution in this life as was then imparted ; and we could
then never attain to the same state of undisturbed
security in which God had thus placed us : if she
sanctioned the conclusion that the penitent and

21

believing sinner had no promised security for the
fullest and freest pardon through the atoning blood
of Christ, not only for his original sin, but also for
all his actual sins committed subsequent to Baptism,
how could she have bid her Ministers open the daily
service of the Church with a declaration that if we
confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness ?
What comfort could it bring to the offender to be
told that all his inherited corruption is washed
away, and his original guilt pardoned through the
merits of his Saviour, if he is at the same time to
be reminded that there is no full security against
the wrath of God for his numberless transgressions
in after life ? or how can the Priest venture to pro
nounce that God pardoneth and absolveth all that
truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy
Gospel, — how speak of Almighty God as so putting
away the sins of those who truly repent, that He
remembereth them no more, if the pardon of sin
after Baptism stands upon a different footing from
that committed before ? if the promise of God is not
equally sure and certain as regards both ? Surely,
my Reverend Brethren, if the faithfulness and justice of
God are both, as the Holy Scripture declares, pledged
for the forgiveness of all the penitent believer's un
righteousness, without distinction, his security for the
pardon of the one must be as great as that for the
other — and this is exactly in accordance with the doc
trine laid clown in our Homily on Repentance, where-

22

in it is said, "Although we do, after we be once
come to God, and grafted in his Son Jesus Christ,
fall into great sins ; yet if we rise again by repen
tance, and with a full purpose of amendment of
life, do flee unto the mercy of God, taking sure
hold thereupon, through faith in his Son Jesus
Christ, there is an assured and infallible hope of
pardon and remission of the same, and that we shall
be received again into the favour of our Heavenly
Father 2." Again, the same Homily, speaking of
the Holy Scriptures, saith that they " pronounce unto
all true repentant sinners, and to them that will
with their whole heart turn unto the Lord their God,
free pardon and remission of sins." Let a belief
inconsistent with these declarations become preva
lent and popular, and we shall ere long, I fear, find
the conscience-stricken sinner resorting to fasting,
and self-denial, not merely as instruments of self-disci
pline, to keep the body under, or as a help to prayer
(and when limited to these objects we know them
to be truly Scriptural, and Godly, and edifying),
but as a means of making satisfaction for sins, from
whose penalty he feels no security that the vicarious
suffering's of Christ will deliver him. It need not,
however, be imagined that the most ample convic
tion of God's forgiveness of all our sins, for his dear
Son's sake, does in any degree interfere with the
necessity of a deep humiliation, of an earnest and
2 Oxford Edition, p. 453.

23

unfeigned contrition for past transgression. We
should rather believe, that the stronger the sense
of God's pardoning mercy through Christ, the stronger
would be the feeling of indignation at wilful sin,
the more vehement the zeal and the revenge against
ourselves on account of it. It may indeed be very
true that rash and hasty declarations, are sometimes
made as to individual cases ; that the wound of the
wilful sinner may in some instances have been too
slightly healed ; and that the minister, in his eager
ness to vindicate the cardinal doctrine of the Gospel,
that being justified by faith, we have peace with
God, may have been tempted, before there has been
adequate proof that the sorrow is a Godly sorrow,
to administer to the soul the full consolations of
grace ; but if we once admit the notion, that God's
promise does not give security, I know not how
the Church militant on earth can ever hope to
enjoy that peace of God, which passeth all under
standing. Now were it solely to guard against the abuse
of the doctrine of grace above alluded to, that the
Ministers of our Church had been recommended to
maintain a reserve in making known the doctrine
of the ever-blessed atonement, the object would
have been intelligible, and the fruits of it less seriously
injurious, than we have great reason to fear that
in many instances they have been. Earnestly indeed
do I pray, my Rev. Brethren, that you will not
listen to those who would bid you be cautious and

24

sparing in doing that which our obligations as
Christian Ministers, bind us to do in all the various
branches of our ministerial office ; and besides the
specific injunctions of our own Church, surely the
same necessity is laid upon us, the same woe
denounced against us, as against St. Paul, if we
preach not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
in all its fulness and its freeness, its riches and
its mercy.
There is one more subject, my Rev. Brethren,
on which so much discussion has recently arisen, that
you may, I think, fairly expect some expression of
opinion upon it before I close this address. I allude
to the legitimate mode of interpreting our Articles.
Now it will be most freely granted, that our Articles
do leave some questions open, where the Word of
God itself leaves them undecided ; and I think that
he does no good service to Religion or the Church,
who labours to give a more stringent interpretation
to their language, than the expressions will fairly
warrant. Nay, farther, I would say that those who
strive thus unnecessarily to limit the terms of com
munion, are the real schismatics, not those who
may find themselves forced beyond the pale of the
Church by restrictions unduly imposed. It is clear
however, that there must be limits beyond which
this forbearance cannot be carried ; and I confess,
that when I find it asserted, that " the Articles are
to be received, not in the sense of the framers, but
(as far as the wording will admit, or any ambiguity
7

25

requires it) in the one Catholic sense 3," the integrity
of subscription appears to be endangered. In the
case either of oath or subscription, the animus im-
ponentis, by which I mean the sense of the framer,
should surely be the index of the sense in which
it is to be made or taken. There can be but one
true and legitimate meaning to an Article, and that
must be the meaning intended by the framer. Nor
should I myself feel justified in taking advantage
of any ambiguity in the wording, and affixing what,
according to my own notion, might be the Catholic
sense to it, until I had found it impossible to ascer
tain what was the special sense originally designed
by the authors : for, knowing the respect in which
our Reformers held Catholic antiquity, I should
believe that they were more likely to have correctly
embodied that sense in it, than I as an individual
should be, to discover that sense for myself.
To apply this principle to the interpretation of
the twenty-second Article. The question is, whe
ther in pronouncing against the Romish Doctrine
of Purgatory, Invocation of Saints, &c, it was ever
intended to condemn every doctrine on those sub
jects. The point first to be settled, is, what is meant
by the term " Romish'' Now it has been con
tended, that as the Article was penned before the
decrees of the Council of Trent on these specific
3 See the Rev. Mr. Newman's Letter to Dr. Jelf, in ex
planation of No. 90 of the Tracts for the Times, p. 24, second
edition.

26

subjects were published, it could not have been di
rected against these decrees, and that in consequence,
the Tridentine doctrine thereupon could not have been
contemplated by its authors. This may be literally
true ; but it nevertheless does not appear to leave
a correct impression as to the real bearing of the
case. For if we proceed to enquire how we are
to account for the substitution of the term " Romish
Doctrine," for " the Doctrine of the School-authors,"
as it stood in the former copy 4, we shall find, as
Bishop Burrel tells us 5, that when the Articles
were first published, the body of the Roman Church
had not avowedly espoused the errors which that
Article was intended to condemn; so that in the
first instance, some writers, anxious to soften matters,
had thrown the blame of them oil the School authors ;
but before the publication of our present Articles,
the Decree and Canons concerning the Mass had
passed at Trent, in which most of the heads of this
Article are either affirmed or supposed ; though
the formal Decree concerning them was not passed
till some months after these Articles were published.
In looking therefore at the animus with which the
Article was framed, it would seem that its authors,
conceiving they had now sufficient evidence that
the Church of Rome had authoritatively identified
itself with errors, which, through Christian forbear -
4 See the twenty-third Article of K. Edward VI., in 1552.
* See the first paragraph of his Exposition of the twenty-
second Article.

27

ance, had before been laid at the door of others,
proceeded to condemn the doctrine of Purgatory
&c. as thus far sanctioned by that Church. Where
fore we must, as I conclude, in subscription to the
twenty-second Article, condemn the doctrine, that
the sins committed after Baptism, even of those
whose eternal punishment is remitted for the sake
of Christ's merits, must be expiated, either by acts
of penance in this life, or in a state of suffering
and torment beyond the grave : this being, as far
I can collect, what is meant by the Romish doc
trine of Purgatory ; but I can scarcely suppose
that any one ever imagined himself precluded by
this subcription, from holding any opinion respecting
an intermediate state, in which, possibly, the spirits
of just men may repose from their labours without
suffering 6, or indeed from entertaining any senti-
0 That Bishop Jeremy Taylor did not conceive such an opinion
to be inconsistent with subscription to this Article, or at variance
with a condemnation of the Romish Purgatory, is manifest from
the following passage in his " Dissuasion from Popery," vol. x.
of his works, London edition, 1822.
" There was also another doctrine very generally received by
the Fathers, which greatly destroys the Roman Purgatory. Sextus
Severus says, and he says very true, that Justin Martyr, Tertul-
lian, Victorinus Martyr, Prudentius, St. Chrysostom, Arethas,
Euthinius, and St. Bernard, did all affirm that before the day
of judgment, the souls of men are kept in secret receptacles,
reserved into the sentence of the great day, and that before then
no man receives according to his works done in this life : we do not
interpose (the Bishop goes on to say) in this opinion, to say that

28

ment not included within the above definition of
the Romish Purgatory. And so in like manner
with the rest of the heads of the Article. Having
ascertained what was the doctrine respecting the
Invocation of Saints, to which the Church of Rome
was held to be committed at the time the Article
was penned, I should feel myself bound to subscribe
in that sense, which I believe to be the legitimate
and true one; and while I should never imagine
that a mere figurative and poetical apostrophe to
the departed, without any approach to prayer, was
prohibited by it, (seeing that in Holy Scripture we
meet with such apostrophes to angels and spirits,
to the souls of the righteous, and even to inanimate
objects \) yet it surely can never do good service to
the cause of that pure religion which has been
committed to our keeping, to speak in such a way
either of this or any kindred practice, as shall en
courage its adoption. There may be refinements,
and subtle distinctions -discernible to highly culti
vated minds, that are imperceptible to the less
exercised intellect of the simple and unlearned:
and practices which may have been occasionally
and incidentally adopted by holy men of old, with
out apprehension of injury, because their great
it is true or false, probable or improbable." He evidently con
sidered it an open question. I have merely adduced it as an illus
tration of such, without in any way intending to give my own
adhesion to it.
7 See the Song of the Three Children, and the 148th Psalm.

29

liability to corruption had never yet been wit
nessed, will surely be avoided by those, whom
history and experience have since taught this im
portant lesson.
I have thus briefly touched, my Rev. Brethren,
upon a few topics, on which frankness and candour
seemed to call for some expression of opinion ; and
in conclusion, I would merely add one word of affec
tionate caution, which I would wish to take home
to my own bosom also. It may indeed be difficult
to be earnest, and yet temperate, and to combine
fervent zeal with Christian moderation ; but if there
ever was a period which required a strict control
over the ebullitions of private feeling, a calm and
dispassionate exercise of the soundest judgment,
it is the present. If we had more of charity, my
Brethren, we should have more of knowledge, and
gain a readier and a deeper insight into divine truth :
it is the want of this Christian grace which too
often shuts the door against conviction, while pre
judice and anger close the eyes, and stop the ears
against the light of reason and the voice of truth.
Be it our fixed purpose then, my Rev. Brethren,
through God's assistance, while we earnestly con
tend for the faith which was once delivered to the
Saints, to speak what we believe to be the truth,
in love, being gentle unto all men, and patient, in
meekness instructing those who oppose themselves.
That the Almighty Disposer of all events will

30

overrule the conflict of opinions for the ultimate
benefit of his Church, it were impious to doubt or
to deny ; and we may already discern many ways
in which it seems to be thus working for good : but
it is for us to take heed that we do not allow an
unsanctified zeal to hurry us into the turmoil of
strife and contention, and cause us to make ship
wreck of our charity, while we fancy we are but
vindicating our faith. Let us in all we do, aim to
conciliate, without the compromise of truth ; let us
be followers of peace, rather than of party, remem
bering that we have one common banner in the
cross, one Captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus
Christ, one common enemy in sin and Satan ; let us,
(as has been recently said 8 in the spirit of a truly
Christian moderation, by one of the most eminent
among the writers, to whom I have before alluded)
let us, whatever may be our differences of sentiment,
"still seek one another as brethren, not lightly throw
ing aside our private opinions, which we seem to
feel we have received above, from an ill-regulated,
untrue desire of unity, but returning to each other
in heart, and coming together to God to do for us
what we cannot do for ourselves." May it be our
settled resolve to cultivate this heavenly temper
in the spirit of watchfulness and prayer; and may
the God of peace take away all hatred and prejudice,
8 See Introduction to No. 90 of the Tracts for the Times.

31

and whatsoever else may hinder us from Godly union
and concord, that so we may henceforth be all of
one heart and one soul, united in one holy bond of
truth and peace, of faith and charity, through Jesus
Christ our Lord.

the end.

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